Kirā-ba

Twilight flipped nimbly through the air away from the smoking crater that the swing of Shogun Nightmare's sword created.

"Come now, I have no intention of killing you. Yet." The Nightmare cackled. "Not while there is some chance that you know where my dear sister is!"

Twilight launched a hurricane of telekinetic knives and shuriken. Her opponent simply turned to smoke, and the cold iron flew on harmlessly. "Joke's on you. She never even told me she was leaving, let alone where!" Twilight taunted, not mentioning that Kasui's task in such a situation would be to find whatever the Empress's last message was. Which was exactly what he had been doing the moment he had escaped the fight.

"Lies!" The Shogun's helmet snapped shut, her icy blue eyes glaring over the snarling mask that covered her muzzle. Twilight stuck out her tongue and cast a spell.

The shockwave that came off of the Shogun's katana would have been devastating had Twilight not just swapped places with a leafy branch, which promptly exploded with dark fire as Twilight herself perched on the roof of the shrine.

"I don't think you want to hear this, but I'm pretty sure Empress Celestia is smarter than you." Twilight called down. "She planned for every contingency, from assault to zealotry. I should know, I had to alphabetize the scrolls."

The Nightmare's laugh was chilling, echoing inside her armor. "Then if the lady of light kept you in the dark, I have no reason to spare you, traitor. Die!"

Twilight eyed the energy gathering on Shogun Nightmare's sword critically, noting Kasui darting out from the secret side entrance of the shrine and into the trees from the corner of her eye. "Oh, no. I insist..."

The blast of energy that came off of the dark alicorn's swing utterly obliterated the shrine, carving a massive gash into the side of the valley. Smoke billowed upwards toward the stars, carrying the Shogun's laughter with it.

With a flicker of psudomotion, Twilight appeared at the Shoguns forehooves, only slightly singed. "... You first!"

She slammed the point of a thick, heavy kunai knife into the Nightmare's breastplate as the mad ruler gasped in shock.

The knife broke through, then twisted, splintered and glowed with shadowy energy. Twilight released her grip a split second before it detonated in a hail of shrapnel, blasting her away as the Shogun remained frozen.

"Not as clever as you thought, unicorn!" The Shogun gave a hiss of pain, running a hoof over the cracked hole gingerly. "Still, I commend you. You actually drew blood, and through my cursed armor."

Twilight heaved herself to her feet, wincing at the many small cuts she had received. The Shogun turned to face her, katana lazily floating alongside the ruler as she walked closer. "My sister always had a way of picking the best out of crowds. The strongest, the most honorable... now the smartest, it seems. Your mastery over the unicorn arts is impressive, but you cannot match those born of the gods!"

"Celestia is stronger than you will ever be!" Twilight huffed, horn flickering with a feeble spark of magic.

"Hmm." The Shogun raised the sword, almost pensive. "Defiant to the end."

The sword slashed down...

And chopped the stick inside the illusion neatly in half, dislodging the small paper note pinned to it with another kunai.

Syanora, sucker!

Long gone!

"Celestia is stronger than you will ever be!" Spat the image again, flickering. The Shogun's eye twitched.

***

Quite some distance away, Twilight launched herself across the rice patty, magic lengthening her strides to cover impossible distances as Kasui clung to her back. She felt the faint pressure on the ether of a massive magical surge even before the light flickered far behind her, and dropped into a roadside ditch, slipping and diving flat into the freezing mud.

A second later, the world lit up in stark radiance as the blast from the Nightmare's unbridled rage crashed over them. There was no sound, only a shock that made the pebbles on the road dance and a invisible winds that bent every tree like a typhoon. A moment later, it faded, and Twilight raised her head. A muted rumble of the earth returning to its natural state was just detectable as Twilight's horn stopped tingling from the magical pressure.

"Jeez, overkill, much?" Kasui noted dryly to Twilight's left, gazing critically at the rising mushroom cloud over where Celestia's Shrine once stood.

"I know, right!?" Said the pony to Twilight's left. "That was like, way to big! I love fireworks and all, but if the debris is still falling after five minuets, you might need to scale it down!"

Twilight gawked at the violently pink individual lying next to them in the ditch. Her mane jingled with bells as she turned to smile at them.

"I mean, really! That too big even it was a prank meant to scare everypony within twenty kilometers!"

"Uh, what are you doing here?" Twilight asked, still incredulous that anypony had managed to get as close as the pink Earth Pony was without noticing. A pink Earth Pony dangling chimes and laden with a very large backpack, on top of that.

The pony coked her head, clearly taking the question very seriously. "What am I doing here, as in the great question about life, destiny and why pegasai can fly on such tiny wings, or what am I doing here, in this ditch?"

"The second one." Kasui clarified helpfully.

"Oh, wow, is that a story!" the pink pony clambered out of the mud, seemingly nonplussed by the sarcastic talking lizard, and helped Twilight up as well. "It all started when I was a little filly-"

Twilight nearly hurt herself slamming her head into her hoof as she realized she was in for a long tale.

***

"-and that's how I earned my cutie mark!" Pinkie Pie bubbled happily, bouncing along beside them. Twilight marched resolutely forward, head down and ears folded in annoyance.

Kasui had fallen asleep on Twilight's back as the next village was rounding into view, the warm light of oil-fires escaping from under their paper hoods. The unicorn had had about the maximum amount of Earth Pony entertainer she could stand, if she even was an entertainer, but Pinkie Pie's nonstop energy made for precious few moments to interrupt.

Thus, Pinkie Pie's sudden silence was cause for both relief and worry. Twilight jerked her head around as she realized it had gotten quiet and she no longer knew where the filly was.

"Gone... ?" Twilight felt an unpleasant stirring in her gut as Kasui grumbled and raised his head.

"Nope!" Pinkie Pie walked around from Twilight's other side. Twilight shrieked in shock, tail puffing out like a bottle brush as she leapt away and launched Kasui into a wilted tree. The Earth Pony did not seem to notice, balancing a small rolled note on her nose as her bells jingled. "Your little buddy dropped this! I went back and got it!"

Celestia's message! Twilight snatched it away in the glow of her magic, terrified something might happen to it, before hesitating and bowing her head to Pinkie. "Thank you. This is very important."

"Ooooooh~! Can I see?"

"No."

Twilight unrolled the paper as a grumbling Kasui lowered himself from his twiggy landing back to the ground. He sprang up onto her back to read along side her.

My dearest disciple,

You have already found that my place of hiding has been compromised. Normally, I would tell you off for staying and fighting, then tell you of our next sanctuary. But not tonight.

Find five ponies you can trust. Take these ponies and face the Nightmare.

Your victory is assured.

~~

"That's her penmanship, all right... " Kasui muttered. Twilight nodded, unnerved by the implications of the letter, flicking her ear and causing a bell to jingle. With a sigh, she turned her head a few degrees to the right to find Pinkie Pie less than an inch away, reading over he shoulder.

"Is the concept of a secret that far beyond you, Earth Pony?"

Pinkie hopped back, bouncing in place. "Nope! I'm the best secret-keeper around in the history of ever!"

"Is that so? Because all of the best secret-keepers I know are buried-"

"Halt!"

Twilight broke off of her threat and turned to look at the squad of soldiers moving toward them, conscripts, with simple gear, led by a captain. She had been so distracted by the Empresses' last order and the obnoxious pink pony that she had failed to hear them coming. She put one a winning smile and bowed, stepping to the side of the road.

"I said halt!" The captain, clearly a samurai, reared and nocked an arrow to his long Umi bow. "You are under arrest."

"B-but why?" Twilight did her best to look hurt. "I haven't done anything!" Except mug a samurai, evade the authorities, cause a civil disturbance, practice illegal magic, harbor a fugitive, disobey commands from the ruling sovereign, and attempt to kill said sovereign. In the last twenty-four hours, at least. Twilight's expression faltered for a moment as the thought amused her. It's been a good night.

"What's so funny?"

Twilight thought the captain was talking to her for a moment, but then Pinkie Pie giggled out loud. "Hee hee! I'd never really thought about it, but ponies look really funny holding a bow!"

"Why you..." Growled the captain, shifting his target. Twilight acted, slipping a shuriken free of her cloak and sending it neatly through the bowstring. The samurai screamed as the taunt bow snapped the string across his hoof and chest and Twilight prepared to get physical with the group.

And then all hell broke loose as Pinkie Pie exploded.

Quite, quite literally exploded.

Riding a wave of smoke and sparks, she rocketed into the middle of the patrol like a living, flaming firework and head-butted the samurai captain in the chest, sending him sailing back down the road, armor smoking heavily. Pinkie Pie flipped in the air and landed on all four hooves, bouncing in place with a giggle, none the worse for wear.

Twilight's mouth hung open. "What?"

"The..." Kasui added.

"SURPRISE!"

Pinkie Pie danced away as one of the quicker-thinking guards swung at her clumsily with his spear, only to have her hop closer and hand him a package with a sparkling fuse. He clearly was not that quick-thinking, because he stared at it in confusion until it burst into a maelstrom of spinning sparklers, sending him staggering. Twilight gathered her magic, teleporting into their midst and catching the pegasus in the back with a solid kick. She turned just in time to see what Pinkie Pie was doing and duck.

*fWEEE!!*

The firework shot overhead and hit a spearmare in the flank, spinning her around before dumping her in the mud and detonating in a hail of blue embers. Twilight spun on her back, taking out another pony's legs before he could swing his club and rising to her hooves, trying to take stock in the chaos. Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was laying about three of the guardsponies with another oversized rocket, using the bamboo stake it launched from as an impromptu quarterstaff. Twilight realized that must have been what was in that oversized backpack as Pinkie spun the pole around her hooves, across her neck, and caught it in her teeth with a grin and swatted one of her assailants across the face. The fuse lit and she tossed it at random into the group, scattering a hoof-full of round paper bomblets in for good measure. The ensuring cacophony made Twilight cover her ears, and she was fairly certain whoever was inside the blast would be blind, deaf and pretty singed for hours.

She's clever. It looks bad, but she's not seriously injuring anyone. A terrifying opponent, and no dead to get revenge for. Twilight considered, casually hoofing a stallion in the jaw as he lunged at her with a knife. That's textbook renegade tactics.

"Twilight!" Kasui bounded over next to her, having drawn the same conclusion. "I think she's a Dawn-fighter!"

Pinkie Pie grinned, stepping away from a spear-charge and tripping the wielder as he went by. She swung her bag off her her shoulders, rearing up to balance it with a hoof. "I'm not a Dawn-fighter!"

With a pull of a string, the cotton wraps fell away, revealing a weapon that made Twilight's ears droop. Pinkie Pie cackled as she swung it around and hopped on top of the solid iron, large-bore Griffistani siege mortar, stuffing a bundle of fireworks down the barrel and pointing it toward the remaining guardsponies. She clicked her hoof across the top, lighting the fuse with the flint attached.

"I am THE Dawn-fighter! Praise the sun, bro!"

Twilight, despite being behind the weapon, felt it prudent to raise a magical shield around herself and Kasui.

It turned out to be a very, very good idea.