Epilogue: Looming Storms
======================
????????????????????????
======================
Raiga was able to hear her own heartbeat between her ears before she even opened her eyes. At first everything was nothing but a black canvas with flashing lights and swirls caused by excited nerves clouding any sense of detail, but after a few blinks her vision and mind returned to her own. And she was reminded of what happened right before she blacked out, lurching up from the hospital bed as the heart rate monitor spiked. She frantically looked to and fro, the image of a battered, but still very conscious and snarling Godzilla burned onto her retinas. She tried to summon up some electricity, and could feel it around herself, but her control was so far out of sync that she had about as much success in electrifying herself as she would trying to grab smoke.
Fortunate she couldn’t turn herself into a living taser considering Starlight Glimmer was quick to grab onto the frightened siren.
“Hey hey! Raiga, eyes on me!”
She yelped, causing Raiga to snap her head over to look at the unicorn and freeze. Her heart rate was still jolting, but after a few long seconds her breathing slowed and pulse calmed back down.
“Wh-What happened?! Godzilla was-”
“Gone. We’re in the hospital right now.”
Starlight muttered while helping Raiga lean back into her propped up bed. She put a hoof over the kaiju-siren’s head to check for a fever as Raiga got a hold of herself.
“D-Did we?”
She whispered, using the term ‘we’ as the memories of the battle played back through her head. If they were in a hospital then that meant the city was probably still in one piece, a fact that gave her both a lot of hidden hope and relief. Not needing to know the rest of that question to answer it, Starlight shook her head with a sullen frown.
“No, he’s still alive. He escaped with a warp spell after the others came.”
Raiga tilted her head at the unicorn as the subtle beeping of the heartbeat monitor ticked on and off, having finally quelled down to a natural, slow beat.
“Others?”
“More kaiju came to help us out, they drove Godzilla off.”
“... Which ones?”
That’s when a series of heavy footsteps walked up from the direction of the children’s ward and a very tall shadow cast itself across the sheet wall. “Dame” Destroyah, as titled by the Duchess and alicorns after the defense of Canterlot, poked her head into the room wearing a purple nurse’s cap and medical garb as evidently as she wore a fang filled smile.
“Hiya!”
Raiga’s eyes twitched and instinct overrode any information Starlight had given her on the river trip, causing her heart rate to skyrocket as soon as she saw the familiar crimson body color and curved horn. The legless siren still managed to launch herself out of her bed fast enough that, had the snickering Destroyah not kicked it out of the way, Raiga would have crashed into the light hanger. She landed forcefully back on her bed, thrashing some as Starlight threw herself on top of Raiga to keep her from hurting herself. Destroyah pitched in, pinning down the siren with one forehoof in a casual manner that betrayed her gargantuan strength; while she dug through her own mane with the other hoof and pulled out a clipboard.
“Let’s seeee...sixteen shattered ribs with three compound fractures, broken sternum in four places, ruptured left lung..ick, had to empty that one out, lacerations across 60% of your body with internal bleeding in your spleen, heart, stomach, liver, windpipe, and the upper end of your large intestine; shattered 92% of your right carpals, fourteen fractures on your radius and humerus, dislocated your left and right humerus, a shredded right tail fluke, third degree burns on your central torso to hip region; and multiple greenstick fractures on your frontal and parietal cranium. If I hadn’t helped them shove your severed lumbar vertebrae back into place you wouldn’t even be able to lunge at me just now. Only reason you’re not feelin’ any of this is the live-wire Lightning Dust hooked you up to for a recharge and all the pain killers we had to pump into yah!”
Destroyah quipped in a chipper tone despite ducking her head back and to the side rapidly to avoid the flailing hooves from Raiga. Starlight Glimmer wasn’t having as easy a time.
“Argp! Raiga stop it! She’s on our side!”
Raiga finally stopped trying to struggle free and flopped against the bed as exhaustion returned to her, the dulled pain resurfacing across almost all of her body with a vengeance. The places that hurt most were her energy pearls, each one cracked and occasionally giving off stressed, sputtering glows that flickered on and off dimly.
“Ooooooow…”
She groaned in a drawn out manner, Destroyah releasing her pin and rubbing the back of her own head.
“Heh, um. Well, somebody’s getting a lollipop outta thiiiiis!”
She snickered awkwardly, spurring a new voice to enter the room.
“Dame Destroyah! Please, have some more tact!”
A refined but incredibly warm, motherly tone spoke and heralded Duchess Chrysalis’ entry. While she clearly bore some lines of stress from recent events, one of which included panic-charging two high end kaiju all by herself as soon as she found Xenilla and Destroyah, the regent of this mirrored Equestria still carried herself with a graceful stride. A stride that was all too happy to change up and cast a hug once Starlight Glimmer practically glomped her teacher and buried her muzzle into the good duchess’ shoulder. Chrysalis beamed, nuzzling her pupil affectionately while holding her close. She peeked out an eye and spied the head-tilting Raiga, her smile persisting as the changeling raised her head back up.
“I don't think we've been properly introduced. After all, I believe you and my student here are the reason we have a mildly packed hospital and not a loaded morgue.”
Now remembering Starlight’s words at the river, the calmed Raiga put two and two together and placed the name of the unicorn’s beloved mentor and leader of this nation to the smiling changeling before her. She relaxed and sat herself up, still jolting a bit at Dame Destroyah’s touch as the latter helped her up gently. After all, the words “gentle” and “Destroyah” being in the same sentence was something she couldn’t conceive until a minute ago. She was about to say something to Chrysalis when another presence cut off her train of thought.
Instinct flared at familiarity, signalling to her there was another of her kind, a male Gojirasaurus, was close by. For a moment she panicked, visions of the nightmarish imitation of Godzilla flashing before her eyes. But thankfully, her senses filled in some more detail that quickly dissuaded that worry. The sensing was slightly ‘off’ by the time she saw the tall shadow cast itself across the curtain. Just like with this baffling reflection of Destroyah, she was unsure how to feel when a familiar yet unfamiliar voice spoke dryly from beyond the fabric wall.
“Duchess, may I enter?”
Duchess Chrysalis raised her brow and glanced behind herself, raising a hoof to adjust her slipping glasses after nodding. She looked over at Raiga out of the corner of her eye.
“There is someone else who’d like to see you now that you’re awake.”
She spoke in address to Raiga before throwing her voice out to the figure.
“You can enter good Sir knight..”
Sir Xenilla telekinetically lifted the curtain and peeled it back in front of him as he slowly tread in. Ever the astute study of body language, Raiga quickly compared the giant blue unicorn to both the kaiju she remembered and the monster in a pony’s body she encountered in the Thicket. His horn, coloration, and sense of power were identical to the Xenilla she remembered; but everything else was different and there was hardly a similarity to be had to the unicorn Godzilla from the palace. This Xenilla didn’t hold his head high in a smug sense of superiority like the former, nor puffed his chest out and swaggered about like the latter. He strode forth with a thickly veiled, puzzled look on his face, rolling his shoulders with each step. This wasn’t a calculating enemy or a prideful conqueror, but rather someone who had a lot on his mind as he approached her.
Raiga looked at the newcomer with a familiar face as he took his spot on an empty portion of the room, turned, and faced her.
“Soon-To-Be Queen Starlight has told me much. You look a lot like someone I knew and tried to sway before, but it appears you are not her and are instead someone I’ve never met before. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about that, but something about your actions as of late tells me we’ll have a lot to talk about soon enough.”
==================
Godzilla trudged through the dust storm without a mind to the sandblast he was getting from the thrashing gales nor the sharp and uneven stony terrain he tread across. After all, the disorienting storms and stone-laden ground were superb at masking his footprints ever since he surfaced from the river. It had been a long walk for him across Equestria, the fact most of the bones in his body were broken when he started off did him no favors for speed. But his path had been one he planned for and ensured it was safe, marching, hiking, and swimming along the hidden route Cadenza had hexed for just such an occasion, needing to keep Xenilla and Destroyah off his trail once the teleportation was enacted.
Reaching a sheltered crevice in the badlands, Junior walked up to and through the perfect facade of rock wall, stepping into the cloaked cave behind it. He calmly strode forward, descending into a maze of near total darkness amongst the pillars and walls of lime and sandstone, with the only noise being the echoed howls of the sandstorm and dripping water from above. Recalling from memory, he mentally recited the directions to navigate through Cadenza’s old hideout.
-Left, left, right, step back through the crevice, right, left, middle, then take the third ramp down.-
Even he had to be careful, if only to avoid any annoyances. If one could see through stone, they’d see this cave was littered with the alicorn’s crystals. If one didn’t know the correct path to tread, the illusions, warped perception, and ever-changing environment would induce a sense of misdirection and vertigo one would be hard pressed to pull free of if they ever did find their way into the remote and hidden location to begin with. That was one factor behind convincing the tyrant king that Empress Cadenza was worth teaming up with, her contingency plans were ones to rival Battra’s. Not even Celestia or Luna knew of this place, much less how to navigate it. While he would have prefered to stay in the Thicket for both elbow room and occasional entertainment with whatever deer tried to retrieve Aspen’s body again, this place was well beyond secure.
He paused when his night vision-gazing eyes caught movement to his right and above him. Perched above on a half concealed stone shelf was a low crouching figure, almost entirely obscured by the outcroppings surrounding him. Even in a domain so well hidden and hard to navigate Godzilla had been properly paranoid enough to listen to suggestion and posted a sentry. After all, with Chrysalis knowing what he looked like one could never be too careful about changeling imposters. Not with how much of a precious resource was here.
Godzilla curled his lip and hissed, letting glowing, radioactive mist trail out of his jaws. On command, Rodan backed down from his pounce-in-progress and bowed down. Godzilla grunted at the monstrous gryphon and nodded at him. The gesture was as close as one could get to him telling them to “keep up the good work” as Godzilla ever would give. With that settled, he tread through the tunnel Rodan was guarding, giving the cave wall a knowing pat to signal the submerged Anguirus it was definitely him. With all the misdirections, booby traps, dampening spells, and anti-scrying hexes Cadenza had installed over the years; it never hurt to have two other kaiju on guard duty. This was their fortress and anyone who tried to breach it was paying far more than what a life could give.
==================
Xenilla continued on, approaching Raiga’s hospital bed with a steady pace.
“Had you been the one I thought you were at first, I’d be hesitant to do this. But, you are not.”
==================
Godzilla could see clearly now that the enchanted darkness and fog had lifted, stepping into a deceptively large chasm carved into the rocky cave. A carved path and illuminating crystals guided him past Battra Lea and Empress Cadenza, the two already setting up the surviving material from the Thicket that hadn’t gone up in smoke to get the new laboratory up and running. The monstrous unicorn followed the path to the back of the sanctum. There was something he needed to check on.
==================
“I’ve brought my mistake to this world Raiga. The good Duchess may think otherwise but I don’t think of myself as a very good soul... but, this mistake has taken much from me and I intend to correct it before it can take from others. But, two against four can be a handful for myself and Destroyah-”
===================
Passing the length of the cavern into the back of the cave, Godzilla strode up to a sickly green and purple glow. It illuminated his features when he turned the corner and approached the crystalline coffin. Even now he could feel the power radiating off it, closing his eyes to embrace it as he walked towards the jeweled tomb. The dings, bruises, and scabs that littered his form evaporated away among the twinges of pain spurred by regeneration. He stopped and meditated before the pulsing aerenth and its glimmering contents.
===================
“This wasn’t your fight, but it seems like nobody’s stopping you from joining in. So you have two choices to pick from. You can focus on finding your way back to your home and endure your stay at this hospital, or-”
Xenilla noted, raising a hoof and waving it across the room. His horn and shoulder patches glimmered, bringing forth a dual yellow and blue brilliance from a saddlebag he bore across his back. Xenilla levitated the healing and energy crystals to hover directly between his own and Raiga’s faces, the slowly rotating crystal shards flickering between their eyes as the two kaiju looked to each other.
===================
Deep inside the aerenth coffin, the encased, near comatose form of King Sombra twitched and grimaced as his power was drained away from him. The darkness and wrathful power that had settled over the benevolent monarch since he ripped it away from the alicorn sisters was near infinite and replenished across his body and heart almost as fast as his captor could drain it away. His coma did nothing to dull the pain of either action.
===================
The crystal levitated close enough to Raiga that the kaiju-turned-siren could practically taste the energy coming off it. Just the radiance emanating from the dual constructs was enough to cause some of her bruises to lighten.
Xenilla finished his proposal.
“-or you can help me finish what you started here.”
Raiga looked to the healing and energy crystals for a time before glancing down at her cracked and aching red conductor pearls.
===================
The Tyrant King of the Monster’s eyes snapped open with a malefic grin, ruby red radiation trailing from his maw and dark magic smoke slithering out of his eyeballs. Back in the shadows, Battra Lea watched on with her own smirk.
===================
In a small burst of yellow and blue radiance, the cracks and cuts in Raiga's pearls began to mend themselves back together.
===================
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Tarbtano · 5.2k words · 110 1 · 5.2k views
- Tarbtano · 8.8k words · 162 3 · 7.2k views
- Tarbtano · 19k words · 71 1 · 3.8k views
- Tarbtano · 33k words · 64 4 · 4k views
- Tarbtano · 1.6k words · 71 2 · 2.6k views
- Tarbtano · 6.5k words · 36 2 · 2.2k views
- Tarbtano · 12k words · 64 2 · 4.1k views
- Tarbtano · 8.4k words · 52 5 · 2.1k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.149 seconds
Total duration
976 users online
343,041 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
7278227
Update must have been wonky. I did just post it now but I guess the site lagged
7278234 Yeah, that happens sometimes
Oh that was clever with the reveal of the villains' other special guest you mentioned a while back. Looking forward to when the games begin again.
The battle may be over... but the war has just begun...
Huh. I thought this was going to wrap up here. Didn't know we were going to be continuing on.
THE MIRROR VERSION OF DESTROYAH IS A DOCTOR!?
https://gartic.com.br/imgs/mural/er/erike/mother-of-god-meme.png
What a cliffhanger.
A very good send off to the fic. I should have seen the capture of 'good' Sombra coming, but then again, I was paying too much attention to Starlight......And the fighting of course. It's not that I was distracted by my fave pony.
You did her well... and everything else too. 
Sorry, gushing.
His capture does have a lot of sound logic and that makes it all the more terrifying how they were able to capture him with all that power he wields. It will be devastating when put into use, but with our heroes, they'll take the fight to them.
Also, power does tend to get villains to be overconfident in many respects. Overall, a great story.
Can't wait for more.
Okay, surprising that Dame Destroyah was the one who gave the diagnosis. The surprise appearances of Anguirus and Rodan were interesting and Godzilla's plans to super chat himself with Sombra's dark magic was quite the shocking twist. Still, Raiga joining Xenilla's team made me feel curious as to how the story will continue now that Sound of Thunder is over. Also, a part of me is curious as to how Mirror Xenilla would interact with Mirror Blade Dancer or if Mirror Harmony is an evil overdeity.
So this is not the end but the start of a new story.
Sign me up I really like to know more about Raiga.
Also there's a portion of Xenilla's dialogue that wasn't coloured.
Now I'm hyped for the next part
barefootsewing.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/j/o/jojo-to-be-continued-base.jpg
Worth the read.
Excellent as always Tarb, you never disappoint.
. Just so you know I'll be making my own Mirror-verse that is Non Canon, but I hope it can be half as good as your story
Very awesome, bud. Now all that's left is to see what exactly the future holds for our resident guardian.
Just like the movie, each has its own plot, but the entire conflict isn't done. I look forward to see how this goes.
Interesting way to finish this little run.
So Destoroyah is a qualified medical pony.... O-kay....... Certainly leads us in a new direction with her. No gripe, just... kinda odd. But if regular!Destotoyah is dedicated to eradicating life, it makes sense that her mirror! alternate would be concerned with preserving life.
soooo. Does evil Junior have a mustache like all evil counterparts do?
i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad192/Witneyman/mirror_spock.jpg
I really liked the way Rodan was perched on overwatch, and Anguirus was buried like a boobytrap. Reminded me of his cameo in MechaGodzilla '74, when he comes out of the ground.
Battra Lea is still awesome.
Alter!Xenilla seems like kind of a bore. But I guess when you take the cerebral one, and make him a babyface, he's trapped.
Alright, if Raiga is so damaged, and pretty much a bag of broken bones, it's hard to see her doing anything except whimper in agony everytime she tries to draw breath. But, regenerative qualities can give injuries the 'ole plot device smackdown.
Xen gives her a choice, she can either spend her time trying to get back home, or she can join the cause and put an end to the mirror!evil characters machinations. And here I had thought the story was going to conclude with loose ends, but nope, the hook is baited for some kind of continuation of events in the Mirror world. I would have been cool with it ending, but Tarb apparently has more cards to play in his little game. Jokers are wild in this spin-off.
I may need this clarified: In the comic, we last seen Mirror!Sombra absorb the evil mojo into himself to save Celestia and Luna. So, I take it that means that the body enslaved to the crystal siphon is evil, but incapacitated, and not the good King Sombra that's supposed to exist naturally in that world. That means they ambushed Sombra while he was hibernating, or they overpowered him, meaning there was a violent struggle, in which Junior & Co won. I'm supposing that any sequel to SoT will feature how the current state came to be, and possibly the arrival into Equestria from Junior, Lea, Xenilla, and Destoroyah's point of view.
Aside from continuing the struggle against the evil faction, I really have no idea where any sequel will go. My ability to detect plot lines has no power here.
Though I do hope that when this thread is picked back up, it's not soon. I don't say that because I don't like this spin-off, but because I just think that'd be better pacing for the Bridge story as a whole. Don't go back into it right away, wait a while, let us forget about SoT, maybe do another short-spinoff, then WHAM! hit us with the continuation right out of the blue.
But of course we have to wonder: Just what are Mirror! Celestia and Luna doing?
Niiice ending! Can't wait for more!
Awesome cliffhanger ending. Whatever start the games have, it's going to be a doozy. On another note, have the Terran Defenders from Main! Terra noticed Raiga's absence or do they assume that she's scouting about elsewhere?
7285258 Well, in The Bridge: Humanity's Stand, there was a part where they were asking where Raiga was because she would be useful for an undersea mission, but they couldn't find her.
Ooooh Man! This was a good end to end this sequel!! This was a good read, that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Even though I don't know much about Raiga, you made her into an interesting character, I like it!!
7332501 HAHA! So glad you enjoyed it! Introducing Raiga in a new and big way, as well as making her likable as any of the more well known kaiju was the big goal in mind. Glad to see I succeeded
Sequel already!!!
So, one thing I'm wondering. If Main!Xenilla is pretending to be evil, but is actually looking out for Main!Junior and wants to make him stronger, is the Mirror!Xenilla actually evil and wants to remove Mirror!Junior so he can take over? I'm really curious.
7439919 My guess would be he's likely to stay as he is.
This was one heck of a side story, and we've just gotten Raiga started. I wonder what the next side story will bring. Keep up the awesome work, Tarb, kind sir.
7439919
The way mirror-universe works is the morality (as a whole) flips but the circumstances may not be a direct 1 to 1. So for instance just because Main!Xenilla had a plan to pretend he was a villain doesn't mean Mirror!Xenilla had an identical once to pretend to be a hero. Mirror!Xenilla could best be compared to the character of Will Graham from Manhunter/Red Dragon. Not a moral person who understand evil, but managed too, if only barely, stay on the side of good. In this case he's less a hero because he's a well moral soul and more because he knows how destructive Mirror!Junior is and is out for revenge.
Thsi was incredible.
Action, drama, a funny Leeroy Jenkins that's not scared of putting her life on the line like every great hero/guardian...
Once again, you astound me.
Is this in an alternate universe to that of "The Bridge"? Because, even after reading the story, I am so confused. I was aware that Junior was one of the good guys but apparently I'm wrong? Please fill me in.
7665732
It takes place in the mirror universe from the IDW comics. The Raiga from the main universe Terra (same one as The Bridge's cast) got sucked into an alternate Equestria where the mirror counterparts of The Bridge's cast ended up.
7665732 HAVE YA EVER HEARD OF UNDER SWAP
IF NOT LOOK IT UP
BUT FIRST LOOK UP UNDERTALE
7670502 Titanosaurus, probably
This was a really great story! Can you please make a sequel that has main!Twilight Sparkle and Mothra Lea (not the others, just her because she is the most different from her mirror self, and Twilight because she doesn't have a mirror counterpart yet) travelling to the mirror world and encountering Raiga and assisting in the battle against the evil defenders? It's just a suggestion but could you please tell me if you like it or not?
That's how it ends??????????
I hope there's a part 2 to this. Cuz this was beyond awesome.
So many Questions left unanswered.
Amazing work as always dude.
The Sound of Thunder. Or as I like to call it; Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey (The vocal references for Jr. and Raiga) having marital problems.
By any chance could someone who's read this tell me what it's about in a non-spoilerish way (and by that I mean just for this one as I've already read the main story) as the story description doesn't say that much.
8242941
A kaiju heroine from Terra gets sent to a very different Equestria than the cast we've been following had been, where Godzilla Junior has burned down and destroyed a whole kingdom and is trying to find her.
8719221
I'm likin it!
Ah, that makes more sense. Thank you.
Tarb, this was such a beautiful way to end Sound of Thunder. I absolutely loved it, despite the massive cliff-hanger that you left behind. The way that Godzilla is literally the exact opposite of the normal Equestria's version, with the proud, prideful stature, as oppose to the original's slouched, relaxed manner was a nice touch. So far, you're placing Xen at my top three Bridge characters. His demeanor, the fact that he's not as prideful as he normally is, was something I really enjoyed... But I thiiiiink he might need an anger management class, cuz he sure as hell isn't getting anywhere yelling the way he was ("DAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNIT!!").
Now I need a Mirror v. Main with the Juniors of those universes!
You know, I could see this being a theme for either Battra Lea or Evil!Junior.
One thing I really like about mirror verses is that you get to explore the characters and see how they're different from their main counterparts. And how they came to be that way. This leads me to wonder 'What was mirror Godzilla Sr. like?' Was he still a serious, angry human hating creature, or was he little calmer in that area? We also know that Azusa wasn't the best mother figure in this universe, so was Senior like that too? I mean, did he ever miss treat Junior that could lead to Junior's more evil ways. Oh, so many questions I can't wait to have answered! I'll be looking for a continuation on this story.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sii40cnNI6A
Ok so mirror Equestria is being terrorized by evil mirror versions of the Bridge team and raiga is basically stuck in evil mirror world and so far no one know she's missing and they can't send back up great
How did I keep forgetting to read this!?
As usual, this was amazing. Short, to the point, and epic. The battle was freaking awesome, the build up spot on, and just, everything we all know you do so damn well. Plus the characters, it definitely feels like you put way more thought into how to use this being a mirror universe then the comic did, actually looking at how personality might change, what that would mean, what changes would make them be the opposite of who they are, not just "hurdur you just be evil because evil is some thing that takes you over." But really using this to show versions of the characters that you can tell are dark mirrors (or light in the case of the heroes) of the ones we know.
Though even if it is official, I have such a hard time picturing ANY version of Trixie, anywhere in the multiverse, to which the term 'humble' could ever be applied.
Still, amazing character use, and I freaking LOVE Raiga!
So many questions! I really hope this side story gets a parts 2.
This story is awesome and I hope for whatever reason these evil guys will meet the good version of themselves
Oh, this is the broken mirror universe. The mirror portal that Celestia broke. Got it.
Wow. Really hope this comes up in the main story, because Junior verses Evil Junior would be amazing.