//------------------------------//
// Rasura 
// Story: A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
// by Killbles 
//------------------------------//

	A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Chapter Four: Rasura
 
Several days earlier – Thirty kilometres north of Stonefall
 
Jax hauled himself over a ridge of snow, squinting to make out the next bright orange flag. While the weather was considerably better than it had been on their earlier expedition, Jax was having a hard time seeing for more than a few hundred metres. With the change in weather, he and Snow Blind had finally gotten the chance they were looking for to examine the strange wall they had found some weeks earlier.  He brushed a clump of snow off his muzzle and pulled out a worn map and compass. 
“We must nearly be there.” Snow Blind said, breathing heavily; the  as he scurried up the bank behind Jax.
“Last flag should just be over that rise.” Jax agreed, stashing his map and compass away and pulling his snow goggles back over his pale green eyes. He scanned the horizon quickly, noting a front of ominous looking clouds to the north. That could be trouble.
“All these ridges and valleys weren’t here last time.” Snow Blind grumbled. Trudging after his companion wearily.
“I’d guess it was that massive snowstorm last week. The mountains around here tend to funnel the wind and the snow heaps up like this I suppose.” Jax answered pragmatically, cresting the small ridge that hid their quarry. words failed for a moment as he finally caught sight of their destination. “Whoa.”
“What is that?” Snow Blind muttered in awe. What the two ponies had presumed to be a wall was more like a vast metal dome. Several protrusions jutted from the main dome, one ending in a ragged tear that looked like had been caused by the jaws of a gigantic monster. The remainder of the dome was buried under several metres of snow.
“I don’t think that’s a wall.” Jax said slowly, overcome by awe. While he couldn’t guess the construction’s true size due to the snow cover, he guessed what he could see was at least 50 metres from end to end and at least that as wide.
“Sort of looks like a giant Diamond Dog.” Snow Blind said, pointing out what he imagined looked like a head, an arm and the start of a leg. “It’s even hunched over like one.”
Jax froze for a moment, remembering the detailed report in the town’s newspaper a few days ago about some disaster in Manehatten which had destroyed a fair part of the city. The article went into detail about some massive metal machine had slain the monster and saved the city. There were still photos of it plastered all over the paper, a monolithic guardian that stood watch over some dock in Manehatten.
“No way.” Jax breathed, his heart beat quickening as the possible implications sunk in.
“What, what is it?” Snow Blind asked, completely oblivious to Jax’s epiphany.
“Another one…” Jax whispered, galloping down the slope towards what he now realised was a metal giant. He slipped and skidded on a patch of ice in his haste and tumbled head first into the slush. 
“Hey Jax, wait up! What is it?” Snow Blind yelled, trying to catch up to the unicorn. Jax ignored him, looking around for the fluorescent orange flag that marked where their previous foray had ended. He let out a curse as his eyes crossed the white snow scape without luck, evidently the flag had been buried by the recent snowfall.
“Jax, what’s up? What’d you run off for?” Snow Blind panted, finally catching up to the unicorn at what Jax guessed to be near the base of one of the giant’s shoulders.
“It’s one of those things.” Jax gushed, looking over the dull grey metal plates excitedly.  “The things in Manehatten.”
Snow Blind blinked dumbly. “Come again?”
“You’ve seen the pictures in the paper right? The metal giant that saved Manehatten a few days ago. It’s one of those, I’m sure of it!”
“Jax, what the hay are you on about?” Snow Blind asked, clearly wondering if his friend needed to be carted off to an institution.
“The big machine that saved Manehatten! What did they call it..?” He scratched his head in thought back to the double page spreads in the newspaper. “That’s it, a Jaeger!” He said, horribly mispronouncing the German word.
“You mean the big alien robot everypony was panicking over?” Snow blind said, his eyes widening in shock.
Jax nodded furiously. “Yeah, that’s the one.”
Snow Blind rook a few steps back cautiously. “The look on your face tells me you want to go poke around inside it. Please tell me I’m wrong.” Snow Blind pleaded.
“Oh you are so, so right.” Jax said giddily. Ever since hearing about the attack he had sorely wanted to go see the massive construction now resting in Manehatten harbour. The prospect that he now had one of the machines in front of him was almost too much to comprehend. He fished around in his pack for his climbing gear, pulling out a set of metal spars and some rope.
“You can’t be serious.” Snow Blind said, his eyes flicking over the metal giant nervously. “What if it wakes up?”
“I think it’s dead.” Jax said with a little too much cheer. He wrapped the spars around his legs, creating a makeshift form of ice pick which would hopefully hold him as he climbed the side of the giant.
“Here we go.” He muttered, slamming the metal spar against the hull. A crack rang out as the metal connected, leaving him with a useless shattered rod of metal in his hand. “Huh, didn’t ever scratch it.” He muttered absently, examining the gunmetal grey hull closely.
“Well I guess that means we just have to go home, no point breaking the rest of our climbing gear then.” Snow Blind said, trying to tug Jax away from the metal hull.
“Relax, I got this.” Jax said, focusing a stream of energy through his horn. A moment later the duo went floating into the sky, the anti-gravity spell working its magic.
“JAX, WHAT ARE DOING?! PUT ME DOWN!” Snow Blind yelled as they sailed lazily into the sky. The unicorn ignored him, floating them a few metres higher until they stood on top of the slightly sloped, snow covered body.
“You’re insane!” Snow Blind snapped, looking anxiously at the drop behind them. It would’ve been at least ten metres back down, far too high for him to jump.
“Oh relax, what’s the worst that could happe- Woah!” Jax yelled as he tumbled into a hidden crevasse in the hull. The thin layer of snow and ice had disguised the hole perfectly, breaking only as Jax has stepped onto it. A loud thud and a groan of pain marked the abrupt end to the unicorn’s fall.
“Jax, are you alright?” Snow blind yelled, peering over the edge of the small hole cautiously. The unicorn was in a crumpled heap against a bulkhead about three metres down. He let out another groan of pain.
“I think I’m fine. Nothing broken at least.” Jax managed, shakily hauling himself to his hooves.
“I’m coming down.” Snow Blind announced, vanishing back over the lip of the hole.
“Mind the drop.” Jax muttered ruefully as a black rope snaked its way down towards him. After a few moments, the earth pony followed it, sliding down the rope with well-practised ease. Snow Blind checked Jax over quickly, frowning at the ugly bruise forming on the side of his companions head. Satisfied that the unicorn wasn’t about to fall apart, he peered around the gloomy compartment.
“I can’t see shit.” He muttered, scowling at a few lines of meaningless symbols printed on a wall. The temperature seemed to plummet in the machine but at least they were out of the howling gusts of wind that plagued the ice fields. 
“Well we brought torches for a reason.” Jax said cheerfully, pulling one out of his bag and levitating it above his head. He switched it on, the narrow beam cutting through the oppressive gloom easily.
“Alright, you’ve seen inside your metal giant. Can we go now?” Snow Blind asked.
“Nah, let’s have a poke around, we might something interesting.” Jax said, orientating himself with the slanted environment.
“Or something deadly.” Snow Blind muttered darkly.
“I think the top is this way.” Jax added, shining his flashlight up a narrow corridor which would’ve been vertical had the machine been upright.
“Any idea what all these symbols mean?” Snow Blind asked, sweeping his own torch across several more of the symbols printed on the walls.
The unicorn stared at the symbols intently, he swore he’d seen them before but couldn’t quite place the memory. “Not a clue.” He said finally, ducking his head and trotting up the shaft he presumed led higher into the machine’s body. Snow Blind wordlessly followed, not wanting to be left alone in the body of the mighty machine.
“This place gives me the creeps.” Snow Blind said with a shiver. He spun his head around quickly, the nagging sense that they were being watched hanging over him. The pressing darkness and claustrophobic corridor certainly wasn’t helping. A sudden crash made him jump, hitting his head painfully on the low ceiling. In the echoes of the crash he swore he could make out the faint sound of something moving through the hull.
“Hello?” He called out foolishly. “Anyone there?”
“Pull yourself together.” Jax chucked, reaching the end of the corridor and finding a solid metal hatch blocking their path. “We’re the only two things in here.”
“Exce- ti- n.” A cold, mechanical voice answered quietly. Its speech was fragmented and broken, constantly cutting out before snapping back on. If a look of panic hadn't crossed Jax's face at the same time, Snow Blind would've sworn he had imagined it.
“W-what the heck was that?” Snow Blind stammered, the beam from his torch wheeling around in panic. He half expected to see some alien beast with a maw full of razor sharp fangs and drool dripping from its mouth right behind him. His heart hammered against his chest and it took every ounce of courage to not bolt back for the rope.
Jax froze, he’d been inspecting the panel blocking their path when the oddly mechanical voice had spoken. “I have no idea.” He whispered. “But it didn’t sound like any animal I know… more like a machine.”
Snow Blind tensed instinctively. “You said this thing was dead.”
Jax bit his lip. “Maybe I was wrong.” He muttered. The hatch he had been examining suddenly creaked open, making both ponies start with surprise.
“Oh this is bad, this is real bad.” Snow Blind muttered fearfully. “Wh- Jax, where are you going?” He hissed as Jax made to move through the now open portal.
“I want to check it out.” The unicorn said, sounding much braver than he felt. Despite his attempt to appear unconcerned, Jax was starting to look a little frazzled.
“First we hear this voice and then a door slides open by itself.” Snow Blind hissed furiously. “I don’t that’s a good omen for our health.”
Jax brushed his words of warning off and stepped through the hatch, finding himself in roughly ten metre wide dome. The floor was canted at a slight angle and coupled with the layer of bluish frost that seemed to cover everything, Jax found it quite difficult to maintain his footing. In the gloom his flashlight picked out raised control panels and a large pair of curious frame-like structures which hung limply from the ceiling. A small hole in the centre of the dome fell away to reveal a dizzying array of gears and other moving parts.
“Snow Blind, come check this out!” Jax breathed, the fear of the mechanical voice that had scared them before buried under his feeling of wonder.
“What is this place?” Snow Blind asked, carefully stepping into the dome. He let out a curse as he slid across the floor and crashed in a heap against a few lockers at the back of the room.
“Looks like a control room of some kind.” Jax answered, fondly examining one of the consoles under the torchlight.
“Hey check this out.” Snow Blind called, prying one of the lockers open and pulling out a few bright metal tubes, some orange sticks and a few hard plastic cases with a red cross stamped on them. “Looks like survival gear.” He added, peering down one of the barrels of the metal tubes.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Jax said, snatching the tube away with his magic.
“Why?” Snow Blind asked dumbly.
“When I was traveling in the Griffon Kingdom I saw something like this. They called them firearms I think.” Jax said, turning the tube over curiously.
“That’s silly, who’d want to fire arms?” Snow Blind asked, picking up one of the plastic sticks and playing with it. He let out a quiet yelp of surprise when the stick started glowing.
Jax pointed the firearm at the corner of the dome and pulled the trigger with a burst of magic. A sharp crack sounded and a brilliant red ball of light shot out the end, landing in the corner with a sharp fizz. The red ball continued burning, illuminating most of the control room with a faint red tinge. “Huh, it shoots flares. That’s handy.” Jax said, tossing the device back to Snow Blind. “I suggest not pointing it at your face again.”
Snow Blind nodded meekly and put the firearm back where he’d found it. “Noted.”
Jax let out a small smile and reached up to the control panel; it was high enough he had to stand on his back legs to reach the buttons. Many were inscribed with a small script Jax presumed would’ve meant something to the aliens that piloted this thing. One button, larger and set apart from than the others which was labelled ‘SCRAM’, caught his attention. Feeling adventurous, he placed his hoof against the button and pressed it gently.
Nothing happened.
Feeling a little more confident he reached for another of the larger ones marked ‘RCTR MSTR STRT.’ As he pressed the button, a score of lights winked on weakly across the room, casting a soft white glow over them.
“What did you do?” Snow Blind asked nervously, a distant rumble reaching their ears.
Jax looked around cautiously. “I think I turned it on.”
“Good morning pilots. Jaeger power up sequence initiated.” The mechanical voice they had heard before said, this time its speech unimpaired. The two ponies jumped in surprise and looked around for the source of the voice.
“Where’s that coming from?” Snow Blind hissed.
“I think it’s a computer or something.” Jax muttered nervously, stepping away from the console. He vaguely recalled words of wisdom his mother had told him years ago. ‘Don’t mess with things you don’t understand.’ He cringed, wishing he’d paid more attention to them.
“Warning: Hull integrity compromised in 59 locations. Drive system failure. Reactor shielding critical. Right arm motivators destroyed.” The voice droned, apparently oblivious to the two ponies in the conpod.
“Hello?” Jax asked, wondering if he could figure out how to turn it off.
The voice continued listing off defects, apparently unconcerned with their presence.
“What are you?” Snow Blind asked.
The voice cut off abruptly, leaving the control room in sudden silence.
“Did you break it?” Jax wondered quietly.
 The voice snapped back on again, immediately disproving Jax’s thought. “Brawler Yukon. Mark I Jaeger prototype.”
 

***


 


 

Manehatten harbour – Equestria
                    Time since last incursion: Breach in progress
 
“Double check the scanners. Please tell me you’re making a mistake.” Michael panted, climbing up the narrow passageway into the Jaeger’s conpod.
“Verifying integrity of data, one moment please,”
“Face it, we’ve got another big baddie on our hands.” Shane said with something almost approaching good cheer. He ran over to the side of the conpod and started strapping his drivesuit on, the stark white plates gleaming under the cool conpod lighting.
“Could someone please tell me what the hay is going on?” Twilight asked, floating up the narrow tunnel behind them. She looked rather rattled, something neither of them found surprising considering she’d had a flare gun shoved in her face barely five minutes ago.
“Well how about I just say your big friend rotting in the harbour is about to get another, slightly smaller, friend.” Shane said with a harsh smile. He pulled his helmet down over his face and strode to the centre of the conpod, clipping his large bulky boots into the Jaeger’s drivetrain. The harness slid down from the ceiling and he fastened himself into the rig.
Twilight’s eyes widened with horror. “That’s not good.”
“For you, no. For us, well we’ve got Midsummer Night on our side.”
“What do I do?” Twilight stammered.
“Go tell your princess what’s happening, we’ll intercept the bug and pin it down. Maybe it won’t get into the city this time.” Michael said, cutting off a snarky response from Shane.
“You can’t seriously expect to go out in this thing?” Twilight said. “We haven’t even done a trail run on your reactor yet!”
“Sure, we’ll sit back and watch the party, that is, watch your guys get slaughtered and take snapshots at the beastie with flare guns. Sounds like a plan.” Shane snapped, already itching to hammer this Kaiju into the ground,
“She’ll be fine.” Michael said reassuringly, patting the decking of Midsummer Night with reverence. He donned his own helmet and opened the top hatch. “I recommend you get out now. Riding a Jaeger in battle isn’t exactly the most comfortable thing on the world.”
Twilight looked longingly at the controls, wondering what it would be like to view the battle from the metal giant. Common sense overcame her and she levitated herself outside. Somepony had to tell Celestia what was happening after all.
“Clever girl.” Michael said, clamping the hatch shut as the unicorn vanished out the top.
Shane spun around. “She’ll be fine, right?”
“Who, the Jaeger or the pony?” Michael asked stupidly.
“Midsummer Night you dolt.” Shane snapped. “Do you really think I’d care about the fur-ball?”
“Well with the amount you give machines any personality…” Michael muttered ruefully. “She’ll hold together.”
“Data integrity confirmed. Caution: Category II Kaiju inbound.”
“How far out is it?” Michael asked, clipping himself into the Jaeger and powering on the controls. He made a mental note to bring up the little incident they’d just had later, there was a much more pressing matter now.
“Long range scanner picked it up about 40 miles out.” Shane said, bringing the sensor data up on the holographic display. A rough topographical display came up on the display, a solid ping marking where the Kaiju had appeared. That had been several minutes ago, the Kaiju could be almost anywhere by now.
“Any other information?”
“Looks like it’s around 2100 tons, rather short though. I don’t like the look of this.” Shane said pointing to the sketchy sensor sweeps which showed a pair of large protrusions at the front of the Kaiju.
“Sweetie, come up with a name and power up the reactor.”
“Reactor activation protocols online, standby. New signature detected. Kaiju Rasura is inbound on heading three-two-three. Warning: Rasura has crossed the 35 mile mark.”
There was a dull thrum from below as the reactor powered up, a warning flashed briefly across their screen but vanished immediately. With a roar Midsummer Night burst into life
“Seems like they did something right at least.” Shane remarked, feeling a raw surge of power course through him.
“Reactor online, activating drift sequence in 3… 2… 1...”
 

***


 

                    Pinkie Pie watched in awe as the metal colossus slowly ground to life. With a creak of metal and clicking of massive gears it dipped into a slight crouch before stretching out to its full, impressive, height. It pivoted on its hip to face the pony crowd and let loose a long blast of its horns.
To Pinkie, it sounded like the end of the word. A sound that would shatter the sky and bring it raining down on them. It was the sound of raw power in machine form.
The crowd cheered and whooped with excitement as the Jaeger strode off its blocks and off into the bay, scattering a few scaffolds as it broke free of its cacoon. It let loose another horn blast before setting off at a quick pace through the bay, the ground trembling with every step.
“Whoa, did you see that, did you see that?!” Pinkie gushed excitedly, tugging at one of Fluttershy’s wings.
Fluttershy cowered on the ground, trying to hide and vanish under her hooves. She let out a small whimper.
“That was like two thousand tons of awesome!” Pinkie cheered, continuing to tug on Fluttershy’s wing like it was a disobedient dog.  “I want to drive one!”
“That’s nice. Maybe you could do it somewhere not near me?” Fluttershy whimpered, watching the machine relentlessly plough through the bay through her hooves. “Where’s it going?”
Pinkie stopped mid cheer. “I have no idea!”
Of course, if the of the crowd had been aware of why the Jaeger had left they’d have less enthusiastic. Much less enthusiastic.
 

***

 
Lucky Seven buzzed through the sky like an angry hornet, an apt comparison as it reflected the mood of the ship’s captain rather well. Spitfire prowled the bridge crossly, glaring at any of her bridge crew who so much as glanced at her. She’d seen the ground buckle and shake briefly before going still. She wanted to know what was happening and she wanted to know five minutes ago.
 “What’s going on down there?” Spitfire barked. She watched in alarm as a large building damaged in the initial attack collapsed, hurling debris across an entire city block.
“Looks like an earthquake ma’am.” One of the junior officers reported. “Not a large one but it’ll be enough to destabilise some of the damaged structures.
“Bloody hell, we just started cleaning this mess up!” Spitfire growled, her famous temper rising. ”Alert Search and Rescue.” She barked, sending one of her subordinates scurrying away to find the commander of the rescue teams.
 “Uh, ma’am? I’m picking up a large power signature down at the docks. It’s coming from the alien robot.”
“Fantastic.” Spitfire fumed sarcastically. What were the aliens doing? Had they somehow caused the earthquake? The paranoia that came with the job started creeping into her head. There was some connection, some link she guessed between the machines activation and the tremor. “Bring us around, full ahead.” She hesitated for a moment before grabbing the ship’s tannoy and roughly jabbing the transmit button, the blow nearly shattering the small plastic nub. “General quarters, action stations.”
“Expecting trouble Captain?” Soarin asked as the ship spun around slowly and bore down on the Jaeger.
“I have no idea of what to expect” Spitfire admitted.
“It’s moving!” Somepony said with awe. Sure enough, the metal giant took a step forward and spun around. It loosed a mighty blast from some sort of horn before advancing out into the bay. Spitfire watched dumbstruck as it strode through the water with a grace and speed that a machine of its size simply shouldn’t have. It almost seemed organic.
“Follow it.” Spitfire said dumbly, her reaction reflected by the majority of the bridge crew. “Ready all batteries to fire, bring us about on heading zero-eight-three.”
“Heading zero-eight-three, aye.”
 
***
 
Midsummer Night ran through the bay at almost 80 miles an hour, throwing up a massive spray of water as the Jaeger hurtled towards the mouth of the bay. As they cleared the mouth of the harbour they slowed down, watching their scanners carefully for signs of their encroaching foe. To their left sat Breezy Point, or whatever imitation the ponies had of it. Before them lay the vast reaches of the Eastern Ocean.
“Looks like we’ve got a crowd.” Michael remarked, pointing to the tiny dots on the beach behind them and then to the airship which had trailed the Jaeger from the city.
“Kaiju signature has crossed the Miracle Mile.” The A.I. announced solemnly. “Prepare for contact.”
“We’ve got too much ground to cover, it could slip right past us.” Shane observed.
“No, I think it’s coming right for us.” Michael said, indicating to a large black mass barely visible under the ocean swell. He directed the active sonar to sweep the area.
“Solid return, it’s right there!” Shane yelled, as the dark object broke the surface barely five hundred metres in front of them. They barely got a glimpse of the creature before a wave of rockets slammed into its armoured hide and it dived back below the choppy water.
“Shit! Where did that come from?” Michael yelped as another barrage of rockets crashed into the surf in front of them. The Kaiju vanished from their scopes and faded back under the water. They spun around, identifying the source of the rockets as a large airship hovering a few hundred metres above them.
“Watch where you’re shooting you idiots!” Shane snapped, raising the Jaeger’s right arm and flipping the dirigible off irately. While he knew the rockets would do little more than scratch the paint job, the barrage had made the Kaiju slink back into the shadows, giving it another chance to jump on them.
“Where’d it go?” Michael asked nervously, sweeping the Jaeger’s head back and forth. The wide array of scanners and trackers build into their head and legs pinging uselessly. Not being a carbon-based lifeform, the Kaiju were notoriously difficult to track. Radar and sonar worked well but the water, having recently disturbed by the passage of two giants and a barrage of rockets, wasn’t exactly being cooperative.
“Got it, solid ping on sonar! Right side!” Michael warned. No sooner than he yelled the warning, an alarm rang through the conpod as the Kaiju broke through the surface of the water with an ear-splitting screech. At first glance the creature could’ve been mistaken for an oversized scorpion, it was only at closer inspection that it varied from its much smaller land based brethren. In place of a tail stinger was a ribbed tube of flesh covered in faintly glowing blue lines. Its tail and back was covered in overlapping dark brown armour plates which trailed down the length of its body until finally ending at its massive arrow shaped head. It roared again, its jaw splitting into four parts as it howled at the mechanical colossus it faced. It clacked a pair of pincers in a taunting manner, daring the Jaeger to come closer. Another barrage of rockets corkscrewed into the Kaiju and rattled off its thick hide, not even denting the dark brown plates. It snarled but otherwise ignored the airship which had loosed the barrage, focusing squarely on the Jaeger in front of it.
“That just ain’t right.” Shane muttered, eying its massive pincers warily. A well placed snip from one could rip one of their arms off.
“Warning: Bioelectric signature rising.”  The A.I. warned a split second before the device grown into Rasura’s tail glowed a brilliant blue and spat something at them. Midsummer Night reflexively raised its left arm to shield the conpod from the shot, the eight metre long barb that rocketed out the Kaiju instead deflecting off their heavily armoured forearm and embedding itself into one of their railguns with a shower of sparks.
“It’s got a gun!” Shane yelled, yanking the barb out of their shoulder and tossing it aside.
“How astute of you.” Michael remarked. “Railgun on its tail, now!”
On his command, the remaining railgun spun out of its casing, tracking the slowly twisting tail as Midsummer Night circled the Kaiju cautiously, ready to dodge if it shot another spine at them. The Kaiju seemed to hesitate for a second before screeching and hurling its impressive bulk forward. A moment later the barrel on the Jaeger’s shoulder spat fire, sending a hypersonic round barrelling at the base of the creature’s tail.  The round impacted, shattering the thick armour plate like a dinner plate before bouncing off into the ocean with a hiss. Rasura screeched again, barely breaking stride and hurled itself at Midsummer Night with a speed that seemed excessive for a creature of its size.
“This is going to get ugly.” Michael groaned, twisting the Jaeger out of the way at the last second. The Kaiju anticipated the move though and bludgeoned them across the chest with its tail, sending Midsummer Night tumbling into the water. Shane and Michael were sent flying in their control harnesses as the Jaeger’s back slammed against the shallow ocean floor with a deafening crash.  Rasura screeched again, immediately following the blow up with another barb from its biocannon. Shane grunted in discomfort as the shot lodged itself in their gut with a clang, the pain receptors in his drive suit making one of his ribs prickle in discomfort. Not waiting for the cannon to fire again, Midsummer Night clambered back to its feet, ripping the second barb out and brandishing it like a dagger. Without a moment of hesitation, the mighty Jaeger surged forward, grabbed one the Kaiju’s pincers and impaled the barb it held in its left hand into one of Rasura’s forelegs. The Kaiju screeched in pain and stumbled around to face them, blood leaking from the crippled limb.
“Not so well protected there, huh?” Michael yelled in triumph, smashing Midsummer Night’s fist against the Kaiju’s face with tremendous force, fracturing one of its mandibles with a sickening crack. Undaunted by the blow, it brought the biocannon up again, this time squarely aiming at the Jaeger’s conpod.
“I got it!” Shane said, releasing the pincer he was grappling with and swatted the glowing appendage down with a swipe of their right hand. Rasura had a moment to look surprised before the massive bone coloured barb embedded into the base of its skull with a stomach-turning crunch. It screeched in pain and backed away from the Jaeger, snapping wildly with its pincers.
“Damn, how tough is this thing?” Michael asked, parrying a sloppy swipe from a pincer and wrapping his hand around the claw in a vice-like grip. He squeezed tighter, feeling the mechanical ligaments in the hand straining to close completely around the armoured limb. There was a moment of resistance before the claw crumpled in on itself like an empty tin can. Rasura screeched again and wrapped its tail around the arm, foregoing its tail weapon for the chance immobilise their limb. Alarms blared as the Kaiju’s strong tail started crushing the limb.
“Big mistake, junior.” Shane said, grasping the tail with their free hand and yanking it sideways in a single violent movement. Midsummer Night shook as its powerful engines driving their arms strained to roll the bulk of the Kaiju over.  Rasura roared in confusion and tried digging its stubby feet into the seabed but failed as its injured leg gave way to the indomitable force of the Jaeger. Its shriek of rage was cut short as it was flipped onto its back with a massive spray of water. The Jaeger shuddered violently as Rasura’s tail spasmed and squeezed righter around their arm, prompting a new set of warnings to light up as another vital system gave way. Without giving the Kaiju a chance to re-right itself, Shane punched the creature’s soft underbelly. “Energy caster, now!” He yelled.
“Energy caster online.” The A.I. droned as the energy caster built into their right arm swung out of its cradle and spun up in a blaze of light.
Shane brought the weapon arm up to the creature’s abdomen again and fired the energy caster. A massive arc of light leapt from the palm of their hand straight into Rasura’s vital organs, making the Kaiju’s spasms intensify. A huge gout of steam shot into the air and momentarily blocked the view as the seawater around them instantly flashed from the immense heat. Rasura screeched again, its jaws snapping uselessly at the air as it struggled to regain its footing. Something inside the Kaiju exploded with a loud pop, smearing the upper half of Midsummer Night in an ugly layer of slime and skin.
“Just die already!” Michael hissed through gritted teeth. Rasura’s tail was resolutely clamped around their other arm, slowly crushing it in a shower of sparks. Shane shifted the energy caster to the creatures head and fired another arc of energy into the Kaiju’s mouth.  It let out another infernal screech before finally going still, its tail still firmly wrapped around Midsummer Night’s arm.
“Is it dead?” Shane asked, breathing heavily. He held the energy caster at the ready, prepared to shoot another blast of energy at the Kaiju if so much as twitched.
“I think so, give me a hand with this would you?” Michael grunted, trying unsuccessfully to loosen the tail’s grip on his arm.
“One sec.” Shane grunted, placing the Jaeger’s left palm against the base of the Kaiju’s tail and discharging several blasts of energy from the weapon. The water around them flashed to steam again and the tail came free, the flesh connecting it to the body ripped apart by the ravening arcs of energy.
“Thanks.” Michael breathed, struggling to bring the damaged arm in front of the conpod for a visual inspection. With the scaly tail still wrapped around it, the half crushed limb looked like it was being viciously attacked by a massive Boa Constrictor. He massaged his control arm gingerly, wishing the feedback circuits in his drivesuit didn’t hurt him so much.
“Looks like Midsummer Night has earned her fourth kill!” Shane crowed, folding the energy caster back into its cradle. There was a whir of servos and Midsummer Night’s fingers reappeared and locked into place. “Barring Cherno Alpha, we’re now the highest scoring Mark I or II Jaeger in service.”
“Yeah, good job.” Michael said with a small smile. It was an achievement worth celebrating but something else was bothering him.
                    “What’s up?” Shane asked, immediately picking up his discomfort over the neural bridge.
Michael rolled his shoulder, trying to relive some of the insistent pain. “I can’t help but wonder… where the hell did this thing come from?”
 

***

 
It was several hours after Midsummer Night had limped back into the harbour, cradling its nearly shattered arm that Shane and Michael finally saw Celestia again. Like the first time they had met the pony’s ruler she appeared a little apprehensive, nervous even. The news of the second Kaiju attack had spread quickly through the city and it wasn’t long before wildly over-the-top stories of Midsummer Night pounding the massive scorpion into the ocean bed had started to appear.
“I thought you said the breach between our worlds closed when you arrived.” Celestia said after Michael had described the encounter. “You said there wouldn’t be more monsters.”
“Well it seems we were wrong then. Somehow the phenomenon that caused the portal on Earth has made one here.” Michael said.
Celestia raised a slender eyebrow. “You never explained this earlier.”
“Well you see…” Michael started, briefly glossing over the circumstances that had made the portal on Earth. He explained how the Kaiju emerged to wreak havoc, smaller ones first then larger ones in the years passed. Celestia frowned as she digested this new information.
“And you think this is a natural event?” She asked.
“That’s what we’re told.”
“And it never occurred to you that these portals may have been created by something? As in, made intentionally.”
Shane laughed. “You really think so?”
“It’s a remarkable coincidence, don’t you think?” Celestia said.
“That’s not important right now, what is important is figuring out what happens next.” Michael said before Shane could retort.
“Agreed.” The pony princess said stoically. She unfurled a large map of Equestria and set it down so the humans could read it. Michael noticed a second set of symbols before each name and tapped them. “What’s this?”
“Our written language, the lack of fingers makes it somewhat difficult for non-unicorns to write complex symbols.” Celestia explained. She waved a hoof over the legible letters. “This is what the Griffons use, I noticed you seem to use them as well.”
“How odd.” Michael remarked, spotting the slightly cursive writing that marked Manehatten. He traced his eyes down the east coast, grimacing as he noted the names of all the major cities.
“Baltimare? Fillydelphia?” Shane snorted, voicing Michael's thought aloud. “That’s awful…” He added with a low chuckle.
“You think there’s something funny about their names?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah, you see…” He scoffed quietly to himself and shook his head. “Never mind, you won’t get it.”
“Anyway.” Michael said, stifling his laughter and attempting to restore some seriousness to the conversation. He drew his finger down to somewhat familiar coastline. “These areas are all going to be vulnerable to attack. What’s further east, across the sea?”
“The Griffon Kingdoms lie over the eastern sea.”
“Well you should probably let them know about this. I’m sure a Kaiju showing up on their doorstep would be a nice surprise.”
“They live in eyries high above barren, desolate plains. Unless these Kaiju can scale kilometre high cliffs they are no threat to the Griffons.”
“Well I wouldn’t put it past them but you have a point, they seem fairly safe for now.” Michael agreed, fixing his eyes back on Equestria. “What about up north or down south?”
“To the north is nothing but frozen wasteland for thousands of kilometres. The south is covered by endless barrens and desert, a few small settlements perhaps, but we’ve never pushed our southern borders far.”
“Well that makes things a bit easier I guess.” Michael remarked, scratching his chin absently. In a space of a minute they’d considerably reduced their deployment area.
“There’s still one gaping hole in all this.” Shane said.
“Yeah, I see it too. With no early warning grid we won’t know the Kaiju are there until they reach the shoreline and well…” Michael said, imaging the destruction the Kaiju would cause unopposed.
“You can’t be everywhere at once.” Celestia summarised.
“Exactly, and I doubt you have anything in your inventory which can carry Midsummer Night at high speed. We’ve got Carryalls and Jumphawks to shift the Jaegers around back home.”
“I knew I forgot to pack something.” Shane muttered quietly.
“Yeah, and we saw it today, your conventional forces are pretty much useless against a Kaiju.”
“So unless there’s something you’re hiding from us, we’re the only chance you have.” Shane said, staring at the princess suspiciously. Despite her cooperation, he still didn’t trust her. The incident earlier that morning with their liaison was proof to him that she was up to something.
Celestia sighed. “How long until the next attack?”
“Not a clue, maybe five or six months if this breach is anything like ours.” Michael said.
“Well maybe we can develop some sort of warning system and hope you will rise to the call when we are attacked again.”
“Keep us supplied with the equipment and expertise we need to keep our Jaeger running and we’ll be glad to help.” Michael said, making Shane raise his eyebrows in surprise.
“And do I get a say in the matter?” He asked lividly.
“You seemed quite happy to throw yourself at Rasura today.” Michael said with a small smirk.
“Yeah… well… shut up.” Shane grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
“Thank you.” Celestia said with a gracious nod. She turned to leave. “I will stay in touch, but for now I need to get back to ruling my people. I have shirked from my duties far too much as of late.”
“Gosh she loves the fancy talk.” Shane mumbled under his breath as Celestia spread her wings and swooped away.
Michael watched the princess wing away from the Jaeger and turned to Shane. “I’m going to just cut straight to the point, why?”
Shane fidgeted uncomfortably. “Why what?
“Why don’t you want to help these people?”
“And why do you?” Shane shot back.
Michael sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “That’s a good question.” He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. “I don’t trust them, not as much as I’d like to at least. Sure they’ve helped us, but after today…”
“With that fluff ball trying to steal our stuff.” Shane butted in.
“Yes, with that little break in…” He sighed in frustration. “What was she even doing? I mean, that data would be all but useless to them anyway. Unless they’re trying to-.”
“Build something big.” Shane said, finishing his brother’s sentence for him. To an outsider the clarity with which they could read each others thoughts would’ve been spooky but for the pilots it was almost second nature.
“Exactly.” Michael said with a huff, leaning back against the side of Midsummer Night’s head. “Should we really be fighting for these ponies? Protecting them?” It had seemed like such an obvious choice that morning when the Kaiju threat had be looming but now he wasn’t sure. Could they be hiding something from them? The look on his brother’s face told him that he thought that Celestia knew something she wasn’t letting on.
Shane shook his head. “If I had the choice I wouldn’t. I’d just pack up and go home but that’s not really an option, is it?” He gestured to the damaged arm below them. “And I sure as hell can’t fix that.”
“And now the Kaiju seem to be streaming in, we’re the only chance they have.” Michael grunted.
“Funny how it works out that way. We need each other but they’re the only ones really getting anything out of it.” Shane grumbled. “We could just kill ‘em.” He added pragmatically.
“I don’t think that’d work out very well for us.” Michael said. “We’re tough but we’re not invincible. Besides, if we stomp them we’re stuck alone with the Kaiju and with no one to fix us up.” He smiled thinly. “I don’t know about you but I think I’d prefer the ponies as dinner guests over a Kaiju.”
“Yeah you got that right.” Shane admitted, staring over the expanse of the city. Hundreds of lights had winked on across the vast cityscape as twilight had slowly fallen. It struck Shane quite suddenly that there was entire alien world out there and he’d seen only a tiny part of it.
“You don’t suppose they could build-.” Michael started to say.
“No. Not a chance.” Shane said, cutting him off. “Not a chance in the world.”
Michael shrugged and watched a low flying airship roar overhead. He wasn’t entirely sure but it looked like the one that had followed them out of the bay. “It’s very beautiful.” He remarked idly.
“”It is.” Shane agreed, picking out the name Lucky Seven on the side of the airship. Wasn’t that the name of a Jaeger?
“We have the lives of millions in our hands, it’s hard for me to say we shouldn’t protect them.” Michael said. “They need our help and as much as I hate to admit it, we need theirs.”
Shane frowned and buried his head in his hands and nodded silently. “So what about today then?”
Michael shrugged and looked back at the city. “We tighten our security, try to stop any pony from just wandering around. Keep an eye on any of the critters when they’re in the hull. Not much more we can do really.”
“And about this Sparkle character? She tried to steal something, I’m sure of it.”
“Or she could’ve been poking around out of curiosity. She didn’t admit she was stealing anything and it’d be a hard case to push. If she was trying to steal something she’d likely be doing it on orders, she doesn’t exactly strike me as kleptomaniac.” Michael said, a trace of annoyance in his voice. “Short of leveling the city there’s nothing we can really do.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Shane grumbled. He fell silent, letting the ambient sound of the city roll over them. He could smell something burning in the distance.
“Do you really think they couldn’t build a Jaeger?” Michael asked. “I mean, they’ve done a pretty good job of fixing ours.”
Shane scratched his brow and considered the prospect seriously. “They wouldn’t have the Pons or any of the software, not to mention a strong enough power source. Maybe, just maybe, they could put a shell together but they’d lack the guts.” He stared at Michael for a moment. “Are you really suggesting they’re going to try and build a Jaeger?’ He asked, slightly incredulous.
Michael shook his head. “No, not really. It’s an interesting thought though.”
Shane shook his head slowly. Interesting was the last word he would use. Scary, maybe. They sat on the shoulder of the Jaeger a while longer, silently watching the sun slowly sink behind a distant mountain range.
“Come on, let’s back inside. Big day tomorrow.” Michael said, clambering up the side of the conpod and opening the hatch. He threw a look back at Shane when he noticed his brother hadn’t moved.
“I’ll just be a sec.” Shane said in reply to his big brother’s questioning look. He was enjoying the view and after being stuck in the conpod for most of the day the fresh air was a welcome change. He looked wishfully down at the city, slightly tempted to find his way down the Jaeger and go exploring. With a grunt, he pushed the thought away, his common sense reasserting itself. He yawned slightly and clambered up the conpod with a slight swagger, blissfully unaware of the small pink shape that slipped through the cordon below him.