//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Invasion // Story: The Bridge: A Godzilla-MLP Crossover // by Tarbtano //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash Rodan Anguirus Mothra Twilight Sparkle Marigold Unknown Shadow of Red ?????? ------------------------------ The dust began to fully settle as the night sky rolled in. Rodan cackled in a chuckling tone as he almost casually walked off the barely conscious body of Garble. The deep red kaiju insultingly letting his short tail slap the drake in the face as the pteranodon paced over to Anguirus. Any ponies looking on might have been worried it was the start of a new brawl, as the two allied kaiju's friendly banter only came off as a chorus of growls and snarls. Intent fully showed through when Rodan walked beside Anguirus and turned around, standing side by side with the ankylosaur. The pterosaur flapped his broad wings and screeched into the air as Anguirus reared up, and tailed the call with his booming roar. The threat display to the dragons was a clear show of force, backed by the two kaiju unknowingly putting themselves in front of the ponies in a protective manner. The two colossi of Rhodes called the drakes out, the latter party was in no position to counter. Puff and Clump slowly limped over to the groaning mess that was their leader, leaning down and picking the red drake up after some effort. The entire gang was a complete wreck. Puff was missing half his fangs, Clump's torso and chest had more bruises and broken ribs than scales, Vex's entire front half was still bleeding, Shakes' face was so battered his eyes were nearly shut alongside having a dislocated shoulder, and Fume, amidst several bite wounds was grounded from a pair of broken wings. Garble himself was arguably the worst of the lot. In the last hour between Anguirus and Rainbow Dash he had over two dozen broken bones, two ruptured eardrums, a half rung neck, two broken arms, lost most of his teeth, several shattered ribs, and a broken wing. And all that was before several thousand tons of pteranodon decided to use him as landing gear. Still, pigheaded stubbornness didn't die easy. As soon as the red dragon's vision shifted from pure blackness to the blurry shapes of the two kaiju; the gang leader opened his swollen jaws in a pitiful attempt at a roar before lurching forward and freeing himself of his allies' grasp. Rodan rolled his eyes and hissed the kaiju version of a shrug before holding up his left arm. In what could be described as a titanic scaled, backhanded slap, the elongated finger that held up Rodan's wing smacked into the dragon's face and promptly reacquainted Garble with the dirt and cobblestone road below. The pterosaurs beak opened slightly and like a furnace’s hatch, and strands of fiery plasma began to rise out and lick the air. The strands of purple and red energy, dozens of times hotter than any open flame; ripped forth in a concentrated beam that fired out in front of the dragonetic crowd. The 'Uranium Ray' as the humans had dubbed it seared through grass and slashed through stone like a hot knife, cutting a line between the two parties. Rodan ceased his show of force, the very air broiled hot enough for the temperature to be felt by both sides. The threat display was obvious, and the mere sight of it and the snarling Anguirus were more than enough to instantly murder any sense the dragon gang had to keep fighting. Clump slowly leaned down and grabbed Garble’s tail, dragging his groaning leader backwards as all the drakes backed away in pure fear. Anguirus, their tormentor for the last few minutes, bore only shallow cuts on his brow and some near invisible burn marks that looked no more significant than a scraped knee. He’d taken them all on at the same time, was still in prime condition to keep fighting; and now had an equally powerful ally arriving to aid him. If the gang risked defeat earlier, now they flirted with extinction if they so much as made a wrong move. The broken face of Puff glanced at the small group of ponies on the roof top behind Rodan, mental conditioning already setting in his bestial mind. If THIS is what happened when trying to hunt ponies, it was nowhere near worth it. Similar thoughts pinged through the gang’s mind as they bid a hasty retreat, shrinking in size as they ran off on broken and bruised limbs in the same manner a rat runs for its life from a cat. Anguirus slammed his forepaws into the ground with a reverberating boom, before chasing it with a thundering roar alongside a cackle from Rodan; shaking the air in the cries of victory. A calm voice inside their heads snapped them out of their cheering. -“Are you two done yet?”- -“Wait a minute I know that condescending voice…”- -“…Mothra?”- Anguirus and Rodan glanced around to their sides, both looking upwards with the expectations of 747-sized rainbow wings raining radiant light upon them. They saw nothing and the look of confusion via raised brows was apparent. -“Where are you? Telepathy stuff again?"- -"This another long distance call?”- -“Turn around, look down. And tuck your wings in Rode or you’ll clip the roof.”- The pair shifted multi-ton feet and turned, still looking at their eye level. No sooner did they hear a chorus of tiny screams did a loud, blaring yell roared through their heads loud enough to rattle their teeth. -”I SAID TUCK YOUR WINGS IN YOU BEAK FACED IDIOT!! LOOK!-DOWN!”- Rodan instantly obeyed as he and Anguirus peered down to the rooftop, a barrage of technicolors greeting them as they crouched down for a closer look. The three adult mares and filly uncovered and uncurled their head and necks, having ducked and covered to avoid getting nicked by the tips of Rodan’s wings. The two mares looked up with a gaze of startled fright and confusion at the duo as Gentle Leaf expression quickly shifted to joy, sitting on her rump and waving her hooves at the two. Both kaiju instantly locked on to the rainbow color wings of the being in the front, the largest of the four on the roof, as it walked up to them. “Next time listen closer please.” Rodan’s eyes were wide with shock as his beak began to slack open into a low hiss, his brow cocked up asymmetrically. -“…what... in the name… of… Tanaka-?!”- The mental message was cut short when both kaiju were engulfed in a piercing light that forced the ponies in attendance to quickly cover their eyes from the blinding ignition. Purple energy crackled along Rodan’s body as rainbow colored streaks wrapped around Anguirus. Both became but silhouettes in the white light, rapidly shrinking. In the span of a few seconds, the streaks of rainbow collected together and shot out of Anguirus, harmlessly striking Rainbow Dash in the chest, for a split second forming a glowing emblem resembling her cutie mark, before quickly dissipating. The arches of purple ripped out of Rodan’s body and shot off into the sky. Before long, both kaiju were gone, disappearing over the edge of the roof top. All three mares were flabbergasted. Rainbow rapidly pawed at her chest with a forehoof, almost expecting to feel something amiss along the normal fields of soft blue fur. “What was!- How did?- Why did it?- WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!” Twilight was breathing heavily as she caught her wits. “You feeling ok Rainbow?” “Y-Yeah but what was the light show about?!” “We have a theory, one we’ll have to alter now thanks to what just happened. It's a long story. I’ll tell you soon as things have simmered down ok?” Rainbow was still wide eyed, but nodded slightly. Mothra meanwhile walked over to the edge of the rooftop, next to Gentle Leaf who was already looking over the edge. The filly’s mixed expression of confusion and happiness at familiarity was coupled with a bemused smirk from Mothra as she shook her head slowly. Butterfly wings fluttered and levitated the changeling to a pair of new forms, a trail of beautiful gold dust following her wing beats until she touched down. The beings were both instantly familiar and instantly alien. The broader of the two was a dull gray-brown stallion, an ‘Earth-Pony’ as Mothra had come to know it from Twilight’s overview. The spiny gauntlets, quill-filled tail, and purple eyes that became visible as the pony picked itself up clued her in to it being the transformed Anguirus. The being to his side however was completely foreign to the equine world, yet still bore the sense of similarity. Like a pegasus it had six limbs, but the resemblance stopped there. The forearms still bore curved talons; with the hind limbs had a closer resemblance to the legs of a feline than any pony. The head was tipped in a long beak as oppose to a muzzle, with recurved horns shooting off the back of the skull. The saurian wings that shot out of the body a short distance past the shoulders however were instantly recognizable. Whatever it was now, the raising form before her was her ally Rodan just a minute ago. Rodan rose up to his now greatly diminished full height, still a full head shorter than the royal changeling, trying to strike a hardened pose as if to show there was nothing wrong…. … and then promptly fell into a mess of limbs as he lost all sense of balance. Anguirus burst out laughing as the transformed Rodan fumbled around in what could best be described as someone with banana peels on their feet trying to walk across a wet, soapy floor. After several moments of endless tumbles, a gentle, magical aura wrapped around the poor kaiju and lifted him up. The moment of bewilderment made Rodan’s limbs go slack and straighten, before Mothra slowly lowered him back down on his limbs and released her magical hold on him, the aura around her horn dissipating. A quick, glaring glance from blue-green eyes silenced the cackling Anguirus enough to finally bring some order to the trio. Rodan gulped, afraid to try and move his hind legs, still unused to having four legs as oppose to two; the pterosaur convert gathering his wits. “M-mothra… what happened to us?...” “This place is reacting to our forms. You were flying above Solgell when the black light hit, yes?” “Y-yes, I was about to dive bomb Destroyah and got sucked in.” Mothra gave a nod as she looked up, scanning her thoughts. “Would explain the delayed reaction, you must have come through this realm's barrier after we ruptured most of it.” Rodan gave the changeling a frazzled look, one Anguirus shared. “Whoa-whoa-whoa! Time out. Barrier? Realm? What are you on about? This isn't just some magically, dreamy, time warp thingy?” “Haven’t you noticed how different everything has felt until a few hours ago?” Anguirus casually glanced around the war torn campground, eying the leveled buildings and trampled vegetation. “Thought for awhile I was just in some unknown land as I traveled. I knew there was some magic at work but I couldn't think too hard on it, 'spell stuff' is your forte. But, I could tell something was off. Sights and sounds are definitely different, aside from everything being so.... peaceful. Even the winds here smell funny-“ The stallion glanced up at the large eyes of the horned, purple mare Mothra had been standing next to previously. She looked back down at him with curious eyes as he still couldn't help but not be used to such a colorful sight on such a form. “- and I don’t recall much of her type back home being anywhere near that color.” Rodan raised a forepaw, barely able to hold himself in a tripod stance after some shaking, to scratch his chin with a claw amidst his pondering. “Come to think of it, I somehow outran the night sky on the way here. I might be quick but I wasn’t even going near top speed until the very end… And that flying horse I saw while speeding up definitely wasn’t normal.” Far up the path sirens ripped through the air. The kaiju trio turned towards the offending noise and quickly spied a line of carriages and ponies heading down the road leading the camp, the flashing red and blue telling Mothra they were the emergency sevices Twilight had told her about earlier. A stream of firefighters, police, and ambulances streamed into the camp entrance, as the aforementioned young alicorn hovered herself down to the trio, magically levitating Gentle Leaf and Rainbow Dash with her. The purple alicorn quickly looked over the confused forms of Anguirus and Rodan, looking at the latter much more intently as she rubbed her chin as a happy grim stretched across her face. “Fascinating! You appear to be some sort of gryphon morph. It seems equines aren’t the limit of transformation!” “… Did that horse just talk and I understood it?” "You'll get used to it, first one I bumped into was mute." Twilight and Rainbow both broke into a half droopy-eyed, unamused look for a moment when a flurry of moments caught everyone’s attention. No sooner than Gentle Leaf had been set down did she jump up like a giddy puppy and bound over to Anguirus in a happy blur of green. Hopping up on the stallion’s back before she rubbed her little head against his, her smile couldn’t possibly have been beaming more. Anguirus lowered his head as a bead of sweat ran down his face, Rodan lifted an eye brow, as Mothra and the mares, forgetting the previous comment, couldn’t help but giggle. “Seems like someone’s settled in with the locals well.” Anguirus reached up with a hoof, minding his spikes; unable to resist giving the eager filly a little pat on the head. “She’s just bein’ affectionate. Nothing I’ll complain about though.” “She seems to know you fairly well.” “Bumped into her before, I found her in the woods earlier and kept her around until I saw some more equines coming. She had fallen asleep as I was carrying her around so I left her for them to find her. ” Rainbow Dash combed through her memories before the realization dawned on her. “So that was you who took her across that stream and left those hoofprints… aaaaand I take it you followed us back to camp?” “Against some of my better judgment, Y’eh. ” Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed, opting not to voice her disapproval of the strange stallion’s words and actions. -Where the hay was he when I had to fend off those punks on my own?!?....- She sighed quietly, trying to let the thought go for now. -Okay, obviously there's a lot of stuff going on right now that I got no clue about... just TRY to be patient RD..- “Well that explains a lot...” After several moments of silence and exchanged looks amidst the group, the elephant in the room finally dawned on those in attendance. “… And if that big lizard monster was you, why the Tartarus are you a pony now?” Anguirus and Rodan’s eyes widened briefly and there was silence, before the two turned in unison to Mothra and Twilight, expression demanding an answer. “….Mothra, why am I still a horse?” - “Mothy why is he still a horse?” Mothra chuckled as she raised a hoof to speak. “Well, Twilight and I have a theory. We mentioned barriers and realms earlier, but there seems to be alot more in play. We think tha-“ The sudden flash of green and white magic silenced the former earth guardian as a glimmering mist shot between the group, hovering before Twilight. In a flare of brightness, the mist instantly disappeared into a hovering scroll that hovered mid-air as it unrolled itself. The writing was illegible from most angles, but the crescent moon seal was more than enough for the alicorn princess to know who sent it. The saurian duo had cocked eyebrows while Twilight’s expression shifted to one of pure shock. “What..the..Daie-“ “There was an attack on the castle! Princess Luna is summoning us! She's injured! We need to go, NOW!” Twilight jumped to the center of the circle as the emergency crews closed in, her horn rapidly gaining a strong glow that encompassed all in attendance. “Wait-What?!” The four ponies, the changeling, and the griffin disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing miles away. ------------------------------ Zenith, Red’s Realm ----------------------------- Choruses of hellfire and rivers of blood lined the walls and landscapes into a grotesque image that could only be compared to Dante’s Hell. To any observer of this ‘pocket dimension’, there was not a single pleasant thing to be found about this nightmarish realm. The air and sky were blackened and hazy, cloaking nightmarish horrors both mobile and immobile. The lakes and rivers refused to run water, instead trailing streams of sickening blood, gore; and burning lava. The denizens of this land were its demons, monstrous and sadistic. And where there are demons, there was their Satan, their Iblis, their Káli; their ruler. He had been slain years ago by guidance from afar and the power of the Golden Light. But all light casts a shadow. Where there is good there must be evil. And so, a shadow had been cast; and it was mobile. The Shadow of Red trod along in his eight legged form, stepping over a mound of twisted bone and red stone. He would rather have shifted into his flying form to speed this patrol along, but for now energy needed to be conserved. After his original death and revival, the demon lord might have been strong enough to easily throttle any of his realm’s potential challengers; but even he could tell he was but a fragment of his former self. Each day he felt stronger and stronger, but still nowhere near the level he once boasted. So Red bided his time, waiting and strengthening. The more energy he saved, the more energy he could devote to regaining his former power. And once that day came, he knew exactly who he was going to pay a visit too. The ever frowning maw of the hellbeast refused a smile despite the pleasing thought. So far though, the Shadow of Red almost wished he could have some entertainment. A battle to be fought and won, a victim to torture and then consume; just as it was in the days before. Truth be told, the odd sensation the demon kept getting as he moved closer to his realm’s perimeter made him wish he had such entertainment coming. What he saw next made him pause in both confusion and bemusement. Along the plane of blood red stone in front of him, seemingly starting out of a lake of blood was a wide, black line. The surface contrasted heavily with anything in Zenith’s burning, sharp, jagged landscape. The line’s ground was incredibly smooth, almost a glossy black akin to polished obsidian in the firelight. Red extended a talon tipped finger and pressed it to the line’s surface to inspect it, almost instantly to retract it as a sharp, bitter cold snapped at the extremity. -What!? What’s this?!- Red extended his hand again, slowly pushing his fingers close to the line. Sure enough, the hellbeast’s claws crossed some invisible border in the air above the line. In an instant, the torturous, blazing heat of his realm was replaced with a lonely, strangling cold. -Some sort of area-bound hex on the trail…..- Red looked out across the landscape the trail covered, heading towards one of the more crowded areas of Zenith. After a brief pause, his multiple legs strode forward parallel to the icy black line. -… interesting…it seems my day will have some entertainment after all, assuming the horde hasn’t gotten to my guest just ye- The screeching howl of one of Red’s minions caught the crimson lord’s attention. The black trail was leading around a large hillside, up to the temple. Suddenly Red knew what was screaming, and his mind spattered as the screech was cut short. It didn’t take a genius to know what happened to the screamer, and it made the demon pick up his pace, quickly rounding the bend and rushing towards the temple. Red’s black pits of eyes flickered with hellfire, enraged at the thought of one who’d dare invade his temple. The sight of the temple nearly made the Shadow of Red both tilt his head in confusion as well as roar in rage. The black line was evident, leading up to the now transformed temple steps. The temple itself was, in Red’s eyes; a bastardization of its former self. The red and black, rough bricks and cobblestone that formally composed the floor and walls was changed into the same glossy blackness that composed the trail, which now resembled a road leading up to the temple. Gone were the gaping, glowing eyed, tribal mask-like gargoyles. In there place were the less numerous craned necks and heads of reptilian monsters, akin to Western and Asiatic dragons; streams of dark red smoke billowing out of their black maws. And yet the smallest change, one free of transformation; was the most disheartening. It dealt nothing with the temple itself, but it's attendees. Red's minions were all over the premise, covering it near entirely, but not in whole pieces. The bodies were often mangled beyond recognition, but strewn about in a way that told Red of an epic battle that had occurred possibly minutes earlier. The hordes of demons laid dead, having failed to halt some intruder’s advance on the temple. The scream’s owner however was not amongst them… or at least it wasn’t after few seconds… not after its lifeless body was thrown out the temple gateway and rolled down the steps. Red hissed as he looked down at the still, bleeding body of the curator of the temple, the one who likely summoned the other, now fallen demons to her aid. The Dark Angel’s skeletal maw lay open as blood flowed out of her gaping chest wound and onto her face. Peering at the wound, Red determined cause of death instantly. Claw wounds had torn into her sternum and shattered her ribs while rending layers of muscle, before grasping and tearing her lifeblood out. Her killer slew her by ripping her core, the essence of her power, out of her screaming body. The tormentor of Zenith and one of Red's chief lieutenants was dead... The ground around the fallen demons and angel began to blacken as the obsidian flooring spread like a pestilence, beginning to consume their bodies. The booms of foot falls echoed out from the temple as a haunting, echoing voice whispered out. “Interesting servants… they could have been of good use… A pity.” The Shadow of Red looked up and as the intruder held up what he instantly recognized as the dark angel’s shining, gem-like core; before rows of recurved fangs came down upon it. After several sickening bites and crunches, the beast had entirely consumed the core, its multiple eyes flashing with power as the angel’s might was added to its own. The intruder cackled again in a chuckle. “Aahh, this realm’s power is as useful as it is delicious… I’ll make good use of my new home…” Already the black pestilence had spread to where Red’s Shadow stood, chilling the air. The demon’s frog like maw churned down in a gaping, grimacing frown as his eyes filled with hate and fire. Flames began to lick out from Red’s maw. “You dare….” The intruder stopped its cackle, the flash of a fang filled grin piercing the darkness as blood red colored energy collected up its body, several sets of glowing eyes narrowing. “YOU DARE?!” “Yes…” Red’s throat ripped open in a howl that shook the very foundations of the world as a stream of hellfire spewed from his maw, a burning skull spearheading the assault before a blood red beam of energy loosed itself and impacted the assault in a deadlock. So focused Red was on overpowering the enemy energy projection, he barely saw a flash of movement to his sides. ------------------------------------------------------ Southern Manehattan, Train station ------------------------------------------------------ Raindrops fell in a gentle symphony across the darkened city. The day had come and gone, and the night life was beginning to wake up across Equestria’s metropolis. On the edge of the train station, one pony paused under an overhang as she put her rain coat on. The rain may have been but a gentle massage on anypony who was out an about, but Marigold ‘Mari’, the social worker, was not about to let herself get soaked before a meeting. The date had been a busy day with every sign of being a busy night. Still, her smile refused to fetter as she checked her watch to ensure she was going to arrive on-time. Marigold loved her job because she loved helping everypony, foreigner or native, be they pony, or gryphon, zebra; or minotaur. Her joy of bringing aid to any and all was about to be tested. Just as she passed by the alleyway to catch the train across town, the flash of movement caught her eye. Peering down the dark alley, a large figure was hunched over with its back to her. It was shifting, but the sudden movement and shifting of some sort of cloak on its back told her it had just covered itself. Through the darkness and the rain, the red mare saw the being’s cloak for what it was, a crumbled old tarp with more cuts and disgusting smears of grim and dirt than she cared to count. Pity instantly eclipsed any sense of fear she might have had. After a brief moment of hesitation, Marigold trod down the alley, coming up behind the unknown. “E-excuse me? Are you ok?” No sooner did she get the last word out did the tarp wearing entity whip around, the glimmer of crimson eyes peering through dark hood. The being stood to its full height as it reeled back in surprise, towering over the mare. To most anypony, its height could seem frightening. Fortunately, Marigold had spent a good many hours around minotaurs; well accustomed to the imposing stature bipedalism could give someponies. Even then, this figure would have easily been a full head taller than most minotaurs. Marigold leaned up on the edge of her hooves as she stretched her neck upwards, hoping for a response. A deep voice that sounded almost like a growl at points answered her as the figure leaned back, making sure to cover itself fully. “Where am I?” Marigold blinked twice before tilting her head, not expecting that sort of question. True, it was considered impossible to live in Manehattan without knowing the city’s name; but they were close to the train station. Judging from the questioner’s pitiful dress and location, some thoughts sprung to mind. -Maybe he got drunk on the train and stumbled off in a daze, poor guy must be impoverished or had his possessions stolen- “Manehattan, you might have stumbled off the train and got turned around. Do you need any hel-” “Are you a threat?” Marigold craned her head back in confusion, now just as much bewildered as she was concerned. “N-n-nooo, I'm not a threat to anyone. I just want to help you; I’m a social worker.” A fleeting glance back at the raged tarp yanked at Marigold’s heart strings, instinctively causing her to dig through her saddlebags. Gripping a very large, brown cloak in her teeth, she pried it loose of the bag before flopping it onto her hoof. The golden maned mare broke a small, sweet smile as she held her hoof out. “Here, take this. That tarp looks filthy. This should fit you close enough to keep the rain off. It’s a good thing I was meeting with a minotaur and was coming prepared. It was for them, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you needed it.” The hood portion of the tarp shifted, showing its wearer was looking at the cloak and understood intent. Slowly, one portion of the tarp shifted, and, aside from brief flash of black skin, an otherwise unseen hand reached out under the cloak and took it from Marigold’s hoof. “I appear much smaller now, you are fortunate.” Marigold smile, calmed down a bit. Her confusion about the odd statement mostly being downplayed by the assumption the poor soul was still not in his right mind. "What's your name?" What happened next shocked the mare to such an extent she couldn't scream. The tarp was removed and in time her memory would recall the form she saw under it, but only in flashes. Recurved fangs, demonic horns, piercing eyes, abnormal protrusions; and whip-like tails. It stood tall and slipped into the large cloak, obscuring most of its form again in darkness. "I can not remember..." Then in a flurry of movement, the figure leaped to the side, partially running and partially climbing up the brick wall to the alley's side. Thick claw marks cut into the building's side before the beast launched itself off the side and onto the roof of a passing train. Marigold stood there, breathing heavily as the fleeting glimpses of white and black on the train roof disappeared into the storm.