The Trusted: Luna - Junior
Hooves stomped dents into the floor as their massive owner bulldozed through several barricades of overturned shelves that blocked the hall, hardly slowing in his sprinting pace as the showers of splinters and shattered glass flew around him. Pace only increased at the sound of screaming coming from the end of the hall. Godzilla Junior lowered his head down and to the side, not even flinching as the thundering crack of splitting wood and twisting metal shot out when he rammed down the door with the lunar symbol inscribed on it.
Skidding to a halt in Princess Luna’s room, the kaiju quickly checked his bearing but was too slow to avoid being blindsided by a wave of black energy firing off from above him. Gritting his fangs and enduring the cold snap that accompanied the shockwave, Junior looked to and fro. The dark tsunami of magic caused the world around him to distort and darken, resembling an oil painting more than it did reality. Luna’s chamber twisted and wavered, becoming almost a nightmarish parody of itself as one light after another was snuffed out. Taking heed to protect his angles, Junior stood at the ready and put his back to the wall. With the last candle snuffed, the only light in the room was currently coming from Junior’s ignited mane and the flickers of burning blue slipping from the corners of his mouth.
Silver luminescence trickled in from the window opposite of him. Howling gales tore the window open, letting in gusts of chilling winds and the encompassing glow of the full moon. The lunar body itself rose up with the image of a dark alicorn etched into its surface. The image moved, seeming to throw its head back and laugh in a chorus Junior could hear all around him before she spread her wings and leapt out of view. Black streams of mist shot out of the moon and into Luna’s chambers. A tall, shadowed figure with an alicorn's outline appeared where the black haze did, slowly walking forward into the moonlit patch of floor space before the window. Sapphire blue armor gleamed and Nightmare Moon cracked a fanged grin as her eyes became flooded with black light. She fired a torrent of dark magic, forcing Junior to dive to the side, roll back to right himself and return fire. Nightmare Moon smirked and jumped back, disappearing into a haze only to reappear from another dark corner of the room.
They danced for several minutes, dodging, disappearing, reappearing, firing and returning fire. Sometimes the malefic magic encasing and distorting the room would cause Nightmare Moon’s magic blasts to rebound or bend, forcing Godzilla to either dodge again or discover new methods to negate the hit.
-They said dark magic can play havoc with my ability to heal, can’t take too many direct hits.-
The latest such ricochet blast was deflected by a nuclear pulse charged backhoof and kicked through the roof. Seeing that the current strategy was not working, Nightmare Moon was quick to alter it. Melting back into the twisting nether, her solitary pair of glowing eyes were soon replaced by half a dozen. Six dark alicorns flew into action, firing their magic blasts from multiple angles or flying around the dark room to get a better spot from which to charge or fire from. Godzilla Junior frantically dodged and returned fire as best he could, batting away a blast and unleashing a ray of plasma at one of the alicorns. Only, much to his confusion, for the beam to pass right through her and hit the ceiling. Junior narrowed his eyes and trailed another one of the Nightmare Moons while he braced himself to tank a magic blast to the chest. Wincing and bearing through the biting cold, his mind became alight when he noticed a very subtle detail. Some of the Nightmare Moons were flying into things and not reacting, a wing clipping into a wall, two of them flying so close to one another they should have collided, or in one case one’s tail passing by another’s magic blast but not responding to the concussive force or the shockwave.
-There’s not six of them, just one.-
Junior rolled off to the side and honed his eyes upon the group as he tried to discern the fakes from the real one. One Nightmare Moon unleashed multiple concussive blasts in his direction. After taking a moment to brace just in case, Godzilla Junior growled and walked right through the fake attack. Another Nightmare Moon surged at him from the side. This time he didn’t even react, choosing instead to study the other four remaining alicorns to find what he was looking for as her fake attack passed right through him. Junior paused, locking eyes with one Nightmare Moon hovering in the middle. She glared at her foe, magic spiraling up the lines of her horn. Junior stomped a crackling hoof into the ground as a blue fiery hue overtook his mane. Nightmare Moon unleashed her wrath, cackling madly while sending a three meter thick column of magic out to engulf the kaiju. In response Godzilla Junior, mane alight turned to his side to face the Nightmare Moon who’d been rushing him from the side and reached out to her as the dark magic engulfed the both of them.
The shower of angry magic swallowed the two up for a solid ten seconds before it finally dissipated. When it did both Junior and the Nightmare Moon he’d turned to face were standing still, the alicorn having dropped her hooves and looking down at a tingling pressure on her side. The gentle touch was just below her wing, Junior’s hoof tracing across a barely visible scar present there. Nightmare Moon sighed, casting a smile as the distorted dimension around them lifted. They were back in Luna’s room as it normally looked with the duplicates freezing in place and disappearing in puffs of haze. The black coloration around the remaining Nightmare Moon evaporated off, releasing a smirking Princess Luna. The Princess of the Night silently reached up and trailed her hoof along Godzilla Junior’s brow, cheek, and jaw, tracing the same barely visible scar she had on the night she’d gained some insight on her new bodyguard. Luna giggled, putting her horn to Junior’s and causing the dream realm she’d put them in to lift away like a drawn curtain.
Princess Luna closed her eyes and beamed, tilting her head and giggling after Godzilla Junior woke up from the dream walk shaking his head in confusion. The facsimile of her chambers had been washed away, paved tile and cobblestone replaced with the isolated calm of Starswirl’s Glade. Waiting for Junior to come to fully, Luna reached out with her wing and gently bopped the stallion on the head.
“How did you know which one was the real me?”
“You smell-”
Junior’s blunt suddenness elicited a slight leer from the princess before he could finish that statement.
“-distinct. I didn’t scent anything from the others and it narrowed down.”
“Oh.”
She muttered, bouncing back to amicableness.
“Well I guess that’d be a useful trait if the purpose of this is to teach you to not be fooled by dark magic. Many types of dark magic focus on sight, touch, and sound more than smell to deceive, so should you find yourself against such a foe they might forget to change that or just not change it enough. Unexpected, but I won’t argue.”
“Only probably wouldn’t be effective in crowds.”
“Well, thankfully unless you’re accompanying me somewhere; not a problem.”
“Tell that to the unicorn school.”
Junior mumbled his retort partially under his breath. Princess Luna, now sitting herself beside the unicorn as he put his side up against hers, raised an eyebrow and her ear to his word.
“What was that?”
“I like kids as much as next fellow, but that chib-something Mariner Moon kid really needed to stop trying to copy my beam.”
“Not her fault she assumed it was magic, she was definitely eager.”
“... She blew a hole in the roof with a pink death ray.”
“Shaped like hearts! And I made sure she got an A+ for it! Clearly a prodigy!”
Luna chirped with a laugh, having to cover up her muzzle to keep from snorting. Godzilla Junior couldn’t help but glance over to the alicorn next to him and note the contrast. When in public she was always prim, composed, often authoritative with a booming voice and that weird manner of speaking that still confused him. Seeing her now was a contrast that, for not attempting a pun, looked like a new moon versus a full one. Princess Luna in public was a new moon, a princess first and only giving a bit of insight, like a new moon’s outline, as to what was going on in her head. In private or if quips from other were to be believed, on Nightmare Night, she was Luna first, Princess second. Just like a full moon doesn’t hide things from its facing surface, she didn’t hold things back. She’d joke, laugh, jest, let her tone drop, and just emote more in general no matter if it was happy or sad in nature. Junior shrugged, letting the alicorn’s smile infect him. He didn’t much care for Princess Luna the first days, but after getting to know Princess Luna in the weeks after, especially after the night at the bedside or the twilight he found her here in the glade; he could bear through it. He knew which one was real by now and liked the result.
Still, didn’t hurt to test the theory. He nudged the alicorn at the shoulder.
“Question that’s been with me for some time. Your speech pattern at the school, I saw you use it when in the meetings I accompanied you to.”
“Oh? You mean the Royal Canterlot dialect? Sorry if the shouting hurts thy ears.”
Junior rolled his eyes at the last part, chuckling briefly before replying.
“More than just the shouting, the wording. I noticed you drop it when out of view. Never seen you use it much beyond a brief mention here or there when we talk. Or when you talk to Celestia.”
Princess Luna paused, looking out across the glade and sighing contently.
“Never felt much need for it. Sometimes it’s draining to keep using, especially when it’s improper.”
“Improper?”
“The Royal Canterlot voice and its manner were something Starswirl and Platinum came up with for us when we were named protectors of the realm, though back then it was just the “royal” voice. Didn’t live in Canterlot then. The intent was to display power to assure the normal folk they had the mighty looking out for them.”
“And above them I take it?”
“In a way, yes. Definitely helps when talking down an unruly governor or noble. But, as an announcement of status and stature, it’d be improper to use it on my own sister since she’s the elder.”
“And what about me? Is it like how Celestia says I need not call her “Princess” because she considers me an equivalent royal?”
“Well you are titled “King” of the Monsters… But, no actually.”
Luna paused, earning a tilted head from Junior. Luna looked out into the glade and with her mind’s eye she looked further. The alicorn saw many things. A moment where an entity she once held in suspicion stubbornly refused to leave her side when facing her father figure’s headstone. Another, sillier moment when that same being, not even knowing what he was doing, caused her to get flustered like a filly after dumping an uprooted rose bush in front of her. And of course, a turning point in her view when she saw something that walked with thunder and stood above almost anything was in fact riddled with scars while learning why he got them. She’d seen the real Junior that night and the motion she repeated as she reached over and traced a line across his brow and cheek reminded them both of that. Luna pulled her hoof away and smiled.
“It’s because it’s improper to do so to a... confidant. A sentiment I suspect you understand, given your lack of calling me “Princess” lately.”
Luna’s answer came not in words but by Junior shifting over and putting his hoof to a line of tender scar tissue just below her wing, one hardly anypony knew was there. Most would see a monster king battered by scars as humbling while a permanent marking on a lunar demigoddess was a blemish upon her form. But for Luna to Junior, Junior to Luna, they just saw themselves in someone they trusted. Luna cooed lightly, leaning over and touching her horn to his.
They stayed like that in the quiet for a time, until some of the silver beams of Luna’s moon started to fade over the horizon. The two looked out across the glade and towards the moon.
“Looks like my timer is almost out. We should begin to return to the castle.”
Junior, noting Luna’s words, stood up and glanced back behind him to eyeball the distance.
“Will take time then. It’ll be dawn before we return.”
“Oh? Have a schedule to keep?”
“No, but I know you well enough to know you prefer to be in your bedding before your sister raises the sun up.”
“Point made.”
Luna deadpanned with a slight snicker, testing her wings.
“I could fly back if you express such concern for my time… But I presume you haven’t gone off and learned any teleportation spells behind my back, correct?”
“No.”
Luna pulled her wings back and stood up beside Junior, smirking briefly before she held her head high and started to walk back to the castle. She didn’t even get three steps out before Junior’s words chased her down.
“You could carry me.”
“!?”
The alicorn stumbled and looked back and over at the mutant unicorn pacing up beside her, his eyes cast high towards the castle. She couldn’t help but cast a more than slightly incredulous look.
“C-Come again? Thought you hated flying”
Junior just shrugged, barely hiding a bemused expression in response to Luna’s confusion.
“What? You’re strong enough to kick me through a wall, I’d think you’d be strong enough to lift me.”
Luna’s face flattened with brief contemplation before a frown grew over it.
“That is true but-”
The alicorn placed a hoof upon her friend’s shoulder as he shrugged, knowing what she was going to bring up.
“-it’s not like you have a good record of individuals carrying you into the air. Are you sure you wouldn’t be unnerved by it? I really have little issue walking and being a touch late.”
Junior just slowly shook his head, muttering placidly.
“Destroyah and the gyaos dropped me, you wouldn’t.”
“N-No I wouldn’t, but wouldn’t the experience worry you throughout it? I wouldn’t want to cause you distress.”
“You won’t.”
Junior tilted his head over and cast a pleasant, relaxed smile he didn’t get to wear as often until he came to Equestria. He gave the alicorn a subtle nod.
“I trust you.”
========================
Several minutes later and Luna was steadily beating her wings to fly home, the peaceful smile on her face quickly turning into a mischievous grin upon hearing a low grumble. She raised an eyelid to peek to her side, unable to stifle a sudden fit of giggling when she saw a pair of yellow eyes surrounded by red looking back at her. Upside down. Godzilla Junior held himself like he was sitting down on his haunches, forelimbs crossed in front of him as his tail and wild mane hanged down below him despite Luna’s magical aura wrapping around him.
“Hehehe, regret it Goji?”
She quipped slyly, smirking. Junior just narrowed his eyes and grumbled.
“When you put me right-side-up and get me out of this magic hold, you'll find out, Lulu.”
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Nice fake out opening. It fooled me.
This chapter was great. I'll be honest, the beginning with Junior battling Nightmare Moon before it was revealed to be an illusion was a great twist. It's pretty sweet to see two people who distrusted each other get along so well that they don't mind touching each other's scars with Luna in particular cooing from that. The offscreen incident of Mariner Moon (Sailor Moon) was downright funny to me along with the ending of Luna carrying Junior upside down. Overall, I love how the chapter was focused on Junior liking Luna's more open personality and seeing her as an individual while Luna sees Junior as a confidant.
). Thanks for the story, Tarb.
In conclusion, I loved the Valentine special Tarb. It was great to see the relationships between the Kaiju and the Equestrian gals. My favorite chapter is a tie between Xenilla/BD and Anguirus/Ki, followed by this chapter and then X/Aria. The best part is that after seeing all the fluff moments between those characters, it made me want to see more of this moments appear in the main storyline (I know we'll see more Ki/Anguirus in the next Bridge chapter
Are you sure you have the right magical girl expy?
Awesome work as always, keep it up!
Is this the last chapter?
7979127 I was gonna ask if he had the right franchise.
Pre-reading.
Oooohh man, the ship that started it all. This is like savoring one of the last bites of food.
I honestly had no idea the "Mariner Moon" thing was a reference. Totally slipped by me.
Upon conclusion, I was a little surprised by what seemed to me, the relatively small amount of romance betwixt the two. It's possible that it's just me, but the vibe I got, was that they were moving towards a relationship as companions and confidants in a way that diverges from romantic intentions. Now obviously there was a lot of touchy-feely stuff between Luna and Junior, and I can't discount that. However, I just can't shake this impression that despite the closeness, it's not leading them any closer to Love. At least, not with Junior.
The opening sequence of him fighting the Nightmare illusions was interesting, and the longer it went, the more seriously I questioned the superficial idea of this being some exercise. So, good on Tarb for having us suspend disbelief.
I think what Tarb tried to do in this one, was put over the similarities these two have and how their relationship has developed virtually in silence, with some gestures of kindness.
The ending bit, about Luna carrying Junior in her magic as she flew back home, was good for a laugh. I can kinda see him making the pouty face as he dangles upside-down.
There's been a lot of pressure on Junior lately, so it's nice to drop in on him when he's not under the spotlight of the inquisition, or bearing his soul to somepony. Just him, having an enjoyable night.
7979159 the story is now listed as "complete", so I think so. Plus, I don't think there are any more romantic ships.
7979905 hmm at least so far, but anyway you never answered my question on why you took a hiatus?
7979909 I didn't? I thought I did.
7979911 well if you did, i never knew of it.
7979913 I'm looking at it now. I think I just replied as a comment. I didn't open it as a reply to you. Muh bad. It's there though.
7979917 alright I'll check.
7979127
7979414
Hehehe, nice. Though reason I picked franchise I did is because of how often the Sailor cast kept popping up in the IDW comics so it made for a fun gag given
1. Was previously stated Luna was visiting the unicorn school we saw said characters at
2. Said school was evacuated during the Godzilla-Gyaos battle so any students would have had a good view of Junior's true form.
So the idea of some tyke turning fangirl was too hilarious to pass up.
7979093
Nice to see my last-minute idea is paying off. And magnificent work on the TVtropes pages! Bravo man, bravo!
7979094
7979902
Tis good to see this crazy idea of mine for a Valentine's Special paid off. The core idea of the special was to show how various relationships built over time and how they were affecting the characters involved, romantically or otherwise. In some cases it's clear the two got the hots for each other and would be willing to give it a try, it's just one or two factors cause it to be a slow burn like with Anguirus and Seong. Other times the relationship is focused on the two characters bringing out the better parts on the other when they're both experiencing a form of loss, which leads to a quicker execution once the threat has passed; as is the case with Aria and X. With Xenilla and Blade Dancer, it's a case of relationship progression at first coming from entirely platonic respect after misjudging the other; which then results in some of their goofier side showing up and becoming endearing to the other; as is the case when two people with very different types of maturity (Xenilla is logic maturity and knows a lot about the world around him and BD is life maturity, knowing how a healthy life works) fall in love.
For Luna and Junior, it's the last one covered because in a way it's all of the other three rolled together. Like Xenilla and Blade Dancer, it is born at first with the two completely misjudging the other and causing animosity. Then like Aria and X, the relationship takes a shift when they get a sense of what the other is really like, finding out they actually aren't that different. This part especially was important to me if I ever was going to make it romantic because way too often I see Luna pairings (often Luna-OC but can be her with canon characters as well) deal with the romance by having the suitor fall in love with and thus be loved by Luna because of her "woobie" aspect, appreciating her position and hard work when no one else does. This isn't especially wrong, I just wanted to do something different. In sum it up in a single phrase, most Luna pairings are made based off how different Luna is from everyone else; in this case, her relationship with Junior is based off how similar she discovers the two are. Similarly, Junior gets to come out of his shell because he's finally in a situation he can relax in and enjoy life a bit more; giving him the possibility of something he's never had the chance to try before, romantic or platonic. And finally the Anguirus-Seong aspect rings in because it's become obvious the two are enjoying each other's company, but progression is going to take it's time. In this case, Luna and Junior's relationship is a case of absolute trust between confidants. They both have seen the other in moments of "weakness", such as Junior right after the gyaos battle and Luna when she was mourning Starswirl; however they trust the other not to ever hurt them over this. They're aware of each other's faults but still see them as confidants regardless; hence their "touch" when they trace the other's main scar.
So you don't care for the Princess, yet love the Luna, Junior? But what happens when you are faced with Princess Luna?
A moral quandary we have here.
I really did love the interactions between these two. I always viewed Luna as someone who loved to test others in battle, whether her friends or a potential love interest, to see if they were up to snuff.
If you had to pick Tarbtano, which pairing did you had a great time writing?
7986860 It's more like he doesn't care for Luna because she's a princess, he cares for her because she's Luna. Junior doesn't put a person's (or pony's) position before who they are. When he makes friends, it's for the person they are, not their title.
8151276 I was more making a joke of his thoughts, then really reading into it. I did get that
8151311 Damn you internet comment system! I can never tell when someone is being serious or not!
8151322 hehehe, no worries. It's all good.
Completed?! What about Gigan x Mane-iac
8159414
leave the poor space chicken alone he finaly got away from her thanks to iris in the main fic
I have a feeling that reading stuff like this is not helping me get rid of my Shipping problem
8371728
Yeah, of course team him up with Blade Dancer, and well you've likely got a Battle Couple that unless you got someone like Lord Triek on your side. Good luck not getting barbecued.
This is definitely 100% BladeDancer approved!
derpicdn.net/img/2017/8/17/1512878/medium.png
Luna: So are we gonna Spider-Man kiss, or-
Godzilla: NO.
I want to see some Xenilla Junior brother (or attempted brother) moments, please.
Playful Luna. Nice
Man this is adorable. I wonder what the other kaiju would say if they saw Luna and Junior flying through the air like that. Lol.
I know when the first two chapters take place in The Bridge, but what about the last two chapters? When do they take place? And if possible, can you put when they took place at the beginning of each chapter, just like you did for the first two chapters?
This song would be perfect for the atmosphere of the present moment of this little story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiaWcecz4Qc