A Sight You'd Never Expect

“Well, who’s still breathin’? Sound off.”

The pair of groans from the surfacing Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were the only response. The unicorn grumbled, picking twigs and pond muck out of her mane.

“Well, least that was only the second or third worst spill into this pond we’ve taken.”

Scootaloo removed her helmet and wrung her hair our, looking about to see where the scooter and wagon had ended up. Fortunately, the convoy hadn’t seemed to have taken too big of a tumble and plowed into a batch of fallen leaves just off the road.

“Well either this or the zip lining polo for third worst at least.”

“Uuurg, don’t remind me.”

“Hard choice.”

Sweetie Belle mumbled as she took a moment to notice what was different about the situation this time around. She looked for a patch of disturbed water or bubbles to no avail. The water was fairly shallow, but the impacts had churned the bottom so much the pond was an inky mess.

“Wait…  Where’s Des-“

Her answer arrived with a flash of purple light shooting out of the water behind them. All three crusaders looked back in time to see mist melt off the water’s surface with a cloud of bubbles. It was only after when the light that engulfed half the pond ceased that Destroyah surfaced. Except, now she looked different again; entirely different. Having apparently absorbed the infants either during or soon after crashing, her horn had grown a bit longer and wings broader. Overall, she’d grown. The mutated kaiju was now on par with, or even slightly larger and older than the crusaders themselves.

But the size change wasn’t what made the youngling virtually unrecognizable, it was her expression. Destroyah was grinning ear to ear. Not a manic bloodthirsty one like the smile Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle had seen during the bout with the timber wolves. She didn’t have so much as a hint of malign intent or disinterest, her calling cards thus far, stenciled onto her face. For the first time since they met her, the Cutiemark Crusaders saw Destroyah genuinely happy.

And happy she was upon swiping at the air with an honest smile, the adrenaline rush of the chase still pumping through her veins. Her voice had grown deeper from the previous squeaky toy, but still clearly child-like.

"WOOOOHOOHOOO! Who's up for round 2?!"

The crusaders sat still, dumbstruck. Destroyah similarly froze up, hoof held high. She slowly closed her mouth and melted back into a neutral stance. She turned and looked blankly at the crusaders. For a moment it looked like the kaiju filly was about to say something to the baffled trio. Whatever it was died in her throat. Destroyah turned back towards town, flapping her now useable wings to give a boost assisted double jump. Clearing her way out of the pond, Destroyah shook herself off, speaking as she slowly walked back to Ponyville. Pitch withstanding, her tone returned to exactly what the crusaders remembered.

"We're wasting time, we need to get back to town and get this over with."

The Cutiemark Crusaders were still stiff as statues for a moment, for the sudden child-like outburst had been jarring. It was one thing to see an adult they knew as a child. It was another to see said adult actually behaving like a child. They barely spoke above whispers, watching Destroyah walk back to town. For a split second her wings were drooping before perking back up to formality.

"D-Did that just happen?"

"Was she just-..."

Scootaloo finished Apple Bloom's sentence, frowning slightly.

"Happy?...."