Chapter 3: The Storm's Call Above
"Good work Raiga, we've been looking for this unicorn for a while."
Battra Lea slyly hissed as she strode over the unconscious unicorn. Raiga looked at the changeling for a time, and kept looking in growing confusion. Yes, she expected the others would have taken native forms, Gamera briefed them on that. But it wasn't the part about Lea only having four limbs and hooves that was was confusing her. This, this didn't seem right at all. The voice seemed right, but everything meeting her eyes and not her ears just didn't match up. Raiga especially locked onto the crown of horns growing out of Lea's head, the changeling's pair of dark wings with an almost fiery pattern fanning behind it.
-She looks like... a battra. Lea what has happened to you?...-
"Lea, what happened to you? You seem-"
"-Different? Comes with the territory of coming here my dear."
Battra Lea remarked offhandedly, believing the new siren to be talking about her Equestrian body and not the fact she looked like a completely different half of her family tree. Raiga still felt no better, thinking such a big detail would have been something Gamera made clear when he told all of them the fate of their comrades. Raiga then felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her when she recalled how attentive she'd been at the meeting.
-Oh... right... I barely paid attention at all. All I heard was 'Godzilla is in Pony Land' and burst out laughing for ten minutes straight...... Why am I such an idiot?-
Battra Lea ignored the clear confusion on the siren's face and hovered over Starlight. She skillfully levitated Starlight's still form off the ground and held it up alongside her as she walked back to Raiga.
"Never took you for the manipulator type Raiga. Keeping her talking helped me catch up."
The siren in question snapped back to the modern day and combed her recent memory. And when she did, she felt a tiny chill trail over her fins. Recalling the tall form she'd seen passing by in the woods, Raiga was now well aware that she'd been stalked. Only question now was, why? Why didn't Lea say anything when she saw them on the trail? And, why did she not feel any safer now despite having an ally less than two meters away? She and Lea might have butted heads a lot, but she knew Lea when she saw her. And right now it was the uncanny staring her right in the face.
Shifting topics to hopefully alleviate the weirdness factor, Raiga pointed a hoof to the unicorn.
"You said you'd been looking for her. Why?"
Lea cast a backwards glance to the immobile unicorn. Even unconscious, the poor mare seemed to have a fearful look on her face as she lightly bobbed midair under telekinesis.
"She's a close associate of an enemy of ours named Duchess Chrysalis. She'd been working with Xenilla."
"So is she like a criminal around here or something? She seemed so timid."
"You could say that, looks can be deceiving Raiga; she is-"
"And who the Daiei is Chrysalis?"
Battra Lea raised an eyebrow at the siren. Apart from the new form, Raiga was acting weird. Usually at this point she'd be groveling or meekly just following in line by now. She never did take the aquatic saurian for a talkative type, let alone confrontational and demanding. Had something changed back on Terra in the time they got sent here? Brushing aside the minor curiosity, she merely waved her hoof offhandedly at her subordinate.
"In due time Raiga. For now, we should hurry back to our little hideaway before Xenilla senses where you are."
Recalling her species' ability to track other members at a long distance, Raiga paused for a moment. Picking across the furthest reaches of her psyche, she felt her mind reach out. Sure enough, an all too familiar signal of another Gojirasaurus was within range. Xenilla was only a couple dozen miles away at most, and as she could tell, getting closer. For the first time in her life however, she wasn't biting at the bit for a scrap. This whole past hour had thrown her so far out of the loop she still was at a loss as to what was going on. Best get situated, then look for a duel. The siren snapped to attention and began following the departing changeling with only a mental protest.
"Yeah I can tell, he's not too far away. Why can't I sense Junior though?"
"Not to worry, our ally here has come up with a way to cloak our base. Godzilla is back there so if you can't sense him we know it's working. We must hurry though, just in case Xenilla has detected you by now or not..."
With that, Battra Lea turned towards the wood and started half galloping, half flying down a game trail with Starlight hovering limply alongside her. Putting the most of her control into levitation, Raiga zipped off right behind her. Over hills, through scrub wood and ravines, and across a river they trekked for about twenty minutes before Lea landed completely and started to slow down. Raiga put on the airbrakes for the first time in her life and fortunately succeeded in not plowing into the walking royal changeling in front of her. The forest around them had changed for the worst. Between the dying sunlight and dense canopy of wide-topped trees, it was practically as dark as midnight. Raiga eyed her surroundings some, deep sea adapted eyes able to pick up on a multitude of tiny details. She wasn't liking what she was seeing. The trees, despite the dense overgrowth, looked for a lack of better terms, sickly. Burn marks ripped holes or gouges into the trunks in several spaces. The understory growth was stringy, wisps of brambles reaching out like gnarled talons in many regions. And despite some signs of fauna spotted earlier, there wasn't a single animal present. This forest looked anything but welcoming.
Slowed to a trot, Lea nonchalantly crossed over a patch of dimly marked dirt that Raiga hovered over in pursuit. The instant she crossed over, a cold snap trailed across her in a line. Startled, she whirled around and looked, half expecting something to have hit her. After some spinning around midair, her eyes picked up on a tiny glimmer present in the low light. Hidden under some shrubs and half buried in dirt was a straight dark hued crystal. Across the thin line they'd passed over she spotted enough disguised into the base of the tree. Just looking at the dark violet colored gems was giving her chills.
Battra Lea, having noticed the siren's confusion, drew a smug smirk and chuckle.
"So you did feel it? It's local magic a native ally supplied using aerenths. A line of them around the base makes it untraceable by spell or sense. Keeps Xenilla and his crew from finding this place."
The sense part seemed right enough. Now that she focused on it, a new signal had cropped up on her intraspecies detection. Less than a kilometer away was the signature of a new adult male Gojirasaurus, one Raiga recognized instantly. Godzilla.
They kept walking for several minutes, until the trees briefly began to thin. Birthing forth from the forest were a series of structures like no other. Walls, houses, and towers all formed out of magically manipulated tree trunks. The structures were just as grim now as the forest looked; stained gray and dull brown with vines and brambles beginning to overtake some of the empty space and buildings. Past the now vine choked and haggard gate was the corpse of a wooden kingdom.
Corpse was unknowingly quite an accurate word. The Thicket, as it had once been called during the rule under the cervids, used to be a prosperous albeit extremely xenophobic city state. Due to their hostility towards all outsiders, very few ponies or any races for that matter even knew the region it existed in; much less laid eyes upon it. King Aspen, the Lord of the Forest as some dubbed him, frequently had patrols scour the forest for intruders. Very adept himself in flora magic, he had both shaped the city itself as well as its defenses. Between the often hostile foliage and patrols, it was common for those trying to find the wooden realm to 'get lost' in the forest. Sheltered, obscure, and self sufficient; the Thicket went untouched across the millennium-long conflict between the good king Sombra and Queen Celestia, out of respect and lack of interest respectively. That time of isolation ended several weeks ago when nuclear fire burned through the gates, a black path of charred road leading all the way to the throne room. The Thicket fell in several hours, most of its population being fortunate enough to flee into the woods. Without the royal house's magic to mend the wounds and sustain it, the very city itself was already dead or dying, eventually to be swallowed up by the forest if it were lucky.
Just looking at the cityscape gave Raiga unease as soon as she stepped through the large hole burned into the gate. This wasn't the first ruined city she saw, and she didn't like the similarity she was remembering. A cold feeling settled over her mind as she looked at the maintained ruins. The burned road, overgrowth, holes in many walls, and scattered bones or antlers were sign enough there had been a lot of death here. This didn't make any sense. When Gamera told them about Lea and company's situation, he made it sound like they were working with a lot of the locals in some town or capital. This place fit the bill, but so far she hadn't seen a single being in this weird city. The only rational thing she could think of was maybe this place was ravaged by Destroyah and Xenilla since the call Lea gave Gamera, but then that just left the question of why make this home base?
-Uurg-
Raiga pawed at her head in annoyance, shaking it. Trying to play visual detective just made her brain hurt. Lea was always better at that sort of thing. Speaking of which...
"So, mind telling me what exactly you need Starlight for?"
She muttered, motioning to the slack unicorn. Battra Lea gave her a sideways glance whilst shrugging her shoulders. There was a fanged grin on her muzzle and her tone was disturbingly song-like; causing Raiga to cringe slightly.
"Ooooh that? I've been looking into some local magic to try and find a way to get back to how things should be. Anguirus and Rodan are off guarding something important until we figure the first step out. Fortunately I've had some help with that."
"Some and a half. I see your pursuits bore success Lea."
Raiga turned towards the new voice just in time to see something that looked like what would happen if one tried to put a children's toy in a blender with too much dark metal. The alicorn, as she'd later learn the subspecies was called, looked like it was supposed to be colorful but had most of its pigments darkened or washed out. Even still, the dull pink coat and dark blue, purple, and yellow mane that gradually filtered to black clashed considerably with both the grim Thicket and the metallic gray regalia on her chest and hooves. Still, fit the norm for her so far. Wasn't a thing in this world she'd seen since getting here that didn't seem distorted or otherwise 'off' in some way.
And as if being around this oh so cheery atmosphere of the Thicket and the aerenths weren't already giving her a bad vibe, just looking at the being's dimly glowing, magenta eyes seemed to stir up a lot of negativity within Ragia. Had she been made of weaker materials, she'd be feeling dread. But because Amaterasu built her tough, she instead just got enough hatred to get the urge to punch it in the face and keep punching.
And yet the sense of evil Raiga was getting however seemed lost on Lea of all kaiju, who greeted the demonic kid's toy with a chirp and a smirk like she was greeting an old friend.
"Hello there Cadenza, intend to help me with this one?"
"Someone has to make sure you put the muffle on before getting to work, that last squealer gave me a migraine. Say-"
She muttered with a virtually slithering tongue as she inspected the unicorn's bangs.
"Isn't this that witch Chrysalis' pupil? Good catch Lea, always wanted to get even.... Wait who's this?"
She spoke, her attention drawn away to the siren giving her a dirty look. Not like the alicorn minded it, she could already feel a trickle of invisible energy crawling out of the odd aquatic and into her padlock charm. Hatred always was a strong emotion even in small doses. Lea rolled her eyes, putting her hoof out between the intermixing glares from Raiga and smug smirks from Cadenza.
"An old acquaintance back from Terra. Raiga, this is our local help, Princess Mio Odiato Cadenza-"
Cadenza interjected with a snide tone that almost sounded offended.
"Empress Cadenza, least when you lot help me get my empire back from that usurper Trixie."
Battra Lea chuckled lightly, putting a hoof over the pony's shoulders.
"Prideful as always~... Remember, you still need to be on hand for our end of the bargain too."
Raiga sneered outwardly but was still mentally put off by all this. She tried as hard as she could to think back to when Gamera broke the news to all of them, still feeling like stomping on her own tail for not paying as much attention as she should have after the joy from the announcement her allies were alive died down.
-Gamera did mention something about Lea working with a Princess. Maybe this is her... Oye isn't she a piece of work, well appearances aren't everything. Would it have killed him to mention that she looked like a bitc-
"Raiga.. Raiga!"
Raiga shook her head and looked to the changeling, who had a hoof on her temple. There was a slight glow in her horns and Lea's usually placid face was cringing for a moment before settling away to the disturbing norm. She took in a deep breath to make herself seem presentable before motioning to the largest tree in the cityscape.
"Just got the mental memo, Godzilla would like to see you now."
Raiga however, wasn't having any of it. She'd been hit with nothing but befuddlement since she stepped into this world and now it was all beginning to bubble up. The spheres on her body started to glow dimly as she let out an exasperated bellow.
"Wait-Wait-Wait! I've had it! I'm so flippin' confused right now! Nothing is making a lick of sense! What in the name of Tanaka is going on he-"
Lea winced and twitched her eye under the force of another telepathic roar coursing through her head.
"He would like to see you NOW."
Either by Cadenza's presence or her own confusion hitting a broiling point, Raiga turned and did the closest equivalent one could do to stomping off while levitating. She held up a hoof to her side as she made her way to the building Lea had indicated Godzilla was in, holding the back of it towards the changeling. Cadenza raised an eyebrow while Lea reeled her head back in minor shock.
-If she's doing what I think she's doing... THAT human gesture?! Ahe actually has the gall to do that!? To me?!... Raiga, Raiga, when did you stop being such a weakling?-
"What is she doing? Is that some sort of kaiju gesture?"
Battra Lea sneered, instead heading off to her and Cadenza's laboratory.
"It would be if she had fingers, never mind it though. Come on."
Raiga pushed open the double doors and slipped inside, the palace gate swinging to a close behind her. Not one meter in and she could already see and smell it all. Had she not been granted vision built for the marine depth, the entire royal chamber probably would have been near pitch black outside of the windows. Ragia had a sense this place once had a grandeur of some sort, but if a single word could describe it now, it was ruin. A lot of things must have gone down in here over the past week to bring it to such a state. The stonewood chamber had numerous gouges and rancid scorch marks carving into its floor and walls, obvious signs of battle. Any tapestries or carpeting had been torn or burned away with the scent of radiation still permeating the hall. Vines either stretched across or slithered through the broken windows and clogged the holes burned into the walls. Most notably amongst the desolation were the bones. Many of them lay strewn about like the throne room was a predator's den. Most of them were burned to blackened, cracked, disarticulated remains; but one was whole.
It was the largest skeleton by a wide margin, and judging from the hooves and sole remaining antler it looked like some sort of elk. It was still clad in wears that resembled a mix of armor and golden regalia. If it was meant to protect them, it didn't work well enough. Truth be told, she had a hard time telling what did the cervid in, the burns layering the blackened skeleton or the fact one antler was torn off and jammed into the ribcage. As she floated past the edge of the skeleton, she could make out small cloven hoof prints approaching it from the side. They nearly reached the shallow crater the skeleton rested in before being dragged away. And suddenly the charred specks on the floor had drops of red stains in a broad mark where something had been dragged along the floor. She visually followed the trail until attention was torn away by a grim tone.
"King Aspen, long time rival of the United Equestrian Kingdoms. He ruled the Thicket when Empress Cadenza led us here. Stayed with them for three days until he caused me to conclude that the place needed a new dynasty's management. This evening makes it thirteen times they've snuck in to try and reclaim his regalia, something about needing it to use their stronger spells again. Thirteen must be an unlucky number for them, but not me apparently."
Raiga suddenly found herself looking at a set of burning golden eyes surrounded by blood red. A monster masquerading as a unicorn stepped out from a corner. Covered in sticky crimson, the creature's mane and eyes lit up with neon blue and he trained his head down, hosing off his entire front half in a mix of low power plasma breath and a miniscule nuclear pulse. All of its fur and gory coating was instantly vaporized. Smoking and smoldering for a few brief moments, the skin and new fur quickly sprouted up and he looked clean as he could possibly appear moments later. Still, one portion of his body showed no such change. Clad across the demon's chest was a deep, hideous keloid scar that covered most of his front torso. Swallowing back his own pain, the unicorn calmly walked over to the broken throne and stood tall before it. For the first time in her life, Raiga saw an equine that looked terrifying. And yet still, the voice and the coloration tipped off her as to who she was looking at; leaving her wondering what was with this world.
"Chief..."
Godzilla Junior flashed a fang filled grin and approached the siren, radioactive smoke still seeping out of his maw.
"Low and behold, thirteen intruders and I finally get a guest."
Raiga's eye twitched and a charge built up in her energy cores. Sparks began to crackle along her fins as confusion fed into anger.
"Okay what the FUCK!?"
==========================
"And that's when I hit the jerk in the face with something and he learned what kind of bird packs a wallop."
"What kind of bird?"
"A crane, WHAMO!"
"Oh oh! And that's when you kicked everypony's tails out of the city and burst into a victory dance?"
"Darn tootin' kiddo!"
Dame Destroyah snickered, crossing her hooves and nodding to the cheers of her little entourage as the train rolled along. Momentarily ignoring Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's hoof clapping and requests for another story of her heroics, the protective mutation leaned over to address the mare nudging her shoulder. Spoiled Sweet spoke with a giggle in her tone.
"So sorry to pester you Ms. Destroyah, train rides tend to make my daughter a bit rambunctious and she and her friends do love your stories!"
"Oooh no problem at all! I've been around kids a lot and your tot's a sweetie. Don't worry, I left out the part about how I broke Gamera's legs and sliced his shell open before he flew away."
The kaiju half-whispered with a gleeful, toothy grin that caused Spoiled's eyes to widen slightly and chuckle a tad nervously. Oblivious to the mild distress she'd caused, Dr. Serizawa's legacy just laughed and gave the mare a light whap on the back. Diamond Tiara was about to ask for another story when a titanic roar ripped through the cabin from a neighboring train car, so vast in magnitude that it rattled the interior more than the bumpy tracks did. Instantly everypony in a two meter radius levitated off the ground and clung to each other and Destroyah, eyes expanded to dinner plates and shivering to a blur. The gargantuan dame on the other hand just sat where she was blinking in a half-confused manner.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF SOMBRA WAS THAT?!"
Diamond Tiara yelped as she clung to the side of Destroyah's neck, having springboarded off the ground quite a good distance and shuddering all the while. Destroyah snickered, shrugging nonchalantly.
"Oh that's normal. Must be something getting him cranky, again. Hang on."
She chimed, gently putting the fillies' head together at their ears and putting her hooves to the other sides to block their remaining ears.
"Heeeere it comes."
"What are you talking abo-"
A snarling voice bellowed out from the neighboring train car, practically as loud as the roar.
"DAMNITDAMNITDAMNTDAMNITDAMNIIIIIIIT!"
The shouts over, Destroyah unblocked the confused pair's ears with a cheeky smile despite her ears flopping down.
"What was that?!"
"I think it was Sir Xenilla!"
"Good Sombra! Is he alright?!"
Destroyah shifted, easily picking up her posse with one forelimb and gently placing them down, minding to give Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon a gentle pat on the head after getting her hooves beneath her.
"Yah, this is normal for him. You all hang tight in here, I'll go see what's got his tail in a twist this time."
"Uh, sure Ms. Destroyah."
Spoiled Sweet half heartedly laughed off the verbal outburst and Destroyah's reaction, or lack thereof, to it and held the fillies close despite their requests to adventurously follow. She knew she was a good soul, having helped protect Ponyville from those scoundrels' intrusion with that bizarre swarm ability. And her daughter and her friend loved her. Still, she could seem a tad off-kilter at times. Sorta like that Maud Pie individual. Smile and waving at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Destroyah hummed to herself while stepping through the doorway and casually tightrope-walked over the next car.
Firing up her horn cutter, she sliced through the encrusted seal of crystals blocking the doorframe and swung herself inside. The train car itself was still intact, but several windows and rows of seats had been popped or thrown out by the sudden generation of several large quartz crystal spires. Destroyah shrugged at the sight, spying her comrade angrily punching at one crystal and cracking it. She could tell Sir Xenilla, who had been thankfully alone in his car, had one of his outbursts from the moment she heard the roar. That left her only the question on her mind as she weaved around the crystals that lay strewn about. The enormous pegasus put an arm over Xenilla's shoulders as he shuddered and shook.
"Hey, what's up doc? You nearly busted the windows with that shout."
The unicorn was gritting his teeth as he huffed his breath in gradually diminishing intensity. Eventually he closed his eyes and breathed in slowly, calming his pulse.
"I had sensed another Gojirasaurus."
"Wait? You mean Godzilla? He stepped outta the rabbit hole? Where, When, How? I'llBeatHisFaceIn-"
Destroyah was hushed by a hoof pressing up to her muzzle and scrunching up her face. Xenilla sighed, rubbing his temple with his free hoof to avoid a headache.
"Shush.... It wasn't him, the signal was female."
Destroyah raised an eyebrow, leaning away and pushing Xenilla's hoof aside. Her tone was noticeably more quelled than it usually was.
"So, Raiga then?... Well we figured more might be joining this little trip eventually. Could be worse. You nearly got her to change sides that one time after all. Soooo why the outburst?"
Xenilla grumbled under his breath, shaking his head slowly, visibly at a loss.
"I lost it, the signature... Just like his signal."
He spat under his breath, the anger in his tone being lost on Destroyah.
"Which meeeeeeans?"
"Means that they already found her and brought her to whatever pocket they crawled into I can't detect."
"Should we fly off and try to pursue?"
"No..."
Xenilla sighed tiredly, staring out into the lowlands below as the train sped along. At some level, he prayed he'd spy something amongst the passing forests. But the foliage was an impenetrable barrier that yielded naught.
"If she's with those monsters already, we'd never find them. It's best get to Manehattan fast as we can. If they are grouped together they'll probably go after the nearest city they find thanks to the boosted numbers and I want to be in the best spot to counter if they do. Let's just hope this doesn't mean they've found a way to summon more of them here and we get to Manehattan in time. Tanaka knows what they are doing now..."
==========================
Starlight Glimmer groaned amongst her groggy haze as she became reunited with her consciousness. One by one each sense and sensation started to return. Before her vision even returned she could feel soreness in her joints spurred by her limbs being held out at a discomforting angle. When sensation returned to her epidermis, what felt wrong before became leagues worse. Firstly, there were straps tying her down by her hooves. Secondly was the blistering cold on her horn; which stung so much it forced a wince. With her vision finally returning, she could tell she wasn't in the best of shape. Her eyes felt heavy and tired, all efforts having a distinct drain to them. The unicorn's hair bun had come undone, letting her mane drape down over her bound limbs. Still, the sight before her wasn't any more pleasant.
Secured to a table, Starlight bore witness to the chamber around her. Built out of a hollowed out tree, it seemed to be a laboratory of some kind; with bright illumination from several overhead lanterns that contrasted with the grim dead wood and darkened windows. Books about everything from anatomy to alchemy were strewn all about the neighboring tables, intermixed with all manner of crystalline constructs and tokens made chiefly of aerenths. The only things completely foreign to her were the odd symbols etched into both the floor as well as several of the aerenth faces.
"Oh look, you're not in a coma after all!"
Starlight snapped her head to the side towards the cheery voice and spotted a pair of cruel eyes looking through her. Her jaw quivered in justified fear, the poor unicorn struggling against her bonds the best she could but the straps offered miniscule slack.
"Battra...."
The kaiju, standing about three meters away, snickered and put a hoof to her chest, gasping in a tormenting parody decency.
"Oh so you dooo remember me! How touching.... But it's got a 'Lea' part to it too."
She chimed, a half grumble in that last part.
"P-Please, you don't have to do any of this! Duchess Chrysalis welcomed you ALL in so you could all get ho-HYIP!"
She winced and tried to force herself as far away as she could upon the changeling suddenly zooming across the floor and pausing her fanged jaws snapping shut half an inch from her throat. The kaiju's eyes were practically on fire as she looked into Starlight's. Battra's tone was as punctuated as it was venomous.
"You're teacher is an idiot and if it weren't for that lackey Xenilla, she'd be in your plaaace hehe..."
From her wincing and tilting her head upwards to get as far away from the demon as possible, Starlight happened to be looking at a previously darkened portion of the room. Lea's sudden movement caused a hanging lantern to sway, illuminating several jars stacked on a nearby shelf. Jars that retained the bleached, bony cores of two unicorn and changeling horns along with several sets of antlers. Battra's tone slithered across Starlight's neck amongst hot breath.
"And you're not even the first..."
At this point Starlight's eyes were beginning to become clouded in a watery veil. She focused the absolute best she could through the fear, channeling her energy into her horn, controlling a panicking breath, and visualizing herself out the window. For a brief instant the unicorn disappeared in a flash of aquamarine glimmer, spurring an angry flare of energy from the runic seal plated onto the floor beneath her. Battra's sealing spell rebounded the unicorn's magic, causing her to reappear exactly where she had been. Starlight Glimmer gasped for breath, trying to build up the energy for it again as Battra merely looked at her with a sly beaming.
"Why are you doing this?! Wh-What did we ever do to you!?"
She screamed after another failed attempt at teleporting free, Battra's seal and the aerenths grown into the floor around it containing and draining away the excess energy. Lea looked on at the desperate display and merely shrugged, almost in a bored manner. She stepped around the table to a tome resting on one of the surrounding tables, nonchalantly flipping through some pages.
"Nothing. You and your kind did nothing at all. Well, other than not let us finish off Xenilla and Destroyah. But, have you ever heard of the parable, 'The Frog and The Scorpion'?"
Too scared to reason, Starlight couldn't nod or shake her head. Ignoring another escape attempt, Battra just continued.
"In it, the scorpion stings a frog who promised to help it, just because that's in its nature. Take me for example. My mother was born with the purpose to end all sentient life. My father, well he played a bit more hardball, he was tasked with ending the whole of the biosphere. I'm the heir to both legacies, so I guess one could call me the ultimate 'scorpion' to your 'frog'."
Levitating the book up with her, Lea smirked as a tired Starlight lay back wheezing for breath after another failed attempt. The unicorn flinched and froze as the changeling ran a hoof along her cheek and chin, tilting her head up to look her in the eye.
"Just doing what's in my nature. It's nothing personal deary, least not with me...."
The sound of a door opening in the background caused the hellish kaiju to snicker.
"Her on the other hand~..."
She pulled away, revealing a wide eyed and grinning Cadenza standing behind her and staring at Starlight Glimmer. Just seeing the alicorn was enough to cause her world to fly into even more mortal terror than it already had been.
"C-C-Cadenza!"
The alicorn slinked over to the duo and stood beside the changeling, looming over her captive whilst speaking in a taunting voice.
"Weeell, weeell, well, Chrysalis' darling little prodigy is awake. Say, Lea I believe I heard someone talking about her recently!"
Lea raised a curious eyebrow, tilting her head and addressing Cadenza in a friendly tone as she ran a hoof over Starlight's quivering head and through her mane.
"Oh, do tell? So far she hasn't said anything of worth beyond exhausting herself trying to get out."
"Yes, it was actually the good Duchess who told me during a cell visit. She told me how so very proud she was of little Starlight here, about how she'd found her calling helping others find their's. She'd been researching the spell Sombra used to ascend that street trash of an usurper Trixie!"
She spat with poison on her tongue, face momentarily convulsing to an enraged expression. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, settling back down to a disturbing calm.
"She was planning to do it to our guest here as soon as she was able."
Battra's eyes lit up with a malign glee that instantly killed any hope or inspiration that was welling up in the flabbergasted Starlight's mind.
"So you're saying we have a soon-to-be alicorn in our midst?! Oh why ever did she tell you this?"
Cadenza groaned, heading over to a crystalline work station while waving her hoof in a mocking, half hearted manner.
"Oh probably just some heartfelt ploy for change, she's been saying the same thing since Celestia and Luna got bastardized to their side. Something about not being the "only alicorn alone" or along those lines. Appeals to the heart always were her shtick, never did work on me though."
"Why's that?"
Cadenza rolled her eyes, outstretching and rolling her wings.
"Because I'm a cold hearted wretch who causes hatred and grief."
"Always wondered why I felt slightly more murderous around you.... Oh well, doesn't change the fact we have a future queen in our midst! Soooo..."
Battra trilled as she sat down next to Starlight, casually leaning on the table she was bound to and flipping through the pages of the tome to find the right one.
"I shall grant her majesty a gift, knowledge."
Starlight looked at the churning pages, needing only a few brief glances to see its pages were filled with spells Sombra and Chrysalis had banned long ago. It was one of Queen Celestia's records of dark magic spells, an ancient one judging from the state of the book.
"Knowledge of what..."
"Why, knowledge of how you are going to help these scorpions do as they do best, in the forms they do them best in of course... Permanently."
Battra Lea let his tongue roll over a fang as Cadenza cast a vile grin upon the unicorn. Starlight was too shocked to scream.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Run? Hoo boy, there's only one fiend in particular that springs to mind from that word...
6673003
Got it from here~
6673023
Oh, I was thinking of something completely different. '3'
I got to say that I find the alternate Destoryah to be hilarious as she seems to be a cheery gal that's really into violence. I also found Battra's reaction to Raiga giving her the finger to be hilarious and I'm deeply curious as to what will happen now that Raiga found alternate Junior.
6673033
Well still involves running for your life against a sociopathic theropod who's a lot smarter than it looks
Oh? What you get?
Nice chapter.
[youtube=youtube.com/watch?v=XwwOevYjihU]
6673052
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/creepypasta/images/9/98/Run.png/revision/latest?cb=20130411230027
Edit: upon reflection, there's one other creature that comes to mind when I hear the word "run": That goddamn clown from The Brave Little Toaster's nightmare scene. Between him and Red, I'm still on the fence about which is scarier.
It still makes my stomach churn seeing Lea and Junior act like this... and trust me, that's a compliment given how this story's supposed to be!
Good work! hope more comes along soon!
When I read this chapter I was going to ask why Godzilla and his Friends do evil things. Then I just realized that Raiga is in the world dimension not where Godzilla and his friends are at from the Briged but in the universe on the comic I read and have. When Empress cadenza mention about Celestia and Luna turns to the good side. Also Deystroya is never happy. Anyways hopexciting Raiga realize that not her chief she knows but an alternate universe. Keep it up I hope this continue.
6673077
Yup, fitting indeed.
6673119
I apologize for any churning. That unsettling feeling is actually intentional. For two years I've showed a benign scenario for the two main Defenders. We have a heroic, humble Godzilla and a brave, selfless Mothra. Out of all the possible ways this could have played out, this is my idea of a best case scenario. Terra and Equestria lucked out, big time. For those who wanted a more apathetic and destructive Gojira however, here's the worst case scenario. A sociopathic, incredibly powerful Godzilla Junior and Lea would be nothing short of terrifying.
6673152 you explained it to me before, and like I said, it was a compliment! You went for an unsettling scenario and succeeded!
6673152
Also:
Tarbs, I never imagined you putting in an uncensored F Bomb before. That's new.
One last thing, I think this is what's going on in Raiga's mind at the moment:
6673166
Oh I know, I was rephrasing it because I got a Tumblr anon asking a similar question so I answered it again so they could see. My apologies
And thank you kindly for the compliment
6673180
Battra Lea makes Destroyah (both of em) look stable
Figured the same joke repeated (curse cut away) could be bent once in awhile
And yep, yep that about sums it up
6673187 thank you for the fic.
Quite the spell of athletic means seeming to be coming up, but like the choice of morse there. Doubly so the binary. But I have been enjoying this one immensely. Thank you.
Well that gave me chills. Seriously Tarb, yikes. Way to show how dark and gruesome can work properly to terrify. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find a blanket to cover the goosebumps.
NEW CHAPTER! WHAT-WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kettle's boinig, pressure's building, and the steam valve's stuck shut.
Ragi's about to blow her top
Looks like Starlight is the Turkey this year.
Nice!
But what the heck is the of that 'in the next chapter!'??!
Well, someone's going to get punched in the face .
Just something that wouldn't go away.
Anyways, great chapter and I really fear for Starlight. I hope Raiga gets her out before something happens to her.
{Also, it just feels so strange to see Spoiled Rich as good.}
This is getting good. That reminds me, have you heard about my new story yet? It also involves Faith's NexGen characters.
Something else occurs to me. Battra Lea's inherited desire to destroy all life means that she'll eventually betray all of her allies in order to kill them too (She's the ultimate scorpion, after all). Somewhere among the various possible futures for the Mirror!Amalgamverse, Battra Lea and Mirror!Junior are fighting to the death on an Earth that's devoid of all other life.
Funny how Destroyah has a heart in the mirrorverse; where as in the regular universe, she hates just about everything. This chapter has some dark, twisted stuff in it; keep it coming! I'm starting to like Battra Lea and Dark Goji.
Raiga is a Gojiran?
6674139
Same species base, but she has a very different mutation.
6674077
Now you're getting it~....
static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Guts_slasher_smile_7502.jpg
1. I loved how evil Battra Lea was made out to be in this chapter. Would Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender be a reference for Battra Lea's personality?
2. Mirror! Destroyah's more Pinkie like personality made me chuckle, especially how she handled Mirror! Xen's outburst before she went back to talk to him.
3. The predicament Mirror! Starlight was left in and Raiga now coming face to face with Mirror! Junior seem to indicate that you have quite some action in mind for the next chapter.
4. Reading Battra Lea's reaction to getting flipped off was priceless. If that is one of the illustrations, then even better.
Somehow, I suspect wards or no wards, finding the bad guys hideout will soon be a simple matter of following the storm clouds.
Very soon now, everything will click for Raiga.
Then, all of Mirror! Equestria will hear... The Sound Of Thunder.
As for the clue at the end... will Raiga be channeling The Doctor?
6674400 Suddenly, I am sensing a potential new ship pairing.
In the Author's note let's see: Binary, Morse Code, Kanji Godzilla, then some crazy bullshit.
Come on Raiga, Lea being Battra should be a big-ass clue that you're not dealing with your usual allies here.
Good!Xenilla, like his counterpart is busy trying to strategize, with !Destoroyah going all "get over here little man!" on him.
Jeez Tarb, what was all that you were saying about Grim/Dark?
6676099
Simple. I dodging what I decried because I didn't show anything explicit happening onscreen, kept the grim restricted to tone, had some humor still; and character variety. :)
If I were in Raiga's place, this would be the technique I would use (since I don't have any powers or anything)
6676639 troll.me/images/futurama-fry/well-played.jpg
*See destroya part*..........*brain blows up* What....how...why...huh?........I think apart of me now just wants to see an image of how all of these guys now look being evil.
I like that Battra is in the sequel. And, just want to put this out there: REALLY like Faith Wolf's art. EPIC. Looks like it's actually from the MLP TV show.
I like dark Goji; nice job to Faith.
Drive was the first thing I thought of with the Scorpion and the Frog.
Well, there's three smiles I never want to be on the receiving end of. I can't decide which is scarier; Godzilla's slasher smile, Battra's hungry grin, or Cadenza's evil glare with smile.
Well done.
This has ARTWORK?
20% cooler.
Why so many TFS references in the comments?
I find Cadenza's evil smile to be the best of the three smiles in the artwork. Just the perfect mix of triumph and wicked thoughts on her mind.
If Raiga is a Siren, can she absorb hatred and anger, which would allow her to overpower Mirror Junior since they would be roughly equal in their normal forms? Of course, if the Mirrorverse Sirens don't do this, that blows my theory out of the water.
6704787
Assuming she knows how to even do that. Do keep in mind sirens require to be singing on some level for their emotional magic to work and Raiga likely has no clue how to do that. She might be physically capable of it, just, like the levitation, needs to figure out that both she can do it and how to do it. As for if Mirrorverse Sirens could do it, I play to the idea that they actually can influence and feed off a variety of emotions; akin to what the closely related mermares can do. It's just the three we've seen only knew how to do that one spell.
As for strength, Junior actually is a bit more powerful than Raiga due to having a stronger, if much more unstable power source. Keep in mind if Raiga is kept away from lightning or large amounts of electricity, she starts losing power. I'd put it as if Raiga was a 7.5/10, Mirror!Junior is a 9/10
Considering Mirror!Junior is actually a bit stronger than his heroic counterpart because he does somethings our boy never would.
6704930 Good points, but remember that Aria didn't need to sing to absorb Kaizer Ghidorah's anger, she just had to walk near him. Also, in the climax of Rainbow Rocks, the Dazzlings didn't need to sing to feed on the arguing Rainbooms. All the singing does is get people angry; they don't need it to feed on someone already angry.
6705343
Ah, my mistake. This is why I shouldn't answer questions when multitasking, I rush. Still do recall they were clearly working some type of magic when absorbing that energy. Once again like levitation, I would imagine doing this requires some understanding of how the power works. So point still stands that even if Raiga could do it, she wouldn't know how. It's a two spell system. Sing to generation an emotional energy, then another spell to absorb it. It all comes back to the siren hearts.
Same reason Xenilla had to figure out how to use his unicorn horn's magic. Just because they have it doesn't mean they know how to operate it.
So, let me get this straight. Godzilla is EVIL?!?!
6712001
Mirror universe. Main timeline, a.k.a the one the kaiju from The Bridge proper are from has a heroic Godzilla in the form of Junior. Just as Main!Equestria and Main!Terra (a.k.a kaiju homeworld) linked up, Mirror!Equestria and Mirror!Terra did. And in a mirror universe, the morality is flipped. So the more heroic the Godzilla Junior we know and love is, the more vile and monstrous Mirror Junior is.
Those who stand the tallest cast the longest shadows.
6712637
Plot twists ahoy
6712535
So it's kinda like how there's and evil version of Celestia and Luna?
If so, COOL!