A monster long thought to be dead is causing havoc, and the Rainbooms alone aren't enough.
It's graduation time for our favorite group of girls, and they have some big plans to do before going to college.
But the world has plans for them. Chaotic plans. Attacks long associated to be natural disasters are turning out not to be natural disasters. Monsters... no, gods are rampaging the earth.
But even in the darkest of times, there will always be a little light to shine the way.
Possible/Probable Swan Song. As with before, has a Q&A.
“Home. Where my father and my father’s father have walked.” Speaks an elderly voice. He lights up the torches to his alchemist's room, revealing himself to be none other than Starswirl the Bearded, “For the first time in millennia, I and my closest friends have walked on proper footing. Many things have changed; new cities and civilizations, many of whom wouldn’t have been friendly to our kind in my days.”
The wizard lowers his head and walks slowly to his bookshelf. Lighting his horn, he picks up an old book.
“But some things remain the same.” He walks to his desk, “I knew we should’ve killed him. We should have killed all of them. But, when we sent them away… we’d thought we’d be safe. We’d thought they wouldn’t survive.”
He opens the book, and turns it over to among the first entries. The first page he turns to contained a printing of a Norse style art piece depicting two massive pterosaurs in conflict with Flash Magnus and Rockhoof. He turns another page, depicting Somnambula in the company of several giant dinosaurs. Another turn of the page had a picture tucked between the pages. It was a simple watercolor painting of an egg of greens, blues, and yellows, with a little figure of Meadowbrook for scale. The next page he flips over was one from Neighpon. An ink and watercolor drawing depicting the pillars and Mothra fighting a giant, spiny reptile. He turns back a few pages before the first one he looked. The image itself brought a greater fear than the one regarding the Pony of Shadows. It was a Renaissance style drawing depicting speculative anatomy of his greatest enemy, nay the greatest enemy everywhere. So much that the title sums it up perfectly.
“The Golden Devil of Three Heads”
“Oh,” He shakes his head, “how we were wrong.”
After lowering the sun for the day, Celestia doesn't return to her chambers. Rather she enters a room behind the throne room. This room had a few racks, each holding several scrolls, and each of them a rough sketch of the stained glass windows. She levitates a few at once. She unravels one, displaying a work commissioned just around when Twilight's coronation. Another scroll she unravels was Sombra defeated, not by her student, but by Spike. The next one is of Discord being turned to stone a second time. The next she unravels isn't one of her sister being banished. Nor was this sketch ever made into the final stages.
It displayed the original Elements of Harmony. Star Swirl the Bearded, Flash Magnus, Rockhoof, Somnambula, Mage Meadowbrook, and Mistmane. They were also joined by Mothra as they tackled perhaps the most stubborn of foes. And like the rest of the monsters they fought, he too was sent away, never to be seen or heard from ever again.
That was until a trip to another world proved her wrong. And worse, that very beast wasn't the only one who managed to leave. How long will it be before things get out of hand in that world?'
"Heaven help us all." She sighs, putting the scrolls back and moving away.
The Mariana Trench
A deep sea research vessel, the Satsuma, explores the deepest reaches of the Earth. Save for it’s bright lights, there is no light to speak of. Once it lands on the shelf, the pilot pushes a few levers, making the arms reach out and collect samples from underwater vents. He occasionally looks to his right and watches the tubeworms play an interesting role.
Suddenly, his radar picks up two things. One was clearly larger than the other. He would assume that they were just a pair of whales. But these whales are on the depths as he is, and heading fast. The pilot draws the arms back and kicks the propellers in overdrive. He pulls back a few feet when a large, shelled creature rushes to his left, as if panicked. Soon after, a massive, elephant-like foot lands in front of him before being covered in volcanic dust. The vessel ascends rapidly. From the dust, he does see pebbled, charcoal black skin. A few moments later, a little bit of a bone white structure. As the ship continues ascending to safety, the pilot wonders.
What on earth was going on?
The Island.
Day in, day out, since the Rainbooms got Sunset out of the island, Sonata Dusk tirelessly is the cave of ice. The time there has done a number on her. Several days of hammering the ice with her combined pendant stained blue hands with red. Nowadays, she uses a makeshift club; slower but sure. She also has a fire nearby to cook the meat of unfortunate victims; bones are piling up. But water is still hard to get by, and it’s getting to her.
After making another smack at the ice once more, she falls on her knees.
“I’ve been here for Celestia knows how long,” She looks down at her work: a two foot hole, “for this?”
She looks at her pendant one last time before collapsing on the icy prison. Ahead of her, still deep in ice, the middle head of the great beast twitched a lip. The pendant glows, somehow moving on it’s own to the hole. Now hot as a blowtorch, the large ruby burrows its way through the ice before touching the gold scales. The last Siren on Earth awoke from the tremors; she notices her prized possession gone from her hands before looking up. The emaciated body is restoring itself. In the process, the walls are cracking and so Sonata hastily climbs out from the cave.
But it doesn’t end there. She ran further away while the cave collapses on itself. Sonata looks down when dust soon shoots from the hole like a geyser. She coughs like mad, then looks up as not one, but three, snakelike shadows cover her.
From her frightened gaze, Sonata’s mouth started stretching. She closes her mouth, bringing forth a twisted sneer. Her hard work has paid off. The time is now.
A year has passed since the escapade in Camp Everfree. No magic seduced women, no beasts to cry havoc. Such a long time of peace set their minds at ease. And now in this time of the year, it comes a special occasion that happens once in a lifetime. Beforehand, the now Senior student body has decided to pool together money for a pre-graduation trip to Hawaii. Some raised money with bake sales, some with extended babysitter or pet sitter duty, and a few with additional shifts on their part-time jobs. As of late, the Rainbooms just finished up with car-washing.
And yet, with all their effort, they only raised half as much needed for such as trip. Their only hope now is to make a popular music video for their mall. The makers of the video will receive royalties. However, loose lips sink ships, and now the Rainbooms have to compete for the money with the Shadowbolts. And as if their situation couldn’t be any worse...
“You what?!” Exclaims every one of the Rainbooms, except Rarity.
“I had to, darlings.” Rarity tried to reason, for she spent the fruit of all their hard work on the material needed for their costumes, “Presentation is everything!”
Sunset rubs her temples, “Okay, and how much did they say the initial grand prize is worth?”
All eyes are fixed on the fashionista as her mind races to come up with an answer.
“More than double than what we need.” She answers with a frightened squeak.
A moments silence before Rainbow Dash slaps her hands together.
“Ha! Then, of course, you could use the money for the costumes!”
The others look at each other with uncertainty before Applejack sighs.
“Oh, what the hay.” She agrees, “Why not?”
“Sweet!” Rainbow exclaims.
“Wee-hee!” Pinkie adds to the joy while Twilight made the calculations.
“She’s not kidding,” Twilight raises the calculator and fidgets her glasses, “if we win this, we stand to get over four times as much money we have now.”
That news alone got everyone in the room cheering. Every one of their class could enjoy the trip through and through and still have enough money left over for the trip.
“But if we lose,” Twilight interrupts, “it’s back to zilch.”
She watches her closest friends lower their arms and heads. Now feeling guilty for herself, Twilight sighs.
“Well, it’s not like we haven’t done anything risky.”
Their hopes raised once again, Rarity claps her hands together and asks the big question,
“So, who’s ready to shoot our winning dance video?”
Everyone starts cheering again. If it means ending their adventures at Canterlot High with a bang, then it’ll be the experience. Rarity stands up, walks over to the closet, opens the door and pulls out a rack containing the fruits of her labor…. And their hard earned money.
While Sweet Apple Acres did play some part with the fundraising, it was only so much as to still keep it afloat. But at this time, another form of work is being done. But it isn’t apple harvesting, and yet it requires a horse-drawn wagon. A wagon filled to the brim with rotting fruit. Apple Bloom guided the cargo through the denser parts of the orchard. After stopping at a clearing, she unhitched the animal, and walks forward.
“Thunderball!” She calls out before whistling. No response, “C’mon! Soup’s On!”
No response again, she pulls out a whistle and blows on it hard and for as long as she could. Another moment’s silence before she felt small tremors. They quickly increase in intensity; the horse just as well panicked and hightailed out of here. The Crusader still held her ground, though she did lose her footing.
What stamped through the orchard was the town’s biggest secret. Literally... aside from the portal. Eighty meters at the withers, Thunderball was a perfect example of a movie monster dinosaur. He was armored to the tooth; from the rosette of horns on his head, his spiked shoulders, the spiked carapace, to the massive club at the end of his segmented tail. As he grew, it’s proven to be a problem. Fortunately, he made a massive burrow that covers all but his carapace.
He notices the fruit and crushes them and the wagon underneath his teeth. His armored cheeks don’t do well for holding food and quite a bit of the mush almosts splashes the child.
Back at the mall, the cards were placed on the table. The music video is produced, but with some surprising changes. While they were very pronounced singers, they couldn’t dance well in their new dresses. The Shadowbolts, on the other hand, are great dancers in their dresses per their curriculum. However, they couldn’t use the song they practiced with. Fortunately, Rarity convinced them on a compromise.
The rest is silence as the music video is shown on televisions throughout the mall. All the while, the two teams shared a dining booth, counting their winnings. After counting the last bill, Twilight nodded approvingly.
“Yee-hoo!” Applejack cheered, waving her stetson around, “We've got enough to make the trip!”
“Yay!” Fluttershy cheered.
“Well first,” Rarity moved the money away from Twilight, “We must split it for them.”
“We're having our graduation party on a yacht!” Lemon Zest squeals in delight.
“Or,” Sunset stops Rarity, “you could come with us.”
The five Shadowbolts raise a brow, in which Sunset adds,
“Because even with all of us, there is still plenty of money for everything we want to do.” A tray full of orange smoothie’s, “We finish school on the same day…”
Getting an idea, Rarity cooed, “I have just had the most brilliant idea! When we go on a small cruise, why not play a song? It'll be the perfect way to show off your new dance moves!”
The five then converse with each other. As they did, the Rainbooms look at Sunset as she raised a hand. After she counts from three, the Shadowbolts turn to their opposites.
“So…” - Sunset grabs a smoothie and raises it, “Hawaii?”
A moment’s silence before Sunny Flare grabs a smoothie, “Hawaii.”
“Hawaii.” Twilight agrees, grabbing her cup.
The rest of them eyeball each other before they each grab a cup.
“Hawaii!!!” They cheer, clashing each other’s cups and hartelly drank to their neverending delight.
25 Miles Near Honolulu
The following evening, two F-22 raptors scout the above the cloudline.
“Raptor 1 to HQ, bogey hasn’t changed course or speed.” The pilot responds as he and his coworker pursue their quarry.
“Continue pursuit.” His commander orders over the intercom.
“Wait,” The other pilot notices a “hill” building in the cloudline, “We’re seeing movement.”
The hill starts growing before a massive butterfly wing touches the sky before swiftly turning right. The two pilots were puzzled as a sharp shriek echoes the sky.
Canterlot High, A Week Later
The last day for finals came swiftly. The Senior Wondercolts, having heard the good news, tried their damnedest to hold their excitement. Rainbow Dash especially as the clock counted to the final hour. She had too; any disturbance in Cranky’s class during tests would dock her off some much-needed points. She looks at the clock; just five more minutes. She looks at Cranky himself checking his student's answers with a straight face. She then looks to her left. After finishing an exam, Twilight wrote down as many thank you cards as she could before moving on to the next. This exam took too much of her time, and so with T-Minus four minutes now, she hastily writes those last names.
Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Rainbow Dash’s smile couldn’t be any bigger with those seconds pass.
Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Twilight just about finished the last letter when freedom rings. The students immediately rush for the door.
“Walk!” Cranky bellows, not that is did much good when the classroom quickly empties.
Twilight and Rainbow walk ahead of the crowd. Joining up with the other Rainbooms, each of them drew a massive grin as freedom neared. Then, two people stood at the front foyer. Celestia and Luna, arms crossed, uncharacteristically giving them a scowl. The students looked at each other confusingly; did they do something wrong? But for that one moment, the two give them a hearty chuckle before bowing at them, arms spread honorably.
The students cheered forth as they walked around their Principals. In no time, the doors burst forth, and the seven girls, who have saved the town, nay, the world, jumped the whole flight of stairs. Their summer has just begun, and they know just how to spend it.
While our people of the mainland prepared for the fantastic voyage, trouble was already stirring on the islands. The entire island of Lehua was closed off, and it’s inhabitants evacuated to the larger island. Military forces were already making their landing on the beaches and making camp. The most recent of whom being a helicopter; one bearing a familiar dual lightning bolt design. Stepping out was Tempest Shadow and Grubber, a box of donuts under his arm.
“Where is it?” She asks.
The soldier leads his commanding officers to the source of this commotion. A dead turtle, twenty meters overall, was washed ashore. The stench hasn’t reached the air. But birds and crabs were already pecking and clawing at the three oozing gashes on its neck. A line of flags surround the corpse. Tempest studies the carcass before taking one step.
“Ma’am.” An individual in a hazmat suit blocks her way, “please keep your distance.”
Seeing the readings spike to uncomfortable levels, Tempest complies and steps back. She continues studying the body. The gashes aside, she notices parts of the shell were chipped away, as if the creature was bitten before being slain.
The day finally came. Packing the last few things, Sunset carpooled with AJ, meeting up with the other Rainbooms at the airport in Aspen. There were some issues at check up, namely Rarity’s “house” not fitting into the bag chute. When they reached the terminal, they were greeted by classes both theirs and from Crystal Prep.
“Flight for San Francisco ready to board.” Announces over the intercom. The classes immediately board the plane. A few first timers hold the arm rests with an iron grip as the plane took to the air. It’s a four hour flight before landing in San Francisco, from their, they took a connecting flight over the Pacific.
Kahului, on the Island of Maui
It was still afternoon when they touched ground. Everyone looked out of the window, seeing mountains of untouched greenery.
“Attention passengers, we have arrived in Kahului.” The pilot announced over the radio, “We thank you for choosing Cloudsdale Airs, and hope you enjoy your stay.”
The students, among the other visitors, were gifted with flower necklaces as each of them stepped out. After leaving the terminal, they looked back around constantly. To most, it’s a different world; warmer, definitely. The air certainly moist with a tolerable pinch of salt. Only when they arrive at their residence would this place be judged rightly.
The leaders of the band stop and were puzzled. Before them was a massive… Wreck of a school bus. Painted on its side was sentence of grungy yellow. “CH + CP” it reads. With a raised brow, Sunset looked at Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity before looking to her left at Twilight. The purple girl then looks at Rainbow Dash, who then turns to Pinkie. She instinctively looks at the next person, shaking her head before looking at the bus. A moment before Pinkie does a double take.
Compared to everyone on the island, this man was clearly lower class. Tall and lean, he wore baggy pants that reached up his bandaged belly, worn sandals, and a large, red coat over his shirtless body. At least his blue hair was kept in a neat cowlick.
“Ladies and Gentlemen.” He greeted with a bow, and a gleam in his emerald eyes.
“And you are?” Asks Applejack before she is given a business card. A blue piece of laminated paper with a beige cat head with emerald eyes.
“Capper's the name. Charming's my game.” He answers, giving a wink, “I believe you hired me for more than my charming looks.”
Six of the girls still had doubtful looks on their faces when Capper waves his hands at the entrance to the bus.
“Shall we then?”
Everyone else shrugs their shoulders before they made their way to the bus. Pinkie Pie lets out a cheery laugh and makes a few hops before she is gripped by the shoulder.
“Hold on.” Rainbow Dash and her friends stop everyone from boarding the bus. They join up in a huddle.
“I don't know if we should trust him.” Whispers Twilight
“I agree,” Adds Sunset, “we’d still have enough money getting the second cheapest route.”
At earshot, the good man worried that he would lose his clients. Fortune strikes when Pinkie Pie steps in and whispers,
“We could definitely use a friend out here!”
“Pinkie Pie,” Applejack argued, “I wouldn’t-”
“You know what?” Capper looms over the Rainbooms, and places his finger on Pinkie’s hair, “Little Cotton Candy Hair is right. And, if I do say so myself…”
As the song went on, Capper drove the worn bus with the surprising grace of a Porsche. Many kept a tight grip as the man made tight turns. Some of his guests shielded their eyes whenever the vehicle came dangerously close to bumping with another. At least two prayed for dear life. When the bus finally stopped, Bulk Biceps, green to his pale gills, was the first to charge out. Many of the students followed soon after, either catching their breath, saying a mantra, or kissing the sidewalk.
Capper, being swav as usual, stepped forward of the crowd.
“Welcome, my little people,” He spins around, his arm spread, “to my little manor.”
Before them was a large cabana. Composed of nailed plywood and brick, it had a small windmill at the top. Just outside was a courtyard fit for a typical suburban man. Of course, to appeal to the tourists, it has an outdoor pool.
Inside, it was arranged like a condo illuminated in yellows and purples, and with numerous knick knacks.
“Ooh!” Rarity cooed at the overall design, “A sort of a roco-hobo-Bohemian hodgepodge.”
Twilight takes interest in the ceiling high bookshelf. The romantic novels made her cough.
“Interesting… library.” She “compliments” with a fidget of her glasses.
Among several, Applejack checked out the bedrooms. She presses it, then sits on the furniture. The mattress’ overall plush feeling gave her labored bones.
“Really good beds.” Applejack snoozed while Sunset walked past her to the window. She opens the blinds.
“Just a street crossing from the beach.” Sunset adds with crossed arms. Indeed, all they would have to do is just cross the street.
Pinkie Pie climbed on a step stool to observe some of the knick knacks.
“Ooh! So many fun breakables!” She touches some when the stool loses its footing. Rainbow Dash was quick to catch her.
“Forgive the quality of my cat box,” Capper lightly apologized, “I wasn’t expecting a party this big.”
The Rainbooms looked at each other, sometimes at the their fellow graduates to be as they got comfy, before they shrugged in agreement.
“Maybe we’ve been too hard on you.” Twilight apologized. Capper curls a little smile and rubs Spike on the head.
Sunset looks at the grandfather clock. Around five o’clock, dinner time. Capper claps his hands together.
“So…” Capper rubs his hands together before pulling out a pair of cooking knives, “anyone hungry?”
Night comes over to paradise. With Pinkie’s help, dinner was served outside. Marinated meats, sharp cheeses, shrimp and drinks; a meal suitable for a vacation such as this. After having their fill, many of the students went to bed for the evening. Some decided to make the walk to beach in search of crabs. The Rainbooms stayed outside, looking up at the stars.
“It’s like so many sprinkles on a blue cake.” Pinkie Pie added, taking a bite out of the finger food.
“Well, we polluted the air so much we-” Twilight was elbow bumped by Spike. Slightly embarrassed, Twilight looked over at Sunset, “Do you see this often back at Equestria?”
Not taking her eyes away from the heavens, Sunset answers, “Yeah. Very often.”
Rainbow Dash made a little yawn before taking a bit of cold steak and stands up.
“Whelp,” She rubs her tummy, “I’m turning in. Gotta get ready for tomorrow.”
“I’m with you right there.” Applejack agreed, taking one last drink before picking up her dishes.
One by one, the remaining Rainbooms put their dishes into the washer before turning in. Sunset still looked at the stars for a while after. She looks at her backpack; the spine of her journal was poking from the flap. She reaches for it, stops for a moment, then lifts up the backpack. Much as she was tempted to write, it could wait. But she doesn’t even get her foot inside when she is engulfed for a brief moment in shadow and hears a loud boom. She looks around the courtyard, then up at the cloudless sky. Sunset shrugs her shoulders and goes to bed.
An unknown assailant soars through the tropical skies. He dips down from the clouds, and looks down. A pod of whales have surfaced a long while ago to rest. With their size and political protection, only fools would dare attack them. Still, whatever passed over the island managed to pluck one of the marine mammals like they were sardines. The others were slow to realize what’s going on when another one was plucked from the water. Fearing for their lives, the whales take a deep breath and submerge. But their attacker improvises by diving headfirst like a pelican. A few moments later, it explodes from the water, a dead whale in his sharp beak before being swallowed whole midflight.
The sun rises over the great ocean. With window quite large, one couldn’t blame the guests as they woke up at around five AM. Some ate a light breakfast, while others decided to wait until curfew turns over. The morning routine wasn’t a cakewalk either. With a party so big, taking turns at the shower was a handful. A few decided to start it off now and took a dip at the pool.
The eighth hour arrived swiftly, and there is much to do. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and several Wondercolts immediately took to the beach. Rarity and a few of her classmates along with several Shadowbolts explored the city. The fashionista and a few found refuge at the Queen Novo Spa.
Sunset, Twilight, Fluttershy, along with many took a bus to near the Koolau Forest Reserve. When they reach the top of a mountain trail, they stood in awe as they could see the ocean, and even the town as tiny spec.
“Heaven,” Fluttershy invited a butterfly on her finger, “truly heaven.”
That they can agree on as they admired the beauty of the mostly unoccupied island.
“Ow!” The group turns around. Trixie struggles to get herself up.
“What happened?” Sunset asks.
“Trixie lost her footing and fell into this big ugly bush,” Trixie yanks some of the plant off her sweater, “And now her clothes are ruined.”
Twilight inspects the plant, and her mind clicks into worry mode.
“Not just any plant.” Twilight spins around, “This is a pencil cactus plant!”
“A what plant?” Trixie sputters, gently scratching her arm lightly.
“They’re a common house plant in Hawaii,” Twilight turns around, “but they’re just like poison ivy. I’m surprised there’s one growing-”
“Yes, yes. Trixie is pleased to hear this.” Twilight grimaces when she looks at Trixie again, now more red than blue, “Now give me a band-aid!”
The group groans at the sight of the tainted magician.
The Tropic of Cancer, Late Evening
A storm rages on north of the archipelago. And yet, business is to be made in this dangerous weather. A cargo ship, named The Arabus, was making its sixth circle catching a large shoal of fish. So far, it’s a success and just about time to haul up their load. The crewmember monitors the net being hauled when he hears the crank stop. He pulls out his radio.
“Captain, we’re having trouble with the crane.”
In the pilothouse, Celaeno overhears the conversation and presses a button.
“Understood,” She answers, “I’ll send help.”
As soon as he clicks off, he makes his way to the controls and examines the problem.
“Ah, here we are.” He pulls the lever down to it’s maximum setting. The netting pulls back once more; slow, but still progress. “That bird brain’s gonna-”
He and the entire crew are suddenly tossed aside when the net is pulled even harder. The entire barge is tilting to the left. Celaeno manages to get her balance and makes it to the control panel. She notices something very large on the radio, a whale perhaps. She grabs a radio.
“Cut the line!” She barks
What?!” Her employee exclaimed, “Captain, that’s our-!”
“I said cut it!”
Without a moment to lose, the remainder of her crew hacked away at the line. The net and their precious catch released, the boat rocked back and forth. Celaeno collects herself before looking at the radar again. The object moves slowly away; not like that for a large whale to cause such a ruckus.
Even with the best traps, a few rats can sneak into a house no problem. Two such rats manage to sneak into the quarantined shore. They’ve armed the campsite to the tooth. One hundred fifty soldiers at the shore, and two destroyer class vessels floating nearby. Still, the two interlopers used scuba gear, sneaking up at the dead turtle from the back.
“So it’s true!” Says Randa, “There are monsters among us!”
“This will get make everyone believe us!” Adds Brody, taking out a camera. He takes pictures of the giant turtle while he and his partner walk around. Randa climbs on the turtle and studies the rings on the shell.
“Freeze!” The two turn over to a few of the Coalition force aim their weapons at the two intruders. They immediately comply, raising their hands. “Commander Tempest, we have-”
Suddenly, something big drops on the shore. Water washes over them and the corpse. Randa desperately rubs the salt out of his eyes. Afterwards, he finds himself in a massive shadow, and hears a few clicks, as if coming from a massive raven.
“Oh shit…”
The entire campsite is brought into a massive sandstorm. Their equipment, their tents, even the soldiers themselves were blown away. Tempest Shadow secures herself to a tree, catching Grubber with one arm before he catches his breakfast. In her poor vision, she finds that a bird of some kind has taken off, holding the corpse in one foot.
Maui
Noon comes quickly, and the students are once again bustling in their activities. Except for seven. After some misadventures involving Pinkie getting snow cones, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy saving a nest of sea turtles, Rarity and Twilight crashing a rental boat, and Sunsets treasure hunt giving her a discounted seafood meal, perhaps it would be good to rest awhile. Pinkie rubs her burnt feet, while the fashionista was biding her time stitching up Capper’s coat.
“Excuse me, ladies.” The Rainbooms turn to the housekeeper, “I’ve invited several of your friends for an aerial tour, and I found there are still a few seats left.”
The girls look at each other before Applejack stands up.
“Maybe just one flight then I’m tucking in for the day.”
“Yeah, maybe you could give me some flying lessons too.” Capper raised a brow at Rainbow Dash’ request.
“I would love to see the island more from the air.” Fluttershy adds.
“Well,” Capper motions over to the door, “shall we?”
“Oh, before you go,” Rarity stands up and gives Capper his coat, “I thought I’d give your coat some much needed dressing.”
The man tries on the clothing. Already he notices quite a few improvements. The pockets are sealed, the tears are barely recognizable, and best of all a better fit around the shoulders.
“Okay,” Capper chuckles, “what’s the catch?”
“None whatsoever, darling.” Rarity tugs at his coat, “Just a show of gratitude for all that you’ve done for us.”
“Well,” Capper rubs his scruffy chin before he finishes, “I’m glad I could be of service.”
After delicately scratching Rarity on the chin, Capper leads the three girls out of the house. Fluttershy turns around though.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go?”
“And get my hair and nails ruined again?” Rarity turns a glare at Twilight, “After a certain accident.”
“Yeah,” Twilight rubs her arm, “I’m gonna sit this one out.”
“I don’t usually say no” Pinkie pulls her feet forward. The skin is a deeper red, and just started peeling, “but my feet have the burn marks to prove it.”
“I’m also pretty full from that ‘adventure’ I had,” Sunset adds when she hiccups and sits on the couch, “we’ll be fine.”
“Your loss then.” Says Applejack as she joins Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Capper out of the the house. The silence almost killing them.
“I still have to-”
“Yes.” Rarity interrupted Twilight, “Yes you do.”
Another moment of silence before Pinkie Pie breaks it with, “So… Wanna discuss our plans?”
“Well…” Twilight takes a deep breath before sitting down, with spike sitting on her lap, “I’m already enrolled in Everton. Though I’ll be quite sad to not bring Spike with me.”
“Yeah,” Spike scratches his face, “I just hope your future nephew or niece…”
The dog couldn’t finish his sentence before shuddering.
Well, it’s a shame I can’t take you.” Rarity apologizes, “The college I’m going to in Savannah doesn’t allow dogs either.”
“Too bad for me also,” Pinkie adds to this as well, “The teachers at my college would kick me out at the spot. I mean what if they caught me making a-”
She stops, flutters her eyelids, then as her eyes slowly drift in opposite directions, “puppy pot pie.”
The other four are horrified at Pinkie’s appearance and by what she said.
“Well,” Pinkie snapped into focus, “that’s not something you hear everyday.”
Twilight, Rarity, and Spike shudder before the second asks of Sunset, “And what of you, Sunset? You never once mentioned any interests for college.”
Sunset looked a bit uneasy, but with a deep breath she answers, “Because I’m not.”
“Why not?” Rarity asks, “Surely a woman of your skill would do well in college!”
“How?” Sunset sits up, “Everyone at home believes that magic exists, but let’s face it. If anyone of us told anyone else outside of town, they’d think we’re crazy!”
Twilight raises a brow, “Is there something you’re not telling us?”
With another deep breath, Sunset looks at the window and answers, “I’m going home.”
“To Equestria?” Spike asked.
“Since our trip at Everfree,” Sunset looks back at them, “there have been no monsters, no magic anomalies, nothing. It’s become… well...”
“A bore?” Rarity finishes, to which Sunset nods agreeingly, “Well, if that’s what you want. We won’t hold you back.”
“Really.” Sunset pulls her head back, surprised at that answer, “Are you sure?”
“I mean,” Rarity shuffles in her seat, “truly, you must have missed a lot since you first arrived.”
“But you do need to tell the rest of us when they come back.” Twilight adds. Sunset nods just when her ears pick up a strange sound.
“And you come back on birthdays,” Pinkie Pie pulls out a calendar from her hair, “and holidays, and-”
“Shh!” She interrupts, raising a finger.
“Sunset!” Rarity objects, “You know better than to”
“Listen!” Sunset interrupts her. The noise is louder; it’s a song of a somber note, as if sung by two women on stage. When they follow the noise to where it’s loudest in the courtyard, they found nothing at first. Even the locals seem confused at the noise coming from nowhere.
“Mind turning down your radio?” Banters one as he storms off.
The girls and the dog take a few steps further when Sunset looks down and stops them. The two small women from the Island, Shobijin as they call themselves, sat on the edge of the pool. Though Sunset’s the only one would understands the language they sing, the sadness in their voice is enough for the others to shed a few tears. Once the song finishes, the two turn around, their faces just as sad.
“That was beautiful.” Rarity wipes her tears away, “And I thought I wouldn’t cry at a performance.”
“I didn’t.” Pinkie adds before bawling. She grabs Rarity’s hair and blows her nose on it. Sunset lowers herself to the level.
“What happened?” She asks.
“Our island…” They spoke in unison, “It’s been ravaged.”
“The Skull Crawlers are back,” Sunset invites them on her hands, “aren’t they?”
“No.” They object, “It’s a greater evil. Greater than what you’ve fought before.”
Twilight takes out her phone and dials up Applejack’s phone number.
“The number you dialed is unavailable.” She tries Fluttershy’s, then Rainbow Dash’, “The number you dialed-”
“Slag!” Twilight exclaims as she hangs up in defeat.
Pinkie waves her finger, “That won’t go well with our United Kingdom audiences.”
“What?” Twilight questions before shaking her head, “No! They must’ve turned off their phones when they boarded!”
“And we can’t have Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flying all over the place.” Sunset puts the Shobijin on her shoulders and rubs her lower lip, “All we can do now is just wait for one of them to call.”
“Indeed,” Rarity raises a skeptical brow at the tiny beings, “but how did you two arrive in the first place?”
The Shobijin point in the direction of one of the mountains. Pinkie blows up a few balloons and shapes them into a pair of binoculars and puts them on their maximum settings. After looking around, Pinkie stammers, falting a few steps before falling on her butt. Skeptical on how this worked for her, Sunset grabs the binoculars and finds that they work all too well.
Mothra was resting on the top of the mountain, well out of reach and sight. However, she appears as if death is calling at her door. Her legs have lost their hair, making them almost bony. Like all things, the colors on the rest of her body are faded. Even her brightly colored wings of red, yellows, blacks, and oranges are muted a bit, and have a line of grown hair at the edges. As if acknowledging he viewer, the giant insect turns her sapphires eyes at Sunset and ruffles her wings.
In the skies, a squadron of six Seeker-Class jets are in full thrust. The leader of the group, flying a jet of grey and red spots a stream of turbulence.
“Seeker leader to Command, I’ve spotted a trail and will pursue.”
“The target your pursuing is marked Kill on Sight,” Tempest buzzes, “do what you must.”
“Understood.” The pilot pushes the engines into overdrive. The trail becomes fresher by the second. In due time, the source of the turbulence is seen in the form of a flying object so large that even the pilots couldn’t get a good look at it. He releases the missiles and engulfs the object in fire. When they pass the smoke, they couldn’t see anything. “Target de-!”
The being they were pursuing suddenly cuts them off, ascending higher in the cloudline. They take their pursuit as such.
“Split up, and proceed with caution!”
The six jets split apart into the murky clouds. Blinded, they had to rely on radar. Even then, whatever they’re pursuing constantly dogged them with a quick burst of speed. The pilot in the white and burgundy jet would have none of this, and the next time the creature flew past him, he pursued him like mad. And this time, the “convict” was letting him chase him. It felt easy… Dangerously easy. With a flap of his mighty wings, the pursuer made another turn, revealing another jet of various colors of gold coming right at him. Unable to evade in time, they eject and let the aircraft collide.
“Are you okay?” Asks Ramjet as he floats down.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Sunstreaker replies, “What is that-?"
Static. And with him still being in the clouds, Ramjet’s heart pounded wildly. Shots are being fired, sonic booms scream around him, and screams of the demon ring his ears. He spins around to the last thing he saw.
In a destroyer class vessel, Tempest could only hear the struggles of the squadron. She rubs her temples.
“Commander-”
“What?” She interrupts. She opens one tired eye; The closed off part of space is joined by another signature… And it’s not one of theirs.
That would be Capper’s private plane just a few thousand feet above the clouds. Inside, many of the passengers become jetlagged and fall asleep. Rainbow Dash sat in the co-pilots seat, piloting the vehicle with Capper keeping watch.
“I don’t see why this is hard.” Rainbow Dash wonders, tilting the aircraft to the left, “And I don’t even have a license!”
“But by the time you do,” Capper shuffles his shoulders and puts his hands behind his head, “you’d be a flying ace.”
Before she could possibly give away anything, the radio buzzes.
“Attention unidentified spacecraft, you are flying in forbidden airspace! Turn away immediately, or be put down.”
“Aw, and I was just getting comfy.” Rainbow whined.
“Well, you know,” Capper raises his hand, “we all gotta go with-”
The two stop their chatter when they notice a giant, leathery wing cutting through the cloud. That’s enough of a reason for Capper to turn on the seatbelt light. Rainbow Dash didn’t give the passengers much of a chance to buckle up as she made a hard right.
“Criminently, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack yelled as she struggled to buckle up.
Everyone else mutters about this sudden chaos. But even as the plane flies away from the warzone, Rainbow Dash and Capper notice the jets reaching the sky before coming back in. The second time they do this, only two came out. Fluttershy, and everyone on the left side of the plane look out the window when the last jet comes out of the clouds.
Following it was the creature they were pursuing, and a sight to behold. He resembled a pterosaur, one that is scaled up to be one hundred-eight meters and a two hundred meter wingspan. His head sported two spiraled horns like a gazelle. His chest, belly, and upper legs were encrusted in hard skin and spikes. Befitting such a big animal, his finger and toes were thick for a pterosaur.
And in one quick motion, he crushes the last jet under his serrated beak. The passengers scream at the sight of massive flying beast. And it only got worse when he spots the plane and makes his move. Rainbow and Capper tried their damndest to steer the plane away. But the pterosaur snapped off one of their wings. The aircraft immediately went into a nosedive.
“Hang on, everybody!” Applejack shouted
“What in God’s name do you think we’re doing!?” Shouted Octavia as she held on the seat in front of her. Just when they saw the see the ocean, their freefall is brought to a sudden halt. The force of such a stop proved too much for their bodies and knocked them out cold. Outside the pterosaur had the plane clutched “gently” in his mouth. And with two flaps of his mighty wings, he goes into clouds, out of sight as flies southwest across the archipelago.
Night arrives. A few parties were going around at the beach, and some of those who stayed behind joined them. Of course, Sunset, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were the ones who remained at the house. Though the smell of cooked foods is tempting, they couldn’t join them. It’s been too long, and they still haven’t gotten one phone call. After another failed attempt, Sunset curses under her own breath.
“I’m certain help will arrive shortly.” Rarity comforts her when helicopter sounds are heard, “That might just be them.”
Sunset looks up; five helicopters flew over them in a V formation… Inland. She looks ahead, seeing a few spotlights at the ocean. Suspicion growing in her brain, and seeing how it worked the first time, she turns to Pinkie.
“Pinke, you think you could…?”
“Sure!” Pinkie Pie blows up and twists up a bunch of balloons into a pair of binoculars. Sunset turns their settings to maximum. Though in dim light, she was able to find an interesting detail. One that got her to say,
“Of course…”
“Sunset?” Asks Twilight.
“That ship has two blue thunderbolts side by side.” She turns to the direction of the helicopters, “Now where did we see that before?”
Makena
The helicopters hovered over a few closed establishments. Soldiers like those encountered in Camp Everfree drop down, run to the ledges, and aim their guns at the island preserve of Kaho’olawe.
Kaho’olawe
Rainbow Dash rolled around in the copilots seat. Forcing herself awake, she felt like a drunkard.
“Everyone… Okay?” She looks behind her. Fluttershy, Applejack, Lyra, Vinyl, Bulk Biceps, and a few others were comforting the others. She looks at Capper, whose head was brought forward and his nostrils stuffed with bloody handkerchiefs. With aching limbs, she unbuckles her seatbelt. Putting her hand on the door latch, Rainbow falls of the plane. The good news, they’re not in the air. Bad news, well. Just in front of her was a dolphin skull among hundreds. Horrified, she slowly stands up and looks with wide eyes. All around her were bones of fish, dolphins, whales, and the wrecks of several cargo ships. She takes a few steps forward at this mass grave.
“Rainbow! Get back inside!” Applejack exclaims.
Rainbow Dash looks back, then looks just long enough to retreat to the hull of the plane. She shuffles to the nose and takes peak. Their new “host” sat on higher ground, wolfing down the giant turtle like a construction worker with a cheeseburger. Rainbow hides away and gulps. Unaware, they being spied.
Kahului Coast
While her fleet of destroyers was making their way around Maui, Tempest watched a live feed from a surveillance drone. Definitely bigger than the creatures she saw at Everfree. It’s to her surprise that such a big thing did all this without causing much of a fuss.
“How long will it be before the first ship reaches Kaho’olawe?” She asks, still looking at the screen.
“For us, two hours, forty five minutes, commander.” The shipmate spins around in his chair, “But our advance battalion should arrive in T-Minus fifty-two minutes.”
“Good,” Tempest complements with a nod, “I want this handled as silently as possible.”
“Commander.” Tempest now turns her head away from the screens, “I’ve just picked a massive bogey on radar. Heading south towards us. And fast.”
“Open a channel,” She orders, “It could be the Atragon.”
After nodding, the officer puts on his radio and tunes in, “Atragon, this is sister ship Gotengo. You are entering the battle zone too fast. Reduce speed immediately.”
No response and the massive blip continued quickly.
“Atragon, this is the Gotengo. Reduce speed immediately.” Still no response, “Red-”
“Enough.” Tempest orders once more before heading for the exit, “Alert all nearby vessels. This a proximity one alert.”
This move of hers left the crew confused. Even Grubber stopped his eating and hobbled after her.
“Grubber, remain in the command room until I return.” She asks of him, picking up a long coat.
“Why?” The Gotengo suddenly rocks, losing his meal.
“I need to see this.” Tempest continues her way out the door.
While skepticism still clouded those who stayed, telltale signs of upcoming danger are upon them. A little girl notices the shore starting to retreat without coming back. Her father notices this, picks her up and starts backing away.
“Everyone, go!” He shouts out, “Go, run!”
The locals turn their attention to the shore and they too started running. The students are confused at this by this running of the bulls. Twilight is the last to notice the retreating shoreline.
“We gotta move.” A siren blares like mad as she gets every student up from their towels, “Now! Right now! It’s a tsunami!”
Offshore on the deck of the Gotengo, Tempest hears the alarm before feeling a buzz in her pants.
“Destroyer 1, we have sighting of a bogey!” The ship commander rings, “We are br-!”
On cue, tempest spots an exploding and takes out her binoculars. The ship in question was crudely sliced in half. A bunch of rescue helicopters make their way to the wreckage. One shines a light at at a row of spiny objects. Then another to Tempest’s right shines a spotlight at another, smaller row which has a fishing net snagged on them. When a third light shines, she could only imagine who they belong to as they continue their advances. The pilot notices the approaching obstacles and gets the ship into overdrive. The spike, revealing to be shaped like maple leaves, scrape the hull of the Gotengo, and proceeds towards the island.
And as it did, the water rushes to the shore. Some of the inhabitants escaping the wave dared peak back. It’s just as they would imagine, and fear; a tidal wave that could swallow small waves. Knowing they couldn’t outrace the water, Sunset, Twilight, Spike, Rarity, and Pinkie make their way to the first tall building they see. They shut the doors before the flood reaches them. Rarity rushes at the elevator and pushes the up button repeatedly.
“Not the elevator!” Sunset pulls Rarity away and joins the other two up the stairs. The water pressure proved too much for the glass and starts flooding the lobby. The girls and the dog were three flights up when they see the water catch up. They burst through the emergency exit and run to the ledge of the building. Another massive tidal wave rising over them.
“Brace yourselves!” Twilight shouts as she and her friends grab the ledge with an iron grip.
The wave pounded the ceiling and sent them rolling to the other side. Coughing up seawater, the girls and pup were chilled to the bone as they walk looked out of the ledge. It was almost pitch black; few of the buildings have power. In the darkness, they hear a loud booming sound. They think it was a transformer, but it is heard again slightly louder. After looking around worryingly, the find that two people were able turn on a spotlight and aim them towards the sky.
Then something big enters the light. Not a warship, but an animal. They building they stood on reached up to his knee as he walked through the flooded streets. Those who made it to similar sized buildings on the other side saw the creature a little better. His skin was charcoal grey with a lighter grey underbelly. His arms were well muscled and his thumbs and index fingers bore slightly bigger claws.
Far away, as more spotlights gain shine on him, Tempest could see the creatures massive silhouette. She merely watched as he continued into the wild.
“Tempest,” She turns over to Grubber, “should I give the order to-”
“No.” Tempest then raises a finger, “In fact, tell all ships to hold their fire, until I give the word.”
Kaho’olawe
A long while after being pulled back into the plane, Rainbow Dash watched the giant pterosaur relax on his perch. Safe, but for how long? She looks at the other side; beyond the boneyard filled island lies help.
“I’m gonna get help.”
“Rainbow,” - Applejack stands up, - “have you really lost your mind?”
“I didn’t say it’s the smartest thing,” She turns to them, “but it’s the right thing.”
“Shouldn’t we still wait?” Asks Fluttershy.
“And be a midnight snack to that thing?” Rainbow Dash’ point is well made. When the captives look out the window, they see the animal suddenly start jerking. His chest starts puffing up, swells up his throat, and hocks out a slimy pellet.
Rainbow Dash jumps back outside; a foolish move when there’s bones on the floor. Rainbow Dash kept still, turning around ever so slightly. The beast never stirred. She shuffles through the bones, braves the smell of a few dead whales and climbs up a hill. The city of Makena was right there. She pony’s up and flies away. However it’s not entirely unnoticed, and the host will not have this.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t even halfway across the coast when she hears the terrible cry. The beast spots her and with his muscled arms launches into the air. Rainbow had only precious seconds to make a sharp turn right, just avoiding the serrated beak. The waves generated rocked Tempest’s advance team. The winged athlete spins around and ponders. The bird won’t leave her alone, and he is able to catch up to her. She hates to admit this but,
“Guess I’m gonna have to do the ‘Egghead’ routine.” She mutters as the monster starts turning around, “C’mon! Come and get me!”
Rainbow Dash flies higher in the sky, all the while, hearing the booming wings beats of her pursuer. The lack of oxygen, and the effort on her wings, is proving too much for her. His quarry within grasp, the pterosaur opens his mouth. But if he knew Rainbow Dash first hand, he would’ve known her determination.
She turns around, folds her wings and dives, just barely missing the sharp beak, and just a few feet above the massive body. The monster notices nothing in his mouth and looks down. Seeing the rainbow-haired dot falling fast, he too goes into a nosedive, claspings his wings against his body. Again, he seems to have the upper hand thanks to his body mass. As Rainbow Dash neared the water, a sonic cone starts forming in front of her. It rapidly narrows; just when she nears the water, she opens her wings and changes directions so sharply that leaves a trail of rainbows. The monster doesn’t have this much luck and dives headfirst.
But Rainbow Dash doesn’t stay in this burst of speed when she plops into a sand dune in Maluaka Beach. She tunnels her way up, takes a breather, and away the sand from her clothes. She looks at the ocean and chuckles.
“Guess that paid off after all.” Rainbow panted, popping her back and walking over to the sidewalk.
But she doesn’t go far when she feels the ground shake. Rainbow looks back; the water starts churning and rising. The pterosaur bursts forth, letting out such a scream that it shatters the windows. The townsfolk scream and run to their safe havens. Soaked and raging mad, the monster looks around before snapping into focus at Rainbow Dash. She runs to her left, but is cut off by a massive fist. She tries running the other way, but is cut off once more. And with no alleyways or sewer holes to go to, Rainbow was trapped like a rat.
An explosion is heard at the pterosaurs left, Rainbow’s right. The monster squints at the smoke, hearing the same cannonball like sounds and the tremors on his knuckles. Such tremors cause the Rainboom to fall on her butt. The pterosaur lets out a threat call. No response, so he balances himself on his hind legs, and spreads his massive wings. Tempest’s advance team at the coast turn on their spotlights and aim them at the coast.
An elephant like foot emerges from the smoke, followed by the next. Illuminated better, this new creature was even taller than the winged one by ten meters. He clearly looked like a dinosaur in the classical sense. His head was squarish, and bore a curious pair of ears. His chest was very toned, with a notable breast bone down the middle. Dragging his massive tail along the streets, he twists his body so slightly, displaying his maple leaf shaped dorsal plates.
The winged beast lets out a threatening screech again. His opponent is not phased, but lets out a gurgling growl. Then in a surprising burst of speed, the spiked monster charges like an elephant. Rainbow Dash finally gets her priorities straight and get back to the beach. His opponent flaps his wings, sending dust and debris to the air and blinding the spiked beast. After scratching the dust from his eyes, the behemoth finds his winged foe missing. With an irritated hiss, he ventures forth along the coast, Rainbow Dash watching him as his tail tapered out of sight.
At the Gotengo, Tempest viewed from several monitors on live feed. One screen showed the monster in infrared; and the result is staggering.
“The beast is currently moving at fifteen miles per hour towards Makana State Park.” The crewmember turns around on her chair, “ETA in thirty minutes.”
Tempest doesn’t take her eyes off the screens, but does ask, “What of the other one?”
Makena State Park
The half hour passed, and as calculated, the spiked monster reaches the park. Unknown to the flying assailant was circling him from hundreds of feet. And now the time is just right. He swoops down from behind, slamming chest first on his opponent’s backside. Catching him off balance, the pterosaur continuously pecks at him, claws his shoulders, biting his lips and neck. But his hand reaches a little too far, and his adversary grabs him by the teeth and pulls him forward.
The bird struggles, but the dinosaur sinks his teeth at his shoulder. The flying reptile had one trick up his sleeve. He puffs out his neck, then vomits at his foe’s right eye. The spiked monster howls at the burning pain before he is pushed back. The flying monster took to the air once more, makes a massive U-Turn, then comes in hot to his opponent. He clasps on the dinosaur’s back and bites on his neck.
The dinosaur bucked and brashed, but managed to shake him just enough to bite his assailant’s arm. He swings to and fro, bashing the pterosaur on any building in the way. He then tosses the bird away like a ragdoll. The flyer flaps his wings quickly, and tries another attack run. The dinosaur wisens up this time, and grounds the bird with a slap of his great tail. He spins around, and raises his foot.
The pterosaur dodges the foot, then pounces on his enemies back. This time, he just grips with his feet, well out of reach from his foe. With several flaps of his mighty wings, he manages to get the dinosaur in the air. It’s a struggle, but he gets high enough to cause any serious harm. Eventually he loses his grip and drops his cargo above an electric plant. The city became black, just like Kahului.
Not even the Gotengo’s infrared monitors could get a fix on the monsters.
“We’ve lost sight of them, Commander.”
“They’re still out there.” Tempest replies, “Send a few rescue helicopters to Kaho’olawe.”
The pterosaur swoops down to the rubble. He scratches the fallen dinosaur. He then pecks at the sides before shuffling around. He pecks at the head; still no movement. And having worked up an appetite decides to continue his pecking. It’s when he finally draws blood when something does happen. The dorsal plates flash, then the dinosaur’s body starts sparking. Then a sudden burst of light sends the pterosaur skyward.
The dinosaur rises, shaking his body free of the dirt and rubble. He snorts in frustration as his life water drips over his brow. He hears the helicopters, and turns to them as they fly across the coast to the island preserve. The monster then hears trees crack and buildings crushed. The pterosaur managed to recover from this sudden pulse, and high tails it off Maui. As he sees his defeated foe leave the island, the monster takes a deep breath, and releases a roar so loud it could be heard for three miles.
Glenwood Springs, Colorado, 5 AM
The sun was just about to rise over the Centennial State. Compared to the chaos that’s been going on, a little get together was faring much better. Having cleared of their crime, the Crusaders invite some of their classmates over for a slumber party. In that one night, the living room is quite a mess; bottles of fizzy apple cider filled the table, and there were still paper plates to throw away.
Twist, out all people, woke up first, grabbing one of her sweets and turns on the tv. Obviously, the first channel that she sees is the news. But this news comes as quite a shock.
“Guys! Guys!” She shuffles each one of her friends awake.
“Twist,” Silver Spoon rubs her eyes, “it’s too early...”
“Go to bed!” Diamond added.
“No, no! Guys!” Twist pulls them up, and sits them down, “Look guys, dinosaurs!”
The news channel made their sleepy eyes wide open. And to the Crusaders, it’s no exception. A couple news helicopters managed to get footage of last night. The tsunami, the dinosaur walking across the island, and finally some passing views of the fight. The three look at each other; it was time for answers.
Tomorrow shines one the Hawaiian island, but it still reeks of last night. The sewer systems in Kahului are still draining the tsunami waters like mad. And even in districts already drained, debris makes it just as messy as hair in a bathtub drain. If one were to travel along Maui Veterans Highway, he’d find there isn’t one. The spiny reptiles’ journey created a game trail, with sixteen wheeler sized footprints thirty two feet deep. And the coastal cities north of the event in Makena were trampled by the beast.
Never to forget Makena itself. The Red Cross is stretched thin across the island, and the refugee spot there is overrun. On a park bench, Rainbow Dash waited for anyone word on her friends. All the trouble she had with that massive pterosaur earned her a few badges of courage. She feels something on her shoulder. It was Applejack with Fluttershy in tow. Behind them were the rest of the bird’s captives signing a form.
Kahului
Surprisingly, Sunset, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy don’t travel to Makena. A few hours earlier as the city was being drained, the Shobijin vanished again. But Sunset still senses their presence and persuaded them to come with her. They once again push through jungles.
“Sunset, darling.” Rarity pushed a vine, “I still say we should regroup at Makena. They’d be worried sick!”
“And hungry too.” Pinky adds, holding up a Tupperware full of pastries.
“Guys,” Twilight interjects, raising a finger “I think we’re not alone.”
Indeed, when the girls and dog look around, they find others heading their direction, and faster to their surprise. Ever more curious, the group continues on, pushing through bushes and branches. With one final parting of bushes, their curiosity pays off. Partially uncovered was a massive egg of blue with yellow stripes and white speckles. Everyone was taking pictures, newsfolk competing for the best spaces.
“My Lord…” Rarity gawked.
“The sky had a baby.” Pinkie added, eating one of her sugary sweets.
Sunset approached the egg, gently touching it with her fingertips. The dry plaster texture intrigued her before putting her palm on the shell. As what happened at Camp Everfree, Sunset gasps and her eyes glow. Her vision was of Mothra arriving at the spot around a few days ago. She glows before several thousand little moths fly off her. They form an oval shape before solidifying into the egg. Her colors now fainted, the imago left the egg to secure a hiding spot. As the vision continues, she could hear a thumping sound, loud but very familiar.
“It’s about ready.” Sunset answers with a gasp as if expecting a child.
“Hey!” Sunset is pushed back by a short pink man in a black-red suit and top hat with glasses, “Get away from my property!”
“‘Your property?’” Twilight begs his pardon.
“I bought it fair and square!” Verko stakes his claim, “It will be a star attraction at the Verko exhibit in San Francisco!”
“You cannot take the egg!” The Shobijin voice from out of nowhere caused a stir among the populace. Sunset is the first to spot the twins in their protest, “The egg belongs to-!”
Sunset immediately snatches them up into her satchel, letting out an uneasy giggle before stepping back. Out of earshot, she opens the bag.
“Why do you take us away from the egg?” They question, both having worried looks on their small faces.
“And be another sideshow attraction?” Sunset rebukes.
“The egg is ready to hatch,” The Twins argue again, “it would be too dangerous for humanity.”
“Why?” Spike looks down at the bag, “What happens if it hatches?”
“The magic used to create the child will be ebbed,” The twins lower their heads, “and it will be very hungry.”
Twilight looks at the massive egg, preparations from associates are already being made to excavate the egg.
“Well,” She raises her hand, making it glow, “maybe if I-”
“No!” Sunset clutches Twilight’s hand, then turns over to the Shobijin, “Besides, after what happened last night, the egg would be better away from here. We’ll find a way, but not like this.”
Still questioning her decision, the two priestesses lower their heads before Sunset closes the bag. It’s not long when Rarity feels a buzz in her pants. She takes out her phone; on the cover was Sweetie Belle’s contact picture. But when she answers it, a large hand snatches the device away. It was a face they hoped not to see again. Another one snatches Sunset’s bag away. Before either one of them could protest, they were cuffed against their will and pushed into the jungle. Unknown to them, a figure primarily in blue and dressed in light summer clothes was watching them.
They were brought back to the city, but not to the yachts and cargo ships like everyone else. Rather they were taken over to the Gotengo. While the size of a large Destroyer class vessel, there are several visual differences. Notable of which is the bow of the ship adorned with a giant drill with a large gun barrel at it’s tip.
“This is amazing!” Twilight exclaims as she was pushed up the stairs.
The guard on deck opens the hatch and lets them in. They were taken even faster.
“Shouldn’t we get a phone call?” Rarity asks. But the guard only moves them through the narrow corridors ever swiftly, “At least let me call Sw-!”
The guards shove the four girls into another room and shut the door. Twilight was quick to catch Spike in her arms. The puppy starts wagging his tail.
“Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash!” He barks, scurrying off his master’s arms and jumping into Fluttershy’s arms.
“Glad you joined the party.” Applejack complemented, sitting down with her legs on the table.
“How long?” Sunset asks, getting back on her feet.
“Long enough that they put food on the table.” Rainbow Dash raised her hand at the gourmet presented before them. Sunset’ belly rumbled, and the food was enough to get her to reach out.
“Wait!” Pinkie Pie steps in front of Sunset, “They might have injected it with truth serum!”
“Pinkie,” Rarity muttered, “they wouldn’t let this food spoil now-”
“Actually,” Twilight interrupts, pointing suspiciously “she has a point.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie looks at the one way window before them, “If you think that we’re gonna be swayed” - She sniffs the delicious food - “think again!”
A quarter of the way across the Pacific Ocean
The passenger ships were full steam ahead, keeping together in a tight formation. The gigantic egg was on a separate cargo boat. The military ships followed behind in a big ring, cannons aimed depending on their positions. The Gotengo and four other Destroyer vessels were further behind. So far, no aquatic or aerial reptiles to fight.
Inside the armored vessel, aside from the hard-working crew, boredom looms. The Rainbooms have the worst of it. Pinkie Pie hypocritically ate all the food, and is close to bursting. The others were bored to tears. Sunset tapped both ends of a pencil, turning one evil eye at the window.
“So you’re gonna keep us waiting?” Sunset asks, “Just gonna watch us like we’re a fish bowl?”
Not getting an answer made her snort before she throws the utensil. Sunset huffs, leaning back on her chair and rubbing her face.
“We get it.” Rainbow Dash groaned, “There weren’t any monsters.”
As if on cue, the door next to the window opens. A few familiar faces enter the room.
“Monsters?” Tempest asks, holding two vanilla folders, “What monsters?”
“Tempest, what the hell is going on?” Sunset questioned angrily, “Where are we?”
“Welcome to the Gotengo.” Grubber answers before taking a bite out of a bear claw.
“The Gotengo?” Twilight sat up in her chair at the mention of it, “I knew this ship looked familiar, but I read it wasn’t even finished.”
“The Garuda was unfinished,” Tempest taps her fingers on the table, “it was proven too expensive and overall unnecessary to make an all-purpose ship. This is one of the only two, the other being the Atragon.”
The other Rainbooms look at each other before Applejack slams her hands on the table, “Alright, what’s going on? We want answers!”
Tempest keeps her silence, but does curl a corner of her mouth upon opening the first vanilla folder. Inside were grainy photos of passing glances of the spiny reptile from last night.
“In nineteen fifty-four, when the first nuclear submarine ever reached the lower depths.” Tempest took another breath before pushing one image aside to a newspaper clipping. “Lawton Gone without a Trace” it reads, “It awakened something. The States thought it was the Russians and vice versa.”
Sci-Twi notices an old schematic; one bearing very familiar dates in some of her studies, all of which had the word, “negative” underneath them.
“So all the nuclear tests in history…?”
“They were trying to kill him.” Tempest answers, nodding slowly.
“Him?” Rainbow Dash questioned; after all, she didn’t see any… clues.
“We thought he had gone AWOL since the mid-seventies-”
“Until the Lucky Dragon burned.” Sunset finished, the mere mention made Tempest clench her fists.
“They all called me a crackpot.” Tempest breathes deep “But today, the world knows finally knows of him. We call him… Gojira.”
“Oh…” Pinkie coos, shaking her head with her mouth gaping, “Gorilla-Whale.”
Everyone gave the bloated pink lady a look, to which she further explains, “Because it’s a combination of “gorira” and “ku-.”
“We get it.” They interrupt her.
“But if he was gone for so long” Applejack picks up a photo, “Why now?”
“Well,” Grubber opens up the second vanilla folder. Inside were grainy, very blurry photos. Only the newspaper articles surrounding the Bermuda Triangle support the evidence, “it may have involved us chasing away Rodan from the Gulf.”
“Okay, a fight over territory.” Twilight summarises before here brain clicks on another thought, “Wait, ‘Rodan?’ Like the artist?”
That very question Grubber can only answer with a shrug. The room suddenly darkens, and a bright light shines on the wall. The footage counts down from five.
“Those two aren’t the only titans.” Tempest remarks as the first image that appears is a damaged Byzantine relief sculpture. It depicted a few holy men fighting a horned, bulldog-like reptile with crescent-shaped ears. A few seconds later the image switches over to a Chinese painting depicting a coastal city flooded by a sea serpent.
“It seemed that our history with them was inexplicably linked.” Tempest goes a little further. The slideshow switches over to a faded hieroglyph of a monstrous crocodile being offered the hearts of the unworthy. It then switches over to a Norse painting of a giant wolf. When it switched over to an Aboriginal painting of a gigantic walrus, the Rainbooms stood up, amazed and shocked.
“There’s no denying it,” The picture switches again to a Fresco of two gigantic, hairy men of yellow and green fighting each other in front of a volcano. The next was footage from around the first World War depicting a river tribe worshipping at a shrine. Inside the shrine was a statue of a spiny lizard with webbing on his sides; carved on the base, the Japanese word reads as “Baradagi-sanjin.”
“Ancient species owned this earth long before mankind,” The next few images went by fast from a gigantic Okinawan statue of a Shisa, a Lower Renaissance painting of another sea monster generating a hurricane with his tailfin, and finally photos of the dead turtle from days ago, “and if we keep our heads in the sand, they’ll take it back.”
When the lights turn on, the Rainbooms became pale. Their battles with the Dazzlings. The creatures of The Island. Kong and Camp Everfree. All of this felt like child’s play compared with the danger present now. And the fact that there are more of them out there...
“But,” Tempest interrupted their silence, snapping her fingers. A soldier holding a small dog carrier walks to the table, “there are still little surprises left in this world.”
Fluttershy placed both hands on her mouth. For God knows how long, the Shobijin were held inside like animals. With a scowl, Sunset unlatches the door and sets them free.
“I’m certain these two have something to add?” Tempest asks of the twins.
Sunset defensively puts her arms in front of the twins,“Don’t say another-”
“There is a greater danger than either of them.” The twins step over Sunset’s arms and walk towards the scarred commander, “For centuries, our island has been his prison. But now he has been unleashed, and when he grows to full strength…”
The twins stop and lower their heads. Tempest cocks her head and leans closer to them. An action that puts Sunset more on edge.
“Who?” Tempest asks, minding the Rainbooms’ defensive looks, “Who can be worse than Gojira and Rodan?”
Before the twins can answer, the room becomes dark once more before it is filled with a deep red. If pop culture be true, then the guests of the Gotengo know for certain. Danger is nearby. Tempest swiftly stands up and makes for the door.
“Wait here.” She asks of the Rainbooms before leaving with Grubber. Sunset turns a suspicious look at her posse before she too makes her way for the door. The hulking guard blocked their way, his beady eyes focused on their target.
“Let us through!” Sunset asks, getting a snarl in return. Rarity steps in front of her.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind a little-” Rarity realized that the crew took away her purse. She giggles, backing away slowly when the guard snarls again.
“All right, that’s it!” Rainbow Dash pushes her friends aside, “I got good news and bad news for you, pal!”
This threat gets the guard to lower his head and bares his yellow teeth. But little can beat big if a little smart. In a flash of bright light, the guard is presented with a band of girls with pony ears and ponytails.
“The good news is you’re wearing body armor.” Applejack fixes her stetson. “The bad news is-!”
Outside of the room, punching and slamming sounds echo the ship. A passing soldier takes a gander at this upstart, reaching for the door when an impression of his comrade juts out. Others quickly trail the hall, each looking worse than the last. The door slams open, introducing him to a few stern-faced Rainbooms. A long pause, then the guard turns a blind eye, whistling a tune.
The Rainbooms make it to the deck. The destroyers that were next to the Gotengo have stopped, turned starboard, and aimed their cannons at the unknown. The pursuer made himself known again with his three rows of dorsal fins. The crew on dock brace for impact. But Gojira stopped, his frontmost of his spines just a few meters from the closest destroyer. Silence once again as each readied their cannons. The mass then shook and swayed, rocking the massive ships. It rises from the deep, but to a great surprise, it was just the tail. The real deal rose from underneath the fleet, breaking their ranks.
“Open Fire!” Orders one of the captains. The ship unleashes their payload, cannon fire to even rifles from the soldiers themselves. The other ships follow suit, and engulf the massive reptile in fire. The wide open ocean echoes with the made gunplay and smoke fills the air. Then out of the smoke, Gojira’s massive hand reaches out, grabs the ship, and collides it with another. He spins around, lets out another roar before sinking his teeth into another ship. Such a powerful force even has the Rainbooms flabbergasted.
“Yeesh! There’s no end to this guy!” Rainbow exclaims just as she watched Gojira bite the ship in two.
“It’s like he’s full of that Regenerator G-1 stuff I analyzed.” Twilight added.
“I think it’s more than that, Twilight.” Sunset concurs, “I think he is Regenerator G-1.”
Always wanting a better view, Pinkie Pie fashions another pair of binoculars.
“Hey, girls!” Pinkie mutters, “Something weird is going on with his neck.”
Pinkie hands the goggles to Twilight. The same thing catches her eyes. On the sides of Gojira’s neck, some of the larger scales flap in and out, releasing a little steam. She hands them over to Sunset.
“Are those… Gills?” Sunset asks. Hearing that in earshot, Tempest looks through her binoculars. Careful observation on her part reveals these scales opening and closing in rhythm. She takes out her radio.
“This is Tempest Shadow.” She chimes, “Concentrate your fire on the monster’s neck.”
One of the strafing ships aims it’s canons at a higher angle before firing. The shell collides with the necks; this time it stops the beast and gets causes him to howl. The remaining ships repeat the process, causing Gojira to cry and wail.
Afar from one of the yachts, the mysterious blue figure was watching the fight. And in her mind, she will not have it. She goes below deck and prepares herself a small rescue boat.
“Ma’am.” A shipmate calls out, “You cannot be here.”
The figure ignores the man and drops the boat in the water. The man takes out some handcuffs and reaches for the woman. She grabs his wrist, turning a predatory eye at him. The next moment she drives the small boat away, heading for the barge with the massive egg.
Gojira too had enough being cannon fodder. With his mighty tail, he capsizes a ship before grabbing another with his teeth. He notices one ship aiming at him and slaps it with his hands. Gojira shakes his head, sending several of the ships crewmates to the water before dropping the vessel on top of them.
“Uh, girls.” Rarity asks of her friends, “Is it me or is that boat run out of gas?”
The rest of the Rainbooms and crew of the Gotengo immediately notice that they were passing the cargo boat. Through her binoculars, Tempest notices the crew abandoning ship and so tunes her radio to the boats frequency.
“Captain! What’s going on?”
“Our fuselage was sabotaged!” The captain radios from the other end, “We have to abandon ship!”
At the ship itself, the crew is well underway to getting lifeboats all packed up. One passenger in particular is not happy with this choice.
“Let me go this instant!” Verko protests as he was dragged across deck, “That’s my investment on that boat!”
The mysterious figure returned to her raft, opened up a barrel of oil, and left a long trail before using the magic of her pendant to ignite it. The fire trails over to the barge, connecting with the oil spill and igniting a ring of fire. The bright flame made it look like a second sun.
And so it attracts Gojira like a moth to a flame. The remaining two ships fire at him, but this time he justs shrugs them. The Gotengo aims its cannons at the monster, but each volley hits the neck a little too far from the gills. His heavy brow furrows at the sight of the egg. So strange and yet… So familiar.
“We gotta do something quick,” Applejack explains, “or that egg’s scrambled!”
“How!?” Twilight complained, “Nothing can even scratch that thing!?”
Sunset prepared her own idea when her ears pick up a thumping sound. Drums? But where and how? The drums continue in a rhythm. A familiar one from her exile at the Island. The Unicorn in ape’s clothing closed her eyes, took a few steps, then raises her leg up high.
“Uh, Sunset?” Rainbow Dash questioned as Sunset repeats her dance, “What are you doing?”
On cue, the twins sing in a language so foreign, not even the Rainbooms foreign language studies can comprehend.
“A form of ritual?” Fluttershy wonders as she and the others turn to the egg.
Sunset opens her eyes, but in her mind she’s in a whole different world. At their ravaged village, the Tagatu surround a shrine in Mothra’s image. A majority of them are on their knees bowing repeatedly and chanting, while a few bands of women practice the same dance Sunset is doing now. The shrine itself starts glowing in various colours, getting faster with the rhythm.
In the realm of modern man, those who couldn’t leave Maui notice a strong breeze. The perpetrator of this event is Mothra, whose fainted colors start shimmering. She lets out a cry in the direction of the boats. The egg too starts flashing in numerous colors. Gojira continuously blinks at this weird spectacle.
Sunset’s dancing becomes more erratic as she hears the rhythm hastens. Everyone on deck is all confused as to what’s going on. The sound of thunder on a sunny day only adds to this confusion. The Shobijin call out their last reprise a few times.
The flashes and the thundering reach their zenith. The Rainbooms see a crack forming on the egg before a bright flash causes them to avert their eyes. Once the music stops, Sunset stood on shaky knees before collapsing.
“Sunset!” The Rainbooms call out before coming to her aid. Her body was sweaty, almost feverish.
“Can someone get her some water!?” Applejack calls out to some of the crew. She and Rarity sit her up.
“The…” Sunset puts her hand on her forehead, “Egg…?”
Fluttershy picks up the Shobijin and joins the Rainbooms as they walk over to the edge of the dock. The crack on the egg gets larger, splitting into other, smaller cracks. The shell finally parts from the egg. Inside was no bird of course. Contrasting the colorful egg was a giant, brown caterpillar. Atop her segmented body had a grey-brown color. Her head is full of wrinkles, with three notches, beady blue eyes, and little tusks next to her beak. She announces herself to the world with a loud chirp. Everyone else admires this new member of the world.
“It’s.... It’s...” Rarity tried to come up with a way to describe the larva without being rude.
“It looks like a giant Tootsie Roll!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, her hands on her cheeks.
Immediately after saying that, the other end of the egg starts cracking. Coming out of it was another larvae. But this individual was a darker shade from his sister with muted stripes along his sides. His tusks were larger and his head is bumpy in place of the notches. The firstborn looks at her brother, and vice versa.
“There’s-?” Sunset questions.
“Two?” The Shobijin finished.
“So she had twins,” Applejack assures them, “so what?”
“That isn’t supposed to happen.” Sunset objects.
“Oooh.” Pinkie Pie cooes, “We should prepare a first-day party!”
The moment is ruined when Gojira lets out a terrifying roar. The Rainbooms, reminded of the danger, turn over to the innocent larvae blissfully chirping.
“Not gonna happen if they become paste!” Spike remarks.
“Come on,” Sunset beckons the larvae on deaf ears, “get out of there!”
The larvae continue to chirp at each other as the danger approaches. Gojira’s mouth opens and closes. The Shobijin realize his intention and emit a very indistinguishable sound. Rainbow Dash shuffles a little before clenching her fists.
“Well, I was almost killed yesterday!” She breaks her silence, ponying up before shooting out towards the giant reptile. The athlete flies close to his body, reaching to his squarish head. She grabs his eyelid and pulls as hard as possible. Gojira growls before snapping his massive jaws at her.
The larvae pick up on the strange sound; this creature before them is bad news. The male larva starts squirming, breaking his side of the egg before diving into the ocean. Gojira continues shrugging off Rainbow Dash. The girl looks at the Gotengo and flies back to the deck. She looks at Tempest angrily.
“Well?!” She questions the commander.
Tempest looks at her white whale approach his struggling victim. She tunes her radio to the frequency of her flagship.
“Aim all cannons at Gojira.” She orders.
The ship turns around and aims the cannons at Gojira. Even if they don’t hit him by the gills, the sheer firepower was enough to get the beast to turn around. The female larva arches herself, breaks free of her calcium prison and goes into the water. Unlike her twin, she surfaces at the other side of the barge. The Gotengo unleashes the next round of cannon fire, covering Gojira in smoke and fire. The monster continues on, looking at his smaller enemies with a fiery stare. Sensing the Shobijin’s impending danger, the female opens her mouth and fires a silky substance. This appears to be an afterthought on the “child’s” part; some of it reaches the Gotengo.
“Ah, great!” Spike complains, shaking the silk off his fur, “More webbing!”
Twilight feels something odd about this silk as she rubs it between her fingers and asks, “Anyone getting a burning feeling?”
Getting an idea, they look at Gojira. His dorsal fins are covered in silk like a cotton candy machine. Turning around only made it worse as his chest and face got covered. The beast tries pulling the silk away, but to no avail and the arms gets bound to his torso. The twin takes a breather before firing another stream of silk. Tempest’s stoic face draws a smile at this advantage.
“Continue the attack.” She orders once more.
The Gotengo continues firing its cannons at Gojira as he helplessly gets covered in silk. He roars furiously before the webbing shuts his jaws. When the ship completes its attack run, Tempest raises her hand, ordering the attack to stop. The smoke clears; there is silence, for the mummified beast was just standing still.
“Yes!” Rainbow Dash cheered victoriously.
“Take that, you dinosaur!” Applejack added, pointing at the creature in a defiant manner.
But victory is celebrated too soon. Blue light courses through Gojira, who swings his torso around. The silk expands, then explodes with a force so strong it tosses both the ship and the female larva a good distance. Freed from his bindings, the beast roars furiously. He snorts like a mad bull, twitching his wrinkled lip as his mind races whether he should tear apart the ship or the larva.
Suddenly he howls in pain yet again, raising his massive tail. The Rainbooms run to the boat again, seeing this newfound frenzy. The male larva bit down the tip of Gojira’s tail with his beak. He held on with all his might while being thrashed back and forth.
“Ride that tail!” Pinkie Pie cheered on.
The female returns to the barge, laying her knobby head. Looking at this fools errand, she aims her beak again before firing another web stream. But the giant reptile has had enough of this tomfoolery and dives so fast that the male is launched a good distance ahead of the Gotengo’s direction. The wave rocks the ship around yet again. Tempest regains herself and finds the beast gone.
“Get me a reading from the radar!” She orders to a shipmate.
With Gojira no longer in sight, the female larva takes the opportunity to join her brother. Calm as this is, it’s too soon to celebrate. In Twilight’s arms, Spike looks around before something catches his color-blind eyes.
“What is that?!” He barks, getting those on deck to look in his direction.
Another large hump of water passes by them. They are confused as to why they aren’t attacked, but they quickly realize that it was heading for the female. It disappears below the waves before a burst of water pushes the larva in the air. The seafoam clears, revealing a horrid sight. A monster with three necks, each bearing a head like a moray eel, and penguin-like flippers on the sides of his body has entered the fray. And he has the larva in his teeth, listening to her scream. The girls wince at the sight of the child being assaulted. Then, all of a sudden, the sea serpent was pulled into the water so fast he loses his grip on his quarry.
“Uhhh…” Rainbow Dash looked at the others, her face perplexed “What just happened?”
On cue, the injured larva pops from the water. She emits a pained cry as she is joined by her brother and swims to places unknown. The Rainbooms hear something churning, and look at the section of ocean water bubbling like a hot tea pot.
“Something bad, I’m sure.” Sunset answers, gripping the safety bar as the Gotengo moves away from danger.
Whether it was to vent his anger or something else, Gojira held the sea serpent’s webbed foot by his teeth as he swam deeper. The serpent curls forward and bites his slightly larger foe on the back of his neck. Momentum plants Gojira’s feet at the ocean floor. The beast gives an irritated snort, looking around for his unusual quarry.
Suddenly, the three-headed sea serpent jumps him. Gojira bites his foe’s flipper and pulls him forward. But this strange foe is clever enough to wrap his twin tails around Gojira’s waist and remain steadfast. Gojira again will have none of this and starts pulsing once more. The serpent bites down on the beasts’ arms and neck and sends several magical charges down his veins. Gojira howls in pain as the procedure continues before collapsing. The serpent unwraps himself, leaving his foe twitching and sparking.
At a distance, the mysterious blue figure watches the Gotengo move away from the fight. She then looks at the larvae swimming in another direction, noticing the female leaving a trail of yellow blood in the ocean. Her ruby pendant glows once more. She lets out a small hiss before turning the raft south-east and drives it away.
It’s two days travel when they finally reach the West Coast. A good amount of Californians looked in confusion in this great migration of refugees. One person, fresh from a convention with a copy of an infamous Japanese film stood in awe at the sight of the boarding Gotengo. Transit buses park at the docks and board their passengers as soon as they leave their ships. The Rainbooms, with their belongings in tow, ready themselves for the second part of their journey.
“Hey.” The group looks back at Tempest Shadow, “Be very careful out there, even when you’re home. You might not be safe for long.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” Sunset takes a few steps down before turning around again, “next time your stranded on an island of monsters.”
Tempest furrowed a glare as she watched the Rainbooms join their classmates on the metro bus due east. Sunset watched as well while the bus pulled out and goes to the highway. The commander turns to Grubber.
“Patch me with the Governor.” She orders of him before looking at the Pacific, “We have work to do.”
The sites of the big city may have been magnificent, but the mood is far from pleasant. The passengers kept their silence. The only non student passenger inside was Capper, twiddling his thumbs before looking at Rarity.
“You wouldn’t mind filling out a-”
“Unless you want me to file a lawsuit, not one word.” Rarity hissed, scratching her cushion.
The bus driver looks at the rearview mirror.
“Some news, huh?” He breaks the silence, “Yeah, giant dinosaurs wrecking cities. Ye see, I’m a bit of a Kaiju fan myself and-”
“Shut up and drive.” Rainbow Dashed interrupted, keeping her head up as she looked out the window.
Sunset looked up at a looming interstate bridge before she peeks into her bag.
“Do you think the Twins will be okay?” She asks of the Shobijin.
“They found a safe haven,” They answer, “But the danger is still out there.”
“I know. Gojira, Rodan, and… Whatever that three headed thing was.” Sunset lifted her head, “Good thing we have at least one on our side.”
“You sayin’ we fight fire with fire?” Applejack pushes her hat up with her thumb, opening up one green eye.
“That and magic.” Sunset taps her fingers, “It worked before, it’ll work again.”
Fluttershy scoots forward on her seat and asks, “Against… Three?”
Sunset rubs her chin. They obviously can’t fight the three of them all at once. Even in piecemeal, at least Gojira could be a handful to them. It’ll take a lot of magic indeed and a lot of luck. Looking at the highway made her drowsy and so falls to sleep. The Shobijin look out of the bag and observe this strange new world. Hardly any wilderness, just roads of asphalt and structures of glass and iron. Unfortunately, this world has it’s own dangers, as Capper develops a brainstorm watching the twins.
As the bus rolls to the east and sun flies to the west, the twins are amazed at the change they see before them. The skyscrapers gave way to suburban houses, and the suburban houses gave way to rural farms. In time, stretches of flat greenery are as far as the eye can see. A house here and there, but it’s plain emptiness.
Ashley Valley, Utah
It was around eight in the evening when the bus passes the Rocky Mountains and into the scrublands. Everyone is fast asleep, some using the other as a makeshift pillow. Suddenly the piece is disturbed with a loud chugging sound. The bus slows down to a halt underneath a streetlight at the shoulder.
“Huh, whuh?” Spike snorted, licking his chaps, “What happened?”
The driver stepped to the front of the bus. Smoke seeped from the hood before coming out like a blown volcano.
“What’s the holdup?” Rainbow hollered.
“Engines fried.” He answers, taking out a tool box, “We won’t be moving until morning.”
On cue, the engine goes from bad to worse, in which Flash adds, “Or in a few days.”
Rarity looked out her window, seeing nothing but pure darkness. “Out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Twilight looked out from her side of the bus. A good distance away, a group of lights are clustered together.
“Not exactly nowhere.” Twilight takes out a map from the dashboard and steps outside. She looks for clues, looking at the map and overall geography. “From the looks of it, we’re in Ashley Valley.”
The mention of the city raises Applejack’s spirits. She rubs her chin.
“Ashley Valley, eh?” She asks with a curious look.
It’s only natural that the world gives people a good night’s sleep. Disturbances, let alone moments of terror, are far and fleeting. However, this fleeting moment comes upon one household. For the third time now, someone knocks hard on the front door of a farmhouse. And this time, the owner, a young woman with hair of two shades of green, answers the call while trying not to step on one of the many cats.
“Yeah, yeah, because I have to go to work in two hours, why not?” Apple Fritter lets out a long yawn when she hears the knocking again, “I’m coming, I’m coming, hold your horses.”
Apple Fritter opens the door, letting out another yawn before rubbing her tired eyes. Who was outside the door startled her.
“Applejack!?”
Applejack gives out an awkward smile as the rest of her classmates stood behind her.
“Hi, cousin.” She chuckles dryly.
It’s almost a quarter past four in the morning when everyone gets settled in the barn. The Rainbooms, however, talked to Apple Fritter and her family inside their home. It doesn’t take just on Apple to another regarding the news. What they spoke of got the family spooked
“That’s quite some vacation.” Goldie Delicious rubs her thumb on a tomcat.
“Yeah.” Twilight pats her knees, noticing Spike getting quite acquainted with the felines.
“Again,” Sunset, “we’re sorry about this. But if there’s any way we can make it up to you until the bus is fixed.”
Goldie and Apple Fritter look at each other. Getting the same idea, the latter licks her lips and points at Applejack.
“Five to nine?” She asks, getting a coy look from AJ.
“Five to nine.” She agrees.
“Five to nine?” Spike cocks his head, in which Applejack shuffles in her seat.
“You mean, Nine to five, deary?” Rarity adds.
“Get some shuteye, y’all.” AJ stands up, “We got a lot of work to do today.”
The Pacific Ocean
Though three hours have passed, it was still early in the morning at this timezone. Near the surface, just about every creature of the sea begins their business. Further down, a lone old male sperm whale continues his long search for food. His desperation brings him to the ocean floor, just scratching the tip of his bulbous head. No giant squids again unfortunately, but his sonar picks up something interesting. He coasts along, seeing the image growing larger in his head. The whale notices something very wrong and drifts to his left.
Gojira still laid dormant and is covered with crabs and hagfish. This is still by no means safe; even eating a loose scale made a crab twice it’s size. A few foolish hagfish rasp at his twitching eyelid. It suddenly opens with a blue glow as sparks streak his body. Like a miracle to a paralyzed man. His tail is the first part to move, shaking the scavengers away. His eye stops glowing, turning to his left while he lets out a horrid growl.
At the mainland of course, the hour is just right. As promised, the newfound guests wake up from their brief rest. For Applejack, this was just normal for her as she woke up a half hour early. After showering, she dressed not in her usual attire, but rather a light red shirt, jeans, and her hair tied up behind a bandana. Already, she and Apple Fritter have finished up feeding the pigs and chickens.
In the nick of time, everyone dresses up and participates in the longest part of the day. With three to a tree, a tree was easily picked before having to grab a ladder. A few unpaid volunteers strengthened the odds. A piebald Sophomore as tall as the Senior students just picked at many as she could. She turns to a mute boy a third her height and lifts him up on her shoulders. Rainbow Dash, a few athletes, and a Sophomore boy with six fingers on each hand, grab the basket of apples and load them up in the barn. A distance away, some of the classmates alongside another Sophomore boy with ectrodactyly and an obese female Sophomore get the last sheep into the corral.
Inside the house, covered with cats, Goldie Delicious was on the phone.
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
On the other side of the line was Granny Smith, delighted to hear that her grandchild and friends are safe and sound. Outside, her other two grandchildren worked as well. Apple Bloom once again had feeding duty with Thunderball. But when she brought the wagon over again, something was different, much different. The giant dinosaur wasn’t there, but left a massive tunnel.
San Francisco, California
With the approval of the Governor, Tempest too worked on the clock. Tanks and infantry made themselves home on the Golden Gate Bridge. Jets soar around the Pacific Northwest, some landing on destroyer vessels to report it. But that’s not the strangest thing. Construction crews worked tirelessly constructing electric towers over one hundred meters tall about fifty meters apart from each other. Such a labor can be seen as far away as Beverly Hills. Desperate for their lives, the streets are jam packed, and the car horns echo the city streets.
Ashley Valley, Utah
Thanks to the extra help, they managed to finish their chores in good time, four-thirty in the afternoon to be exact. And what better way than to celebrate this victory? Chairs are brought out, tables are set up, food is prepared. And to top it off, the Rainbooms, all cleaned up and dressed in the style of the Old West, finish off the song.
Three Hours Later
The chairs and tables are put in their proper places. The native volunteers, satisfied with their reward, are picked up by their parents and sent home. The students, their bellies full, have turned in for the day. Inside, the Rainbooms have mustered the last of their strength to wash the dishes. And now, it’s their turn to sleep. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity slept close to each other. Twilight kept Spike close to her as she slept on the couch. Pinkie Pie used her hair as a makeshift pillow while she slept on the rug. Applejack slept on the armchair, guitar still in her hand.
Sunset too slept on the floor, but something didn’t feel right with her and it wasn’t what she ate. She tossed and turned a little, gritting her teeth. In her brain, she receives memory flashes. One was during the storm that washed her away on the Island. The next was of the various cave paintings. When she looks at the one of Gojira, she has another flash of the nightmare she had in her time at Camp Everfree. She wakes up, panting like mad.
Catching her breath, Sunset tiptoes her way out of the house. With the cool, mountain air, her mind clears a little, but only for so much. She paces back and forth, coming up with an idea.
“Princess Celestia and Luna dealt with them before,” Sunset turns around, “maybe they can do so again. … No, no, it was tough enough when she, Twilight and Spike came into the portal. Three is good enough, but still-”
A strong breeze brushes her skin and hair. The trees to her left brush against each other like a tropical storm. However, there were no rain clouds of the sort. Sunset walks enters the forest, shielding her face as the wind grows stronger with each step. She grabs the trunk of a mighty oak, and squints her eyes.
Before her was Rodan flapping his wings again before getting comfy on all fours. His fight with Gojira has given him scars over his scars and a bad attitude. Against her better judgement, Sunset slowly steps towards the winged creature. Cautious as she is, Rodan’s attention is caught. She freezes, staring face to face with the monster. But the beast merely furrowed his eyes and looked the other way. Sunset was dumbfounded; why didn’t he attack her? She was right in front of him, defenseless as a mouse. Then again, Rainbow Dash told her that she outsmarted Rodan. Could it be that this creature was hiding his humiliation?
Sunset walked forward, keeping her eyes on his stern head. In someway, this reminds her on what she read regarding Gryphons; so huffy and so full of themselves. An idea brews in her mind; one that worked on both man and beast.
She reaches out for Rodan’s ring finger. Unfortunately, her “patient” won’t have any of this and shakes off before she could fully connect with him. The monster chuffs before spreading his wings and flies away. Gone, Sunset lets out a disappointed groan and returns to the farm. Getting comfy once again, Sunset drifts off into sleep. Tomorrow brings about a new day for thinking.
Fifty Miles South West from Panama
Just a few miles from the shore, the raft floated about without its rider. A Coast Guard boat inspects the empty floatable. After looking around for a moment, the officer on deck returns to the pilothouse.
“This is Depth Charge.” He announces over the radio, “I’ve found the raft, but no passengers. I’m gonna tow this boat away and-”
His boat shakes violently. Depth Charge steps outside and sees his part of the Pacific boiling like crazy. Before he could even mutter, a giant, whiplike tail shoots from the water and slaps the boat down.
San Francisco
The electric towers are complete, spanning the entire San Francisco Bay Area. The city is empty, except for the impoverished. Fortunately, the city is now their oyster and isn’t long before they raid the restaurants. However, the military kept their dominion of the coastline. Any moment, their dreaded foe will come, and all gun barrels are pointed to the west. Tempest stood ever defiant, ready for her hunt to end.
“No sign of Gojira, Tempest.” Grubber steps out of the tent with a pizza slice in hand, “Should we send another search party?”
It’s not long when birds of all kinds fly overhead, screeching and squawking in terror. In the water, fishes and sea beasts move to the north and south. On land, stray dogs and cats runs for the hills. Even cavalry horses and zoo captives break their cages and run for dear life. Tempest notices the Destroyers moving into position.
“No need to.” She answers.
Ashley Valley, Utah
With the chores all done for the day, this next day was just a mere time for rest. Besides, the bus still needed fixing before the last journey. Some decide to stay at the barn to keep cool. Others decide to go outside and explore. Trixie walks to the edge of the farm and gasps. The congestion has reached town, disturbing this once quiet town.
Applejack enters her cousins house, holding a checklist of their inventory.
“All right, Goldie Delicious.” Applejack marks off the last item on the list, “You should be good for the Farmer’s-”
Both friend and family remained motionless in their seats. The TV was set to Channel Five News, and this news did not involve better weather.
“This is Steve Martin.” The anchorman announces himself before positioning himself to the left third of the screen, “time has been turned back two million years.”
The camera focuses on the Bay area. Gojira is now thigh deep in sea water as he makes his way towards the Golden Gate Bridge… And the fence.
San Francisco
“This is my report as it happens.” He breaks the silence yet again. On the other side, his followers stood horrified at this creature, “A prehistoric monster the Military call 'Gojira' has just walked out of San Francisco Bay. He's as tall as a 30-story building. They’re means of defense: Over thirty million volts of electricity.”
Gojira stops his journey and observes this obstruction. A group of things that tower even him. Curiosity gets the better of him and reaches out for the wiring. Sparks course his fingers and lower arm before the reptile draws the limb away. The memory of being shocked, combined with the barrage of cannonfire, drove him mad and so Gojira barrels through the wires. The fence seems to be doing its job at keeping him away. For their safety, every soldier of every rank wore sunglasses.
“It’s working!” Tempest snickered as light flickers on her dark raspberry skin.
Satisfied as she is, life does not in her favor. Power Plant workers had to evacuate when the circuits burst into flames. As the voltage ceases, Gojira applies more of his weight. The cables snap one by one, bending the towers a little bit. The monster pushes down a tower and barrels towards the Golden Gate Bridge. The Destroyers in front of the bridge aim for the gills, but always miss him, hitting his shoulders. The tanks on the bridge fared a little better. The soldiers turned tail and fled in both directions of the bridge. Like a knife through butter, Gojira breaks through and marches to Alcatraz and announces his presence with a roar.
Surprised at this upbringing, Steve shakily spoke, “I cannot believe what we are seeing either. It appears our country has no defense.”
Tempest takes off the glasses, glaring at her prey as she takes this roaring as mockery.
“Give. Him. All. We. Have.” She turns sharply at her soldiers, “NOW!”
The warships surrounding the prison shoot the beast and cover him once more in smoke. Gojira steps into the water again and makes his way to the shore. The ships try to stop him again, but the beast only stops once to slap one with his tail.
The first area the reptile makes landfall is at an abandoned train station. Empty it appears, unoccupied it’s not. Inside a train car parked on a bridge, a soldier observes the monster trudging his way through the field.
“Time for boom boom.” He whispers before pressing a button.
Four trains, two on each end of the track, activate and accelerate down the tracks. Faster and faster; they collide with Gojira’s feet and cause their cargo of explosives to engulf the beast in fire and smoke. The monster stumbles a little before another set of trains collide with legs. He loses his footing, collapsing with a massive thump. From a distance, Tempest lets out a little chuckles.
But her soldier at the train station was blind as a bat. All around him was dust. Knowing he’s out of trains, the “conductor” finds the time is right to abandon ship. Suddenly, spikes pierce the train car, and the poor man is tossed around like a single jelly bean. Gojira stood tall… and angry. With a swing of his mighty head, he sends the car and it’s passenger to their doom.
Ashley Valley
Everyone is horrified by what they’re seeing. Fluttershy and Rarity ran away to a quiet room to cry with Pinkie Pie joining over to comfort them. Twilight walked outside, holding Spike for comfort. Applejack noticed Rainbow Dash’ furious look as she gripped the arm of the sofa. Sunset stood next to the table in the dining room, overhearing everything.
“They're moving in an entire tank corps to point-blank firing range.” Steve Martin announces again, “I'm saying a prayer... a prayer for the whole world.”
Sunset bares her teeth before slamming her fist on the table.
San Francisco
In the heart of the city, many of the stragglers sought refuge underground. Even then, they can feel the Wrath of God stepping over them. For some, they were too far gone thanks to the elements and the lack of generosity. A family of three hid behind a corner, merely watching the beast move through while hearing the booms from the tanks.
“Do not worry, children.” Their mother brings her children closer, tears flowing her eyes, “You’ll be with your father soon.”
For one, death seems not to be an issue. In the top floor of a luxury hotel, one homeless man has treated himself well. New suit, new spats, new hat. To top it off, he’s feasting like a king, and just about as drunk. Bravado in the face of death. The room shakes, spilling his prized meal over the floor. He looks to his left and sees Gojira walking down the street.
“Aggghh!” The man grabs a wine bottle and awkwardly walks to the window. Holding the window sill, he swings the bottle around, “Go wreck someone else's’ town!”
He tosses the bottle and shuts the window. To the surprise of the world, the bottle crashing on his skin stops Gojira. He turns his head to the hotel, but as the windows were designed to keep sunlight away, he can only see his own reflection. Just like any animal, Gojira observes his doppleganger with both curiosity and frustration before letting out a snort and go on his way.
The tables move over to those with wings. A squadron of helicopters hover at the outskirts of San Francisco.
“This is Vortex Leader, we are nearing our quarry.” The pilot flips the cover on the control stick, “Permission to fire?”
“Granted.” Tempest orders from the other end of the line.
The helicopters unleash their bulletstorm. Yet, this appears most futile. The bullets bounce off the thick, pebbly hide and rain litter the streets. The squadron switches to the heavier stuff and fire at his head. The results makes Gojira flinch, but no visible wounds. The monster does, however, shields his eyes using a third eyelid.
“Where are those stealth fighters!?” The pilot calls out.
“Commodore Blast Off, here!” Another voice calls out, “We’re in progress!”
Two stealth bombers enter the city airspace and drop their payload. For once after a while, the bombs stops Gojira, knocking him down and engulfing the beast in smoke. The helicopters fly closer to investigate. Nothing but smoke and debris. Wondering about it, Tempest lifts her radio.
“What’s the situation now?” She asks over the radio.
“Target remains invisible,” He answers followed by a static, humming sound, “Wait, we got a visual. It appears to be a bunch of glowing... blue... lights.”
Tempests’ eyes widen and is quick to respond with, “Fall back immediately! I repeat, fall-”
Ashley Valley
Every student was in the farmhouse, completely horrified at what they’re seeing. Flashes of lights reflect off their eyes. Sunset, still in the dining room, gritted her teeth as her ears picked up the explosions.
“Change it to something else, please.” She requests. On cue, Apple Fritter grabs the remote and changes it to the next few channel. One of which catches Rainbow Dash’ attention.
“Wait, turn it back a few!”
San Franscisco
From afar, a large mushroom cloud as clear as day towers the skyscrapers. For once in Tempest's stern, but coy face, a look of horror is clearly visible. Her soldiers kept their silence. Well, most of them.
“Commander, there’s trouble in Panama!”
Panama Canal
Civilians both native and tourist ran for their lives, jumping cars and clogging up alleys. The three headed serpent has made landfall. He pushed himself through the crowded towns, leaving a crater trail with his top heavy chest. Gravity and the heat isn’t doing wonders to him; his gills flap his three necks before pouring out blood so hot it melted the asphalt.
Though clumsy as a penguin out of water, the serpent was still a force to be reckoned with as he increased his pace, denting buildings, crushing sales stands and sending cars flying. To the chagrin of the rich, even luxury buildings were crushed as the serpent slinked his body weight atop of it.
The troops stationed at San Francisco watched from a Latino news channel. Though they are listening in a different language, action speaks louder than words. Grubber, in the first in a long while, stilled his ravenous appetite.
“Should we move part of our forces to Panama?” He asked with a hint of fright.
Tempest closes her eyes, shaking her fist as she answers, “They won’t get there in time.”
Steve Martin was still watching the destruction going on at his location. Gojira just walked out from the flaming metropolis with hardly a burn. Onwards he journeys through the suburbs. The reporter raises his radio to his mouth.
“Man’s architecture have been wiped out by a wall of flames.” He takes a startled breath, “Neither he nor his machines are able to stop this creature.”
On the east end of the Isthmus, the blue stranger watched the serpent reach the Gulf of Mexico. The famous seaport that provided international trade is crushed under his belly. Sea water floods the town, giving the beast a slick surface to move on while hundreds drowned. As soon as the serpent dives into the Gulf, the stranger too dives into the water before anyone got a passing glance.
Ashley Valley
The sun touched the mountain peaks once more. The traffic was less congested, but still congested as is. Sunset stood outside the farmhouse, letting the breeze brush her hair. Behind the kitchen window, the rest of the Rainbooms watched her. They look at each other before stepping outside.
“You all right, sugarcube?” Applejack asks.
“I should never had run away.” Sunset turns to her friends, “I should never have come here.”
“Now, darling,” Rarity argues, “don’t think of it like that.”
“How can I?!” Sunset screamed at her, “There are three monsters loose in this world! And it wouldn’t have happened if I never brought Twilight’s crown!”
A moment of silence before Sunset turns a little, “Guess… I am a screwup after all…”
“Hey…” Rainbow Dash pats Sunset’s shoulder, “if it wasn’t for you, we’d have all these awesome powers.”
“And how to control them.” Twilight adds, scratching Spike on his head.
“And a real true friend.” Fluttershy finishes, giving Sunset a hug.
“We’ll find a way.” Applejack leans on Sunset’s shoulder, “We always do.”
“Thank you. All of you.” Sunset takes a deep breath, “And I think I know who to ask first.”
The Rainbooms enter the barn, but at the little spot they made for them, the Shobijin were missing. Rainbow Dash climbed the ladder and looked at the rafters. Pinkie and Fluttershy moved a few blankets while Rarity and Applejack looked behind a few haystacks.
“Anything?” Rainbow asks from the top of the ladder.
“Nothing.” Applejack answers before looking at Pinkie Pie, who shakes her head.
Such a comeuppance is the last thing they need now. Sunset pinches her forehead and lets out a defeated groan.
San Francisco
The sun looms over San Francisco. Firefighters were the up to their teeth dousing the flames that now cover this famous city. Helicopters made numerous trips gathering the dust needed to smother the flames. In places completely deprived of fire, Mister Martin explores the destroyed metropolis. He hears a pained coughing sound and lifts a large piece of rubble.
“Thank you.” The poor man coughed before looking at the flaming disaster, “Are we in Hell?”
“No,” In the irony of it all, Steve lights up a cigarette, “this is San Francisco. Once a city of eight hundred thousand people. What has happened here was caused by a force which up until a few days ago was entirely beyond the scope of Man's imagination.”
With their mission a failure, the military packs their things and hope to intercept Gojira at another location. Tempest looks at her failed operation, shakes her head, then boards the cargo plane.
“A smoldering memorial to the unknown, an unknown which at this very moment still prevails and could at any time lash out with its terrible destruction anywhere else in the world.”
Gojira walked quite a distance from the outskirts of the city. He slows his pace, stopping at a small valley. He leans the the mountain on his left and sleeps.
Having taken the man to an ambulance, the reporter continues to smoke a few paces away. He continues his speech with,
“There were once many people here who could've told of what they saw... now there are only a few.”
“Then why are you here? You could’ve been in, like, Tahiti or somewhere.” The man coughs before being laid back on the medical lounge, “Who are you anyway?”
“My name is Steve Martin.” He throws away his cigarette before boarding the ambulance, “I'm a foreign correspondent for United World News. I was headed for an assignment in Cairo, when I stopped off in the States for a social call,” - Martin looks at the city once last time - “but it turned out to be a visit to the living hell of another world.”
The driver closes the door, boards the ambulance, and drives off to safer reaches unknown. At least, until those paradises have fallen.
Morning arrives once more. The streets are no longer heavily congested, and word has spread fast enough to warrant an evacuation. Families gather up some of their belongings, college kids just hightail it out of here. Business officials gather up their documents and fly their way to their safe havens. North, south, further east, anywhere further from the canker from the west.
The school bus was finally repaired in the nick of time. The students loaded their bags and boarded the bus. Sunset, still a little flustered about yesterday, loads her bag in the compartment before noticing Capper sitting next to the road.
“Aren’t you coming along, Capper?”
“Huh?” He shifts an uneasy gaze at her, “Oh no, I’m gonna take a taxi.”
The Rainbooms look at the road once again becoming congested.
“I don’t think a taxi’s gonna come anytime soon.” Rainbow Dash added with a raised brow.
“I know…” Capper started tapping his foot, “it’s just nice to sit around and wait.”
Sunset and Applejack looked at each other. The Element of Honesty was just as uncertain as her friend and just about everyone else. Sunset’s mind churned up a storm as she approached the former host.
“Well,” Sunset readies her hand, “I wish you safe passage.”
What he expected a pat on the back, Capper felt his hand clutched in a fiery grip. He looks up at Sunset’s glowing eyes. He then looks at the Rainbooms with their arms crossed and brows furrowed. Capper caught on quickly and desperately pried his interrogator's fingers. But he was too late and is clutched by his collar.
“Where. Are. They?” Sunset growled.
Capper raises a shaking finger to a distant hill before squeaking, “there…”
The fire-haired teen shoves their former host aside and turns to her friends.
“You guys go on ahead,” She walks past them, “I’m going after the Shobijin.”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Rainbow Dash stops her, “We’re in this together! You go, we go too!”
Sunset looks at her posse once more, arms crossed with a grin. She lets out a breather.
“Well,” Sunset motions to the traffic before them, “it’s not gonna be easy going through this traffic.”
“Ahem,” Everyone looks at Applejack, “did you forget you’re at a farm?”
Applejack leads the Rainbooms into the barn, opened a stable, and lead a light roan thoroughbred. With her help, the other five horses were saddled up and bridled.
“All right, let’s ride!” Rainbow raises her right foot into the stirrup before Applejack stops her.
“Not just yet.” Applejack pulls Rainbow’s foot from the stirrup.
One disgruntled man, his car packed inside and out, taps his steering wheel impatiently. He looks to his left; the driver next to him was just as irritated. The driver on his right rather the opposite; with a walking mountain such as Gojira walking about, who wouldn’t be? The man pouts, laying his head on the dashboard. Then something looms over him and catches him completely off guard.
“Excuse me,” Rarity asks as she leads her horse between cars. The Rainbooms each had to take a different winding path. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, with their slightly bulkier steeds, squeezed their way between the cars. Fluttershy was the last one to finish the crossing, catching up with the others just a few meters.
“Now?” Asked an irritated Rainbow Dash. Applejack kept her silence before swinging herself on the four-legged animal.
“Now.” She answers.
Like a movie or a video game, the Rainbooms rode in a V formation. Sunset and Twilight shared a horse as they tailed one step behind to AJ’s left. Though she’s not new to riding, as an equid herself, Sunset felt at odds on the back of a horse; what if a man rode a gorilla?
“Applejack,” Apple Fritter calls out, “everyone on the bus’ wai-”
She notices the barn doors still open; the stables are closed, but the hoof tracks that lead out of the barn and a small, purple dog left alone told her enough. Apple Fritter pinches her temples while Spike sits next to her.
“Don’t worry,” Spike places a paw on her foot, “they’ve done these things many times.”
Surprise reaches the apple farmer and gets her to ask, “Did you just talk?”
The Rainbooms hitched the horses at a large oak tree and kept low as they made their way to the top of a hill. Fifty meters ahead was a hotel nestled at the foot of the mountain range. Like the highway, the entire parking lot was congested with traffic. It’s the perfect advantage they have to sneak through the back. Even a door lock is no problem with explosive sprinkles.
Empty, and quiet as a library on holiday. Walk down the halls, exchanging glances at the doors.
“So where do we even start?” Twilight asks.
“My guess would be the top floor?” Rarity answers as she reaches for a button on the elevator.
“Not the elevator,” Sunset stops Rarity once more from using the elevator, “in case he shows up.”
Sunset opens the door leading to the staircase. Just from looking up the staircase was discouraging. Overruled, she joins her peers in the elevator. There’s no music, and with the contraption moving all they could do is enjoy the silence. But for a pink party planner, there are always alternatives. Pinkie pulls out a pair of drumsticks and starts tapping them together. Adding a few sputters in a rap raised a few eyebrows.
Verko exits his room, carrying a small cat carrier on his left hand and a suitcase in the other.
“Hope that blasted helicopter arrives!” He grumbles as he makes his way down the hall, passing the elevator, “That con-artist better be right about you two.”
Just when he reaches the door for the staircase, Verko hears a pinging sound.
“Go, Ninja! Go, Ninja! Go!” The first one to come out of the elevator was Rainbow Dash before she points to her right, “Everybody!”
“Go, Ninja! Go, Ninja! Go!” The others step out, repeating the chant a few more times. They stop midway and stare at the four-eyed man before looking at the carrier. Verko quickly catches on and rushes through the door.
“Go!” Sunset barked. The Rainbooms run to the door and look up, “Oh for crying! Out! Loud!
A worthy complaint indeed. The staircase continues ever higher still, and their quarry has a head start the longer they wait. After a few flights, Rainbow Dash covers some distance ahead of the party. Applejack had to give Rarity a piggyback ride and was lagged behind a little. Much to her chagrin as well, for Pinkie merely skipped along ahead of her singing the same chorus. Rainbow Dash had enough of this charade and activates her special power.
Verko charges through the door. To his dismay, the helicopter still hasn’t arrived. In a split second Rainbow Dash collides with the man, sending the pet carrier flying. Before it flopped on the floor, a magical aura surrounded the carrier and is lifted over to Twilight’s good hands. She and Fluttershy look into the bag. The Shobijin are still in one piece and give the girls a smile.
“You… Idiots!” Six of the Rainbooms turn to Rainbow Dash pinning the shrewd businessman, “You’re costing me a great investment!”
Rainbow pulls a little harder on Verko’s arm, “Let’s hope your medical insurance is good.”
“Forget about him!” Sunset heads for the door, “Let’s get back to the horses before-”
“Yeah, about that...” The Rainbooms look at Pinkie Pie at the edge of the roof looking through another pair of rubber binoculars. Their horses managed to break their bonds and hightail it out of there.
Before they can come with a Plan B, they felt a small tremor. A moment after, another, slightly more violent tremor. Gradually, these tremors became increasingly so before a familiar booming sound is heard from even Apple Fritters’ distance. Then came silence. A shadow looms over the pass, getting one of the escapees to turn around and scream.
Gojira was looking over a small mountain. He announces himself to the city with a roar. Those on the road either abandoned their cars or drove off-road. As the hotel grounds became completely vacant, the reptile smashes through the barrier. Knowing of their impending doom, their minds, Sunset turns over to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
“How many do you think you could carry on the wing?” She asks.
Fluttershy grabbed ahold of Twilight while Rainbow Dash grabbed ahold of Rarity before taking off. With no helicopter coming around, Sunset, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, with Verko hogtied on her shoulders, run inside once more. It’s true that it’s easier to run downhill, the constant tremors made it farther from the truth. Rubble and plaster made it difficult to see and breath in this exertion. They kept their balance as best they could in the final stretch down the hall. They aren’t even a few meters away when Gojira smashes his way through the hotel. Debris falls, cars are sent flying, and the terrain around the place became nothing more than potting soil.
With a pair of actual binoculars, Apple Fritter watches the massive reptile stomp his way to the city. She and Spike felt the small tremors with each step; inside, Goldie Delicious’ cats sought shelter. The horses return to the farm, sans their riders.
“Where are they?” Spike wandered around for a while when another, more violent tremor came at the spot they are. A massive burrow has made its way to town as well. Those in the bus held onto their seats as they are brought up and down as the creature inside kept digging towards the city.
“The Hell with waiting!” Exclaims the driver as he starts the engine.
“Wait!” Flash Sentry grips the driver’s shoulder, “What about Sunset, Twilight-”
“Kid, there’s a giant Gila monster and God knows what dug under us!” He puts the bus gear in drive, “I’m getting us back into the road.”
“Then what will it take,” Octavia shows the driver what’s left of their money, “to get you off road?”
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity scrounged the rubble for their friends. The first levitated a lot of the rubble before tossing it aside. Rainbow Dash did the lifting the old-fashioned way.
“Rarity, can you pick the pace?!” Rainbow yells at Rarity “Any second could be their last!”
“Rainbow!” Rarity objected, “I know of the situation, but there’s no need to be rude!”
“Rude!?” The athlete barked, “I’ll you what it means to be rude!”
Twilight catches on to the banter quickly, “All right, stop it. Stop it! STOP IT! STOP IT!!”
In her anger, Twilight flings a large chunk of plaster between them. Silence again, except for the booming footsteps.
“We’ve dealt with things like this before! Why get riled up now?”
“Because this” Rainbow motions her hand to Gojira, “is way beyond us!”
“Perhaps. But we do have friends from a world of magic.” Twilight returns to the rubble, “And the one person who has knowledge about them is under-”
The section in front of her shook a bit before a pink drill pops out. With a little more effort, Pinkie Pie emerges head first from the rubble. Rainbow Dash rushes over and pulls her out, alongside Sunset, Applejack, and Verko. The four rescued individuals cough out the dust before Applejack puts the shrewd man down. Pinkie tugged at her ears to stop the “drill.”
Short, happy reunion aside, the posse, Shobijin included, watch Gojira from afar as he makes his way to town.
“Tell me we’re not following him?” Rarity asked, raising a shaky pointer finger.
“Do we…” Sunset coughs a little, then clears her throat, “have any choice?”
Hard as it to swallow, they follow the giant being, leaving Verko behind for a rescue team. To his relief, Ashley Valley is spacious compared to his escapade in San Fran. He continues forward, dragging his heavy tail. The Rainbooms walked just five meters behind the tip of the tail. An aerial drone flies a few meters above Gojira’s head, sending the live feed to a tablet to be seen by Tempest.
The beast suddenly stops; what would tickle his toes, a sudden tremor causes the Rainbooms to fall on their bottoms. After surveying his surroundings, Gojira continues his journey. After on the fourth step he makes, the ground buckles beneath his foot before strangely springing back up. Gojira falls forward on his plated belly. The ground erupts, revealing yet another massive creature. This time, it was a familiar face to the Rainbooms.
“Thunderball?!” They exclaim.
The massive ankylosaur shakes the dirt from his armor, snorts out the dust and turns around. He bellows at Goijra, who is taken completely aback at this chance collapse. Thunderball bellows again before taking a hit from Gojira’s tail. From her tablet, Tempest was amazed at this new creature… And another idea in her head.
Gojira stands on his feet before charging forth at his new foe. Thunderball is quick to swing his clubbed tail right at Gojira’s right hip. He howls, stumbling to one of the taller building. The Rainbooms stepped forward when the bus pulled in front of them. The doors open, revealing the panicked bus driver, Flash, and Octavia.
“What are you guys-?!” Rainbow questions when the cellist grabs her wrist.
“Get in!” Octavia shouts before pulling her in. Rainbow Dash instinctively grabbed Rarity’s wrist, and so forth, and so forth until everyone’s on the bus. The driver puts the bus in high gear, getting them away just as Thunderball slaps his tail on the pavement and howls again.
Both intrigued and furious, Gojira focuses his weight on his left leg and tail before answering with a bellow. The ankylosaur flails his front legs, arches back and goes into a canter before lunging at the taller being. With the momentum given, Gojira tosses the beast aside. But, for such an armored creature, Thunderball quickly rebounds and rams his shoulder spikes at Gojira’s belly. The biped continuously slaps Thunderballs carapace while being pushed into another building.
“Floor it!” Flash yelled after buckling.
“Hold onto your butts!” Shouts the driver before he puts the pedal to the medal.
The not so courageous among them screamed as they held their seats with an iron grip. The two beasts circled around as they tussle. The vehicle swerved left around Gojira’s left leg before turning a hard right to avoid Thunderball’s right arm. Gojira’s injured right leg lands right in front of them. The bus drove up the monsters big toe and sent it flying a good distance. It would’ve flipped to its side had it not landed quickly on its right wheel. The bus sped up quickly to avoid being slapped by Gojira’s tail.
Speaking of whom, the monster gets himself pushed onto his back. His belly now has puncture wounds, which made worse when Thunderball runs his horn into the wound. The ankylosaur bellows when he notices the bus. He backs up and starts following the vehicle. But he doesn’t walk a full stride when he is pulled back. Gojira, his belly wounds healing into scars, stepped back before swinging him around and around. As his toes left the ground, Thunderball felt like he was gonna blow chunks before he is chucked a great distance, crashing on his side.
Now with some breathing room, Gojira holds his fractured leg and pops it into place. He lets out a soft growl. Thunderball slowly regained consciousness as he felt tremors on his feet. After a loud roar rings his ears, the quadruped gets a sharp kick to the stomach. Like beating a puppy, Gojira shows no mercy as he continuously kicks the beast. His foe on his elbows and knees, the centuries-old monster grabs Thunderballs head and starts opening his mouth forcefully. The ankylosaur felt his jaw pop and blood rush from his torn cheeks.
Such an action would’ve been done had a few bombs not dropped on him. Gojira shook away the smoke and looks up; a pair of stealth bombers repeated the same attack and it worked once again. And now, several fighter jets have their sights on the monster. Flight didn’t work with Rodan, but against the grounded Gojira, it proved to be a handful. Thunderball takes advantage of this distraction and tunnels away. Seeing the jets make their retreat further south, Gojira howls and pursues them.
“Think we can have that on our next tour?” Rainbow asks, having watched the ordeal from the back window.
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
A good hour of driving gets them back to home soil. An untainted paradise… yet to be lost. The family and friends of the upcoming graduates waited for the bus to pull over. As each one of them stepped out, they were embraced in a tight hug. Some broke away from the hug and kissed the ground. It’s especially so for the CMC as they each embraced their sisters and icon.
But it’s no time to celebrate. The Rainbooms have yet another slumber party, this time at Sunsets apartment. Sunset herself had cleared her dinner table before putting a map of the States on top. All around her and her guests, the apartment became a war room; screencaps from the news are pinned to cork boards and her computer has window open to a conspiracy website called “Titans Among Us.”
“Okay,” Sunset marks a circle around Ashley Valley, “Gojira’s currently heading south, that three headed… thing… just entered the Gulf of Mexico.”
“What about Thunderball?” Applejack asks, pinning a picture of when the beast was a bit smaller.
“We’ll either come back for him or he’ll come to us.” Sunset looks at the picture, “At least he bought us time.”
“And Rodan?” Asks Rainbow Dash, pointing to a recent blurry photo, “I want to fly circles around him again.”
Sunset marks a question, “He’s too elusive. I say we go after that three headed serpent.”
“And how will we make the trip?” Twilight takes out her wallet, and releases just one moth, “Not exactly financially independent.”
“We can start another bake sale!” Pinkie pulls out an itinerary, “I don’t have anything planned.”
The computer makes a chime, and gets the Rainbooms attention. Raw camera footage from Arkansas shows the three headed creature trudging his way upriver. Strange enough that he doesn’t stop and eat those in the splash zone.
“Guess that reduces our travel budget.” Rarity obliges.
“Maybe less.” Sunset rubs her chin before starting a line at the Mississippi River, “If he’s traveling by river, he would need to switch...”
She stops drawing the line at Saint Louis, then makes a half circle to the Missouri River and starts making a line following the water. The Rainbooms look at look at the map both intrigued and confused as Sunset continued in her zone.
“Aha! Eureka!” Sunset stands triumphantly, slapping the table, “I have ourselves a plan!”
“What, darling?” Rarity asks.
“Anyone up,” Sunset stabs a pin into the map, “for a stake out?”
The location in the Missouri River got their brows raised. A familiar spot, one they went to on a past summer. Where and when they hoped for a good time resulted in a bad turn of magic, the loss of an innocent woman, and the salvation of a large, hairy friend.
A camera feed comes into view, at first static before becoming crystal clear. The view is lifted over to Pinkie’s face, camouflage stripes covering parts of her pink flesh.
“Day Three: No sign of the three-headed snake thingy. But we are having a great time at Camp Everfree!” Pinkie swirls the camera forward, showing their base of operations, “We made our own tent, I made our own snacks. Oh! Looks like something’ going on, let’s look.”
Pinkie pokes the camera through the tent.
“How is one giant monkey able to hide so easily?” Rainbow Dash complained, her shoes muddy twice over.
“He did so years before we arrived,” Sunset spread out a few photos of foot prints, each larger than the last, “I wouldn’t imagine he found a better way to hide as he grew larger.”
Pinkie brings the camera to her face, “Kong’s also been tough to find also. Maybe he turned into a truck.”
“Pinkie,” She turns the camera to her posse, looking at her befuddlingly before Rarity continued, “what are you doing?”
Now out of camera view, Pinkie was looked at them like a deer in headlights.
“Just… well…” Pinkie turns off the camera and runs off. Applejack puffs her cheeks before turning over to the table.
“We’ll just have to wait till Twilight and Fluttershy give their report.” She mutters
“Yeah, unless Twilight’ trying to kiss up with Timber again.” Rainbow added, making a kissy face.
Indeed, Twilight and Timber are indeed walking together along the bank of the river. Considering the tragedy of last year’s camping trip, it’s no surprise that they haven’t spoken. The Shobijin sat on her shoulders, taking the splendor of this untouched paradise. With no sign of Kong in the forest or the headed monster, it too felt peaceful for the two humans.
“So, there have been a few struggles, but I make it through.” Timber spoke softly, kicking a pebble into the flowing water.
“So,” Twilight turns to him, “no hard feelings?”
Timber turns his head at Twilight, “None whatsoever.”
Twilight curls a little smile before her eye catches something. Or someone. Twenty paces down river was a cloaked figure. For how long she stood, her coy smile betrayed her grim outfit.
“Can I help you?” Timber asks, not even getting the figure to move.
“My sisters and I lived in a forest just like this.” She speaks, “We thought it would be safer than the ocean. But every night, we hear the wolves howling and everyday felt like it would be our last. And here, it’s a whole other jungle… Until Equestrian magic came back.”
“Equestrian Magic.” Twilight cocked her head, “Who are you?”
“Oh, no one important.” The figure turned to the two, pulling away the hood, “Just the last Siren on this mudball!”
As soon as Twilight gasps, the Shobijin clasp their hands. Like an antennae, Sunset’s snaps to attention at the telepathic message.
“Twilight!”
The Rainbooms quickly fall in through the woods and join Twilight, Timber, and the small twins. And they are just as shocked as Twilight and Timber. Standing before them was a familiar figure. The terminator of tacos, the dunce of the Dazzlings.
“Sonata!?” They all scream.
“But how!?” Applejack rambled, “We all looked everywhere for you!”
“After Adagio and Aria were…” Sonata almost chokes, but continues, “I wanted to be with them again. I’ve tried everything.”
Sonata lowers her head and cries. When Twilight reaches out to her, the Siren has a sudden mood swing, cackling even.
“But I can’t just kill myself. Why not make it a spectacle?” Sonata wheezes insanely, “And I woke up the help to do it!”
Sunset pushes through Twilight and Timber and clutches Sonata by the wrist. With a gasp and a glow in her eyes once more, Sunset saw the veil of memories before her eyes. From Midnight Sparkle killing Adagio and Aria, how her failed suicide attempt lead her to the underground cave, to the terrible sight of the Tagatu village being smashed and several innocent lives gobbled up by each of the terror’s three heads. Another flash showed the Pacific Ocean as the barge with the egg is set aflame.
“You!” Sunset pulled away from Sonata, shocked and furious, “I’ll you pay for all the lives you killed!”
“All of them?” Sonata sneered, raising her fist, “The Roman Empire? The Dark Ages? You wanna know why that poet wrote about a bewitched Scottish King? My sisters and I brought empires to ruin! And in memory of my sisters, I’ll do it again.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash asked baffingly, “What’s five plus five?”
“Ten.”
“Ha! Still du-” Rainbow realizes that’s the right answer and shuts up. Then, the ground starts to shake.
“But there’s one thing you didn’t know, Sonata” Sunset clenches her fist, “We have a big friend of our own.”
Stepping into the water was the Eighth Wonder himself. Sunset wasn’t wrong regarding his recent development. Whatever the cause, Kong is now one hundred meters tall at the shoulder. And with a size like that presents an equal appetite. In his hand was a giant, dead turkey vulture. Like eating jerky, he sinks his teeth into the bird, and tears off a chunk. But the new size does present a problem; he can’t see the Rainbooms so easily.
But the ape isn’t blind; water starts rushing upriver and the serpent has arrived. Kong drops the vulture into the deep, pounds his chest and unleashes a deep roar. As he makes his way to this intruder, Sonata nods her head.
“A giant monkey.” Sonata purses her lips, “Eh, we’ll see how that turns out. In the meantime…”
The Rainbooms quickly turn their attention to the Siren getting a strange glow. It’s fight time once again, and Sonata kicks off with a massive energy ball. The Rainbooms do not recieve, Rarity casting up a shield to protect Timber. In flight both figuratively and literally, Rainbow Dash delivers a drop kick at Sonata’s head. The Siren responded in kind with a harsh scream. Disoriented, Rainbow falls to her knees, at Sonata’s mercy for another blast. Applejack is quick to respond with a knuckle sandwich.
Coincidentally at the same time, Kong also gave a knuckle sandwich to the three-headed serpent. On his part, the fight is somewhat one sided. Even standing upright, if only for a moment, the serpent only reached up to the apes chest. And his electric charges only made the gorilla stronger. Laughing at this miniscule foe, Kong gets all three heads under his left arm and raises his fist.
Coincidentally, again, so Sunset punching Sonata in the stomach before tossing her aside. Battered and bruised, the Siren opened one blackened eye to the fire-haired young adult scowling at her. Her nostrils flaring like, well, a mad horse, Sunset raises her boot and aims it at the Sirens head.
“Sunset!” Twilight surrounded Sunset’s foot in an aura, “She’s had enough!”
Sunset looked at her friends aghast at how ready she is to kill Sonata. She looks
“You’re right…” Sunset calms herself, slowing her breathing before pointing ahead of her, “Let’s sort him out first.”
The serpent attempted to up it’s A-game by wrapping his two tails around Kong, who in turn, had his hands full to keep the snapping jaws away from his throat. The Rainbooms hold hands and start glowing. In his struggle, Kong notices this familiar glow, remembering what happened last time. He sinks his teeth into the serpent’s shoulder, holds the left head with his right arm, and keeps the other two pinned on the back. The Rainbooms ascend, glowing ever brighter. The serpent’s lidless eyes notice this and stops struggling. The Rainbooms unleash a bright rainbow that envelopes the two beasts.
But at the peak of the magical tornado, Sunset felt a sharp sting in her heart. And worse, the Rainbooms are suddenly cut off of their powered forms and fall flat to the ground. While most are completely baffled as to what happened, Sunset was on her knees, hand to her heart before blood is coughed on the grass.
“Whoa, whoa!” Rainbow Dash gets Sunset to her feet, “Are you okay?”
Sunset tried to answer, but all she could do is wheeze. The Rainbooms sit her down next to a tree. All the while, Timber looks back at the river. Spike too is just as baffled at what’s happening before them.
“Uh, girls.” Timber asks looking at the river, “Is that supposed to happen?”
The magic tornado isn’t ceasing at all. In fact, it was changing; the multitudes of colors became one of reds and yellows, and the shape becomes that of the serpent. Kong is kicked back and the serpent ascended high in the air. The silhouette becomes chaotic like fire and grows. The necks become longer, and the flippers become massive wings.
With a flash of light and fire, the serpent reveals his true image. His body is golden with a silver color underneath the necks and wings. The tips of his twin tails are clubs. Fully spread, the wings were supported by three fingers, with his pointer fingers and thumbs being thicker. His heads no longer resemble moray eels but are dog-like. Each now sported an impressive array of horns, the middle getting the most spectacular rack, black manes and beards. The eyes are empty, save for a yellow light. To top it off, sounds he makes sent chills; the laughter of a madman with the resonance of several church bells with walking distance of each other.
The dragon drops into the river, drenching those in the splash zone. He folds his wings, supporting his upper body with said thickened fingers. All three heads focused on the humans. Kong roars at his foes new form, getting the attention of the right head. Kong is no longer the big one in the woods. Still, the ape pounds his chest and charges at the dragon. The head responds in kind with a bolt of yellow energy. Kong is sent hurtling back into the woods, leaving a trail of scattered trees and dirt.
Licking his chops, the middle head leans down and gets a closer look at the band. The Rainbooms were completely terrified.
“It’s like he’s staring into our souls!” Rarity quietly screamed.
The dragon flares his nose, and breathes. To them it felt like a hot day. But the
“Well,” Rainbow gulps, “what are you waiting for?”
Indeed, what? The dragon has them on the ropes, made an example of his power with Kong. So what’s the problem. Sunset pondered long and hard. It then became clear; the dragon wasn’t looking at the whole group, he was looking at her. Gathering her strength, she stands up and approaches at this terrible creature. The Rainbooms attempt to hold her back, but Sunset pulls through and reaches the beast. In perhaps the most insane decision she’s ever made, she grips the dragon on the lip.
This vision trip was catastrophic. One alien civilization, in military green Roman attire but lacking mouths, screamed in terror as the dragon destroyed their world. That planet now red, another civilization, one of reptilian nature, soon followed. Leaving this now gaseous planet, the dragon now has his sights on the blue sphere known as Earth. Like a hurricane, the dragon brought about death and destruction, bringing an end to the human race. But instead of leaving the planet, he makes his home there. But the strangest thing happened, blue lights seep from the ruined world and take a variety of shapes. Some resemble humanoid dogs, some draconic. Many took on the form of ungulates; one light becoming… Equid.
And that’s when Sunset staggers back, fear carved into her face. The dragon now focuses one eye on the motionless Sonata. Her eyes open, glowing red. The Rainbooms watch as the Siren floats between the Rainbooms and the dragon.
“Who,” Sunset gulps, “who are you?”
“I have many names.” Sonata answers in mixture of her voice and a deep baritone voice, “The entity from which all worlds meet their end. I am the King of Terror, Charon of the Cosmos, the Harbinger of Death.”
The dragon rises to proud posture, three heads still looking down at them.
“Go now,” Sonata continues, “find your safe havens, you will not last long.”
That being said, Sonata’s entire body glows red. With a bright flash, she disappears. The dragon spreads his massive wings. Each flap brings a gust like a tornado. The Rainbooms and Timber hold on for dear life while the Shobijin and Spike take cover behind a large tree trunk. With a few flap, the beast takes to the air, circles around a nearby plateau and leaves the emerald forests.
“And I thought Trixie had a big title.” Applejack mutters while rubbing her hands.
“Indeed,” Rarity rubs the dirt off her clothes, “he didn’t say his actual name. The nerve.”
“Ghidorah,” The Shobijin answer, atop of Spike, “it’s Ghidorah.”
Ashley Valley, Utah
Still stationed at the desert town, Tempest and Grubber watch the surveillance of their recent development. Gojira was herded over south near Colorado’s border, and is continually harassed by the fighter jets. Swiping his claws, gnashing his jaws, swinging his tail, all proved nothing. He roars angrily.
“Music to my ears.” Tempest chuckles.
“Commander” Announces a communications officer, “you might want to see this.”
Taking one last glance of her success, Tempest moves over to the communications officer. The monitor displayed a large glowing dot. Her eyes widened before sharply turning to the other officers.
“Send all flyers to Glenwood Springs immediately!”
Orders received the jets veer of to the east. Finally relieved of those pests, Gojira sits down, hands on his knees and doozes off. But peace and quiet’ hard to come by. A common consumer drone was buzzing next to his ear. But at his fortune, an eagle snatches it out of the air. The spiny monster snorts and goes back to sleep.
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
The usual noise of the city is disturbed. First with loud flapping, then the cackling roar. Everyone screamed as the dragon known as Ghidorah reaches their town. Small buildings are sent flying. Skyscrapers demolished by the golden body. Filthy Rich was midway through a meeting when Ghidorah flew over his office, destroying the windows. The dragon circles the perimeter of the town and carved a deep trench with his gravity beams. No way out, the citizens only watched as this demon lands at Canterlot High.
Ghidorah grins at the one gateway to Equestria, no one’s coming or out with without his know-how. His right head notices the jets and fires a gravity beam. One jet destroyed, the squadron takes evasive action. Each jet takes their own path, all coming together at their target. But Ghidorah, with six eyes, saw them coming and shot all of them down before they got the chance.
Both the young and the elderly remained motionless while the dragon cackled. He focuses all his eyes on the populace and smiles. Sonata Dusk, looking more dead than alive, raises her arms. A force field surrounds them. Panicking, Diamond Tiara takes out her phone. Just exiting his office, her father picks up the phone
“Daddy, I’m scared! Please help-!” The last words Filthy heard before the field became a dome as big as a football field. He is completely aghast at this turn of events as his secretary tried getting him to safety.
“Sir, we have to go now!” He beckons, pulling his arm.
Angry, as fathers are, Filthy dials another number.
“Get me the National Guard.” He asks of the operator as he boards his helicopter. Ghidorah watches the vehicle join the flock of police and news choppers. But he chooses to hold his terror… For now. He points all three of his heads to the sky and unleashes his power. The storm has come.
In a spare cabin at the campsite, the Rainbooms remained holdfast after their new problem. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Twilight watched the breaking news. The caretaker had both hands over her mouth, tears flowing from her eyes. Rarity paced around the cabin, her phone next to her ear.
“Come on. Pick up, pick up, pick up!” Her ear picks up a click, “Sweetie Belle?!”
“Hi. I’m not on the phone right now. I’ll call you back if you leave a message.”
After the beep, Rarity hangs up and stamps her foot. Applejack fared no better; when she called her sister, she only got the same message. Fear racks up her brain as she taps her foot. Rainbow Dash, both angry and scared, leaned against the counter tapping her finger. She turns one eye over to Sunset. For a long while, she sat next to a table, her journal in front of her.
“Anything, yet?” Rainbow asks.
“No.” Sunset answers, tapping her pencil on the cover, “Guess she’s too busy… Again.”
“Well,” Rainbow Dash walks over to the desk and snatches the book. Sunset “If she’s always been busy, why bother having this at-!”
Rainbow felt the journal buzzing. Sunset swipes the journal, huffs at the athlete, and returns to her desk. The others join her as she skims the answer.
“Well,” Pinkie asks, comforting Fluttershy, “what did Twilight say?”
“Not Twilight,” Sunset looked up at them, baffled at what she just read, “but Starswirl the Bearded.”
“Starswirl the Bearded?” Applejack coughs, “What kind of name is that?”
“One for the greatest sorcerer in Equestria,” Sunset taps the pencil on her forehead, “I always thought he was dead.” The Unicorn in Apes Clothing, knowing of two duplicates, asks, “Is there one like him in your world?”
“Well,” Twilight rubs her chin, “now that you mention it...”
“Forget about that now!” Rarity interrupts, slamming her hands on the table, “What did he say about that beast!?”
Sunset licks her lips before answering, “When Starswirl was born,”
In a storybook style, the world is shown as pony kind and all walked in the realm of titans.
“Equestria wasn’t, well, Ponyland. It was the stomping grounds of monsters great and… Modest, so to speak. The worst among them is Ghidorah. Appropriately given the title “King,” he ravaged Equestria wherever he went. Not all the horses in the world could take him, no matter how genius the strategy. That was until Starswirl formed the Pillars of Harmony, the founding figures of the Elements of Harmony. Along with Celestia, Luna, and… Discord… of all creatures… depowered the dragon and sent him away. Other monsters soon followed including…”
We now return to reality. Sunset’s finger reaches the last word of the journal,
“Gojira.”
“But where does this lead up?” Twilight wonders, “The Island, the magic. You getting hurt when we tried our magic on Ghidorah.”
“And me seeing you.” Sunset looks at her friends, “All of you. Running in terror...”
The redhead, then the Rainbooms look at the next people to ask. The Shobijin sat on the butter dish, looking at everyone.
“What are you hiding?” Rarity seethes.
The twins look at each other and then they spoke,
“Equestria is Earth.”
Everyone widened their eyes, Rarity, and Twilight almost faint. Applejack, trying too hard to take this with a grain of salt, rubbed her temples.
“Wait wait, so in the future, we all become ponies?”
The twins look at each other again; that is the basic summary of it all. Pinkie Pie turns to Rainbow Dash, her mouth agape.
“Too awesome to speak?” she asks.
“Uhh….” Rainbow shifts her eyes back and forth before clearing her throat, “No comment.”
“Do explain…” Sunset asks of them, twirling her hand
“The world is filled with more magic than you think.” The twins walk on the pages of her journal, “Ghidorah noticed its power and wanted it all to himself. The world you live now was destroyed, but the magic of the world turned it into. We all lived in fear of Ghidorah until the courage of six changed that forever.”
Spike jumps on the table, “So the portal is some sort of time machine.”
“I know legends are based on fact…” Twilight takes off her glasses, and pinches her nose, “But this is…”
“But what’s the bubble for?” Fluttershy asks, pointing at the monitor.
“Ghidorah still needs to regain his full strength.” The Twins answer again, “After he absorbs those inside, he will destroy the world.”
“So it’s a giant pie?” Pinkie gets a scorned look from everyone, “Sorry…”
As Twilight sits down to collect herself. “And if this happened before, then Ghidorah will do more than bug bomb the planet.”
Applejack clenches her fists, “Then enough small talk! We gotta get in there and save them!”
“And just where would we take our friends?” Asks Rarity.
“Through the portal!” She answers “ride it out until it blows over!”
“Are you daft!?” Rarity argued, “You don’t just lead people to someone’s house uninvited!”
“Then what about calling on ourselves from the future!” Rainbow makes a few jabs, “We could bring a surprise attack.”
“Rainbow, bringing that many of our future selves could disrupt the time flow!” Twilight argued as well.
“Awww…” Pinkie whined, crossing such a moment of her list, “so much for double trouble.”
“She does have a point,” Fluttershy adds, “plus there’s only one…”
The debaters stop talking and look at the elephant in the room. Sunset was reading her journal. From the pages she drew on as a little filly, then the magic reports she made before leaving her world. The rest of her friends sit down. It’s come to this; the ultimate risk, for the ultimate salvation.
“The National Guard is getting slaughtered out there!” Shouted a reporter.
The Rainbooms look at the TV. True to the anchor's word, the National Guard didn’t get Ghidorah to budge. Worse, smaller creatures, parasites in monster terms, were falling out of his golden scales. Most were turquoise with golden scales on their sides, with one-eyed avian/insectoid heads, hooks for hands, and spikey bellies. Some were more heavily built, resembling cockroaches and rhinoceros beetles with drills bit appendages. Both kinds as tall as a man atop a draft horse, they easily massacred the troops. When the feed switches to the anchors, the one to their left had his hand on his radio.
“We’ve lost our signal.” The anchor takes a breather, “All around the world, prayers are called out for those innocent souls.”
The channel switches over to one place. In a chapel in Japan, a choir sings a prayer. It’s a somber note, despite being nonunderstandable to them. Hearing enough of this, Sunset stands up and turns off the TV. Silence, she takes a deep breath.
“We’ll do it.” Sunset turns to the others, “We’ll kill Ghidorah.”
“Okay…” Spike scratches the floors, “how’re we gonna do that.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie pulls out some sock puppets, “three heads means three eyes. He’ll see us coming!”
“All of us?” Sunset asks of Pinkie, raising her friend's intrigue.
“You don’t actually think we should let Tempest help us, darling?” Rarity asks.
“Bigger.” Sunset walks over to the Shobijin, “Do you think Mothra might be available?”
The Shobijin turn west and emit an indistinguishable sound. Whether it was their language or not, not even Sunset knows. But it does sound like a song, but the pitch they emit felt like needles piercing Spike’s ears. They cease and look at the Rainbooms again.
“Yes,” They answer, but lower their heads, “but she won’t have the strength to return to the Island.”
“Well,” Sunset looks at her friends, “if we don’t succeed, I don’t it’d matter.”
A moment of silence, Twilight becomes the first one to step forward and hug her.
“You helped me, I’ll help you.” She whispers.
“And so will I,” Fluttershy adds, joining the hug.
“Count me in too, sugar cube.” Applejack joins in the hug.
“For you, darling.” Rarity embraces as wide as she can.
“Awww, group hug!” Pinkie Pie gives them a big group hug.
Rainbow Dash tapped her fingers before answering, “Well, I’ve been through Hell and back. Why not?”
Rainbow Dash squeezes through the group hug and hugs both Sunset and Twilight. One last moment of peace before the band breaks up. Sunset walks to the journal again.
“Dear Princess Twilight or Starswirl…”
The Grand Mesa National Forest, 116 Miles Southwest of Ground Zero.
Her squadron quickly setting up a camp, Tempest Shadow held a hand to her lip as she watches the King of Terror from the idiot box. Ballistics didn’t work, and neither could the speed of the jets that have done quite well.
“How soon will the Gotengo get here?” She hears from Grubber
“At full speed, it will reach its destination in approximately eight days.” The private answered, “But that’s assuming the crew doesn’t have to refuel.”
“The beast won’t wait for the Gotengo.” Tempest turns around, “And I don’t think it will work the same as it has with Gojira.”
She eyeballs another TV screen; Gojira himself was still sitting down, resting after a long journey.
“Then what orders to you have, Commander?”
She taps her finger on the table, looks at the screen showing Ghidorah, then looks back to her subordinates.
“How ready is the LSCF Weapon Type 66?”
Ponyville
Twilight’s copy of Celestia’s journal flops to the ground. Shaking, she tells her friends, mentors, and icons. Even Discord is present, somewhat mildly amused as chaos spirits are.
“They’re going through with this.” She tells them when lightning strikes. Everyone steps to the balcony. A storm is brewing. Below them, inhabitants galloped to their houses.
“So it begins.” Starswirl mutters, taking a deep breath.
Luna looks to her subjects amazed, confused, and scared.
“You do realise that if this does work, our world will be no more.” Luna turns to her sister, “Must this be the only decision?”
Celestia merely watches the storm unravel. For some of her best students, she has little doubt about them. But this is the biggest risk one such student has ever taken. She closes her eyes and then she spoke.
“If time must repeat itself, then this is the way to go.” Celestia breathes, and opens her eyes, “Let them fight.”
As the sun dips over the great forest, the Shobijin stood on the stump of a great tree. The eleventh hour for Man as come; they only have one shot at this. They look at each other
“Mosura!” Their chorus echoes the forest before they shout out again, “Mosura!”
The Rainbooms step out of the cabin and watch the two tiny people kneel and sing. While she didn’t go in a trance, Sunset could hear the tribal drums and the chants of the Tagatu.
Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
Since retreating from both Gojira and the partially powered Ghidorah, the twin larvae have sought refuge on the tiny island at the lake. Having eaten their fill for today, the two have cuddled up and rest for the evening when they too hear the drums and chanting.
The Tagatu once again dance ceremoniously around their dying goddess. Mothra gently flapped her wings, clicked her beak a little before raising her heavy head and letting out a great cry. She folds her wings before climbing on the nearest mountain. With another battle cry, she spreads her great wings and takes to the sky for the last battle she will fight.
Camp Everfree, The Next Morning.
Throughout the night, Sunset sat on the dock they built for the sixth time already. Her dreams tell of a world without her…. Provided they kill Ghidorah. Warmth touched her skin before she opened her eyes. The final night that Man can sleep has passed. Something grips her shoulder, prompting Sunset to stand up. Beside her was Twilight, holding Spike in one arm. Before her, the best friends she ever had. Rarity had her hands on her hips, tilting her head with a coy look. Rainbow Dash cracked her knuckles while pounding her fists together, a sneer drew on her face. Applejack popped her neck before fixing her stetson on her hat. Fluttershy’s look is softer, but one could still tell she’s determined; on her shoulders are the Shobijin, holding their hands in prayer. With a lollipop in her mouth, Pinkie Pie reached into her hair, pulled out a party cannon the size of a hunting rifle and cocked it. The Rainbooms placed each of their hands one on top of the other. They give a look before turning to the Ringmaster.
“Let’s do it,” Sunset muttered before raising their hands.
Timber Spruce stepped out of his cabin just when the girls made their leave. He crossed his arms; they saved his camp once before, saving the world is just the next level. His confident look quakes as the ground shake and a massive shadow loom over him.
The Pacific Northwest
Townspeople were freaking out at the sight of the two giant brown caterpillars slithering by. On occasion, they use a river channel to make good time. As they passed Mount Rushmore, a larger being was watching them. Now almost completely healed from his quarrel in Hawaii, Rodan spat out another pellet from a recent feast of cattle. He watched the caterpillars make their journey to another river, puzzled as to what the trouble is. Looking at the smoke in the far horizon, the creature on leather wings pondered; is this his fight too?
The Rainbooms had to drive off-road; citizens from neighboring cities and states clogged up the highways as they sought refuge to the east. In the passenger seats, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight could only feel remorse; against a creature this powerful, what haven is safe?
Some of the grumbling citizens tapped their fingers when they felt a strong vibration. Some look to their left, and reel back in terror. Thanks to being experimented on with Regenerator G-1, Kong survived the black, though with a terrible burn on his chest. While passing a large city, the gorilla snapped off a large building and dragged it on the ground. Cattle scatter about the ape’s feet and weapon left massive pits and a trench.
The Twins just about reached northern Utah. The ground is more solid from where they started, and certainly dusty. Rocks scratch their abdomens, but they continue on. The sister stops and faces something strange. Thunderball was still recovering from his fight with Gojira; blood flowed from his mouth as it fixed itself. The ankylosaur turns his armored head to her and lets out a tired growl. The larva lets out a chirp before rejoining her brother. Thunderball looks the other way, scraping the ground before looking at the caterpillars again.
Further south, Gojira’s ears pick up the sound of booming wing beats. He opens his eyes and turns his tired head. It was a visage he thought he never sees again. Mothra flew over him, greeting her longtime enemy with a loud cry. She roosts on a mountaintop and takes a breather, imagining the low growls coming between the reptile’s teeth.
Home, Ground Zero.
The Rainbooms park their vehicles at a forest clearing before walking up a hill. The place where so many many memories made, and the starting point of their grand adventures. Much of it is in smoke. The dome that kept their families and friends hostage, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of the three-headed dragon. Tearing a tree clean off the ground, Applejack allowed passage to cross into the war zone.
"No, Spike," Twilight asked of her dog before crossing the bridge. Hard as it was, he obliges and runs to where they parked.
No happy sounds, no music, or bustling crowds, this was a graveyard in the making. In the first time in a long while, Fluttershy felt truly afraid; a broken bottle crashing or the clicking sound of one of Ghidorah’s parasites put her on edge. Wanting to save their energy for the big fight, they kept to the alleyways and buildings.
Peaking one opal eye from the corner of an alley, Sunset spots the dome before turning to the others.
“There’s no more cover, but it’s a straight shot to the dome.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Rainbow questioned, looking at every direction before walking into the open.
The Rainbooms walk down the destroyed street littered with cars and rubble. Twilight moves her head slowly; could she have done this if Midnight Sparkle was victorious. Her ears picked up a gasp from Pinkie Pie, getting the scientist to stop and look in shock.
Sugarcube Corner, the best hangout spot in town no holds barred, lies in ruin. The party planner’s hair partially deflated as she walked inside the building. One memory unraveled before her; A slightly younger Pinkie Pie was chasing Pound and Pumpkin during business hours. From the dusty counter, she picks up a cupcake, adorned with shiny sprinkles atop blue icing. She takes a bite, tears flowing from her eyes before starting to choke. Fluttershy and Rarity lead their friend out, gently patting her back. Sunset approaches her, pushing her chin up to see the reddened face of the party planner before hugging her.
“We’ll get them out of here,” Sunset rubs Pinkie’s back, “I promise.”
“Mmhmm.” Pinkie whimpers, breaking away from the hug and wiping the tears from her face.
They take a few steps when they felt something dripping on them. They don’t mind it and continue on their way when a large glob of water splashes next to Rarity. On her skin, it felt sticky and a smell reached up her nose. More of this viscous fluid dropped to three different spots. Two on each of their sides, and one right in front of them.
Ghidorah was right above them, six glowing eyes focused on his quarry, three mouths slightly agape. The middle head made a cackle; they have come to meet their doom. He arches said head and lunges at the heroines, just missing them.
“Scatter!” Sunset orders as she tries running ahead to the dome. She notices the right head reaching for Fluttershy and fires an arrow at the eye. Though the arrow hits the corner of the eye, his attention turns to her.
Rarity rushes to an alley, but it proved effortless as the left head simply dug through, snapping his toothed jaws. The middle head had his sights on Rainbow Dash and snapped his teeth at her. He licks the roof of his mouth before looking back with a hiss. Ponied up, the athlete was running circles around him, laughing and taunting him before being thwacked by one of his tails.
The twin larvae are the first help to come to town. From the short cover of the trees, they notice Ghidorah having a workday with the tiny hairless mammals, with the middle head being the only one unoccupied in a sense. The twins look at each other, let out little chirps before taking two different directions to town.
When she recovers, Rainbow Dash runs to one of the alleys before bumping into one of the dragon’s massive hands. She tries the other way, the same result. The middle head opened his mouth, a glow building up in his throat. Twilight prepared to levitate a car at him when a loud chirp joined the violent chorus. Silk starts falling like a blizzard. A moment of confusion before the dragon starts shaking his middle head, bringing the other heads back. The right head picks off the silk; now it has a sticky cotton mouth. In dense cover, the female larva is responsible for this barrage. She stops at one point, takes a breather, before continuing firing her silk.
Some of the parasites banter over a few scraps of food when the male larva digs through the town and comes in contact with the dragon. While his heads struggle with the increased webbing, his tails flying around. He ponders; both of them are spikier than Gojira’s tail, and Ghidorah’s not gonna like it when he finds out. He opens his beak, lurches back and lunges at his target. He misses, so he moves back and tries again.
Ghidorah’s wings spread open and all three heads cry out. He spins wildly, thrashing his tails and trying to get whatever’s got his tail. On the larva’s part, the thrill of a roller coaster would only be as thrilling if he wasn’t bashed into buildings and scraped on the rubble. The female stops a moment makes a concerned chirp at her brother’s plan before spraying again.
“Rainbow Dash!” Sunset calls out, pointing at her right, “Head for the sewer!”
Rainbow looks to her left; the Rainbooms were crawling down a manhole not too far from her. Her super speed is hampered by the silk but is able to power walk her way and crawl down. Ghidorah’s foot stomps on the hole, shaking the soon-to-be graduate off the railing. With the lights flickering on and off with each tremor, Sci-Twi used her magic and made herself a living lightbulb.
“So what now?” Rarity asks, pinching her nose.
“If we keep moving,” Sunset points ahead of her, “there should be a manhole that brings us next to Canterlot High.”
“Then we rescue the others and get them out of there!” Rainbow Dash adds, rubbing her backside.
Fluttershy curls back at another tremor, “Would they be okay fighting him?”
“If we hurry, we can help them.” Sunset starts moving, “Let’s go!”
Ghidorah is about covered head to toe in silk, a living mummy if you will. His three heads are stuck together. Only his tails remain free, and the male larva still holds on one of them. The time for games is over. Mustering all his strength, Ghidorah unbinds himself and furiously shoots his gravity beams. The female stops firing her silk and takes cover. The male continues holding on for dear life, but it’s bull-riding… monster style.
“Are we there, yet?” Rarity whined; the stench is being unbearable.
Walking ahead of the group, Twilight looked at the walls and come across some aged writing next to another ladder. “Mccracken and Faust” it reads.
“Sorry, not the one.” She replies before continuing on her way.
“Then how close are we?” Rarity whined again before she is shoved.
“A few steps closer than the last time you asked.” Rainbow Dash grumbled.
Rarity grumbled and took a step before she heard a squeaking noise. Numerous squeaking noises follow as a whole army of rats runs across them. Applejack scratched her head.
“What’s their deal?” She wonders.
“Runaway?” Fluttershy whispered worryingly, “That’s what they keep saying.”
“Runaway?” Rainbow Dash asked just at the same time Pinkie Pie twitched in several places at once, “From what?”
Pinkie Pie reached into her hair and pulls out a pair of night vision goggles. She groans at the bright signature Twilight has at the moment before turning around. Just ahead of her is the reason the rats are running; Ghidorah’s parasites are all over the place.
“Heh, heh, heh.” Pinkie Pie steps back into the light. The girls watch her in concern as she takes a deep breath, “Run.”
They make a mad dash from the danger; they hear the raucous screeching and clicking of claws. Pinkie is the first to fall down, but not on her accord. An individual with drills on his hands screeched at her before getting a blast from her party cannon. She looks to her right; Rarity is pinned down, holding her shields up as another of the drill hand variety and one with the hooks and belly saws try to break through. Rainbow Dash barrels through the first while Applejack grabs the second and tussles with it. Bad move; if she falls on her back, she is doomed. To her fortune, a purple aura surrounds the creature and smashes it against the wall.
The Rainbooms continue their retreat before running into a T section in the sewers. They turn around; the parasites just about outnumber them five to one, clicking their mandibles and scraping their tool shaped limbs.
“Which way now, genius?” Rainbow Dash asked of Sunset, brandishing her fists.
The creature ahead of its pack makes a few clicking sounds before jumping at them. Luck favors them again when a floor of spikes pushes through the sewers, impaling and crushing the parasites. Completely dumbfounded, the girls look at their left, where the owner of the spikes is going.
“Looks like more employees are clocking in.” Applejack adds, fanning herself with her hat.
Sci-Twi notices some writing and sets herself aglow once again. “Thiessen and Mccarthy” the words read this time. She looks at her friends and pet before climbing the ladder. She leads the way once again and pushes the manhole away. The dome is just a few blocks down.
“This is it!” Twilight looks down the chute, “Just a few steps and-”
The heat from a gravity beat touches her skin as it incinerates a few buildings. There is a method to the dragons madness. The female twin is running out of places to hide. She can’t even unleash her webbing. The dragon stops a moment, thrashes his tail more wildly and shakes his assailant away. His sister lurches back and pounces, but Ghidorah catches on and thwacks her away.
He approaches the fallen twin, mouths dripping for something to eat. But he encounters another problem; the pavement he stands gives under his own weight and traps his foot. A few blocks to his right, something erupts from the ground. Thunderball had come, bellowing at the murky sky before advancing at the dragon. Before the dragon could correct himself, the dinosaur manages to sink his tusked shout on his leg. The right head instinctively looks at the assailant staining his golden skin with blood and bites him on the neck. The male twins notices this newcomer, and how he’s distracting the beast. He hops on his belly and starts his hustle. But the left head spots the larva and blasts him away with his gravity beams. His sister collects herself and retreats.
The Rainbooms stopped a while and let the female caterpillar pass. But as she made her leave, someone appeared behind her, just one more obstacle in their journey. Sonata Dusk now longer looked appealing; her skin is adorned with scales, her ears are elongated, fingers partially webbed with sharp nails, and walked on her toes. The fins on her back made her appear larger.
“So it’s come to this.” Sonata Dusk purred, shuffling her fingers, “Just like in the Battle of the Bands… But wait… Adagio and Aria aren’t here, are they?”
“Sonata,” Sunset steps forward, pointing at the bigger enemy, “this isn’t necessary. None of this is. Help us, and we’ll-”
“Do you think I’m stupid?!” Sonata lashed out, “You killed my sisters, you ruined us! You ruined… me...”
Sci-Twi licked her lips before approaching the creature. Spike tries to stop her, but Sunset places her foot in his path.
“It wasn’t all of them who killed them. It was me.” Sci-Twi notices Sonata twitching a corner of her lip, but she still continues, “I didn’t understand just how magic worked at this time. I understand that no apology will be enough. I wish…” She embraces the sorrowful creature, “I could do more…”
Rainbow Dash at least was expecting Sonata to retaliate but she doesn’t. Her angered face softens and gently brings the human within arms reach. The Siren takes a deep breath and gives a warm smile.
“I won’t forget you...” Sonata whispers, seeing Sci-Twi draw a hopeful smile as well, “And I certainly,” Sci-Twi notices Sonata’s pupils narrowing, “Won’t forgive you!”
Sonata raises her clawed hand when another blue blur gets the drop on her.
“Not likely, fish face!” Rainbow Dash quarrels as she wrestles Sonata.
But if not physically fight, why not vocally? The Siren takes a deep breath before letting out a terrible screech. She then bats the athlete aside and stands up. Rainbow Dash regroups with her posse and assumes a battle stance, as do the others. With a flap of her wings, Sonata takes to the air, lets out a horrid cry and swoops at them with claws forward and teeth bared.
Ghidorah’s middle head reaches down and assists in freeing himself from Thunderball. A little more pressure on his neck forces the dinosaur to open his jaws. With the help of his left head, the dragon pulls Thunderball forward and tosses him aside. The dinosaur tries to get up, but Ghidorah’s massive hands grip his belly and flip him to his back. Pinned down, Thunderball watched helplessly as the deadly yellow grow reflected off his eye.
But with all eyes focused on the dinosaur, it left him open to an ambush. A big and hairy assailant finally arrives, breaks into a sprint and jumps. The left head was able to make a glance before getting hit by a building. With Ghidorah staggering forward, Thunderball is free from his grip and starts rocking back and forth. Ghidorah’s left head shakes itself before letting out a roar… and given a chunk of the building. Kong grips the middle head and starts beating him with the rest of the building. Dazed from the repeated blows, the middle head had its jaws forced open; the eyes could only see a blurry image of the gorilla aiming the building to the throat. Before it could, the right head snaps on the hairy hand and twists it sharply. Kong howled to the heavens before the left head bites on his shoulder. The middle head recovers and looks down with a nasty sneer; he’s surprised that Kong survived a blast from his gravity beams, but now he wants to see it through up close. Holding the ape with his arms, both heads on the side wrap around Kong’s throat.
Rarity’s hand is forced, providing cover over her friends. In her new attire, Sonata’s providing quite an offensive, and now just mindlessly barrages the fashionista’s spell.
“Guess we can’t sing our way out of this one, huh?” Pinkie mutters, flinching at the next blast of energy.
“At least she’s not using her head,” Sunset adds when her mouth gets covered
“Don’t give her any ideas!” Rainbow Dash scolds
“It’s called a figure of speech!” Rarity stressed as she held the attacks at bay. Soon, the red blasts cease and give her a moment of relief. But it’s only a bit when Sonata collided headfirst on the barrier, flies around and hits another spot on the barrier.
“You were saying?” Applejack remarks.
Fluttershy’s eyes noticed one of the last things she would see in a demolished city; a few pigeons were watching the whole thing.
“Um, excuse me.” She whispered and got one to swivel it’s head at her, “I was wondering if I can ask you a favor…”
Regardless of the brain trauma, Sonata increased the speed of her head bashing. Even Rarity’s starting to give. With a toothy grin, Sonata gains some altitude, aims her cranium, and makes a dive, hitting the barrier with a loud thud. As she shakes herself from the collision, the Siren is assaulted by a flock of pigeons, pecking and clawing at her skin.
“Now!” Sunset orders.
Rarity calls out her spell and collapses. Pinkie Pie gathers up some confetti and tosses it at Sonata. The explosion scares the pigeons away and blinds the Siren. She lands on her feet and rubs her eyes vigorously. As her vision improves, she notices Applejack throwing a massive rock at her. Flying at a slow arc, Sonata quickly destroys the boulder. When she looks down, however, she is blindsided by a flying car. Sonata tears the car apart and comes at them screaming. Rainbow Dash rushes at her, pinning her right side against a common household across from the school. Sonata prepares to punch her when Sunset pins her down too.
“Is this what your sisters really want?! A destroyed world!? Even when this world became Equestria, think of the memories you made!”
Sunset grabs Sonata’s hand with one and puts the other on Sonata’s forehead. The Siren’s eyes glow white as well. She recalls some of her memories; one of her crawling about mewing for her mother. Another of her and her sisters splashing in a puddle. Another of how she discovered the pendants… And the gradual malevolence the three bring upon making landfall.
Sonata shakes herself free of this trance and screams so loud that it did more than making Sunset and Rainbow Dash’ ears ring.
Kong is frothing at the mouth as the suffocation makes his face pale. Knowing that he can’t risk another frontal attack without being blasted, Thunderball burrows underground. Ghidorah feels a rumble in his tummy; all this fighting has worked up an appetite. And he has just the meal right at hand. He lowers his middle head and looks eye to eye with his quarry. Just a matter of time now.
But then a sharp pain reaches his shoulder blades. He swivels his middle head and hisses. Mothra herself has come to call, shooting the dragon again as she passes him. With his grip loosed a little, Kong musters what little he has left and double kicks himself free. From afar, the twins notice their aged mother and make their advance into the city.
Ghidorah fires his gravity beams at the giant insect; but even at Death’s doorstep, Mothra is having little trouble with dodging the beams. Catching his breath, Kong grabs the largest building in town and whacks all three several times. When the building is just but a stub, he stabs it at the dragon’s belly before punching the dragon at his chest. Ghidorah tries to bite him, but Mothra’s attack runs force him to keep two heads distracted at a time.
Each of the twins positions themselves at the opposite ends of the city. Supporting themselves on their tails, they release their silk once again. With two of them, the dragon is covered a lot faster, and Kong made extra sure that the necks, tails, and wings are bound close to his body. Thunderball emerges from the ground, spins around and lets out a howl. Kong takes a few steps back and shoulder barges Ghidorah. The dragon blindly staggers and falls when the entire city block collapses under his weight. Mothra slowly descends on the “tiger trap” and begins glowing.
The Rainbooms are back to square one. Sonata’s been firing quills from her arms so fast that hiding in Rarity’s shield was the only logical choice. At least the fashionista can hold up against a barrage of things that felt like foam ammunition. Waiting for Sonata to tire out is taking longer than expected.
“Does she ever get tired?” Applejack groaned.
“Maybe she unlocked God mode?” Pinkie’s remark gets a glare from her friends, “Just saying.”
Fluttershy notices the yellow glow as glowing sparkles drop on the barrier like snow.
“Uh, girls.”
Even Rarity takes a peak and at this strange occurrence. Sci Twi stands up, fidgets her damaged spectacles, and takes a closer look.
“They look like butterfly scales.” Twilight’s eyes widen before she and five of the others look to the metro.
Mothra’s scales fall off as snow does from a cloud. Her wing beats are getting slower and her chirps imply a tired animal. The Rainbooms find it odd; when Mothra did it the first time, it would reflect energy weapons. But Ghidorah is trapped for the moment; so what use would the scales be? Whatever the case, the dusting is making Sonata drowsy; try as she may, the Siren soon gives and stops her attack. And leaves her open to another attack.
But this momentum swings in the wrong direction once again; a both of energy shoots out of the hole and singes Mothra’s wing. With a pained cry, the insect falls on a few small buildings. Two massive arms pull their owner out of the pit. With a little shake, the dragon rids himself of the last bit of silk on his body before looking angrily at the old moth. Kong and Thunderball launch a two-pronged attack. The right and left head see Kong and blast him away. Thunderball continues charging, but just when he’s at scratching distance, the two tails wrap around his neck and toss him a great distance. Ghidorah looks at Mothra once again. A moment of him being coy, then the middle head bites down on Mothra’s collar, shakes her around wildly, then throws her away like a worn chew toy. Seeing this plight, they make the journey to their mother.
Ghidorah takes a little breather, but a spark rises up in his mind. This was too coordinated. And he knows just where to start. Turning his heads around to his investment; there are faint sounds, and flashes of light, but anything’s worth an investigation. With a snarl, he starts walking.
From afar, the Shobijin watch the battle and could sense Mothra’s life fading. The larvae reach their mother. Seeing blood ooze out of the tooth marks, they try to call out to her. Mothra’s eyes glow a little, seeing the innocent faces of her offspring and answering them with a soft moan. Her antennae glow before a few tendrils of energy reach out and touch the caterpillar's foreheads.
Though recovering from the poison, Sonata’s still woozy and it’s now her turn to be defensive. She blocks Rainbow’s strike on her head before being kicked at the side by Sunset. The Unicorn advances at her but had to dodge a weak blast of her energy. Sonata in turn, rolls away from having her face stamped by Applejack.
As their mother’s energy move over to her children, they undergo a color change. No longer are they primarily a brown. The female’s skin becomes blue with cream stripes. The male becomes a forest green with red blotches. The mother loses her what’s left of her colors; now she is almost snow white, with very little traces of blue and red. But this christening doesn’t remove the danger.
Ghidorah is now a few steps away from the dome, and from that distance, he sees his pawn and the seven other bipedal mammals putting up quite a fight. Entertaining, but enough child’s play. With a snort, all three heads rear back and open their mouths.
“Uh, girls!” Spike barks. The Rainbooms managed to pin down Sonata just when they notice Ghidorah charge his energy. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, they’re cornered like rats.
“Well,” Rainbow Dash stood tall and proud, “at least we went down fighting.”
Rarity took a deep breath, “Here, here.”
But life has many surprises. The aged Mothra took to the air once again and is making her move to the dragon. Ghidorah is reaching the peak of his attack, all three mouths glowing brightly as the sun. When they see the necks fully erect and glowing, the Rainbooms close their eyes and wait for destruction.
Ghidorah fires his gravity beams… At Mothra. The dragon actually suspected another ambush and directed his attack to her. With no defense whatsoever, the moth burst into flames, letting out a painful cry before exploding with the brightness of the sun. The Shobijin, the very voice of her, hold their hands and lower their heavy heads. The Rainbooms are completely motionless; their faces sculpted in horror after what they just saw and heard. Finally rid of one pest, Ghidorah spreads his wings and lets out a victorious roar. As each of the heads roars repeatedly, the larvae let out several cries; their beady eyes turning from sapphire to ruby while their minds are filled with grief and anger.
To the human's view, a burst of laughter joined this sorry show. As the light faded away, the Rainbooms turn their heads over to Sonata laughing her head off. Her grief now muddled with rage, Applejack punched her in the face with all her strength and sent the Siren flying into a house. The force of the impact made the shelter into rubble. The farmgirl looked at her friends.
“Let’s go...” She asks of them coldly before they make the last jog to the school grounds.
Emotions getting the better of her, the female twin arches back and let out an angered cry. The dragon stops his victory chant and turns to his feeble opponents. She jumps at him, mouth ready to take a chunk of flesh. But she isn’t even at his chest when Ghidorah clutches her with his left hand. The male snaps into focus and stands on his tail, but is blasted away before he could even hop.
They gather over one spot of the dome and start pounding on it.
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity called out, “Are you in their?”
“Scoots!” Rainbow yells as well, “You okay, kid?”
“Apple Bloom,” Applejack pounds at the dome, “Apple Bloom!?”
Even with all her strength, the dome felt tough as a car tire, and several repeatedly punches scraped the skin off her knuckles. Inside the dome, the walls made it seem like a morning or evening in winter, and with the temperature to match. The school’s lights were turned on, but the AC is taking too long to warm up the school grounds. Among the citizens walking outside the building, the Crusaders heard muffling and the pounding and decided to inspect it. They place one ear on the dome; it takes them a while before they realize just who’s muffling.
“That’s Rarity!” Sweetie Belle started pounding frantically on the wall, “Rarity!”
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity cried in joy, “Thank God, you’re safe! Are you okay?”
“It’s dark and cold in here,” Sweetie Belle starts tearing up, “I just wanna go home…”
“Don’t worry, deary…” Rarity rubs her cheek on the surface, “We’ll get you out. We’ll get you all out of here!”
“Can you make it quick?” Scootaloo waves her hand in front her nose, “It’s starting to stink around here.”
Apple Bloom turns her attention away from the dome and lifts up a lock of hair covering her ear. The students outside stop moving and listen to the sound of gurgling. Lyra looks down; a burning liquid is seeping through the ground. From the other side of the dome, the Rainbooms hear the desperate cries.
“Apple Bloom? Girls!?” Applejack calls out to them, “What’s going on in there?”
As the last of the inhabitants retreat to the inside of the building, a little vibration rattles the trophy case. From where the Rainbooms stand, they recognize the sound like that of galleon cannons firing one after the next. Both hearing the sound, and feeling the vibration under his toes, Ghidorah turns one evil eye…
As the late Mothra had hoped, Gojira followed her to the ruined city. In terms of size, the dinosaur reaches up to the dragons withers. Though the sight is spectacular, the scent is still familiar and puts him on edge. Ghidorah may have owned his ass in the Pacific, but this time… Gojira puffs his chest and lets out a deafening roar.
The dragon tosses his prey aside, spreads both wings, and roars at him. Gojira takes the first step and starts power walking. Ghidorah folds his wings and starts walking at him too. The Rainbooms watch the beasts come at each other, snarling and howling at each other. Upon collision, a brief opening allow the dinosaur to bite the base of the middle neck and push him back. Smoke and dust cloud their quarrel. Amazing as this is, the Rainbooms have other important matters to attend to.
“C’mon,” Twilight points her thumb at the dome, “let’s find a way to-”
A concentrated blast sends Twilight flying towards the town square.
“Twilight!” Her friends call out when Fluttershy too gets blasted, rendering her unconscious to a bunch of rubble. The rest of them look back; Sonata’s back in action and looking plenty steamed. But it riles Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity.
“We got you covered, dearies.” Rarity muttered to Sunset and Pinkie Pie, her fists glowing blue.
Sunset nods approvingly before taking Pinkie back to the dome. Sonata quickly fires a blast of energy. With a burst of speed, Rainbow Dash dodges the spell and throws a blob of dirt at the Siren’s eyes. She hisses, throwing her punches blindly before being punched several times by Applejack. With a little bit of her vision recovered, Sonata returns the favor of being given a right hook. Applejack is pinned to the ground with a glowing hand aimed right at her. But just as she prepares to fire, Rainbow Dash pulls Applejack away and the Siren is surrounded by a shield of diamonds. Sonata screamed while the diamonds were illuminated in a red glow. Releasing the shield let off a lot of steam and smoke. Ever detail oriented, Rarity squints at the smoke, waiting for something to happen. Then, before she could even react, the fashionista is gripped by the throat.
Sunset stabbed several of the Tagatu arrowheads on the dome before stepping back. With a strong glow, the arrowheads explode, leaving a few tiny holes. She and Pinkie get a grip and pull with all their might, but they couldn’t get the holes any bigger. Pinkie Pie has a hand on her mouth, thinking like mad.
“Think you could do any better?” Sunset asks under her breath.
“Well, I could, Captain if I had ten cans of sprinkles.” Pinkie Pie answered with a Scottish accent before pulling out a large sprinkle can, “But I only have three of these, plus six small ones, one last shot from my confetti cannon,” Pulls out the last thing Sunset wants to see right now, “and a Cupcake.”
Sunset looks at her three friends duking it out with Sonata; The Siren is pulling out a better fight now that she’s dealing with just three of them.
“It’s still worth a shot,” Sunset draws out her knife and runs towards the battle, “do what you can!”
Luck favored the young genius as she fell into a pile of torn trash bags. Groaning, Twilight struggles to get on her feet before slipping to her knees on a banana peel. Her ears pick up the sounds of explosions and turns her head to the left.
“Oh, thank you, thank you!” Twilight cheers, standing on wobbly legs and making her way to the dome just straight ahead. She reaches Main Street when the world trembles around her. She rises up again and makes her first step when she spots a dog running past her. Her confusion is reasonable as one car, then another, are flung down the street, followed by a golden foot.
Though he wasn’t slain by the other beasts, Ghidorah’s wounds aren’t faring him well this time. Even with both arms and two of his heads clutching Gojira’s dorsal fins, the dragon is pushed back easily. Sci-Twi rubs her hands together, takes a few deep breaths, and jumps across a footprint continues sprinting towards the dome. The middle head resorts to biting Gojira at the back of his neck. The dinosaur winced before stamping on the golden dragon’s foot and biting at the withers. Ghidorah cried out and loses his grip. Gojira quickly wraps his arm around all three necks and tosses him overhead. The impact shook the tiny fighters next to the dome; Rarity is the first to recover herself before shielding herself and Fluttershy from Sonata’s energy blast. Leaning against a building, Sci-Twi turned around to see Gojira kicking Ghidorah before he could even stand.
Sci-Twi continued through the alley, each tremor making her sway as if she were drunk. One other tremor got her balance out of control before falling to her knees once again. She hears a few hissing sounds; a pack of the parasites are in front of her. If the world they live in would die, let their last meal be her. The one closest to her clicks before spreading it’s sailed wings and steps forward when a brown, hairy mass flattens the pack.
Twilight looks to her left; Kong managed what he had left to to save the tiny person once again. He pulls his arm back, leaving a smear of green, brown, and red. He takes a few shallow breaths before smiling weakly at the girl. Twilight nods back at him and continues her run. The gorilla’s eyes follow her before turning to another howl.
Gojira is just about to make a fourth stomp on the golden chest when Ghidorah snagged Gojira by the throat. Standing on his feet, the dragon grabs his smaller foe by the waist, lifts him high in the air, and tosses him. When the dust cleared, Gojira’s dorsal fins were all that can be seen. With a snort from the left head, and the right head popping it’s jaw into place, the dragon approaches his fallen enemy. In the impact area, a rat was sniffing the tip of his massive tail the tiny bit of armor on top became blue. The other plates followed suit, trailing slowly up the tail as Ghidorah approached their owner. Sensing his presence, Gojira opens his right eye, which too is glowing. Ghidorah’s eyes glow as well and aim all three heads at the dinosaur.
Gojira quickly stood up and erupted a blue fire from his maw. Pinkie Pie was in the zone with the makeshift bomb when she notices the blue light. The breath was clearly powerful enough to push Ghidorah back as if sprayed with a fire hydrant. On his feet, Gojira pushed him even further with each step. He stops, takes a breather, and releases his atomic fire before Ghidorah could lash out at him. This one attack left a dark stain on his golden skin, much to his chagrin as he noticed Gojira… Chuckling.
Ghidorah gave out the full power of his gravity beams, using all the breath he has to push the dinosaur across town and collapses him to his side. With his burn mark, Gojira let out a small hiss when a shadow looms over him and quickly shrank before being stamped by golden feet.
Jumping across ditches and totaled cars, Twilight finally reached the Canterlot High. Even with numbers, the tide was turning against our heroines. Applejack held Sonata in a weaker grip than usual and is promptly tossed at Rainbow Dash. Rarity is all out of juice, collapsing on her knees next to Fluttershy. With Pinkie Pie still setting up the bomb, only Sunset was left to put up a good fight. Even then, she was running on fumes.
Sci-Twi tapped her fingers, but her mind came up with a rather brilliant, if not rushed, idea. Sunset delivered a few weak kicks directly at the Siren’s face when she was bopped in the head so hard she collapsed on the floor. Sonata puts her foot on Sunset’s cheek.
“Feel this?” She hissed before applying more pressure, “This is how it feels when you lose everything…”
Sonata’s lips stretched into a wicked grin while she lifted her foot. Sunset held her breath while slowly shifting her eyes away. Just when Sonata prepares to stomp her, a car flies at her from out of nowhere.
“Hey, girls! I just finished the-!” Pinkie Pie spins around, let’s out a yelp, before dodging the Siren and the car as they collide with the wall. Sonata tears out of the vehicle with a loud hiss before being slammed by another car.
Sunset puts up her dukes when Twilight’s shadow looms over her. The student scientist takes her hand and pulls her to her feet. They turn to the agonizing cries of Gojira as he is continuously stamped by Ghidorah. Fluttershy manages on her feet, joining with Pinkie Pie as she brings Rarity to her feet. Applejack and Rainbow Dash shake themselves into shape as they hear a humming sound.
With another blast, Sonata breaks free of her metal prison. She grits her teeth and charges up. The others quickly run to Sunset and Twilight just as the blast reaches them. Sonata laughed once again; her mission just about complete. Her laughter ceases; when the smoke clears, the Rainbooms are surrounding by a magical field before ascending. In flashes of light, they once again develop their equine features.
As she notices them holding hands, Sonata prepared another energy black. A red blast against a spiral of rainbow. Surely, being enhanced by both the combined pendants of the Dazzlings and Ghidorah’s malice would’ve done the trick, but the rainbow starts pushing her away. As the gap between Sonata and the bomb behind her closes, something starts to grow. Is it exposure to the spell? Her anger is slowly ceasing, her horrid features softening. Her lonely pair of hands are joined by two spiritual pairs. She feels the comfort of the two most familiar people she knows.
“There is something stronger after all...” Sonata mutters softly. She cancels her spell and lets the magical torrent push her back to the dome. The confetti and sprinkles start brightening and then...
Ghidorah rose up straight after another stomping when he noticed his cache brightening up and shields his heads beneath his wings against from the bright flash and strong winds. His middle head takes a peak, then all three heads quickly look out.
The Rainbooms are on their hands and knees, deprived of their equine features. They do hear the panicked sounds of civilians.
“Applejack!”
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Rarity!”
Three youthful voices called out before the farmer, the athlete, and the fashionista were embraced deeply.
“Take it easy, Scoots!” Rainbow Dash asked, putting one leg forward, “I think I pulled a muscle from that.”
Sunset stood up, took a breather, and looked forward. The dome is gone and Canterlot High is a diamond in the rough, save for the patches of burnt grass caused by the acid. The other students help their saviors on their feet. Sunset herself walked to the front yard; all that was left of Sonata was a now grey gem. Upon picking it up, it crumbles. Sci-Twi walks to her as she notices her head lowering. The wind picks up and carries away the dust to places unknown.
“We did what we could...” Twilight whispered.
Three deafening roars cut this celebration short. Ghidorah is now a few paces behind them and is furious. His goal is now very much delayed. He punched on the left side of the street, then to the right, cutting their escape. He bares his teeth; it appears it’ll the hard way for him…
His hearing picks up groaning. Gojira is slowly rising from the pit, his body covered in bruises. Ghidorah turns his attention once again to the dinosaur, his mouths glowing…
Out of the smoke, and with a loud sonic boom, Rodan snags Ghidorah by the middle neck. The momentum pulled the dragon a great to his right. Seeing the opportunity, Applejack lets out a whistle.
“Come on, everyone!” She calls out. Everyone straightens up and make their way through the alley. Pinkie Pie climbs on a fallen car and takes out a megaphone from her hair.
“Please exit in an orderly fashion and we might see you again another day.” She calls out jovially.
Ghidorah’s left head snags his assailant’s leg and pulls him front and center. The pterosaur clawed at the eyes and gained some altitude before either of the unoccupied heads could snag him. Rodan constantly circled the golden terror, pushing and pestering him with beak and claws before taking to the air for another attack run. Ghidorah positions his heads in a different direction and unleashes his gravity beams. But power trades off speed; the pterosaur easily dodges the beams, though he does keep his distance nonetheless. But it’s bringing unintended consequences for the tinier beings beneath their feet. The constant speed in a circle sent the rubble flying and brought weakened buildings to dust. The escapees keep their heads down and push their way through the terrible weather.
Gojira finally rose from the pit, though it wasn’t easy with the strong winds. He turns around; amused that the creature he fought way back when in the Pacific Islands risking his neck again. He cracks his neck and inhales. The dorsal fins flicker to their bluish glow this time before their owner releases a weaker version of his atomic fire. It nonetheless gets the dragon’s attention as the dinosaur makes his advances. With his great arms, Ghidorah kept Gojira away, digging his claws into his shoulders. But keeping Gojira at bay gave an open opportunity for Rodan to spiral from the air and crash into Ghidorah. Free from the tyrants grasp, Gojira started clawing, biting, and kicking dragon. Rodan merely toyed with Ghidorah, though he does stab his beak deep into the golden skin.
The humans pressed through the ruined city, some helping the aged and very young overcoming shoddy terrain. Climbing over one such hurdle, Rainbows’ bruised face beamed at the sight of green hills.
“We’re almost there!” Rainbow called out, “Just a few more blocks and-!”
There’s always one more obstacle… or several. Once more, a large pack of Ghidorah’s parasites blocked their way. The Rainbooms prepare to fight once more… And so does Scootaloo… and Sweetie Belle… and Apple Bloom… Everyone grabs a large piece of scrap iron. No more running. They cry out in a primal rage, and let the bugs come to them. Then something engulfs the man-sized beasts in fire. The crowd is baffled until the sound of airplane gets them looking up.
Rodan notices the stealth bombers circle around the destroyed town and dismounts the dragon before they drop the next payload on both Ghidorah and Gojira. As the dinosaur shakes off the heat, Ghidorah growls in anger and spreads his wings. Another surprise came; lightning struck not from above, but the sides; Made in hole in Ghidorah’s wings and blast a little chunk off of Gojira. More beams of this follow and bring the dragon’s wings to ruin.
When the humans reach the grassy outskirts of town, Pinkie notices a new anomaly that had her fashion a new pair of balloon binoculars.
“Looks like the cavalry's come to the party!” Pinkie cheers.
Southwest of town are what appears to be three satellite dishes around nineteen meters in length by six meters in height. A mechanical “arm” raises the dishes while also keeping them parallel to the ground before lighting up and releasing a stream of energy that actually tears into the beasts scales. A fact that Tempest Shadow, with arms crossed, felt very proud of. Grubber stood by her, wearing sunglasses and eating popcorn.
“Commander,” One of her troops ordered, “what about Gojira and Rodan?”
“Leave them be.” She orders, not taking her gaze off the battle, “Concentrate all fire on the golden dragon.”
The beady eyes of the female caterpillar glowed sapphire again before she rolled herself to her stomach. She lets out a pained chirp and turns her head to this startling development. Gojira, Rodan, and this literal Deus Ex Machina are giving Ghidorah hard time. While the nature of her species isn’t malevolent, an idea to make the dragon’s situation worse is churning. But it will require additional as she twists her body and looks around.
Putting his weight on his knuckles, Kong painfully gets himself on his feet. Looks at the the fight before him; to shield himself, Gojira stood behind Ghidorah and gnawed at his back. Rodan held the left head with one foot with batting the middle head with the other. The gorilla pounds his chest and lets out a roar before charging into the scene and delivering several good punches at the chest and stomach.
The humans finally make it to the top of the hill and they still continued on.
“Apple Bloom, you, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo make sure you get everyone to safety!”
“Us?” The redhead questions.
“What about you guys?” Scootaloo asked.
“Just go!” Applejack scolded, “We’ll meet you soon!”
The honest farmer joins her friends and watch the tide of this battle swing to their side. But the job isn’t done yet. The Rainbooms join hands and concentrate.
The female larva finds her brother and nuzzles him awake. He too is quite surprised at how the battle is turning in their favor. He listens in on his sister’s advice before the two move in different directions. Nearby, Thunderball rises to his hands and knees and shakes off the debris. His mind is at a total blank when the shrilling roar reaches his ear. Now he remembers and puts his weight on his hind feet.
The ankylosaur crawls around, wondering just what he can do. He notices the dragon using his quilled tails on Gojira. He charges forth and bites down on the right tail. Gojira spared a foot and stomped on the other tail.
The right head notices the source of these lightning bolts and fires a gravity beam. The Maser tanks are blown to kingdom come, sending Tempest and Grubber flying. Kong grabs the head, bats it with his fist, then gets his fingers into the mouth. The Gorilla roars loudly as he forces the jaws wide enough before tearing the lower jaw open. He pulls the neck hard and topples the great beast.
The Rainbooms efforts get them to ascend once again and their transformation goes beyond the usual pony ears, wings, and tails; they are adorned with dresses suitable for ballroom dances. Sunset’s dress was primarily of reds and yellows, with two black, spiky bands on her hair. Twilight’s dress was largely blues and purples, with stars of similar colors and fuschia speckled across even the tops of her wings. Despite her name, Rainbow Dash’ dress is largely blue with some yellow and red; her sneakers have wings on their sides. Rarity’s dress has diamond patterns, in fact her headband, belt, and footwear has diamonds themselves atop of solid gold. Pinkie’s dress is modest to best put it; a simple, muffin top skirt with transparent ribbons. Applejack’s dress is second modest of just a blue button shirt and a red skirt and boots. Beneath a turquoise veil, Fluttershy wore a purple dress with butterflies adorned on her hair.
Even bleeding like a leaky blood, the right head lifts up a little before Thunderball bites down on its throat. The dragon himself tries getting up but Rodan constantly gets the drop on him. Added to the fact that Kong is also punching dragon by the ribs. The left head raises up, but Gojira slaps it back on the ground and stamps on the neck repeatedly. Rodan jumps back and lets out a cackle when silk drops into his mouth. Kong stepped away, and let out a hearty laugh. The twins stopped, took a breath, and released more silk. By then, the pummeling has done it’s work; the dragon couldn’t even move.
Gojira snorts when he notices a bright; and very familiar. An bright, blue, Alicorn around their height walks into the city. In the very core of the energy beast, the Rainbooms were holding hands. The tip of the horn starts glowing and the creature rises on its hind limbs. From the limp body, an eyelid opens up a crack.
“Light it up, ladies!” Pinky harkens.
The energy equine stamps it’s forehooves and unleashes a stream of rainbow colors. Gojira, Rodan, and Kong stepped away. Curious, Thunderball inches his nosehorn at the rainbow tornado and found out the hard way that the magic shaved off a few meters. The twins stop shooting their silk and chirp victoriously. They have a right to; the magic is building up.
“It’s working!” Rainbow Dash cheered, “We’re gonna roast this dragon!”
Not everyone agrees with the idea, Sunset worries as the spell becomes bloated. Like a balloon, it ascends into the air before condensing and turning red. A hard is all that is heard before the magic takes on the form of a flaming dragon and unleashes a fire storm that no one came to expect.
Blackness… And the pained sounds of the monsters quickly ceased… Whatever Ghidorah did not even Sunset could comprehend… At least, not without a terrible headache… In fact, moving even her fingertips brought great pain. She opens her eyes, then purses her lips.
Ghidorah stood just above her. His wings ruined and tattered. His body scarred, charred, and bruised. His left and right heads dragging on the terrain. And worst of all, his plans ruined. The middle head looked at Sunset furiously. The Unicorn in apes clothing sweated faster than a race horse.
Her life flashed before her eyes. How she first opened her eyes to Celestia’s loving face. THen came school, and how she became increasingly bitter with each year. Then, her unfortunate fallout with Celestia and how she stepped foot through the portal to the final years of the Age of Men. Her brief, and utmost hated, reign as “queen.” Her efforts being the saving grace in the Battle of the Bands. Then trouble came again when she was blamed as Anon-A-Miss and forced her away before her friends, nay her family, came through Hell and high water to get her back. Once the memories have passed, Sunset calmed herself before spitting at the devil as he inched his bloody mouth at her. She closes her eyes...
Then, another pained screech. Unable to move her head, Sunset could only imagine what’s going on. Tempest Shadow, having her share of cuts and burns, watched what’s happening. Gojira clamped down on Ghidorah’s shoulder and pull pulled him back. Ghidorah reacted instinctively by biting the dinosaur on the neck and clawing at his sides. The grey beast releases him for a moment to bat the arm aside and grab the last head. Ghidorah’s mouth glowed again, but Gojira’s dorsal plates flicked again. In one deep breath, Gojira unleashed his atomic fire down the dragon’s throat. Three seconds in, Ghidorah’s wings dropped. Ten seconds after, his neck rippled, then it burst at the withers.
The head is severed, and the golden body falls and forever lies motionless. Gojira takes a good look at the head. The eyes now longer had their demonic glow. Gojira snorted; Ghidorah was a grand opponent, and it pleased him so to have fought him. He tosses the head into the woods, looks down at the limp body again before turning around and roars at the moon. He takes another breath and roars again.
As the howling roar continues, Sunset musters all she can to rise up. Among the many things the fall did to her, she could only notice one. Her right arm was dislocated. She looks around; the other monsters are scattered across the land, unconscious but alive. Rodan would lift his head up, but return to sleep. She sighs; the fate of the world is safe… at the cost of the destruction of their hometown. She finds her friends too lying on the concrete and hobbles over to Twilight.
“Tw… Twilight?” Sunset whispers, gently shaking her. Not hearing a breath or feeling movement, she shakes her a little harder. Nothing. Fearing the worst, she pulls the limp body closer to her and gently weeps.
“Please, Mommy.” Sunset opens her teary eyes and looks at Twilight shuffling a little, “just five more minutes?”
A little smile formed on her face before Sunset heard the others groaning.
“Hey look,” Pinkie Pie sputtered while pointing at the imprint, “I coulda cake out of myself with this hole.”
Applejack turned to Rarity fondling at her torn clothes without saying a word.
“Not” - Applejack coughs - “whining this time, huh?”
“Actually… Post-Apocalypse is the new fashion.” Rarity lets the idea sink a while before chuckling. Right now, it’s not the best medicine and so feels a sharp pain in her ribs.
“So…” Most of everybody turns to Fluttershy, her legs pulled close to her body as she watches the colossal reptile roar, “is this it? Did we win?”
“God I hope not.” Rainbow Dash coughed, still pancaked to the ground, “I want a rematch.”
By the time Rainbow Dash is pulled from the ground, the Rainbooms feel the earth shake. But it wasn’t from Gojira, for he still kept roaring. They turn around; hundreds of citizens, their townsfolk, cheered as they thundered forth to their saviors. First among them was Spike as he jumped at Twilight and licked her face. Soon after, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo embraced their sisters and idol as everyone kept cheering. Celestia and Luna approached them.
“Once again,” Celestia places her hand on Sunset’s shoulder, “we are in your debt.”
“This time, the whole world does,” Luna added, looking up at a news helicopter.
Before Sunset could even answer, she feels a sharp pain in her heart again and falls on her knees. The Rainbooms gather around her and get her back to her feet.
“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asks.
“It’s happening…” Sunset mutters.
“What is, deary?”
“Oh my gosh!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, hands on her ragged head, “You’ve got a bun in the oven!”
While everyone gave her a befuddled look, Twilight immediately realized, “No. With Ghidorah slain, that means-”
“Hey look, everyone!” Shouted Pipsqueak as he pointed ahead.
Indeed, something most odd is happening. The body of the three-headed beast started glowing, becoming as bright as the sun. His body broke apart into particles and scattered to the heavens. At a distance, Rodan's body had the same effect; parts of his skeleton is shown for a while before dissolving. The male larva notices his twin sister dissolving, lets out a faint cry before he too joins the heavens. Thunderball was next, followed by Kong, despite being a product of his time.
Gojira took the longest to dematerialize. His skin eroded from his body, starting with his skull. His dorsal plates started dissolving next as his upper body became just bones. He gives out a soft roar, then howls to the heavens before scattering to the stars.
Sunset lifts her hand; she too is glowing. Realizing this is the price being paid, the group falls into despair while Sunset steps away.
“No… No!” Twilight calls out, “You can’t go!”
“This…” Sunset looks at herself, “was to be expected.”
Tearing up like crazy, Pinkie takes out a bottle of cake paste and a handful of glowing dust.
“Here, we just need to…” Pinkie desperately to paste the dust on her glowing friend to no avail.
As Sunset looks at everyone, many of whom her classmates, Rainbow Dash tries her damnedest not to choke.
“Well,” Rainbow sniffles, “Gonna say anything? Before you…?”
Sunset curls a little smile, “All I could say is… Is that I couldn’t be any happier to have friends just like you. And I am so proud to have helped you survive for longer.”
She notices herself glowing even brighter before she finishes with, “Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truthfully, the ills deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly...”
“The rest is silence…” Twilight sputters before wiping her tears.
Sunset glows evermore before her body becomes nothing but gold dust in the air. A few old veterans of the town give her a salute as her essence goes in the air. Tears stream from her closest friends as the golden sky fades to grey. In a short time, a streak of sunlight cuts through the clouds, bringing a forth a new day in the now extended lifetime of man.
“In recent news, these so-called ‘monster attacks’ have been confirmed to be just severe earthquakes and tsunamis.” Someone announces over the radio, “Civilians are currently returning to their homes after-”
A pink hand turns off the radio. Indeed, the whole summer has passed since the great fight, and yet everyone remembers it like it was yesterday. They said that those were natural disasters, but they remember what happened. The time of man is saved… But the memory of those encounters are still fresh.
Before they begin the journey to college, the Rainbooms, now minus one, meet up at the courtyard of the restored Canterlot High. Pinkie Pie steps from her smart car. Following the unfortunate passing, Pinkie Pie was notably depressed. Her poofy hair has become flat and her skin a dull pink. She meets the others, just as depressed as she is, next to the statue.
“...Well?” Asks Applejack, waving her hand at the statue.
Twilight steps forth at the statue, the one gateway between the Age of Man and the Age of Equestria. She reaches out; is it the same? Is it unchanged. She touches the porcelain; it doesn’t go through as it would back then.
“Nothing…” Twilight whispers. Everyone lowers their heads, Applejack taking off her stetson, and pray a silent prayer. Wherever she is, may she finally have found peace.
After embracing each other for one last time, they part ways for their colleges. For Twilight, it was a six-hour drive to Everton. The dorm room she was chosen for was freezing. She approaches the manager.
“So,” Key Master asks, “ready to enjoy your first year at Everton?”
Twilight turns her eyes away from the manager, “Yeah…”
Given her keycard and room key, Twilight drags her suitcase down the hall to her room. “86” it reads as she reaches for her pocket.
“Well, I would have if you three didn’t bump into me and ruined everything!”
That voice. That familiar voice suddenly lifted her spirits. Quickly, she swipes the key card and opens the door. Inside were four women around her age. One was a light purple with darker purple hair with teal stripes. Another was a girl with an Easter yellow skin color, and blue hair arranged in pigtails. The third was green all over, save for a pair of blue pants and a dull yellow sweater. The fourth Twilight immediately recognized by hair color. The clothes she wore are different, but skin, hairstyle, and eye color were all too familiar to say that this isn’t her.
“Well, what do you want?” She hissed.
A moment’s silence before Twilight drops her suitcase and hugs Sunset. Starlight, Juniper, and Wallflower were confused. Sunset was completely dumbfounded as she was embraced even tighter.
“Is there something I missed?” Sunset asked the other three.
Her mind clicking to the fact that this isn’t exactly her, Twilight lets go of Sunset.
“Sorry,” She wipes a tear from her eye, takes her suitcase to her room and steps out, “you reminded me of someone I know.”
Sunset watches Twilight starting to sulk as she walks back to her car. She struggles to pull out her clothes tote. Just when her situation seems a bit hopeless, the tote suddenly felt lighter. Sunset helped Twilight pull the box from the small car. Before she could ask, Sunset retorts,
“You want to break your back?”
The other three suitemates help pull the rest of Twilight’s stuff from her car. A Sunday night before school starts, the group of girls sit together at the cafeteria.
“So, let me get this straight,” Sunset rubs her finger on the rim of her cup, “this other me came from a future where horses roam, alongside other mythical creatures.”
Twilight, trying not to look and sound all that crazy, answers, “Yeah…”
“And this happened because of a three-headed dragon?” Starlight asks.
“Yes.”
“I see…” Starlight, her lips slightly pursed, takes a sip of her hot cocoa.
Twilight was about to continue when she hears a familiar tune. She looks around when she finds a familiar sight. Though wearing different clothes and hairstyles, the Dazzlings’ song, though not hypnotizing, still allured the male students present in the cafeteria. Noticing Twilight’s intrigue, Sunset decides to break the silence.
“Are they familiar too?” She asks, pointing at them.
“You…” Twilight looks away, “could say that.”
“Well,” Juniper stands up, “I’d better turn in. Gotta make a good impression on Film Theory.”
“Yeah,” Starlight stands up too, “got a lot of reading ahead of me.”
“You guys read,” Sunset raises her fingers, “but I’m more-”
“Of a hands-on person?” Twilight finishes Sunset’s sentence. Rather than be angry, the red-head instead sported a coy look.
“I feel we’re gonna get along just well.” She compliments.
A moment’s peace before Twilight looks at the other three before taking out her phone.
“Want to have a group selfie before school starts?”
The group looks at each other. Starlight gives a little shrug before stepping beside Twilight. Juniper and Wallflower join up soon after. Sunset thought of it a little before standing behind Twilight.
“Well,” Sunset lays her head on Twilights, “why not?”
A smile on her face, Twilight brings the phone forward and takes a snapshot. Before she goes to bed, she sets up a group text.
“Met someone very familiar.”
She sends the texts to all of her contacts both new and old and goes to sleep. Just when she goes deeper into slumberland, her ears pick up some buzzing and ringing. Subconsciously, she curls a smile.
“O, brave new world.” She sputters, before going to sleep. Indeed, different packaging, similar product. This will be quite a school year indeed.
Both exhausted and scared completely out of her wits, Sunset rolls her eyes back and faints. Loud as Gojira is, she slept like a rock long after the sound has ceased. When she opens her eyes, the first thing she sees is a flower pot containing a white rose and a little tag.
“Good Morning.” It reads.
She rolls on her back and lifts her aching neck. She was at her own apartment. How can that be, she wonders. All she would know, Ghidorah would’ve smashed it in his rampage. Sunset sits herself up, all the while popping every joint in her body. Now she knows how Granny Smith feels. She climbs down from her bed, puts on her clothes, and steps out from the building. Life seems to continue normally. Cars driving up and down the roads, children laughing, adults going to work. It all narrows down to one thing.
“Well, we’re dead.” As Sunset puts it bluntly. She soon hears chuckling and a hand on her shoulder.
“Far from it, sugarcube.” Applejack chuckled. Parts of her body are bandaged; a few bands can be seen reaching up to her neck.
“Then,” Sunset pinches the bridge of her nose, “how long was I asleep? How long were you-?”
“Two months,” Sunset turns over to Twilight, now wearing a new pair of glasses, “give or take a few days for each of us.”
“Here’s your diploma.” Pinkie Pie grinned, handing over the little roll of approval. A shame they missed the big ceremony.
A slow, gentle walk later, the Rainbooms are at Canterlot High once more, standing proud as if nothing happened all the way down to the new grassy turf.
“So, did anyone tell you what happened?” Sunset looks at the horizon, “where are the monsters?”
“Scootaloo told us the best about this,” Twilight fidgets her glasses, “Kong retreated over to the mountains. Rodan took the skies, wherever he is. The Shobijin lead the twins and Thunderball out west, probably back to the Island…”
“And Ghidorah…” Sunset turns around, “Gojira?”
“Nothing else about them,” Fluttershy answers, stroking Angel on the ears, “Tempest had us evacuated before they got the chance.”
“Who cares?” Rainbow Dash chortles, “Ghidorah’s buzzard food by now! The world’s safe and sound! Best of all, we can keep our-!”
Rainbow Dash winced when she tried to transform. It only brings a little bit of hope as Sunset dips her hand into the portal.
“Did we?” Sunset asks of them, “We killed King Ghidorah, but is he the gonna be the only one?”
Such a question got the Rainbooms to ponder. Sunset pulls her hand back and turns to her friends.
“Time is a river,” Sunset looks at the horizon again, “and the next stone is still out there.”
“It’s only just a stone.” Twilight steps beside Sunset.
“And when that stone shows up,” Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie stand next to Twilight.
“We’ll be there.” Applejack finishes the sentence as she Fluttershy, and Rarity stood by Sunset’s left side.
The camera rolls back till the Rainbooms, then the town, become nothing more than little dots on the map. The world changes from a realistic one to an illustrated one before the bookend, one with a golden Unicorn on top, brings the story to a close. It’s the end of the story, but the beginning of a new one.
At least… that’s what the script reads. In a recording booth in Vancouver, the voice actors themselves take a breather. The exception is Tara Strong, for she has her own recording booth.
“This has been a good day to record,” Andrea complemented, taking a sip of water.
When they didn’t get a response from the voice director, the get a bit agitated.
“Well, not like them to keep us waiting,” Tabitha remarked, still in character. Still no response.
“Here,” Rebecca steps for the mixing booth, “maybe they-”
A massive, reptilian foot smashes the room in front of her. Tornado sirens blaze like mad, people all over the city scream in terror. But these are just minor nuisance’ to Gojira as he reaches the Pacific. But there is one obstacle still in his way. Both the Atragon and the Gotengo lead a battalion of destroyer class ships. In the first ship, Tempest stared at her white whale, arms crossed, ready to give the next order. And even beforehand, the gun barrels are pointing at the beast.
Gojira stands straight and lets out a loud moan. One last little fight, he wonders. His dorsal fins start glowing. He opens his mouth, sets his sights on the Atragon, lurches back….
By the end of the song, it was already the late afternoon. Vancouver is in ruins. Over sixty percent of the fleet is in shambles. And in the dust, a mighty silhouette is left standing. He lurches back once more and lets out a deafening roar.
Let no mortal, enchanted or none, stand in his path.
A secret cabinet is formed. They sit around a table, muttering to each other. Around them is footage of other attacks from around the world. On one hand, In Sydney, Australia, there is a giant, spiny monitor lizard with a membrane stretching across his side terrorizes the beach. In another, set in Madagascar, a giant creature similar to an Allosaurus stomps through the hot forest. An interesting one was recorded in the deep sea; a predatory eye was looking at the camera. It flinches at the same time of a sonar ping, and the creature turns it's red snout and snaps it's jaws around the camera.
“And so, ladies and gentlemen,” Tempest Shadow’s face emerges from the shadows, “is why these beasts are to be destroyed once and for all.”
“What about when they killed Ghidorah?” Argues one member of the cabinet, “It’s like they were-”
“Strictly. Territorial. As animals go.” Tempest interrupted, “And these things are only once in a lifetime. And with them scattered over the world, how long will it be before our major cities become dust?”
The cabinet mutters to each other before one other member asks, “So what would you propose?”
A moment after, each member of the cabinet is presented with them with grey folders.
"That you allow us to dispose of them by any means." Tempest answers.
The proposal includes the ones used, and subsequently destroyed, by King Ghidorah. A turn of the page reveals three models of a flying machine; one of them having cartridges of cadmium, the second with its front open wide to reveal a reflective surface, and the third resembling a stealth fighter with freezer weapons. Another turn of the page revealed something almost impossible: a bipedal, robotic mole capable of splitting itself in two, one half a subterranean tank, the other a flying vessel.
One of the cabinet members is puzzled at one page. The images, taken approximately one and seven-eighth months ago, of a pair of strange, gigantic creatures in test tubes. One was reptilian with hooks for hands and feet. The other resembled a cockroach with drills for hands.
"How soon would you be ready?" He asks, his brow raised.
Tempest curled a little smile, takes out her phone, and dials a number. A few buzzing tones, then a click.
“Show time.” She orders.
The footage of the monster attacks turns off. The wall behind the commander parted. The cabinet shook as its members are revealed a startling find. Before them was both a hangar and a factory. To their right, they see numerous tanks and attack drones made by the dozens. In the middle is the first model of the flying battleship, "Super X-1" it reads.
Going lower, the cabinet saw three separate hangars. To their left and right, the mentioned test tube animals have fully matured and are fitted with a cerebral device. In the middle are the two halves of the robotic mole; at the moment the crew is troubleshooting the tank.
A little lower, and the cabinet is revealed another fighter jet with slim gun barrels. A few R&D members discuss the possibility of a second model to this with thicker gun barrels.
When the cabinet stopped moving, everyone raced to the window. Before theme is the cherry on top of the cake; The visage of Godzilla clan in steel and wires, and armed to the toothed. Tempest Shadow leans on the tabletop, lets out a satisfied huff, and looks at this magnum opus. On the job, a mechanic steps out from the cranium of the robot and gives the electrician a thumbs up. With a pull of the switch, the machine is activated; eyes glowing a gold color and the beast "relaxes" it's stiff joints.
"Looks like he's ready to serve his country." Tempest remarks as she looks at the name inscribed at the left breastplate.
