• Published 21st Nov 2020
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The One True King - JDPrime22



Can Equestria’s greatest heroes coexist with these mythical and majestic beasts… or will they have to accept that their rule has come to an end? For the rule of the one true king, Godzilla, has returned.

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Chapter 39 – Key to Coexistence

Chapter 39

“He fought for us. He died for us. He is not only proof that coexistence is possible… he is the key to it.”

Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

The Radiance, Main Bridge

Discord emerged with a shocking and blinding pop into the Radiance’s main bridge, practically breathless but somewhat satisfied for a job well done in his book. He announced loudly and proudly, “No thanks are necessary! Just doing my newfound duty in protecting Equestria and her allies from certain doom! Oh, and you’ll find the inhabitants of the Crystal Empire have been safely transported to Ponyville for the time being! That includes, but not limited to, 3,467 Crystal Ponies, the Crystal Heart, and little Flurry Heart safely under the care of her former Crystaller! You’re… welcome.”

He inhaled sharply, nearly out of breath at that final statement. To his mild surprise, however, he was not welcomed back with cheers and confetti and celebration. Everypony just seemed momentarily frozen by his presence, some of them even taken aback by his following announcement. Others seemed mildly surprised in return, the looks he received from the rulers both former and present being so good he wished he could have captured them on the spot. Alas.

Celestia shook away her astounded expression, clearing her throat. “Very… well done, Discord.” Luna held a closed grinned, nodding quickly in support.

Sighs of relief filled the royalty of the Crystal Empire, and Discord turned his attention to that instead. Sharing a quick hug with her husband, Cadance broke away and stepped forth to face the draconequus. Her expression held an untold weight of thankfulness, the Alicorn unsure if she was ever truly able to express it all.

The most she could offer was a real, true smile and her statement, “Thank you… really.”

“Didn’t I just say no thanks are necessary?” Discord teased. Seeing the deflating expression grace her features, Discord smirked. “Never said I didn’t want them, though; come on.”

Always the jokester. Shining Armor couldn’t help but scoff with his wife. Joining her side and meeting the Spirit of Chaos’ gaze, Shining was slightly more hesitant than Cadance to offer his thanks. It was still Discord they were addressing, after all, and how much of him could still be trusted after all this time? Yet there was still that charming expression, that confident stare that told Shining and Cadance that his words were true. If so, then their kingdom, their relic, and their daughter most of all… were safe.

That was enough for Shining Armor to proudly say, “Thank—”

Discord’s finger stretched and flew over to Shining’s lips, silencing the unicorn. “Hold it! Don’t thank me just yet, because we have a serious problem to address!”

Somewhat annoyed by Discord’s never-ending antics, Shining nonetheless remained silent and listened. A strong majority of the bridge itself listened, many members of T.I.T.A.N., rulers of foreign nations, and even the Council of Friendship stepping forward to hear his fatal warning.

Discord didn’t keep them waiting. “While my deeds may have just saved the future of the Crystal Empire—no big deal—there’s still… the Crystal Empire that’s been left vulnerable. By that, I mean Sombra has already breached the empire, and he made sure the world knew he was there. It won’t be long before our little golden snake arrives to finish him off, or the other way around.”

“He made an alpha call…” Bon Bon muttered, Lyra on her side turning to the mare curiously.

Discord nodded and continued. “To put it simply: the Crystal Empire is about to become an apocalyptic battleground for the fate of our existence. Sooo… if I can finally take off the leash and join you all for the fight ahead, then I would be more than willing—”

A terrifying shriek tore apart the skies, soaring past the windshield of the Radiance in a glowing rainbow of exploding colors. Trembling the entire Radiance and making Discord stumble in his overconfident stance, Mothra made her presence known to the Lord of Chaos. She cascaded her alluring glow to all the darkness of the night, crying out one more time as the draconequus couldn’t help but stare on in silence.

The look on his face when he turned back to face the masses…

“Oh…” Discord mumbled.

It was all he could fathom at the moment. The mere image of the Titan had engrained itself quickly in his brain and brought back plenty of old, old memories. Ancient times, back when the world was young and the ideas of friendship and nations were but dreams soon to be born. Yet in it all was chaos, and monsters reigned within it. And to his shock, the one who kept the order, who stemmed the chaos and displayed her dominance to any foe foolish enough to rise against the Queen of the Monsters, was now flying alongside their ship. Was now joining them for the final siege.

And Discord thought he was crazy.

But they weren’t crazy. None of them truly were. They were pushed so far back into the wall that they were bound to strike back faster, harder, unlike anything ever seen before. The fact that Mothra joined them was surprising, but that alone did not take away Discord’s breath and leave them speechless. Not entirely. His eyes fell within the crowd and landed on a certain Pegasus. A little pony who had befriended him before all others. Discord found his heart swelling at her.

For Fluttershy was smiling. He had longed to see that joyous smile grace her lips once more. For what reason, he could not know, but he did not complain. Her smile was real and it was held his way. Moments before it shifted and she tapped on the window beside her, prompting Discord’s attention to it. Or, rather, what remained beyond it.

“I think we have all the help we need,” she told him.

Discord found himself approaching the windshield, steadily at first but then he reached it, palms pressed to the glass, as his astonished scoff could be heard within the cluster of the Council. Each member of it couldn’t help but smirk, their eyes falling in unison with Discord’s to the earth below.

And to the earth below, it trembled by the thundering strike of the Titan’s feet against it. Each stomp made his presence known farther and wider. His dark scales were damaged, raw with red slashes, but he maintained the journey. He maintained his strength and pressed on. With a swaying tail and shattered dorsal plates trailing up his spine, the Titan was assuredly wounded, but he kept up the charge anyway. He never steered away. He led them.

Godzilla led T.I.T.A.N. on their path to the Crystal Empire.

Once again, legends and memories flooded Discord’s mind. He had heard many times over of the King of the Monsters, but never once though to care much and see him for himself. For Godzilla, the Titans, the alpha war were all beyond his realm of control. Still, it was nothing if not a monumental sight to behold. Everypony around him seemed to share the same thought.

Except for Fluttershy, who seemed to be allowing some negative thoughts to creep outward to her expression. She seemed… anxious? Concerned? Fearful for the swaying Titan and his slow, lumbering movements. Discord found little reason to be fearful, but still put himself in her position and gazed back to the one joining them for war. Tried to see him in her eyes…

Mere moments before Godzilla collapsed.

He gave off an astounding groan before his legs just gave out from under him, the beast falling chest-first to the awaiting earth and landing upon it with tremoring force. Mountains of dust and dirt shot up from the impact, Godzilla’s form momentarily vanishing within the cloud before he and the dust all settled. Ponies crowded quickly around the windshield, T.I.T.A.N. agents and pilots all rushing forth to catch a glimpse of what caused such an earthquake. They were just as shocked, or somewhat less so, than the Council of Friendship all staring wide-eyed with frozen hearts.

Discord broke the chilling tension with an ill-placed joke. “‘All the help we need’, huh? If that’s the case, then we might as well start prepping funerals. How do you all look in dreary black?”

“Bring us down there!” Bon Bon ordered, practically leaping out of her seat. “Land the Radiance, but keep the fleet airborne!”

The pilots acted instantly, as well as the Council, the royalty, and anypony else willing to follow Bon Bon on her journey to the ramp of the airship. Contacting the remaining fleet was swift and clean, though Bon Bon lingered when a communications officer stopped her in her tracks, thus allowing Lyra and the rest to reach her in time.

“Special Agent Bon Bon, we have multiple world leaders wishing to establish contact with us. Each message says they’ve managed to secure their nations or are in the final processes of doing so. Some are even ready to join up with our fleet. How should we respond?”

“We’re not ready yet!” Bon Bon responded, minding her tone and readjusting. “Keep them comfortable. Don’t stress it. I’ll be right back…”

She wished she could have told the truth, but deep down that festering dread was only growing colder. It didn’t stop even as the ship landed and the ramp extended to allow them outside, where a piercing cold from the storm in the north left its nipping winds in the dust. She wanted to return to the Radiance, to lead T.I.T.A.N. onward to the war that would determine their future as a nation, as a world, and as a people. She wanted to go right back and assure everypony that everything was fine. That Godzilla merely collapsed out of exhaustion, and he would rise up, right as rain, ready to lead them once again.

But just simply gazing at him, approaching his prone form from so very low on the earth, Bon Bon knew it was not going to be as simple this time as it was before.

His defeat at Foal Mountain left its scars in more wretched ways than one. His scales were slashed and bleeding, with dorsal plates raw with redness. Stumps, shattered and broken, like a cluster of bones hanging weakly from his spine. It sent a shiver down Bon Bon’s own just staring at the horrific display of war and death. She prayed there would be no death, and allowed Fluttershy to fly forward and lead them on closer to Godzilla.

She was not alone, as Mothra swooped down after noticing her king had fallen once more. She landed gently upon the ground, approaching Godzilla and crying out for him. In pain. In woe. In distress.

The inhabitants exited the Radiance, the mighty airship cascading its spotlights back and forth, up and down, until they all settled on the fallen Titan. The fleet up above did the same, showering Godzilla under the brightening glare of a dozen spotlights. Out into the chilling night winds, the crowd came forth and approached Godzilla’s broken body.

They were gathered accordingly. Celestia and Luna, with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance huddled close beside them. Thorax and Ember, with guards joining the two. Lyra and Bon Bon, the two mares standing side by side and staring blankly, unsettled to the mighty, unmoving body. Discord and Spike stood apart from each other, Spike lingering on the edge of the remaining Council. All of them holding their breaths. All of them having fearful or uncertain expressions. All of them waiting for any form of hope to arise from the darkness.

Fluttershy hoped for that, too.

But as she pressed her hoof to Godzilla’s neck, feeling his heartbeats, his gentle groans and sighs, she could hardly find any. And that alone terrified her.

Lowering her trembling hoof, Fluttershy took in a shivering gasp of air. Weakly managed to say, “He… h-h-he… he’s in tremendous pain.”

Godzilla’s head fell slightly slack toward them, his eyelid gently opening and closing. Closing further and further each time. With each quiet breath.

“He can’t fight it,” Fluttershy admitted, dropping her head and quietly shedding a tear or two. “He can’t fight it alone… and we… I…” She cracked, unable to hold in the gentle sob. She pressed her hoof to his scales. To his neck once more and feeling his shortening breath.

Admitting not only to everypony around her, but to him most of all, “… I’m sorry.”

Her cries filled the night, and nopony did a thing to stop it. To comfort her. They were too shocked by that truth, by the removal of the veil. The belief that they had a chance with Godzilla on their side… now but a fading light in the dark. Not even Discord could act in a way that distorted the natural order of life and death. It was beyond his realm of control. Beyond his power to disrupt.

Mothra cried quietly as well, joining Fluttershy in her remorse, the benevolent moth looking to her king and back to the equines, her antennae collapsing. The wounds Godzilla displayed were beyond her healing, the blood he was losing ensuring his death was growing closer by the second. It was a wound she could not mend, not with the time they had. Her bright, pained eyes shimmered with something more, and the queen turned her face away from the torment of her king.

And instead turned to the eyes of the princess.

Twilight met the gaze of the moth, holding it for an elongated period of time. Staring longer, deeper, seeing much more than she ever had before. Or, perhaps, Mothra revealed something else to Twilight, something she had yet to tell. Another mystery. Another revelation. Whatever it was, whatever was held in that stare and the cry that reached Twilight’s heart, it had changed something. It was enough to spark a certain and necessary change within her.

It was enough to earn a tiny but familiar sparkle in Twilight’s eyes.

And just like that, it all clicked. It all made sense.

Mothra came to them for a reason. She could have gone anywhere, saved Godzilla without their help, but she didn’t. She came to them specifically in Ponyville, calling to them and needing, no, requiring their assistance. Because she on her own was never going to be enough. She was not the change that was needed to turn the tide of the oncoming war. She helped bring it forth, to enact it, but she was not the deciding factor in the grand scheme. Mothra was not the penultimate.

It was them. All along, it was them.

And Godzilla was the ultimate.

The bond between ponykind, the creatures of Equus, of all living things needed a balance. There needed to be coexistence for life to flourish the way it was always intended to. Nature was never meant to be controlled, either by magic or chaotic, alien factors. The influence of these had greatly shifted the world, and the balance between nature, between the lives that lived within it, had become greatly distorted. That was the Great Imbalance. Ghidorah, Sombra, and even themselves had shifted it to apocalyptic levels, and the world was suffering. Was dying.

But Godzilla and Mothra did not exist purely to rule. They existed as forces of nature themselves, to bring about destruction to all those who distorted the cracking balance of the natural world. That natural world consisted of all of them living in harmony, where coexistence was possible. Mothra believed that. She knew how to bring about the Great Rebalance, and it all began with them.

It all made sense to Twilight. Everything shifted and connected in a way that she could finally understand. Her friends seemed to share the same opinion, or were slowly but surely reaching that conclusion. Somehow, Fluttershy had known all along, and they were the fools for not listening to her. For not listening to Mothra. When the Queen of the Monsters spoke to Fluttershy, she spoke to all of them. She spoke to Twilight in a way she could not fully translate, but where her heart knew to be true. To be right.

To be the only way.

And Twilight used to be scared. Heck, even she could admit she used to be downright terrified of the Titans at one point, especially Godzilla when she first saw him in the Frozen North. But now, being shown a different light and seeing them for what they truly were—as heralds of nature, power and dominance of the world’s wrath incarnate—Twilight knew they were more than just sentient creatures.

They were that, but so much more.

They were not evil… they were animals. Creatures neither evil nor sinless. Living, intelligent, benevolent beings that Twilight, her friends, and all of existence had a duty—nay, an oath to uphold to. The magic of friendship was not something to be concealed, to be held in obscurity from others. It was meant to be shared, to be spread from nation to nation. From kingdom to kingdom. To all living creatures.

The Titans were no different. No different than the creatures Twilight and her friends took in to the School of Friendship. No different than the many species and races Equestria had made peace with over the years since Twilight had first left Canterlot for Ponyville. Just as she had for her closest friends, just as she had for all other creatures of Equus—from dragons, to yaks, to griffons, to Hippogriffs, to changelings, to so, so many more… so she would do again.

For Godzilla and the Titans.

“Girls…”

Her voice left her beyond her control, but Twilight did not stop it. She welcomed it. They all strode toward her, fully attentive and awaiting her word. Fluttershy remained beneath the mighty scales of Godzilla’s neck, but turned her eyes back, watching, listening. Twilight didn’t waste any of their time in telling them what they absolutely needed to hear.

What Twilight had rediscovered.

“I know what we have to do. Somehow… I think we’ve always known… but we never wanted to face it. Not completely. What we’ve always done… what we were always meant to do: share the magic of friendship to all and leave nothing hidden. Keep nothing from anypony… any creature… anyone. There’s no other way. Coexistence is possible…”

She took a step forward, the Princess of Equestria casting her wounded but compassionate eyes onto the fallen king. Each one was filled with understanding, her mind reaching the conclusion that they all needed to accept. So, she brought it forth and hid nothing. She finished.

“And with us… he’s the key.”

It took a moment for the Council to fathom her words, to allow each one to breathe into them with the same sense of balance and understanding that Twilight soothed herself within. It didn’t take long, and before anypony knew it, a soft chuckle was heard escaping Rainbow’s mouth.

“Are you all thinking what I’m thinking?” Rainbow Dash said, a little smirk growing at the edge of her lips. That smile spread like a virus, hitting everypony differently, but perfectly. In a way that they all knew. That yes, they were all thinking it.

Applejack chuckled, moments before reaching back and rubbing a hoof over her hat. She exhaled heavily with puffed out cheeks, shaking her head and muttering, “Ah think Ah am… but this is downright nuts… even fer us.”

“When has that ever stopped us before?” Pinkie said with a knowing wink to her farm pony friend. “We’re practically the embodiment of nutty plans!”

“Do we even know what’s going to happen if we do?” Rarity asked, quickly firing her questioning gaze from one pony to the next.

“Only one thing for sure…” Fluttershy piped up, lifting her head fully and facing her friends. Turning away from Godzilla, from the dying creature for only a second. For a second that her friends needed to see her and the reality she offered to them.

One that they did not ignore.

“It’ll save his life.”

That was enough for them. For all of them.

The crowd backed away and watched on in silence. Let the six ponies do what they always do best. Spike knew when to make room and let Twilight and the girls work their magic, but he couldn’t help the rising smirk filling his lips with every step backward. Discord slowly put the pieces together, slowly came to understand what they were attempting to commit to. It earned—possibly for the first time since his defeat by their hooves—a chill slithering up and down his twisted spine. Not one of fear this time.

As if he was ever going to be afraid of his friends.

Celestia and Luna slowly smiled as they came to the same realization Twilight and her friends had come to long ago. They had lived, had fought, had served with those six little ponies long enough to know never to doubt them when they were together. When they all believed that what they did was right. Together, they stood with Spike and Discord, all of them holding similar but unique smiles for what was to come.

Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings watched on. They had personally seen it once before… but never in this instance. Only to defeat. Never to heal. But there was always a first time for everything.

Their hooves slowly intertwined with one another’s.

And then the Council of Friendship began to glow.

Mothra’s eyes were illuminated by their soft lights. They only grew brighter. And brighter. So much so that Mothra had to cry out. Not in fear. Not in anguish. In joy.

When they all came together; Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy united for one sole cause, for one purpose. That purpose was meant to bring about change. For every single time that they had united in a similar way, everything had changed. Nightmare Moon had reformed to become Princess Luna once again. Discord was defeated and the rampant chaos had ended. The Pony of Shadows was banished and an innocent life was spared. King Sombra was defeated… had stolen from them their Elements… until they found their true selves.

So did they accomplish that feat once again.

The power within their hearts, within their souls, their true selves had grown so exponentially powerful in that moment that they needed to escape. The bonds of their flesh and bone could never conceal the powers that be, and so each pony expressed it in an aurora of colors. It was the power of harmony within them that escaped, that glowed in an explosion of vibrant colors, and all obeyed the will of the users.

It obeyed the Elements of Harmony themselves.

Each magical burst shot forth and struck Godzilla, fusing within his scales, deeper than that, and eliciting a violent concoction of power within his shattered dorsal plates. The girls did not cease what was sprouting forth from them. They hovered above the earth and the magic coiled around their bodies, only continuing to flow stronger, brighter, far more powerful with each passing moment. And all of it, every last morsel of power, went directly to him.

Twilight’s eyes burst open. Glowed so bright. So white.

In an astonishing blast, their magic erupted and formed to create a tower of rainbows, one that arched across the sky and came right back down to impact Godzilla’s spine. They surrendered their magic for but a moment, for a defining chapter in their world’s history. One that united the past and present. All to build toward a greater future where they all could coexist in unity, in harmony. In friendship.

Godzilla’s dorsal plates glowed so bright, so white, that all the night had awakened into a new day.

And then his eyes burst open with renewed life, his pupils shrinking as the unknown power consumed him. As he then proceeded to consume it.

Author's Note:

Artwork by Shrekzilla

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