Epilogue: History shows again and again...
And it came to pass that the Age of Monsters dawned upon Equestria. Monarch was currently undergoing a reshuffling of sorts if you will, following the sacrifices of their two biggest authoritative figures. Pharynx found himself as the head of the organization now. Not that he really minded given the fact that he was now a job that fulfilled both of his wishes. To be in a position of power and to actually have a job that involved dealing with or containing dangerous threats to his hive.
“You know all of that just became pretty funny when you think about it,” Fizzlepop remarked as she looked upon the news footage covering the battle between Mothra and the MUTOs. One headline proposed her as the Queen of the Monsters: Savior of Our City. “I mean, Mothra was just some old lady attempting cockblocking a couple!”
“...Where… where does your mind even go to when you think that?” Daring asked as Fluttershy blushed a bright red. The group had met up over drinks to celebrate Pharynx’s new job. Thorax and Twilight would have been there, but they were currently heading up the trial on Captain Hardsteel. Fizzlepop sighed to herself sadly, the stallion could have had it all and yet like Captain Ahab he chose to throw it all away in search of his ‘white whale’.
“Well, she’s got a point,” Pharynx smirked sharing a hoofbump with the now smirking mare. He then noticed her expression. “...You alright, Fizz?”
“Maybe… I don’t know,” she sighed as she began taking a sip of her whiskey. “I mean, you have to ask… what now? Serizawa and Stellar are dead, Monarch's masquerade’s blown and we lost far too many good ponies in all of this. Hardsteel amongst them.”
“Hardsteel was crazy,” Celeano disagreed. “If you ask me, a court-martial is too good for him. Should have just had the MUTO eat him alive… Ordering his own men to get themselves killed! That bastard! They’re lucky to be alive thanks to that spell of Twilight’s and Mothra!” she snarled. Pharynx wasn’t aware that a parrot could look quite so furious but then again Celeano was doing a very good job of proving her wrong. If looks could kill, the Changeling Prince would have imagined Hardsteel would have burst into flames at the sight of her.
“I think he got it off worse in some regards,” Fizzlepop disagreed. “A soldier’s way to die, and I speak from experience here alas, is with the enemy at the gates and adrenaline pumping and coursing through their veins. Denying Hardsteel a soldier’s death is about the worst thing you could possibly do to him. Here he is, stripped of his pride and put on public display for all to see.”
“To each their own,” Celeano muttered to herself. “But… but your masquerade’s been blown now am I correct? Pharynx, how do you plan to even handle something like this?”
“Eh, I’ll deal. Monarch always has. The public will panic, of course they will. But it’ll be Monarch’s job from now on to contain any Titans and if it comes to it work with them to stop the more dangerous ones.”
“W-What could be possibly more dangerous than those MUTOs?” Fluttershy whispered not sure she really wanted to know.
“Godzilla, or Gojira or whatever you want to call him. He’s on our side for now, yes, but what if ponykind were to turn on him?” Pharynx asked as an unsettling silence came over the group. “We’d be almost powerless to stop him. And for all we know… and for all we know there could be something much more dangerous lurking in the shadows, just waiting for his -or her- time to arise…”
Fluttershy had to excuse herself, though not for the reason you might have thought. No, she didn’t need to go ahead and find herself a nice couch to hide under. She had seen a pony with an eerily familiar gaze lurking just out of sight.
“...You knew what was going to happen all along didn’t you?” Fluttershy asked the pony, who shapeshifted into a serpent-like being. “Didn’t you Discord?”
“...Well, I may or may not have. I certainly didn’t expect the King of Monsters to show when he did, that was for sure!” Discord laughed. “Battra Leo showing up and holding off the MUTOs for as long as he did before mommy dearest arrived? Now… I certainly didn’t have a thing to do with that. All that happened there was a small change in the air that in turn was caused by a microscopic variation in the evaporation of water from a tree in the jungles of Honolulu, due to a tiny little fly flapping its wings a few seconds too early. That’s all!”
Fluttershy had to stifle a laugh. “Discord…” she thought to herself.
“But in any case, you ponies somehow manage to keep on going to impress me,” Discord continued. “I thought you all would have turned and ran when the first MUTO hatched and made landfall. But guess I was wrong, you rose to the challenge and helped Mothra win against her rivals. I honestly thought for a bit the dominant species of the planet would be the MUTOs sending you back to the Stone Age!”
Fluttershy just shook her head. “It’s what we ponies do, we face a challenge and we meet it. We haven’t survived this long without having some sort of… something to keep us going.”
“Yes, quite. Not sure what that something is yet if it’s your friendship or something else but you certainly do seem to keep on meeting every challenge the world has to throw at you. And that’s why I like you all. You, no matter what, you never give up. So dear Fluttershy… Tea at our usual time?”
Fluttershy couldn't help but smile. “...I… I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”
Sire’s Hollow:
“Mata au made, kyūyū,” Twilight said as she placed some flowers atop a grave marked with Serizawa’s name. There was no body to be placed inside the tomb, the Destroyer had seen to that. But he would be remembered for his part in the dawn of this new age, for good or for ill. “Arigatō… Serizawa sensei.”
She turned to Sunburst, who was quietly mourning the death of his mother. “You going to be alright?” she asked wrapping a wing around her friend.
Sunburst blew into a handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes as he looked upon her tombstone. “Y-Yeah, I think I’ll be fine. Just… Just give me a bit of time, okay?”
“There’s a place for you, you know. In Monarch, I mean. Pharynx’s offer, not mine,” Twilight said. “I can understand perfectly if you don’t want to come and join them.”
“Maybe someday, but for now… I… I think I’ll need some time away from giant monsters and all of that. I have to play uncle for Flurry, and the Crystal Empire needs their mage. You understand right?” the orange unicorn asked and Twilight nodded softly.
“Yes… Yeah, take all the time you need. And if you ever need anything… just give me a call okay?” Twilight asked and Sunburst smiled at her.
“Y-Yeah, I think I’ll do that. So, how did it go? The trial I mean?”
“Well,” Twilight began. “It was certainly something. I mean, you can definitely call it that really…”
Even as she explained what had gone on in Canterlot, Twilight had begun to flashback towards that fateful trial.
“So, you honestly believe what you did was for the best?” Twilight asked as the trial came to order, Raven Inkwell banging a gavel as the charges were read off. Attempted murder of a Princess, assault, endangering one’s own men… The list went on. Shining who was in the audience looked on with a mix of disgust and disappointment.
“Of course I did,” Hardsteel refuted. “We do the dirty work! So our families and our countrymen don't have to be afraid! They should not even know that a thing like those even existed! Now your group, Monarch, that was your job right? Well look at how badly you botched it up!”
“Sometimes, the enemy does not exist… until you decide to go out looking for one. Yes, I acknowledge Monarch screwed up, but not because of how we failed to keep the MUTOs under wraps. They would have awakened eventually,” Twilight said absentmindedly rubbing her burned and charred shoulder with a hoof. It was where Hardsteel had struck her with his whip. “And that is neither here nor there Hardsteel.”
“So what, are we going to pretend those men of mine died for nothing? That they died fighting an enemy who did not exist? Do you have to go home to their families, look them in the eyes and tell them that their wife, daughter, husband, or son will not be coming home and yet you can’t explain why? Answer me that one Princess!” Hardsteel shouted back. If he wasn’t restrained by his cuffs and there weren’t two Royal Guards with spears pointed directly at him he probably would have launched himself straight at Twilight.
“They’ll know the truth, each and every one of them. Now I’m sorry for your losses Captain,” Twilight said. “We all are. But what you did remains unchanged. You are nearly responsible for the deaths of your own men and you would have been had I not saved them from the MUTO. Think on that Captain.”
“I have. And I’ve justified it to myself over and over that their deaths would have been a necessary evil just to stop that MUTO from making its way to another city.”
“Look at yourself! Your men wouldn’t have stopped that creature, slowed it down maybe but not killed it! There’s no excuse you can ever use to justify your men dying senselessly!” Twilight nearly screamed before Shining put a hoof on his sister’s shoulder.
“That’s enough Twiley,” Shining said. “That’s enough. Hardsteel, I assume you know your fate?”
“Yes, and… and I deserve it. Twilight’s right,” Hardsteel said sadly refusing to meet Twilight’s eyes. “I killed my men with my decisions and I deserve everything that’s coming to me. It’s not prison I fear, but who will greet me when I die.”
“Well, let us hope she will be merciful,” Shining said. “40 years, 20 if you’re good enough. Take him away!” he roared to his men who nodded and led the thoroughly defrocked Hardsteel away.
“He got off lucky, if you ask me…” Sunburst whispered.
“Did he?” Twilight asked remembering looking at Hardsteel’s face and the pain and the grief it showed. “Did he really?” she had to ask.
Sunburst couldn’t provide an answer.
“So… what now?” Sunburst asked as they walked away from the cemetery and into Sire’s Hollow proper. “Do we… do we just go on with our lives as if nothing’s happened or…?”
“No, we don’t pretend that nothing’s happened,” Twilight answered. “We acknowledge it and we learn and we grow from our experiences. That is simply what we must do. How does it go? History shows us again and again…”
“...How nature is willing to point out the follies of-” Sunburst began to whisper in reply before a loud explosion shook the town and knocked the two to the ground. “...What the…?”
A massive purple cobra creature, with spikes jutting out of his body had erupted from a nearby mountainside. As it reared up baring its fangs, the creature hissed as Twilight smiled.
“And so it seems the adventure continues… Titanus Hamadryad. Well, he’s in for a shock,” Twilight said as she took flight. “Because there are two things he doesn’t know about the new modern day Equestria. One of them’s me, yes. But the other is…”
A familiar roar cut through the air as cheers rose up from all over town as a very distinctive form appeared from over the horizon flapping her wings. She body-slammed the cobra creature and Twilight smiled again as she charged up her horn ready for battle. “Mothra.”
The battle ended, and Mothra returned to her home on Beginning Isle, now slowly starting to be known as Monster Island for the unusually large amount of Kaiju gathering there. A Monarch outpost had been set up, as per the norm although for some reason very ponies weren't particularly interested in taking up this particular position.
Daring honestly didn’t know why. Here, she got to experience some of the most wondrous creatures nature had on offer. Ever since Godzilla had moved in it seemed some of the nastier wildlife had decided to clear off. No worries about being eaten by giant prehistoric spiders for her!
Mind you, Daring mused as water shook a little in a glass of water she had near her there were other worries really. Such as being stomped flat by certain giant kaiju. But that was a risk she was willing to take Daring thought to herself. Currently, she and Snap Shudder were hiding amongst some bushes ready to fire off a few photographs at the creature that was just coming into view now.
Massive in size, it put all other dragons to shame. The white beast curled and coiled up around a nest of eggs. Now Daring wasn’t quite sure how most kaiju reproduced, although there was a working theory that some did it asexually. They certainly had no visible genitalia to speak of. And at least that spared Daring the thought of how Godzilla and Mothra -who were currently on the other end of the island- did that particular deed.
Daring had to wonder though, just what was their connection? Was it simply symbiotic as the Shobijin said it was or was it something more that couldn’t quite yet be understood by ponies? That scene at the Manehatten waterfront certainly pointed towards the latter really.
Then came the roar. A roar of nature, a roar of rage just as Twilight had described it.
SKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOONNNNGGKK!
She and Serizawa were right. None ever forgot their first meeting with the King of the Monsters. Even now he stomped into view turning to eye Manda and his clutch briefly before sinking down into the grasslands for a nice long rest. He would come when he was needed but for now, he needed to sleep. Daring chuckled. She couldn’t really blame him. Fighting other titans, some much younger than he for an entire week would tire anyone out. She then decided it was best to take her leave and walked back towards her tent where a painting by the Shobijin rested in a very prominent position.
Daring barked out a laugh making Snap look at her.
“What’s so funny?” he asked curiously as he turned to look at her and then he saw the painting as well. Godzilla, and Mothra spending time together under the setting sun.
Daring shook her head. Twilight had been right all those weeks ago. Nature was a curious and most wonderful thing really.
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And so the story ends... but it is just the beginning...
I enjoyed this story a ton, fight scenes and all!
9736595
First off, thank you!
Secondly, think I wrapped up everything neat and tidy? All loose ends cleared up, no sequel hooks?
Thirdly, fun fact. Manda in this chapter was originally supposed to be either Titanosaurus or Sekhmet, but I decided to go with a Titan that had already been alluded to in a previous chapter -Manda appearing during the trial scene via footage, he was the serpent Titan Godzilla scuffled with- and I couldn't figure out how Sekhmet would be able to swim all the way from Zebrica to Monster Island in what's basically China.
Isn’t he dead?!
I wonder if Mothra’s attendants will tell Twilight about the Golden One?
9736734
Oooooh, thank you for catching that typo! Frak, frak, and more frak!
If he becomes a threat, they will. As it stands, nobody knows if the Golden One is even alive right now. He could be six feet under really.
Well, I just got to the end of this chapter. Here are my thoughts:
Overall, this was a terrific read! The Bridge has dominated Godzilla-MLP crossovers for years now–not that it doesn't deserve it's praise, of course–but out of all of the other attempts at combining the Godzillaverse with MLP, this is by far my favorite. I think having the story focus on Mothra is a really unique twist for one of these stories, and given her status as a guardian of peace and harmony, it more than makes sense given the setting.
The other references were awesome too. I especially liked how the Oxygen Destroyer was introduced. In the wake of KOTM's rather sudden use of the weapon, it came across as especially refreshing. And of course, Godzilla's cameo towards the end was awesome too.
I did have a couple of qualms, though. I felt like in some parts, certain things were glossed over pretty quickly; Fizzlepop's subduing of Hardsteel being one of them. I also felt like certain terms common to our world could have been altered; while I liked Griffon!Serizawa, I feel like his name should have been something more MLP-ish, but enough to let you know that this is this universe's version of the character. There were also quite a few times when Hardsteel referred to his soldiers as "men"; I think "ponies" would have been more appropriate.
I also have to confess that I'm not much of a fan of the Twilight X Tempest ship. That being said, I'm happy that this story (at least upon first reading) didn't really seem to go all out on it. I felt like the references were obviously there, but it was comfortably (for me) vague and ultimately left up to the reader's interpretation what their relationship is. I think. I might need to reread it again.
But overall, this was an excellent read, and it's more than earned it's spot in my Favorites folder. Well done, Bricklayer!
9737153
Yeah, while the Bridge dominates the Godzilla Crossover scene, and with good reason (The only other Godzilla crossover I've seen even being close to its majesty is Hail to the King or its reboot) I wanted to do something entirely different from the norm. IE, don't throw the Dimension Tide in anything. Given we now know there is a plausible reason for kaiju existing in MLP's universe with Grogar, -or maybe there always was since 2014's film making kaiju ancient lifeforms- I decided to run with that and make these creatures always having been there. And yeah, Mothra I figured probably would be one of the best fits to introduce to the MLP universe first given her general personality. Plus, Godzilla as cool as he is can be quite overdone as a kaiju meeting some other franchise.
This is where I'm... well, sorta divided really. At times I think I just went a bit overboard with the references really, such as cribbing a few scenes directly from 2014's film such as the train attack and general plot with the MUTOs. But yeah, as nightmarish as the Destroyer was in the 2019 film, it did need some buildup given it's significance to the franchise. And yeah, funny thing, Godzilla himself appearing was never actually planned. It just sorta happened as I realized... "Hey, the readers are probably wondering what the Hell Godzilla is dong. Sitting on his ass?" Originally he was only supposed to appear in cave drawings or alluded to but when that realization hit me I gave the explanation of him dealing with other Titans who happened to be waking up. Why they were waking up exactly is left up to your own interpretation.
Yeah, this scene went through multiple drafts. Originally, it was supposed to be Celeano going sword to sword with Hardsteel or shooting him in the head as he either went after Twilight or attempted to blow the Destroyer early but I realized none of these made much sense. This especially rings true with Celeano heading out of the city helping others evacuate.
And the Serizawa name thing? I admit it was a combination of laziness and the fact I couldn't find a fitting pony name for the guy.
Which is the whole point. Just like the Godzilla/Mothra thing here, I intentionally left one of my favorite ships up to interpretation. Wanted readers to form their own opinions. If they think they're doing the horizontal tango, that's fine.
And so it ends.
By the way, does Battra Leo consider Godzilla to be his daddy?
9739593
Not in the slightest. And is it ever the end? They'll always be back... when we need them.
9739595
Ah, so he views Godzilla as the unworthy stepdad.
9739600
Pretty much. Keep in mind, the only reason Battra was heroic here was because of two reasons. Fear of his mother, and the fact that he wanted to take on Godzilla's chief predator. Well, chief natural predator anyways, if you don't count the False King.
If it were any other situation, Battra would have been just as dangerous as the others. He protects the earth, but that doesn't mean what lives on it. It's rocks, plants, and the rivers and seas he protects. Not ponies and the like.
9740435
But if he left the MUTOs alone, isn't there a chance they'd kill his stepdad so he could keep his mom to himself?
9740559
He's not stupid. He knows exactly what'd happen if the King died. There goes nature's balance...
9741174
Or he could become the NEW king, and create his own balance, one with no messy mortals screwing everything up! And finally, there will be peeeeeeace.
Here take this:https://www.fimfiction.net/group/213901/my-little-reviews-feedback/thread/410735/rebirth-of-the-queen-review
10154469
So far, you seem to be doing a pretty good job in my book! Honestly, the only off-note I ever felt in reading this was the bit with Fizzlepop saying the f-word back in the one chapter. And that's just a subjective thing on my part, as - even if I concede that of any of the ponies to curse, it'd be HER - I just find ponies using certain human swears to be too unintentionally "edgy" or funny-to-imagine for me to take seriously.
That said, I've had fun with everything else!
Nice conclusion to the story, all in all. I enjoyed it pretty well, and now that I've finally completed reading this one I shall be sure to begin on the sequel soon!
10154543
Yeah, this one is the tame story. The one that builds up the world, and lets you off easy. Rodan's story... not so much.
10223619
Errrrr... I don't think Fizz is the best... Example for a Princess to take after... Eh, well I'd bet that it gets her in trouble one way or another later on.