Nimbus Strike watched what was happening, unable to believe what he was seeing. "Oh sweet merciful Celestia..."
"This is crazy," Shadow Figment muttered. "Luna expects us to deal with a kraken. A kraken."
"What I want to know is what a kraken is doing in Manehattan harbour," Nimbus responded.
They stared for a moment, watching as the tentacles came down, creating great waves that crashed upon the streets. From where they were they couldn't hear the screams of the ponies trying to avoid getting swept away. Shadow Figment broke the silence. "We need to do something."
"What, though?" Nimbus asked, unable to tear his eyes away.
"How should I know? You're the muscle," the mare shot back, a trace of her snideness returning. "Get out there already. Do something."
Nimbus took a deep breath before pivoting on his front hooves and bucking out the window, the glass giving way as though a boulder had been flung through it. As Shadow Figment stared at the shattered window, he took flight, becoming little more than a silver-blue streak. "How the buck am I meant to explain this!?" she yelled angrily as he disappeared.
Nimbus made a bee-line for Lady Radiance, alighting atop the great statue with ease. From his vantage point he could see the local law enforcement escorting the panicking citizens away, and knew he wouldn't have to worry about having to rescue anypony. All he had to do was... face down a kraken and convince it to leave. He gulped, trying to think of what to do.
As far as he knew, nopony had ever fought a kraken and survived. For that sole reason they were the most feared of all the beasts that were outside the ponies' control, even more so than dragons. At least with a dragon it was possible to negotiate. A kraken, on the other hoof...
He turned and faced the writhing mass of tentacles. In the time since its assault had begun, half a dozen more had risen from the deep. If he wanted to fight it, he had to attack the creature itself. The only thing attacking the tentacles would do was antagonize the beast. He could see the body of the kraken, a great bulbous thing that was a sickly pale green. He saw what he imagined was an eye, though it looked like a great black orb. With a goal in sight, he knew what had to be done.
He jumped off, freefalling to gain momentum before spreading his wings, gliding a foot above the waves. He swerved between the tentacles, falling back on memories of his youth at summer flight camp to guide him. Nimbus had nearly reached the eighth tentacle when out of nowhere another appeared, slamming into him. He was sent skipping along the water, bouncing until he smacked into the harbour wall. He hit it with enough force to crack it, but not enough to make a crater or pony-shaped hole.
Nimbus recovered quickly, hovering in place. He was vaguely aware that the impact should have broken something, if not outright killed him. He flew at it again, this time keeping an eye open for any stray tentacles. This time, it lashed out at him when he had passed the fifth, but he was prepared for it. With a great flap he pushed himself up a dozen feet, sailing easily over the arm. What he hadn't expected was another to slam into him from below, sending him rocketing up into the air. At the peak of his ascent, easily 200 feet, he started hovering again.
Now what? he asked himself, rubbing his aching ribs. Every time I get close it smacks me so hard I should be dead. He paused, a frown creasing his face. Why aren't I dead? He was forced out of his reverie by one of the tentacles attempting to grab him. He rolled away and flew back to the statue where he had started.
"About time you got back here."
Nimbus' heart would have stopped if he still had one. He looked around and saw Shadow Figment standing in the viewing area within Lady Radiance's head, looking bored. "When did you get here?"
"About three minutes ago," she replied. "Nopony saw me, though a lot saw you."
"Yeah..." Nimbus Strike started rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Nopony got a good look, did they?"
"How should I know? I do illusions, not mind-reading." Shadow turned to the kraken, which was mercifully still far away. "So, no luck?" she asked needlessly.
"That thing is fast. I can't get close without getting swatted away like a fly." Nimbus flew in through the open window, landing on the dirty wooden floor.
"Well, it's a good thing I'm here then." She closed her eyes and began to concentrate on a spell. Nimbus stared at her, confused. She opened an eye and smiled. "Perfect."
Nimbus turned around to see what she was smiling at and jumped. Due to his bionics and the increased strength they provided, this meant he propelled himself into the ceiling, his head making a dull clang as he impacted the top of the viewing area. He fell onto the floor in a heap moaning as more bruises formed on his already-battered body. Shadow Figment was sniggering, trying to keep on all four hooves.
"Ha ha, very funny," the pegasus muttered from his position on the ground. Within the viewing area stood five prefect replicas of him, right down to the way his mane hung over his shoulders. They stood motionless, each one looking straight ahead blankly. As he turned away from his clones, he asked the unicorn a question. "So, why?"
Shadow's good humour vanished as she groaned. "Isn't it obvious?" When he gave her the same blank stare the illusions were, she face-hoofed. "I swear, they just let anypony join... They're decoys."
Comprehension dawned on the pegasus' face. "Oh. Oh! Great!" He began to hover, facing towards the open water and the hostile kraken that was waiting out there. His copies imitated the movement, and in a matter of seconds all six pegasi had flown out, ruining Shadow's mane in the process.
I swear they got the dumbest pony possible, Shadow thought angrily to herself.
The six streaks of sliver-blue raced towards the beast in unison resembling, in a way, the Wonderbolts aerobatics team. What made them different was that only one was real, though it was impossible to tell which. They flew hard, forgoing any proper formation in favour of flying side-by-side, their wings mere inches from clipping.
The kraken sensed their approach and seemed to pause, as though it was wondering where the pegasus had found five more in such a short time. One of the tentacles slammed into the pegasus on the far right, a blow that would have surely been lethal had it not vanished in a puff of smoke the instant the tentacle made contact.
With only five left, the pegasi formed a V as the flew on. Another tentacle came crashing down on the lead pony, and again all that did was create a puff of smoke.
The ponies split into pairs, one group swerving around to the north while the other swerved to the south. The kraken's blows were sloppier now, as though it was having trouble dividing its attention. The two teams were able to dodge each attack with ease until out of nowhere a tentacle slammed into both ponies of the north team.
Nimbus gulped. He knew it had been a matter of time when they started, but now that it was only him and another illusion, he was having second thoughts. The kraken's attacks seemed to have a lot more force in them, if the waves being created was any indication. Even with the spell reinforcing his body he was worried that a single blow would be enough. Still, he couldn't give up now. He was close, so close and he was sure that a buck at near-supersonic speeds would be enough to convince it to leave.
A tentacle came at him, and Nimbus rolled under it. He winced as his hooves came into contact with the water, considerably slowing his momentum. He failed to notice the last illusion vanish, too intent on reaching his goal. He pushed himself harder, and he could see the tell-tale Mach cone starting to form, which made him panic. If he went supersonic, he wouldn't be able to pull off the mid-air pivot necessary to buck sense into the kraken. He flared his wings in an attempt to increase drag.
He was going too fast for the kraken to land a hit but that didn't stop it trying. Tentacle after tentacle slammed into the water behind him, desperate to stop the pegasus. Despite its efforts, Nimbus got through the gauntlet, wearing a manic grin, not able to believe what he had done. He pivoted, pulled his legs back and unleashed as much force as he could at the monster.
He had expected to be met with soft, spongy flesh. What he hadn't expected was a loud metallic clang and a vibration that threatened to shake his teeth loose to go through his body. He hung in the air, shaking like a foal's toy for ten seconds before he could stop himself. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his head and looked at the beast. It was still in the water, the tentacles sticking out of the water like so many strange trees. It unnerved him, but he went closer to try and see what he had done. He went up to the eye, his reflection staring back at him from the blackness. But deeper within, he thought he saw something. Something that seemed very out of place.
He turned around, thinking it might have been floating behind him. There was nothing there, which only served to confirm his suspicions. His joy at this victory was gone, replaced with anger and frustration.
"What do you mean, it wasn't a kraken?"
"I'll tell you when the princess shows up, okay?"
They were back in their hotel room and Shadow Figment was trying to get Nimbus Strike to elaborate on what he meant. He refused repeatedly, which caused Shadow's temper to rise until she was sure she was at breaking point. She was about to start yelling when there was a knock at the door. She took a deep breath and calmly called out. "Who is it?"
"I'm here to see Mr. Strike and Ms. Figment," came the reply.
The two ponies looked at each other. The voice had a familiar ring to it, but they couldn't be sure. "Come in," Shadow said cautiously as she opened the door with her magic.
On the other side was a deep purple unicorn, half a dozen bright yellow stars adorning her flank. She walked in and closed the door. "Get the curtains," she said forcefully.
In that instant Nimbus knew who was talking to them. He pulled the curtains over the still-shattered window and turned to the pony. "Your highness."
"I thought I said to drop the formalities," the unicorn said none-too-kindly. Her horn began to glow and soon before them stood the summoner of the moon and painter of the night sky. "So, I heard you have succeeded," said Princess Luna, sounding politely joyed about this.
"Well, I think we have," Shadow replied angrily. "Mr. Head-In-The-Clouds over there thinks otherwise."
"What do you mean?" the princess asked, turning to the pegasus.
"When I fought the kraken, I managed to get a solid buck in. Can you tell me, what is a kraken meant to feel like to touch?"
This question left the lunar goddess baffled. "How is that relevant?"
"Because I'm sure that I shouldn't have felt like I bucked a giant clock tower's bell," Nimbus Strike answered. "What's more, when I got a look at the thing's eye, I could see what looked like a camera of sorts. There wasn't anything behind me. It was inside the eye." He waited for a moment for the words to sink in before continuing. "That wasn't a kraken. It was a machine, made by pony or ponies unknown."
Luna regarded the pegasus for a moment. "So what you're telling me," she said deliberately, "is that somepony is behind this. Somepony built that kraken and was using it to terrorize Manehattan."
"In a nutshell, yeah."
"Wait wait wait." Alicorn and pegasus turned to Shadow. "It cost six million bits to put Feathers-For-Brains back together, correct? So how could anypony afford to build something like that?"
"I don't know," Luna replied. "This could be a matter of national security. I'll need both of you return to Canterlot as soon as possible."
"National security?" Nimbus asked. "Really?"
"If somepony is capable of having something like that kraken built, who knows what else they might have," Shadow replied uneasily.