Beasts from Within

by ThatOneOtherGuy

Chapter 12: The “Best” Night Ever

“Ok, stand up straight , aaaaand…perfect, darling!”

Gojira stood as tall as he could while Rarity wrapped a measuring string around him. This was the final stage when it came to designing his suit. He, Rodan, and Anguirus had all visited Rarity’s tailor shop and had each been measured and picked out the colors and fabrics they wanted their suits to be made out of. While Rodan and Anguirus were fairly easy, Gojira proved to be more picky than his brothers and also more difficult to measure due to his larger height and size; she even had to pull out an extra measuring string. Nevertheless, Rarity persisted with him and wrote down the exact measurements needed for each of them.

“Sorry if this is any trouble for you”, said Gojira.

“None at all, Gojira, I’ve seen ponies of all kinds of shapes and sizes enter my shop”, said Rarity. At least, that’s how she felt until she noticed how far up she had to look.

‘Though, none quite as tall as you’, she thought to herself.

“Thank you again for the help, Rarity, we’re not exactly the best when it comes to formal attire”, said Anguirus.

“Oh, of course, darling. After all, you couldn’t have chosen anypony better for the job”, boasted Rarity. “Now then, Gojira, tell me, which one would you prefer?”

Using her magic, she lifted two different attires. One was a dark blue suit with a white undershirt and a thick white collar. Near the hems of the pants legs were white accents and around the collar was a black tie with a blue gem in the middle. The other suit was entirely black with a white undershirt and a blue bow tie. There was a white waistband near the back of the suit along with two white rings on the front hems while there were two blue rings on the back hems. Though they were obviously different, to Gojira, they might as well have been the same since they looked completely similar to him. After watching him look back and forth for a while with the only word he could muster being ‘umm’, Rarity took matters into her own hands.

“Personally, if you ask me”, she said while holding each suit up to Gojira one at a time, “I think the first one truly goes well with your dark fur. It makes you look elegant, almost royal if you ask me.”

“Well, you’re the expert”, said Gojira. Rarity smiled.

“Why thank you, darling”, she said.

“Compared to you, everypony is an expert”, joked Rodan. Gojira glared at his younger brother who pretended to look away by whistling.

“I’ll be sure to have each of your suits fully tailored by the end of the day”, said Rarity. 

“We genuinely can’t thank you enough”, said Gojira. He pulled out a couple of bits, only for Rarity to notice.

“Oh, don’t worry, darling. That won’t be necessary”, she said. This gesture caught Gojira off guard.

“What? But, isn’t this expensive and I’d hate for you to not receive anything for your troubles”, he objected, only to be waived off by Rarity.

“Nonsense, my dear, I live for this. Besides, consider this payback for when you helped us get rid of that dragon”, she said. Gojira was at first surprised, but he then remembered what Twilight had told him and so merely shrugged. 

“Alright then, thank you, that’s very kind of you”, he said.

“Honestly, can we just appreciate what’s currently happening to us?”, asked Rodan. “We’re about to go to the Grand Galloping Gala! Us, a couple of randos. I’ve always wondered what it would be like.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda unbelievable”, added Anguirus. “And I’m kinda surprised that you agreed to come, Goji. I thought you were adamant about not going.”

“At first I was. But after hearing some other pony’s opinion, I thought it’d be unwise to waste a perfectly good ticket”, said Gojira. Rodan snickered to himself; he had a good feeling who the pony was.

“Well, I think you made the right choice. I’ve been dreaming of this moment ever since we first got those tickets”, said Rarity as a dreamy look appeared on her face. “I can just imagine that tonight will be the night where I find that special somepony.”

“That’s not all, think of the music that they’ll play. It’s the perfect opportunity for me and Lisa to dance with each other”, said Rodan. Both he and Rarity looked toward Anguirus.

“Honestly, I’m just excited over the promise of free food”, he said. Rodan and Rarity felt weirdly disappointed by his answer. Gojira, however, couldn’t help but snicker in response.

“As long as you two are happy, then it’s fine by me”, he said, even though in reality he was probably the least excited to be going.

‘Five hours of my life about to be wasted by standing around in an overly glamorous suit surrounded by overly glamorous ponies. Now they really can’t say I did nothing for them’, he thought to himself.

“Well, whatever may happen”, said Rodan as he brought both his brothers together with his wings, “tonight is gonna be the best night ever!”

“You can say that again”, chipped in Anguirus. 

“I hope so”, Gojira said to himself. 

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, the entire castle had been fully lit up to accommodate for the eventual arrival of its guests. Despite this, there were still a few ponies running around the palace ensuring that everything was up to code. One of these ponies was none other than Caesar himself who was pacing back and forth in his room. However, he wasn’t worried about the gala itself and more so who was coming to it.

“So, you’re positive that all the boys are coming?”, he asked. The spirit of Alpha floated in front of him.

‘Positive, Gojira took some convincing, but I can assure you that you will see all three of them tonight.’

“And they each have their own attire, correct? I’d rather not have one of them show up to the gala in their birthday suit”, said Caesar.

‘They’re friends with someone who designs clothing, they each have already picked out their uniforms.’

“And did they receive the letter?”, asked Caesar. Alpha took longer to answer this question than the others.

‘Unfortunately, not as of right now. There’s a rather…unique character that works the postal service. But once they receive it, I will inform you.’

Caesar was a little upset by the answer, but simply shrugged it off. “I just wish to meet them before the gala to see how their training is going”, he said.

‘You have nothing to be worried about, Caesar. They each have been working hard on mastering their skills and they’ve come a long way since then.’

“You can tell me that, but will they say the same thing?”, asked Caesar. This level of precaution was something that Alpha would rarely see out of his old friend, and he knew what the cause of it could be.

‘Are you nervous about seeing the boys?’

Caesar let out a sigh. “Honestly, a little. It’s been months since the last time I saw those three, I doubt any of them will be pleased that I failed to keep my promise of seeing them”, he said. “Plus, there’s still the issue where I don’t know how Luna will react when she makes their acquaintances and of course there’s still the problem at hoof concerning you and the other kaiju spirits.” 

Alpha could feel a sense of wandering dread in Caesar’s mind. With the gala now only a day away it seemed as though the stallion’s worries were starting to become exposed. Caesar didn’t have the greatest relationship with them, but he always tried to be there throughout their lives. After all, he had given them the kaiju spirits and both taught the history of the titans and had helped them learn some manner of self-defense. He always considered himself a guardian of theirs, so it felt off being away from them for so long.

‘I’m aware this is probably a big change for them, but you must realize, Caesar, they aren’t children anymore. They’re able to take care of themselves. Those boys managed to pull off stunts that no mere mortal could even dream of. And that wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for you, Caesar. You must have faith in them, because only then can you have faith in yourself.’ 

Caesar thought it over, perhaps Alpha had a point. But the lingering anxiety he felt was still there, only not as obvious. Before he could ask any more questions, the door to his room began to open. In a matter of a second, Alpha had completely vanished into thin air as a fellow guard walked into the room.

“Yo, Caesar, are you busy right now?”, asked Sharp Shot.

“Uhh, no, not at the moment, why?”, answered Caesar.

“Toolshed needs some help with the firework display and I thought she could use the assistance of a fellow unicorn”, said Sharp Shot. 

“Sure, I’ll be over there soon”, said Caesar, a bit frantically.

“Thanks man, she’s being all kinds of stressed about it”, said Sharp Shot before a snicker escaped from his lips. “First Vincent, now Toolshed, everypony’s getting excited for tomorrow. Guess tomorrow’s gonna be one hay of a night!” Caesar nodded in agreement, although he wasn’t as enthusiastic about the gala as Sharp Shot may have perceived.

“I hope so”, said Caesar.

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, the three brothers were each making their way back to their home. They had chosen their suits and were essentially all set for the big night tomorrow. They each had their own levels of excitement for the gala. Rodan was ecstatic over the thought, Gojira felt more weary than his brothers, and Anguirus was more so in the middle. Despite that, they all had plans and they each were looking forward to executing them.

“So, Rodey, how do you think Lisa’s gonna look at the gala?”, teased Anguirus.

“Oh, the best out of all the girls, without a doubt”, replied Rodan, a dreamy look was in his eyes as he pictured her in all kinds of dresses.

“Everypony’s gonna be so jealous when they see us together”, he said.

“They're also gonna wonder how the hay he got with her”, joked Gojira. Anguirus let out a snort, although Rodan didn’t appreciate the comment.

“Oh please, you wish you had somepony as great as her”, retorted Rodan. “Besides, there’s more to be excited for. We get to hangout with our friends, be served free food, wear nice clothing, and meet the princesses while we’re at it.”

“Don’t forget Caesar, I’m sure he’ll be happy to see us”, said Anguirus. With Gojira leading the way, neither of his brothers saw the unenthusiastic look he had when they mentioned Caesar. Meeting him added on to the list of concerns that made him wonder if he made the right choice in going.

“Just remember, guys”, said Gojira as he looked behind him, “there’s going to be several ponies at the gala so we’re gonna have to be extra careful when it comes to our kaiju spirits.”

“Yeah, yeah, we know. I’ve already prepared myself for that”, said Rodan. “I would rather be more focused on how we are supposed to get there because I doubt any of us wants to walk.”

“Well, the girls and Spike are going to be riding together, and I’m not entirely sure if there’s enough room for us in the…apple?”, said Anguirus, still confused by the choice of carriage.

“Knowing Caesar, he’s probably already got something planned. You know him, somehow has everything covered”, said Gojira. Though he intended for it to be a joke, he started to question if it was the actual truth once he saw someone standing at their door, causing him to stop.

Rodan and Anguirus were confused at first until they saw what, or rather who, their brother was staring at. At their front door stood a light gray pegasus with a bright yellow mane and tail and a cutie mark depicting three bubbles knocking on the door. She wore a brown vest with a white collar and wore a hat on her head that had an envelope symbol. The sound of hooves clopping caught the pegasus’ attention as she turned around, her crossed eyes widened when she saw the three much taller stallions.

“Hello”, said Gojira.

“Hi, I have a letter here fooooooor…Mr.Zawey from Caesar Salad, do you know him?”, asked Derpy. Gojira placed a hoof against his temple, he felt he had corrected her about the name several times.

“Yep, that’s this guy, Mr.Zawey!”, mocked Rodan as he elbowed Gojira’s chest. Derpy smiled.

“Great!”, she said before handing the letter to Gojira, “have a wonderful rest of your day!” Derpy turned to leave, only to walk face first into the front door. The impact caused her eyes to turn back to normal; only for her to shake her head which made them go back to cross eyed.

“Whoops, sorry”, she said before turning around and flying away. Throughout the whole encounter, the three brothers could only stand and watch with blank expressions, as if they had seen this many times  before.

“At least this time she didn’t fly into a tree”, said Anguirus, only for the sound of broken branches and rustling of leaves to prove him wrong. 

“Nevermind”, he said bluntly. Gojira rolled his eyes before opening the envelope. The second he saw the folded letter from within, he knew what it was gonna be about:

‘I have requested that a carriage be sent to bring you three to Canterlot, it should arrive at around 9:00. I will meet you at the front gate where we’ll discuss how each of your training experiences have been going. Remember to stay civil and respectful to all those attending the gala, we don’t want to turn any heads. Sincerely, Caesar.’

“What does it say?”, asked Rodan.

“Exactly what I thought it would”, answered Gojira as he handed the letter to his brothers to read. 

“Well, at least we now know how we’re gonna get there”, said Anguirus.

“So what’s the big deal? If anything, this makes things a whole lot easier for us since now we don’t have to ask Twilight to make us a chariot out of a slice of bread or something like that”, said Rodan as he looked toward the seemingly unmoved expression on his brother’s face.

“There is no problem”, said Gojira as he looked back at the letter. “But I can’t say I didn’t see this coming.”

The night had finally come; the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. As the stars danced in the sky, several high class ponies from all across Equestria had come to take part in this beautiful late evening. Some were pegasus that flew while others had to travel by other means. The most popular form being traveling by carriage as dozens showed up at the entrance to Canterlot. One of the carriages that slowed to a stop in front of the gate was holding a group of passengers that were the most obscure out of any one else there. 

Caesar waited anxiously at the entrance until he saw the familiar sight of the open faced, white carriage with gold trim. Pulling it were two other, fully suited guards that stopped at the front gates. Shortly afterwards, the three brothers stepped off of the carriage each wearing their own uniform. Anguirus wore a simple black tux with a white undershirt and black bow tie. Rodan was a little more formal as he wore a deep red tux with a white color along, a black tie, and a pair of maroon tinted shades. Gojira, however, was the most dressed up of the three with the deep blue suit that Rarity had picked out for him. Caesar greeted the three brothers with a nod as he approached them. Anguirus and Rodan replied with a smile while Gojira stayed stoic.

“Hello boys, it’s nice to see you three dress up for the occasion”, he said, referring to their attire. 

“You got that right! I’ve never felt more dapper”, said Rodan.

“Where did you get those clothes from anyway?”, asked Caesar.

“A friend of ours works in fashion and she managed to get these fully tailored in less than a day”, said Anguirus.

“She must be quite talented”, said Caesar; he was mostly glad that they had made at least one friend. “So tell me, how has Ponyville been treating you three?”

“I think it’s been pretty good! I got a job to work on this farm where I buck trees, collect apples, and wrangle a few animals”, answered Anguirus. “The old mare that owns it is a little unhinged, but her granddaughter seems nice.” Caesar perked up when he mentioned another pony that he was potential friends with.

“Would you say you’ve made your acquaintances with this mare?”, asked Caesar.

“I…would like to believe so”, replied Anguirus.

“Personally, I believe that this has been our best move yet. I mean, there’s so far not a single thing bad I can say about our new home”, interjected Rodan.

“Nothing bad? Not even when Rainbow Dash and Pinkie pranked you so good that you got the hiccups?”, asked Anguirus. Rodan’s brow dropped.

“First of all, I let them prank me. Secondly, I would deal with their shenanigans any day of the week if it meant I can be around Lisa more often”, replied Rodan. Anguirus merely rolled his eyes in response.

“So you’ve made some friends in Ponyville, correct?”, asked Caesar.

“Yes, quite a few actually”, answered Rodan. Caesar’s face slightly dropped as he quickly looked around to make sure no one was listening.

“Be honest with me, do they know about our secret?”, Caesar whispered. 

“No, they’re completely unaware”, said Gojira, abruptly. “We’ve each gotten to the point where we can be out in public and keep our powers under control.” Caesar still felt a little skeptical, especially when Alpha informed him of a certain dragon incident, but he decided not to dig for answers. 

“Very well, I’m happy to hear that you’ve each been enjoying your venture in Ponyville”, he said. “But don’t let that stop you from continuing your training. Remember, the darkest day could happen any time, and when it does, we want to be ready.”

“We know, you tell us that every time we meet you”, said Gojira.

“I just want to make sure that each of you three know what your true objective is”, replied Caesar. “No matter where you live or who you meet, you three have a purpose. One, in which, nopony can find out about. We’ve each made our own sacrifices, let’s make sure they’re not in vain.”

Anguirus and Rodan gave nods that they understood, but Gojira was a bit more piqued than the others. This was the exact conversation that he knew they were gonna have and these were the exact things he would say. It was a conversation he had heard time and time again. They had been unable to see him for months and once more the first thing Caesar could talk about was the same thing they’ve heard time and time again. But now there was that added statement of sacrifices which left him more confused than upset. What did he mean by sacrifice, and why did he say each? From what he remembered, only three of the four ponies here had given up their lives for a cause that they weren’t even sure was fact or mere speculation. He held his tongue from adding anything more to the conversation.

“Anyways, I hope you each have a splendid time at the gala. I hope we can talk some more if my guard duties will allow it”, said Caesar. 

“Oh, I’m sure we will!”, said Rodan as he wrapped his arms around his brothers. This move managed to force a small smile out of Gojira. Caesar was about to turn away until a thought came to his mind.

“Oh, and one more thing”, he said as he turned around. “Be careful what you say around the princesses. We’re already running the risk with Luna knowing about our secret; if Celestia finds out then all of Equestria does.” He gazed at all three of the brothers, however it seemed as though he directed his words to only one of them. Nevertheless, all three of them nodded in understanding.

“Yep, we got it. Try to fit in, remain clear minded, down as many horderves as possible, and don’t look stupid in front of Celestia…sounds easy enough”, said Rodan. Though Rodan seemed confident, the rest only hoped it was.

“Very well, see you boys inside”, said Caesar before he turned around and walked toward the palace of Canterlot. 

“So, do we want to wait for the girls or…?”, asked Rodan.

“What does he mean by sacrifice?”, asked Gojira, completely ignoring his brother’s question. “What did he give up? He’s not the one that gave away years of their lives for something that they had no control over whether they wanted to be a part of it or not.”

“I guess we’ll wait”, said Rodan.

“I don’t think he meant anything malicious when he said that, Gojira”, said Anguirus. 

“I’m not saying he did, I just don’t believe him”, replied Gojira. His symbol flashed as his mind started to race.

‘Believe it or not, there’s a lot about Caesar that you don’t know. He may not mention it, but he’s been through a lot to bring you each the lives you have today.’

“Look, can we not bring this issue up right now and instead try to just have a good time?”, said Rodan, trying to diffuse the tension. 

“I’m not trying to get rallied up or anything-”, said Gojira. 

“Hey Gojira!”

“Hey Spike, but my point is-…”, he stopped mid sentence when the name registered in his mind.

“Spike?”, he said as he and his brothers faced where the voice came from.

Sure enough, rolling up to the front gate of Canterlot was none other than Spike who was riding in the driver’s seat of a carriage that was roughly in the shape of an apple. However, instead of the weird looking mice-horse hybrids that they saw, the carriage was being pulled by two stallions who were obviously tired but still kept their smiles. The little dragon himself wore a simple tux similar to Anguirus’ only his bow tie was red instead of black. He hopped off the carriage and reached for the door.

“Sorry about being late”, he said before opening. “The others were busy getting ready.” The second the door opened and the girls stepped out, it made sense why they arrived later than the three brothers did. 

Though the brothers each looked nice, the mane six’s dresses blew there’s out of the water. Twilight wore a light blue dress with stars scattered around. Applejack’s attire was light brown along with light green boots and a green collar that was held together with a clip in the shape of an apple. Rarity was the most elegant of them all with her gown being composed with all kinds of pinks, magentas, and golds, topped off with a golden tiara and diamond heels. Rainbow Dash’s mane had been braided into a ponytail as she wore a rainbow dress with golden heels. Fluttershy’s dress was mostly of a light green gown along with green heels and a blue hairpin in the shape of a butterfly. Pinkie’s attire was more flounced than the others as she wore an actual skirt that was decorated with images of candy along with a white hat and a striped dress. Lisa’s was the most simplistic as she wore a simple deep red dress along with purple heels and a black waist band.

Each of the boys had a different level of gobsmacked on their faces. Unsurprisingly, Gojira managed to keep his straight face on, though he had to admit that they each looked good in their attire. Anguirus’ eyes widened and his mouth was agape for a second before he quickly looked away, fearing that he might come off as creepy. Spike was in a similar vein to Anguirus except he had already seen how the mane six looked. Rodan, on the other hand, was completely shocked by how each of them looked. However, his attention was focused more so on only one of the mares that exited the carriage. It just so happened that it was the mare that was approaching him.

“You look great, Ro. That maroon really brings out your physique”, said Lisa. Rodan was so lost in her looks that he didn’t even process Lisa’s flirting.

“You look amazing”, Rodan replied, dumbstruck. That line was somehow proved to be more effective flirting than what Lisa had as her cheeks immediately started to redden. However, it also flustered Rodan more than it did Lisa as he finally realized what he had said.

“Uhhh, I-I, uhhhh-…what I mean is-…is, uhhh”

“He thinks you look good”, interjected Gojira. Lisa smiled at Rodan’s reaction.

“Thanks”, she replied. Rodan’s ears lowered from embarrassment. 

“I can’t believe we’re finally here!”, exclaimed Twilight, drawing the attention of the others as they all faced the castle of Canterlot. “With all that we imagined, the reality of this night is sure to make this the best night ever!”

And then, what would’ve been abnormal if this was the first time such an occurrence happened, the sound of brass and percussion instruments started to grow louder and more bombastic. The three brothers looked around, each sharing looks of confusion, surprise, and flat out annoyance. Lisa and Spike, on the other hand, stood on the sideline and watched as the music reached a loud crescendo before the vocalists began. The vocalists being seemingly all the ponies around them starting off with Twilight herself.

🎵 “At the Gala!”

🎵 “At the Gala!”

🎵 “At the Gala!”

“Here we go again”, sighed Gojira.

“Come on, Gojira, they're just excited”, said Lisa as she listened to Fluttershy sing her verse of the song.

“Yeah, besides it’s only been two chapters since we’ve had a song number”, added Rodan.

“I’m aware of that, but couldn’t they at least wait a few more minutes, we literally just go here”, said Gojira.

“I don’t know, it does sound nice though”, said Anguirus as he saw other ponies start to partake in the chorus. 

“How long do you think this will take?”, asked Gojira.

“Oh, don’t worry, not long at all”, said Lisa.

🎵 “To meet!”

🎵 “To sell!”

🎵 “To find!”

🎵 “To prove!”

🎵 “To whoop!”

🎵 “To talk!”

🎵 “Into the gala! Into the gala!”

🎵 “And we’ll have the best night ever!”

🎵 “At the gala!”

The song number ended with a grand finish as the chorus sung their final verse, the music reached a high crescendo, and even the Wonderbolts got involved as they scattered clouds and lighting across the night sky. A few fireworks being set off indicated the end to a grandiose song number; a fitting conclusion for a bombastic performance. One in which only four ponies managed to witness since everyone else had participated in the musical number. Lisa and Spike were the only ones to genuinely applaud while Rodan and Anguirus did it more so awkwardly. Gojira, however, gave his feedback in a more direct way.

“That was…good”, he said. “Can we go inside now?”

The group walked through the gates of Canterlot and were met with the decorated interior. Bangers hung from the walls, the red carpet glistened, and there was gold on seemingly every surface. For many of them, this was the first time they got to see the inside of the palace and thus they were not disappointed. Many members of the mane six and Lisa all looked around in amazement at the sight before them. Others like Twilight and the three brothers had more subtle reactions since they had seen Canterlot before. Out of them all however, none were as excited nor as enthusiastic as Spike who smiled from ear to ear..

“We’re finally here!”, exclaimed Pinkie as she jumped up and down. 

“This place looks even better on the inside”, said Rarity.

“I wonder if the royal garden looks just as good?”, said Fluttershy to herself.

“I can tell who’s gonna enjoy themselves the most”, Anguirus whispered to Rodan, who wasn’t paying attention as he was too focused on talking to Lisa.

“Yeah, that’s great”, replied Rodan. 

“I can also tell”, Gojira whispered to Anguirus. Their attention was then brought to the young dragon who ran up in front of them.

“This is gonna be the best night ever!”, exclaimed Spike. “You know why? Because we’re all gonna spend time at the gala toge-”. Before Spike could even finish his sentence, just about everyone in the group ran off in different directions, leaving nothing but a trail of smoke behind them. The only ones that stayed behind were both Gojira and Anguirus who were just as confused as Spike. But that confusion turned into disappointment as Spike let out a sigh.

“Or not”, he said.

“I blinked for a second, how did that just happen?”, asked Anguirus.

“And I was so excited to show everyone around”, said Spike as he wore a dejected look on his face. Luckily for him, his expression didn’t go unnoticed as one of the brothers bent down to him.

“Well, I don’t really have any plans”, said Gojira. “If you want, you could probably show me around?” 

“Really?”, Spike replied as his face lit up.

“Yeah, sure, I wasn’t gonna do much anyways”, said Gojira. Spike’s smile returned to his face as he sprang back up on his feet.

“Then what are we waiting for?”, he said before tugging on Gojira’s pants leg. “I gotta show you the crown jewels, or maybe we can see the princess’s golden apple tree. But whatever we do, we have to stop by my favorite donut shop!” 

Gojira chuckled at the excitement on Spike’s face. The child-like innocence in the young dragon’s eyes reminded him of a trio of fillies. They would spend their childhood together and try to come up with new games to play; he was thinking of simpler times. Gojira looked over at his younger brother, he could swear he saw the same young filly standing right next to him.

“Do you wanna come?”, he asked.

“Nah, I’m good, I’m gonna find myself something to eat. Try not to get lost in the corridors”, Anguirus joked before walking away. 

“Suit yourself”, Gojira replied before turning toward Spike. “Lead the way, little man.” 

“Alright, come on!”, said Spike.

Rodan and Rainbow Dash, after walking through the crowd, found themselves in an outdoor part of Canterlot that was surrounded by stone pillars wrapped with strings of flowers. There was a large crowd of guests that all stood in front of a closed off section with the only entrance being labeled “VIP” and a couple of unicorns standing as bouncers. Though Rodan didn’t pay it much mind, Rainbow Dash couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“Look, look!”, Rainbow Dash exclaimed and pointed at the VIP area. “It’s them, the Wonderbolts!” 

“I didn’t think they’d be here”, said Rodan.

“Of course they would, they’re some of the best flyers in all of Equestria!”, said Rainbow Dash. “And someday, I’m gonna be one of them.”

“You? A Wonderbolt?”, asked Rodan. “No offense, Rainbow, but you can’t even land properly without falling on your face.” Rainbow Dash’s smirk dropped when she heard that.

“Oh yeah, I’ll prove to you I can be a Wonderbolt, just you wait”, she said. Rodan couldn’t help but chuckle.

“We’ll be waiting for quite a while”, he said. As soon as he said that, a member of the Wonderbolts walked past them, carrying a freshly baked pie in his mouth. When he neared the entrance, another member flew down to meet him.

“Always hungry after a show, eh Soarin?”, joked Spitfire.

“Heh, yeah”, replied Soarin. However, when he spoke, the pie he was carrying slipped from his maw. The sudden realization hit Soarin like a truck as he gasped in horror.

“My pie!”, he exclaimed. Luckily though, the anticipated splat sound never came. Faster than the eye could blink, Rainbow Dash flew toward the two and caught the pie with only an inch to spare. Both the Wonderbolts and even Rodan were surprised by the speed.

“You saved it, thanks”, said Soarin as he let out a sigh of relief. Rainbow Dash replied with a smile.

“Yeah, no prob”, she replied as she handed the pie over to Soarin. Spitfire wore an impressed smile as she approached Rainbow Dash.

“Say, that was some nice flying you had there”, said Spitfire. Rainbow Dash smiled gleefully.

“Thanks, name’s Rainbow Dash”, she said. “I’ve always wanted to be a Wonderbolt.”

“Well, Rainbow Dash, I can see why. Especially after your flying skills saved Soarin’s pie”, said Spitfire. Soarin didn’t reply, he was too busy scarfing down the very same pie that was rescued.

“If you want, wanna come and hangout with us?”, Spitfire asked. Rainbow Dash wore a smirk though in reality she was trying to hide her excitement.

“Sure, why not”, replied Rainbow Dash. The bouncer opened the closed off area to allow the Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash in; who skipped with excitement. Before entering, Rainbow Dash turned around to be met by the shocked look on Rodan’s face. She merely replied by sticking her tongue out before joining her new friends inside the VIP area. Rodan grumbled to himself as he was now the one that stood corrected.

“Lucky, bastard”, Rodan whispered under his breath. “How come she always manages to get the heads up on me?”

‘She does seem to act a lot like you; hot headed, thrill seeking, opportunistic, arrogant, a little jealous-’

“Ok, I get it”, said Rodan, bluntly. His ear twitched as the sound of laughter filled his ear. He turned around and saw both Pinkie Pie and Lisa walking inside of the palace. The sight of the latter pony got Rodan excited as he almost completely forgot about Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I’m not gonna stand here, I’ve got a date with destiny”, he said cheerfully before strutting his way to the duo.

Anguirus, after having left both Gojira and Spike, found himself in the ballroom of Canterlot. He could obviously tell that this was where most of the work and attention had been spent as it was by far the most decorative part of the castle. There were streamers, flowers, the floor had been fully polished, there was a large golden statue of Celestia, and a stage where many musician ponies were playing soft, peaceful music. 

As he looked around, Anguirus managed to catch a scent which immediately caught his attention. He turned to where the aroma was coming from which was where he noticed a food table had been set up. There were all kinds of exquisite dishes that were on full display which caused Anguirus’ taste buds to spike.

“Jackpot”, he said to himself. Granted, he didn't know what half of the stuff was, but that didn’t stop him. He grabbed what appeared to be a bread roll of some kind and immediately took a bite out of it. The resulting taste was…mediocre at best.

Anguirus’ anticipation faded away almost instantly as he tasted the bland bread with only slight traces of cheese and garlic. He placed the half eaten roll back on the plate before grabbing a nearby cup of punch to wash his mouth out. He then noticed a nearby waiter carrying a plate of horderves.

“Excuse me, sir!”, Anguirus called out, catching the waiter by surprise. The waiter turned around and was met with a stallion that matched his height. 

“Yes?”, asked the waiter.

“Sorry to disturb you, but may I please have one?”, asked Anguirus as he pointed at the tray he was holding.

“Why, of course”, the waiter replied before presenting the tray to Anguirus. They appeared to be a cracker of some kind with a fruit, jelly substance on the top. 

“Thank you”, replied Anguirus as he grabbed one and popped the whole thing in his mouth. 

However, similar to the bread rolls, the dish looked better than it tasted. It took Anguirus a couple of seconds to realize that he had cold, overly sweet jelly in his mouth that he didn’t want to swallow. Unfortunately, he also didn’t want to spit it out in front of the waiter who looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Anguirus tried to smile, but all he did was flash the waiter with his jelly covered teeth. The waiter, rightfully so, repulsed at the sight before walking away with the tray.

Anguirus looked around, seeing that no one was watching, he made his way over to a part of the ballroom that led outside. Ensuring no one could see him, Anguirus ducked behind a bush before spitting out the remains of the horderve. He stood outside for a few moments picking at his teeth until every last crumb of the cracker was out of his mouth. 

“Ok, maybe that wasn’t a jackpot”, Anguirus said to himself. “I was expecting something a bit more edible than that.”

‘Well, that is the whole point of horderves, they’re meant to be gawked at rather than eaten.’

“Because that makes sense”, said Anguirus. This revelation potentially threw a wrench in his plans as now he was no longer interested in the food they served.

“So, now what?”, asked Anguirus. “I don’t know where the others are, and I’ve already lost my appetite. What are we gonna do for the rest of the-”

His sentence was cut short when his ear twitched as he heard some kind of sound from where he was standing. Anguirus immediately perked up and looked around, he saw nothing but trees, flowers, and shrubbery. Thinking that it was nothing, he turned around to head back inside. But only after taking a few steps, he heard the sound again. This time, he heard it much clearer and it sounded like someone was singing. Even stranger, it sounded…nice.

“~Aha~Aha~Aha~.”

“What was that?”, asked Anguirus. His curiosity got the better of him and he started to make his way deeper into the castle’s garden. 

“This seems…a bit much”, said Shining Armor as he overlooked the massive collection of fireworks spread out in front of him. They varied in all sorts of colors, shapes, and especially sizes. One stood out however as it was almost the size of the pony who helped make it.

“Well, Celestia did want this to be the biggest gala yet”, said Toolshed as she stood next to the largest firework that wore the label ‘Big Bertha’.

“And don’t you worry about any misfires, I’ve tripled checked each and every one of them to ensure that they’re one hundred percent safe”, said Toolshed with a proud smirk. Despite that, however, Shining Armor’s caution didn’t falter, not even a little.

“Just in case, I’ll ask another guard to look each of them over, just to be safe”, he said. His response caused Toolshed to feel a little disappointed. Her ears slightly lowered, but at the same time she also understood.

“Sure thing…sir”, replied Toolshed. It had been a few months since her charge incident and yet it felt she hadn’t fully healed from it. Not physically, but mainly in how others saw her, especially Shining Armor.

“Good, thank you, Toolshed”, said Shining Armor before he turned to leave as a couple of guards entered. 

He walked through the halls until he entered a part of the castle where he saw a few guests. Security had been increased to accommodate for the many guests that were attending the gala. Because of this, Shining Armor was constantly moving back and forth between guard outposts to ensure no one in the crowd entered a part of the castle they shouldn’t have. Fortunately, this did give him the excuse to potentially run into a certain duo of guests that he would never mind wasting a few minutes to talk to. With him being taller than most other ponies, Shining Armor felt he could pinpoint them out from the crowd. Which was what he did when he caught sight of a little dragon in a tux rounding a corner.

“Hey…Spik-!”, he called out only for his words to be cut short.

He was expecting a pony to follow behind the little dragon, one he was very familiar with. A pony who he had known for many years and who just so happened to be a unicorn like him. What he didn’t expect was that instead of a unicorn it was a normal earth pony, instead of a mare he was a stallion, and instead of them being shorter than him, they stood nearly a whole foot taller. Despite this stallion wearing a fancy suit, he still seemed out of place compared to everyone else attending, especially the little dragon he was close behind. Shining Armor was taken aback by this stallion, only for his shock to soften when Spike noticed him.

“Shining!”, shouted Spike before running in his direction. Though he was still cautious by the presence of the stallion, Shining Armor still managed to greet Spike with a hug.

“How’s it going, little guy?”, he asked, jokingly while rubbing the top of Spike’s head. The sound of heavy hoofsteps caught his attention as he looked up to be met with the over six foot stallion. 

“And, who’s your…friend?”, Shining Armor asked, trying to maintain a straight face. Spike broke away from the hug.

“Oh right, Shining, this is Gojira. Gojira, this is Shining Armor”, said Spike as he introduced the two.

“Hello, sir”, said Gojira as he offered Shining Armor his hoof. Hesitantly, Shining Armor accepted it.

“Greetings”, he replied. Despite Shining Armor’s efforts, Gojira could tell that he was a little apprehensive about his presence.

“So, Spike, how’s Ponyville been treating you and Twilight?”, asked Shining Armor. His question did manage to strike Gojira’s attention.

“It’s been great!”, replied Spike, enthusiastically. “We’re living in this beautiful library and have made so many friends.”

“That’s great to hear. By the way, is Twilight here by any chance? It’s been so long since I got to see her”, said Shining Armor. Gojira was admittedly a little puzzled by this question. Why did Shining Armor want to meet Twilight so badly?

“Yep, she’s here, she might be talking to the princess knowing her”, answered Spike. Shining Armor smiled when he heard that; it felt as though it had been forever since the last time he saw her. He looked back up at Gojira who stood by as the two long time friends caught back up.

“And, what about you…big guy?”, he asked, catching Gojira’s attention. “What’s your story?”

“Oh, I’m also from Ponyville. Me and my brothers moved there around the Summer Sun Celebration”, said Gojira, he smiled at the memory. “Looking back, probably couldn’t have chosen a worst date to move.”

“Gojira was even nice enough to help me and Twilight move into the Golden Oaks Library despite him having a sore leg”, added Spike. Shining Armor was a little taken aback when he heard that.

“Is that so?”, he asked, staring toward Gojira.

“Yeah, and he even stood up against that dragon that would’ve shrouded Equestria in smoke!”, said Spike. Both Shining Armor and Gojira wore wide eyes after hearing that. Gojira looked at Spike while Shining Armor stared, almost incredulously, at Gojira.

“I think he gets it, Spike”, said Gojira.

“But I don’t want to leave out any details”, retorted Spike. Shining Armor broke out of his dumbfounded state and replaced it with a smile.

“Well then, Mr. Gojira, it seems like you’ve been through quite a bit lately”, he said. Gojira lightly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

“I suppose, though probably not as much as you, captain”, replied Gojira. 

“We could really use somepony like you in the royal guard. We don’t really have many guards with your…”, Shining Armor felt a little embarrassed having to look up at a fellow stallion, “…stature.”

“Thank you, though I’m just fine with the life I have with my brothers”, said Gojira. The thought of joining the royal guard reminded him when he was a child and was constantly playing knights with his brothers. He never actually intended on joining the guard, that he felt was merely make believe.

“Don’t fret about it, I understand”, said Shining Armor. Though he intended it to be a joke, the thought of such a pony being a guard in Canterlot admittedly intimidated him. Luckily he managed to hide it well enough.

“Well, I don’t want to keep the two of you hostage”, he said, “enjoy the rest of the night as much as you can. It’s nice to hear you and Twilight are doing good, Spike, and it was nice meeting you, Gojira.” With that, Shining Armor turned and continued to walk down the hallway. When he was out of hearing distance, he took a deep breath of relief. Wherever Twilight was, he had a lot of questions for her.

“See ya, Shining”, exclaimed Spike as he waved him goodbye.

“He seems…nice”, said Gojira. 

“Yeah, he always tried to visit me and Twilight whenever he was off guard duty”, said Spike.

“You both seem to know him very well”, said Gojira. 

As he spoke, however, a strange feeling caught his attention. His suit covered up his emblem so no one noticed it when it flashed bright blue. Gojira looked around, he felt he could hear some kind of voice in the distance, but apart from Spike, he didn’t see anyone or anything. What made it so strange, however, was that this wasn’t the first time he felt it. He recalled having a similar experience back at the lake, only this time, it felt more intense. It was enough to even cause him to lose his breath for a few moments. He was so focused on this sensation that Spike’s words flew in and out through his ears.

“Of course, after all he is Twilight’s brother”, said Spike. He waited for Gojira’s response, only to receive nothing. He noticed how Gojira wasn’t even looking at him. “Hey, Gojira, are you okay?”

“Huh, what?”, replied Gojira as he regained focus.

“I said, are you alright?”, asked Spike. Gojira knew that now wasn’t the time nor place to have such thoughts and so decided to just ignore them. 

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine”, he said. “You mentioned something about crown jewels or whatever.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right, come on, you’re gonna love the sight of them”, said Spike, before pulling on Gojira’s leg and ushering him to follow. Gojira did so, but not before taking one more look around, just to make sure they weren’t being followed. In doing so, he finally allowed Spike’s previous words to sink; safe to say, it caught him off guard.

“Wait, he’s Twilight’s what!”

Rodan pranced into the ballroom before scanning the crowd in hopes of finding a certain duo that he noticed walking inside. Luckily for him, he saw the pair of Lisa and Pinkie Pie sitting at a nearby table talking amongst themselves. He once again needed a moment to process how Lisa looked. Compared to Pinkie, it looked almost as if both of their dresses weren’t made by the same pony. His heart began to race as he started to approach them. He tried coming up with ways on how to ask her out, but each one seemed weaker after the other.

‘How about, what’s cooking, good looking~… no, that’s terrible. Perhaps, hey Lilly, you’ve just been accused of being too beautiful~…no, that’s way too forward. How about…uhhh, maybe…uhhh?’

“Hey, Rodey!”, called out Pinkie when she noticed Rodan slowly approaching her and Lisa. Lisa, who was facing away from Rodan, quickly turned around.

“There you are, I was wondering where you went”, said Lisa as she stood up and started walking towards him. The sight of Lisa slowly approaching him caused Rodan to sweat profusely. The sunglasses he was wearing were doing a great job at hiding his nervousness.

‘Oh, crap, here she comes! Quick think of something…ANYTHING!’

“Uhh…what’s…poppin’…loppin’?”, Rodan immediately regretted ever being born with a mouth. His remark caught Lisa completely off guard and even caught the attention of Pinkie. After a few moments of awkward silence, Pinkie broke it by letting loose a few laughs.

“Aww, how sweet”, she joked. Unfortunately, Pinkie was the only one genuinely laughing as Rodan tried to ease the situation with an awkward smile.

“Umm…it’s popping pretty good…loppin’?”, replied Lisa. She then noticed a waiter walking by with a tray full of what appeared to be some kind of beverage. “I’m gonna go and…get us something to drink…”

“Ok…you…you go do that”, said Rodan as he watched Lisa walk away. Once she was gone, Rodan slapped himself in the face for such a response. 

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What the hay was I thinking?”, he exclaimed. His inner mid life crisis was interrupted when he heard a few stray laughs coming from Pinkie.

“Calm down, Rodey, it was a good first attempt”, said Pinkie. 

“You’re only just saying that”, said Rodan as he walked over to the table and slammed his head down on it.

“Well, you did manage to fluster her, so great job!”, replied Pinkie as she patted Rodan on the head. He didn’t give much reaction and only lifted his head off the table and on his hoof.

“I don’t get it, I’m never usually this nervous. I came to the gala so confident and yet I feel like I squandered only after being here for only thirty minutes”, said Rodan.

“What did you want to do?”, asked Pinkie.

“I wanted to try and dance with her before telling her how I truly feel about her”, answered Rodan. Pinkie took a moment to process his answer before replying with a gasp.

“You mean…really!”, she said, all excited. Rodan quickly shushed her as he looked around, hoping no one heard that.

“Yes, I mean it, and I’d rather that not everypony finds out about this”, said Rodan. Pinkie nodded at him as a large smile grew on her face. “But, I don’t know exactly how to do it and I don’t want to come off as cheesy or stupid.”

“Don’t worry, Rodey, if dancing is what you’re searching for, then you couldn’t have asked for a better pony for help!”, said Pinkie.

“Wait, no, Pinkie, I never said I needed help”, said Rodan, realizing he might’ve said a bit too much to the wrong pony.

“I’m back, what are we talking about?”, said a voice. Rodan shot back up and was met with Lisa holding a trio of drinks for them. 

“We…uh…w-we were…umm.”

“Oh, you know, parties, games, Gummy’s teething problems, that sorta thing”, interjected Pinkie.

“Oh, ok”, said Lisa as she sat down next to Rodan. She sat close to him which caused Rodan to take in her scent. 

‘Oh, sweet Celestia, this is not gonna end well’, he thought to himself. That was, until another thought entered his mind.

‘Wait a minute, who’s Gummy?’

Anguirus found himself wandering around the castle’s garden trying to find whatever kind of voice he had been hearing. His vision wasn’t as great as his brothers, so he had more trouble seeing in the darkness, especially with the large numbers of trees and hedges scattered around. But then, he heard it again and this time it sounded closer. 

“~Aha~Aha~Aha~.”

One thing that Anguirus took note of was the tone of the voice; it sounded beautiful. The peaceful melody, the lovely vocals, the positive tone, it was unlike anything he had heard before. He walked past trees and even a small bridge but still found nothing. Until he heard the voice again and this time it sounded as though he was right next to the source. He quickly trotted to where he swore the source was coming from. What he didn’t expect was to be greeted with the sound of galloping hooves and a voice that he recognized. 

“Why does that sound like-”, his sentence was cut short when the one who had been singing ran past a small hedge to greet him.

“My little meadowlark is right around the-”, Fluttershy stopped in her tracks when she was met with Anguirus looking just as surprised as she was.

“Anguirus?”, she asked.

“Fluttershy?”, replied Anguirus.

“That was you?”, asked Fluttershy.

“What do you mean ‘that was you’, and what are you doing?”, asked Anguirus.

“I-I thought I heard an animal that wanted to be my friend”, answered Fluttershy, who started to feel embarrassed.

“So, that was you who was singing then?”, asked Anguirus. Fluttershy’s eyes immediately widened when she heard Anguirus’ response. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks as she tried to hide in her mane.

“Y-You, heard that?”, she said, shyly.

“Why do you think I’m out here”, replied Anguirus. He tried to calm the situation by telling a joke, but it only made Fluttershy even more embarrassed.

“O-Oh, yes, w-well…excuse me”, she said before walking past Anguirus. Anguirus immediately became nervous; regretting what he had said.

“N-Not to say your singing was bad, not at all”, he stuttered. “I-I mean, it sounded r-really nice. It’s un-unlike anything I’ve heard before and I really liked it and…and…uhh-”. He immediately stopped talking when he noticed Fluttershy was staring at him, her cheeks redder than ever.

“You…you mean that?”, she asked. Now it was Anguirus who was starting to blush. The two of them stood in awkward silence as both were too nervous to come up with anything. Luckily, the chirping of an animal broke the silence and caught Fluttershy’s attention. She turned around and her face immediately lit up as she saw several animals hanging around a cluster of trees.

“A toco toucan! A spider monkey! And is that a wallaroo?”, she said before flying in that direction. The distraction allowed Anguirus to take a gasp of relief as he watched Fluttershy chase after a couple of animals.

“Well, you seem…busy. I’ll leave you to it then”, he said, before briskly walking away. However, Fluttershy didn’t reply as she was too focused on chasing whatever kind of animal she could find. Unfortunately for her, every animal she tried to greet would immediately run away.

The resulting outcome saddened the rose haired pegasus. “Oh, Fluttershy, you’re such a loud mouth”, said Fluttershy.

“Let’s see here. We’ve seen the golden apple tree, the hedge maze, Discord’s statue, the crown jewels…I feel like I’m forgetting something”, said Spike as he rubbed his chin in thought.

“Is it the donut shop?”, asked Gojira.

“Oh yeah, that’s right, you’re gonna love it”, piped Spike as he once again led the way. “They’ve got some of the best pastries in all of Equestria!”

Gojira playfully rolled his eyes as he followed the little dragon. Though he didn’t really show interest in any of the destinations, he went along with it as Spike seemed so happy. After all, Gojira didn’t have any plans to begin with and so decided to tag along with Spike. However, throughout Spike’s makeshift tour, Gojira still couldn’t get his mind off of the strange sensation that he felt earlier and even weirder, it was still lingering. As a result, he felt his attention was starting to become his own sense; it was always changing and never consistent. 

Despite that, however, Gojira stuck through it and thought perhaps leaving the large crowds and high class energy would help relieve himself. Before he could, Gojira caught a glimpse of a pony that stole his attention. He had partially hoped he wouldn’t see this pony, but fate seemed to have not been on his side. The pony in question could be easily spotted in a sea of ponies, pegasus, and unicorns. Her mane and tail flowed as the night raced on. She was surrounded by a couple of guards who kept any guest from getting too close to her. Which made sense, after all, Princess Luna was still trying to grow accustomed to her new life.

And unfortunately for Gojira, she noticed him. Luna just barely caught sight of the tall stallion. The second she saw him, however, her eyes widened as she zoned anything and everything else out. The two of them had a stare down with neither of them knowing what to do. Luna was the first to regain her composure as she dropped her shocked look and stood up straight. She started to walk towards both Gojira and Spike with the two guards following her. Spike was at first oblivious to what was happening until he noticed one of the alicorn princesses approaching them, causing him to gasp.

“Princess Luna”, he said softly before bowing. Luna lightly chuckled at the little dragon’s courtesy.

“Greetings, young drake”, she replied with a nod. She then stared back at Gojira who still seemed to be off by her presence. “And how has the night been treating you two, thus far?”

“It’s been…fine”, replied Gojira. Luna could sense the uneasiness in Gojira’s voice.

“I hope I’m not disturbing anything important”, she said.

“Not at all, your majesty, me and Gojira were just about to head to my favorite donut shop in Canterlot”, said Spike.

“Which we should probably get going, after all, your highness, you must be very busy”, said Gojira.

“Not at all, in fact, I’m quite happy that I managed to speak with you specifically, Mr.Gojira”, said Luna. Gojira stiffened a bit as he held back a sigh, he knew where this was going.

“I would like to apologize for when we first met. Though I don’t enjoy discussing that day, I feel it’s best to acknowledge my actions which I deeply regret. I’m terribly sorry for any harm I caused you”, said Luna.

“It’s not at all a problem, your highness. Besides, no lasting damage was done”, replied Gojira. 

“Which I am glad to hear. Caesar seems to have a lot to say about you and your family”, said Luna. “He’s told me everything that I need to know about you three.” 

“That’s nice to hear”, said Gojira, though in reality he knew what she was trying to say. She was now part of the secret and there was no changing that.

In the middle of their conversation, almost at random, Gojira’s emblem flashed. Almost uncontrollably, his senses went haywire as his head started to hurt. Although this was incredibly random, Gojira knew exactly what this meant, that strange sensation. Even worse, it resembled that of the one he felt at the lake except amplified; almost as if whatever was causing this was standing right next to him. Gojira frantically looked around, but saw nothing that would be the reason as to why this was happening. The sudden rush was so spontaneous that even his spirit was taken aback by the sensation of the make believe sight of some strange creature that embodied dread. It only took a couple of moments until Luna and even Spike knew something wasn’t right.

“Excuse me, Gojira, is everything alright? You appear to be unwell?”, asked Luna.

“I-I…uhh”, Gojira stuttered as he looked around the crowd. 

At this point, others were starting to stare and point at the tall stallion who was looking back, forth, left, right, and any other direction. He could hear every word that these ponies were saying and they started to clutter his mind. He felt immense amounts of sorrow and anger to the point where a couple patches of scales formed on his legs, though fortunately his suit managed to cover up most of them. Although he thought that his mind was playing tricks on him, he could almost see a perfect replica of that exact demon-esc creature he envisioned back in Ponyville, except much closer and clearer. A few beads of sweat started to form which finally caused both Spike and especially Luna to start to worry.

“Hey, Gojira, are you-”, Spike couldn’t get the words out before Gojira spoke suddenly.

“S-Sorry, your majesty, I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather recently”, said Gojira as he put a hoof to his forehead.

“It appears so, would you like me to ask one of the nurses in Canterlot to look over you?”, asked Luna only for Gojira to immediately shut the idea down.

“No, no, that won’t be necessary. I’m simply in desperate need of…fresh air”, said Gojira. He then quickly turned and started to walk down the hallway that he and Spike were going except now it was only him.

“Gojira, what about-”, asked Spike before being interrupted again.

“I’ll meet you there, Spike, I promise!”, exclaimed Gojira, a little louder than usual, as he walked down the hallway at a bit of a brisk pace.

“Oh, okay then”, said Spike, feeling a little disappointed. The sudden change confused even the guards as they both looked at each other and shrugged. Luna, on the other hand, was more worried than the others as Gojira ran away. She knew more than any of them combined about Gojira, and yet was still confused by the way he acted.

Meanwhile, back at the main entrance of Canterlot, Twilight stood next to her mentor Celestia greeting every pony that walked through the front gates. Although her original plan was to speak with Celestia as the gala gave her the perfect opportunity, it seemed as though she never truly got the chance to. Apart from a few brief exchanges, Celestia spent most of her time making acquaintances with every guest. Twilight still stood by her, and even shook hooves with a couple of ponies, but the experience wasn’t as special as she had hoped for. Every attempt that she made to have a discussion usually ended the same way.

“Princess, I’ve been so excited to spend time with you”, Twilight tried to say.

“Yes, me too Twili-, Oh! Good evening. Welcome to the gala”, said Celestia as she greeted another pony.

This pattern would continue over and over again. Twilight couldn’t fault Celestia, she was the princess of Equestria after all, but she couldn’t help but feel disappointed with the night. However, she stuck to her goal and greeted each and every pony that walked through the gates alongside Celestia. Unfortunately, all this led to was a sore hoof from the number of hoof-shakes she received, even fewer moments to speak with her mentor, and a line of ponies that just seemed to get longer and longer. It was safe to say, the grand galloping gala wasn’t what she had hoped.

Fortunately, the outcome of the night was about to quickly change as the sound of heavy galloping caught her attention. Twilight looked to where the sound was coming from, only to catch a brief glimpse of a large figure running by her. The stallion ran past her, not even taking a glance at the princess as he ran from one hallway to another. He even almost ran into a couple of mares who were just as surprised as Twilight was. But unlike the mares; Twilight knew exactly who that abnormally tall stallion was, for she had become acquainted with his presence.

“Gojira?”, she said to herself as she saw the form of Gojira vanish from sight as he rounded the corner. 

The frantic speed that Gojira was running at more than peaked her interest. Very rarely if not ever had Twilight seen him react in such a fashion unless there were some other factor that she was unaware of. But usually that factor was anything but positive for it to cause someone like Gojira to act so unusually. She had to admit it, she felt worried for what could’ve caused him to seemingly run away. Though she didn’t want to leave Celestia’s side, she also wanted to see if there was something wrong with her friend. Fortunately, in no offense to Celestia, Twilight felt the choice was obvious.

“I’m sorry, princess, but I’ll be back as soon as possible”, said Twilight.

“Oh, of course Twil-, ladies, welcome to the grand galloping gala”, said Celestia. With that confirmation, Twilight quickly trotted away, not noticing the small smile on Celestia’s face.

“She has come such a long wa-, hello, gentlemen, and welcome to the gala”, said Celestia.

Gojira rounded corner after corner until eventually the migraine he was feeling ceased. Though his head was still hurting, he could finally think straight and process what he had felt. These feelings seemed to be happening more frequently and he didn’t know why. Gojira continued to walk until he saw a balcony area of Canterlot that overlooked the valley below. He walked on to it, taking a deep breath of the fresh air that invaded his senses. After standing there for a few seconds, his emblem flashed.

‘Your heart rate’s fast.’

“Yeah, I realize”, replied Gojira with sarcasm. “It’s that feeling again, the same one I got from the lake.”

‘What do you mean?’

“The lake, when I almost drowned! I was broken out of my concentration by some kind of vision that filled me with so much dread, I had to surface. This is the second time tonight I’ve felt it and this time it’s been worse”, said Gojira. Alpha stayed silent for a few seconds.

‘Perhaps you were experiencing profuse amounts of stress which caused you to lose control of your omniscience. A major influence on our senses are the emotions we feel, and seeing as how you haven’t fully mastered these feelings yet, you might be experiencing some over exaggerated forms of anxiety.’

Gojira would like to believe that Alpha was correct, but he still couldn’t help but second guess himself. “It’s more than just anxiety or stress that I felt. I could feel the presence of another vessel, and it definitely wasn’t Rodan or Anguirus”, said Gojira. 

‘It can’t be, as far as my knowledge is concerned, only you three were given the powers of the kaiju spirits.’

“That’s what I also thought, but this sensation has happened multiple times now. Can you really just pass it off as being some kind of natural disaster or stress?”, asked Gojira. 

‘While your worries are justified, I feel we should look at more reasonable explanations rather than making wild assumptions.’ Gojira sighed in thought as he placed a hoof against his temple. The feeling of rough scute instead of soft fur caught his attention.

“Alright, but I’m telling you that I know what I saw, and if you are my spirit, then you should’ve also felt some sort of dread if this were to happen”, said Gojira, showing Alpha his hoof. 

A part of his leg had formed a large patch of scales that were even flickering blue energy. Alpha looked at the scales, and then back up at Gojira; whatever was causing these feelings was very much abnormal. The sudden sound of hoofsteps immediately caused Alpha to retract back into Gojira’s mane as his emblem flashed and the scales on his hoof immediately vanished. Gojira looked back at the entrance of the balcony, expecting to see a guard or even Luna who he was admittedly a little nervous to see. But instead, he was met with a purple unicorn who wore a worried expression.

“Gojira?”, asked Twilight. Seeing her, Gojira’s tension lowered slightly.

“Oh…hey, Twilight”, he replied.

“Hey? I saw you run by and wanted to know if you were feeling alright”, said Twilight. Gojira mentally cursed himself, he was hoping no one else had noticed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just needed some fresh air is all”, he said. Though Gojira tried to hide it, Twilight had a feeling that something was wrong.

“Are you sure? You seemed pretty distraught the last time I saw you”, she said.

“I assure you, I’m perfectly alright”, said Gojira. “Sorry for worrying you, you can head back to the party.” Twilight was about to speak up, but Gojira merely turned back around. 

“Oh…ok”, said Twilight as she was about to leave. 

However, she stopped in her tracks and looked back. Gojira seemed distant, as if he was only partially taking part in their conversation. Twilight knew that there was something wrong for him to act so strangely. She caught a brief glimpse of the look in Gojira’s eyes when he ran past her, they seemed so panic-stricken. If meeting Nightmare Moon could barely make him flinch, then something even worse was causing him to behave this way. Twilight knew there was no point in going back to Celestia, which left her with one more option. She took a deep breath and turned back toward her friend.

“A-Actually, I think I’m also going to stay out here”, said Twilight as she walked next to Gojira. To say the least, Gojira was fairly taken aback by her answer.

“Oh, uhh, you sure. I do mean it when I say that I’m fine”, he replied. Twilight merely waved off his reply.

“Don’t worry about it, besides I’m also in need of some fresh air”, she said. Gojira had a sharp feeling that he knew what her real reason was, nevertheless, he didn’t want to force her to leave.

“Well, if you say so”, he said before leaning over the concrete railing on the balcony. The two stood there in silence for a few moments, neither making any attempt to start a conversation. Twilight was too nervous to say anything that might trigger some kind of negative response. But then, she heard the tall stallion clear his throat.

“So, how’s the gala treating you?”, asked Gojira.

“O-Oh, i-it’s been…good…not as good as I hoped, but still good”, answered Twilight. “I got to speak with Celestia for a grand total of ten seconds and shook the hooves of probably fifty mares, though I lost count.” 

Gojira lightly scoffed at the response. “That’s quite a workout for your hooves”, he replied.

“You’re telling me”, said Twilight. “But, how about you, what’s your experience been like?” Gojira remained silent, it was only for a moment but it felt like an hour.

“It’s been…alright”, he said, dryly. “Mainly just walked around Canterlot with Spike”, the thought of the little dragon brought a smile to his face, “he seemed so excited to be there.”

“Heh, that’s Spike for ya”, added Twilight.

“Yeah, everything was going fine…and then, I met princess Luna”, said Gojira, as a look of disappointment formed on his face. Twilight had a feeling that she found what caused Gojira to act weirdly.

“Don’t know how to talk to her after the whole…you know what happened?”, she asked. 

“Not really…”, said Gojira. He couldn’t give the real reason for his behavior so he had to craft some kind of explanation. “I’m not the most sociable pony in Equestria and I guess speaking with the princess got the better of me. Especially didn’t help that I was being stared at and gossiped about.” Twilight listened with a look of sympathy, her night wasn’t good but it seemed Gojira’s wasn’t much better. 

“So…your night’s not that great, huh?”, said Twilight. 

“Not very, no”, replied Gojira. Twilight started to feel bad. After their talk at his house, she felt she had essentially forced him to go to the gala. And after hearing about Gojira’s experience, it sounded as though he wished he hadn’t.

“I’m sorry, Gojira, guess I kinda overhyped the party tonight. It’s honestly kinda…”, Twilight struggled to come up with the right word.

“Appalling? Dreadful? Dull? Obnoxious? Underwhelming? Complete waste of time?”, said Gojira. Twilight looked at him with a deadpan expression.

“Yeah…those”, she said. Gojira lightly chuckled from her reaction.

“Yeah, it’s kinda a bust, but I’m sure the others are enjoying themselves more than us”, he said. 

“I guess, though, I know you didn’t want to come before I talked to you about it and now, after seeing what really happens at the gala…I’m sorry”, said Twilight. Gojira noticed the apologetic tone in her voice.

“It’s alright, after all, what the hay else was I gonna do? Play with a deck of cards?”, he replied. “This has definitely been a new experience, though not necessarily a bad one.”

“Really? I feel like it’s pretty…awful”, said Twilight.

“Yeah, it is, but then you get moments like this”, said Gojira.

He gestured toward the edge of the balcony, drawing Twilight’s attention. Even after the slightest glance, she immediately knew what Gojira was talking about. The view from Canterlot was already breathtaking when the sun was out, but it was when the moon rose where the true beauty of Equestria was on full display. The moon painted the sky in a deep, midnight blue which contained millions upon millions of stars and each and every one of them could create all kinds of constellations. Twilight had to admit, it was a beautiful sight, one she had grown familiar with. Gojira, however, was seemingly mesmerized by the deep depths of space and beyond. 

“I’m guessing you’ve never seen Canterlot like this before?”, asked Twilight.

“Nope, never”, replied Gojira. “Everything looks better at night. The valleys, the mountains, even the sky; it’s like some kind of hidden beauty that’s just now able to be seen.” Twilight could see the calmness in his amber eyes, the same eyes that just a few minutes ago were as tiny as pinpoints.

“Well, at least that’s one thing you and Luna have in common”, she replied. 

“I’d say it’s more so a trait I share with my father. When I was a colt, I’d sometimes find him sitting outside on the front porch at night looking up at the stars”, said Gojira as he replicated the same relaxed pose that he inherited from his father. “Whenever I asked mom what he was doing, she would usually tell me ‘nothing, sweetheart, he’s just thinking’. I never got what she meant until I started doing it.”

“I’m guessing Anguirus and Rodan didn’t inherit that trait”, said Twilight.

“Yep, apparently I was the only one”, said Gojira. He took in a deep breath before letting out a sigh. “Sometimes I’ll just stay up late at night and just sit outside and watch the stars. You’ll never experience anything more breathtaking.”

Twilight listened to what Gojira said. In all her years at Canterlot, she had always been caught up with studying and thus never once thought about star gazing. She stood next to Gojira and looked up at the midnight sky. The moon glimmered brightly as it was surrounded by millions of stars. Twilight took in the sounds around her, she was surprised at just how quiet it was; a sharp contrast to the noisy and crowded gathering that was the gala. She was starting to see why Gojira enjoyed it so much, not just because of the beauty of the scenery, but because it was peaceful. Twilight inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh air before exhaling softly.

“Yeah, it sure is”, she replied.

Rodan was trying to hide the fact he was a few moments away from sweating bullets. Him, Lisa, and Pinkie Pie all sat with each other at the table as they shared a couple drinks. While Lisa and Pinkie chatted away, Rodan still couldn’t get over his failed attempt at talking to Lisa. He had spoken with her several times before so he was wondering what it was about tonight that made things much harder. He was zoned out in thought and thus didn’t hear what neither Lisa nor Pinkie were saying.

“This isn’t what I imagined it would be”, said Pinkie as she wore a bored expression.

“Honestly, yeah, there’s not much to do. This isn’t even close to what I think of when I hear the word party”, added Lisa.

“I know, where’s the games, the presents, the singing, the fun music, the sugary food? There’s just nothing”, said Pinkie as she slumped on the table. Lisa then turned to Rodan.

“What do you think, Rodey?”, asked Lisa. Rodan, however, was still deep in thought about his interaction with Lisa that he didn’t even hear her speak. “Rodey? Rodan? Are you ok?”

“Huh?..oh, yeah, tonight kinda sucks”, said Rodan. Lisa saw the disinterested look on his face, but chalked to him not enjoying the gala similar to her and Pinkie.

“I’ve been planning and hosting parties ever since I moved to Ponyville, but I’ve never experienced one so…not fun”, said Pinkie. Lisa nodded as she looked at the stage in the ballroom. Only a couple of ponies were on stage playing a melancholy song which she had been hearing for more than a couple hours now. 

“If only there was some way to lighten the mood, at least then it might be somewhat fun”, she said. The second her words left her mouth, Pinkie immediately sprang up with a bright smile on her face.

“I’ve got it!”, she exclaimed. Before Lisa could even speak, Pinkie had already run off leaving only a pink streak behind. She stood there, a little nervous over the thought of what she might’ve just started.

“Well, at least things could get interesting. Right, Rodey?”, she said to the only remaining pony next to her.

“Yeah, sure”, said Rodan, dryly. This time, Lisa couldn’t help but feel a little let down over the way Rodan was reacting.

“Rodan, what’s wrong?”, she asked. “You seemed so happy to be here, but now you're acting like I’m not even here.” Rodan was knocked out of his thoughts and turned toward Lisa.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Lilly. I just…well…ummm”, Rodan began to stutter again. He was once more caught off guard by how she looked. It made no sense to him why he was acting this way with the only explanation he could think of being that he was simply nervous. 

“Well, what?”, asked Lisa. A thought came to her mind which caused her to form a disheartened expression. “Did you…not want to spend the night with me?”

“Wha- no, no, not at all. Of course I want to spend the night with you”, reassured Rodan.

“Then why are you barely talking to me?”, asked Lisa. Rodan started to become nervous again as he tried coming up with a reason that wouldn’t sound too mean. It was already difficult enough but the look of sadness in Lisa’s eyes caused Rodan to fumble his words even harder.

“I-I want to talk to you, I really do, but I…I, it’s just…”, said Rodan. He could fly a marathon on a daily basis without breaking a sweat, but now he could barely create coherent sentences. He didn’t know why he was acting this way, but he had to come up with something as the longer he stared at Lisa’s hurt expression, the harder it was for him to think. Luckily for him, a much needed distraction was about to happen.

“Come on, everypony! I know what will make you shake those groove-thangs!”, exclaimed a high pitched voice. 

Both Rodan and Lisa looked toward the stage; they knew immediately who that voice belonged to. Pinkie Pie stood in front of a microphone with a wide smile on her face. The entire crowd became confused at the sight of the bright pink mare, even the musicians on stage shared similar puzzled looks. The only one who didn’t was Rodan for he knew exactly what Pinkie was trying to do. With a concerned look on his face, he immediately stood up and quickly made his way over to the stage. Lisa was surprised by his reaction and immediately followed him.

“Rodan?”, she asked.

“Pinkie! Wait!”, exclaimed Rodan as he tried to gain Pinkie’s attention. “This isn’t what I meant by-!” But his voice fell on to deaf ears, and by deaf, I mean only Pinkie’s ears as she signaled for the band to start playing. She took a deep breath and then-

🎵 “You reach your right hoof in!”

🎵 “You reach your right hoof out!”

🎵 “You reach your right hoof in!”

🎵 “And you shake it all about!”

🎵 “You do the Pony Pokey meeting lots of folks with clout!”

🎵 “That’s what I’m talking about!”

The guests stood flabbergasted at what this mere commoner was trying to pass as ‘music’. Despite what her lyrics implied, Pinkie was the only one actually doing the Pony Pokey as she tried to get others and even the musicians to dance along with her. Rodan watched with a dumbfounded expression as he watched his worries play out in front of him. He was partially wishing that he had never told Pinkie about his plans for the night. Even worse, he now had to deal with the even more confused look on Lisa’s face as she looked at him.

“Rodan, what is going on?”, she asked. Rodan looked at her and then at the stage. His head went completely blank as a single thought came to his mind.

“W-Wanna dance?”

Anguirus felt incredibly bored. He had been walking aimlessly either inside or outside Canterlot and had found nothing that even remotely peaked his interest. The food was terrible, none of the guests seemed like they wanted to talk to him, and he hadn’t seen his brothers ever since they first got here. Even worse though, he hadn’t eaten anything for several hours and was beginning to starve. He was debating whether to leave or not, until he picked up a certain smell. This smell was a lot sweeter than the nasty horderves he had been served. He traced where the scent was coming from.

He followed the scent into another outdoor part of Canterlot that featured several banners and strings of flowers. The closer he got to the source, the more he recognized the smell. He had been working on the Sweet Apple Acres farm for long enough to recognize the sweet scent of freshly picked apples. He was taken to what seemed to be a makeshift stand that served all kinds of apple based foods. Even better, he recognized the pony that worked the stand. The farmer’s hat and the blonde mane easily gave Applejack away, even if she did appear to be dozing off.

“Hey, Applejack!”, exclaimed Anguirus. The sudden greeting caught Applejack completely off guard as she immediately looked up as soon as her name was called.

“Huh? Oh, howdy Aang”, she said. 

“Let me guess, not what you thought?”, asked Anguirus, referring to the party. 

“You got that right, this ain’t what I expected atall”, replied Applejack. “I’ve been here for ‘bout three hours now and only made one sale.” Anguirus looked at all of the delicacies on full display. The sight of which caused his stomach to give off a light gurgle. 

“Well, make this your second sale, because I’ll take two caramel apples, please”, he said. Applejack replied with a small smile.

“Sure thing”, she said as she handed him two apples. Anguirus immediately grabbed one and was about to take a bite when he heard Applejack clear her throat.

“Ehem, aren’t you gonna?”, said Applejack, referring to the sign on the cart which read several prices.

“Oh, uhhh…”, stammered Anguirus as he patted himself, realizing he had no bits. Thankfully, instead of being upset, Applejack replied with a small laugh.

“I’m just kidding, help yourself”, she said.

“Oh, thank you”, replied Anguirus before taking a large bite of the apple. A smile formed on his face as the juices hit the back of his throat. 

“If only I could get more customers like you, Aang, then I’d be swimming in bits”, said Applejack.

“I’m surprised you haven’t made more sales, this is better than anything they have inside”, said Anguirus, referring to the apple he had just taken a bite out of. Applejack immediately perked up.

“What do ya’ mean?”, she asked.

“The food inside is pretty bad. It looks appealing, but when you eat it, it’s just basically a soggy cracker”, said Anguirus as he took another bite. 

“Then it’s no wonder why nopony wants my food! They all been fillin’ up on those fancy-schamncy vittles”, said Applejack as an annoyed expression crept on her face.

“No offense, but I doubt that’s the reason”, said Anguirus. Applejack could only disagree in thought, until the sight of a familiar mare caught her attention.

“Well, time to find out”, she said and gestured to the pony walking towards her stand; or rather ponies.

The sight of her friend brought a smile to Rarity’s face as she and the other pony in tow walked up to the stand. The pony in question was a tall, male unicorn with white fur, a blonde mane and tail, and a black collar with a blue bow tie. He walked with his chin facing up and wore a dignified expression at all times. Even just by looking at him, Anguirus felt he was about to stand corrected. 

“Two apple fritters please”, said Rarity. 

“Two apple fritters, comin’ right up”, said Applejack. As she prepared the order, Anguirus glanced at the unicorn he was standing next to. The unicorn stood to be slightly taller than Anguirus, causing him to look down at him.

“Uhh, hi…the name’s Anguirus”, said Anguirus as he extended his hoof for a moment. The unicorn looked at it in an almost disgusted manner.

“Blueblood…Prince Blueblood”, he replied. With a noticeable roll of his eyes, Prince Blueblood did very little to impress Anguirus. 

“Here we are, that’ll be four bits”, said Applejack as she pulled out a tray of two apple fritters. Rarity looked at Blueblood expectantly, only to receive no response.

“Ahem”, she coughed, catching his attention.

“Ahem”, replied Blueblood.

“Ahem!”

“Ahem!!”

Rarity let out an annoyed sigh as her brows furrowed. “I’m going to have to pay, aren’t I”, she said.

“It’s okay, Rarity, I got you covered”, said Applejack. Though it was a hard pill to swallow, since she had already given out an order for free, one glance at Rarity told Applejack that it was the least she could do.

“Thank you, Applejack! At least somepony here has good manners”, said Rarity, emphasizing the words ‘somepony’ and ‘manners’. Despite that, Blueblood didn’t react and merely took one of the fritters. Anguirus walked up beside her and leaned to her ear.

“Find your special somepony?”, he whispered. 

Rarity wore a blunt expression that could be read as her saying ‘what do you think’. Suddenly, the sound of retching could be heard as Blueblood violently spat out the Apple fritter he had taken a bite out of. His sudden action caught everyone, especially Applejack off guard. Blueblood looked back at the stand with a disgusted look on his face.

“Fritters! Dumplings! Caramel apples! My royal lips have touched common carnival fare!”, he exclaimed. He turned around with his chin raised high. “I’m going to the buffet for some horderves.” Rarity followed after him shortly afterwards, looking back at both Applejack and Anguirus with an apologetic look. When they were gone, Applejack faced Anguirus with an ‘I told you so’ look. Anguirus couldn’t even blame her. 

“My down-home apples are plenty good enough for this crowd. I’ll just dress ‘em up a little and prove it to ‘em”, she said.

“Then I’ll leave you to it”, said Anguirus as he turned with his remaining apple and started to walk away. Applejack waved him goodbye before setting to work.

Anguirus walked through the gardens of Canterlot, taking in his pleasant surroundings. It was getting close to midnight and the moon was now causing the trees to cast large shadows. Because of this, many parts of the garden were shrouded in darkness. It wasn’t that big of a problem for Anguirus, however he didn’t pay much attention to whatever was in front of him. He looked up at the night sky, catching a brief glimpse of the moon.

“Well, at the very least, it is peaceful”, said Anguirus as he was about to sit down on a bench. He looked down at the last apple he was holding, hunger filling his eyes. “So now, nopony can bother me, my little darling~”

‘You know I can hear you, right?’ Anguirus immediately tried clearing his throat.

“Ahem…I-I…y-you see, I was…I”, he stuttered trying to come up with an excuse. Luckily, the sight of birds flying at him made for a good reason.

“I was referring to those birds”, he said, pointing at the flying flock that was racing toward him. The thought finally registered in his mind as he relistened to what he had said.

“Wait a minute? Bir-”

The words didn’t leave his mouth in time as several came flying at him and quickly surrounded him. They got incredibly close to the point where some landed on him, digging their claws into his suit and even his fur. The sudden feeling of several talons pricking his skin caught Anguirus by complete surprise as he jumped off the bench and started to thrash around.

“Get them off! Get them off!”, he shouted as he started to run around. The sheer number of birds completely covered his eyesight. Because of this, he couldn’t see anything that was in front of him, including a certain pony who was too busy distracted on something else.

Fluttershy had hit her breaking point as she stood in front of a makeshift trap. “I'll catch you yet, my pretties. Oh yes, as soon as one of you little birds or monkeys or bears touches this net, you'll be mine! MINE!”, she exclaimed before letting loose a maniacal laugh. 

She was so distracted by her plan, that she didn’t hear the heavy galloping that could be heard right behind her. Anguirus burst through the shrub, covered in birds. He was thrashing around as the birds continued to flock around him, showing large amounts of interest in the apple he was holding. They completely obscured Anguirus’ vision and it wasn’t until the last possible moment when he noticed that there was something in his way.

With a mighty shove, he ran right into Fluttershy, catching her completely by surprise as she and Anguirus tumbled into the net. The trap was instantly triggered, causing both of them to be wrapped up in the net and be left dangling from a tree. The birds finally left Anguirus alone after taking a few pecks out of his apple and tearing apart his suit. Both he and Fluttershy were nose to nose when the birds finally left and they could see properly. To say the very least, both were quite embarrassed over the position they were in.

“Uhhh…”, stuttered Anguirus as his cheeks glowed crimson and he lifted the remains of his apple. “Are you…hungry?”

Fluttershy merely replied with a sigh of embarrassment, confusion, frustration, and disappointment.

“Hehe, so what happened next?”, laughed Twilight.

“Well, since Aang won the snowball fight, he got to name the snowman and you wanna know what he named it…Jeffery”, said Gojira. Twilight continued to laugh at the story.

“That’s cute”, she said.

“To dad it was, but you should’ve seen the look on Rodan’s face. He was pretty petty even after Hearth’s Warming”, said Gojira. Both he and Twilight had been talking on the balcony for quite a while as they shared memories about their pasts. 

“It pretty much became a running joke throughout the rest of that winter where we always had to greet Jeffery until he melted”, finished Gojira. 

“Anguirus must’ve been heartbroken to see him gone”, joked Twilight.

“Oh, he was a little, but I think Rodan was a little relieved”, added Gojira. The two shared a brief laugh before Gojira stared back at the view. Twilight had slowly started to become fascinated in the childhood stories that Gojira shared.

“Sounds like you three had a really good childhood”, she said. Gojira remained silent for a moment, that was only partially true.

“Yeah, it was, though that was primarily thanks to our parents. As far as I’m concerned, they gave us the world”, he said. Twilight smiled warmly, she was happy that she managed to get Gojira to talk more about positive moments in his life. It seemed as though he had completely forgotten about the strange sensations he had earlier.

“It’s funny, you three always seem to be at each other’s throats whenever I see you three around one another”, said Twilight.

“We mess with each other a lot, mostly thanks to Rodan. But I think we’ve gotten to the point where we can’t live without each other. We’ve been by each other's sides for more than twenty years now and I don’t think we’ll be separating anytime soon”, said Gojira. This wasn’t a lie, though he purposely left out the part about the century year old kaiju spirits that they were each housing.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Sounds like you three have been through a lot”, said Twilight.

“You have no idea”, replied Gojira. A thought then crossed his mind. “But, that’s enough about me, how about you?”

“Oh, I don’t have as many interesting stories”, said Twilight. “For the most part, it was just me and books.”

“Come on, surely Celestia’s star pupil has some fondly remembered moments from their childhood”, said Gojira. Twilight thought about it, luckily one stood out to her.

“Well, when I was small, me and my brother would compete over everything. To keep it friendly, our parents gave us gold stars whenever one of us did something special. The one who got the most gold stars got the title of Sibling Supreme. My mom even made a paper mache crown for the winner”, said Twilight, a huge wave of nostalgia hit her like a truck. Gojira chuckled from seeing her enthusiasm.

“Me and my brothers would’ve been perfect for that kind of game. I mean, you wanna talk about competitiveness, me and Rodey would have staring contests that would last for hours”, said Gojira.

“I doubt that”, said Twilight.

“No, seriously, why do you think Rodan wears sunglasses wherever he goes? Because that’s the result of keeping your eyes open for two hours straight”, said Gojira. The real reason was because Rodan’s eyesight was too sensitive to handle the sunlight, but he thought it smart to leave that part out. The two shared a laugh before the silence kicked in. 

“By the way, your brother wouldn’t happen to be a stallion named Shining Armor, right?”, asked Gojira. Twilight’s eyes slightly widened.

“Yeah, how did you know?”, she replied.

“Me and Spike ran into him by accident”, said Gojira. “I had no idea he was captain of the royal guard.”

“Sorry, he completely slipped my mind”, said Twilight. “Me and him were pretty much each other's best friends throughout our childhood. After a while, Shining Armor went off to join the royal guard while I studied at Canterlot.”

“Are you two still on good terms?”, asked Gojira.

“We are, though we don't see each other that often. In fact, the last time I saw him was when I was still studying in Canterlot”, said Twilight.

“Then life in Canterlot must’ve been pretty good. I mean, you’re basically next door neighbors with your siblings, you’re the student of the princess, and you got to learn as much magic as you want. You were basically living the dream that every unicorn shared”, said Gojira. He expected Twilight to reply with her, admittedly, cute smirk, but instead she continued to look over the balcony.

“It started off as a dream…but…”, Twilight’s voice softened. This sudden change in tone caught Gojira a little off guard.

“Twilight?”, he asked, a little worried.

“My parents were so proud of me when they heard I became Celestia’s protégé, especially my mom. As soon as I could, I moved into the palace and started working”, said Twilight. “I wrote to my parents every night letting them know how I was. But then every night turned into every week, then into every month, and then eventually…”

Her ears lowered as she recalled her past. “Throughout all my life, it’s always been about studying, books, magic, and learning because I thought that if I tried harder than anypony else, then I could make a difference. And it seemed to pay off after I attended Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns and became her student”, said Twilight. Gojira listened intently, he hadn’t seen this side of her before.

“After that, I gave all my time to studying. I had a room in Canterlot, but I basically lived in the library. I started to improve my magic skills and Celestia seemed to be proud of the progress I made. I was so focused on learning about magic that…I guess I never realized how lonely I was”, said Twilight.

“What about Spike or Shining Armor?”, asked Gojira. 

“Well, Shining tried visiting me as often as he could, but his guard duties got to a point where I would go weeks or even months without seeing him. And when Spike was old enough, he moved to Canterlot with me and became my personal assistant. If I’m being honest, he and the books were the closest things that I had to friends”, said Twilight. Gojira saw the saddened face of his friend and wanted to say something to help her feel better. But then, Twilight’s expression changed into a brighter one.

“And then, the Summer Sun Celebration happened. Me and Spike moved to Ponyville which leads us to now”, said Twilight. “Sometimes I wonder what made Celestia decide to send me to Ponyville since she seemed so impressed by my progress. But, whatever her reason may be, I’m incredibly thankful. I’ve made more friends than I could ever imagine, my magic has improved immensely, and I can say in full certainty that I’m…happy.”

“Was that going to be one of your questions for Celestia?”, asked Gojira. “Because I think you just answered it.” Twilight was about to answer his question, until Gojira’s words started to sink in. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that he was right.

“I…I guess I did”, said Twilight.

“Exactly, you really need to start giving yourself more credit. Who knows, one of these days you might know just as much as Celestia”, said Gojira. Twilight playfully rolled her eyes.

“Thanks, but I still have a lot to learn, and I’m pretty sure that’s theoretically impossible. There’s nothing Celestia doesn’t know about”, she replied. Gojira lightly chuckled, if only that was true.

“But still, I’m happy to hear about how far you’ve come. Everypony has the opportunity to make a difference, but how we perceive those opportunities is what matters. That’s what makes the strong stand out from the rest, because they were willing to take a chance”, said Gojira. Twilight was a little surprised by Gojira’s random words of wisdom before forming a smile.

“Did you learn that from your mother?”, she asked.

“Nope, that’s something I also inherited from my father. He was probably one of the smartest stallions I ever knew”, said Gojira.

“Then I got a lot more work to do if I want to be on his level”, joked Twilight. 

Gojira lightly laughed in response, his gruff snickers were a sharp contrast to Twilight’s lighter giggles. Although he dreaded coming to the gala, Gojira’s experience was more enjoyable than he thought it would be. From spending time with Spike to talking with Twilight, his night turned out better than others. He had to admit, he enjoyed talking to Twilight and she seemed to enjoy talking to him; something he never expected from anyone other than his brothers. Despite the emotional incident that he had earlier, he had completely forgotten about it and had managed to regain a clear head. He looked back over the balcony.

“Well, I think I’ve had my fill of fresh air, I’m gonna head back inside”, said Gojira. 

“Yeah, I’m also gonna head inside, hopefully I can finally talk with Celestia now”, said Twilight. 

“Then you’ll need somepony to escort you, ma’am”, joked Gojira. Twilight playfully rolled her eyes. 

“Here we go again”, she replied. 

The two shared a laugh before walking back inside and down the hall. Little did either of them know, however, a certain stallion stood around the corner and had heard most of what they had said. Though he had hoped to speak with Twilight one on one, Shining Armor never could’ve imagined that she had managed to befriend someone as…different as Gojira. Nevertheless, the smile on his younger sister’s face was enough to convince him that, whoever this Gojira fella was, perhaps there was more to him than met the eye. He lightly smiled.

“You always managed to have the weirdest friendships, Twiliy”, he said to himself.

“Come on, everypony! You wanted to party, so let’s paaaaartey!”

Rodan thought it couldn’t get worse, he hoped it couldn’t get worse, until he saw Pinkie pull out a DJ set. Pinkie tried to get the crowd to start dancing, but everyone stood idly by with looks of confusion and awkwardness. Despite Pinkie’s best efforts, many ponies were more so choosing to avoid her rather than dance with her. Out of them all, however, she was mainly focusing on her two friends who could put up with her shenanigans. Rodan could sense the uncomfortable energy radiating from Lisa as Pinkie pushed the two of them closer to each other. He didn’t know why, but Rodan got a certain feeling that if he didn’t step in soon then something very bad was going to happen. So when Pinkie Pie bounced on the floor, Rodan made his move.

“Hey, Pinkie?”, he asked. “I know you’re all about Pinkie style and all that, but maybe we should-”

“Hold that thought, Rodey”, interrupted Pinkie as she placed a hoof over his lips. “I still have my big finish!” 

Before Rodan could even say another word, Pinkie had zoomed away. He looked back to see the very weary look on Lisa’s face. He wanted to say something to her, to perhaps apologize or even try and crack a joke, but once more his mind went blank. He was so focused on Lisa, that he didn’t even notice when the doors to the ballroom opened to reveal a massive cake being pushed by Applejack. She wore a confident grin for her hard work as she strolled inside.

“Okay, all you high-class ponies! Here's a highfalutin apple cake for your hoity-toity taste buds”, exclaimed Applejack. She intended to prove a point and for a few seconds she felt like she did. The only problem was that she had done so right when Pinkie performed her big finish.

“Stage dive!”, exclaimed Pinkie as she stood on the stage before jumping into the crowd. Instead of catching her, however, the crowd immediately moved out of her way. All except for one.

Due to the size of the cake, Applejack didn’t see the airborne Pinkie until after she had landed on one end of the cart that was carrying the cake. The resulting impact catapulted the cake into the air, sending it flying across the ballroom. And unfortunately for a certain stallion and mare, it was heading right towards them. Although Rarity didn’t notice it at first, she did when Blueblood used her as a shield. The cake splattered all over her dress and mane, completely ruining it. Rarity stood there completely stunned as cake batter covered her from head to hoof. Shock turned to anger, however, as she turned to face her Prince, her face redder than any and every apple from Sweet Apple Acres.

“You, sir, are the most uncharming prince I have ever met!”, exclaimed Rarity. “Seems like the only thing royal about you is that you are a royal pain!” Blueblood didn’t even process what she was saying, but instead backed away from the mere sight of her.

“Eww, stay back! I just had myself groomed!”, said Blueblood.

“What’s the matter, afraid to get dirty!?”, exclaimed Rarity. 

She shook violently, sending the remains of the cake flying everywhere with most of it landing on Blueblood. The stallion backed away out of sheer fear as cake frosting got in his eyes. Because of this, he couldn’t see where he was going and backed right into the golden statue of Celestia. The resulting collision caused the statue to teeter as it shook from side to side. The bolts holding it down broke almost instantly as it tipped forward. A few guests stood in its way as they all gasped from fright. Luckily for them, a certain pegasus saw what was happening.

“This is my chance!”, exclaimed Rainbow Dash before flying in the distance of the statue.

By showing great speed and reflexes, Rainbow Dash managed to catch the statue in her back before it could hit anyone. Although she was proud of herself for a moment, the full weight of the statue finally settled in and even worse, it was starting to tip. Rainbow Dash was essentially pulled by the statue as she tried to regain balance. In the process, she bumped into several pillars, causing them to fall over and collapse into other pillars, knocking their heads off. One of these concrete heads happened to fall right over top of another pegasus who barely had time to register.

“Lisa, look out!”, shouted Rodan. Before Lisa could react, Rodan flew towards her with incredible speed and pushed her out of the way of the falling head. The shove caused Rodan to wrap his arms around Lisa and essentially hold her in a dipping position by accident. Lisa was so stunned over what had happened that she almost didn’t even register the position they were in. Nevertheless, the blush forming on her face showed that she was indeed surprised and a little embarrassed.

“Are you alright?”, asked Rodan.

“Y-Yeah…thanks”, she replied.

Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of an utterly destroyed ballroom with every single pillar knocked down, torn banners scattered all across the floor, and everyone’s dresses having been ruined from the resulting dust. And to add insult to injury, the statue which had wielded a major role in the ballroom’s destruction, completely crumbled into several pieces. In a matter of a few seconds, the night was officially over. Throughout the entire, incredulous order of events, both Gojira and Twilight stood dumbfounded at the entrance to the ballroom. They watched everything go down and while they were completely bewildered, Gojira specifically was also admittedly a little impressed.

“Looks we missed the festivities”, he said with sarcasm. Twilight could only reply with an awkward nod.

“Well…at least it can't get any worse”, she said.

Little did she know, the phenomenon known as jinxing was quite magical. As soon as the words left her mouth, a slight rumbling could be felt. The rumbling quickly grew in intensity as the entire ballroom began to shake violently. Everyone looked around in confusion and fear as their attention was drawn to the pair of golden doors that lead outside. Then suddenly, they burst open to reveal a stampede of all kinds of animals. Birds, monkeys, rabbits, squirrels, and many other animal species quickly overran the entire ballroom, causing a massive panic to spread throughout the ballroom. The last ones to enter the ballroom were two ponies; one being a very tired Anguirus whose suit was in tatters, and the other being a seemingly disheveled and enraged Fluttershy.

“You’re…going…to LOVE ME!”, she exclaimed. Her scream caught even Anguirus off guard as he stepped to the side. When Rodan saw his younger brother, he immediately ran to him.

“Aang, what the hay happened?”, he asked. Anguirus’ answer was rather blunt.

“Don’t ask”, he said.

The entire ballroom was in a massive panic as all the guests ran around while being chased by all kinds of wild animals. If that wasn’t bad enough, Toolshed and a fellow, unicorn guard member entered at the worst possible time. They were both using their magic to carry the large and heavy ‘Big Bertha’ rocket that Celestia had requested. When they entered the ballroom, they immediately froze at the sight of it being completely destroyed and invested with all kinds of animals. Toolshed and the guard looked at each other and tried backing away, only for a monkey to then fall out of seemingly nowhere and land on the guard’s head. 

He immediately freaked out and jerked back, causing his horn to emit sparks as he lost focus of his magic. And unfortunately, one unlucky spark landed right on Big Bertha’s fuse. The fuse immediately ignited and started to burn away, catching Toolshed by complete surprise as she dropped the massive firework.

“Oh no, get down!”, she shouted.

When the fuse had run out of rope, the big finally began. Big Bertha launched forward, rocketing through the air at incredible speeds. It bounced off the walls of the ballroom like a pinball, even nearly hitting a few party members had they not ducked in time. The rocket then crashed right through one of the stained glass windows and flew into the air. Big Bertha finally exploded in a spectacular show of color which was enough to even shake the entirety of Canterlot. Throughout all of this, Gojira and Twilight stood completely slack jawed over what had just happened. And if things couldn’t possibly get worse, a certain somepony entered the ballroom.

“Ahem”, said an affirmative voice. Both Gojira and Twilight turned around to see none other than Celestia who was just as flabbergasted as they were. 

“Umm…hi…princess”, said Twilight, trying to force a smile. Celestia barely even reacted to Twilight’s greeting. Instead she took a deep breath and bent down to her level.

“Run.”

She didn’t have to tell them twice. Twilight gestured to Gojira who knew what she wanted as he shouted for the others to follow them. The rest of the mane six, Rodan, Anguirus, and Lisa all heard him as everyone was too busy being distracted. They all saw Twilight gesturing for them to leave as she pointed to the ballroom’s exit. Without hesitation, they each immediately made their way to the exit, not looking back at the chaos that had unfolded. 

“What’s the plan now?”, asked Rodan.

“Don’t worry, I got an idea”, said Gojira.

“Hey, Pony Joe, hit me with another donut”, said Spike as he sat alone inside of his favorite donut shop.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”, asked Pony Joe.

“Another donut, extra sprinkles!”, demanded Spike. His furrowed brows lifted as he wore a dejected look on his face. Pony Joe noticed his change in tone.

“Bummed about the gala?”, he asked. Spike nodded in response. “Ah, don’t be, I’ve heard it’s pretty overrated.”

“It’s not that it was bad”, said Spike, “I was just hoping I could hangout with my friends at the gala. But…they all ditched me.” Suddenly, the sound of a chime ringing brought Pony Joe’s attention to the front doors. At first he was put off by the three, gruff looking stallions that entered first. Only for that to change when he saw a certain familiar face.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle”, he said followed by a light laugh, “long time no see.” Spike immediately turned around and was met with the sight of the mane six, Lisa, and the three brothers all in a rather drab state. He quickly got up and ran over to them.

“Hey, how was the gala? How was your best night ever?”, he asked. He then took note of the less than stellar condition they each were in. 

“What happened?”, he asked. Twilight replied with a sigh.

“It’s a long story”, she said.

“What do you mean?”, asked Spike.

“Well, let’s see, it first started when Pinkie tried turning the gala into a disco”, said Lisa. Pinkie lightly chuckled.

“It wouldn’t be a party without it”, she said before taking a seat at a nearby table. “But then Applejack brought in this delicious looking cake that got launched into the air and landed on Rarity.”

“Wonder how?”, added Rarity, side glancing at Pinkie who awkwardly laughed in response.

“Then Rainbow Dash accidentally brought the house down with a statue of Celestia”, said Rodan as he and Lisa sat at a table.

“Hey, that was an accident, besides I had it under control…at least, for a bit”, replied Rainbow Dash. Spike watched with wide eyes, he was a little disappointed that he missed it.

“Is that all?”, he asked.

“Mostly, well, at least apart from the wave of animals”, said Anguirus.

“The what?”, asked Spike.

“N-Nothing!”, interrupted Fluttershy, feeling a little embarrassed. 

“And then there was this massive firework that set off and nearly took several fellers' heads with it”, said Applejack. 

“Which leads us to here”, finished Gojira. Spike looked at them all with wide eyes.

“That sounds like the worst night ever”, he said. He at first expected someone to object, but instead the overwhelming response he got from them all was a resounding-

“It was!”

“But, no matter how it ended, nothing sounds better right now than a couple donuts”, said Gojira as he took a seat at the table.

“Already on it”, called out Pony Joe from behind the counter.

“I suppose, though, I just hope Princess Celestia isn’t mad at us for ruining the gala”, said Twilight as a worried look crossed her face. The thought of her teacher upset over her and her friends was not a pleasant thought.

“That was the best Grand Galloping Gala ever!” The familiar voice brought the attention of everyone to the entrance of the shop where they were met with none other than the princess herself.

“Princess Celestia?!”, they all replied with surprised looks, both at her presence and from what she said.

“Did we go to the same gala, or is she just trying to make us feel better”, Rodan whispered to Anguirus who replied with a shrug.

“Pardon me, princess, but tonight was kinda…awful”, said Twilight. She at first thought Celestia had joked about her earlier statement and braced for a lecture. Only to never receive one.

“Oh, Twilight, the Grand Galloping Gala is always awful”, said Celestia, rather bluntly. Everyone was surprised by her statement; mostly everyone.

“I knew it!”, exclaimed Gojira.

“That is why I was thrilled you were all attending. I was hoping you could liven things up a bit”, said Celestia. “And while the evening may not have gone as you planned, I'm sure you'll agree that in the end it didn't turn out so bad for this group of friends.” Twilight thought about it for a moment before a smile formed on her face.

“You're right, Princess. Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great”, she said. 

Celestia smiled back, she was proud of her student. As she and Twilight talked, so did the rest of the group as they shared their experiences of the night. As they did so, Gojira looked across at each one of them. Just a few months ago, he and his brothers moved to Ponyville in hopes of finding somewhere they could live without drawing any attention to them; never once did he consider the thought of befriending anyone. 

But now, here they were, at one of the most formal events in all of Equestria, surrounded by those that cared for them. He saw how Rodan spoke with Pinkie Pie as Lisa rested on his shoulder, he saw how Anguirus and Applejack were in deep conversation, and he saw his true first friend in the form of Twilight speaking with Spike. For the first time in all their lives, they had ponies that he felt they could trust. Though he didn’t know what the future would bring, he thought it best to enjoy what they currently had. After so many years of isolation, the three brothers were no longer alone.

“So, would you call this the best night ever?”, Rodan asked Gojira, his question bringing his older brother out of his thoughts. Gojira thought about it for a bit.

“Let’s just call this…a night to remember”, answered Gojira.