A King Unmatched

by Mister Friendly

6: Symptoms of Calamity

Waking up with a body full of aches was not entirely unusual for Rainbow. Neither was rousing from a dreamless unconsciousness without any memory of falling asleep.

Finding herself in a strange bed? With the amount of times she’d been taken to the hospital over the years, it probably wasn’t as initially alarming to her as it would be for other ponies.

But as her senses slowly booted up, some things about her surroundings didn’t quick click with what she expected.

The biggest was the rock and sway of the bed underneath her. She was fairly certain that wasn’t her moving around. But if it wasn’t her, what else could it be?

Second, the sounds weren’t right. Hospitals didn’t creak and pop like an old house in a windstorm. The smells weren’t right, either; a hospital had a clean, sanitized odor, like bleach and chemicals. Wherever she was, it reeked of sea salt, some kind of scented smoke like incense, and a whole host of other aromas she simply couldn’t identify individually, all making a medley of scents that pointed to one thing; Either the Ponyville clinic was trying some very unorthodox treatment plans, or she wasn’t actually in the Ponyville clinic.

Either way, she found that mildly distressing. Not seriously, of course; Rainbow was too cool to panic so easily. She just… had to get her bearings, that’s all.

Slowly, she cracked open one eye and stealthily swept it around her surroundings. For stealth reasons, of course; didn’t want to spook anypony with any unexpected bouts of awesome. Right away, she discovered two things; One, that there was nopony around to spook anyway, and two, unless the clinic had undergone some major renovations, she was most certainly not in a hospital.

She found herself in a small room made of wood – the walls were wood, the floor was wood beneath a rug, the roof was wood, and pretty much every fixture that wasn’t bolts and screws was, unsurprisingly, made out of wood. The last time she’d checked, hospitals didn’t go for the whole cabin-in-the-woods aesthetic.

Overhead, a small, low-burning lamp casting swaying shadows as it swung from side to side overhead. Each wall was lined with simple wooden shelves piled high with books, scrolls, and all manner of odds and ends beyond Rainbow’s understanding, as well as a cobweb or two.

There was a hammock in one corner, but Rainbow found herself lying in a lumpy bed, covered up with a scratchy blanket; most certainly not standard issue hospital fineries.

All of these things equated to one great big conclusion; Rainbow had no idea where she was. But awesome ponies didn’t give in to panic! No sir!

… A little panic didn’t count. She only sat bolt upright so fast because she was fast! Why else would she do that?

Having accomplished that, and without meeting any sort of opposition, Rainbow continued looking around, fighting down her nerves all the while. “Okay… okay, Rainbow, be cool… be cool…,” she murmured to herself. “You got this. You’re just… um… lost in some stranger’s place. Big whoop!”

She continued looking around, craning her neck round and round as she took in her surroundings. As she did so, she started to become keenly aware of something tight around her right ear. Come to think of it, everything on the right side of her sure seemed quieter than her left, regardless of which way she turned.

Rainbow reached up, confused. Her hoof came into contact with some sort of cloth fabric that had been wound tightly around her ear and – as she moved her hoof further down – much of the side of her head.

Well, that at least explained why she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten here. But it still didn’t clear up where she was in the first place.

Rain… thunder… crashing waves… a moving mountain covered in serrated spines…

Every muscle tensed in her body as she suddenly remembered at least key details from before. A giant monster, headed towards… Everypony! Have to warn…!

“Are you sure?”

Rainbow jolted at the unexpected voice. Immediately she dove for cover behind the most solid cover she could find; the bed. All in all, it wasn’t her most graceful maneuver.

“I am sure,” responded another voice. It was slightly muffled, Rainbow realized, just like the first one was. By the sounds of it, they weren’t even in the same room as her.

W-which was good. She didn’t want to have to beat them to a pulp before she got answers, after all!

Peeking up over the edge of the bed, she managed to locate the source of that voice; a section of wall made of thin paper covered with a wooden lattice. Strangely, one part of the screen was pried away from where it met the other wall, leaving a thin gap filled with flickering light from the adjacent room. Was it a sliding door? It must’ve been…

“There has not been a pegasus in Neighpon for hundreds of years,” continued the second speaker. “She cannot be here by coincidence, not after everything that is happening.”

Something was strange about his voice, Rainbow realized. It didn’t sound quite like the sailors or Tezuka had, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on why…

“Do you think… Do you think there will be others?” asked the other – a mare. Again, something about her voice was off, noticeably so. “Do you think Celestia herself…?”

That was when Rainbow realized it. Their voices were accented, heavily so. But, the ponies aboard the Amaterasu… when they spoke, Twilight’s spell had them sounding like normal Equestrian ponies. A little monotone, yes, like they were a bunch of bad actors doing a movie scene, but all in all it had been passable.

But these ponies were speaking nothing like them. Why? Was Twilight’s spell starting to fade? That could be a problem…

“I do not think so,” responded the second pony; a stallion by the sounds of him. “But… somepony from the outside has breached the fog.”

Rainbow heard the rustling of papers in the other room. “This cannot be a coincidence,” the stallion went on. “She must be here because of Gojira.”

A pregnant pause followed, until the mare in the other room burst out slightly, “They were sent here to combat Gojira?” She sounded incredulous as well as astonished, like she simply couldn’t wrap her head around a completely ludicrous idea.

But the stallion remained calm and collected. “Only an Imperial sorcerer could open the way for anypony from the outside world. The only reason Equestrians would be here is if the Emperor called them here. I can think of no other reason for him to turn to Equestria for aid.”

“Would he really be that desperate?” asked the mare.

The stallion was silent for a very long time. Only the creak of wood and the slosh of waves filled the silence.

“… Sensei?”

Rainbow cocked her head. Okay, what had that been? Twilight’s spell really must be wearing off, which was going to make talking her way out of here a very complicated ordeal.

But then she heard a responding rustle from the other room, then a grunt. “We should stay focused on our mission, Emiko,” said the stallion, his tone firm, authoritative. “The sooner we solve the reason for Gojira’s appearance, the better. And the more we distance ourselves from Emperor Kirin’s plotting, the more productive we can be.”

“R-right,” mumbled the one named Emiko. “What will our next move be?”

Another pause as the stallion pondered. “The storm has faded. If our predictions are correct, Gojira will be resting, gathering His strength. In the meantime, we should wait for our guest to recover. She might be able to tell us more.”

Rainbow bit her lip, uncertainty warring inside of her. On the one hoof, these were strangers in a strange land. So far her experiences with Neighponese being anything other than grumpy jerks was pretty much nil. The chance of these two being cooperative with her at all was, therefore, pretty low.

On the other hoof, they were talking about that creature; Godzilla, or whatever. And they seemed to know some things about it. While she wanted nothing more than to get out of there and find her friends, she couldn’t help but see an opportunity when it presented itself. Twilight would undoubtedly be chomping at the bit to talk to these two.

But her friends were in danger right now. There was no telling how long she’d been out, but judging by the matured aching in her muscles, it had been a few hours at least. A few hours! Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, AJ; they all could be in the fight of their lives right now! They needed to know what they were dealing with, or at the very least they needed her help.

But what did she know? Well, aside from its size, strength and speed. That was good enough for her. Still… No; she could think herself in a circle for hours longer, or she could actually do something about it!

Rainbow jolted upright as fast as she could – and immediately felt the room spin. Too late she remembered she had just been in a pretty bad crash.

By the time the room stopped twirling like a top, she found herself on her side, head flopped against the hard wooden floor – as the screen on the far side of the room swished open like a sliding door.

A pink mare with the softest peach mane Rainbow had ever seen stood in the doorway, her eyes first going to the empty bed, then to the rainbow-maned head sticking out from behind the back corner.

The next thing she knew, she was being helped upright into a sitting position while her brain continued to work to find traction after the hard impact on the equally unyielding floor.

“Are you okay?” the mare asked. Her voice clicked in Rainbow’s head as it rebooted. This was the one that had been called Emiko.

“N-never been better,” Rainbow bluffed, though her statement was somewhat ruined by her constant wobbling.

Emiko looked her up and down with clear worry. She hoped she wasn’t being literal. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah… happens all the time… It takes a lot more than one measly little crash to keep me down.”

Emiko looked hardly convinced.

As she helped Rainbow back onto the bed, Rainbow couldn’t help but look her over. She was young, beautiful even, with slender features and a demur face like a porcelain doll. The strangest thing about her to Rainbow was her narrow, almond-shaped eyes. The Neighponese sailors looked more like they’d had some kind of allergic reaction to something that was swelling their eyes shut, or like they were perpetually staring into the sun, but this mare made it look elegant.

She was wearing a long dress of some sort that was held together at the waist by an unusually wide sash of some kind that had been tied in the back in a large bow. Rarity would have had a fit over it, no doubt about it.

“You hit your head very hard earlier,” Emiko was insisting. “Please do not overexert yourself.”

With the mare so close to Rainbow, something in Emiko’s voice struck her as very odd again. There was something in her tone of voice that was… natural. That was when it clicked for her.

“Wait, wait…,” Rainbow mumbled, focusing on the foreign mare who was looking at her anxiously. “Are you, uh… speaking Equestrian right now?”

Emiko hesitated, looking unsure about how to answer – or if she even should, considering her guest’s condition. But then, after a few moments of pondering, she nodded. “Yes, I am. Please forgive me if my speech is not perfect; nopony in Neighpon has spoken Equestrian as a first language for many, many lifetimes. But it is useful for… a few reasons.”

Rainbow was still wrapping her head around the fact that she was actually speaking to a Neighponese without some magical translator bridging the gap between them.

“You must rest,” Emiko insisted, pushing her down onto the bed out of the blue and snapping her out of it. “You are not well.”

But Rainbow resisted, pushing back. “No time. I can’t just lie around,” she grunted, trying to sit up. “There’s… there’s something big out there. I need to find my friends before…”

“Your friends are safe for the moment,” Emiko pressed, her voice soothing as a warm blanket. “Please, you will only bring them worry in your current condition.”

But Rainbow would not be placated. She pushed back, finally managing to maintain a sitting position at least. “I can’t. The longer they’re out there without knowing what they’re up against, the more likely they’re gonna run into it.”

Emiko, at least, knew a futile endeavor when she saw one. She stopped trying to force Rainbow to lie down, but she didn’t back away. “Miss pegasus –”

“Rainbow Dash.”

Emiko blinked. “Excuse me?”

“The name’s Rainbow Dash,” she said, rubbing one aching shoulder. It wasn’t exactly the best introduction she’d ever done, but Emiko had been right about one thing; she wasn’t in any condition to be pulling off a loop-de-loop, let alone half of her introductory pageantry. So, she had no choice but to give her the short and lame edition. “Fastest flier in Equestria, generally awesome pony, and go-to flank-kicker when the manure hits the fan. And, giant monster hunter now.”

Emiko blinked, then her eyes widened. “Monster… don’t tell me you’re here to fight Gojira?” The level of astonishment in her voice was almost insulting, but Rainbow ignored it.

“Why else would I be here?” Rainbow grumbled. “It’s not exactly easy getting in, you know.”

She was distracted by the sound of a rattling. Both mares looked up as the screen door was pushed open a little wider to admit an older stallion.

If Rainbow had to guess, he was in his late fifties just by looking at him. Wrinkles were forming all across his brown face that his fur couldn’t hide, mainly around his eyes. His mane was thin and balding; most of it had turned white and brittle, but some traces of its original black coloration could still be seen, mainly behind his unicorn horn.

One look, and she could tell he was a serious sort. His mouth was thin and his brow seemed perpetually furrowed into a scowl. There were wrinkles on his face, but little to none were actually laugh lines. And currently, he was giving her a very intense look.

“Pardon my intrusion,” the stallion said. Of the two, his voice was the least accented, but it was still strong in every word he spoke. “You said you are here to battle Gojira?”

“That’s the idea,” Rainbow said back.

“And how many are with you?” he inquired, stepping forward quickly. “Is your Celestia with you? Do you have an… an army of some kind?”

“Er,” Rainbow mumbled, hesitating under the assault of questions. “Uh… we don’t exactly have… any… of those things… But we do have a princess with us. And hey, the six of us working together totally counts as an army.”

That, clearly had not been the answer the stallion was hoping to hear. His frown deepened with worry and uncertainty. It was to the point that Rainbow felt like she was somehow coming up subpar. And she didn’t do subpar.

“Hey, our princess is pretty darn awesome, too, you know,” she said huffily. “Twilight Sparkle is about the eggheadiest egghead there is!”

The stallion blinked, slowly. For a moment, the image of a tall, winged unicorn much like the depictions of Celestia flashed through his mind, only one whose head was covered in yolk and egg whites. Clearly, he was missing something, so he waited quietly for the strange foreign pony to go on.

“There isn’t a problem out there Twilight can’t solve,” Rainbow went on without noticing. “Trust me; we’ve been through way worse things than this, and she’s always pulled through.”

Emiko glanced towards the stallion, a blank look on her face. Was there a level worse than Neighpon’s crisis? She couldn’t even wrap her head around the idea. The best she could do was suspect the boastful mare was not being entirely factual at the moment, or else she had no idea what kind of a situation she’d stumbled into.

The stallion’s scowl turned thoughtful, a hoof coming up to stroke his small goatee. “I see… I am not familiar with this Twilight Sparkle,” he said. “But, if Celestia is not really here in Neighpon, perhaps some good will come of it.”

Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, so I hear. Anyway, I really need to find Twilight and the rest of my friends. Thanks for patching me up and all, but I really need to get going.”

Emiko suddenly jolted, looking horrified. “You can’t leave! What will happen if you get dizzy and fall into the ocean?”

Before Rainbow could object, Emiko was all over her again, pushing her forcefully down onto the bed. “Rest, rest! You will only hurt yourself out there! Then what good will you have done?”

“I can’t just—!”

“Rest!”

“But—!”

“I understand your haste, Rainbow Dash-san,” the stallion interrupted, calm despite the wrestling match taking place on the other side of the room. “But I believe we can learn a great deal from one another if we cooperate. We will find your friends once you have recovered; I give my word.”

Rainbow tried to speak several different times, but everything she could have said kept falling apart. At last, with a grumpy grumble, she fell back against the pillows on the bed, much to Emiko’s relief.

“And what if Godzilla finds them before that?” she challenged. “What then?”

But the duo was unmoved, much to her annoyance. “Gojira will not be making any moves for a while,” he said with absolute certainty.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, thoroughly unconvinced. “Yeah? What makes you say that, huh?”

“The storm,” Emiko responded simply.

Now Rainbow was looking at her, her expression turning slightly baffled. “What about it?”

“So far,” Emiko explained, “Gojira has only ever appeared during storms.”

“Uh, why?” Rainbow asked, baffled.

Her response from Emiko was a helpless shake of the head. “We… do not know. There’s so much about Him that we do not understand… But there are some things that we have figured out.”

“Since the storm has faded,” The stallion added in, “it is unlikely that He will make any appearances around here. Your friends are safe for the time being.”

Rainbow sized up Emiko, then glanced curiously back and forth between her and her male companion.

“You guys sure do know a lot about him,” Rainbow noted, a faint tone of suspicion in her voice, “Just who are you guys?”

He regarded her for a moment, correcting a small pair of spectacles Rainbow hadn’t even noticed before. “My apologies. We do not usually receive visitors. My name is Serizawa. This is my assistant, Emiko.”

The mare responsible for forcing Rainbow back into a lying position gave a polite bow and a smile. “I am pleased to meet you, Rainbow Dash-san of Equestria.”

Rainbow continued to look the strange pony up and down speculatively. “Er… likewise,” she said, trying to be polite at least. Then, she glanced back towards the stallion. “Okay, Serizawa… Why were you in that storm? And how do you know so much about this thing?”

Serizawa took off his glasses and wiped them on his shoulder – to no great effect. “Emiko and I have been studying the great daikaiju of Neighpon for many years,” he explained. “In particular, the one known as Gojira has been the focus of our attention for a very long time.”

Rainbow blinked, confused. “Wait… I thought Godzilla had only been in Neighpon for a few weeks, tops.”

Emiko glanced over her shoulder at Serizawa, who’s eyes glimmered darkly in the light of the swaying lamp overhead. “As do many others,” he said, he voice almost sad for unknown reasons.

Rainbow’s brow furrowed at that. “Uh… what?”

Emiko exchanged a silent look with Serizawa, who only nodded slowly. “Come with me,” he said. “There is something I must show you.”

~~***~~

Through the darkness of night, a single lamp moved up a steep mountain trail. It was the only given light for a small group of ponies – two stallions, five mares and one baby dragon. Most of the world around them was little more than hectic dark profiles superimposed over the light of distant fires, but whatever the lantern’s orange glow did touch revealed a land that had only recently been freed of torrential rain.

Unfamiliar plants and narrow fronds were still dripping and glistened with moisture. The trail was slick with mud, forcing the group to go at a slow, even pace as the path only grew steeper.

Amid the group, Twilight had a vague sense of the direction they were going. It seemed like they had followed the valley up towards the rise between the mountains dominating Odo Island’s interior. Now, if she had guessed correctly, they were following a ridge up one of the towering pillars of stone that stood like monoliths on either side of the island.

It was only a minor distraction, one that she kept resorting to. Because whenever she wasn’t pondering over ultimately asinine things, her mind would immediately turn towards the things she’d witnessed. The trail of destruction that could be measured in hundreds of yards across, not length-wise… a massive footprint big enough to serve as a public swimming pool for Canterlot…

And Ogata was not helping. He seemed unable to help himself, like if he remained quiet and didn’t share what he knew, the knowledge would burn him up from the inside out.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he kept muttered, shaking his head. “One minute there was nothing but rain… the next, it was all over us. It just walked through us like we weren’t even there…”

Tezuka, at the very least, was trying to find some way to make the most of Ogata’s nervous babbling.

“Can you think of any reason why He would attack when He did?” he asked critically.

Ogata shook his head from the front of the line. “None, sir. We’d turned off all lights, nopony was using magic… I got the feeling it was just as surprised to see us as we were to see it.”

“Was there any strange activity before that?” Tezuka asked without missing a step.

Again, Ogata shook his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary. But it was raining very hard; we could barely see anything to begin with.”

Tezuka fell silent after that, thinking. The procession continued on in silence. Twilight kept her eyes on the backs of Rarity’s galoshes as she walked ahead of her, but she wasn’t really seeing them.

Fluttershy timidly crept along beside her, her head on a swivel as she regarded every shadow, every trembling leaf and frond, as if expecting something to lunge out and attack her.

Applejack brought up the rear, but her eyes kept glancing off to one side – towards the distant glow of the burning village, and in the general direction of the ocean far below.

Even Pinkie was subdued; her normally happy bounce was more of a halfhearted hop now.

Tezuka walked only a few steps behind Ogata, as unreadable as ever. But something told Twilight that his stony façade wasn’t entirely genuine anymore.

“Wait,” Ogata spoke up abruptly, catching all of their attention. “There was something. Just before the attack, Officer Nakajima’s horn started glowing strangely.”

Twilight’s eyes flicked up at the same time as Tezuka looked around. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Ogata floundered for a moment, trying to think of something to say. “Well… it was flickering like a candle. It was very strange.”

Rarity suddenly jolted, a slight gasp slipping past her lips. “Oh! I had something of the sort happen to me earlier, as well.”

And just like that, all eyes were on her.

“Really?” Twilight questioned, suddenly very intrigued. “When? Where? What did it feel like?”

Rarity had to lean back away from Twilight’s intense gaze. “W-well… To be honest, it didn’t feel like anything out of the ordinary to me. It happened shortly after you went to lay down, back on the boat. I do apologize; it just slipped my mind.”

Now it was Tezuka’s turn to sudden be in her face, which alarmed her far more. “Did you see anything? Was there any sign of Gojira? Any at all?”

“N-no, none,” Rarity replied, flustered now. “Do you really think I would have kept something like that to myself? It passed just as quickly as it came, and I didn’t see or feel anything that could have caused it. So I would very much appreciate it if you would stop treating me like a suspect.”

Tezuka remained unconvinced. “He must have been nearby…”

The chill that ran through the group was almost palpable. For Rarity, it didn’t seem to sink in that she’d come that close to something so terrible and never once noticed a thing.

But Twilight was frowning, rubbing her chin. A flickering horn… no discernable irregularity… Where had she heard that before…? A book somewhere, yes… Magical Maladies…

She was distracted away from remembering by an unexpected sound in the distance.

Something rumbled, deep and grumpy, across the whole breadth of the sky. The group paused, heads snapping around in the same direction.

For a few moments, all they saw was a moonlit island, columns of smoke still rising from the destroyed village… and there, far off towards the horizon, a flash of blinding white light. Lightning.

“More rain,” Ogata sighed. “As if our luck wasn’t rotten enough…”

But as the group started to move again, slightly disheartened at the prospect of more bad weather, Twilight remained in place.

The gears of her brain were working. Something had clicked; somewhere in her mind, a hunch was taking shape.

Spontaneous and violent weather formations… strange horn phenomena… Urgh, I know this… What was it…?

A memory floated to the surface, taking shape before her mind’s eye.

She and Princess Celestia had been comfortably arranged in a nest of cushions beside a crackling fire, like so many of their lessons that had turned towards more… conceptual subjects. She’d been telling Twilight something… Something she knew was important…

… It connects us all, even though we never see it, and rarely feel it. But when we do feel it, havoc is sure to follow…

But what was it!?

“Twilight? Somethin’ botherin’ ya?”

She jumped and glanced over her shoulder. Applejack was waiting patiently for her to continue up the trail while the rest of their group had already trudged several yards ahead.

She was looking directly at Twilight, and judging by the look on her face, she’d picked up on the knowledgeable mare’s pensiveness.

Twilight hesitated, glancing back towards the distant storm as it continued to flash and flicker with strident arcs of lightning. “I… I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I just… I’m getting the feeling that there’s something very wrong going on here that we don’t know about.”

Applejack arched an eyebrow, waiting for further explanations. But Twilight didn’t have any to give – not really. Anything she could have said would have been theoretical, baseless. Without further proof, any explanation she could conjure up would be no more authentic than a rumor. And if Twilight’s hunch was correct, this was no rumor she’d want to start arbitrarily…

“Come on,” Twilight said, nodding her head in the direction of their friends. “If I think of something, I’ll let you know.”

Applejack continued to look at her with an uncertain frown, but she relented. She knew fairly well by now how her cantankerous friend worked. Hunches and gut feelings just weren’t good enough for her most of the time, even if half the time her suspicions proved right.

“Well alright,” she said. “If you say so, Twi’.”

Twilight flashed a smile, but as she turned to continue up the path, she shot the building storm on the horizon one more worried look.

Please don’t be what I think it is…

~~***~~

Onwards the group trekked, progressing further and further up the sloping ridgeline towards the summit of the grander of the two mountains on Odo Island.

Twilight was still pondering over the strange events that had been brought to her attention, when she suddenly became aware of passing under a bright orange light. As it was far brighter than the lantern Tezuka was holding, she couldn’t help but pause and look up. That was when she discovered the high, roughly hewn stone steps shining with rain water right in front of her.

Twilight looked up higher, and couldn’t help but feel her eyes widen in awe.

She was standing underneath a tall, square archway made of bright crimson wood. Two poles held up a gently curving center piece, with its edges swooping over the posts that held it up. Hanging from its underside was a simple ovular lantern bearing some kind of calligraphy; one that Twilight felt she knew, but could not place off the top of her head. If only she’d thought to bring one of her reference books…

To her surprise, however, the arch was not the only one. Every so often, another stood tall and regal over the winding staircase as it went up… up… up towards a towering shape looming atop the mountain’s summit; a tower that looked like it was lined with serrated edges against the night sky.

Windows gave off a warm, inviting glow, And even from there, Twilight just thought she could hear activity of some kind. The flickering light of lanterns lit up the lowest levels of the tower, revealing sweeping eaves stacked one on top of the other, and walls lined with gold.

This time, Twilight immediately recognized it from her cramming sessions on the flight into Neighpon. A temple; a pagoda.

The inquisitive filly in her reared its curious head at the sight. Now she was only too eager to clamber up the many, many steep steps. She was even immune to Rarity’s whining over her aching hooves.

The closer they got, the louder the volume of activity became, until they’d rounded the final curve of the stairs and found the last archway towering over them.

Right on the landing stood two guards outfitted much the same way as Ogata, though in much better condition; they each wore cuirasses covered in scaled plates, making them look like they were half fish. Each wore a half helmet and carried a long spear topped by three blades instead of one, making a sort of upside-down T on the ends of the spear’s shafts.

The moment they spotted the group approaching, the duo stiffened and reflexively lowered their spears until they saw the pair leading the approaching group. They didn’t relax easily, however.

“Oi, Ogata,” one of them shot warily. “Who’re these ponies? More survivors?”

“No,” Ogata responded breathlessly. Twilight couldn’t help but notice the side of his face was tense, as if he was trying to hide a pained expression. In his condition, it was miracle he’d made it all the way up the mountain at all. “They just arrived by boat. They’re from the ship we were told to expect.”

Both of the guards looked at each other in surprise. It seemed to click in their heads then, and immediately they withdrew their spears. “Our apologies, sir,” one of the guards said to Tezuka, adding a respectful bow. “We were told to expect you.”

Tezuka looked at each in turn. “Where is your commanding officer? I wish to speak to him.”

Right away, one of the guards stepped to one side, motioning further along. “Please, this way,” he said.

Tezuka glanced towards the ponies behind them, motioning with his head to follow.

As they passed, Twilight couldn’t help but notice the other of the two guards staring at them as they stepped around him. Not normal staring, either; gawking, like he’d never, ever seen anything like them before.

Twilight had endured similar looks immediately after her coronation. But these were… different. It wasn’t just awe and amazement in those eyes. There was something that looked unnervingly like suspicion.

She tried to brush it off, particularly the look she was getting, and instead rushed to catch up with Tezuka.

“Excuse me,” she said tentatively. Tezuka only turned his head towards her, but said nothing without slowing down.

“What are you think you’ll learn here?” Twilight inquired.

Tezuka glanced forward – towards a set of heavy gates set into a long, winding wall that sat in their way. “It’s not what I will learn, but what you will,” he said.

Twilight frowned at the unexpected answer as a cry went out atop the wall, and the gates began to swing open.

“Stay close to me,” Tezuka instructed. “And don’t talk to anypony – for your own good.”

Twilight was about to ask why when she heard the voices of countless ponies beyond the temple’s gates.

~~***~~

As the temple gates slowly swung open for the latest arrivals, two pairs of eyes watched intently from high, high above.

“Do you think it’s them?” one asked the other.

“It must be,” responded the other to the first.

“Then the Priestess was right.”

The other nodded slightly.

“What do you think will become of this?” asked the first, curious… and a little frightened.

Her companion looked upon the group as they passed through the outer walls with the same expression of deep-set worry. “An end, I suppose… one way or another.”

“What should we do?”

“Inform the Priestess. Her prayers have been answered.”

~~***~~

The temple grounds were packed with ponies. Whole gardens, meditation areas, and much more were swarming with weary, downtrodden souls. The yard inside the walls was plenty spacious, but it couldn’t have been designed with over two hundred refugees in mind.

Shelters had been erected from whatever the refugees had thought to bring with them, be them blankets, furniture, or even clothing for the truly desperate. In more than one place, Twilight spied a tent made of a dress or robe propped up by two sticks and held down with kitchen utensils impaled into the lawn.

Some ponies sat huddled around fires and torches, trying to keep warm. Those that couldn’t find room near the sources of heat sat or lay curled up in their refuges, quiet and motionless.

“There are so many,” Fluttershy whispered as she looked around.

"It's a sight better than only a hoof-full," Applejack mentioned dryly. Nopony argued her point.

“Have they been out here since the attack?” asked Twilight quietly.

Tezuka didn’t answer, nor did Ogata. Somehow, Twilight thought she knew the answer, anyway.

A few ponies looked up as the group passed, their eyes lingering particularly upon Twilight and, to her confusion, Fluttershy, who quailed under the attention and quickly turned away from any gaze she caught sight of.

“Where are the priests?” Twilight inquired.

This time, Ogata responded. “Inside, tending to the injured.”

As the group approached the pagoda, Twilight noticed the guards standing on all sides of it, creating a fence of bodies and wicked spears. In front of them, miserable ponies just trying to get through the night. Behind, however… nothing but closed doors and windows. None of the guards were putting so much as a hoof in the shadow of the towering pagoda, either, as if some kind of force field was keeping all of them at bay.

“Wouldn’t it be better for everypony if they could be inside, at least,” Fluttershy asked tentatively.

Ogata and Tezuka both turned to look at her like she’d just spouted nonsense, which immediately had the timid mare shying away.

Tezuka spared her one more look as they approached the front steps to the temple. With a clang, spears crossed in front of them to bar their path, making Twilight and her friends jump in alarm.

“State your business,” one of the gruff guards growled. “If you have injured, you will have to wait while the priestesses—”

“Enough,” Tezuka snapped. The irritation in his voice made it even sharper than usual; even the detached guards flinched at the sound of it and take him in properly. “Where is the one in charge? I must speak with him.”

The guards exchanged looks. On either side, other soldiers were glancing curiously in their direction, whispering amongst themselves. Even the refugees were paying curious attention to the group now.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the guard said back, “but Officer Nakajima is convening with the head priestess right now.”

“Then go get him,” Tezuka growled through barely parted lips.

Even the burly guard looked uneasy now. “I’m sorry,” he repeated, “but nopony is allowed onto temple grounds unless invited by –”

The rattle of the temple’s front doors silenced him instantly.

Every pair of eyes near and far looked up, up the elegant stairs, towards the grand edifice of the temple’s front, as two heavy panels of engraved wood slid open.

And standing in the doorway were two tiny fillies dressed in exquisite silk dresses, looking so disproportionately small next to the wide entryway.

They couldn’t have been older than eight each, perhaps younger, and yet there was something about the way they carried themselves that unnerved Twilight. It was like they were far wiser than anypony their age – or even twice their age – should be. They were so small, and yet the expressions they wore were unlike anything Twilight had ever seen in somepony as young as them.

After the doors had been pulled fully apart, both fillies bowed gracefully in unison. “Please, come inside,” they both said in perfect harmony. “The Priestess has been expecting you all.”

Everypony in the group exchanged bewildered looks, taken aback. The only one who didn’t was Tezuka, who instead gave the two strange fillies a weary look. “Of course,” he muttered.

The two guards blocking their way uncrossed their spears, and the group slowly shambled up the stairs and through the awaiting entrance.

~~***~~

The inside of the Odo Island temple was a sight Twilight would not forget soon.

The pagoda was almost entirely hollowed out, turning the interior into one gigantic open space with many, many balconies lining the walls and doors off-shooting into more private sectors. An entire tower from Canterlot Castle could have easily fit inside the cavernous space, and there still would have been room to spare.

As Twilight looked around, she couldn’t help but notice several figures drifting around the higher levels; ponies in long white robes trimmed in red. They were going from room to room, bustling about hurriedly with tubs of water, rolls of cloth, and many other things.

Compared to the dreary night outside, the inside of the temple was well lit with warm, inviting light. Elaborate paintings and carvings lined the walls, turning paper screens into tapestries of swooping birds and cascading water, and covering support columns with etchings of swirling winds.

And everywhere Twilight looked – left and right, high and low – she found pinwheels.

They hung from overhead, sat affixed to railings, protruded from the sides of pillars and columns like needles in a pin cushion, and sat clustered in little pots scattered all around like flowerpots filled with little multicolored paper flowers.

As Twilight moved to pass one jutting from a pillar, she couldn’t help but notice that they were all made of two layers. The front only had four points, while the back had twice that.

They had to symbolize something, but Twilight found herself at a total loss. That is, until they approached the center of the pagoda.

There, right in the middle of the temple, was a primly manicured garden of tiny bushes, two winding trees… and a massive ovular stone made of granite easily the size of a house. Engraved across its front was a cross-shaped star surrounded by a circular perimeter radiating a further eight more points, like a point of light superimposed over the sun.

Scattered all about the stone’s base were candles, incense sticks in bowls, copious amounts of flowers and even more of those strange pinwheels.

It was here that the group found a single pony; a weathered and beaten stallion, his head bowed solemnly before the monolithic stone, hooves together.

The twins led the group up to him, and their approach drew his attention. He looked up, eyes going first from the twins to Tezuka, quickly over the group, and then coming to a rest on Ogata.

“Private Ogata,” the stallion said, composing himself as he stood up. “Who are these ponies?”

While Ogata explained, the group looked around anxiously. There was so much space, so much to see. Which, of course, begged the question; why weren’t the refugees allowed inside?

Twilight idly inspected the rune carved into the stone, cocking her head slightly in fascination. It must have some sort of significance, but its meaning totally escaped her. Spike sat on her back, curiously eying the many pinwheels that blanketed the temple like wildflowers.

Rarity was keeping herself under control, but her eyes were racking over the twin fillies’ dresses with a critical, appraising look and utter fascination. Social convention bid her keep quiet, but it was everything she could do not to hound the two with questions.

Pinkie kept glancing back at the front doors, biting her lip. So many unhappy faces outside, just sitting around glumly…

Applejack was the least enthralled of the group. She stared about, frowning deeply at all the open, unused space that could be put to use by the less fortunate outside. Surely these folks didn’t intend to keep them outside when it started to rain again. Such callousness was almost unfathomable to her.

Fluttershy brought up the rear of the group, too nervous to be anywhere near that grim stallion at the head of the pack. She looked around curiously; her curiosity centered the most on the foliage growing in the center of the temple.

Most of the plants growing in the middle of the temple were unfamiliar to her, and those that were recognizable were only barely so. The bushes were so small and so trimmed back, like tiny little trees. The trees were long and winding, as if they were trying to be vines. But vines didn’t have such huge bushels of long, slender fronds.

But as she looked around, something caught her attention of the corner of her eye, causing her to turn around.

“Oh! Why hello there, little guy…”

~~***~~

“I see,” grunted the veteran stallion, Nakajima, frowning deeply to himself. “So, these are the ones Celestia sent in her stead?”

"It would seem that way, sir," Ogata reported without inflection.

"Hmm," was the only response he got from the old veteran, who remained quiet for the longest time. Then, abruptly, he glanced up in Ogata's direction, then jerked his head. "You've done well, Private Ogata. Go see the priestesses; they'll get you patched up."

Ogata frowned, forcing himself to straighten up. "I can still..."

"That," cut across hi superior sharply, "was an order. Go."

Ogata gave his superior a conflicted look. He glanced towards Tezuka, who merely watch him without input to offer. Then, with a sigh, he gave a polite bow. "I'll take my leave, then," he muttered, and then he shambled away, heading towards a distant set of stairs.

Nakajima watched him go, as did Tezuka. "He's strong-willed," Tezuka noted approvingly.

Nakajima shot him a look. "He's fresh," he said back. "They all are. There isn't a seasoned hoof to be had in these parts. It's no wonder Gojira trampled us."

Then he scoffed, shooting a stealthy eye over one shoulder towards the group of five brightly colored mares that were politely giving them some space. "But at least I'm not foalsitting a bunch of children."

Tezuka didn’t say anything in response to that. “Sir,” he said, “I was under the impression that you were meeting with the head priestess.”

Nakajima scoffed, glancing towards the massive sacred stone. “Yes, I would be. If she was around.”

Tezuka paused at that. “What?”

Nakajima shook his head, frowning irritably. “The head priestess has kept me waiting for hours. The ponies here won’t evacuate the island unless I have her blessing, but I can’t get her support if she refuses to convene with me on the matter. Superstitious bunch, the lot of them...”

Tezuka glanced up towards the ceiling far, far overhead, frowning to himself. “Have you spoken to her at all?” he asked.

“Not since we led the first bunch of refugees here,” Nakajima replied sourly. “After that, she disappeared. She’s probably up on her tower, conversing with the gods or some such nonsense.”

Tezuka restrained a sigh. “Then it seems our hooves are tied for the moment.”

Nakajima glanced at him, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “What business does the Empire have with this lot, anyway?” he asked, gesturing around at the pagoda.

He only got a cool look in response. “That is private,” he responded. “As soon as we’re finished here, I’m to escort these mares to Janjira to meet with the Emperor.”

Nakajima raised an eyebrow, but did not inquire further. He’d been in the Imperial Army long enough to know his place. Still, he couldn’t help but think how out of the way someplace like Odo Island was for him.

But whatever reasoning Tezuka had, he wasn’t in the mood to share it. Hidden behind his snarling helmet, only his eyes could have given anything away, and they were cold and stony.

“How is the rest of the country fairing?” Tezuka asked, though he knew he wouldn't like what he heard.

Sure enough, Nakajima sighed, turning back towards the sacred stone. “Badly. Communications are falling apart. Odo was first hit days ago, but you’re the first to respond to our distress signal. I haven’t heard anything from the inner islands for days now… Ogasawara went silent just after we were told to expect you. So, four days ago. We’re stretched thin and we’re getting thinner by the day.”

Tezuka frowned. Ogasawara… that wasn’t too far away. Only a few hours by ferry.

“Anything from the old channels?” Tezuka asked, but Nakajima was shaking his head, having anticipated that question ahead of time.

“No, nothing. No sorcerer in their right mind would bother coming out this close to the border, and they’re the only ones who can use them.”

He looked around then, holding Tezuka’s gaze. “Tell me honestly. Do you believe those children can actually do something about this creature?”

Tezuka glanced up towards the prayer stone, frowning at it minutely. “I believe they will try. There is sincerity in their hearts, but… we will see if they have more to offer.”

Nakajima gave Tezuka a sour look, but ultimately looked away. “You have more faith in them than I do. A bunch of fillies, of all things… Sunstealer’s sense of humor is as cruel as the stories say.”

Tezuka didn’t feel like telling him about the city he’d seen in his brief time in Equestria; the spires of glass and gold, paved streets as far as the eye could see… wealth and prosperity so hearty it made him sick to his stomach. No matter how cunning and sly Celestia was, there was no doubt that she was very successful in what she did. Whatever ploy the trickster was engaging in, he already feared that he was too late to stop it…

~~***~~

Twilight sat a few yards from the conversing soldiers, politely giving them their space. The bench she’d found was too inviting for her sore hooves to pass up, anyway.

By her side, Spike was idly kicking his feet over the edge of the bench, taking in the sights as he waited patiently.

She, too, was casting her eyes about, drinking in the sights of the temple, committing as much of it to memory as she could. Oh, the scholars back in Canterlot were going to throw a fit over all this, for sure…

“Excuse me.”

Twilight jumped and snapped her head around. To her surprise, she found those strange fillies sitting on either side of her like they’d been there all along.

Even the way they sat was unusually proper, so totally unlike what she’d expect from children their age. They seemed so very mature, like little miniature adults with worldly knowledge to spare.

They were both sitting on one side of her opposite Spike, both giving her identical looks of modest curiosity with twin sets of striking golden eyes.

“Whoa, that’s creepy,” Spike intoned, peeking around Twilight at the strange duo opposite him.

“Oh, H-hello,” Twilight greeted shakily, a little unnerved by their sudden appearance. “I… don’t think I caught your names before.”

The two fillies blinked, the one after the other, they bowed. “My name is Emi,” the closest filly said.

“My name is Yumi,” the second filly responded.

“It’s nice to meet you two,” Twilight said with a smile that was only slightly forced. “My name is –”

“You can’t stay here,” both fillies interrupted in unison.

Twilight blinked, her mouth still open for a moment before she shut it again. “Uh… what?”

Emi and Yumi both exchanged cryptic looks. “The Emperor is not your ally,” Emi whispered. “If you want to find out the truth,” put in Yumi quietly, “you and your friends cannot stay with his pawns,” they both finished in unison.

Twilight glanced up, looking in Tezuka’s direction. He was still lost in conversation with the other stallion and was paying her no mind.

“What are you saying?” Twilight whispered back to the two fillies.

Their gazes were intense – too intense for ponies so small. “Something terrible has happened in Neighpon, something the Emperor is lying to everypony about.”

Both turned towards Tezuka and Nakajima, looking awfully pitying. “These ponies follow their emperor’s word without question. They are loyal, but they are also blind. They do not understand that force of arms will only incite His wrath further. But without the ability to question, they will never find a lasting solution.”

Both turned towards Twilight, and their eyes were almost too piercing to look directly at. “Gojira is here for a reason. If you want to stop Him, you and your friends have to find that reason. Confronting Him head-on will not gain you anything.”

Spike scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I kind of picked up on that last part,” he said, recalling the destruction in the village down below.

Twilight frowned at the little fillies. “What are you suggesting we do, then? There could be hundreds of reasons to explain Godzilla’s behavior, and by the sounds of it we don’t have time to go chasing down every one of them.”

Emi raised one slim white hoof and pointed it at Twilight’s midriff. “Trust what your instincts are telling you. Follow the signs.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Are… are you saying it’s…?”

The twins didn’t answer. They just looked at Twilight with the solemnness of adults, their eyes all-too knowing. “Look for the pony named Serizawa. He can help you,” they said.

“O-okay,” Twilight muttered shakily. She was still trying to process what she’d been told – or at least, what she thought she’d been told.

She glanced stealthily towards Tezuka and Nakajima, who were still oblivious to what she was up to.

“Uh, anything else we should know?” Spike asked.

“Yes,” Yumi responded. “You should go find her, too,” Emi finished.

Twilight blinked. “Uh… find who—”

“Twi’!”

Twilight jumped and spun around, just as Applejack and Rarity came sprinting up to her.

“Terribly sorry to interrupt, darling,” Rarity whispered, keeping her voice down after a glance towards the soldiers. “But, we, ah… may have a slight–”

“Fluttershy’s missin’,” Applejack hissed over Rarity, much to her chagrin. “So is Pinkie.”

If Twilight’s eyes weren’t wide before, they certainly were now.

Spike leaned in a little closer. “Yeah… definitely creepy.”

~~***~~

“Wait, come back little guy,” Fluttershy called, trotting quickly after the little flitting shape she’d spotted.

After several days stuck inside a boat without so much as a termite to talk to, seeing a potential animal friend was just too much temptation for her to bear. Even if, technically speaking, it wasn’t her usual kind of animal friend.

The object of her would-be affection flapped just a few feet in front of her on large, multi-colored wings as it bounced hither and thither through the air, always just out of reach. It wasn’t big, but it was definitely the largest of its kind Fluttershy had ever seen.

“I just want to talk,” Fluttershy insisted, trying to catch up. “I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a butterfly like you before.” Then she paused. “Or… are you a moth? Oh please slow down.”

To her immense relief, the butterfly-moth creature finally alighted on a pinwheel to rest.

Fluttershy slowly moved up closer, smiling widely. “Aren’t you just the most adorable thing,” she cooed.

The moth looked back at her with big compound eyes in what Fluttershy could only assume was an inquisitive and friendly sort of way.

“So, what’s your name?” she asked politely.

…

Fluttershy waited patiently for her fuzzy little friend to respond… but it never did. It just looked at her, toyed with its feathery antennae a little, and batted the air with its wings.

After a moment, her smile slipped slightly. “Um… maybe I didn’t speak loud enough…” She moved closer. “What is your name?”

…

Fluttershy blinked, confused. The little moth just stared right back, silent and reserved like no other creature ever had been in her presence.

“You… don’t want to tell me your name?” Fluttershy asked, a little hurt.

The moth just stared back. Then, it pivoted itself around on the pinwheel ninety degrees and took flight once more.

Fluttershy blinked, but she would not be deterred. “W-wait!”

It was flying towards a window! Soon it would be gone without ever saying hello to her, and that really would have been terrible and mean and confusing and –

Without thinking, Fluttershy unfurled her wings and darted up after the anomalous insect, heading straight for the shape of the full moon and starry sky outside.

All she had to do was sit it down and show that she wasn’t a threat. It must just be scared, and that was definitely something she could relate to. After everything Odo Island had gone through, it was no wonder.

She was only a few inches behind it as it fluttered out into the cool night air, just barely out of reach when—

“Hey! Whatcha doin’?” inquired Pinkie from right in front of her.

The squeal that burst out of Fluttershy was only matched by the loud thud of two ponies hitting the ground outside.

Fluttershy moaned, head spinning. It took her several seconds to realize that she was lying in the damp earth, the cool night breeze playing with her feathers.

Pinkie lay on top of her, eyes wheeling round and round in her head. “I… shoulda seen that coming…”

Fluttershy groaned again, trying to sit up. “P-Pinkie Pie… Are you alright…?”

Pinkie hopped up, managing it with barely a wobble. “Yup! I didn’t mean to startle you, you were just going a lot faster than I thought you were.”

“I-it’s alright,” Fluttershy mumbled, getting up as well. “I wasn’t paying attention. I was trying to –”

And then she remembered.

She gasped, whirling around so suddenly she made Pinkie jump back a step. “Oh no!” she panicked, looking around quickly. “W-where’s…?”

Five feet away, the brightly colored moth had settled down on a damp leaf, as if patiently waiting for her. It batted its wings, as if beckoning her over.

“There you are,” sighed Fluttershy, stepping closer. “Thank goodness. I thought I’d lost you.”

Pinkie blinked, cocking her head to one side. “You were following a moth?”

“Oh, not just any moth,” Fluttershy said back, “I’ve never seen one like this before. They’re usually really shy, but this one doesn’t seem to want to talk to me at all.”

“Really?” Pinkie said, cocking her head in utter confusion.

“Uh-huh,” Fluttershy said, carefully creeping up closer so as not to alarm the poor thing any further. “He’s probably just scared. This island’s been through a lot, after all.”

Pinkie continued to give the strangely silent creature a perplexed look. No animal had ever not talked to Fluttershy before. Or, maybe they had and Fluttershy hadn’t told any of them about it. Or maybe it was mute!

Meanwhile, Fluttershy approached carefully, whispering reassuring words to the little creature. “It’s okay, little guy… or girl… I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

The moth turned to look at her again, big blue eyes gleaming in the light cast by the open window behind them. Then, once again, it spread its wings and flittered into the air.

“Wait, don’t go!” Fluttershy begged, but it was already flapping down a little moonlit pathway, one that led away from the pagoda and into dense underbrush. That was when Fluttershy realized that the wall of the temple didn’t go all the way around it. Part of the grounds were left open, allowing thick foliage to encroach rather close to the pagoda’s backside. But there was a path; a thin, winding one that cut a narrow gap through the thick overgrowth.

For a moment, she balked at the sight of all that darkness. But her new friend was headed that way. She couldn’t just let him wander off into someplace dangerous! What would she do with herself if something happened to him!

Without even thinking, she gave pursuit – just as a sliding door swept open, revealing an orange earth pony to the night air.

“Wha—Hey! Where ya goin’ Fluttershy?” Applejack called, but it was too late; the yellow pegasus was already darting away into the darkness.

Pinkie glanced back at Applejack just as Rarity, Twilight and Spike all stepped out into the moonlight. “Where is she going?” Twilight asked, worried.

“Whatever it is, it must be important enough for her not to notice how dark it is,” Rarity noted.

“It’s a moth,” said Pinkie plainly.

…

“A moth,” Rarity deadpanned. “Fluttershy is racing devil-may-care through a dark forest in the middle of the night because of… a moth.”

“Sounds about right ta me,” Applejack said, jumping off the step and moving quickly towards the brush. “Well? Y’all comin’ or what?”

~~***~~

Fluttershy darted along the path, finding her way by moonlight alone. The moth was always just slightly ahead of her, occasionally sending glittering flashes of moonlight off of its wings.

“C-can you please wait?” she pleaded. “I just want to be your friend!”

Still the moth stubbornly ignored her.

Fluttershy almost tripped, momentarily distracting her away from her pursuit and towards the many jutting rocks and exposed roots underhoof. Whatever wasn’t trying to trip her up was covered in a greasy layer of mud ready to sweep her legs out from under her.

Pounding rain, the light of a torch, labored breathing in her ears as she rushed forward…

Fluttershy hesitated, confusion warring with her.

Why… why do I get the feeling I know this place…?

She looked up, peering through the dappled moonlight illuminating her path. It wound side to side like a serpent, narrow and littered with so many obstacles just waiting to twist an ankle or bring down an unwary pony.

“Hurry! We’re almost there! There’s still time before He arrives!”

I… I do know this place, She realized.

She was just starting to take a step forward… when the brush rustled behind her.

“There ya are,” Applejack barked in exasperation at the sight of her. “What in tarnation are ya doin’ all the way out here?”

Right behind her, Fluttershy saw the faces of Rarity and Twilight, all crowding together on the narrow path to get a good look at her.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight cried, looking worried, “What are you doing all the way out here? Aren’t you scared?”

“What do you…?” Fluttershy started to ask as she began to glance around. Darkness, pressing darkness on all sides with innumerable shadows dancing and twitching all around.

It took her only half a second to compress into a tiny little ball of terrified pony and fall onto the ground.

“Well that answers that question,” Applejack said dryly. “Come on, sugarcube. Let’s get on back to the temple before Tezuka has a cow.”

“W-wait a minute,” squeaked Fluttershy, taking them all by surprise. “U-um, just… just a second… please…”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow curiously. “What for?”

Fluttershy forced herself to straighten up, picking herself up off of the ground. “I… I know this is going to sound just an itsy bitsy bit crazy, but…”

“But what?” Applejack said, starting to lose her patience.

“I-I think I’ve seen this trail before,” Fluttershy squeaked out quickly. “I-in a dream or… or something.”

Applejack paused, tilting her head to one side. “… Yep, that does sound crazy.”

“Hang on…”

Applejack paused, then glanced over her shoulder. Now Twilight was frowning to herself, glancing around. “I’m kind of getting the same feeling, myself. But…”

“Shouldn’t it be raining?” Rarity inquired, scowling as well.

“And windy?” Put in Spike.

“And giant monstery?” Pinkie added.

Everypony glanced at her. Now they were all perplexed. “You guys, too?” Twilight asked, astonished.

“I… suppose so,” Rarity responded, looking a little unnerved. Then she glanced towards Applejack. “What about you?”

Applejack opened her mouth, then closed it. Opened it, then closed it.

“All of us?” Twilight said, completely astonished. “We all had the same dream?”

“Ah don’t know,” Applejack shot defensively. “Does that sort of thing happen?”

Twilight frowned, hoof on her chin. “Not without somepony making it happen…” she mumbled.

She paused for a moment, thinking. The twins… for some reason, the twins drifted back to the forefront of her mind. Them and their unnerving awareness…

“Should we see for sure?” Spike offered.

Twilight glanced back at him, paused, then nodded. “Well it… it couldn’t hurt.”

As the others mumbled uncertain agreements, Twilight carefully maneuvered around Fluttershy and took the lead, forging ahead even as their anxiety built.

~~***~~

On the group went, carefully following the light cast by Rarity’s and Twilight’s horns. They were keenly aware of every little detail around them. Every time they came across something that stood out, they immediately tried to link it to whatever shadowing bit of memory they still maintained of their shared dream.

After first, it was all dubious… until the forest abruptly stopped on one side of them. Twilight glanced in that direction instinctively, and found herself gazing out over the whole of Odo Island.

Hundreds of feet down, she could just see a rocky beach. Waves gleaming with moonlight crashed against the side of the cliff, audible even from so high up. Further along, way out in the distance, she could see the silvery band of sandy beaches ringing around the perimeter of the island, penning in lush jungle wilderness.

Fierce explosion, flashes of fire and smoke… a massive form bellowing its rage…

The beaches were empty, pristine save for the occasional bit of driftwood… and a long-forgotten boat hull half-buried in the sand like a forgotten whale carcass.

“Okay, this is startin’ ta get spooky,” Applejack murmured, gazing around.

Twilight then turned. A part of her expected to find that small shack surrounded on all sides by towering stones tied together with rope.

What she saw, however, was a totally different scene.

Only one engraved stone stood, bindings still wrapped around its base. But where the other four rocks and the small shack stood, there was only a sudden drop-off, as if a large portion of the cliff had broken away from the mountain. Or, as a dark voice in the back of Twilight’s mind suggested, the cliff had been struck by some horrific force, gouging tons of stone and earth out of the rock face.

She pushed that thought away instinctively, shuddering.

“Well, this doesn’t look right,” spoke up Pinkie, sounding confused. “Where’s the little house?”

“At least somepony noticed that,” Applejack muttered.

Fluttershy started to speak – when all of a sudden, something fluttered passed her nose.

She gasped, flinching backwards, as the moth that had started it all bobbed through the air rhythmically as if dancing, fluttering further head. Right towards a slumped figure sitting in front of the sole remaining stone.

She was clothed entirely in white, and even if she’d been adorned in anything else, the bleaching moonlight turned it all uniformly silver anyway. The pony wasn’t facing them at all, and seemed to be utterly oblivious to their presence.

One by one, the rest of Fluttershy’s friends noticed the bowed figure in front of them. “Uh… who’s that?” Applejack whispered.

Fluttershy watched as the little moth flitted over towards the pony and, to her surprise, alighted on its shoulder.

A head turned, a mumbling voice rising ever so slightly. “Hmm? Really? You don’t say…”

Then, with great effort, the pony picked herself up off of the ground before turning stiffly towards her uninvited guests.

As soon as the moonlight touched her face, Everypony knew she was ancient. Her face was covered in sagging folds of skin, making her look like a wax figure that had been sitting too close to an open flame. Her knees were nobly and her legs stiff. Of her eyes, nopony could see; the layers of wrinkles around them were so heavy that only a faint glint could be detected.

“My, my,” the old mare wheezed. “What have we here? Foreigners, I presume?”

“Um… yes,” Twilight answered, stepping forward. “We’re from—”

“Equestria,” interrupted the mare. “I know. You are here because of the threat posed by Gojira, correct?”

“Uh… yes, ma’am,” Twilight responded. “That’s correct.”

She nodded to herself, her sagging face pulling up in an even saggier smile. “Good, good, that is what I thought. Then, my efforts came at just the right time.”

“Efforts?” Twilight echoed. “What efforts?”

Then it hit her. “Wait… were you the one that made us have those dreams?”

“Indeed I am,” the mare said, sounding rather pleased with herself. “I must admit, I am pleased that you managed to figure it out for yourselves so quickly.”

“Figure what out?” Applejack spoke up. “All we know is we saw somethin’ terrifyin’.”

"Yeah!" piped up Pinkie. "Like, running through rain, gunfire, giant monster terrifying!"

For some reason, the old pony frowned at that. “That… that is all?”

“More or less,” Twilight muttered.

That only made the mare even more crestfallen. “Oh… bother. Then, I wasn’t as effective with my spell as I thought.”

Twilight looked the old mare up and down several times, confusion rising inside of her. “I beg your pardon, but… who are you? The only two ponies in that dream were, er… young.”

“Ah, I apologize,” the pony chuckled. “Where are my manners? How about this; why don’t I answer both your questions with one response?”

Twilight blinked. “Uh… okay?”

The mare smiled, and then brought her forehooves together and gave a deep bow. “My name is Imi. Head Priestess of the Odo Island Temple.”

Twilight blinked again as slowly, oh so slowly, the pieces started to fall into place in her mind.

Imi…

“…Go.” She ordered Imi, but even her own voice sounded strangled. “Run. Run Imi. Go…!”

“You’re…” she started slowly, “You’re… the same pony. From the dreams.”

Applejack stared at Imi, her eyes looking like they were about to pop out of her head. “Now just one minute here! That Imi was just a filly!”

The head priestess nodded understandingly. “Yes, yes I was. But you can see what sixty years can do to somepony.”

Now, everypony just stared.

“Sixty…” breathed Twilight.

“…Years?” finished Spike.

Imi, ancient old Imi, just smiled and nodded, as if all of that should have made perfect sense.

Which it most certainly did not.

“How does that make any sense?” Twilight burst out, waving a hoof. “Godzilla’s only been here in Neighpon for a few weeks, not sixty years!”

“But in our dreams,” Rarity pointed out, “there was a giant monster.”

“Yes!” Twilight cried, making Rarity flinch. “There was! How does that work?!”

Imi just patiently waited for her to finish her tirade, smiling all the while. Oh, how she’d waited all these long years to see how these ponies, whoever they might’ve been, would react to the truth.

“Perhaps, some clarification is needed,” Imi said. “Gojira has been attacking Neighpon for these past long weeks… but He has been with us for much, much longer. And judging by the looks on your faces,” she added bemusedly, “I can assume that your Imperial envoy has neglected to tell you that particular detail.”

Imi sat down with a grunt, slouching slightly in her old age. “I knew that, when He reappeared, the time had come to reach for outside help. But, it seems like our dear emperor had the same idea as well. So, I was forced to try to intercede on whatever scheme he was unfolding.”

Imi glanced up towards the group, taking in their myriad looks of confusion. “What I showed to you... broadcast across Equestria, really… was a memory, not a figment of your imagination. Only a hoof-full of ponies were to pick up on it – there was no way I could reach everypony at once. Only those with strong enough magic would detect it and make sense of it. The memory you saw belonged to the previous head priestess, kept safe by me when I succeeded her.”

“So then,” Applejack started, sounding amazed. “It really was… er… real.”

Imi nodded. “It was. But… it seems I have failed. The spell I used to get it to you all wasn’t enough to keep the memory intact. It seems that much of what I was trying to send was lost along the way. I am sorry…”

All five ponies exchanged looks, some uncertain, some still grappling with what they had been told.

“…Well,” Applejack started tentatively. “We’re here now. Why don’t ya tell us yourself?”

The rest of her friends voiced their agreement. After all, it seemed like such a logical choice. But Imi bowed her head, looking pained. “I’m afraid,” she said grimly, “that there is no time to do that.”

Twilight frowned, exchanging looks with her friends, then asked, “Why not?”

And in response, the sky rumbled with wrathful thunder.

Twilight looked up instinctively, and jolted in surprise. The storm cloud was fast approaching, way too fast to be natural.

“It is too late,” Imi said sadly. “He is coming.”

~~***~~

Rainbow stood on the absolute edge of the boat’s prow, leaning forward as if willing the ship to go faster.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?” she shot over her shoulder in frustration. The sails billowed, straining against their rigging. But to Rainbow, it just didn’t feel like they were going anywhere at all.

“We’re going as fast as we can,” responded Emiko from behind her. Serizawa was at her side, manning the wheel as he battled the rolling waves.

All the while she kept an eye on a series of strange dials and gauges built into a box the size of a dresser.

Even from several dozen feet away, Rainbow could hear the shrill whistle of an alarm coming from whatever machine Emiko was pouring over. She didn’t need to know what it did to know that that wasn’t a good sound.

“The disturbance is getting stronger!” Emiko reported, her voice filled with dread. “I-I’ve never seen it build this fast before! Something’s not right!”

Thunder boomed overhead. Rainbow tilted her head back, turning towards the sky – just as clouds began to overtake them, throwing the starry night sky into utter blackness.

She stared in astonishment as the storm literally formed right before her eyes, swallowing the entire sky whole as it billowed outward in every direction faster than any storm she’d ever seen before. Already she could feel the wind, and some gut sense told her that rain wasn’t far behind.

“He is done resting,” Serizawa said grimly from the helm.

Rainbow whirled around, horrorstruck. “What, already?! That can’t be right! It hasn't even been a few hours, right?”

“I’m afraid so,” Serizawa responded. “Something must have caught His attention.”

Rainbow pulled a face, tightly clenching her teeth. They had to hurry…!

Far away – much too far away for her liking – loomed an island adorned by two twin mountain spires, along with the smoke of a still-burning ruin.

Please… everypony be okay…!

~~***~~

Ponies in the temple grounds were panicking. All eyes were up to the sky as the storm rampaged across it, throwing the world into inky blackness.

They had seen this all before, days ago. They knew the omen.

Thunder boomed across the sky as fat raindrops started to plummet to earth, urged on by lashing winds.

Terrified ponies dove for their shelters, huddling with loved ones in what many believed to be their last living moments in this world.

Inside the temple, pinwheels spun frantically as the wind began to pick up. The twins watched them whirl apprehensively, each gripping the other’s hoof tightly.

The only ones not milling about in sheer panic were the soldiers.

Nakajima and Tezuka both burst from the temple, and were immediately assaulted by the swelling rain.

“What’s gotten into them?” Tezuka asked, looking around.

Nakajima didn’t have time to respond. Already soldiers were rushing up to him. “Sir! We have confirmed reports of something approaching the island from the southeast,” one of them reported. “Something big.”

“Southern watch is reporting the same,” another soldier chimed off.

“Eastern watch reports the same,” rattled off another. “It’s fast approaching, too fast to be a ship.”

Nakajima cursed aloud. “Blast it all… We don’t have the numbers or equipment to contend with Him right now.”

The soldiers looked between each other nervously, but did their best to keep their composure. “Sir, what are our orders?” one asked. “Should we start the evacuation?”

Tezuka turned towards Nakajima as he frowned at the ground for a moment. Then, he straightened up. “Yes, we will. I don’t care if you have to knock these peasants out or break some bones to do it, I want them all off this island right now. The head priestess will just have to take up grievances afterwards.”

The soldiers didn’t raise any concerns. “Yes sir!” they all barked, then immediately dashed off to carry out their orders.

Nakajima then turned towards Tezuka. “Major Tezuka, your ship is the only weapon we have that can hope to do anything to Him,” Nakajima said. “We need to buy time to get these ponies loaded into the boats and shipped out of harm’s way before He can cause any more harm. I need you to get back to it and prepare for combat. Where is it moored?”

Tezuka was slow to respond. He was gazing off towards the clouds when he slowly turned to meet Nakajima’s gaze.

“Near the southeastern village.”

~~***~~

Shiragami sat in her room quietly, trying to clear her mind, as she’d been doing for the past many hours.

She had to calm herself and concentrate – particularly on anything that wasn’t that terrifying purple unicorn with all of that terrifying power… and what they’d done. No, no, she could not think about that. She had to calm herself…

“Sorceress?”

Shiragami jumped, scolded herself for doing so, and then smoothed out her dress and straightened up. “What is it?”

“May we come in?” one of her maids asked.

“You may.”

The door clicked open, and in walked both of her maids, both looking apprehensive.

“Is… everything alright?” one asked her. “You seem… distracted.”

“Everything is fine,” Shiragami responded curtly. “I appreciate your concern, but there is nothing to worry about.”

The maids exchanged a look. “Then, about the Equestrian princess…”

Shiragami flinched, and she knew both of her maids had seen it. “I-it’s not of your concern,” she said quickly, too quickly. “I will deal with it in a manner I deem fit!... Would you happen to know where she is right now, by any chance?”

Another look was exchanged.

“Major Tezuka took her and her entourage to the monastery some time ago. It seemed to be of the utmost importance.”

Shiragami frowned to herself – on the inside, as she was taught to do. Never let anything nasty show; that was the tenant she’d had drilled into her from a young age.

“And did they say when they would return?” she asked politely.

“No, my lady,” one responded.

Well, that did pose a dilemma… She couldn’t very well be expected to walk out there and find her herself, not amongst the common folk. It wasn’t allowed.

“Then, I suppose we’ll just have to…,” started Shiragami… only to be interrupted by the most peculiar rattling sound. It lasted for a few moments, then abated. So, she tried again. “I suppose we’ll just…”

There it was again – a rattling of wood on wood, louder this time. It had been loud enough that even the maids were glancing about curiously.

Shiragami looked around, until her eyes fell upon an ornate box placed on a shelf, one whose lid was locked by three golden dragon heads. That box, for whatever reason, was rattling fitfully. A faint, ghostly blue light was seeping through the crack of the lid, perplexing Shiragami still further. Why would it be doing that?

That was when the ship shook violently.

All three mares screamed in alarm as they fell over. Dressers, expensive furniture and cabinets toppled over, one nearly landing heavily on Shiragami’s head. She just barely managed to roll out of the way in time.

“What’s going on?” one of the maids cried fearfully.

“M-maybe we broke free of the rocks?” the other replied hopefully.

Shiragami was just straightening up again when she heard something reverberate through the wood of the ship – a low, quaking rumble. Thunder.

She looked up towards the ceiling, confusion warring inside of her. Another storm already? No, that can’t be right… unless…

Her eyes drifted downwards from the roof, down towards the rattling ceremonial box that had tumbled to the floor, and the ghostly light leaking from it.

It couldn’t be…

~~***~~

The deck of the Amaterasu was in chaos.

Ponies rushed to and fro in a frenzy of activity. An alarm bell was clanging noisily, echoing over every deck as ponies galloped in every direction.

“What the hay was that?!” one shouted to another, peering into the darkness over the side.

Others were hastily unfurling the sails, and a deck down, hatches were flying open, revealing the steely mouths of cannons as they were thrust into firing positions.

Ammunition was passed out; faintly humming spellfire shells, each packing enough of a punch to level a two story house.

Gunners took their positions, pressing their eyes to the crosshair sights facing out into black oblivion beyond the ship’s walls. Loaders stood half a step behind them, crouched by cannon breaches, ready to slam in a fresh munition.

“Get us airborne already!” somepony shouted at the navigator, who was working a number of cranks in the wheelhouse.

“She’s still dead in the water,” barked the navigator between spat curses. “Ain’t nothin’ doing!”

He futilely yanked a level again and again, but the ship only produced an agonized clanking sound deep in her belly.

“Get us off the beach and I’ll see what I can do,” he snapped, still doing every he could to engage the flight engines. “Until then, everypony get to battle stations!”

The sailor was just starting to say something angry back, when something caught his attention off the side of the ship.

Fifty yards from the ship, the ocean was boiling. And as the sailor stepped closer, squinting curiously at the spot, it began to heave.

~~***~~

Twilight was staring out over a darkened Odo Island right as the cannonfire reached her ears.

Her head snapped around as the reports echoed off of the mountain peaks, again and again.

“He is here,” Imi said solemnly, her smile long gone. “So… it has come to this.”

“Listen ta all that,” Applejack breathed, horrified and awed at the same time by the sound of the cannons pounding in the distance. “That’s gotta be the Amaterasu!”

“What are we supposed to do?” Twilight thought aloud.

Imi looked up at her, the glints of her eyes flashing in the light of their horns. “Run.”

“Run?” Rarity echoed, astonished. “We certainly can’t just leave you all here to fend for yourselves.”

“Rarity’s right,” Twilight said. “We can’t just abandon everypony. We were brought here to do something about this creature, and that’s just what we’re going to have to do!”

Imi cracked a humorous smile at them. “Lively… I like that. But the way you are now, you won’t stand a chance. You cannot face Gojira head on.”

“Maybe so,” Twilight argued, “but at the very least we can buy some time for these ponies to get to safety.”

Imi nodded. “Well, I’m sure those innocent souls would appreciate it. But I must ask you not to put yourselves in harm’s way needlessly.”

She looked at Twilight, really looked at her, holding her gaze. “There is no shame in running away to fight another day. You’ll do well to remember that.”

Twilight paused, then nodded awkwardly. “I’ll… I’ll try to keep that in mind. But don’t worry; we’ll be just fine.”

She turned to the rest of her friends then. “Come on. We’ve got some ponies to save!”

As they turned and bolted into the jungle, Imi smiled after them – a sad, pitying smile. “Make sure that you do, little ones.”

~~***~~

Through the jungle they ran, throwing caution to the winds a little too much. But they persevered; even Rarity didn’t pay much attention to the scratch she got on her foreleg.

“Alright, Twi’,” Applejack said from behind her, “What’s the plan?”

“Well,” Twilight huffed, unused to running and talking at the same time, “The original plan was to have Fluttershy talk to it while Rainbow ran interference. You know, get its attention and get Fluttershy out of there in case anything went wrong.”

“Well obviously we can’t do that,” Applejack said back. All over again, she was very aware of the ornery pegasus’ absence. “So what’s plan B?”

Twilight paused for a moment, working it over in her head. By the time she spoke again, they’d burst out of the underbrush into the back yard of the temple once more.

“Fluttershy’s still our best chance,” she said.

“I-I am?” squeaked Fluttershy anxiously.

“Yes,” Twilight said certainly. “If we can at least figure out what it’s so angry about, maybe we can learn how to fix it. At the very least, we should try to get it away from the villagers, maybe calm it down.”

Rarity was the next to speak up. “And just for the sake of argument, what if that doesn’t work?” Rarity asked. She didn’t ask because she lacked faith in her yellow friend; she did so more out of morbid curiosity, and because somehow she knew Twilight would have a backup plan, just in case.

Twilight frowned to herself. “Well… I believe Imi is right about one thing; we can’t take on something this powerful head-on. If Fluttershy can’t calm it down, we’ll have to buy the other ponies time to get to safety. We may not be able to fight it, but we can at least harass it long enough for them to get away.”

As if on cue, the group came galloping into the main court yard and bore witness to the panic seizing the grounds.

“Out! Everypony out!” soldiers were shouting, pointing towards the gate as a horde of ponies filed forward. “Make for the northern village! Move!”

Ponies were screaming in terror. Some clung together, refusing to let go of one another no matter what.

“Get to the northern village!” soldiers kept repeating, pointing the way, but otherwise remaining in place, even as the rain came crashing down around their heads. The storm was getting worse – much worse.

“We would have a showdown in the rain,” Rarity lamented.

“Now ain’t the time for that, Rarity,” Applejack shot as they approached the gates.

Thunder boomed overhead, causing some ponies to shriek even louder in fright. The group continued on, pushing through the clogged front gate through the crush of terrified ponies trying to escape to safety.

For a time, they were split up by the mass. Twilight stayed focused on forging ahead, trusting the rest of her friends would be on the other side.

Spike clung hard to her mane, his eyes turned up towards the storm, unblinking. Something didn’t feel right…

Finally, Twilight broke through the throng. Applejack was ahead of her now, but only but a step or two. Rarity pulled herself free soon enough, and Pinkie bounced into view like she’s just melted through the terrified mass without difficulty. Fluttershy had merely floated over all of their heads, avoiding the crush of ponies altogether.

All of the villagers were headed down a path that sloped down one side of the ridge they’d followed up, heading in the opposite direction of the destroyed village. Twilight and her friends didn’t need to think about where they needed to go; they just followed the sounds of the cannon blasts. They ignored the guards shouting at their backs and pushed on through the darkness.

“Okay, Fluttershy,” Twilight started again. “Rarity and I will work on getting its attention. Once it stops moving, that’s your cue to get in there and do your thing. Alright?”

“I-I-I’ll try,” squeaked Fluttershy.

“Pinkie, Applejack, you’re on interference,” Twilight said quickly. “If this thing gets angry, I’ll need you to watch our backs.”

“Gotcha.”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

Twilight nodded to herself. It was far from perfect, but her plan would have to do. “Just keep your distance and we should be fine.”

The group proceeded quickly down the flights of stairs, taking two at a time in some cases. Rain pounded down. Thunder boomed across the sky.

But only thunder did.

Twilight paused, confused as she picked up one ear to listen.

The cannons had ceased.

She stopped in her tracks, turning towards the village. The rest of the group ground to a stop behind her, very nearly falling over in the process.

“Twilight, what’s…?” Applejack started, but was shushed into silence.

The quiet drawl of the rain pressed down on Twilight’s ears, deafening. Her eyes strained through the darkness, squinting against the downpour and black of night.

The burning houses were starting to go out. There was nothing to see down below but shadows. Until…

A shadow moved. It was little more than motion suddenly shooting up high overhead. Twilight couldn’t see it for what it was – until the shape came screaming down upon their heads.

On pure instinct, she ignited her horn, grabbed all six of them, and in a wink of light, vanished from sight – just as the twisted wreckage of the Amaterasu thundered to the ground right where they had been standing.

It hit prow-first, gashing the earth and flipping end over end. Wood and metal was ejected in every direction as it ripped itself to pieces, flipping and whirling in a savage blur of motion before it came to a stop against a rock outcropping.

Twilight and her friends only got to witness the tail end of the ship’s destruction as they rematerialized several yards downhill.

Debris lay strewn across the ground for hundreds of yards in every direction, twisted and shattered beyond recognition. The ship itself was barely even recognizeable, like it had almost been snapped in half, only to be crunched together like an accordion. Nothing stirred in the darkness; not a single solitary sign of life from the destroyed war vessel.

“Dear sweet Celestia,” Applejack breathed, horrorstruck.

Nopony else could even think of anything to say to that effect.

Twilight took one step forward, unable to stop herself, right as she heard groaning behind her. All five mares whirled around with a gasp, horns pointing beams of light towards the source.

There! Twenty feet behind them, there were three figures lying in the mud, whimpering fitfully.

All five rushed forward without thinking. “Hey!” Twilight called out. “Are you guys alright?”

It was a stupid question at best. All three were lying crumpled on the ground, clutching limbs and moaning to themselves. But as Twilight drew closer, she recognized the regal attire each was wearing.

It was the sorceress and her two maidens, each so covered in grime and filth that they were almost unrecognizable.

“How did they get outta that?” Applejack asked as they rushed closer.

“No idea,” Twilight replied quickly. She bent down, carefully putting a hoof under the sorceress’s head.

The mare was blinking fitfully, as if trying to clear her sight. She didn’t seem to realize that rain was pelting her face, not until she noticed the one propping her up. “Y-you…”

“Just take it easy,” Twilight said quickly. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

But the mare was only looking at her with huge, terrified eyes. “N-no… no, you need to… to run…”

“It’s okay,” Twilight insisted, but the mare was only shaking her head.

That was when she realized the sorceress wasn’t even looking at her.

“R-run,” she whimpered, her breath frozen in her lungs out of sheer terror.

A split second later, the rain stopped.

Twilight glanced up, confused… as all around her, the curtains of rain receded. For twenty feet in every direction, not a single drop fell to earth.

BOOM

The impact threw everypony off of their hooves as something heavy crashed to earth directly behind them.

Even as Twilight stiffly started to turn around, she heard the quaking rumble of a growl ripping through the air and reverberating through the soil. She turned, heart pounding in her ears, towards the massive trunk of a leg behind her, and the immense black shadow it was attached to that loomed directly overhead.

Thunder boomed, lightning illuminating His towering profile for a split second. It was huge, terrifyingly huge, impossibly huge; thousands upon thousands of tons of muscle, ashen scale and bone standing tall enough to dwarf any skyscraper back home.

For a moment, He stood in place, head turned upwards. And then, with a suddenness of the wind changing, He brought down His gaze, turning it down instead towards two miniscule specks of purple and sapphire light far, far below.

Twilight, her friends, the sorceress and her two maidens stared up, frozen in sheer terror as Godzilla growled His contempt to the wretched night air and the poor, poor creatures caught in His path.

Author's Note:

Ah this was a fun one to write. It actually almost went down exactly how I wanted it to, but I decided to make a last-minute change and pushed a different encounter out to a later date. I apologize for the dramatically longer chapter length, but I think it was worth it.
This entire chapter was inspired by this theme, especially the latter third of it. It just fit so well for me.

So, yeah. By now you're probably starting to get the picture of what's going on. Oh, and this chapter probably has my most blatant shoutout to one of Godzilla's most memorable adversaries/allies, but hasn't been my first nor will it be my last. Actually there are a number in this chapter, now that I think about it.

Up next, in chapter 7: In Which Things Continue to Go F**king Awful For Everypony Except Godzilla: part deux, things continue to go f**king awful for everypony except Godzilla. Thought I'd shake it up a little bit, keep you guessing.

Comments

[Blake Skies]

So wait one question, when did Odo island become Infant Island? And why won't Mothra talk with Fluttershy? Certianly the Goddess of Earth would be very keen to talk to the Element of Kindness, and further more I don't think the Shobijin's names were Emi and Yumi lest you borrowed that from The Mothra Series.

But holy crap please stop this Suspension, give us the reveil we're begging for: SHOW US GODZILLA IN HIS GLORY

(Good work so far dear sir)

[Mister Friendly]

5707437
Names of the duo who played the original shobijin were Emi Itou and Yumi Itou, which is where I pulled the names. I couldn't recall or find any other instances of their individual names, so I went with that. I didn't really look all that hard, but still... I tried.
Obviously I've changed some things around in order to keep the mane six from having to go way out of their way to visit some of the locations and so I don't just copy/paste these things and instead try to do something a bit creative with them. A temple devoted to a deified Mothra is such an example of including these iconic characters without actually pigeonholing them into the story somehow. And since temples in Japan regularly pay homage to more than one deity, and since Mothra, Battra and Legendary Godzilla do have some similarities to work off of in terms of what they represent, I felt like it wasn't completely out there for somepony to think to worship all three in one location.

The quote-unquote "mothra" not talking to Fluttershy is actually something of foreshadowing for things to come. I really should have just called this whole thing "Foreshadowing, the Chapter", because that's what it amounts to, really.

[Zephyrion]

I was pleasantly surprised by this update. I thought I'd be waiting at least another few weeks.

[Mister Friendly]

5707503
You and me both...

[DeltaOsprey]

I wanna know so badly about whatever is pissing him off because right now its like he said fuck this island in particular.

He's all like RAWR! They're all like oh no! Then he's all like I'm gonna stomp on your face! They're all like not again!

I laughed.
I cried.
It moved me Bob.

[HeatseekerX51]

The level of writing quality for this story exceeds every official Godzilla book I know of.
I wonder if the author has experience with writing classes, writes professionally, or is just a phenomenal amateur talent.

[Emperor of Jurai]

You'd think folks would learn not to piss off giant lizards big enough to rip apart mountains with relative ease. But noooooooo someone gotta always get it into their head that they can piss it off and not have too much trouble for their stupidity.

Curious what the hell the Emperor and his Empire did to piss off Godzilla to such a degree, normally he only comes out if you got some sort of crazy energy source that he would like to munch on. Or you did something to provoke him or threaten his title as the top predator in the area...the King of Monsters shall not suffer impudent upstarts!

[Scarheart]

I'm going to assume the emperor made something to take control of the sun from Celestia. Godzilla sensed a tremor in the force and went natural disaster on the nation because this power is simply Aweful.

[Black Hoof]

This chapter was awesome. The way you transcribe the 'towering-titan-who-is-a-force-nothing-can-stop' feeling is amazing.
I can't wait for the next chapter. Wonderful job!

[Jay2 Dax]

This is awsome stuff keep up the good work !

[The Avenger]

I'm getting a feeling that the Emperor of Neighpon is the real antagonist in this story, not Godzilla. As for what he did, he probably thought Godzilla was a threat and had some of his military attack him in a vain attempt to kill Him. And Godzilla is retaliating for the attacked the Emperor ordered. That, or the Emperor is trying to awaken another kaiju, and Godzilla sensed that, being the alpha predator of the entire planet and all.

[LordSiravant]

HA! I knew the Emperor wasn't to be trusted! I bet he's trying to awaken a kaiju of his own in order to use it to kill Celestia, since her existence offends everything Neighpon stands for, and Godzilla's trying to level the entire Empire before this other kaiju can be unleashed by them.

[Heartless99]

Oh god this is getting good. I wasn't so sure about this story really early on, but I am so glad I stuck around.

[Mister Friendly]

5707617
I've been writing as a hobby for about, oh, 13~14 years now. But nothing professional. I did take a writing class, though... hated the teacher, stopped going.
But yeah. I've been a Godzilla fan for about as long as I can remember, and I believe the best quality stories are the ones that stem from something near and dear to your heart.

[HeatseekerX51]

5715917

I'd hate to give the impression that I'm trying to fellaciate the author, like I see some readers do in the comments for some stories. But I am extremely impressed with your prose. Not just with King Unmatched but with your Applejack stories as well. Seeing that you've been hobby writing for over a decade, I understand a bit better about how you reached this level.
I wonder what it is about Godzilla and MLP that seems to mix so well? If you're familiar with Tarbtano's The Bridge, then you know what I mean. I've also seen several other GZ/MLP crossover stories on FiMF, which leads me to think that it's more than just a slightly over-lapping fanbase.

[Mister Friendly]

5716122
Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe it's the fact that Toho has done so many Godzilla crossovers over the years. King Kong, Zone Fighter, even Mothra and Rodan were all crossovers, even if Toho was doing it largely internally. Maybe it has something to do with the ridiculous number of origin stories Toho keeps spewing out for the big guy that get a little more ridiculous every time, all in the name of making Him fit into a movie's plot.
Maybe it just because Godzilla's such an icon, even after all these years.
Really, the list goes on and on, but I don't think I'll ever know for sure.

[HeatseekerX51]

5717126

Something that strikes me about Godzilla's chemistry with MLP, is his storied role as both a force of destruction, and a champion of Earth. It just seems to mesh well with the plucky optimism and "higher-ideals" oriented ponies. Godzilla comes off as an unintentional ally.

[CompactDisc]

All of this. Can't wait for the next instalment :D

[Aatxe360]

...temptation for her to bear...

[Xuncu]

Having watched Gojira '54 again recently, recognizing a few names...
But yeah, I think I figured out what's going on... suffice to say, Emperor Kickass McAwesometown was right:

"You can't lock out the world. It's been tried. It doesn't work. You have to let the world in, or it will start banging on your doors, demanding entry. And believe me, the world can bang hard and loud."

And holy shit, was he right on that last bit.

[Mister Friendly]

5720667
A little hint; all but two Neighponese names I've used have come from, in one shape or another, a Godzilla movie, be it actual characters or the actors playing the characters. The only exceptions so far are Imi and Kirin.

[Frantic Starz]

What are you think you’ll learn here?

What do you think you’ll learn here?

[Misplaced Mage]

5707815
I strongly suspect that the description of the box the imperial sorceress' "rock" is kept in is a clue screaming for recognition as such.

[Frantic Starz]

but only but a step or two.

but only by a step or two.

[Frantic Starz]

just as the twisted wreckage of the Amaterasu thundered to the ground right where they had been standing.

No, Twilight's waifu!

It was the sorceress and her two maidens, each so covered in grime and filth that they were almost unrecognizable.

SAFE!

[Fwelin]

So, er, why are the Neipon ponies calling the mane 6 children and fillies? They're all in the ~20 range, and IIRC, old time Japan tended to see younger people as full adults than the West was, not vice versa.

[Mister Friendly]

5743300
It's mostly to point out that their supposed saviors are still very young and, in their eyes, inexperienced. But regardless, the Neighponese are probably just being overly judgmental; they'd find any flaw in the mane 6, and their naivety and youthfulness are easy targets. Yes they are close to 20 (my headcanon is they're closer to 18, but to each his own), but compared to the older, more experienced hands that have been fighting Godzilla for these past long weeks, they are little more than fillies.