//------------------------------// // 10: Clash of Kings // Story: A King Unmatched // by Mister Friendly //------------------------------// Shiragami awoke to the same world of pain she’d left only hours ago. The same cuts and bruises and splinted bones that screamed mercilessly were all quick to remind her of the state she was in. She cracked open her eyes with a groan and looked around. For a moment, she didn’t recognize her surroundings in the slightest, which only heaped panic on top of pain. Her senses were foggy, hazy, but she had enough of them to piece some things together. As her senses roused, things about the wooden room clicked, and when she saw the pale peach mare appear over her, she remembered. The barks of the cannons, ponies screaming and shouting – first with urgency, then with terror… the deafening roaring… Something had hit the Amaterasu, but she couldn’t recall what. She remembered nothing but chaos, a maelstrom of whirling projectiles that bashed and smashed against her. She’d been tumbling, end over end, tossed around like a ragdoll. Somehow she’d gotten ahold of her maids, charged her horn… The rest was a blur. Rain, pain, darkness… a familiar purple face… then sheer, heart-stopping terror… An immense shadow, blacker than night… All of this came back to Shiragami in an instant, striking her like a cold wave of water that chilled her to her core. In the next instant, a gentle hoof was being placed on her forehead. It was the pale peach mare – the rude, uncultured thing with no grasp of proper manners that’d forced her to drink that foul folk remedy. She was looking at Shiragami with clear worry, her brows knitted together. “Take it easy,” she insisted. “Don’t move around too much. You will only hurt yourself.” Shiragami winced. For a moment, her eyes unfocused, but through sheer willpower she forced them to focus again. For a moment, she couldn’t help but notice how steady everything was. The ground beneath her was not swaying or pitching at all, something that brought confusion to her mind. “Wh… where are we?” she inquired blearily, looking around again. She was definitely still in that boat cabin, of this there was no doubt. So why couldn’t she feel any waves? The mare opened her mouth to say something, but fell quiet, her head turning. At first, Shiragami couldn’t understand why she’d act like that, unless she was simply the most rude creature she’d ever encountered. She hadn’t ruled that possibility out. But this time, Shiragami discovered that she had a reason. A moment later, the sliding door on the opposite end of the room rattled open, and in came a group of huffing and puffing ponies who were, bizarrely, covered in a dusting of what looked like powdered sugar. No… no, it was snow, she realized. Three of them she recognized. The orange earth pony, the white unicorn and the strange yellow winged pony were familiar… in the loosest definition. The older stallion leading the pack, however, was not, and neither was the middle-aged mare accompanying them all. Shiragami could only sit there as a hasty conversation was held between her caretaker, the three mares, and the stallion, all speaking in a strange, blunt language she’d never heard before. Whatever they were talking about, however, it was making the pale peach mare more and more distressed. While they talked, Shiragami couldn’t help but look the group over. There were too few of them, she realized. The pink hyperactive one was missing, as was the bright blue, crazy-maned winged pony. And… Shiragami looked around with building unease. The purple mare… Twilight Sparkle… she was not there. Was that why her caretaker was so upset? Was that why her associates looked so uneasy, even scared? Pain splintered up her foreleg as Shiragami forced herself to sit up. Little lights popped in front of her eyes, but she ignored it. “Lady… Lady Sparkle,” she managed to force out through clenched teeth. The room went dead quiet, all eyes turning towards her. Even the pale peach mare seemed too taken aback to manhandle her further. “Where is… Lady Sparkle?” Shiragami asked. Everypony looked at one another. Even the three mares looked her over. One of them – the earth pony – asked something Shiragami didn’t understand, except for the inclusion of Twilight’s name. She didn’t understand her, further exasperating her. But as she opened her mouth to demand an answer, the walls of the cabin trembled fitfully. Dust and a pair of books tumbled to the ground as the tremor ran throughout the ship. Wood popped and groaned eerily throughout the hull, much to the alarm of everypony on board. Two of the foreign mares shrieked and clung together. The third braced as best she could, gritting her teeth against the shaking. The pale peach mare tumbled over completely with a yelp while the stallion steadied himself against a nearby desk. The middle-aged mare that’d followed them in, however, had promptly fallen to the ground. She didn’t topple over, but rather she threw herself down as if prostrating herself. Her hooves were clasped around something hanging from her neck – a golden pendant of some kind. She began to frantically whisper to herself, blubbering out a prayer of some kind. Shiragami didn’t catch most of it, but there was one thing she picked up on; a pair of words whispered over and over again. To hear it only filled Shiragami with her own sense of dread. She turned towards the group again. This time, she caught the stallion’s eye and held it. “Where is Lady Twilight Sparkle?” she demanded again. ~~***~~ Twilight puffed out great clouds of steam as she struggled to catch her breath. She peered around the trunk of a thick palm tree, through curtains of cascading snow flurries and dull, steel grey gloom. She was not normally one for hiding. Then again, she also wasn’t one for picking fights with monsters the size of mountains. And yet here she was. The stifling, empty stillness of the jungle was at the same time both unnerving and ideal. Twilight could cast her senses out without the constant drone of insects or birds to hamper her attempts to locate what she was searching for, but without the background ambience of a living environment, she was constantly aware of the jackhammering in her chest and the raggedness of her breathing, not to mention the burning ache in her wings. It was all almost a moot point anyway. Given the size of the thing hunting her, no amount of noise could have hidden it. She found that out when a thick leg drove down into the ground with enough force to level a grove of palms as effortlessly as her hooves did blades of grass. The impact alone almost threw her off her hooves and caused the jungle trees to dance as if desperate to uproot themselves and flee. Through the trees, Twilight could just barely see the glint of golden scales glimmering in the cold overcast sky above her. It was like catching sight of a mighty tower, only this one was moving with three undulating shadows that swept and swung over the land below. Twilight could just make out its enormous wings – huge even for its proportions – irritably batting at the air and producing enough gale-force winds to strip nearby trees of their leaves, leaving them standing as skeletons. “I don’t know what we did to get this guy so angry,” Spike whispered from Twilight’s back. “I mean, apart from making him crash land head first into the ground.” Twilight didn’t seem to hear him. She was too busy staring at the gigantic monster, her heart panicking in her chest. Another one… another kaiju… and somehow, this one seemed even bigger than Godzilla. The implications by themselves were staggering; she couldn’t even wrap her mind around the idea. The only thing that numbed the impact was the even bigger scare of once again finding herself right in a raging monster’s warpath. In terms of priority, shock would have to wait. Another thunderous footstep rocked the ground, dumping snow from the treetops onto her head. The monster was getting closer, slowly. It was taking the time to look for her, patient and calculating as a stalking bobcat tracking a frightened shrew. Twilight was thinking fast all the while. Spike had been right; she’d done something to get this creature’s attention, but as long as she laid low, perhaps it would eventually lose interest. It wasn’t like she had many options anyway; the kaiju was far, far too big to take on her own. And if Godzilla had been a lesson, she was way out of her league right now. A whole slew of questions whirled through her mind, but at the forefront was just a single, easy to grasp prerogative: staying alive. “As long as we stay quiet and hidden, we should be fine,” Twilight whispered, her eyes still cast upwards. She flinched when another giant neck cast its shadow over her, gold flashing between the fronds overhead. Spike didn’t respond. Whether he agreed or not wasn’t much of a factor; they both knew their choices were limited. The great beast let out another shrieking cry, eyes ever watchful on the forest below. Its wings beat irritably, uprooting whole trees from its immediate vicinity and bowling them over flat to the ground. Twilight clung to her own cover against the powerful gale, but she was starting to have second thoughts about her choice of hiding place. The monster fell quiet and stood motionless. It growled a rumbling, hissing growl, but it did not move. With a horrible jolt, Twilight realized it was trying to flush her out. It knew she was down here, and it was just waiting for her to lose her nerve. Apparently, it’d taken much greater offense to taking a nose-dive than she’d thought. Or… was something else at play here? Was there some other factor that she didn’t know about? Considering how this trip had been going so far, she couldn’t rule it out. Twilight pushed the thought to the back of her mind for perusing later. Right now, she had to focus on the immediate situation. She knew that the moment she lit up her horn, she would have seconds to react. If this kaiju was anything like Godzilla, it’d pick up her concentrating magic immediately, and it’d be all over her in a heartbeat. But she couldn’t stay here, not in the path of that monster. She had to time her move just right… … Why do I smell ozone? It was faint at first, but rapidly the scent of ionization began to build in the air, enough to distract her from her planning. Spike started tugging at her shoulder, a whine in his throat, his eyes growing bigger and bigger. “Twilight,” he hissed, “I think we’d better move…!” Twilight had just glanced to him when she caught sight of something golden flash out of her peripheral vision, and a stand of tall palm trees to her right exploded. Deadly electric buzzing howled through the air all around her as another flash lit up the gloomy jungle, followed by a streak of fire that erupted right before Twilights eyes. Lightning bolts – golden lightning bolts – were carving up the land, strafing the jungle to devastating effect. The earth split open in front of her, sliced apart as cleanly as a scalpel stroke. Fire burst high into the sky, trees igniting under a sudden intense heat that burned against Twilight’s skin. Snow vaporized instantly near the points of impact, throwing up great plumes of steam that mingled with the acrid smoke and flying chunks of shredded plant matter and clods of earth. She didn’t know what was happening, but it kept happening; again and again and again, powerful arcs of intense light slashed the jungle to ribbons with unrivaled savagery in a relentless barrage. Twilight found herself cowering on the ground, clutching Spike to her front protectively. She was surrounded by fire and splintered trees by the time it finally relented. When she raised her head, all she found was smoke, shattered tree stumps, and a riotous orange blaze. Twilight herself was half-buried under shrapnel and chunks of earth. The tree she’d been hiding behind groaned, then half of it toppled. Connected only by a few stubborn fibers, the trunk did not fall flat to the ground, but it did give Twilight the scare of her life when it fell short and came to a stop just shy of her head by inches. Over the ringing in Twilight’s ears, she heard the distant harrowing shriek of the monster as it waited for her to flee in terror from the choking smoke filling the air or attempt to escape it in some way. It did not move a step, but Twilight knew it would be watching, three pairs of eyes scanning the ruined jungle. Fiery embers danced through the air around her. Twilight had to restrain a hacking cough as hot smoke swirled all around her and burned in her nostrils. Snow was smelting all around her, dripping from trees and striking her head as the heat rose. Flames flickered in the muddled clouds of steam and smoke, tenaciously clinging to life even in a half frozen, half drenched landscape. Now she really was in a bind. If she stayed, she could suffocate under the building smog. If she tried to flee, the monster would be on her in seconds. But as the heat of the incinerating jungle foliage started to draw beads of sweat from her, Twilight was forced to make up her mind. “Spike,” she coughed. “Yeah?” he responded, unfazed by the ash and smoke. “Hang on. I’m about to do something really stupid.” He did as instructed and clung to Twilight for dear life, just as she raised her head and set her horn aglow. The reaction was instant. The monster let out another cry as all three heads lunged around towards the hiding place of two tiny creatures. Twilight could smell ozone again. She could hear the building crackle and buzz, and just as it was brought to a deafening roar again, she and Spike popped out of existence. For a few moments, at least. When Twilight rematerialized, she was no longer on the ground. She’d thrown herself in the only direction she knew she could safely throw herself through space and time; high into the air. It was the only destination she could pick on short notice that wouldn’t run the risk of popping her and Spike into something… uncomfortable. Twilight only registered her bearings for a heartbeat, and then she was working her wings for all they were worth, just as a golden titan rounded on her from behind, three sets of predatory eyes glittering in the gloom. ~~***~~ Rainbow beat her wings vigorously against the harsh winds, fighting freak turbulence and unpredictable air currents. It was still disorienting, but by now Rainbow had started to grow accustomed to it. She still couldn’t anticipate the gusts, but her reactions to them were getting better. She squinted through the dense curtains of snow, peering through the blinding gloom for any sign of her friend. The wind was ferocious, and howled like a raging animal, but… some of that howling sounded disturbingly like something else… A flash in the distance caught Rainbow’s eye. She slowed down and shielded her eyes with a hoof, frowning to herself. Had that been Twilight? Or… Movement out of the corner of her eye. Rainbow snapped her head around, instinctively locking on to it, just as Twilight and Spike sailed passed her at full speed, missing her by thirty feet. With the wind at her back, Twilight raced by in a blur, there and gone again before Rainbow could fully grasp what she’d just seen. Rainbow just caught what sounded like Spike’s voice on the wind, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what he was saying. Rainbow scratched her head, perplexed… when a terrific bellow echoed across the sky. She turned, the color draining from her face, just as the sound of powerful wings beating the air reached her ears. A shadow – a ridiculously big shadow – whirled over her head, carrying with it a gale-force tailwind that nearly slammed her right out of the sky. She recovered only a foot about a nastily pointed tree top, and without giving it another thought, she tore after her friend, and the titan that was hot on her tail. Here we go again..., she thought dourly to herself. Things can’t possibly get any worse. ~~***~~ Amidst the silent snow and moaning wind, Pinkie stood on the prow of Serizawa’s ship, forelegs balanced on the guard rail, worried eyes cast up towards the grumpy skies that had once showed her where Rainbow had gone. Now they were only grey, speckled with lots of white, and nothing else. Normally, snow made Pinkie very happy. She loved snow days! Making forts with her friends, having snowball fights with her friends, building the biggest snowpony ever with her friends; there were all sorts of really great things to do in the snow! Plus, snow meant hot cocoa with little marshmallows! Indeed, snow was supposed to be a wonderful, amazing thing. But this snow… this snow was bad snow. She didn’t know why, or how to put it, but there was something about the snow and the storm that made Twilight super worried. And Pinkie could tell, even if she couldn’t follow everything Twilight and Serizawa had been talking about, that this was very, very bad snow… And that was when her stomach gurgled. For a moment, Pinkie paused, confused. That hadn’t been a growl, like when she was hungry, or a grumble, like when she’d had too much to eat or something bad that her stomach didn’t agree with. That had almost been like… Floppy ear, twitchy tail, belly gurgle… Pinkie stood stalk still as the spasms passed, an utterly baffled look twisting up her features. “Huh. That’s new,” she commented to herself, nonplussed. “I wonder what that one means?” It happened again, only more insistent. Pinkie frowned, at a total loss. She sat down, reached into her mane, and whipped out an overstuffed three-ring binder covered in glitter and confetti. She then started flipping through the pages, frowning at each one in turn. “Imminent water balloon strike… no… Leaky bathtub? No, not that either… Deus ex…? What does that even mean?” Completely at a loss now, she stuffed the massive binder back into its storage space in the unknowable depths of her mane and crossed her hooves in front of her. “Well… I’m confused and baffled. Confaffled? Bafused? Ooh! Bafused! I like that—” The boat started to groan, bringing an end to Pinkie’s contemplation. Without warning, Serizawa’s boat was beginning to list to one side. What was more, the bow was hiking up higher into the air. No… not higher. The rear end was sinking lower. Pinkie looked around, eyes big. Then, she looked down over the edge of the ship. But what she saw only raised more questions. Where once the surf had been lapping against the shore several feet in front of the ship, now all Pinkie found was waterlogged sand, bits of driftwood, and a few startled fish panicking in the mud. No waves, no water… just sand. Pinkie slowly turned, her eyes traveling further and further away from the ever-lengthening coastline, out towards where the ocean was supposed to be. The shoreline was almost two ship lengths behind them, and it was only drawing back further the longer Pinkie stared at it. That confused her greatly. What was going on? Could this be what her ‘Sense was trying to tell her about? She didn’t even know the ocean could leave. But then… if it was leaving, where was it going? And that was precisely the moment the rumbling reached her ears. Pinkie leaned over the edge of the boat to get a better look at what lay behind it. But what she saw still made no sense. Now, however, that confusion was starting to morph into unease. The horizon was rising. It darkened into a thickening black band that seemed to gain height the longer she looked at it. It was at about that point when Pinkie realized where the ocean had gone, seconds before the towering wave came hurtling fully into view. Oh! Oh. Ooooooh… Uh-oh. It had to have been over sixty feet tall; a solid wall of icy black water and raging foam rising higher and higher the closer to shore it got. It stretched as far in either direction as Pinkie could see around the island. It dwarfed the headland as it approached, rising up like a great frothing ridgeline in the ocean’s surface. And it moved with terrifying swiftness, barreling forward faster than anything could hope to run. With a terrific crash, it slammed at full speed into a peninsula just up the beach from Pinkie and swallowed it whole amid a shower of spray and white foam unlike anything she’d ever seen before. Trees vanished under a crush of raging sea water, their tops thrashing downward towards the ground for just an instant before they vanished beneath millions of gallons of smothering, unstoppable tide. And it just kept coming, stampeding onwards as it rolled over Ogasawara Island, flattening all in its path. The sound of roaring, crashing water growing louder by the second snapped Pinkie out of her stunned state. With a frantic scrabble of hooves, she dove for the entrance behind her, threw herself onto the other side, and slammed the hatch shut. A moment later, the tsunami wave reached the ship. Ponies in her belly shrieked in surprise and alarm as the whole boat was wrenched out of the muck without offering any resistance as the wave overtook it and began thundering inland. The ship and all her passengers bobbed and twirled like a foal’s plaything in a bath. Jarring bangs and thuds echoed from her belly as whole trees, boulders, and all manner of submerged projectiles slammed into her again and again, threatening to punch a hole straight through her wooden frame. Only the gods of luck would know how the boat was not flipped over or capsized in her wild ride inland. But the journey was short-lived. Everypony felt the impact when the prow struck a rocky outcropping, turned sideways, and was pinned length-wise across two jutting stones that had once been atop a small hill. Now it was just a pair of stones sticking up over a torrent of surging ocean. The boat groaned and complained as millions of gallons of sea water slammed into her side, pummeling and beating her in the tidal wave’s attempt to either dislodge her or smash her to tinder. But somehow, she held. The boat endured, a few sprung leaks notwithstanding, as the wave’s ferocity began to leave it behind. In its wake, the wave left a landscape of glassy, fast-moving water coursing between higher hilltops. Bits of trees, wood, foliage and flotsam drifted by in a slurry, jutting up into the air like half exposed bones in a shallow grave. But the ship stayed pinned. Inside, Serizawa raised his head and cast a look around. “Is… is everypony alright?” he asked. “I’ve… been worse… I suppose,” Rarity grumbled. She was lying upended against a wall, rear end high in the air and head on the floor, eyes spinning in their sockets. “I-I’m okay,” Fluttershy mumbled as she straightened up. She’d thrown herself over the unconscious maidens, who were all starting to moan again as they roused. “What in tarnation was that?” Applejack grunted, struggling to right herself while replacing her hat. That was when a small, toppled box started chattering. All eyes swiveled onto it as the chattering grew louder and more ferocious. The needle on a dial was pegged firmly on the far side of its readout. Then, a new sound cut the air. A high pitched whistling that soon evolved into a loud, two-tone whine. And on the surface of the box, a small light had just flicked on – one that glowed a bright, fiery green. Serizawa exchanged a loaded look with Emiko, who was chewing her lip. Not far away, the middle-aged mare was praying worse than ever, her voice rising to a terrified shriek as she rocked on her haunches. “I’m afraid,” Serizawa said grimly, “We may have stayed too long.” Meanwhile, a deck above them, a hatch was cranked open, and out tumbled a discombobulated pink earth pony, who fell in a heap onto the sea-soaked deck that now stank of sea salt. “That was not fun at all,” Pinkie whined miserably, her eyes rolling. In the next instant, she was clutching both hooves to her mouth. This time, the grumbling in her tummy was definitely something she understood right away. One mad dash to the side and one purge later, Pinkie leaned back, looking and feeling nauseous. “I… didn’t know the ocean could overflow,” Pinkie mumbled. “That was a really, really bad surprise…” That was when the sound of rapid clicking caught her attention, emanating from a machine set into the boat’s deckhouse. Pinkie turned her head towards it, baffled. It’s clicking was brought up to a panicky buzz, and then a shrill two-tone alarm that grated on her nerves. That confusion froze inside of her when she heard the most terrific splash she’d ever heard in her life, so much like the roar of a waterfall. She turned back around, eyes huge, as a ridge of jagged, ashen spines split the ocean and rose skyward. Her heart jackhammered in her chest as a migrating island of ashen scales took to its feet and rose from the surf. ~~***~~ The icy sting of snow lashed at Twilight’s face as she urged every bit of speed out of her wings. She was not an amazing flyer, nor was she delusional enough to think she was. But right now, she was sorely wishing she’d read up more extensively on advanced aerial maneuvering. The hateful, angry shrieking behind her reminded her that speed alone was not going to get her out of trouble. She could hear the powerful wingbeats howling through the air, propelling the three-headed giant after her. And it was closing. She didn’t see how fast or by how much, but Spike’s frantic tugging on her mane was a fairly good indication. One would think that, given how small she was compared to it, she’d be able to shake it. Considering how heavily it was snowing, it shouldn’t have been hard to slip away. Where the kaiju’s single-minded determination was coming from, she would never know. “Right!” Spike cried out. Twilight did as instructed and banked hard right, just as one pair of jaws slammed shut inches shy of her tail, followed by another set, which overshot her by a few feet. Twilight saw the great golden head appear right in front of her, moving perpendicular to her now. It was like flying head on into the side of a speeding freight train. With a yelp, she threw herself down in a dive. It was still a harrowingly close call; Spike could feel something just scrape one of his head crests, shaving years off his life as he and Twilight dodged a collision by a hair’s breadth. Twilight tried to twist herself around, instinctively resorting back to what she’d do on her hooves in such a situation. But before she could, the slipstream billowing around the titan’s frame caught her first. The wall of air didn’t slam into her, but suddenly she found a lot more lift under one wing than the other. Instead of spinning around a hundred and eighty degrees like she’d been trying to do, her right wing was wrenched up painfully in its socket, tossing her onto her side. This was all she knew to have happened; everything else was utter chaos as she suddenly found herself spinning wildly through the air, gravity all too eager to take the reins from her. She yelped, wings flailing in panic as she tried to get some wind under them, but it was no use. She just spun like a top, bound for the hard, frozen earth at least a hundred feet below. At least, that was how it seemed, until a pair of hooves caught her midair. “Whoa there,” Rainbow said into her ear. “I got you.” Twilight’s sense of relief was somewhat compounded by her shock at seeing first the blue pair of hooves holding her by the shoulders, then the rapidly beating set of blue wings that’d wrestled her to a standstill, then to the cocked grin being leveled at her. “Rainbow!” she gasped, mouth hanging open in shock. “What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with the ship!” “Well, I was,” Rainbow said with a pointed tone, “but something was up, so I came to check on you girls. Speaking of, have you seen the others? They were supposed to be out here, too, but I haven’t seen any sign of them. Oh, and I just thought I’d ask, no big deal or anything, but, where the flying ponyfeathers did you find THAT!?” She gestured towards some point far off to Twilight’s left, where a distant cackling shriek echoed back at her. The clouds where still swirling in the massive daikaiju’s wake, snow whipping about in spirals through the air. She could even hear the great wingbeats of the monster, and she could tell it was circling back around. Twilight shook her head. Unwanted memories resurfaced of the devastation wrought by the beast; countless acres of land razed by golden lightning in mere seconds… She prayed that Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Serizawa had been nowhere near that. She prayed, but there was always that little voice in the back of her head that had to explore that macabre possibility… “I-I’m sure they’re fine,” Twilight said quickly, throwing the horrible thoughts from her head. “As for the kaiju…” “We kinda sorta made it crash into the ground,” Spike spoke up. Rainbow winced. “Youch… Okay, as somepony with a few crashes under her belt, not cool.” Twilight puffed up indignantly. “Hey, it started it! Besides, something that big shouldn’t be in any shape to keep going after a landing like that. Hay, it shouldn’t be able to fly with all that body mass!” “Yeah, well, it sort of is,” Rainbow pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “And I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re not exactly outrunning it, either. That thing’ll just chase us no matter where we go, even if we get Serizawa’s boat free.” Twilight could see what she was getting at, but it only made her edgier. “Rainbow, we are not fighting it.” “Oh come on!” Rainbow groused. “We have to do something, and so far all you’ve managed to do by flying around is tick it off even more. Besides, I thought we came all this way to fight these things, not kinda just annoy them! We have to do something!” Twilight opened her mouth to say… something – that was about as far as she’d made it – when a terrific blast of wind slammed into them from above, very nearly tossing all three of them to the ground. Both turned in the direction of the gust, just as a great golden titan set itself down on the ground with a quaking crash that shook trees for miles around. It stood up tall, golden necks arching as they rose to their full height. Gigantic wings unfurled to their full extension, casting aside curtains of snow and momentarily banishing the stormy veil from around it. It stood as wide as the mightiest castle citadel and rose even taller. Each neck was a monster unto itself; a great expanse of flashing gold scales, curved regal horns and snarling draconic maws lined with teeth fit for crushing even the mightiest of defenses. Two puny ponies and a baby dragon wouldn’t offer even the slightest competition. Each of the golden kaiju’s heads belted out a series of cackling, shrieking roars that rang in Twilight’s, Rainbow’s and Spike’s ears. Twin golden tails pummeled the land, beating it like a war drum. It glared out across its kingdom with savage disdain, and curled its lip. Whatever it saw, it found it wanting. Then, it snorted, and all three heads swung down at the three nuisances, such tiny creatures that would otherwise escape its gaze as easily as a gnat would be beneath the notice of ponies. It spread its wings wide and threw out its chest, teeth bared. The scent of ozone began to fill the air. Golden light started to emanate through the gaps between its mighty scales. Sparks popped and cracked as arcs of light danced into the air. The light was working its way up each neck, and it was growing brighter with each foot traveled. Humming soon turned to buzzing as the fulminating power ramped up. Three pairs of jaws started to part, throats issuing a sinister golden glow. The feel of alien power burning against Twilight’s senses brought a whole new sense of dread to her. Both Rainbow and herself braced, ready to bolt in a split second. And that was when a resounding bellow echoed across the sky. A deadly hush fell over the world. Even the wind seemed to slow to a moaning halt after that terrific, harrowing sound rolled through the air like distant thunder. The golden kaiju paused, its heads flicking up to some point behind Twilight. The golden sparks faded into the gloom as the golden kaiju bristled, hissing and spitting as it turned its attention towards some point far, far over Twilight’s, Rainbow’s and Spike’s heads. It shrieked a warning, rising to its full height and brandishing its wings like deadly weapons. In response, the whole world around Twilight quaked seemingly in fear of what was coming. She looked down, mesmerized by the shaking of the trees as they wobbled back and forth, marking each successful step of something’s approach. To her confusion, she bore witness to a sheet of water rolling across the jungle floor, drowning the underbrush and leaving only the trees standing tall. The next sound she heard came from her friend floating beside her. “T-Twilight,” Rainbow hissed, her voice an octave or two higher than normal. Twilight turned stiffly towards her, only to realize Rainbow wasn’t even looking at her. No, she was staring at something behind them – something far above. Boom… The jungled quaked again as Twilight forced herself to turn, eyes turning seemingly of their own accord. Through the snow descending from the sky, a monolithic shadow loomed. At first, it wasn’t easy to spot through the snow, but with each passing second, it grew clearer and clearer as it drew closer, materializing like a phantom in the darkness. A black shadow of a head rolled on its shoulders, gaze falling on the gigantic golden kaiju standing off to its right. It snarled at it, the vast shadow seemingly swelling to even larger proportions as it straightened up and snapped its jaws. The air rang with the thunderclap of bone-on-bone. The golden kaiju answered with another warning shriek, posturing and beating the air with its gigantic wings. To that, He had only one response, and He belted it out from cavernous lungs. The sound of His roar forced Twilight and Rainbow to clap their hooves to their ears, wincing against the sheer volume that was bordering on physical force bearing down on them. Twilight’s ears were still left ringing something fierce, worse even than having a flugelhorn blasted point blank into one. But for the moment, she barely noticed. Twilight paid much more attention to the huge expanse of black scales swinging in front of her face; a massive leg lunging forward, carrying a titan obliviously passed three onlookers and onto a collision course with a golden challenger. She was close enough that she could see the tendrils of steam rising off of each plated scale. She could hear the hiss and spit of snow vaporizing on contact, and most of all, she could feel the sweltering heat beating against her, a heat mingled with that same strange, annihilating force from before that burned against her mind. Not magic, but something more primal, and infinitely more destructive. Rainbow took one look at the pair of monsters squaring up to each other and knew, without a shred of doubt, that that was not something she wanted to be in the middle of. Well, she didn’t want Twilight and Spike to be in the middle of it. Yeah, that was it. “Twilight, we need to get out of here!” she shouted, struggling to hear herself over her own deafened ears. She took hold of Twilight’s foreleg and tugged. To her surprise, however, Twilight held firm. When Rainbow looked back at her in exasperation, she found her friend staring not at the roaring beasts sizing each other up, but instead casting her gaze straight up into the sky. She had that look on her face, the look she got whenever she was about to do something crazy. It’d been there when they’d faced Discord, it’d been there when they made their mad dash for the Elements amid a changeling invasion, and it was there when they’d charged into the Everfree Forest as it slowly buried Ponyville under thick black vines. Rainbow’s eyes followed hers, but ultimately found nothing of interest; just more swirling storms, black as bruises, dispensing more snow than Ponyville saw all winter. She was about to shout at her friend again when Twilight turned on her and said something – something her ringing ears translated as, “Go-hine-theether. I-be-I-ak.” So, either her friend had suddenly started speaking in tongues, or Rainbow’s ears were ringing way worse than she’d figured. Seeing the blank look on Rainbow’s face, Twilight tried again, this time screaming her words at the top of her lungs. “Go find the others! I’ll be right back!” Rainbow’s eyes got huge, but her protest came too late. Before she could do anything, Twilight twisted free of her grip and sped off into the sky, scowl bent in determination as she raced off towards the heart of the storm. Rainbow raised a hoof, calling after her friend – just as a golden bolt of lightning lanced through the air between them. She jolted back instinctively as another bolt slashed in a diagonal arc, cutting through the forest before finding it’s intended target – Godzilla’s chest. A sound issued from the titan then, one Rainbow had never heard before. It was a shriek of pain, and to her surprise, she watched as Godzilla actually staggered back a step. Again and again, bolts of golden energy rained down across the snow-encrusted jungle, doing as much damage to Him as it did to the woodlands themselves. Snow gave way to raging fires and scorched earth, smoke already thick in the air from the devastation. Trees were blasted to splinters, bits and pieces flying in a hailstorm of burning shrapnel through the air, some of which pelted Rainbow with stinging bites. By the time the onslaught paused, Twilight was long gone, leaving Rainbow the sole spectator between two clashing kings. The golden kaiju reared up and shrieked triumphantly while raising its heads high into the air. Godzilla stood at the heart of the blackened forest, shrouded in smoke and fire. His front was scorched black from numerous lashing burn marks. To Rainbow, He looked halfway doubled over, as if He’d had the wind knocked out of Him. Then, His head tilted up, fiery eyes falling on the brazen aggressor, and He huffed in contempt. The black smoke was stained a bright, ominous blue. Rainbow knew exactly what was coming, and she dove for the cover of the treetops as, one by one, massive spines hummed like living dynamos kicking on, buzzing with unmatched power. She aimed for the ground, but stopped when she found the base of the trees flooded with torrential waters. She paused, baffled, just as the sky above her was filled with blue fire. The bright lance of superheated energy struck the golden kaiju square in the chest with such force that every last ton of it was thrown over backwards. A shriek of surprise and pain colored the air amidst the deafening explosion of the impact. Scouring flames bent around its massive form, torching still more of the land before Godzilla let up. The golden kaiju hit the ground, hard, hard enough to cause the water beneath Rainbow to leap and dance. Rainbow peeked her head up into the air above her tree, just as He stormed passed, barreling forward far faster than she would have thought possible for something His size. It didn’t look like He was charging, for the amount of effort He demonstrated, but the length of each step achieved a speed no pony could ever hope to hold a candle to. Within an instant He was passed her, parting the descending snow around His monstrous barrel chest. Already the golden kaiju had righted itself, rage coloring its shrieking roars. Its chest was still smoldering; cracked and split scales sloughed off and fell to earth like little comets. But it was far from weakened, and it demonstrated this by meeting its charging adversary, colliding with Him like two battleships plowing into one another at full speed. Rainbow didn’t just hear the impact; she felt its percussion as the two daikaiju rammed one another with all the considerable weight they possessed. ~~***~~ Twilight worked her tired wings as hard as she could, throwing herself up and up as fast as she could force herself to go. Her breathing was already turning ragged, but she couldn’t stop to catch her breath. Godzilla… Godzilla had arrived. She’d been bracing for it, true, but somehow she’d convinced herself that they’d be long gone before that terrible monster caught up with them. But the way he’d just appeared, and right after they’d found themselves faced with a second kaiju of epic proportions… If she didn’t know any better, she’d think they were on the bad side of some supreme god that felt like taking out its frustration on them. But as horrible as this situation was – as many lives were at stake now – Twilight had spotted the opportunity when it’d shown itself. The arrival of not one, but two kaiju proved to her that if the disturbances weren’t abated, the situation was only going to get worse. If they didn’t act, and soon, there was no telling how many more giant living apocalypses would rouse. And if only one had been enough to cripple Neighpon… But with the pair distracted, at least for the moment, she had the opening she needed. “Twilight, where are we going?” Spike shouted. “The village is in the other direction!” “We’re finding the heart of this disturbance, Spike,” Twilight shouted back at him without turning around. “If we can get this one to break up, maybe Godzilla and that other kaiju will go away. If those two fight here, there’s no telling how many will get hurt, or worse! It’s a longshot, but if there’s a chance, we have to take it!” She had a point, Spike noted. Ogasawara was big, but for two creatures the size of mountains, it’d hardly be bigger than a boxing ring. The longer those creatures fought, the greater the chance of collateral damage. Any option that involved saving lives, no matter how unlikely, was worth trying. That was probably Twilight’s view, anyway. Spike turned his head up towards the sky, apprehension weighing on him. But at the same time, he knew something had to be done, and it was up to Twilight and him to do it. And at times like this, it was time to prove his ‘number one assistant’ credentials. “There’s something off to the right,” he told her. “Whatever it is, I really don’t want to go that way. So… guess that means that’s where we’re going.” Twilight threw him a sympathetic look. She knew this wasn’t easy for him, going against his instincts, but so far he’d done a better job than she ever could’ve hoped for. Then, she angled to the right, battling the wind and turbulence as best she could, all the while counting the seconds. ~~***~~ Rainbow darted through the air low over the trees, trying desperately to keep her distance from the brawling kaiju. Godzilla and His adversary were locked, chest to chest, in a savage pushing match, matching physical strength with raw physical strength. The sound of steely scales grinding together was one Rainbow would never forget, not for as long as she lived. Claws bit into the earth, dredging up huge mounds of mud and dislodged trees as each strove to find the purchase they needed to throw the other over. The golden kaiju was throwing itself against Him in equal measure, only it went the extra mile. Instead of letting Godzilla push it back, one of its maws lunged, fangs sinking deep into His shoulder. Godzilla roared and nearly lost His footing as pointed fangs struck home again and again, piercing His thick scales and drawing blood. It didn’t take long for Him to have enough of it. As the next head lunged down to take another bite, Godzilla twisted around, and caught the offending beast by the jugular. His own jaws clamped down hard enough to crumple a warship like a tin can, muscles knotting. The golden kaiju shrieked and attempted to pull away. When Godzilla yanked back, Rainbow could actually see the great golden beast’s center of gravity shift. She watched as the titan began to lean forward, wings beating desperately to maintain balance. Then, at the last possible second, it beat its wings hard enough to flatten the forest beneath it. The golden kaiju picked itself up off the ground, and as Rainbow watched, it planted its powerful legs squarely against Godzilla’s chest, and shoved. With a grunt, He let go, staggering back a step in the process. The Golden kaiju let out a furious shriek, wings whipping the winds into gale force gusts. Then it turned and peeled off into the sky. Godzilla watched, oddly motionless. Only His head turned, tracking the airborne monster’s every move. The golden kaiju was circling overhead. Its wings tore at the clouds, swirling them into an artificial eye of a hurricane. Then, after gaining an incredible amount of momentum, it angled inward. Rainbow watched, her breath catching, as the airborne titan trimmed its wings and dove, picking up even more velocity. Godzilla saw it coming, yet He didn’t move. He watched as the golden kaiju swooped down from the heavens, powerful legs aiming straight at His chest. With only a few hundred meters left between them, Godzilla casually turned, as if about to leave… and swatted the golden kaiju clean out of the sky with His tail. Rainbow didn’t even see it coming, but she heard it. The impact was like an explosion going off as hundreds of tons of mass were swept through the air. It would have been like getting hit by a baseball bat the size and weight of a skyscraper. Earth and foliage were jettisoned at least a hundred feet into the air. The whole island shuddered yet again under the force of the golden kaiju slamming to earth at full speed. Trees swayed and shivered beneath Rainbow for as far as she could see. A mountainside vanished altogether, as did much of a plateau. Only a long, jagged crater remained. Godzilla belted out His fury, then began to advance again, one thundering step at a time. Rainbow couldn’t help but watch their battle in awe. The scope of the power bring brought to bear by both combatants was in a league totally beyond anything she’d seen before. Even their most casual of blows was reshaping the land, one fresh valley and hill at a time, and yet they were taking some absolutely ferocious hits and still managing to get back up for more. Even as she sat there, dumbfounded, renewed shrieking rang through the air. The golden kaiju somehow had survived that monstrous impact, and it was picking itself back up for more. For the first time, she could see why the Neighponese would worship these creatures as gods, and similarly, stand no chance against them. It did beg the question of how they would fare any better. A flash ran through her mind then. The wreck of the Amaterasu, fire… a hoof protruding from under the rubble… Applejack. Her friends. They could still be out here. Out in this chaos, this destruction. It was that realization that finally got her back in gear. She had to find her friends, make sure they were all alright. That thought took hold inside of her, and stirred her back to activity. It took some effort, but she tore her eyes away from Godzilla’s mighty frame looming in the distance and began casting her gaze across the snow-filled land. Where had they said they were going? A village? There, in the distance. A trail of smoke, something burning far from the chaos wrought by Godzilla and his adversary. She just made it out as the curtains of snow parted, blown open by golden wings. That had to be it. Rainbow didn’t stay idle a moment longer. The moment she identified the black plume in the distance, she set her sights on it and beat her wings against the uncooperative winds as hard as she could, and shot off towards Ogasawara Village, all the while praying her friends were alright. She was so focused now that she only partly paid attention to the loud rumbling and crashing going on behind her. But the roars… the roars chased her through the sky, and urged her to go faster still. ~~***~~ Naoko regarded the blustery skies with a cold, detached stare. She watched the smothering snow as it blanketed the land under thick, heavy drifts, and yet somewhere in the distance, smoke was darkening the sky. It colored the air with its bitter scent, faint for now, but growing stronger with each passing minute. The renewed earthquakes, the worsening weather… At times like this, a mare might start thinking it really was the end of the world. Another tremor ran through the yard, causing the ground beneath her hooves to sway and the foundry behind her to rattle. From the open door behind her, mothers and foals shrieked in alarm. Naoko tried to tune them out, but it was difficult. It was immensely more difficult knowing there was nothing she could do to stop what was happening. In the distance, the golden light was flashing again. Not magic – there was no way it could be – but something worse. Naoko sniffed, but she only caught a hint of cloying smoke on the wind. Naoko frowned to herself, deeper this time. Serizawa, you idiot, hurry up. At this rate, there’s going to be nothing left of my island to save, and I’m going to hold you accountable… “Uh… Boss?” Naoko roused and looked over her shoulder critically. One of the burly miners stood there, easily twice her size if not more, yet nervously shuffling his hooves and averting his gaze to the floor like some misbehaving filly. “What?” she asked in a clipped tone. The miner took a moment, then spoke up again. “Maybe… maybe we really should evacuate the island. A-at least, the young ones, until the storm passes,” he added quickly, seeing the deadly look Naoko was leveling at him. Naoko gave him a measured look, but inside she was in a less diplomatic mood. Her family had never abandoned Ogasawara Island, not since it was first settled. Civil war, famine, disease, kaiju and natural disasters had all just rolled off their collective backs. Come hell or high water, the foundry would stay open. That was her family’s motto. It was her duty. Not many of those old families remained now, she mused. Not much of anything remained, actually. The old stories about the great observatory at the top of Mount Yama to the north that lured a healthy flow of scholars and astronomers, the bazaar that brought travelers from all across Neighpon just to see their luxury wares, the roaming Sorcerers and their apprentices in their eternal quest for knowledge… All just fairy tales now. The observatory was nothing more than crumbling walls, corroded metal and malfunctioning magical fields fit to rip a pony apart between dimensional apertures and leave nothing but motes of light behind. The bazaar, an empty square in the village whose only banners now were tattered rags whipping about through the wind like funeral shrouds. The Sorcerers, long pent up in the capital, nothing more than myths to the rest of the world. But Ogasawara… Ogasawara would always stand, no matter what, even if she was the last unfortunate soul left to toil in the mine and kindle the furnaces, left to rot under a couple of sticks and rags for shelter. On that, she was resolute. Naoko opened her mouth, ready to say all of this to this big idiot’s big idiot face, when something distracted her. Something bitterly cold lapped against her sole remaining forehoof, catching her off guard. She looked down critically, as a thin sheet of water that stank of brine and the ocean drifted across her work yard. It washed away the snow, but in its place came blackened fronds, splintered wood, and coagulated soot. Naoko looked up, tracing the curious sight back to its source; towards the distant clouds of smoke… and the brilliant ghostly blue light that suddenly stained it. Naoko and her henchman watched with wide eyes as a pillar of intense fire rolled across the sky, sweeping like a searchlight, left to right, before vanishing again. For just a moment, hot rain fell upon her head and rattled across the Refinery. Then, it was gone again, but it was a few seconds more before snow resumed cascading from the heavens. Naoko stared, her eyes huge, mouth falling open ever so slightly. “What was that?” the miner questioned, sounding ten times as scared as before. Naoko knew. Oh she knew alright. Spend any amount of time around a stallion like Serizawa and anypony would, too. There was a feeling in the air, an intense, foreboding feeling that made Naoko’s empty shoulder itch in an old, disturbing way… She knew what that fire meant, who it heralded. He was here. “Get everypony to the western village,” Naoko instructed in a quick, clipped manner. “B-Boss?” “Get them there and keep them safe no matter what.” “What about those Imperials holed up there?” “Them, too.” The miner paused, then apprehensively nodded. He turned back to the open doors and the many faces peering back towards him from further in. “Alright, everypony!” he shouted. “Gather everything you can! We’re leaving!” Naoko didn’t turned around, but a bitter look crossed her stern expression. Get your rear in gear, Serizawa. Hurry! The longer that monster stays here, the worse off we all are. ~~***~~ Twilight beat her stiff, burning wings hard against the savage wind shear slamming into her conjured barrier. Her breaths came in a ragged pant. Her muscles screamed and protested, begging for rest. But she forced herself on. She was getting close, she knew it. Her horn danced and flickered with an unnatural aurora, brighter and brighter as she drew closer to the black heart of the storm. Even her shield shimmered now, which only made watching where she was going all the harder. “Almost there,” Spike shouted apprehensively in her ear. “It’s gotta be just up ahead.” “Al… alright,” Twilight panted. As she pushed herself further into the storm, she started to notice something in the air; an unnatural whistling sound, high and eerie. After having the wind blowing in her ears pretty much non-stop for so long, the sound stood out. What was even stranger was the fact that it reached her over the howling gale of the storm, as if unaffected by its cacophonous volume. Twilight was suddenly distracted by the harrowing sensation of what felt like millions of ants skittering across her skin. Her fur stood on end, and the very air around her tensed like a spring. Instinctively she dropped a hundred feet, and just in time. A split second later, a fan of bright light lanced out towards and around her, skittering through clouds and snow as it spanned outward, forming and growing at the speed of light. With an explosive boom, the newly born lightning bolt let itself be known to the world. How it missed Twilight, she’d never know, but it gave her the scare of her life. The wind was getting worse. Each gust was like a miniature hurricane bent on swatting her down. It flung snowflakes so hard that they stung painfully against Twilight’s hide and physically warped her barrier when they struck it, creating little dimples. And the howling… the howling was incredible. Deafening in volume, to the point that she could barely even hear herself think. And yet, she could still make out that eerie whistling, clear as day. It sounded almost musical, like some kind of out of tune instrument screeching and grating against some kind of cosmic cord. It was that sound, more than anything, that told her she was almost there. And so, she pressed on into the undiminished fury of the storm. The sky was growing darker and darker, until she was surrounded by inky blackness no brighter than moonlit midnight. The temperature plummeted with each wingbeat, until it felt like she was pressing on through an arctic storm. It was so bitterly cold, and only getting colder the further she went. In the back of her mind, some diabolical voice couldn’t help but wonder if the disturbance had achieved some kind of superconductor status, and that its heart – the very place she needed to go – was now currently sitting at absolute zero. Not exactly conducive to a healthy working environment. Or… health, for that matter. The cynic in her was promptly disbarred from any further theorizing on what awaited them. It was not helping. Twilight banked slightly, rolling with another updraft, when she unexpectedly found herself bursting through the dull, black haze of the cloud, and into a swirling chasm between storm layers. It was a pocket in the storm system, she realized, only one that was nearly half a mile across. In front of her, a wall of surging, whipping clouds the color of bruises churned restlessly, howling and spitting lightning across the sky. She quickly found out what had created the gap. The wind here was truly monstrous; the sheer force of it stole her breath away, even from behind her taxed barrier. She didn’t dare gawk for long, not with the scouring gale literally chipping away at the edges of her shield. “Almost… there,” Twilight grunted. She pressed forward, working her wings to their limit. Her shield cracked, right down the middle, causing her to jump. Quickly she tried to fix it, but another blast of icy wind caused another fracture to form. She couldn’t keep up. As her shield was slowly blown to pieces, bit by bit, she threw herself with renewed urgency. Spike hung on for dear life, but if he said anything, Twilight didn’t catch it. She was dead set on the wall of clouds in front of her. A whole section of her barrier warped, and with a delicate tinkling sound, vaporized. One hundred feet to go. Another hurricane-force wall of air slammed into her barrier at full force. The shield split right down the middle, but somehow held. Twilight panted, her horn fizzling and spitting sparks. Fifty feet… The whole barrier was starting to turn transparent as the magic holding it together slowly eroded away. It warped and undulated, less like a plate of glass now and more like a sheet of cloth. The edges were starting to shed motes of light as it disintegrated completely. Twenty feet… With a popping sound, a section blew out. Twilight gasped sharply as the whole barrier unraveled in a shower of light. The wind was not merciful. It slammed into her full force, intent on blowing her right out of the sky. Both she and Spike cried out as they were tossed along with the gale, helpless to resist the sheer force behind the tempest. Twilight tried to conjure back another barrier, but it simply couldn’t form fast enough. “Hang on!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, all the while trying desperately to keep some semblance of control. Through the spinning and whirling, something caught Twilight’s eye. A wall of black clouds, darker than any other was right in front of her, just feet away. She threw herself with every ounce of strength she had left, through howling tumult, lashing snow, bellowing thunder… and into total silence. The moment she breached that inner layer, her ears deadened. Every single light went out. Nothing but total blackness surrounded her. No flash of lightning, no roaring wind, no… nothing. She sailed, completely disoriented and nonplussed, through inky stillness. So she was not expecting to land. Or, more accurately, crash. Twilight yelped when her body collided with something solid, bounced, then tumbled end over end across a hard, unyielding surface. She skidded on her chest for what felt like a mile, before finally she came to a stop. It took Twilight some time to really comprehend what’d happened, and then another minute or so to really put the pieces together. The first thing that really hit her was how utterly quiet it now was. There was no trace of the howling, shrieking storm, or any sound at all. Twilight’s fatigued breathing was the loudest thing in her vicinity, apart from the terrible ringing in her ears. So, she hadn’t mysteriously gone deaf, at least. The other thing she noticed was that it was pitch black, without any trace of light… and very cold. The surface she was lying sprawled across was like ice. And finally, Twilight realized that the little claws that’d been painfully clutching at her shoulders was gone, as was the accompanying weight. Twilight groaned as she righted herself. Her equilibrium almost tossed her over backwards, which was her first real indication that the thing she’d crashed into wasn’t level. “Spike?” she called to the darkness. Her voice echoed eerily back at her from all around. A second later, another groan reverberated its way back to her from several feet away. She heard a scraping, rustling sound as Spike righted himself. “Ugh… what happened? Where are we?” he asked, before adding in a slightly louder voice. “Twilight? Where are you?” “I’m right here, Spike,” Twilight said with relief. Spike didn’t sound hurt. “Hang on. I’ll give us some light.” Twilight straightened up, and after raising her head, lit her horn. Instantly, she knew she’d made a terrible mistake. Instead of a small trickle of magic, like she’d been expecting, the magic emanating from her horn exploded outward like the backdraft of an oxygen-starved fire. The light – meant to be barely brighter than a candle – instead erupted out as a blinding nova of light so intense both of them clamped their eyes shut against it. The instant Twilight realized what was happening, she extinguished her horn. And yet, inexplicably, sparks remained. She looked on in wonder as little arcs of purple electricity danced through the air, following little haphazard trails like slow motion lightning bolts skittering outward in every direction. She was so distracted by the shimmering display fanning out in every direction that she didn’t even think to take stock of her surroundings. A sudden weight on her back snapped her back to reality. She glanced over a shoulder to find Spike once again securely situated just behind her wings. He was looking around with curious – and very apprehensive – eyes. “What is this?” he inquired. Twilight didn’t have to think too hard. “It must be caused by a high concentration of ether,” she speculated. “Even residual magic is enough to cause visual phenomena.” “Uh… in Equestrian?” Twilight rolled her eyes. “There’s so much ether here that even a tiny spark can cause magic to go wild.” “Okay,” Spike said slowly, “but that doesn’t explain what that is.” Twilight glanced at his extended claw, followed it… and paused. He wasn’t pointing at the residual magic still expanding outward around them. No, he was pointing at what the light of the purple sparks revealed. Twilight and Spike were standing on a black, curved yet flat structure suspended over nothingness. It was weathered and rigid, like charred bone covered in little dimples and divots. And of course, there was the fact that it appeared to be floating hundreds of feet off the ground, supported by nothing at all. Whatever it was, it kept going far beyond what little light the magical feedback was providing, and Twilight didn’t dare light her horn again. Twilight looked down at where her hooves were touching the strange formation. The texture of it was… strange. Rough, porous, and unusually cold. Whatever it was, if it had been made by somepony, she had never seen such a material before in her life. “Well this is… unexpected,” Twilight muttered to herself, frowning. “And I’m guessing ‘unexpected’ isn’t a good thing,” Spike quipped. “No. It’s not.” Twilight started to pace as she thought. “Okay, okay… this has to be the heart of the disturbance,” she thought aloud. “What else would this place be? But that doesn’t explain what this thing is.” She tapped her hoof against their unexpected platform. Again, she squinted her eyes and looked around, trying in vain to see something, anything that might shed some light on what this strange thing was. But it was no use. She didn’t like it. Whatever this thing was, it was an unknown variable, and something about it was giving her the creeps. Spike toyed with his claws as he looked around. He had one of the most intense feelings of foreboding he’d ever felt before in his life warring inside of him. It was like an intense, irrevocable phobia and just as devoid of reason. Something in this quiet dead zone was bad, terribly bad, and no matter how much he tried to think around it, the intense need to run for his life kept tugging at him. One thing was for sure; this was definitely the place. Whether it was the right place, or as wrong a place as it felt… that remained to be seen. Finally, Twilight came to a halt, drawing Spike’s attention. The light had almost completely gone out again, leaving only a thin, almost useless trace of filament-like embers lazily drifting through the air. “Ugh, we don’t have time to figure this out,” Twilight said in a huff. “Whatever this thing is, we’ll just have to deal with it later.” Spike looked at the back of her head. In the dwindling light, he could only barely make out the profile of her head, and it was within claw’s reach. “Do you think it might be what’s causing the disturbance?” he asked. “I don’t know how, but… it’s probably related,” Twilight admitted. “But we’ll have time to figure it out later. Right now, our friends are still in danger down there, not to mention anypony else on Ogasawara.” Spike nodded. “Okay. So… what are you going to do?” He had no doubt in his mind that Twilight Sparkle, the smartest pony he knew and the most magically gifted mare ever – in his experience – would have come up with an intricate, complex solution to all of their worries. This was Twilight, after all, planner extraordinaire! Twilight straightened up, and with all the certainty she possessed, stated, “I’m gonna blow it up.” … “Uh… come again?” “Ether and magic counterbalance one another,” Twilight explained, as if she were giving a lecture in a classroom, not standing in what was about to become ground zero. “With as much ether as there is here, a spell of moderate potency should be enough to cause it to ignite. The force of the resulting expansion should disperse this concentration of ether, thus breaking up the disturbance! Or…” “…Or?” Spike inquired nervously. “… Or it’ll go supernova and wipe out everything in a really big radius around Ogasawara. Including… Ogasawara itself. And… half of Neighpon, too, probably.” “… Oh.” “But we don’t really have much of a choice,” Twilight admitted. “With Godzilla here already, we don’t have time to anything more delicate. Besides, the chances of it exploding that bad aren’t that great.” Spike raised an eyebrow, and wondered very hard why she would even bring it up in the first place, then. “Okay, then… how are we getting out of here?” “Like I said, Spike,” Twilight said, and he could feel her shoulders tensing as she braced herself. “All it’ll take is a moderate spell.” Spike braced, bit his lip, as he watched the first glow of Twilight’s magic appear on her horn. And to her credit, Twilight had been right. All it took was a moderate spell. ~~***~~ Even in her haste, Rainbow paused when she heard the quavering boom in the sky. She turned her head upward, and her eyes shot open wide. The storm above her head was swelling. Whole cloud banks boiled and shivered, grew and shrunk, all right before her eyes. It spasmed like a wounded thing writhing in agony, and strangest of all, it was glowing deep within itself. Shafts of fiery light cut through the clouds, as if on the verge of breaking up at long last. Rainbow knew that could mean only one thing. She rolled over in the air in order to pump a hoof over her head and whoop triumphantly. “Alright, Twilight! You show that storm who’s bo—” A huge, golden wing nearly ended her mid-sentence. Rainbow never saw it come or go, but she felt the incredible slipstream that followed it. The surge of air plowed into her, sending her spinning a few times through the air. By the time she righted herself, the kaiju was gone again. Only a glint off of its golden scales gave it away through the snow. “R-right,” Rainbow said, her voice cracking for a moment. Then, she sped off again, all sense of victory gone. In the distance behind her, a mighty beast stood amid the ruined, reshaped carnage of a kaiju battlefield. Godzilla turned both eyes skyward and let out a low snarl. He watched the storm going through its death throws, motionless and carefully observant. Not far away, His tenacious adversary set down upon a mountain, crushing its summit in the process. All three golden heads turned to suspiciously eye the fiery light in the sky. At the same time, a group of ponies on a landlocked ship gazed up in wonder at the expanding storm clouds. Across the whole island, eyes turned heavenward, some with fear, some with wonder. All watched as the storm began circulating around itself, spiraling like a galaxy around a singular point. The heart of the storm grew brighter and brighter, until it hurt to look directly at. With a bang and flash of light, Twilight Sparkle reappeared two hundred feet off the ground, Spike hanging on to dear life. The teleportation spell that had triggered everything had been near instantaneous, a product of considerable practice on Twilight’s part. Yet he could still taste superheated air in his mouth. Twilight snapped open her exhausted wings, much to their discomfort. She aimed down towards the ground, and then glanced over her shoulder. The pocket of ether had expanded to the size of a city overhead, and it burned like a small sun. It grew, and grew, howling with an otherworldly keen. And then, without any warning and as quick as a flash… it imploded. One second it was there. The next, it was gone. There was no audible sound, no telltale flash. All anypony would have seen was a sudden puckering of the clouds as they were sucked inward towards some central point. The resulting blast wave, however, was not nearly as subtle. It crashed down at supersonic speeds, hammering the island hard enough to flatten tree groves to the ground directly beneath the epicenter and shatter earth. Even Godzilla Himself, who’d been standing almost directly underneath it, buckled with a surprised snort. Twilight was far enough away that she saw, for a split second, the moment the shockwave hammered the ground. An instant later, too fast for her to react, she heard the loudest, most spectacular explosion of sound she’d ever heard before in her life, right before everything went black. ~~***~~ “…ight… Twi…” Twilight’s senses swam in and out of focus. For a moment, she could feel every acute pain and ache her body had to report to her. In the next, she was numb and blissfully drowsy. But the longer she wavered in and out, the more she started to rouse, bit by bit. “Twilight…!” The call sounded distant, but urgent. It sounded familiar, too… She blinked, trying to make sense of her surroundings. A purple thing was in front of her eyes… and a blue thing… it was amazingly hard to focus. The slap across the cheek helped, though. “Snap out of it!” Spike shouted in a panic at her. Twilight blinked again. This time, she was able to make out more of her surroundings. Firstly, she discovered that she was lying on her back in a heap of slushy snow and muddy earth. She was staring up towards the tops of many towering trees that, for some reason, had been totally stripped of all of their foliage, and now stood like skeletons. Spike was standing over her. He had her by the shoulders, looking absolutely beside himself. And right beside him, looking just as concerned, was Rainbow Dash. “Ugh…,” Twilight groaned, then winced. Now she felt what a crash landing from above the tree line felt like. She didn’t really know what broken bones felt like, but she was starting to think that maybe she couldn’t say that anymore. “Ow…” “Twilight!” Spike gasped. “Are you alright? Quick, how many claws am I holding up?” Twilight squinted. “Ugh… three?” Spike breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh man… you scared me.” “Gotta admit,” Rainbow chimed in, “as far as crash landings go, that was a pretty spectacular one.” “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Twilight whined. “Uh… maybe?” Spike shot her a look, to which she just shrugged helplessly. Bedside manner wasn’t one of her strong suits. But at the moment, Twilight wasn’t paying attention. “Did… did it work?” she coughed. “I think so,” Spike responded, then turned to look upward. “At least it stopped snowing.” All three of them turned their eyes skyward, hopeful. A dark, overcast sky glared back down at them. At the sight of it, Twilight’s heart fell. “But… but I was sure that I…” A ringing bellow cut her off. All three stiffened as turned in the other direction. Twilight had to crane her neck from her lying position. Just visible through the trees, almost a mile away, Godzilla stood. His eyes were still trained on the heavens, unblinking. Then, to Twilight’s dismay, His head began to turn, as if tracking something far, far overhead. The disturbance was on the move again. She hadn’t stopped it after all. Another echoing cry rang through the air. This time, when all three of them snapped around towards it, they found themselves confronted by the sight of the mighty golden daikaiju, still roosting atop a cracked and crumbling mountain. All three of its heads were aimed toward the sky. All three moves in unison, tracking something as it moved towards the northeast. For a moment, three sets of eyes broke away to look down, towards its adversary. Both beaten and bloodied titans reviewed each other contemptuously from afar, shooting daggers back and forth. And then, in unison, both monolithic creatures turned towards the northeast. One spread its vast wings, and with one beat, took to the sky. The other raised one powerful leg and set off, carving His own path of destruction straight across Ogasawara Island, regardless of what got in His way. Twilight watched all of this with a terrible chill in her heart. Now there wasn’t just one monster on the loose in Neighpon. There were two. ~~***~~ The journey to Ogasawara Village wasn’t a long one, but it was almost too much for Twilight to handle. By the time Rainbow carried her to the outskirts, she’d turned chalk white, and was periodically letting out pained whining noises through her teeth. Quickly she set down in the small village’s square and set Twilight down. Immediately she collapsed to the floor with a pain hiss. “Sh-shoulder,” she whimpered, tearing up. “Think I… I think I broke my shoulder…” Spike was, understandably, in a panic. The moment they touched down, he started running in circles, trying to find some way to help. Internally, Rainbow was relieved. Twilight was in rough shape, yes, but a quick inspection proved that her wings had somehow avoided any serious injury, a few bent pinions notwithstanding. Honestly, from how high up she’d seen Twilight fall, only one broken bone was a miracle. “Just stay put, Twilight,” Rainbow instructed, “I’ll go find somepony and we’ll get you patched up. Spike! Get over here and make sure she doesn’t move. I’ll be right back, I promise.” “Wait,” Spike cried out, “what if something happens? What if she needs CPR, or the Haymlich Maneuver, mouth-to-mouth, or—” “Geez, calm down,” Rainbow said back. “I’m pretty sure she’s not going to need any of those things. We just need to find somepony and get her looked at. She’ll be fine.” “But—” “Just keep her still,” Rainbow ordered, turned, and started to crouch for takeoff. A commotion made her hesitate. She, along with Spike and Twilight, both turned towards the far end of the street, just as several ponies came trotting into view. Most were taking stock of their surroundings; the state of their homes and belongings. Most quickly bolted inside houses to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. At the head of the group, two burly stallions flanked a much more diminutive mare who hobbled towards the three friends on only three legs. Naoko didn’t see them immediately. Her attention was focused on assessing her village. But it didn’t take her long to spot the trio in the middle of the road. At the sight of her, Rainbow broke in a broad grin. “There we go,” she said. “See? Help. It’s just smooth sailing from here.” Twilight glanced at her, then back to Naoko. She was a rather scary-looking mare, Twilight admitted, but honestly, after what she’d gone through, she was one of the friendliest faces she’d seen all day. So, for a moment, Twilight couldn’t help but share Rainbow’s optimism. Naoko paused as she looked the three of them over with a sharp, critical eye. Then, with a scowl, she reluctantly stepped to one side, out of the way of another. Rainbow’s smile vanished the moment she laid eyes on the armor-clad stallion. Twilight felt a real pang of unease at the sight of the platoon of armed soldiers marching in formation behind him. All three watched with mounting trepidation as Tezuka came to a stop in front of them, and in that moment, all three felt very small indeed.