The mountains are home to several creatures of Equestria. Whether they’re as big as a gorilla or as small as a mouse, these agent stone goliaths stand as a nesting ground for any passerby. One such passerby was a mountain goat that was traveling along the rock side of the mountain until it reached a large cave. Its attention was less focused on the cave and rather on the several puffs of grass that stood in front of it. Thinking this was the best time to rest, the goat sat down and munched on the grass as well as a few stray flowers that it found. With its back facing the sky, it didn’t notice the clouds start to part ways for a large figure.
As the goat ate, a large shadow started to be casted over it. Confused and startled, the goat looked behind it thinking it was just a cloud. What it saw was no cloud. Flying above it was a large creature covered in red scales. Its wings gave it a massive wingspan as it completely blocked the sun from the goat’s field of vision. Its neck was long as was its tail which had a small spike on the end. Its claws looked as sharp as its teeth and it looked to be deadly. The goat stared in horror as it had just happened to run into the new home of a dragon.
The goat sprinted out of the path of the dragon as it landed on the rock ledge, crushing anything that stood below it. Its orange eyes looked at the large cave up and down before a smile crossed its face. With a heavy breath that caused some smoke to billow out, it took large steps toward the cave. Its large feet caused the rock underneath it to crack as it stomped inside. The goat looked back to see the tail of the creature be slowly dragged inside the cave.
After a few moments, large streams of black smoke started to spew from the cave’s entrance. They slowly became thicker and thicker until they looked more like entire clouds of smoke and smog. The goat didn’t stop as it ran along the mountain side. This was the start of something big. The start of a long nap for a dragon.
-
Ponyville
Meanwhile, an old stallion paced back and forth outside of his store. Every once in a while he would stop to scratch his beard, only to go back to pacing. He had impatience written on his face as he kept looking along the streets of Ponyville. His daughter was standing at the entrance of the store looking at her father with a bored expression on her face.
“Dad, it’ll be here any minute, you can stop worrying”, she said. Her father looked back at her.
“They said that our apple display would be here today at 11:00, Matilda. But boy are they cutting close as it's already four before twelve”, said the stallion as he continued to pace back and forth.
“So they’re not going to be here early, big deal. That doesn’t mean they aren’t coming”, said Matilda.
“Like hay they aren’t. That farm has always praised itself on being on time and never having a late order, but whenever I request an order from them, they’ve either been too early or barely make it by the deadline”, said the stallion. He looked at the watch on his hoof, the minute hand was dangerously close to the eleventh hour. “They’re gonna have some explaining to do this time.”
His daughter rolled her eyes. “They probably got caught up on something or got lost. You asked them to deliver, like, twenty crates of apples, that’s a big order for anypony to handle”, she said.
“Oh please, they probably get orders like that all the time”, he said as he turned to face his daughter. “I swear to Celestia, if they aren’t here in the next minute I’m gonna…”, he trailed off when he saw his daughter wasn’t staring at him, “what? Matilda, what’s wrong?”
“Mr.Lapiz?”, said a deep, gruff voice.
The stallion turned around and was met with a tall pony. This pony stood a foot taller than him, his shadow casting over him. His dark colors across his body, mane, and tail sent shivers down the old stallion’s spine. He stared into the pony’s amber eyes as they stared down at him. His daughter watched from the entrance of the store, wondering if she was about to witness her father get mugged.
“Are you the one that ordered this?”, asked Gojira, referring to the large, wooden cart of apples he was hauling. The old stallion merely nodded, he couldn’t believe that this guy was from Sweet Apple Acres. He even considered that perhaps this pony scared off whoever was supposed to deliver the apples. Though, this thought was brushed aside when another pony walked up, one that was less intimidating but not by much.
“Hello, sir”, said Anguirus. “Sorry for keeping you waiting, had some trouble getting this over some of the hills back at Sweet Apple Acres.” The impatient attitude the stallion had earlier quickly vanished.
“O-Oh, no, i-it’s no trouble at all”, he said, putting on a smile. “Just…leave that there and I’ll get some of my employees to start unloading.”
“You sure, sir? Me and my brother here can stay and help”, said Anguirus. The old stallion was taken aback. Brother? As in, these two were related?
“U-Uhh, no, don’t worry about that”, he said as he turned and started to walk away. “I’ll just get you…both your payment.” He practically ran inside the store, leaving his daughter awkwardly standing with the two, tall strangers.
“So, what do you need so many apples for?”, asked Gojira. Matilda was caught off guard and almost jumped when she heard his voice.
“We-We’re just running low on supply”, she said. “T-Though we hope to save the remaining stock for Nightmare Night this year.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right, Nightmare Night’s coming up, almost completely forgot about that”, said Anguirus. “That’s always been a fun holiday.” Gojira scoffed.
“Personally, I don’t really care much about Nightmare Night”, he said.
“You don’t?”, asked Matilda, looking shocked to hear it. “How can anypony not like Nightmare Night, it’s a great time of the year for ponies to hangout with each other.”
“I have nothing against the holiday, I more so see it as a sign of the change in seasons”, said Gojira. “After Nightmare Night is Winter and what comes from Winter?”
“Hearth’s Warming?”, answered Matilda.
“Snow”, corrected Gojira. Anguirus nodded his head.
“Yep, I know you, you would wish to live for a thousand years if you didn’t have to deal with snow”, said Anguirus.
“That’s because it's absolutely a pain in the rear to deal with”, said Gojira. “I don’t even hate how cold it can get, I just hate how it’s essentially a warning that the sky is getting ready to dump off all of its fecal matter.”
His remark scored a laugh out of Matilda. “Yeah, I don’t blame you for hating snow”, she said. “But isn’t it worth it for Hearth’s Warming at least?” Gojira shrugged.
“I guess, but I would prefer not to deal with it in the first place. It’s not worth having to constantly shovel the front lawn just to go outside all for one day of the year”, he replied. Anguirus walked to the side of Matilda.
“He’s just mad because he once got his tongue stuck to a metal poll during the winter while we were kids”, he whispered. “He blames it on the snow since he was trying to catch snowflakes in his mouth.”
“I heard that!”, exclaimed Gojira. Both Anguirus and Matilda laughed.
“Ahem!”, someone coughed. Both Matilda and Anguirus turned around to be met with the old stallion from earlier. “What’s going on here?”
“Just having a chat, that’s all”, replied Anguirus.
“Then why are you standing so close to my daughter?”, asked the stallion.
“It’s okay, Dad, we’re just talking”, said Matilda. That didn’t stop the old stallion from walking between both Anguirus and Melissa. He practically shoved an envelope of cash into Anguirus’ chest.
“There’s the bits I owe you”, he said. “Now if you excuse us, we have work to do.” He glared at Anguirus when he said that.
“Thank you sir”, said Anguirus as he and Gojira walked away. When they were gone the old stallion took a sigh of relief.
“Are you hurt?”, he asked Matilda. “Did they try to do anything?”
“Dad, they didn’t try anything, I’m fine”, replied Matilda. The old stallion didn’t seem convinced.
“I don’t want you to be standing to those kinds of ponies”, he said as he watched the two tall stallions walk away. “Who knows what they could’ve done if given the chance.”
“We were just talking, Dad. It’s not a big deal”, said Matilda, trying to ease her father.
“Big deal? Look at that and tell me that’s not a big deal”, said the old stallion pointing at the taller stallion of the two. “Now come on, we have some unloading to do.”
The old stallion didn’t wait to hear his daughter’s as he walked over to the apple cart. Matilda let out a sigh, she knew there was no use in trying to change her father’s mind. Though she was glad that the two brothers didn’t have to hear it. Unfortunately, little did she know, they did.
“So much for being helpful”, muttered Anguirus. Due to his and Gojira’s advance hearing, they managed to hear what the old stallion had to say about them, even if a bit muffled.
“Ignore him, he’s just protective over his daughter”, said Gojira. “You can’t really blame him since…you know.”
Anguirus nodded. “Yeah, I get it”, he said. “By the way, thanks for helping me with the order. You gotta admit, it’s nice to leave the house and interact with other ponies.”
“The last few interactions I had while walking around in this town have involved an elderly pony who thought we were creeps and a griffon that nearly chewed Rodan’s ear off”, said Gojira, bluntly. “Not exactly the most welcoming of greetings I would say.”
“But what about Twilight and Spike, they were fairly kind to you”, asked Anguirus. Gojira shrugged.
“I’ll admit, Spike was pretty charming, but that’s because he’s still a kid and is merely curious”, said Gojira, the memory of when he first met Spike at Canterlot came to mind. “And for Twilight, that meeting was forced by Rodan, it wasn’t exactly natural.”
“Yeah, but you still stayed and talked with her and Spike. You could’ve left at any time, but you didn’t”, said Anguirus. Gojira rolled his eyes, he could see where this was going.
“Don’t be getting any ideas that Rodan would have”, he warned Anguirus, rather sternly.
“I’m not, I’m not”, replied Anguirus. “Though, Rodan does bring up a good point.”
“I don’t want to hear it”, said Gojira.
“Ok, if you insist”, said Anguirus. The two stayed quiet for about two seconds. “Remember that time when you saved Twilight from falling off that bridge.”
“Aang!”, Gojira shouted, followed by a growl.
“Alright, alright”, said Anguirus as a bead of sweat formed on his brow.
“You know how I feel about this topic”, said Gojira as he looked straight ahead. “So don’t even bother asking.” Anguirus internally sighed.
‘How else did you think he was going to answer?’
‘I don’t know, I just want him to be happy with somepony.’
‘It’s clear that the subject of relationships is very personal to him, one that he’d rather not share or discuss with others. It would be appropriate to not try and pry into it anymore, besides there are more important topics that need to be discussed. You three’s training, the history of the kaiju, and especially the-’
“What about the gala?”, asked Anguirus.
‘…Or that too, I suppose.’
“What about it?”, asked Gojira.
“We haven’t discussed whether we’re still going or not”, replied Anguirus. Gojira rolled his eyes.
“That’s because I thought we weren’t”, he said.
“Goji, come on, it’s the biggest event of the year. Other ponies would kill to go there”, said Anguirus. “Besides, the princess herself sent us those tickets, so she wants us to go.”
“I know, butin full honesty, I’m still not sure if we should go”, said Gojira. “After all, we’ll be secretly bringing along three chaperones that’ll be constantly nagging at us to keep to ourselves.” Gojira looked up. “No offense”, he said.
‘I appreciate the consideration.’
“Ok, but we’ve managed to control the spirits out in public for a few weeks now, a party should be filly’s play”, said Anguirus.
“The gala isn’t just a party”, replied Gojira.
‘He’s right, the gala at Canterlot is more extravagant than say one of Pinkie’s welcome parties. There will also be twice as many guests there and we all know how much your brother loves those crowds.’
“But don’t you want to see Caesar again? It’s been a while since we’ve seen him”, asked Anguirus. Gojira muffled a groan. Aside from the crowd, that was something else that made him unsure of going. His reaction to Anguirus’ question didn’t go unnoticed.
“Do you not want to see Caesar?”, asked Anguirus.
“It’s not that I don’t want to see him, I just…”, Gojira struggled to find the right words, “it’s hard to explain”, he said. “But the main point is, I’m still not unsure about going to the gala. I appreciate that Celestia gave us the tickets to go, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be expecting us.”
“Ok, but we’re gonna have to make a decision soon, the gala is starting to come up”, said Anguirus.
“Yeah, I know”, said Gojira. “Maybe when we meet back up Rodan we can discuss it more. I’d imagine that part of the reason Rodan would even consider going is so he could…”, Gojira trailed off when he noticed Anguirus was no longer staring at him. “Uhh, Aang, what are you looking at?”, he asked.
“What. In the name. Of Celestia”, muttered Anguirus, his face appalled and in awe.
Anguirus pointed to the sky with his hoof which Gojira followed. What he saw caused him to share the same expression as his brother. Right in the center of the sky appeared to be a large black cloud that completely engulfed other clouds surrounding it. Large trails sprouted from the mass in several directions, one going right over the entirety of Ponyville. Or at least, it at first seemed like a cloud. Gojira sniffed the air; the scent it carried burned the back of his throat. A rich, tangy, almost wooden smell. His eyes widened when he recognized the scent, calling this a cloud was a massive understatement.
“Smoke”, Gojira muttered.
“And where’s there smoke”, said Anguirus. He didn’t want to finish that sentence. He could only imagine the size of the fire to create smoke of that scale.
Gojira looked around, noticing the many looks of fear and awe that other ponies had. Some even ran toward their houses to either try and take shelter or to warn their families. The sight of the commotion made him remember the absence of a member of his own family.
“Where’s Rodan?”, he asked.
“He said he was going to Sugarcube Corner to see Lisa”, said Anguirus. Gojira looked at the direction of Sugarcube Corner before bolting towards it. Anguirus nearly had to do a double take before galloping after his brother.
The sight of the bakery came into view as Gojira practically smashed the door wide open, only to be met with an interior that contained not a single pony. Gojira looked confused as he looked back at his brother who took a deep breath from running so fast.
“Next time, tell me when you’re about to run off”, panted Anguirus. “Don’t you remember when Caesar did the same thing?”
“Rodan’s not here, in fact, no one is”, said Gojira, nodding toward the empty building. Anguirus looked confused.
“Then where the hay could he be?”, asked Anguirus.
Gojira looked around, hoping to find some kind of clue that would let him in on where his younger brother could be. Though he didn’t find one, he saw who he hoped to be just as helpful. Walking through the streets, with most of her and his focus on the sky, was Twilight and Spike with the latter carrying what appeared to be a scroll of some kind and the former carrying the latter on her back. Once Gojira noticed them, he ran in their direction with Anguirus following behind.
“Twilight! Spike!”, Gojira called out. The two looked toward Gojira.
“Hi Gojira, hi Anguirus”, said Spike as he innocently waved back.
“Hello, you two”, said Twilight. Despite being greeted, she didn’t stop to chat and instead kept walking. Both Gojira and Anguirus walked alongside her.
“I’m guessing you’ve both seen the large smoke cloud in the sky, right?”, asked Anguirus.
“Who couldn’t?”, replied Twilight. She seemed to have an urgent attitude in both her voice and walk style.
“How big do you think the fire has gotten to create something like that?”, asked Gojira. Twilight didn’t answer but instead shook her head.
“That’s not fire”, she said. The two brothers looked confused.
“Wait, what do you mean it’s not fire?”, asked Anguirus.
“Look at this”, said Spike, showing them the scroll he was holding. Both Gojira and Anguirus looked at the scroll over. The first thing that caught their eyes was that it was from Celestia with the second being what was truly causing such a large amount of smoke. It was an option that neither of them had considered.
“A dragon?”, asked Anguirus, incredulously.
“A sleeping dragon, one that has taken nesting in the nearby mountains”, said Twilight.
“What for?”, asked Gojira.
“Most large dragons prefer to take naps somewhere high and close to the sky, it makes them feel comfortable”, said Spike.
“Yes, the smoke is a byproduct of its snoring and if something isn’t done soon, then not just Ponyville but all of Equestria will be shrouded in smoke”, added Twilight. Gojira and Anguirus looked at each other and then back at her.
“So much for an average Friday”, muttered Anguirus.
“How much time do you think we have?”, asked Gojira.
“I don’t know, but judging from the size of that cloud, I’d say not much”, answered Twilight.
Gojira looked back up at the sky, the trail of smoke started to get closer and closer while becoming larger and larger. Though he hated to admit it, he felt a small smidge of worry over the whereabouts of his little brother. Nevertheless, he refused to let Anguirus see that.
“What can we do?”, asked Gojira.
“I have a plan, however I’ll need all the help I can get to make it work”, said Twilight. “So I’m heading out to find the girls where we’ll meet back at the Golden Oaks Library and I can give them the run down.”
“And we can also be your help”, said Anguirus with confidence. Gojira did a double take.
“What? No way, I’m not letting you two get involved in this”, firmly stated Gojira.
“Did you not hear what Twilight said, we can help them. We’ve taken on an evil alicorn, how’s an oversized reptile with wings any different?”, asked Anguirus
‘You’d be surprised.’
“There’s a literal massive difference, Aang”, replied Gojira. “I can’t even count the number of ways something could go wrong. You could fall off the mountain, be crushed, burned alive, eaten, and a whole lot of other stuff that I don’t want to happen to either of you.” Gojira’s voice radiated with sternest and discipline as it increased in volume. It was similar to the kind of tone he carried back during the Summer Sun celebration. This was enough to make even Twilight stop and look back at the two brothers arguing.
“If Rodan was here he’d agree with me”, said Anguirus. “We can protect ourselves, Gojira. Why can’t we protect them”, he gestured toward the many town’s ponies, “isn’t that what father would want?”
Gojira’s protective nature faltered when Anguirus mentioned their parental figure. He looked toward the ponies that lived in Ponyville. Each one of them wore looks of fear and disbelief over the large smoke cloud in the sky. He even saw a few fillies and colts be forced inside their homes by their parents out of pure fright. The image of a tall, old stallion making a vow to him and only him flew into Gojira’s mind. Gojira let out a sigh and looked back at his younger brother who waited for an answer.
“We can talk about this later, right now we need to find Rodan and make sure he’s ok”, said Gojira.
“Does that mean we’re going with them?”, asked Anguirus.
“I said we’ll talk about it later”, replied Gojira. Anguirus didn’t need confirmation, the answer was yes. Gojira looked toward Twilight. “Do you have any ideas on where the others could be?”
“I do, now come on, we don’t have time to waste”, said Twilight as she, Spike, and the two brothers continued to walk. Gojira looked back at the smoke cloud, he could only hope that wherever Rodan was, he had the same level of concern as he did.
“I got it!”, exclaimed Rodan as he dive bombed toward and hit a kick ball, causing it to launch back in the air.
“Thank you!”, said Rainbow Dash as she then head butted the ball, making Rodan miss when he tried to grab it. “You gotta be quicker than that!”, she exclaimed. She was later corrected when while she bounced the ball on her head, Rodan swooped in and hit the ball away from her.
“I said I got it”, reaffirmed Rodan as he bounced the ball atop his head.
As the two continued to fight over the kick ball, Pinkie Pie and Lisa watched from the sidelines. They weren’t the only ones there as several ponies went about their days with both mundane tasks as well as other activities such as flying kites or taking leisurely strolls. It seemed as though it was merely another lovely day for Ponyville.
“You really need to start stepping up your game, Dash. I feel like you’re struggling to keep up with me”, said Rodan as he then started to count down from ten. In the middle of his counting, he blinked once and in that time frame the ball was replaced with a couple of leaves which got caught in his mane.
“I’m not too sure about that”, said Rainbow Dash as the ball bounced on her head. “You sure those laps around the Everfree have been paying off?” Rodan growled as he picked the leaves from his mane.
Lisa laughed as she watched the two of them. “Looks like Rodey finally has some competition”, she chuckled.
“You mean the other way around”, replied Pinkie Pie. “No pony else is as fast as Rainbow Dash!”
“Nope, I’m pretty sure I’m right”, said Lisa.
“Oh, oh, how about the winner gets a party thrown in their favor!”, said Pinkie Pie. Lisa playfully rolled her eyes, she expected no less from the pink mare.
“Help…please, help!”
“A party? If I had known that was the reward I would be trying harder”, said Rainbow Dash. She tried to grab the ball from Rodan, but he hit the ball hard against his head causing her to completely miss as she flew right through the vertical path between the ball and Rodan.
“And it looks like that party is going to be for me”, said Rodan with a cocky grin. Only for that grin to disappear when his vision went dark. Rainbow Dash had shoved a small bit of cloud into his face which completely blurred his vision. His sunglasses didn’t help as Rodan had to resist the urge to activate his advanced eyesight.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but laugh. “I would tell you to not keep your head in the clouds, but it looks like you beat me to the punch”, she said before continuing to bounce the ball.
Rodan shook his head to cause the small bundle of cloud to scatter before he went flying after Rainbow Dash. In almost a blur, Rodan knocked the ball out of the hooves of Rainbow Dash, sending it careening away from the two of them. He flashed a cocky smirk at the cyan pegasus before flying toward the ball. He was a few feet away from it when.
“There’s a horrible cloud of smoke and- Ah!”
What was a mere whisper to the ponies around him was pitch perfect for Rodan as his ear twitched. He looked up to see where the sound came from, only to be met with the sight of Fluttershy standing in his flight path. Rodan quickly reacted as he flared his wings and diverted his path upward so he wouldn’t run into the yellow pegasus. The gust of wind he created scared Fluttershy who yelped in surprise and ducked out of fear. Her sudden movement, however, allowed Rainbow Dash to fly right over her as she caught the ball and started bouncing it. Rodan was traveling so fast that he flew far above the trees and almost near cloud level before he eventually stopped.
“Well great, there goes any chance at earning a party”, said Rodan.
‘Not if you stay up here you won’t. Use your aerodynamics to out maneuver her instead of trying to outpace her.’
“Roger that captain”, joked Rodan. Before he flew down, he remembered why he was even up so high in the first place. “Though, I gotta ask, what exactly did Fluttershy mean by a cloud of smo-….”
Rodan’s question was answered as he looked behind him and was met with a large formation of black smoke in the rough shape of a cloud. Not only that, but he could’ve sworn that it was not only getting bigger but also coming toward Ponyville. Rodan was both confused and concerned from the sight. The sheer size of it was intimidating enough, however add on the rate it was increasing in mass and it combined into a feeling that Rodan could only express with one word…
“Oh…”
“Don’t be such a scaredy pony, Fluttershy. We’re just playing a game”, said Rainbow Dash as she bounced the ball on her head until she counted down from ten. By the time Rodan flew down, Rainbow Dash had just reached one.
“A game that I just won!”, exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
“Hey guys I th- Hold on what!”, exclaimed Rodan, almost forgetting about what he saw. “That’s not fair, I had to move out of the way or else I would have hit Fluttershy!”
“And you definitely took your time to fly back down here, which was enough time to allow me to win!”, replied Rainbow Dash as she struck a victory pose. “Making me Equestria’s ball bouncing champion.” Rodan mentally groaned as Pinkie Pie cheered.
“This calls for a celebration!”, she exclaimed. Before zipping away.
“No Pinkie Pie, this is not a time for celebration”, said Fluttershy as she looked back at the sky. The smoke cloud was becoming visible through the trees. “This is a time for panic, a time for-”
“I’m gonna need balloons!”, interrupted Pinkie. “One for every pony in Ponyville!” She bounced away with Fluttershy chasing after her.
“A shame you didn’t win that game”, said Lisa as she walked up to Rodan.
“Eh, Rainbow Dash only got lucky. Next time I’ll be sure to get her”, said Rodan. “Besides, a party’s a party.” Lisa chuckled, however she couldn’t help but notice Rodan’s attention was more so on the sky than anything else.
“Is something wrong, Rodey?”, asked Lisa. “You’re not legitimately butt hurt about losing, right?”
“Huh, no, it’s just that…have you at all noticed the large storm cloud in the sky?”, asked Rodan. Lisa looked up as the large, black cloud was now closer and, if Rodan’s eyes didn’t deceive him, it looked bigger.
“That’s weird, I thought it wasn’t supposed to rain today?”, questioned Lisa.
‘That’s not a storm cloud, it doesn’t smell like one.’
Rodan’s eyes slightly widened when he realized what Pheonix was meaning. The smell of heavy amounts of hydrogen and some ash assaulted his nostrils causing them to flare a brief puff of steam to come out of them. He looked around, fearing signs of a nearby fire, only to be met with the gleeful smiles of ponies who were completely unaware of the large formation of smoke in the sky. At least, most of them were. He noticed the worried and scared look on Fluttershy’s face as she tried and failed to talk to either Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie.
“Oh please, this is an emergency”, said Fluttershy, her voice a whisper to everyone around, except for one. “I need everypony to-”.
“Hey, Fluttershy”, Rodan called out as he was about to walk up. “Do you know what’s up with all the-”.
“HEY!”
A loud voice boomed through the trees, catching every single pony's attention as they looked toward where the voice came from. Even Rodan was caught off by this and almost jumped from the volume of whoever spoke. Though, it didn’t take long for him to guess where, or rather who that voice belonged to. Standing on the bridge that led to Ponyville was Gojira who stood tall and enticing, catching everyone’s eyes. It would be wrong to say that most weren’t intimidated by his presence, a couple even started backing away thinking something bad would happen. But that sense quickly faded once Twilight and Spike stepped forward, who both seemed just as surprised by Gojira’s voice.
“Thank you, though you didn’t have to be so loud”, said Twilight. Gojira merely shrugged as Anguirus walked next to him.
“Eh, you wanted everypony’s attention, right? Well, now you got it”, said Gojira. Twilight rolled her eyes before walking forward.
“I need everypony to listen up! Smoke is spreading over all of Equestria!”, yelled Twilight, making everyone divert their eyes from the almost more than six foot pony and to the four foot unicorn. Many ponies gave quips and looks of concern as they looked up. The image of the smoke cloud became more than visible through the trees, striking everyone with fear and worry.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to-”, Fluttershy tried to speak up, only to again be overshadowed and fall on no one’s ears.
“But don’t worry, I have just received a letter from princess Celestia saying that it is not coming from a fire”, reassured Twilight. Everyone wore looks of relief and solace, especially Fluttershy.
“Oh, thank good-”
“It’s coming from a dragon”, added Twilight. All forms of relief and calmness were thrown out the window once the mere mention of a dragon was brought up. The looks of worry and fear were plastered back on everyone's faces. None more so than Fluttershy.
“A d-d-dragon”, she said.
“Probably should’ve left that part out”, whispered Gojira as he leaned down toward Twilight.
The main six and the three brothers had all met up at the Golden Oaks Library to discuss a plan on how to deal with the dragon problem. While some had certain thoughts and concerns, they usually all came back to the same topic.
“What in the name of all things cinnamon swirl is a full grown dragon doing in Equestria?”, asked Applejack.
“Sleeping”, answered Twilight. “According to Celestia, he’s taking a nap.”
“Why here of all places? Wouldn’t he want to stay in some kind of volcano or something?”, asked Rodan.
“Apparently they prefer to stay closer to the sky whenever they rest”, said Gojira. “We were just unlucky to be his bed.”
“His snoring is what’s causing all this smoke”, said Twilight as she put the book she was reading into her satchel.
“If you ask me, he should really see a doctor. That doesn’t seem healthy at all”, said Pinkie.
“Well, at least he’s not snoring fire”, added Rarity. “What are we meant to do about it? Those things can be as big as houses.” The mere mention of a dragon, let alone a large one, caused Fluttershy to shudder and lightly sweat.
“We are going to ask it, peacefully, to take a nap somewhere else”, said Twilight.
“Oh come on, Twilight. I’ll tell ya what we should do. We should give him the old boot”, said Rainbow Dash before punching the air with her hooves. She kicked the bust of a pony head causing it to teeter until Twilight steadied it. She was about to hit it again until Twilight lifted the bust out of the way with her magic, causing Rainbow Dash to instead fly into a bookshelf.
“Haha”, laughed Rodan.
“No, we are not going to antagonize it to leave since we don’t want to anger it!”, exclaimed Twilight. “We are just going to encourage it to sleep somewhere far from Equestria. If we don’t, then Equestria will be shrouded in smoke for the next one hundred years.”
The mention of their homes being covered in smoke frightened everyone, especially Fluttershy. She looked back at the smoke cloud and saw where the smoke trailed from. She could only imagine the size that the dragon had to be in order for it to create a cloud as large as Equestria just from its snoring. She started to shiver just thinking about what it could look like.
“Talk about getting your beauty sleep”, said Rarity.
“So what do you need us to do?”, asked Applejack.
“I’ll need everypony to gather supplies and meet back here in less than an hour”, said Twilight as she lifted her satchel on to her back. “Princess Celestia has given us this mission and we must not fail. All of Equestria is counting on us.”
While everyone seemed on board with the plan, two weren’t entirely sure. Fluttershy was still terrified over the thought of coming face to face with a creature that could end her in countless ways. Meanwhile, Gojira was also a bit nervous, but not for himself. He couldn’t help but glance at his two younger brothers and how confident they looked. He appreciated their bravery, but felt that they were also ignoring the much larger picture. They had never dealt with something on a scale as big as this. Sure, there was Nightmare Moon, but they had the added advantage of the elements being on their side. Here, they would be facing a much larger challenge with no such advantage.
“Hey, Gojira”, said Rodan, bringing Gojira out of his thoughts. “Are you ready to head back to the house to get ready?”
Gojira shrugged. “Be real with me, there’s probably no way I’m going to be able to talk you out of this, is there?”, he asked.
Rodan blinked once before flashing a smirk. “Do you even have to ask?”, he replied.
Gojira held back a groan as he and his two brothers started to walk away. At least, two out of the three of them did. Just as Anguirus was about to join them, the frightened face of Fluttershy caught his attention. She was staring outside the window of the library almost as if it was the only thing that she could see. That was until the sudden sound of hoofsteps coming her way was enough to make her jump in surprise. She only calmed down once she saw it was Anguirus.
“Hey, are you alright, Fluttershy?”, asked Anguirus.
“U-Uh, y-yeah, I…I’m just”, Fluttershy could barely get words out without looking back at the window to see the sky full of smoke. Just by looking at her, Anguirus could tell that something was truly bothering her. Much more than something like what happened with Gilda.
“Are you nervous about the dragon?”, asked Anguirus.
“Huh, o-oh, no, no…j-just a little…umm”, said Fluttershy as she struggled to find the right words. Though she didn’t need to as Anguirus knew what she meant.
‘She’s a very bad liar’, he thought.
“Hey, Aang, are you coming?”, asked Rodan. Anguirus looked back at his brother.
“Yeah, coming”, he said and started to walk away. “See you in an hour.”
Fluttershy nodded and waved him goodbye. She soon left too, but not after glancing back at the smoke covered mountain. The smoke was starting to become so bad that the blue sky was now becoming dark and gloomy. Not a good sign for what was to come.
The group met up at the bottom of the mountain trail, preparing to tackle the journey ahead of them. Mostly everyone had brought a satchel holding whatever they needed in order to take care of the dragon threat or to help climb the mountain. Twilight looked over a map which depicted several trails that lead to the top of the mountain that contained the dragon. Most stood on the ground aside from Rainbow Dash and Rodan. The latter flew higher as he stared down the mountain. His sunglasses covered his eyes which had taken a more bird-like look. He soon flew down to his brothers.
“Can you get a good look?”, asked Gojira in a silent voice. Rodan’s emblem flashed as his eyes went back to normal. No one saw it as Anguirus stood in the way, covering up the flash.
“Kinda? I can’t tell you exactly what the thing looks like. But I can confirm that it’s definitely big”, said Rodan.
“Well, what about trails? Were there any easy ways up there?”, asked Anguirus.
“I can give you an answer for that…no”, said Rodan. Gojira looked over at Twilight who was looking over the map. Her eyes darted all across as if she was trying to follow the path of a fly. Gojira sighed, this wasn’t going to be your average hiking trip.
“Just be prepared for any kind of events that we may run into”, said Gojira. “Plan for the worst and make sure that everyone comes back from this trip in one piece. That’s the whole reason we’re here after all.”
Both Rodan and Anguirus nodded in agreement. As they conversed, they were trying to be quiet so that no one could hear them. However, what they hadn’t taken into account was the cyan pony that was looking their way. Rainbow Dash didn’t hear everything they said, but that didn’t stop her from speculating. It also didn’t help that she managed to catch a brief glance at the flashing light from Rodan’s cutie mark.
“All right everypony!”, exclaimed Twilight, catching everyone’s attention. “I have marked what I believe to be the best and safest possible route for us to take. If everyone’s ready, then let’s move out!”
Everyone gave signs of affirmation, all except one. “Umm, Twilight”, said Fluttershy as she timidly walked up to Twilight. “Umm, I-I was wondering if I could maybe stay back here in Ponyville and watch over everything while you’re all gone.”
“What, no, you have to come with us Fluttershy. Your skills with wild animals will surely come in handy”, said Twilight. “Besides, Spike will take care of your cottage and all your animals while we’re gone.” Fluttershy was disappointed to hear that, not Spike taking care of her animals, but rather that she had to come along no matter what.
“But…But”, said Fluttershy, trying to come up with another excuse, only to come out empty handed. Twilight casually walking away signified that. Whether she wanted to or not, Fluttershy was coming along.
“Are you sure you want to bring Fluttershy along?”, asked Rainbow Dash. “I mean, that pony is afraid of her own shadow. She’s just gonna slow us down.”
Twilight mearily waved off Rainbow Dash’s worries. “Oh, she’s just a little nervous. Once we get going I’m sure she’ll be fine”, said Twilight, merely waving Rainbow Dash’s concerns over.
“Alright, everypony! If we’re all ready then let’s get to climbing!”, exclaimed Twilight as she took the lead. Everyone followed afterwards except for Fluttershy who slowly walked along. She didn’t go unnoticed as the sound of hooves walking up to her caught Fluttershy’s attention. She looked behind her and saw it was Anguirus.
“Fluttershy, come on! Don’t wanna be left behind, right?”, he said.
“Uhh…I-I, umm”, Fluttershy stuttered, practically shaking in place. The sight of the scared pegasus brought a look of worry to Anguirus.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”, he asked, softly.
“I-I’m not so s-sure about this”, said Fluttershy. “I mean, what if something goes wrong o-or what if we forgot something? Or what if it’s much bigger than we thought or what if…what if…” Anguirus could sense her heartbeat and how fast it was beating.
“Fluttershy, don’t worry, everything will be fine”, he said in a comforting tone.
“I-I don’t know if everything will be”, said Fluttershy. “I-I mean, dragons are much bigger than anything I’ve ever seen and they have sharp teeth and claws that are so scary, a-and their wings, a-and they can breathe fi-”, Fluttershy didn’t dare say the word. Any more fear and she felt her heart might explode.
Anguirus watched the yellow pegasus as she slowly walked alongside him, not taking her frightened face off of the large smoke cloud looming above them. He had never seen Fluttershy so scared before, even when they met Nightmare Moon. If he ever had a feeling as to why she was acting this way it was more than confirmed now by her expression and inability to make full sentences without stuttering almost each word.
“She’s definitely afraid of dragons”, he whispered to himself.
‘Fluttershy doesn’t appear to be the kind of pony that seeks out these kinds of events, so it’s reasonable to see her in such a scared state.’
“What gave you that idea”, Anguirus whispered, sarcastically.
‘Perhaps she needs someone that she can trust and feel comfortable around so they can help push her in the right direction.’
The pause between sentences allowed Anguirus to realize what Fierce was signaling toward. “You mean…you want me to…”, whispered Anguirus.
‘She seems to be comfortable whenever she’s around you, after all you have treated her with more kindness than any other pony who aren’t your brothers. If there’s anyone that can convince her to climb this mountain and face a dragon, it would be you.’
Anguirus didn’t know how to respond. “Well…I’m not…you aren’t wrong, b-but I…but I”, he replied, struggling to come up with a response. In doing so, he accidentally caught some unwanted attention.
“Huh? D-Did you say something”, asked Fluttershy. Angurius was instantly caught off guard.
“Oh, n-no, no, I didn’t say anything!”, exclaimed Anguirus as sweat formed on his brow. “I was just thinking, why don’t you stay beside me if you’re scared about climbing.”
“O-Oh, y-you don’t have to do that”, said Fluttershy trying to hide a small blush. She took a few more steps before yelping in surprise as she started to take a few steps back. Anguirus looked toward her thinking something bad happened, only to see Fluttershy trying to stomp her hooves…on to her own shadow. With a blunt expression, Anguirus walked up to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Are you sure about that?”, he asked. Fluttershy felt horribly embarrassed, but nodded as she stood close to Anguirus.
“I-If you’re alright with that”, said Fluttershy. Anguirus couldn’t help but smile at Fluttershy in her timid state.
“Ok, now come on, before we’re left behind”, said Anguirus as he and Fluttershy tried to catch up with the rest of the group. Fluttershy took one more look at the smoke cloud, she could only hope that the dragon was willing to comply.
If the height of the mountain wasn’t the main challenge, then the terrain was. Steep inclines, boulders the size of elephants, and the path they took was incredibly craggy. It made the journey for the group a difficult task to say the least. Gojira and Anguirus, thanks to their kaiju spirits, managed the terrain better than the main six, but it still wasn’t easy.
In fact, the only ones who weren’t majorly struggling were both Rodan and Rainbow Dash who had chosen to fly alongside the group for the journey, much to the vexation of Rainbow Dash. Thankfully, there were a few long stretches of mostly flat land that allowed the group to regain some of their energy. Twilight stood at the front of the group with her nose mostly in the map while Gojira followed behind her. The rest were close together for maximum safety.
“You know, the one thing that sparkles more than the dragon’s scales are the jewels they use to build their nests”, said Rarity, her face lit up as an idea flew into her mind. “Oooh, if I play my cards right, I might be able to convince him to pardon a few!”
“Heh, good luck with that”, said Rodan as he flew overhead. Pinkie Pie lightly giggled.
“Welcome to my cave, Rarity. Care for a diamond?”, said Pinkie, imitating what she thought a dragon would sound like. Her imitation brought a few smiles from the group. Mostly everyone as Gojira rolled his eyes.
“Thanks for the animal lesson, Rarity, but I don’t think diamonds will be very useful when Equestria becomes shrouded in smoke”, he said. Rarity was put off by Gojira’s sentence.
“I’m just saying I like the dragon’s jewels”, muttered Rarity. Her sentence reached both Rodan’s and Rainbow Dash’s ears who both started snickering. Rarity looked toward them in confusion. “What’s so funny?”
“N-Nothing, just make sure to word your sentences better next time”, said Rodan as he and Rainbow Dash continued to fly. Rarity still didn’t understand what he meant.
Gojira looked at the top of the mountain. “Exactly how big do you think the dragon will be?”, he asked Twilight who followed his line of sight.
“I don’t know, I’m not an expert on dragon biology”, she said. “Maybe Fluttershy does, after all she has a lot of knowledge on wild creatures.” Gojira looked through the group to see where the rose haired pegasus was.
“That would be helpful…if I knew where she was”, he said.
“What do you mean, she’s right he-”, Twilight’s sentence was cut short as she looked behind her, only to find no trace of the animal lover. “Fluttershy?”
The rest of the group halted in their tracks and looked behind them. They had only been traveling for a short while now and yet they feared that something bad had happened. Just then, a few bushes rustled and out popped Anguirus with a fake smile on his face.
“Uhh, give us a second”, he called out before turning back toward the shrubbery. As he spoke, Fluttershy also poke her head out from the bushes, a look of fear plastered on her face.
“Hey, what are you two waiting for, an invitation?!”, exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, I think I got one right here”, said Pinkie Pie before reaching into her puffy mane and pulling a blue envelope out.
“No! We’ll be up their soon, just wait a second!”, exclaimed Anguirus as he turned toward Fluttershy. “Come on, Fluttershy, we can’t keep everypony waiting.”
Fluttershy looked toward the mountain. “I know, but it’s j-just so…so…steep”, she said.
“Well, it is a cliff, so you got me there”, joked Anguirus. Fluttershy did not share his amusement. “Look Fluttershy, it’s not too bad. It’s just some dirt paths, that’s all. Besides, you can just fly up there like what Rainbow Dash and Rodan are doing.”
Fluttershy gulped as she came out from the bushes and started to flap her wings. She got a few feet off the ground before looking up at the top of the mountain. The second she looked up, a loud snarl could be heard, catching everyone off guard. None more than Fluttershy as her wings instantly locked up. With that, she fell back down to the ground and landed in the shrub, sending leaves flying.
Anguirus quickly ran up to make sure she was alright. The group watched from up top, none shared as much displeasure as Rainbow Dash as she put a hoof against her brow. Fluttershy tried to flap her wings, but they acted as if they had fused with her body since they wouldn’t budge. Try as hard as she could, Fluttershy couldn’t even make them twitch.
Twilight held back a groan. “We don’t have time for this, we need to keep moving”, she said. Applejack quickly swiped the map from her and looked it over. “Hey, what are you doing?”
“I’ll need this if I’m gonna take her around the mountain another way”, said Applejack.
“Around the mountain? Don’t you know how long that’s gonna take?”, asked Rainbow Dash, incredulously.
“Well it’s either that, or leaving friends behind”, said Applejack as she put the map in her satchel. “And I don’t like the second option.”
Applejack slid down the side of the cliff until she reached the bottom, she walked up to both Anguirus and Fluttershy, who was still trying to make her wings cooperate. She walked up to Anguirus.
“You can join back up with the others, Aang”, said Applejack. “We’ll be up there lickity split.”
“Oh, ok”, said Anguirus, looking a bit disappointed in himself as he walked back up the hill. As he did so, another snarl could be heard. This time, Fluttershy’s entire body froze up and she wouldn’t move a muscle. Even her face muscles didn’t make the slightest twitch. Twilight looked out toward the sky, the smoke was now starting to reach behind the horizon. Gojira noticed the worried expression on her face.
“You heard what Applejack said, we’ll meet them later down the path. Now come on, we don’t have time to waste after all”, he said. Twilight nodded as she and the rest of the group started their journey once more, hoping that Applejack and Fluttershy wouldn’t take too long.
| 1 hour later |
“Woo-hoo, I win again!”, exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Rodan stared down at the tic tac toe game they drew in the dirt with a look of disbelief.
“Oh, come on! How do you keep doing this?”, he asked. They were surrounded by several more games of tic tac toe, all of which had three circles crossed out.
“I’m telling you, she truly is the master at this game”, said Rarity as she watched the two of them play.
“Well, I’m not going to let her win this next game, and this time I’m Os”, said Rodan as he drew another game with his wing. Pinkie Pie giggled.
“Bring. It. On”, she said as they started another round.
Gojira also watched Rodan lose his thirty-fifth, soon to be thirty-sixth, game in a row. The sight of his brother being constantly upstaged by the party loving pony brought some amusement to him. He looked around to see Twilight pacing back and forth. Her expression was brimming with stressfulness which he couldn’t blame her for. Rainbow Dash was in a similar state except she was flying and instead of stress, she was very bored. He then noticed Anguirus standing near the edge of the cliff face, taking in the view. Gojira walked up to his little brother.
“Beautiful sight, isn’t it?”, asked Gojira. Angurius merely shrugged.
“I guess, it would be better if I could actually see the sun”, he replied. The two stood in silence for a few moments as Anguirus looked around. He didn’t seem to be just taking in the view, but was looking from one side of the cliff to the other. Gojira quickly realized that Anguirus wasn’t just basking in the view.
“Worried about Fluttershy and Applejack?”, asked Gojira.
“A little bit. I’ve seen Fluttershy be so easily scared before, but not like this. I mean, even the slightest noise from the mountain caused her to freeze up”, said Anguirus. Gojira nodded in understanding.
“Makes sense, some ponies just don’t know how to react to some things. Kinda like how you would freeze up during a thunderstorm when we were kids”, replied Gojira. Anguirus smiled as he recalled the memory.
“Hey, you weren’t much better”, he said as he bumped his older brother on the shoulder. The two of them shared a laugh before going back to silence. The smile that Anguirus wore quickly faded, however as his mind again started to wander back to Fluttershy. “I’m just not sure if she can handle this. What do you think?”
Gojira looked at his brother, and merely shrugged. “I don’t know, but from what Twilight says, Fluttershy could be an essential asset to this journey”, he said. “So it’s best that she does stay, even if that means we have to drag her along with us.”
Gojira could see where his brother’s worries originated from. He remembered when he acted in a similar way to Applejack during applebucking season. That was one thing that made Anguirus, Anguirus. He was constantly concerned over the wellbeing of others before his own. It was a trait that, while at times could be a bit annoying, was appreciated by both of his siblings.
As the group waited, the sound of grunting and hoof stomping could be heard. Everyone looked toward where the noise was coming from. After a few seconds, the sight of the orange farmers pony came into view as Applejack dragged along Fluttershy. In fact, dragging was underselling it. Fluttershy was still frozen stiff in the same pose she was an hour ago. It was hard to tell if Fluttershy was even breathing with how static she was. The second Applejack reached the group, she collapsed in exhaustion while breathing heavily.
“We…made…it”, she gasped out.
“Didn’t think I would stand corrected”, Gojira whispered to Anguirus.
Rainbow Dash looked over at Twilight with a blunt expression. “I told you it was gonna take them forever”, she said. Twilight couldn’t help but share her expression.
Anguirus walked over to Applejack. “How are you two feeling?”, he asked.
“Oh, ya know, feeling mighty dandy”, said Applejack with sarcasm. “She wouldn’t budge an inch, so I had to take matters into my own hooves.”
“Well, now that you’re both here, we can continue moving again”, said Twilight as she tried to assure everyone to start walking. Applejack sighed as she got ready for another long journey of hauling.
“This ain’t gonna be fun”, she muttered.
“Hey, AJ, how about I carry Fluttershy instead so you can rest”, said Anguirus. He expected her to refuse his help but instead she simply nodded.
“Sure, knock ‘urself out”, said Applejack as she started to walk away. Anguirus stood their taken aback as he watched an exhausted Applejack join with the group.
“Umm, ok”, he said. He lifted Fluttershy and placed her on his back. Fluttershy had since finally broken out of her frozen state, but now she was only mumbling and her eyes would dart around every second. Anguirus sighed as he carried Fluttershy along the trail to catch up with everyone else.
The group traveled along the path for a while. They had thankfully managed to find a trail that was much smoother than the others as well as not being as steep. This helped make up for the time they had lost from Applejack’s and Fluttershy’s miniature excursion. Speaking of the yellow pegasus, though she was no longer scared stiff, she refused to walk up the mountain by herself. So, to keep pace, both Anguirus and Applejack had to trade carrying her so one could rest their backs. Gojira looked back at the group, seeing his younger brother carry Fluttershy.
“You might be positive about bringing Fluttershy along, Twilight, but I can’t say the same”, he said, leaning down to Twilight who continued to look at the map.
“She’s fine, besides we can’t turn back now, we’re almost there”, replied Twilight.
“But look at her, she’s essentially a piece of luggage”, said Gojira, gesturing back to the barely moving pegasus.
“We’re too far up now for any of us to turn around”, said Twilight, her attention still focused on the map. “Don’t forget, we’re on a time crunch here and we can’t waste a single second. Which means, we can’t afford any more distrac-”, she was cut off when Gojira put a hoof against her chest, stopping her from moving forward.
“Hey, what are you-”, Twilight stammered, confused as to why Gojira forced her and by extension the group to stop. That was, until she lifted the map and was met with a fairly wide crevice that crossed through their path. If she had taken another step, she would’ve taken the expressway down to the bottom of the mountain. Twilight was taken aback by this and took a few steps back, while Gojira stayed still.
“You really need to start looking where you’re going”, he said. Twilight mentally grumbled.
The crevice wasn’t very wide so everyone managed to jump over just fine. That didn’t stop Rodan and Rainbow Dash trying to one up each other by jumping the gap without the help of their wings. Soon, everyone made it across, all except one. Take a guess who.
“Your turn, Fluttershy”, said Twilight. Fluttershy looked down the crevice with fear plastered on her face. She gulped at the very thought of falling in between the two cliffs. She had completely forgotten about her ability to fly by that point.
“But, it’s so…wide”, she said, clutching a nearby rock for support.
“Come on, Fluttershy. We should be much farther along by now”, said Twilight.
“It ain’t that wide, Fluttershy, you can just leap on over”, said Applejack. Fluttershy once more looked between the crevice. As she did so, however, another growl could be heard from the top of the mountain. The ground around them shook, catching everyone off guard. Fluttershy walked back until she was right up against the stone wall.
“I-I don’t know”, she said. Twilight and Applejack looked at each other, both trying to suppress a groan. Twilight hated to admit it, but she was starting to think that it would’ve been smart to leave Fluttershy behind and travel up the mountain without her. However, those thoughts were quickly dashed when Pinkie Pie bounced past them.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of!”, she said before jumping over the crevice with noticeable ease. “It’s just a jump and a hop! See?”
Just then, almost like magic - though to Gojira it was more like black magic - music could be heard coming from somewhere. The three brothers looked around only to be met with nothing to indicate where the music was coming from. Gojira looked at the main six thinking they would also be sharing the same confusion, but they seemed completely oblivious to what was happening. In fact, they looked as if it was normal. Even Fluttershy, the pony who was frightened by her own shadow, paid the music no attention. The three brothers all shared looks of disbelief, incredulity, and even a slight semblance of fear. All the while, Pinkie Pie merely sang away to her heart’s content.
“It’s not very, just move your little rump🎵”
“You can make it if you try with a hop and a jump🎵”
“We don’t have time for this”, groaned Twilight. Gojira looked toward his pegasus brother.
“Rodan-”.
“Already on it”, replied Rodan.
Spreading his wings, Rodan quickly flew to the other side of the crevice and bumped Fluttershy. Caught off guard, Fluttershy’s momentum took her several steps toward the crevice and even over it. She feared for her very life as she shut her eyes fearing for the worst. Only to find out that the crevice was barely a meter wide. Rodan’s wingspan was wider than the crevice was and yet Fluttershy was still so scared from it that she refused to take the extra steps needed to cross it. This left her in the center of the crevice with her front hooves on one side and her back hooves on the other. Rodan groaned as he put a hoof against his brow. He gave another bump while Rarity and Applejack pulled to practically force Fluttershy to the other side. The trio tumbled over each other as they landed on the other side.
“You almost had it, you just forgot to hop”, said Pinkie.
And just like that, the music quickly faded into nothing and was replaced with silence. Gojira and Anguirus looked around one last time to be sure their minds weren’t playing tricks on them. But they still found nothing. They looked at each other and shrugged.
“We’re really gonna have to get used to that”, said Anguirus.
The group had been traveling for a few hours now, but they were getting very close to the top. In the amount of time it took them, the sky had lost its bright blue color and in its place was a bleak and depressing gray. Fluffy white clouds replaced with thick, black smoke. The sun was almost entirely blocked out from the smoke, causing it to cast large amounts of shade all throughout the land. They soon made it to a part of the trail with a large, sloped cliff face on one side and a very steep drop on the other.
“Let’s keep it down. According to the map, we’re entering an avalanche zone. The smallest peep could cause a huge rock slide”, whispered Twilight. The thought of that was the last thing Fluttershy needed to hear.
“A-An a-av-ava”, she stuttered before being shushed by Twilight.
Without saying a word, Twilight motioned for the group to follow. The amount of silence was nerve racking to most, but none so to the brothers. Especially Gojira who stood at the front. Hoofsteps had the same volume as a base drum to him as he could hear every step each pony made. He could even sense the heartbeat coming from the group. Some had slow, calm rhythms, others were a bit quicker paced, but one stood out the most. A heart that sounded as though it was ready to burst from the mare’s chest. Gojira looked back to see Fluttershy frantically looking around. If the slightest noise would cause a landslide, then even something as quiet as someone breathing would’ve been enough to set off Fluttershy.
Turns out, he was thinking of something that was too loud. When Rainbow Dash passed under a tree branch, her ponytail caused a few leaves to fall from their branches and slowly fall to the ground. At least they would’ve, had a certain mare not been in the way. The leaves instead brushed against the backside of Fluttershy. Though to most this would be almost unnoticeable, for Fluttershy it was as if a bomb had gone off.
“AVALAN-!”, Fluttershy’s scream was cut short as Applejack practically shoved her hoof into her mouth. The group stood perfectly still as the noise echoed throughout the mountains. No one dared to move as the echo soon died down and silence took over. The group collectively gave a sigh of relief.
However, luck was simply not on their side. A single ponie’s sigh isn’t very loud, but when you have nine ponies that sigh all at the same time, it’s not exactly complete silence. A low crumbling sound could be heard from the top of the mountain. It slowly began to increase in volume as the very ground the group stood on started to tremble. As this happened, one small rock fell from the cliff. It bounced against the stone wall before stopping right in front of the group. Both Gojira and Twilight looked at it and then looked at the top of the cliff face, they didn’t need to say what they were both thinking.
“Run!”
Large boulders started tumbling down the cliff, barreling toward the group. No one wasted a second before they started galloping away from the danger. Boulders the size of carriages rained down on them, forcing several to perform a more zig zag route. Even Rodan and Rainbow Dash had to dodge and maneuver in the air to avoid being crushed under rocks that weighed a whole ton. One boulder barreled in front of Anguirus, forcing him to stop in his hooves. Right into the path of another oncoming boulder. Luckily for him, someone else noticed before he did.
“Aang, look out!”, exclaimed Applejack before rushing over and shoving Anguirus out of the way.
All while this was happening, Fluttershy stood in the center. She was running around and dodging boulders, but her lingering sense of fear caused her to trip over herself a few times. One time, unfortunately, when she tripped, it was in the oncoming path of a boulder that was nearly twice her size. One single look was enough to cause her to completely freeze up. She screamed before cowering into a ball and covering her eyes with her hooves. She feared the worst and didn’t want to look it straight on. The good news was, her scream didn’t go unheard.
Gojira looked behind him and saw the boulder rushing toward Fluttershy. He expected her to move, but instead she stood perfectly still and covered her eyes. The mere sight of Fluttershy’s near death filled him with something he thought he wouldn’t feel during this journey, legitimate fear. The whole reason he and his brothers were here was to protect everyone, and he wanted to ensure that. So, by pure instinct, he started running.
He dodged every boulder and rock that got in his path. The boulder was five meters away from Fluttershy and quickly closing. Dark gray scales covered his entire upper body and his amber colored eyes turned reptilian. His mane flashed a bright blue for a few moments before the same blue light appeared on his hooves and then his chest. This sudden change was enough to catch Alpha’s attention. Gojira jumped between Fluttershy and the two ton boulder, right when it was a meter away from her. Gojira planted his hooves firmly into the ground as he could feel the energy building up all across his entire body.
Gojira clenched his teeth as the boulder was now a few feet away from him. After the last of his scales formed on his body, the blue glow intensified and emitted the same sound that accompanied his atomic breath. Once his energy reached its peak, Gojira stomped his hoof and let it all out. Just like that, there was a loud crash. The boulder shattered when it was mere inches from making any kind of contact with Gojira. Nothing but gravel and soot was left behind, completely covering Gojira in it. As soon as it happened, his scales immediately retreated back into his skin and his eyes went back to normal. The blue glow that was also present quickly faded back until his natural dark skin color returned. Gojira stood there in amazement.
‘How…did you do that?’
Gojira didn’t stick around to ask, he picked Fluttershy up and put her on his back before bolting away. The avalanche had turned into a landslide as now nothing but dirt and gravel came pouring from the cliff, ready to bury anything underneath it. With a mighty leap, Gojira managed to jump out of the way just in time. Dust and debris kicked up into the air, blinding everyone. By this point, the ground stopped shaking and the noise quickly died down. The group sat and looked around, waiting a few moments in complete silence to see if there were any aftershocks. Thankfully, there were none. The avalanche had finally ended, leaving everyone disoriented, flabbergasted, filthy, but thankful to be alive with minor injuries.
“Everybody okay?”, Applejack called out. She got several groans and coughs in response.
“Yeah, thanks to you, I am”, said Anguirus. “You just saved my life.” Applejack smiled before giving him a bump in the shoulder.
“Like I said, I don’t leave friends behind. Besides, consider it payment for helping me with the farm”, she joked.
Surprisingly, despite almost dying, Pinkie Pie’s smile was practically unscathed as she bounced in place. “Let’s do it again!”, she exclaimed.
In return, she got a face full of dust from Rarity as she tried to clean herself off. “This is why a girl always packs extra accessories”, she said before pulling a scarf out of her satchel. “Oh, please tell me I packed the tiara that goes with this.”
Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, surprised to find out that she hadn’t been crushed by the boulder. She at first thought she was in heaven, until the sight of the mountain and the smoke filled sky proved otherwise. But what surprised her most was that she was currently on the back of Gojira with him covered in debris. In fact, out of everyone, he seemed to be both the most filthy and the most unharmed. She tried to say something until she was let down by Gojira.
“You good?”, he asked.
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine”, Fluttershy replied. She looked up at the massive wall of dirt and crushed stone that was now blocking their path. Worst of all, she knew who was to blame for this.
“I’m so sorry”, she said, weekly.
“Oh, no big whoop sugarcube”, said Applejack in a comforting voice.
“Yeah, we’ll just have to…climb over”, said Twilight with a sigh.
Several members of the group showed minor vexation toward the major inconvenience they now had to deal with, but decided to not say anything about it in pity of Fluttershy. All except Rainbow Dash who showed both visible and audible signs of annoyance.
The rest of the journey was very bare. No one said anything, no one looked at anything, but they all wanted this to be over. Fluttershy especially remained quiet. Although there was still a sense of fear in her, there was also a large amount of guilt and sadness. She had been more so an obstacle for her friends. She had to be carried by Applejack and Anguirus, she refused to cross a meter wide gap, and she was the cause of the avalanche that almost got her and her friends killed. She had contributed the least out of anyone else throughout this entire journey. She felt nothing but shame.
Rainbow Dash took a glance at Fluttershy before flying down to Twilight. “Still think it was a good idea to bring Fluttershy along?”, she asked.
“Time to find out”, Twilight replied. She looked up from the map, but she wasn’t looking at Rainbow Dash.
After several hours of climbing and facing near death experiences, the group had finally made it to the top. A large cave entrance greeted them at the top with an ominous deep purple glow emitting from it. But the most eye-catching detail was the large plume of smoke that was pouring out from the inside of the cave. If there was any doubt that this wasn’t the cave had quickly vanished once the rest of the group caught up.
“We’re here”, said Twilight.
“Ok, so, what’s the plan now? Ring the doorbell and see who answers?”, asked Rodan.
“No, you and Rainbow Dash will use your wings to clear the smoke”, answered Twilight. Rainbow Dash immediately took to the sky with Rodan following after.
“Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you two will create a diversion to distract the dragon if things get a little hairy in there”, said Twilight. Pinkie Pie smiled as she pulled a rubber chicken out from…essentially nowhere. Even Rarity and Twilight were caught off guard by this. Twilight just shook her head and continued.
“Applejack and Anguirus, be ready with the apples in case he decides to attack”, she said.
“What apples?”, asked Anguirus.
“These apples!”, exclaimed Applejack. Just then, two apples came flying right in front of Anguirus’ face before splattering against a nearby tree. He looked over to Applejack who wore a confident smirk.
“Where does that leave me?”, asked Gojira.
“You will join me and Fluttershy in the cave. She’ll do what she needs to do to wake him up and between her, me, and you, we should be able to get him to understand why he needs to go”, said Twilight.
Everyone nodded in unison, except for one. Fluttershy had been dreading this moment since they started traveling up the mountain. Now she was mere moments away from coming face to face with a creature more than ten times her size. The only thing that was larger than it was the amount of fear that she felt. Anguirus saw the frightened look on Fluttershy, he could see where this was going. However, either Twilight didn’t notice or chose to ignore it as she looked over everyone.
“Is everypony ready?”, she asked. Everyone gave signs of approval, at least almost everyone. “Alright, we’re going in.” Twilight strode toward the entrance of the cave with confidence, only to take a few steps forward before being stopped by Gojira when he tugged on her tail. “What the, what are you waiting for?”, she asked.
“Uhh, our ace in the hole has her head in a hole”, said Gojira.
Twilight looked behind Gojira and this time even she couldn’t repress a groan. Fluttershy had buried her head in the dirt like that of an ostrich and was refusing to come out. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, even Applejack tried, but none could make her move. Both Gojira and Twilight looked at each other with lowered brows and annoyed eyes. This was the last straw. Gojira walked up and forced Fluttershy’s head out of the dirt.
“Fluttershy, this is getting old”, said Gojira in his monotone voice. “We have to get inside that cave, now!” He received no reply.
“Fluttershy come on, every second we wait out here is another acre of Equestria that is covered in smoke”, said Twilight. Even she tried pushing Fluttershy, but got the same outcome as everyone else.
“I…I can’t go in the cave”, Fluttershy finally said. She got several groans, annoyed looks, and several ponies putting their hooves to their brows.
“Oh great, she’s scared of caves now too”, said Rainbow Dash.
“It’s not caves I’m scared of”, said Fluttershy in a voice that was more of a whisper. “I’m scared of…of…”, she trailed off, almost too afraid to finish her sentence.
“What’s that, sugarcube?”, asked Applejack.
“I’m…scared of…”
“What?”, asked Twilight.
“Of…”
“She’s scared of dragons”, said Angurius. Just then, there was another dragon growl which caught everyone’s attention. Not only that, but a large puff of smoke was shot out from the entrance of the cave, almost blinding everyone. When it cleared, Fluttershy was found cowering behind Applejack with her eyes covered and her tail wrapped around her.
“But Fluttershy, you have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals”, said Twilight.
“Yes, because they’re not dragons”, said Fluttershy, her voice a bit muffled as she refused to look up.
“Oh come on, you’ve come face to face with a manticore and we’re completely fine then”, said Rainbow Dash. “Hay, what about Spike? He’s a dragon and you interact with him almost everyday.”
Fluttershy came out from behind Applejack. “Yes, because he’s not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth gnashing, sharp skill having, horn wearing, smoke snoring, could eat you in one bite, totally all grown up-”.
“Ok, we get it, you hate dragons”, said Rodan, interrupting Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, if you’re so scared of dragons, why didn’t you say anything about it?”, asked Twilight.
“I was afraid to”, replied Fluttershy. Gojira and Rodan managed to resist the urge to sigh. Rainbow Dash however didn’t even try to hide her annoyance.
“All of us are scared of the dragon”, said Applejack as she helped Fluttershy up.
“Speak for yourself”, gloated Rodan.
“Yeah, I’m not scared”, added Rainbow Dash. Applejack just rolled her eyes at the two of them.
“Almost all of us are scared of that dragon, but we’ve got a job to do”, she said. “So get in there with Twilight and Goji and show not just them, but the rest of us what you’re made of!”
Fluttershy looked at all her friends, all having looks of reassurance and support. She appreciated Applejack’s efforts to help her overcome her fears and how everyone seemed to understand how she felt. But said fear was still far too large for her to grasp. She could still imagine the sight of the large, scaly beast either ripping her apart or eating her alive. A thought that would’ve caused her to go pale had she not been in front of everyone. She tried to give herself the same confidence that everyone else had, the same bravery that they had. But in the end, she was too scared to.
“I…I…I can’t”, said Fluttershy as she lowered her head in shame. Everyone’s smiles faded to looks of disappointment.
Without another word, Fluttershy turned toward the direction they came from before walking back down the path. She tried her best to hide her face of defeat and to hold back tears. Her friends had been so patient with her throughout the whole trip and even tried to support her when she mentioned her fears. But it was all in vain as even with the help of her friends, Fluttershy simply couldn’t shake her fears. Without another word, she walked down the mountain, leaving her friends behind. There was now no point of her being there if she was just gonna make things harder like she had done before. Everyone watched as the rose mane pegasus became almost invisible, some wanted to chime in but knew that it was now pointless. Fluttershy had made up her mind and there was no changing it.
“So, do we continue without her?”, asked Rodan.
“We have to, we don’t have time to contemplate about this”, replied Twilight.
“Yeah, if Fluttershy wants to leave then that’s her choice”, said Rainbow Dash. “At least now we won’t have to deal with her being scared of something dumb like leaves.”
“So we’re just gonna let her walk home by herself?”, asked Anguirus. No one answered him, except for one.
“No, we’re not”, said Gojira. He then started to walk toward the path they came from.
“Hey, where are you going?”, asked Twilight.
“Heading back down the mountain with Fluttershy”, replied Gojira. Some of the ponies looked surprised except Rodan who felt he should’ve known this was coming.
“Why? Don’t tell me you’re scared of that dragon too”, said Rainbow Dash, flying above Gojira. Gojira simply waved her off.
“Not in the slightest, but somepony has to make sure that she gets down there safely, and I’m the best for the job”, said Gojira. “I’ll bring her back home and then come back up here to help.”
“Are you sure? I’d imagine that would kill your hooves, darling”, replied Rarity.
“I’ll be fine, as Twilight said, there’s no time to argue about this”, said Gojira. “I’ll be back up here before you know it.” He quickly walked over to his younger brothers. “Stay safe, and whatever you do, don’t piss him off…Rodan”, said Gojira.
“Hey, it’s part of my nature, I can’t help it”, retorted Rodan. Before anyone could say anything, Gojira started his journey back down the mountain to rejoin Fluttershy. Twilight watched as he walked away. Though she was a bit upset to see him go, both because they had now lost two ponies and she would have to travel inside the cave alone, she knew she couldn’t chicken out now.
“Well alright then, I’ll just…go in alone”, said Twilight before slowly walking inside the cave to confront the dragon. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous even a little, but she decided to keep that fear hidden. Applejack turned back toward both Rodan and Anguirus.
“I gotta admit, it is mighty kind of your brother to join Fluttershy in heading back home”, she said. Rodan merely scoffed.
“That’s just who Gojira is. He’s constantly putting others before himself”, said Rodan as he looked back at where his older brother was. “There’s a reason why that stallion was willing to fight Nightmare Moon, because he wanted to.”
Gojira trotted down the same path that he and the group had traveled up on. As he had expected, it didn’t take long until he soon came across Fluttershy who walked slowly along the trail. He at first wanted to speak up, until he noticed her expression. Gojira could sense the presence of negativity coming from Fluttershy, but it wasn’t in the sense of spite or depression, but rather disappointment. Her wings hung down, her ponytail almost dragged against the gravel path, and her head drooped at an angle that made her seem almost oblivious to the world around her. If there was one word that could describe her, it was sadness.
Gojira followed her until the landslide where Fluttershy stopped. She took a long look at it, the event that had nearly got all her friends killed which she had caused. It was an accident, however that did very little to boost her morale. Fluttershy didn’t even try to fly over it, she instead took a heavy breath before starting to slowly climb over it. As she did so, one of the rocks she stepped on gave way causing her to lose her balance. She would’ve fallen, had Gojira not been there to catch her by grabbing onto her wing. He pulled Fluttershy back on her hooves, who was surprised to see her.
“G-Gojira!?”, she exclaimed. “What are you do-”, Gojira put a hoof over her mouth to keep her quiet.
“Let’s try to not cause another avalanche”, said Gojira before removing his hoof.
“Shouldn’t you be back up with the others?”, asked Fluttershy.
“I came down here to bring you back to your home, and by the looks of things, that was the right call”, replied Gojira.
“Oh, n-no, no, you didn’t have to do that. I can go by myself”, said Fluttershy. Gojira gave her a blunt expression, even Fluttershy knew that wasn’t true.
“Though, if you wanna help me then that’s fine”, she said shyly.
The two climbed over the rest of the landslide before walking down the other side on much more level ground. They stayed mostly silent until they reached what they assumed was a safer part of the trail. As they walked, Fluttershy’s mind went back to her friends. Her frown returned and she started to slow her pace. Gojira soon noticed this and slowed down as well.
“You alright Fluttershy?”, he asked.
“Huh, oh yes, I’m fine”, said Fluttershy. “It’s just…have you ever been afraid, Gojira?”
Gojira shrugged. “Not really, I don’t fear much of anything, at least nothing I can think of off the top of my head”, he said.
“Sounds really nice. Not having to be scared of everything”, said Fluttershy as she sighed. “If only I was as brave as you were, then I wouldn’t have to worry about silly things like heights, or darkness, or needles, or wind, or loud noises, or even drag-”, the sound of a snarl coming from the top of the mountain caused Fluttershy to jump and hide behind Gojira. Once it ended, Gojira turned to face her.
“Dragons?”, he asked.
She planted her face into her hooves with shame. “Why do I have to be such a coward”, she said in a muffled voice.
They both had stopped walking as Fluttershy hid her face from Gojira. He could tell that she was trying to hold back tears. Gojira felt sympathy toward the yellow pegasus since she seemed greatly upset over herself. Fluttershy had been scared by some of the smallest occurrences which had led to some of the whole group’s biggest obstacles. She had wasted time, slowed their progress down to a crawl, forced others to carry her up the mountain, and even nearly got all her friends killed all because she was too afraid to confront her fears. Fluttershy started to wonder; was the dragon their biggest problem, or was it her. As she sat down and wept, Gojira watched her unsure on what to say.
‘She’s being very hard on herself. Almost as though she has forgotten what being afraid truly means.’
Gojira sighed before sitting down next to Fluttershy. “You know, I’d hate to admit it, but there have been times when I’ve been scared”, he said.
Fluttershy’s ears twitched as she lifted her head. “What do you mean?”, she asked. “I’ve never seen you scared of anything. Not even something as scary as Nightmare Moon.”
“Sure I may have looked brave at that moment, but truth was, I was just as scared as you all probably were”, Gojira admitted. “The thought of my brothers living in a world where they would live in constant terror genuinely scared me. The thought of me being unable to save either Caesar or Twilight genuinely scared me. The thought of all of Equestria being taken over by the hooves of a dictator that I couldn’t stop genuinely scared me.”
Gojira took a deep breath as he could feel his emotions rising. “However, as long as there’s muscles in my bones and a beating in my heart, I’ll never stop fighting until I’m on death’s door”, said Gojira. “Nothing is going to stop me from protecting the ones I love, even if that means facing my greatest fears head on.”
Gojira stood up while Fluttershy stayed seated. “What I’m trying to say is that fear is simply natural. There’s not a single pony in this world that’s not afraid of something”, said Gojira. “But it’s also necessary to ensure a better future for not just ourselves but those we care about. It’s fear that causes us to not do big things, but rather the right ones.”
Fluttershy looked at Gojira as if he had just restated the entire bible by memory. His words played through her mind as she stood up on her hooves. Her wings which once hung loosely now stood upright. Her ponytail now perked up. Even her expression was starting to show signs of color again as she lightly smiled.
“Thanks Gojira”, said Fluttershy. “But what about the others, you sure they’ll be fine?”
Gojira looked back up at the peak of the mountain. “Fairly certain they will be, just as long as they don’t anger that overgrown reptile with wings”, he said. Though he was joking, there was a large amount of irony that would soon come.
Before the two could start their journey once more, they heard another snarl come from the dragon. But this one was much louder than the previous and much longer. So much so that the ground started to shake. Some boulders fell from the upper part of the mountain right toward both Gojira and Fluttershy. They both stared in shock as the massive pieces of rock tumbled toward them.
“Look out!”, cried Gojira before shoving Fluttershy out of the way.
They narrowly avoided the massive boulders as they plowed through the rocks that were on the other side of the trail. As both Gojira and Fluttershy regained their footing, a loud roar could be heard coming from the top of the mountain. Large puffs and streams of smoke shot out like a cannon as the smell of ash and soot became all the more potent. Fluttershy stared up with horror, whatever her friends had done, they had managed to anger the dragon. Just then, she heard the stomping of hooves and looked over toward Gojira, only to see him galloping back up the mountain.
“Gojira!?”, she called out.
“Stay here and stay safe! I’ll be back!”, Gojira yelled back. He turned around and raced back up the path, leaving Fluttershy behind.
The sound of the dragon’s roars, the sight of the massive clouds of smoke, and the thought of what that thing could be doing to her friends filled Fluttershy with incredible amounts of…fear. She watched as Gojira ran back up the mountain. Her friends were more than likely in extreme danger and she was just sitting there because of her fear. She wanted to run away, but she also wanted to help her friends. It was as if two halves of her body wanted different things and neither would agree with each other.
| Few Minutes Earlier |
Rodan grumbled as he watched Pinkie Pie walk into the cave clad in several pieces of cartoonish clothing such as goofy glasses, a present costume, and several balloons tied to her flank. They had each thrown their hat into the ring of trying to get the dragon to move, but nothing had worked. Twilight tried to convince him to leave the cave only to get smoke blown in her face. Rarity tried to woo the dragon into moving and even lending her some of its valuables. However she got too greedy and ended up being kicked out once the dragon knew what she was really trying to do. And from the sound of a loud bang, it was safe to say that Pinkie had just as much luck as everyone else had. She walked out with all except one of her balloons popped, her glasses missing their lenses, and her present costume torn in half.
“Apparently he doesn’t like laughing…or sharing”, said Pinkie. Rodan placed a hoof to his brow as he groaned.
“For Celestia’s sake”, he whispered before propping his head up. “Does anypony else want a crack at getting this dragon to move his rear? Anypony? Only two bits a pop.” Right when he said that, the last remaining balloon on Pinkie Pie popped.
“I’ll do it”, said Rainbow Dash as she stretched her wings. “It’s about time I give this cigar with wings a piece of my mind.” She was about to take off, before Applejack stopped her.
“Hold your horses, Sugarcube. We don’t wanna antagonize that thing, else we wanna be its next meal”, said Applejack.
“Oh come on, AJ. We’ve tried persuasion, charm… whatever it is Pinkie Pie did, but now it’s time to stop wasting time”, said Rainbow Dash.
“Applejack is right, Rainbow Dash”, said Anguirus as he walked up. “The last thing we want to do is come off as a threat to him.”
Immediately after Anguirus finished his sentence, the sound of the dragon’s snarl filled the air. Everyone directed their attention to the entrance of the cave as the snarl quickly faded. Just then, large rings of smoke were shot out of the cave. He blew a total of seven of them before stopping. Each ring floated toward each member of the group before dissipating into nothing. At first it seemed fairly unnatural, until the sudden realization of what the dragon did hit everyone like a swinging log. The dragon was mocking them. It was making fun of the repeated failures they each had in trying to make it move. It had found amusement in their vain attempts and wanted the group to know that. Once that fact settled in, Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth in anger. She flapped her wings heavily before launching into the air.
“That’s it!”, she shouted. In the blink of an eye, Rainbow Dash bolted inside the cave.
“Wait! Rainbow Dash no!”, exclaimed Twilight.
“I’ll get her”, said Rodan as he chased after her. The two pegasus flew into the cave as Rodan tried to talk Rainbow Dash out of it, but Rainbow Dash refused to listen. Their speed caught the dragon’s attention as Rainbow Dash flew up to his face.
“Rainbow Dash!”, shouted Rodan. “Maybe we should-”
“Get out!”, exclaimed Rainbow Dash before kicking the dragon in the snout.
Rodan looked at Rainbow Dash as if she had signed their tickets to Tarturas. The dragon stood motionless for a few seconds before flaring its nostrils and rearing its head back. Both Rodan and Rainbow Dash thought it was about to let loose a torrent of fire, until the dragon blew a large puff of smoke out of his nose from a sneeze. The three beings stood in silence for a few seconds, neither Rodan nor Rainbow Dash wanted to know what the dragon would do next. Unfortunately for them, it was exactly what they didn’t want to happen. The dragon glared at them with its sharp teeth clenched as an ominous growl purred from its lips. Rainbow Dash smiled weakly as her ears lowered.
“Hehe…sorry”, she said. Rodan glared at her shortly after.
The dragon opened its mouth wide as he let loose a loud roar, right in the face of the two pegasus. Both Rodan and Rainbow Dash ended up being shot out of the cave from the sheer force of the roar. Rainbow Dash barreled past the other members of the group who jumped out of her way. Rodan landed just outside the cave as Anguirus ran up to his brother.
“What happened?”, he asked, frantically.
“We got him to move for one”, replied Rodan.
The sound of stomping filled the air as the two brothers looked above him to see a massive red fist looming over them. In the matter of a second, Rodan pushed Anguirus out of the way right before the fist almost slammed down on them. The dragon stepped out from his cave and stood to its full height of fifty feet. Its long neck acted as a snake as it reared up to tower over all members of the group. The dragon released another roar that was followed by a massive torrent of smoke. Though not as powerful as fire, the smoke was enough to push back most of the group. Before the dragon could close in on its prey, it felt a pair of hooves deliver a blow to its snout.
“Hey! How’s it going King Koopa”, said Rodan.
The dragon snapped its jaws at Rodan, who managed to fly out of the way. The dragon tried again to swipe at him, similar to how one would try to kill a fly. But Rodan was too small and mobile for it to hit. The dragon blew smoke at Rodan, blinding him and thus causing him to stop moving. Rodan’s emblem flashed as he took his sunglasses off to see through the smoke. However, the only thing he saw was the tail that was careening towards him.
‘Rodan! Look out!’
Rodan barely had enough to cover his body in scales as the tail collided with him. He was sent flying to the ground before landing against a large rock which cracked and crumbled after his impact. The group watched in shock and horror as the dragon smiled. Rodan’s emblem flashed again as the scales disappeared and his eyes went back to normal, but nevertheless he struggled to stand back up.
“Rodan!”, shouted Anguirus before running toward him.
The dragon now had a choice of what meal it should go after first. Would it be either the annoying red stallion and his brother or the larger group of scared mares. It looked back toward Rodan and Anguirus who seemed to be easy pickings. It lowered its head and opened its jaws while smoke rose from its nostrils. Anguirus watched in horror as the dragon approached them, fearing the worst to happen while the main six stood off to the side, unable to do anything. Luckily for him and Rodan, something or other someone else caught the dragon’s attention. A large rock the size of a fridge collided with the dragon’s head causing him to retract his neck back and stand up right.
“Hey, Lizard Lips! Leave my brothers alone!”, shouted a voice. A voice that both Anguirus and Rodan recognized immediately.
“The son of a bitch”, muttered Rodan.
From behind the shattered boulder jumped out Gojira who stood with sheer anger in his eyes as he glared at the creature. He was breathing heavily from having both run up a mountain and throwing a rock that weighed half a ton, and yet he seemed more than ready to fight an entire dragon by himself. The members of the main six were in complete shock, they thought Gojira was back at the bottom of the mountain by now. Though the dragon was taken a bit aback by the presence of Gojira, to him at least, he was the exact same as all the other ponies. Gojira glanced back at his younger brothers.
“Are you two alright?”, he asked.
“What do you think?”, replied Rodan as stood up with the help of Anguirus. Gojira looked back at the menace.
“You two go join the others, I’ll distract him”, he said.
“What?!”, exclaimed Anguirus. “But that thing’s like ten times your height, you’ll be kil-”.
“Just go!”, shouted Gojira.
With the dragon coming closer, there wasn’t any time to dispute. Both Rodan and Anguirus galloped toward where the rest of the group was. The dragon was about to follow them, until it felt a sharp sting in its tail. It looked down to see that Gojira had bitten down on its tail and had somehow managed to cause an ounce of pain. The dragon growled before turning its full attention on what was becoming the most aggravating thing it had ever laid eyes on. It bent down until it was at eye level with Gojira who, despite being barely the size of one of the dragon’s toes, didn’t even back down an inch. The dragon let out a sharp growl thinking that would scare Gojira, but he refused to budge. He growled even louder, but still Gojira didn’t even flinch.
With each one of its nerves broken, the dragon reared its head back before letting loose a thunderous roar. As it did so, a large stream of smoke shot out of its mouth with the force of a shotgun blast. The smoke completely engulfed Gojira, obscuring him from sight of anyone. The group feared the worst had happened as they watched with looks of horror.
“Gojira!”, exclaimed Twilight.
After a few seconds, the dragon cut off his roar and smoke stopped billowing from his mouth. The entire left side of the mountain peak was covered in smoke, not even the stone ground could be seen. The dragon stared down with a snarl look on its face, thinking it had finally ridden off the mosquito of a pony. Most of the group started with looks of anxiousness over the fate of their friend. Anguirus was part of that majority, however Rodan wasn’t. He knew exactly what happened to Gojira, he was trying to show off.
As the smoke started to clear, the dragon which had stood fearless and triumphant was now flabbergasted and astonished. Once the smoke had finally settled, Gojira stood in the same spot before seemingly having moved not even an inch. He was covered in soot, his mane was a mess, and yet his glare didn’t falter a little. If anything, he seemed even more pissed than before. He took one step forward, almost challenging the dragon to come at him. The group stood to the side and they all had a similar expression that the dragon had. All except Rodan who couldn’t help but smile.
“H-How did he…”, said Rarity.
“Don’t you remember, he’s a stubborn bastard”, said Rodan.
The dragon shook his head in defiance before putting on a face full of anger. This mere stallion legitimately thought that he could tussle with a creature that was twice the height of a house. The dragon slammed its tail on the ground as it approached Gojira. It bent down to his eye level and let out an ear piercing growl. The same intimidating noise that terrified other ponies, barely even made Gojira flinch as he returned with a growl of his own. He showed off his sharp teeth which looked to be comparable to the dragons. The two stared each other down for what felt like an eternity and surprisingly, it seemed like Gojira was winning. The dragon’s eyes started to twitch and it was taking heavy breaths of air. Despite the dragon visibly becoming more upset, Gojira refused to back down. He took another step forward, tempting fate.
“Is that all you got?”, he asked.
The dragon’s glare faltered for a second. This pony, this mere critter, had the guts to try and intimidate a creature that could kill him in countless ways. And the dragon hated to admit it, but it was kinda working. Only for a short while until the dragon’s brow furrowed and it rose up to its full height. It let out a beastly roar that could be heard from miles away. Smoke billowed from its mouth but with several sparks and even the occasional puff of flame. It raised its clawed fist high into the air, clenching it so hard that an audible pop could be heard. And yet, despite what some would consider to be one of the most terrifying sights for a pony, Gojira refused to even blink. The other ponies watched in horror, knowing what the dragon was about to do.
“Goji, watch out!”, cried Anguirus.Right before the dragon could slam its fist on what had been its most irritating appetizer, another distraction was quick to follow.
“How dare you!”, cried a voice. The dragon’s ear twitched as it and the whole group turned to see where the voice had come from. To everyone’s surprise, it had come from the most timid of them all.
“Listen here, mister”, shouted Fluttershy as she flew and landed on the dragon’s snout. “Just because you’re big, doesn’t mean you get to be a bully! You may have large teeth, sharp scales, snore smoke, and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat, do NOT! HURT! MY! FRIENDS!”
The whole group stared at Fluttershy as if she had punched the dragon right in the face. Even Gojira couldn’t help but drop his glare for a pair of wide eyes. The pony who early said that she was terrified over the mere mention of a dragon was now staring it directly in the eye and given the first and biggest lecture of its entire life.
“Got that?”, asked Fluttershy in a strict tone. “Well?..” The dragon whimpered like a dog, not wanting to say anything, but Fluttershy’s gaze didn’t let up. After a few seconds, the dragon eventually…
“But…the rainbow one kicked me.”
A chorus of jaws dropping like anvils filled the air. Throughout all of this, the dragon could speak and in a tone that made Gojira’s deep voice seem like child’s play. With her name having been brought up and with her being partially to blame for the whole fiasco, Rainbow Dash stayed respectfully silent.
“Yes, and I am very sorry about that, but you’re much bigger than she is and you should know better”, said Fluttershy, putting on a softer tone of voice. “You should also know better than to take a nap when your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures.”
The dragon seemed legitimately remorseful and even guilty for it had done. “But I-”.
“Don’t you ‘but I’ me, mister”, interrupted Fluttershy. “Now, what do you have to say for yourself?”
The dragon looked around. The sky he had blocked out from his snoring. The cliff face he had destroyed from his strength. The many ponies he had terrified from his anger. He had done nothing but cause harm, and it took a small pegasus to make him realize that. With pent up emotions he never felt before, the dragon burst into tears. The group watched the dragon’s breakdown, some were happy, others felt bad for it, one was Rodan wondering how Pinkie managed to pull an umbrella hat out of nowhere.
“There, there, no need to cry”, said Fluttershy now with a motherly tone. “You’re not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. Now, go pack your things and find somewhere else to sleep, that’s all.”
The dragon, wiping his tears, nodded and stomped back inside the cave to collect his belongings. Fluttershy’s words replayed in his mind as he gathered all of his possessions. After trying knowledge, persuasion, humor, and even force, all it took was a matter of discipline for something as large as a dragon to finally see the error of his ways. With that, the dragon took to the skies, leaving the mountains of Equestria behind.
With the dragon gone, the group ran up to Fluttershy. The mane six showered her with praise and congratulation, making the rose mane pegasus smile and feel truly proud of herself. As that happened, both Rodan and Anguirus walked up to Gojira.
“How does it feel having your thunder stolen by Fluttershy?”, asked Rodan. Gojira merely scoffed.
“I don’t care about that”, he said as he looked over toward Fluttershy. “I’m just glad that this is all over. Besides, how are you feeling, that was a pretty hard hit you took.”
“I’m fine, I’ve been through worse”, replied Rodan. He tried to flex his wing to prove it, only to feel a major sting from it. “It’s just a scratch.”
“Are we just gonna ignore what happened? I mean, our brother stood up to a dragon!”, exclaimed Anguirus, with excitement in his voice.
“Pfft, it was nothing, really”, replied Gojira.
“You kidding, name me one other pony who has ever done that?”, asked Rodan. Gojira thought about it for a second. “Exactly, you really need to start giving yourself more credit.”
As the three brothers talked amongst themselves, they didn’t notice the pair of purple eyes watching them. Twilight saw them sharing a laugh about the event that had just occurred. More specifically, she was looking at the one who was at the center of their discussion. She already thought Gojira was insane to fight Nightmare Moon, but she had no idea that he was crazy enough to face off against a dragon. There was something about him and the three of them as a whole that she couldn’t shake her mind off.
“Looks like you fellers got quite the workout for y’all”, said Applejack as she spoke to Rainbow Dash. She gestured to the large amount of smoke in the air.
“Oh please, we’ll have all that clear in less than an hour”, said Rainbow Dash.
“Then what are we doing staying up here?”, asked Rodan.
With the crisis of Equestria being engulfed in smoke now averted, both the main six and the three brothers started their descent back down the mountain. None happier than Fluttershy, the sense of fear she had coming up the mountain had all but vanished; she almost seemed like a completely different pony. As the group traveled down, however, they hadn’t noticed that there was another dragon present on the mountain peak. He had wound up there by chance and decided to stay and watch the event unfold. Primarily after he saw one of the ponies withstand the smoke filled roar from the much larger dragon. He had a slight hunch that maybe, just maybe, there was something more than meets the eye. It was a hunch that Griffon had to think about before letting his lord know.
‘Dear Princess Celestia, I’m happy to report that the dragon has departed from our fair country and that it was my good friend Fluttershy who convinced him to go. This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends. They can be an amazing source of strength and can help you overcome even your greatest fears…’
It was nearing nightfall when Twilight returned to the Golden Oaks Library. Since Spike was exhausted from taking care of Fluttershy’s animals, Twilight allowed him to rest early while she wrote her daily letter to Celestia. As she did so, however, she couldn’t shake her mind off of what had actually happened today. The sight of Gojira standing firm against something as dangerous as a dragon was one she couldn’t stop replaying in her mind. Fluttershy did the same, but through discipline and sternness. Gojira did it through sheer intimidation and fearlessness. And in many ways, it worked. He had managed to strike a nerve into the beast, just by standing.
That thought had started a cavalcade of other memories. From when she had first arrived at Ponyville all the way to the present day, Twilight had seen Gojira pull off things that she couldn’t say any other average pony could ever do. However, all of these instances weren’t without purpose. Whether it was for the main six or his brothers, Gojira had thrown himself into danger for a reason. He had even saved Twilight from almost falling to her death twice now. The stallion that she first met who was tall and looked to be menacing was starting to slowly fade into obscurity. Twilight looked back at her letter, perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad if it was a bit longer than usual.
‘…one such friend is Gojira Zawa. I’ve failed to mention him or either of his brothers, Angurius and Rodan Zawa, up until now but after what just happened, today is no better time to do so. They have been by our side throughout each and every one of our journeys and adventures, providing their strength, support, and insight. No matter how big or small the task may be, they’ve always been willing to provide their aid. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t at first intimidated by Gojira, but after a while I’ve come to think that perhaps there’s more under that gruff exterior. More than I could have ever guessed. As always, your student, Twilight Sparkle.’
Twilight finished the letter before wrapping it up into a scroll. She laid it on the table, deciding to send the letter first thing in the morning. She walked upstairs and into her room, preparing for bed. She had been thinking about how she viewed Gojira, but today she decided that he was someone she’d be willing to call a friend. A true one at that.
Meanwhile, the three brothers were preparing for bed in their own residence. They’ve each had dinner and we’re preparing to head to each of their rooms. Rodan stretched his wings, one being wrapped in bandages, as he let out a yawn.
“Alright, I’m all ready to hit the hay”, said Rodan.
“You can say that again”, said Anguirus.
“But don’t let today deter either of you, tomorrow will be business as usual which means we’re still gonna wake up early for morning training sessions”, said Gojira. As he anticipated, there was a mighty groan from Rodan.
“Come on, bro. Can’t I get a pass for this”, asked Rodan, gesturing to his bandaged wing.
“I’ve had to train with a busted leg, you can do it with a busted wing”, replied Gojira.
“I mean, I guess you’re right”, said Anguirus. “But can’t tomorrow be some kind of rest day or something? We’ve been training for several months now.”
“Yeah, and we’ll be needing every single one of those months. You both know how Caesar would feel if we so much as thought about skipping a day”, said Gojira.
“But I’m gonna need a new pair of shades. My eyes will probably burn if I go outside in the sun without them”, said Rodan.
Gojira put a hoof to his temple and let out a sigh. “Come on guys, we all know we can’t waste even a day. Caesar says that the darkest day could happen any time”, he said. “For all we know, that day could be tomorrow. Nevertheless, we have to be ready for any-”. Just then, Gojira’s emblem flashed as Alpha formed from his mane.
‘We can discuss this more tomorrow. We can all agree that we had a busy day so the best any of us could ask for is a good night’s rest.’
Rodan looked relieved. “This guy just read my mind”, he said before heading up the stairs to his room. “Goodnight everyone.”
“Ok, goodnight Gojira”, said Anguirus before following after his older brother. Gojira was about to join them, until Alpha floated in front of him.
‘Outside, I need to talk to you.’
“What do you mean? Talk about what?”, asked Gojira.
‘It’s about something important, but I’d like to speak about it in private.’
Alpha’s more urgent tone caught Gojira’s attention. Whatever it was that needed to be said, it must have been more personal to him rather than all of his brothers. So Gojira willingly walked out to the back of the house until he was in their usual training grounds. Once he was confident that both Anguirus and Rodan couldn’t hear him, Gojira turned his focus back toward Alpha.
“Alright, what is it you want to speak about?”, he asked. Alpha floated for a few seconds as he looked Gojira dead in the eyes.
‘Gojira…what you did today was very stupid.’ Just like that, any hope that this would be serious was completely lost for a few seconds. ‘You had specifically told your brothers to not upset the dragon, only for you to do the exact thing that you warned your brothers to not do. You even knew what you were doing was very reckless. You could’ve gotten yourself killed.’
Gojira had to really try to not roll his eyes. “Are you serious? Is that why you wanted me to come out here, just to ridicule me?”, he asked. “Somepony had to stand up against that thing and no pony seemed willing to-”
‘I’m not finished.’ Alpha’s voice had now taken on a more subtle tone rather than the lecturing one he had a few moments ago. ‘While your actions may have been questionable, your reasoning was pure. Even despite being horribly outclassed by an opponent, you still jumped in between it and those you cared about. There are very few ponies in this world that would be willing to do something like that.’
Gojira looked at Alpha as he recalled the events of the mountain journey. “Well, it wasn’t much, but I guess-”
‘Not only that, but your conversation with Fluttershy gave her the confidence to overcome her fears. If not for that, she probably wouldn’t have had the courage to speak to the beast. In some way, you are to thank for the outcome of this journey. And I want you to know that I am indeed impressed with just how far you’ve come.’
Gojira felt unsure on how to react. “Gee…umm, thanks. I guess when you put it like that-”
‘Which is why we shall start the next phase of your training.’
Gojira stood there, at first thinking if he had heard Alpha’s words correctly. As far as he knew, there were only two phases in their training. Those being the basics which they had been stuck on for most of their life and merging which was far more advanced. If he had managed to master the basics, then that would leave…
“Y-You mean”, stuttered Gojira.
‘Gojira Zawa…it’s time. For many years you have shown bravery, leadership skills, selflessness, courage, determination, and above all else, resilience. You have demonstrated that you no longer need to take baby steps and that it’s now time to take the final leap. It’s time to learn about merging.’
Gojira stood in disbelief, unsure of what to say. “B-But, I can’t be ready. There’s so much that I haven’t taken into account for. I haven’t even learned how to do the nuclear pulse”, said Gojira.
‘You already have. Back on the mountain during the avalanche, you managed to pull off a short range nuclear pulse that could destroy an entire boulder twice your size. And the reason why you could was because you allowed the energy to spread evenly throughout your body without overthinking. You let it happen naturally in a short span of time. Why’d you do that? Because someone was in danger and you knew you had to help them. You didn’t think, you just did.’
Alpha floated down to Gojira’s eye level. ‘As you said, the darkest day could happen any time which is why if there was ever a moment to start the next phase, then now is that moment. So tell me, Gojira. Do you think you are ready? Are you ready to handle all of my power? Are you ready to be able to sense the position of every phenomenon in this world? Are you ready to be able to grow back entire limbs? Are you ready…to become the next alpha?’
Gojira stared Alpha directly into his pale eyes. Everything had been building up to this. The months worth of training he had gone through, constantly having to move from village to village, having to live with the fact that he and his brothers were no longer regular ponies. It had all led to save not just one pony, but all of life on Equestria from whatever imposing threat. He had promised his parents and himself that he’d protect those he loved, but he couldn’t do it as he was now. If he wanted to keep that promise, then there was only one thing for it. Gojira gave Alpha a confident smirk.
“I’m ready”, he firmly stated. Though Alpha didn’t have a mouth, his eyes told Gojira that he had made the right call.
‘Good, now let’s begin.’