Chapter 1
BGM: "Hakurei ~ Eastern Wind"
The summer rain beat against the ground, pounding it like a drum. It was awful enough for Erin, that she had to put an end to this annoyance, or so to her, while phantoms and fairies grew wild and crazy, shooting barrages of magical energy. The rain made it more annoying and inconvenient.
“How inconvenient can this get?”, grumbled Erin. “First, there’s imbalance in Equestria and then, this rain had to come”. It just happened that Erin dislikes rain. “I wish it was more sunny…it feels so nice in the sun. What am I saying? I’m a Lunarian! Oh, forget it… almost anyone would like the sun.”
Bump!
Erin turned around. A certain cyan and black striped Pegasus, Lightning Dash, was following her. Lightning Dash was one of Erin’s friends. It just so happened that Lightning had followed her from the beginning. Wings flapping, she greeted her older friend.
“Hey, Erin~”
“I thought I told you to-“, started Erin.
“Hey, I’m not letting you have all the fun!” interrupted Lightning with a flashy grin.
“This is not fun”, replied Erin. “This might be dangerous for you, better go back.”
“C’mon! You might need extra power!” Lightning grinned.
“Ugh. Fine. I’ll let you come, but if you get hurt, or worse, die, on the way, don’t blame me!” Erin gave in.
“That means I get to beat up fairies and p, right?” asked Lightning. Erin silently nodded. “Maybe having Lightning might make it more convenient”, Erin thought as she saw Lightning Dash pommel fairies with her speed and use of lightning. “Guess I’ll keep her…”
“It’s a fine night, isn’t it?” a voice called out.
“Who’s there?” Lightning called back. Out of the shadow of the long, extended and creepy trees, came a youkai girl with bouncy, green hair and turquoise eyes. She smiled as her hair and brown branch-like dress swayed in the chilling wind. The little green vine that entangled her right leg, chimed like a bell and swayed along with her hair and dress.
“Long times no see …” the girl said.
“We just met you know.” Lightning replied, confused why she said that.
“Ah, Lightning, this is Matsuko. She’s a tree spirit, I knew for hundred years.” Erin introduced the Matsuko to the cyan and black striped Pegasus.
“It’s Matsuko Jinmenju. You even forgot my last name?” sighed Matsuko. “So, you’re gonna’ stop the spirits and burst of energy?”
“You knew what we’re gonna’ do?” Lightning asked, surprised. Matsuko smiled serenely.
“I foresaw the whole thing! I can foresee the future. But I suggest you, not to keep going, the person who you’ll meet, is not someone, you can go beat up easily.” Matsuko replied calmly, like the chimes of her vine.
“Whoever that person is, I- I mean – we don’t care how strong that person is! We need to clear up this mess!” A determined Lightning Dash said. Her determination, as fierce as fires, showed deep in her cyan eyes. Erin agreed with the Pegasus and said:
“Lightning is right. We need to clear this incident, no matter how strong this person is. Your warnings are helpful, but in this case…we have to keep going.”
BGM: “Primrose Shiver”
“I can see the fire in both of you…but is it enough to challenge who you’ll see? If you want to keep going, then let’s see if you’re of worthy challenge!” Matsuko raised her hands up, glowing with earthly magic. The trees rustled. It seemed that the trees around her, would also aid her in this fight. Lightning grinned. The Pegasus was ready to tackle against the magic of the earthly tree spirit. Erin narrowed her eyes and waited in anticipation.
Wooosh!
Two lasers formed at her hands and intersected each other, creating a storm of leaf-shaped magic balls that moved semi-randomly. The Lunarian and Pegasus dodged swiftly. Lightning dashed the bullets and gathered clouds. Summoning a lightning, she threw small but painful glowing lightning at Matsuko.
Fizz!
The lightning grazed Matsuko. Gathering the roots of the trees surrounding all of them, she extended them and turned them into magic. The magic spiraled around Lightning and Matsuko…had seemed to have forgotten Erin. Taking advantage of this, Erin came behind the translucent tree spirit.
“So, you even forgot I was here in the first place?” Erin said, amused.
BOOM!
The earthly magic disappeared, the roots were torn to pieces and all that was in the middle of the air, was Matsuko, coughing in the midst of the smoke surrounding her.
“Cough! You beat me up really bad!” Matsuko whined.
“Sorry, I had to.” Erin replied. Lightning smirked.
“Thanks for helping me, I was starting to get tired of fighting a…weak tree spirit.” the Pegasus smirked some more and cleaned her clothes of the debris, left from their tiny fight.
“I’m not weak! Whatever, since you won, you see that dot over there?” Matsuko pointed far across the trees, to a tiny dot that was visible, thanks to the moon.
“It looks like a crow…” Lightning squinted her eyes, trying to see what the dot actually was.
“It’s not what you think it is, go there. That’ll lead ya’ to where ya’ need to go”, Matsuko said, regenerating with the help of her magic. “I need to warn ya’ though, on your way there, you’ll meet fearsome youkai. So, better be careful!”
“Thanks a lot, Matsuko”, Erin thanked her. “You really made this a bit easier. C’mon, let’s go.” She nodded at the cyan and black haired Pegasus and off they went, deep into the forest, until they could no longer be seen. The only person left was Matsuko, standing there alone with only the trees and the chiming sound of the wind, to keep her company.
“Ah~, yes, I can foresee it all…don’t worry Matsuko. They’ll be okay.” the tree spirit told herself. Any obstacle can be overcome after all…
