Part Two

The King of the Monsters

Godzilla was confused. He had been on the island, asleep. Then he'd been awakened by the sound of wings; Mothra had appeared over him. He had risen with a growl; annoyed at being disturbed and thinking she might be looking for a fight. But she hadn't attacked; she'd just hovered there over him, and then there had been that music, and voices, a flash of light, and the next thing he knew, he found himself standing in a lush mountain valley overlooking a small town.

Godzilla hated being confused.

Anger rose within his chest as with a snarl he set his face to the small town and started toward it. At least there was something to enact his rage on…

"Wow," said Pinkie, gazing up at the monster. "I thought it would be big, but I didn't think it would be big big!"

"This doesn't make any sense," said Twilight. "The Shobijin said Mothra would help us. Why would she send something like this?!"

"Maybe she doesn't want to help us," said Starlight frantically. "Maybe she wants Equestria destroyed."

"Then why warn me about Ghidorah at all?" Twilight replied. "I don't…

All of a sudden, Twilight's eyes blazed white. Her body when rigid and she stood as still as a statue.

"What's going on?" asked Starlight.

"I don't know!" said Rarity, shaking the princess's inert form. "Twilight!"

"Oh, she must be having one of those vision things," said Pinkie. "You know, when her magic suddenly goes into overcharge and she sees how to solve whatever problem we're facing?"

The ponies ducked as the monster's tail swept over their heads and turned a grove of trees into splinters at the enormous beast turned around, surveying the world around it. It snorted, then started towards Ponyville.

"Well, I hope she comes up with something good!" said Rainbow Dash. "But in the meantime, we need to try to stop that thing from reaching Ponyville!"

"Stop it?" said Applejack. "Are you seein' the same thing I'm seein'? How the hay are we supposed to stop that?"

"Not by complaining, I can tell you that!" said Rainbow. "Rarity, Fluttershy, get Twilight out of here. Everypony else, follow me!"

Screaming a battle cry, she flew hoof-first at the monster's knee, kicking it as hard as she could. She bounced off his rock-hard hide, having had absolutely no effect whatsoever. Godzilla strode on past them.

"Were you really expectin' that to work?" asked Applejack.

"At least I'm doing something!" Rainbow answered.

"That's debatable," Applejack replied.

"Are you going to complain, or are you going to help?"

"Help?!" Applejack said. "'Help'?! How in blazes do you expect me to 'help'?!"

"I don't know; lasso it or something! Come on, Applejack, all of Ponyville is counting on us; get creative!"

"She's right," said Starlight, magically lifting herself into the air. "We have to try something!"

She flew around to Godzilla's front and, summoning as much power as she could, fired a beam of magic into his knee. The monster snarled and ceased his advance to peer down at the tiny glowing object before him. The attack had stung, but he was more curious than angry; he hadn't felt anything quite like that before. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash took the chance to fly up and spit in his eye (which was at least twice her size).

Godzilla blinked, confused at the tiny flying things, one of which had somehow actually caused a little pain.

"Come on, Applejack!" said Pinkie, producing her party cannon and racing to join the battle. "You wanna live forever?!"

"Am I the only pony who actually sees that thing?" Applejack demanded. No one answered. "Crabapples," she muttered and ran to get her rope.

Pinkie set up on a hilltop and aimed her cannon up and up, right for Godzilla's face, and fired. A dozen pies shot out and up with the force of an artillery blast, to splatter against his cheek. He snorted, then roared as Starlight fired again, hitting him in the stomach. He swiped at her, and she teleported away just in time. He moved a lot quicker than she had expected. She reappeared behind him and fired into his back, just over his hip. He swung around, snarling, and she had to teleport again to avoid his spines.

Godzilla's tail smashed into the hill Pinkie was standing on, pulverizing it. Pinkie was flung screaming into the air amid a torrent of rock and dust. If she had been alone, that probably would have been the end of her, but Rainbow Dash dove through the maelstrom, snatching her friend in a perfectly controlled dive and rocketing back up, carrying Pinkie and her cannon.

"Thanks, Rainbow!" she called over the monster's renewed roars.

"Not gonna leave y'ah hanging!" Rainbow replied. "Come on; I've got an idea."

Starlight was wracking her brain, trying to think of some spell that might actually damage this thing. Nothing she had ever done or read about even came close…unless…

"Rainbow, Pinkie!" she shouted. "Try to keep him distracted!"

"On it!" Rainbow Dash answered, carrying Pinkie up to Godzilla's face. "You heard the pony, Pinkie; distract him."

"Hey, you big meanie!" Pinkie called. "Over here!"

She fired her cannon again, but this time it didn't shoot pies. Instead, a huge pile of hot chili sauce burst out of the end like a volcano, directly into Godzilla's huge eye. He roared so that the mountains shook and began clawing at his stinging eye.

"And to think you all laughed when I bought twenty gallons of extra-spicy chili sauce!" Pinkie said happily.

Godzilla whipped around, slashing the air blindly. Rainbow dodged backwards as Pinkie prepared to fire again. Before she could, however, Godzilla lurched forward, moving with surprising speed as he swung again. This time Rainbow couldn't dodge quite fast enough. She just managed to avoid actually taking a hit from his enormous claws, but the wind sheer from his swing hit them like a hurricane, sending them tumbling out of the air to crash into the ground below.

Satisfied that the tiny annoyances were no longer visible and blinking the last of the hot sauce out of his eye, Godzilla turned to resume his march toward Ponyville. As he did, however, a jet of green flame burst out of the ground before him, engulfing his right ankle. Snarling in surprise, he glared down. He couldn't even see the tiny baby dragon below, but he knew something had just attacked him. With an angry growl, he lifted his foot and stomped hard at the point where the fire had come from.

Spike saw the huge foot coming and knew he'd never get out of the way in time. He ducked and shut his eyes…but at the last second was whipped out from under the descending destruction. Rarity had joined the fray and snatched him out of danger just in time.

"Oh, Spikey-wikey!" she cried, hugging him tightly. "Are you all right?! Don't ever, ever do that again!"

Are you kidding? Spike thought, hearts running around his head. If this is what I get, let me at him one more time!

"You brute!" Rarity shrieked at the monster. "Why don't you go pick on somepony your own size!"

A beam of pale blue energy shot from her horn and struck Godzilla's knee. He snorted, but seemed to barely feel it.

Applejack, meanwhile, came running up to Rainbow and Pinkie, rope in mouth.

"Pinkie!" she shouted. "Round up!"

"Round up?" Pinkie replied, looking after her. Then she understood. "Oh! 'Round up'!"

Applejack ran along Godzilla's right, while Pinkie and Rainbow Dash rocketed around to his left. They passed him and Applejack threw her rope to Pinkie, who caught it deftly in her teeth then dug her hooves into the ground. The two Earth Ponies stood on the rising ground on either side of the monster and pulled the rope tight.

His ankle hit the rope, it held for an instant as the two ponies were dragged forward, and then snapped under his power without so much as checking his progress. Applejack looked at the frayed end lying on the ground before her and sighed.

"Yeah," she said. "That's pretty much what I thought would happen."

"Starlight!" Rainbow Dash called. "Whatever you're planning, now would be good!"

"Everypony stand clear!" she shouted.

The others hurried back up the mountain slope, away from the monster. Starlight landed directly in front of Godzilla, her horn blazing as if it were about to melt as she concentrated every last bit of magic she had into this one spell.

Godzilla didn't even notice her. The tiny annoyances all seemed to have gone, and he was continuing his march to the town below. It wasn't far now. Then, suddenly, the earth shook beneath him. Confused, he paused, looking about for a reason. There was something small and glowing just about a step away. He snorted and raised his foot to crush it.

All at once, the ground in front of Starlight seemed to explode. Enormous spires of rock shot upwards at an angle, driving themselves into Godzilla's lower legs and the bottom of his raised foot. He roared in pain and stumbled backwards as the stones pierced his flesh.

Starlight collapsed onto her front knees, exhausted. She had never unleashed that much power at once before. She had meant the stone spines to rise higher, but that was the best she could do at the moment.

Then she realized that a pale blue light was shining on her from above. She looked up. Godzilla's plates were blazing with pure energy. Lightning seemed to crackle along them…and he was looking directly at her.

Rainbow Dash dove and snatched her away just as a beam of blue-white energy burst from Godzilla's mouth and engulfed the ground where Starlight had been a second before. He turned and swept it in a half-circle around him, determined to incinerate every one of the tiny, infuriating creatures. The ground erupted into pillars of fire and flying stone wherever the beam hit, turning prairie and hillside into flaming craters in the space of a moment.

Finally, after sweeping the ground before him, he stopped. Feeling satisfied, he roared in triumph and continued his march on Ponyville.

"Well, that's that," sighed Starlight as the worn-out ponies regrouped in a nearby pasture. "We lost."

"We can't lose!" Rainbow answered.

"Did you even see what that thing just did?" said Applejack. She, Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie Pie had had the race of their lives trying to escape the path of Godzilla's terrible ray and now stood trying to catch their breath. "We're lucky we all got out of there alive! Face it, Rainbow Dash; that thing is just plumb out of our league!"

"I'm afraid I must agree with Applejack," gasped Rarity, looking uncharacteristically frazzled. "We didn't even hurt it!"

"Starlight did!" said Rainbow. "Do you think you could do that again, only…more?"

"I could barely do that!" said Starlight, who could still barely stand. "Anyway, look at that thing; it's not even limping. I think I just made it angry."

"There's gotta be something we can do!" said Rainbow Dash. "Otherwise it'll smash all of Ponyville, and probably all of Equestria!"

Starlight thought a moment, bullying her exhausted brain into working.

"Let's go see if Twilight is out of her trance yet," she said. "Maybe she's learned something that'll help us!"

"Yeah!" said Pinkie. "Like a super-awesome spell that'll turn that big mean thing into something smaller!"

"You guys go find out," said Rainbow Dash. "I'm still gonna try to slow it down."

"All of us together barely managed that," said Applejack. "What do you expect to do on your own?"

"I don't know, but I've gotta try," said Rainbow, and she darted off into the sky.

Twilight Sparkle found herself flying over the ocean on a bright, tropical morning. Some miles away, there was a small island. She seemed to be moving towards it. This was obviously a vision of some kind, but she couldn't think where she was, or why she had been brought there. She didn't have time for this; her friends needed her with that monster on the loose.

She was just considering ways of breaking the trance and escaping the vision when all at once there was a blinding flash of light, brighter than the brightest noonday sun that Celestia had ever called up. Twilight gasped and shielded her eyes. A moment later, the flash subsided, and she had just time enough to see that where the island had been was now a huge, mushroom-shaped cloud before a terrible wave of heat and pressure swept past her. Even though she knew nothing here could harm her, Twilight screamed at the impact.

The scene changed. She was over a huge city at night. Sirens were blaring, and there was a constant dull crackle, like thunder. She looked around and saw that an enormous fence of metal and wire had been strung up around the city, and on the other side stood the creature they had just called into Equestria. He seemed to examine the fence for a moment, and then strode forward. As soon as he touched them, the wires flashed with lightning; obviously, they'd been electrified somehow. The monster roared, but all the lightning seemed to do was make him mad. He seized the nearest tower, which only came up to about his shoulder, and ripped it to shreds. The wires fell, still spitting electricity, and tangled up in his fingers and the bony plates on his back.

Suddenly, his plates blazed blue-white, and a moment later the Atomic Ray poured forth, blasting the towers into ash. Through the resulting cloud of smoke, the monster turned and roared a challenge at the city.

The smoke cleared, and the scene changed again: now there was a great battle underway. Tanks and other tremendous machines of war, the likes of which Twilight had never seen or imagined, flying machines, and great metal ships lined the coast. It looked to her as if the whole world had come to war.

As she looked on, Godzilla rose out of the sea and the assembled force unleashed its power upon him. Fire, thunder, and bolts of magic erupted from the machines and engulfed him in flames. Twilight stuck her hooves over her ears, sure she'd go deaf from the noise. But over and above it all rose the bell-like roar of the monster. Again, his ray poured forth, and Twilight watched in horror as the assembled armies were wiped out in a moment.

The explosions and smoke and fire seemed to revolve into a mass of color, but the terrible roar of sound faded into music. Twilight found herself in a world of colors, colors she had never seen or imagined, colors that made her heart soar, and colors that made her tremble. It was an overwhelming spectacle.

Then the colors seemed to take form and shape, and they became wings: the wings of a moth the size of a stadium.

Mothra.

Twilight bowed. She had been around royalty long enough to recognize nobility when she met it.

"Well met, Princess Twilight Sparkle," said Mothra. Her voice was not sound, but seemed to enter Twilight's mind directly, like a warm summer breeze.

"Mothra," she said. "Why have you brought me here? And what is that…thing we summoned? I thought you were going to help us."

"I brought you here to understand," she answered. "The one I helped you bring into Equestria is the greatest warrior in my world; the only creature the King of Terror fears. His name is Godzilla, and he is known as the King of the Monsters."

"So, you sent him to help us," said Twilight. "But…"

She seemed to see, as though from far off, her friends fighting the monster.

"But he's attacking Ponyville!"

"Godzilla is a brave and noble creature, but he is also wild and full of anger. He has suffered greatly and does not take kindly to strangers. He will not be easy to befriend, as I know only too well. However, if Equestria is to be spared and King Ghidorah contained once more, you must try."

Twilight nodded. Strangely enough, she felt hopeful; this was more the kind of thing she was used to.

"Well," she said. "I am the Princess of Friendship, after all."

"Blessings be on you, Twilight Sparkle," said Mothra. "May we soon meet again."

Twilight suddenly became aware of the world around her once more. Spike, Starlight, and her Ponyville friends, minus Rainbow Dash, were standing around her, anxiously watching her. Except for Fluttershy, they all looked much the worse for wear.

"Oh, thank Celestia you are back!" said Rarity.

"Twilight," said Starlight. "We've tried everything we can, but it's not working! Rainbow Dash went to slow him down, but she can't possibly hold him for long. What did you see? Do you know how to stop him?"

"Yes, I do," she said. "It's not going to be easy, but it's the only hope for Equestria."

"What is it?" asked Fluttershy.

Twilight looked around at her friends and grinned.

"We going to do what we do best," she said. "Make friends with him!"

Rainbow Dash had fought a lot of foes in her relatively short life. Tackling a monster the size of a skyscraper, though, was…a new experience.

For a second, she hesitated, tapping her hoof to her chin as she considered the options for tackling it. There really weren't a whole lot of them.

Alright, big guy, she thought. Let's see how you handle being dizzy.

She dove and began to fly in tight circles around his head, faster and faster, until she was nothing but a rainbow colored blur. This made him stop in his tracks, blinded by the whirl of color. He snarled and twitched his head as if he were trying to shake a fly, but Rainbow kept flying, expanding her circle a little to avoid clipping him.

Godzilla snapped at her, his great jaws closing with a noise like a thunderclap. Rainbow Dash yelped as she passed right through his teeth, missing being caught in those terrible jaws by mere feet. Again, she expanded her circle, hoping that this time she was out of his reach.

Foiled in attempts to stop her, Godzilla roared in anger. The blast of blazing hot air from his throat caught Rainbow Dash and sent her tumbling helplessly through the air. She righted herself and hovered for a moment, trying to catch her breath and reconsider her approach as Godzilla resumed his march. Direct attacks obviously weren't going to work against a creature that was probably a few million times heavier than she was. So, she'd have to do something more indirect.

Rainbow Dash darted through the sky, gathering all the storm clouds she could find. Godzilla, meanwhile, had reached the outskirts of Ponyville. One enormous foot landed in the middle of the marketplace, smashing tents and shops to dust and shaking those that remained to the ground. Rainbow really didn't have much time.

She pulled the hastily assembled cloud as low over the monster's head as she dared, then kicked it with all her might. A storm of lightning bolts crackled forth, striking Godzilla's head and the bony plates on his back. Godzilla roared as the lightning hit, but seemed otherwise completely unfazed, as if this happened to him all the time. Considering how tall he was, it probably did.

Since lightning didn't work, she'd see how he liked wind. She began to fly in a tight circle, faster and faster, until she'd worked up a small, but powerful twister, which she unleashed on Godzilla before immediately starting to form another one.

The funnel cloud at least got his attention. Godzilla looked up curiously at the sight of the small tornado hurtling out of the sky at his face. It struck him square on the nose, battered it for a bit, then broke apart. Godzilla snorted and shook his head, irritated by the incident. Then another came at him and did the same. It didn't hurt him, but it was certainly annoying. When he saw a third one coming, Godzilla snarled and slashed at it with one huge claw. The funnel cloud shattered against his blow.

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "That was a tornado; you don't get to just knock a tornado out of the air like it's nothing!"

Godzilla didn't even hear her. He took another step into Ponyville, demolishing the spa under his foot. His tail swept out and reduced a row of lovely maple trees to splinters.

Rainbow Dash's keen observational skills told her that most of the town had already evacuated, but some of the population was still trying to get away. With the kind of strides he took, Godzilla could cover the whole town before they could escape.

It was time for desperate measures.

She flew straight up at top speed to get a good start. She'd only done this once or twice, both times against things that were standing still on the ground. She'd have to modify the maneuver slightly to make it work against Godzilla. Still, there wasn't any reason why it shouldn't work. It might completely pulverize her in the process, but it should work nonetheless.

When she judged she'd reached the proper height, Rainbow Dash twisted, pointed her muzzle at the ground, and dived, pushing herself to fly faster, faster, always faster. Faster than the speed of sound, and now faster still. She felt the Mach-cone forming about her muzzle, and still she pushed herself to fly even faster. The ground and Godzilla were racing up to meet her, but she couldn't pull up yet…not just yet…

Godzilla saw the rainbow-colored streak descending and paused, curious, to watch. It was racing straight down, as if it were going to plow straight into the earth.

Then, all at once, it changed trajectory, sweeping up in a tight arc to fly straight at him. He had no time to react beyond snarling in surprise before it struck him in the stomach with the force of a bomb. There was an explosion of color as the rainbow-hued shockwave burst against him, driving against his body in a wave of pure force.

He stepped back a pace, then another, caught off-guard by the force of the blow. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash ricocheted off of Godzilla's rock-like hide, was sent flying across Ponyville, and finally crashed through one of the upper windows of town hall to land in a heap of shattered desks, her head spinning, every part of her body aching.

Well, she thought. I'm not pulverized. That's good.

Shaking, she forced herself to get up. She couldn't stay here: she wasn't naïve enough to think that the Sonic Rainboom would put Godzilla out of commission permanently. She climbed out of the window and took off again, focusing on flying to take her mind off of her aches and pains.

Godzilla was still standing. Taken by surprise, he had been knocked back a pace or two, but the blow, though it had hurt, was nowhere near powerful enough to injure him. Instead, it had only mad him mad.

He roared in rage, looking about for the source of the offending attack. Then he saw it: the small, rainbow-colored streak rising about the tiny town. His eyes narrowed at he focused on it.

As she rose over Ponyville, Rainbow Dash realized, with a nasty jolt to her stomach, that Godzilla was glaring right at her. Worse, the plates on his back were blazing.

"Oh, ponyfeathers..."

Godzilla's head went back, his mouth opened, and the blue-white Atomic Ray poured forth. Rainbow Dash, tired though she was, flew off at top speed, but Godzilla twisted his head around so that the destroying beam followed her. Rainbow beat her wings faster and faster, feeling the terrible heat searing her tail as she stayed just ahead of it. She didn't know what it was, but she was pretty sure that if she got any closer, she was a goner.

Putting on a final burst of speed, she zoomed behind the nearest peak, hoping the mountain would block the ray. The Atomic Ray struck the mountaintop a second later, and the whole thing exploded. Boulders the size of houses flew through the air, and Rainbow Dash was caught in the expanding shockwave and hurled helplessly through the sky along with them.

Over a mile away, she slammed into the mud beside a river, managing to slow her descent just enough so that she wasn't squashed flat by the impact. Finally skidding to a halt, she rolled over, exhausted and feeling like she'd probably broken something. She'd lost the fight, of course, but at least she'd bought Ponyville time. Now she could only hope that Twilight had come up with a plan.

Having rid himself of the rainbow-colored annoyance, Godzilla felt better as he turned his attention to the rest of Ponyville.

His next step demolished Rich's Barnyard Bargains, together with the art and dance studio. Another step pulverized the fountain at the corner of Stirrup and Bridle streets, while his next took out four houses at once.

Ponyville's population had evacuated. The citizens had long since learned to get out of the way whenever Princess Twilight and her friends brought adventure home with them, and as soon as they had seen that appear at the other end of the valley, most of them had gathered their loved ones and beat a hasty retreat to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Those who had grown a little too complacent over the years had managed to flee while Godzilla was busy fighting Rainbow Dash. Now they could do nothing but watching from the shelter of the trees as their town was destroyed.

He reached the center of Ponyville within minutes of defeating Rainbow Dash. He walked right past town hall, destroying the statues of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the square and causing part of Sugarcube Corners to collapse when his foot landed next to it. For a moment, it looked as if the town hall would be spared…then his tail swept through the middle of it, sending the top floors flying into the quill and sofa shop.

As Godzilla approached the train station, the Friendship Express came barreling down the tracks. The engineer saw what was about to happen a moment too late to stop it. He threw on the brakes just as Godzilla's foot landed on the tracks right in front of the train. The engine slammed into the side of his massive foot, crumpling like a tin can, while the line of cars behind it buckled, coiled, and piled on top of each other. Snarling, Godzilla bent over. As the terrified ponies fled the train, Godzilla's huge jaws closed about the cars and lifted them high into the air, swinging the empty, ruined train back and forth in rage before hurling the Friendship Express across Ponyville, where it crashed into the clock tower and brought the whole thing down in a cloud of dust amid the clanging of the great bell. Godzilla gave a roar of satisfaction, then continued his march.

But these small buildings were unsatisfying to him. He hardly even noticed their destruction. But there, on the other end of town, was a tall, stately castle. It barely came up to his chest, but it would be better than what he had here. With a snarl, he started towards it.

"My goodness, just look at this place!" Rarity moaned as the six ponies galloped along the swath of destruction left in Godzilla's wake, Spike riding on Twilight's back. "And all he's done is walk through!"

"Twilight, you know I don't usually question your friendship instincts," said Applejack. "But are you sure this is the best idea?"

"It's the only way," Twilight answered. "Godzilla's our only chance of stopping Mogu!"

"Well, if you're gonna make friends with him, you'd better do it fast!" said Spike. "Look where he's going now!"

The six ponies followed Spike's pointing claw to see that Godzilla was making a direct path to the Castle of Friendship.

"Oh, no he doesn't!" snapped Twilight. "Come on, Fluttershy; I need you for this."

"Me!?" she gasped, skidding to a halt.

"You can talk to him," Twilight answered turning back to face her. "And besides, from what Mothra told me, I think kindness is exactly what he needs most."

Fluttershy froze, clutching her hooves over her mouth.

"But…but he's…"

"I know," said Twilight. "But if you don't convince him we want to be friends, Ponyville falls! All of Equestria falls!"

Fluttershy's eyes filled with tears and she began to tremble. Belatedly, Twilight remembered that Fluttershy didn't do well under pressure. She went and put a hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"I know you're scared," she said. "But I believe in you!"

"Yeah!" said Pinkie Pie. "You're the pony who made friends with Discord!"

"And you talked a dragon into leaving Ponyville," Rarity reminded her.

"You can do this!" said Starlight. "He's going to love you!"

"It ain't like you could make things any worse," put in Applejack. "Just be yourself, sugarcube."

Fluttershy swallowed hard. Godzilla was approaching the castle.

"Okay," she said. "I'll do it."

"Great! Because we have maybe half a minute before he destroys the Castle of Friendship," said Spike. Twilight bucked him off: they didn't need Spike's big mouth at a time like this.

Without further adieu, Twilight took hold of Fluttershy and teleported them into the air next to Godzilla's head.

"Uh…um, e-excuse me? Mr. Godzilla? Sir?"

He didn't react.

"He can't hear you," said Twilight. "You need to be louder!"

Fluttershy took a deep breath.

"Excuse me? Your majesty?"

Twilight thought she'd actually gotten quieter. They really didn't have time for this, as Godzilla was almost at her castle. Her horn flashed and sparked.

"Excuse me?!" Fluttershy said, only this time her magically-magnified voice echoed all across Ponyville. Godzilla whipped around in surprise, seeking the source of the voice. This caused Fluttershy to shriek in terror, and she probably would have fallen out of the sky if Twilight hadn't been holding her up.

"Go on!" she said. "You've got his attention."

Fluttershy swallowed.

"Oh, um, hello, Mr. Godzilla. Sir. Thank you for s-stopping to talk to me."

Godzilla growled and snorted.

"Oh, um, I-I'm F-Fluttershy. Yes, I can understand you just fine. I talk to all kinds of creatures. I was wondering if…if you would mind not crushing my friend's castle? If it's not too much trouble?"

Twilight thought Fluttershy might have put it a little more forcefully than that.

"Because it would be nice if you didn't," said Fluttershy, apparently in response to something Godzilla had said. "Oh, please don't say that! I understand that you're angry, and I'm very sorry we brought you here so suddenly. We didn't mean to, I assure you. And I don't blame you at all for being upset. But perhaps we could just take a moment and talk about this? Please?"

Godzilla roared.

"Oh, dear," said Fluttershy, trembling. "I'm so sorry. But we really, really don't hate you. This is all a big misunderstanding, and I'm sure if we all calm down and talk about it, we can be great friends."

He growled.

"You don't want to be friends? But we want to be friends with you. Don't you think making friends would be a lot better than fighting and smashing things? Surely you must have some friends."

Godzilla blinked and snorted.

"See? And wouldn't you like to make even more? We all want to be your friends."

Twilight smiled and waved, hoping to drive the point home. Godzilla seemed to be considering. Then he growled.

"Oh, thank you so much!" said Fluttershy. "If you wouldn't mind just walking over to that nice open field there, we can talk without your crushing any more buildings."

The monster appeared to be considering it. He snorted and, to Twilight's relief, turned his back on her castle and followed Fluttershy's direction to the nearby field. Her relief proved premature, however, when the end of Godzilla's tail swept up and ripped off part of the library wing.

She sighed. I guess that was inevitable.

Twilight Sparkle had been appointed the Princess of Friendship due to her mastery of the subject. In the past she and her companions had managed to befriend griffons, yaks, dragons, and even Discord. Making friends with Godzilla, however, was a whole new experience. Not only was he by far the biggest and arguably the most dangerous friend she'd ever tried to make, but she soon learned that he was as angry and bitter as even Starlight had been before she discovered the magic of friendship. Starlight had been a difficult case, but she was nothing like as intimidating as Godzilla.

A lot of what he told her (through Fluttershy's translation) was confusing: she still had no idea what the flash of light she had seen in her vision was, or how it had made Godzilla what he was. Though her experiences in the human world (though evidently a different world from the one he came from) allowed her to at least sort of grasp his account of his battles with human armies.

Godzilla was a creature that had done much wrong and suffered much wrong. As far as he was concerned, being dragged into Equestria was just another cruel twist of fate that called for him to lash out at his tormentors. The fact that it was unintentional on their part only mollified him slightly.

"I understand why you're angry," said Twilight. "And I'm sorry we brought you here. But maybe it'll help if you think of this as a chance to spend time with someponies who don't hate you or want to hurt you."

Fluttershy relayed her message. Godzilla snorted.

"He says he'd rather be left alone," she said.

Twilight thought about it.

"I used to want to be left alone too," she said. "And my friend Starlight Glimmer used to be just as angry and bitter as you are. But now we've both discovered the magic of friendship and you know what? She's not angry anymore, and I'm happier than I ever knew was possible. We want to share that with you."

Godzilla growled.

"Wouldn't you rather not be so angry?" said Twilight. "Wouldn't you rather not be hunted and hounded for once?"

"He says you already attacked him," said Fluttershy.

"And we're sorry," she said. "We also forgive you for attacking our town. Whatever you decide, we won't fight you again."

It's not like we could win anyway, she thought.

Godzilla looked hard at her, then snorted.

"Um, he says we didn't put up enough of a fight to make it worth apologizing," said Fluttershy. Godzilla growled again. "…But he is sorry he destroyed Ponyville."

That was progress.

"Ask him if he knows anything about King Ghidorah," Twilight suggested.

Fluttershy relayed the question. The moment Godzilla heard that name, his eyes flashed and he let out a roar that sent the two ponies tumbling through the air, screaming in alarm and covering their ears with their hooves. They were nearly knocked out of the sky before he stopped.

"He…doesn't like him," said Fluttershy weakly. "At all."

The other four ponies and Spike stood at the edge of town, watching the debate.

"How do you think it's going?" asked Starlight.

"If I know Twilight, she'll get him to come 'round," said Applejack. "She's never failed yet."

"You know," said Rarity. "He is rather magnificent, don't you think? At least, now that he's not attacking us. A true king, in his own way, if I ever saw one. Nothing like old Torch. There's real nobility, or I don't know anything about the subject."

"Gotta admit, I see what you mean," said Applejack. "Kinda reminds me of Princess Luna in a way."

"I just hope Twilight can get him to use that kingliness to stop Garble," said Spike. "And, you know, not to destroy Equestria."

"They do seem to be taking an awful long time, don't they?" said Rarity.

"Hm, maybe we should throw him a party," suggested Pinkie Pie. "To show him we want to be friends! Of course, I'd have to use most of my confetti supply..."

"NO!" The others all said at once.

"No offense, Pinkie," said Starlight. "But I'm thinking bright lights and loud noises are not the way to go here."

A few minutes later, Twilight and Fluttershy left Godzilla and joined the others.

"Well?" asked Spike.

"He's going to help," said Twilight. She looked exhausted, but smiled as the others cheered.

"That's wonderful!" said Rarity.

"How'd you manage to convince him?" asked Starlight.

"Fluttershy here did most of the work," said Twilight, smiling at her. The pegasus pony blushed and looked embarrassed.

"Oh, I don't know how much I did," she said. "He said that I reminded him of a friend he had back in his own world; she can talk to him too. But I don't think he's quite used to the experience; most of the time, people just shoot bombs at him. He seemed almost eager once we told him King Ghidorah was involved. Apparently, they really, really hate each other."

"What's going on?"

Rainbow Dash joined them, supported by Blossomforth and Cloudchaser. After the battle, the Ponyville pegasi had searched high and low for their captain and finally found her unconscious by the mountain stream.

"Rainbow Dash!" the ponies all exclaimed in relief, rushing to hug her.

"Ow! Ow! No hugs! No hugs!"

"Sorry," said Fluttershy as they backed off. "We're just so relieved that you're all right!"

Rainbow definitely looked worse for the wear, and she swayed where she stood. But she fixed a cocky smile on her face and shrugged. "No big deal; not the first mountain that's blown up on me."

Applejack raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Well, okay, maybe it is," Rainbow admitted. "But I'll be all right." She turned to the other pegasi. "Thanks, guys! Tell the others we've got the situation under control, but that they should stay put for now."

Blossomforth and Cloudchaser saluted and flew off.

"Okay," said Rainbow. "Now get me up to speed; what's going on with big ugly over there?"

"His name is Godzilla," said Twilight, and she explained everything she had learned and everything Fluttershy had found out.

"Hm," said Rainbow Dash. "Well, I can't say I like the fact that Mothra sent him here in the first place, I must admit that I do like the idea of him fighting Mogu; he'll totally crush him!"

"We're going to leave at once," said Twilight. "Hopefully, we can reach the Dragon Lands before Mogu starts his attack on Equestria."

She had hardly finished speaking before a blue streak shot out of the sky and landed beside them, breathing hard. It was Soarin of the Wonderbolts.

"Dash!" he said. "Spitfire sent me to find you…what happened to you?"

He stared, open mouthed at her battered appearance.

"He did," she said, jerking her head at Godzilla.

Soarin yelped.

"There's another one!?"

"This one's on our side," said Twilight hastily.

"We think," Spike muttered. Twilight kicked him.

"What's Spitfire want?" Rainbow demanded.

"Wonderbolt alert," said Soarin. "There's a dragon heading for Manehatten, and the Princess has called out the whole EUP Guard."

He looked her over, grimacing.

"Though…you don't look like you're in any condition to fight."

"The hay I'm not!" said Rainbow Dash, springing into the air. "You tell Spitfire…"

Something cracked and she dropped out of air with a whinny of pain.

"…Tell her we're on our way," said Twilight. She looked over her shoulder at Godzilla. "And we're bringing help."

To be Continued...