//------------------------------// // Chapter 28 – The Prophet // Story: A King to a God // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// Canterlot, Equestria Canterlot Mountain, T.I.T.A.N. Observation Post Twilight listened to the radio chatter echoing against the walls of the observation post, high above the ground, on the face of Canterlot Mountain that glowed like gold to the oncoming tide of her sunlight. The windows were open to allow the fresh breeze in, and fill the room with almost blinding rays of bright yellow and gold. If it was to pierce the darkness and bring some warmth and calm to the situation at hoof, then Twilight was in the front row of its arrival. She sat near the far end of the observation post, the mighty tower standing tall on the opposite face of Canterlot Mountain. Away from the royal capital, and facing the East. The sun was warm on her face, and she leaned into it as the breeze flowed past her purple and pink mane. Meanwhile, the directors Celestia and Luna stood beside a large radio, telling them in the rough waves of static the news they were waiting for all morning: Kong was on the mainland, in the Forbidden Jungle. T.I.T.A.N. was ready for Twilight and the Council of Friendship to act. While their words were numbing to Twilight’s ears, the directors were more than vigilant, and responded accordingly to such confirmations. “Thank you for the insight, Tigerhawk. After hearing of the attack in the Celestial Sea, we feared the worst. Thank the stars you’re all still all right… with a mission well accomplished, it seems.” “We ain’t out of this rodeo yet, Directors… but appreciate the morale nonetheless,” the distinct voice of Daring Do chimed in. There was a sound that seemed as if the pilot was taking the microphone back, and he cleared his throat. “Be advised, we are currently tracking Godzilla’s movements as he traverses North. Kong has been giving chase since the alphas clashed in the Celestial Sea. He’s not letting Godzilla out of his sight. Still unsure at this moment why Godzilla is fleeing, but we’re not hoping to take any chances. Awaiting confirmation of the Elements arrival to the Tigerhawk, and… stand by… the captain would like a word with the princess…” “Twilight… can you hear me?” There was a rustle of movement near the window of the observation post, and both Celestia and Luna turned to the burning sunlight washing in. Having turned around, having let the numbness leave her and a living, beating heart and soul take control once more, Twilight perked up at the comforting familiarity she heard coming from the radio. It pained the former princesses to see Twilight in the state she was in. They could not have even imagined her state of mind had they remained in retirement, had they allowed Twilight to reign amid the darkest moments their nation had ever known. Not since the Mass Awakening had such terror and confusion reigned, but a solemn vow was made after their victory… They would never leave Twilight alone to face this new threat. They would stand together through this new age of monsters. Not only for her, but for all of ponykind, for everycreature. Every life, both of their kind and the Titan kind. Peace was possible between their worlds before, and they would ensure that peace was returned to all once again. Still, even in such strenuous times, that pain slowly fluttered away when they saw the life return to Twilight’s eyes. Perhaps hearing the voice of her family brought a mighty weight of peace back to her heart, and it showed in her rejuvenated movements to the radio. “Shining?” she carefully asked. “Good to hear your voice again, Twily,” the unmistakable voice of her older brother responded. Instantly, her composure deflated with relief, as if hearing him again was all that was needed. Even if the news was somewhat disheartening. “Listen, the Forbidden Jungle isn’t going to work out now that Godzilla and Kong are on the move. We’re going to need you and your friends as soon as possible.” Twilight made a face, both at the unfortunate news of Godzilla and Kong’s status as well as the constant static in the radio air waves. This technology was still somewhat new to Twilight. She made sure to lean in extra close, hooves pressed to the table with her lips nearly against the radio's microphone. “I’ll send a letter to my friends now… We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning,” the princess responded. Twilight turned to the former rulers—now directors—for confirmation, and they nodded. “The Radiance is still being fitted with a new experimental weapon system, but she should be airborne before I raise the sun tomorrow. Give us your exact coordinates by then and we’ll meet with the fleet… with plenty of fuel reserves as well.” She remembered their earlier request, and would see it followed through. Hearing the relieved sigh in his tone, Twilight almost smiled. “Appreciate that, really. And Twily…” For a few seconds, the radio silence became more and more unnerving. Celestia and Luna even stepped closer, crowding behind Twilight in grave apprehension for what Shining Armor had to say. It nearly surprised them all, to say the least. “I know things have been hard for you. Hay, they’ve been rough for everycreature involved. All these things piling on us at once: Fillydelphia, Grogar’s Bell, Godzilla’s turn… it’s all disturbing; none of us are denying that. Can’t deny myself when I say I would’ve done things differently with the Bell, but there’s no time for that now. Don’t let it eat away at you. We have a clear and present danger to face, and we can’t buckle under the weight. We have to be strong… for everycreature relying on us.” The directors found solace in seeing the determinism rise back into Twilight’s features, starting first with a deep inhale, a hoof to her heart, and a long-winded exhale. “I hear you, Shining. There’s a lot I wish we could have done differently, but you’re right: no time for that now. We’re going to win this… I promise.” Celestia couldn’t help but smile. Luna fell victim to the same. There was the young princess they knew, the leader returned to them. Never once did they doubt their decision in crowning her, and they were proud to see their faith hold strong. “See ya tomorrow, little sis. Love you.” Twilight managed a small but strengthened smile. “Love you too, BBBFF,” she murmured in comfort. With that, the radio waves were cut. “That was very empowering of you,” Celestia said after a moment of silence, earning Twilight’s starstruck expression. “You may not think we’re doing much right now, Twilight, but our efforts—when combined—will ensure the victory you promise. I have full confidence in your ability to lead, and that has never wavered. You have grown so incredibly strong these past few years… and it would suit Shining well to be reassured by your word… as I have.” Feeling a slight burn in her eyes, Twilight nearly let the tears arise but quickly blinked them away, unable to hide the grin that came out instead. Even if she wasn’t her teacher anymore, Celestia would always remain a great fount of wisdom for Twilight to return to whenever she felt lost. And, more importantly, she would always remain her friend. “Thank you, Celestia. Really, it… it helps to know I’m not in this alone.” “And you never will be. This dark tide… we will face together. Wouldn’t you agree, Luna?” As for Director Luna, her expression seemed to have been frozen in a perpetual state of deep, deep thought, riddled with growing uncertainty, anxiety, and worst of all… fear. Deep in her mind, her focus was elsewhere. Gathering the knowledge from the past few weeks and bringing it all to the forefront, trying desperately to see how it all connected. She had felt something terrible that night she visited Shatter Heart, just before she entered his room. Hovering over him like a cloud, like a presence, and then fleeing from hers. That same dread was being felt not only by her now, but by many. More than she could count, and it was clear as the daylight, without excuse. The shift in the winds, in the magical aether, in the dreams and spirits of those she witnessed. The mystery monster in Fillydelphia, the demonic incantations of the Bewitching Bell found outside the city, the Bell’s disappearance… and now the madness with Godzilla. From it all, Luna just couldn’t get Shatter Heart and his nightmares out of the equation. It all meant something, and it was assuredly all connected. A dark tide was certainly coming, and indeed was already here. But something greater was beginning to show its face, and was coming whether they were prepared or not. A darkness… and one that Luna had known before. A darkness she had felt entrenching Shatter’s dreams and even her own… long, long ago. She couldn’t hold it back or keep it down any longer. She turned to her sister and her princess, and Luna slowly uttered, “I have been having thoughts as of recent—” An aggravating interruption came from the knocks on the door, followed by Spike bursting into the observation post. “Twilight!” the dragon exclaimed, his little wings flapping rapidly before he crashed into the chair he didn’t see. His tumble onto the floor shook Luna into silence, and she retreated into herself with a wince. The fear she felt even thinking it won this round. Perhaps that battle would be won and she would tell the others her theories, but for now Spike had something urgent to tell them, by the looks of it. With Twilight’s Royal Guard quickly following him, suddenly the interests of the three intensified. Two guards trailed Spike and stamped their spears onto the solid marble floor, each one standing straight on Spike’s sides. Letting the dragon catch his breath, Twilight asked, “What’s wrong, Spike? I mean, clearly something if it means the Royal Guard are with you.” Standing up and cracking his back, flexing his wings, Spike panted and pointed back to the open door. “Some very… some very special guests… They came from the train station… They… Ah, why did this tower have to be so far away—” The Royal Guard on Spike’s right took over for him. “Apologies for the intrusion, but this is urgent. These guests requested counsel with the Princess of Friendship and of Equestria. They mentioned specifically about speaking with their ‘old professor,’ Your Majesty. They said you would know them.” “Oh, we know them, all right,” Spike said after finally catching his breath. “You guys can come in now!” “Twilight!” Like a stampede of a multitude of creatures, the Young Six bolted into the observation post and practically tackled an unsuspecting Twilight to the ground. The guards nearly intervened, but were stopped only by the sounds of Twilight’s laughter. To hear it again was like a warm flood that washed over the hearts of all who were present, especially Celestia and Luna. To see that genuine smile grace her former student’s lips gave a real sense of ease to the director’s wounded spirit. The Young Six bombarded her with hugs, minus Gallus and Smolder who tried to remain professional for their friends. They still couldn’t help but smile to see their old professor and Headmare. Just the image alone of Twilight gave them a bit of peace, like a harmonic friend they knew. “Hey!” Twilight giggled through her laughter, sitting up with Ocellus under one foreleg and Yona under the other. Silverstream hugged the back of her neck while Sandbar hugged her chest. “Yep, I definitely know them! Old students of mine from the School of Friendship!” “It’s so good to see you again, Profess—Oh, um, Your Majesty!” Ocellus corrected herself. “Yona been trying to tell everycreature that school not the same without you!” the yak bellowed, practically snuggling herself into Twilight’s mane. “Come on, guys, you’re drowning her. Let’s get out of this dogpile and—GAK!” Smolder was snatched by Silverstream’s outstretched arm and pulled in to the group hug. Gallus saw her other limb turning his way. “No, no, no, no—!” he tried to say, flying off only for Silverstream to snag and pull him into the hug as well. Through the grin, Twilight sat up fully and readjusted herself. Allowing the hug to end naturally, she faced the Young Six before her. “It’s nice to see all of you, too! Guess it’s for the best you didn’t go back home yet. What’s going on?” Silverstream was the one to shout, “Godzilla is innocent! We have proof!” Just like that, the atmosphere in the room shattered. From smiles and glee bombarding the reunion, now there was only a deathly serious vibe filling the air. Twilight’s smile quickly fell away, and her eyes widened. Celestia and Luna joined her, taking the steps that severed the distance between them and the six creatures. She stared to each one of them, not a one betraying the other, or holding Silverstream accountable. They knew why they were there, and they were ready and willing to face it head on. The princess was at a loss for words. “What…? How do you…?” “They came with one other, Your Highness… and thus, the explanation for the urgency of this counsel,” the other guard said. He stepped aside to allow her entry, shocking the three figureheads into silence, especially with what the guard said. “A survivor from Fillydelphia. She claims to have seen the monster that destroyed the city and can properly identify it.” When she stepped into the rays of sunlight, Twilight could hardly believe what she saw. Celestia and Luna shared the same fate. Before them stood a young, lovely Neighponese mare under a blood-red hood and cloak. Removing her hood, her pale white coat shone brightly under the sun, but it was her tattoos, her eyes almost gold in color that left Twilight speechless. That, and the claim that she was a survivor. From the city that left them with more questions than answers, and perhaps she could be the one to finally provide them. Director Celestia was the first one to step forth. “I am so sorry for your tremendous loss. Just know that what you’re doing is incredibly brave… All of you,” she said. Her voice was courteous and respectful to the highest degree, and she turned to the Young Six and smiled, facing the mare in red once again. “Coming all this way to help us. Just know that any ounce of information you can provide will be immensely helpful. Oh… but where are my manners? My name is Celestia, and this is my sister Luna, and our ruler Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight smiled to the mare, and Luna stepped forward to say nothing. Just to nod. “Would you mind telling us your name?” Celestia asked. It was quite some time before the mare responded. She seemed to study the rulers of this land, her amber eyes shining like gold under the sunlight flicking from one pony to the other. When she took in her fill, she studied the room, looked at all the maps and battle plans strewn across the tables and floors and walls. There was a sense of… disappointment in her gaze, a crestfallen look that came and went when she finally returned to the rulers. “My name will not aid you, only what I have seen,” the strange, strange pony replied. Though slightly taken aback by the curious, ethereal tone in her voice, Twilight was nonetheless gracious even if she didn’t want to share her identity. “Anything will help; thank you,” Twilight said with an encouraging smile, silently requesting her to begin. And the Second Sister did. “You know of this beast that has destroyed Fillydelphia. Deep in your hearts you know it, but you do not wish to face the truth,” she began, and immediately earned a tilted head from the princess. From the directors, she earned a couple of furrowed brows and confused glances. “The truth pierces all things. It does not discriminate, nor associate. It is present and real, and fear has been allowed to dictate its will over this nation… thus, hiding the truth in deep shadow. Fear left you to seek alternative solutions instead of seeking the undeniable reality in all of your hearts… and the one you know to be.” She took a single step forward, one hoof in front of the other, as she mustered up the greatest strength within her to tell them. “The beast from Fillydelphia… it is Ghidorah.” There were no smiles left in the room. In fact, the air had chilled to the point of near hypothermia where everycreature was affected. Not even the Young Six had been told this on the train, and they fell victim just as well. Seeing the hardened and petrified expressions she received, the Second Sister expected as much, and continued. “Dark magics have led to its return. It is reborn, new. In my land, these entities reborn we call… the Shin… and this Shin Ghidorah has left a mark upon this world to signal to all… of its return. It must be stopped.” Those within the post began to look to one another. For some sensible or rational response to such a bold and horrific claim. Mostly, they were trapped in a state of being they had never wished to experience again, the scars still fresh from the age of Ghidorah’s return and the destruction he rained upon the inhabited earth. Already, memories and flashes engulfed several ponies and brought them back to those hellish days where golden lightning ripped the earth apart and that terrible cackle broke apart the skies. Not even the royalty was spared of the truth. “Ghidorah…” Twilight whispered, slowly backing away from the Young Six, from the directors, and hit her chair resting by the open window. All the while shaking her head in constant denial as her chest heaved in and out. As that reality set in. The ancient inscriptions of the Bewitching Bell found in the outskirts of Fillydelphia… and now Ghidorah’s return… “No… I… I-I didn’t want to… He couldn’t have…” she whispered. The Second Sister stepped closer. “The truth cares not for your denial,” she declared. “And you are the arbiter of truth?” Luna suddenly snapped, the grave news having sent her growing anxiety into a whirlwind. “How are we meant to take your word as truth? Where is your proof, anyway?” “Sister,” Celestia warned, her eyes telling Luna to mind her anger. But her questions were not unfounded, as the mare in red had yet to supply valid proof to her damning claims. She turned to the former rulers slowly, stared them deep in their thousand-year-old gazes. “My proof is what I have seen with my own eyes, and my word. You do not have to take my word for truth. You can go on and fight your war like you planned all along. You can disregard my warnings as superstition or lies. But I came to you because I felt the rulers of this land deserved to know what really happened that cursed day. I felt that if there was anypony willing to listen, to understand the threat we face… it was the Elements of Harmony. The ones who faced this evil before and won.” “We only won because of Godzilla,” Twilight replied, earning every head in the room. After having recovered mildly from her sudden panic attack, she checked her breathing and returned to the conversation. Returned to her friends and the mare in red, meeting her mystical stare. “We want to believe you, please.” “Believe what you wish… but you know it already in your hearts, and you will come to understand the truth behind my warnings. Just as I know the truth in your words, for it was Godzilla who felled the wretched serpent that day… with thanks to the Elements of Harmony.” The mare smiled thinly to Twilight, before she just as suddenly began to pale. “The serpent now wields a power that corrupts Godzilla’s mind and heart. A power from an ancient weapon… do you know of it? You have heard it before, as it chimed woe and madness in the winds. The seal, its prison has been broken and it chimes once again… have you felt it?” Her words held a deeper meaning and weight, and it all clicked almost instantly. And she suddenly got defensive and stood up straight. “How do you know about the Bell?” The Royal Guards even took a step closer, planting their spears a few inches tighter behind the mysterious mare. The Second Sister didn’t even flinch. “There are Dark forces flooding these lands. Fear and paranoia are running rampant. The world today may have forgotten his influence, or consider it to be mere legend, but not I. My ancestors battled the Great Sorcerer Grogar and his foul spawn. My ancestors knew of such power, and now Ghidorah wields the Darkness. Godzilla attacks this world out of his control, for it is the Demon of the Stars that now controls him.” It was just as they theorized, a corruption of the heart and mind that led to Godzilla committing these atrocities. Everycreature had their own genuine reaction to such gut-wrenching news, but Luna hesitated to even breathe. It was not for the reasons that the others shared, for she was caught every single time the mare mentioned that word: Darkness. A power wielded once by the Great Sorcerer, now in the hands of the resurrected Ghidorah. A Dark force washing over the world to spread fear, paranoia, anxiety, mistrust, malice, pain, death, and so much worse in the shadows and now openly in the light. And her mind just kept returning to that night she entered Shatter’s room and felt it. A darkness… as she sensed in Shatter as well. “It is worse than we could have dreamed,” Celestia muttered, cutting off Luna’s thoughts and bringing the younger sister’s attention to the elder. “But it all mostly connects. Who attained the Bell, who broke its seal… we still do not know.” “This, I do not know. That is for you to discover. I have done all I can for now,” the Second Sister said with a courteous bow of her head. “Twilight…?” Luna called, unsure of her own shaking tone. But when she turned to face the princess, she almost certainly did not expect to see such stoic determinism slowly gripping Twilight’s shuddering features. But they were there. They were real. Twilight Sparkle lifted her eyes and stared at nothing in particular—perhaps the unknown, the uncertainties that lied ahead, the terror they would surely face. She looked it all dead in the eye and just as fearlessly declared, “Nature has an order. That order’s been infiltrated. Corrupted. And that corruption is washing over all the earth the longer we do nothing. We have to stop this, now.” “And how will you do so?” the mare in red asked. Turning to the Second Sister, the Princess of Friendship surprised many in the room when she smirked. “I’m going to write to my friends. Spike,” she addressed, the young dragon waddling up to her and burping out a magical quill and parchment, already ready to write when Twilight instructed him. That same determinism was glowing brighter than ever now, the Alicorn shining under the rays of her sun. Silverstream was in absolute awe, the other creatures unable to hide similar feelings. “We’re bringing the Elements together and we’re getting the Radiance in the air as quick as we can. With Kong’s help, with T.I.T.A.N., and with the Elements together, we can flush out this evil that’s corrupting Godzilla. Now we know for sure what it is. Now… we know what to do to save him.” “You believe me, then?” the Neighponese pony said, almost curiously. “Like you said… in a way, I’ve always known this was the truth. It’s not gonna be easy—nothing we’ve done up to this point has been—but I’m just glad we can finally come to face what’s real… together,” Twilight responded, staring her deep in the eyes and nodding, knowing she was telling the truth. “Thank you… we wouldn’t have known without you.” She bowed her head once more, closing her eyes. “My work here is finished, then. You and your friends will do what you must to guide us through the Darkness.” “And we’ll bring this evil to light,” Twilight said, with a real, living, fighter’s smile coming back to life on her lips. And one that brought the fight back to the remaining weakened spirits in the room. “Spike… write this letter to the Council of Friendship…”