Once, long ago, the two Empresses lived together. Sisters, their love for each other kept them strong, and they ruled the land of Umato with wise hooves. The eldest, born of the golden sun, guided its burning path across the sky, and ponies worked, played and lived in it's light. The younger, born of the silver moon, stood proudly beside her as she ushered in the night, until one day she looked down upon the land, bathed in moonlight, and saw that their subjects feared and loathed the embrace of darkness.
One-hundred years ago, the Empress of the Moon stole away the sun's radiance and struck out at her elder in a jealous rage. The battle was brief but decisive, and the Empress of the Sun barely escaped with her life from the demonic rage that had overtaken her sister. Ever since, the newly-anointed Shogun of Nightmare ruled alone, and the provinces buckled, froze and cracked under her iron hoof. Nopony knows where the eldest sister hid, or what she was doing, only that the ruddy, dim glow of her sun would grace the horizon once a day and drive back the cold and the demons for a single hour. None had seen either royal for many years.
Save the Lords of the Long Night, loyal servants to the Shogun will…
And a single unicorn pony and her baby dragon...
***
Twilight Sparkle trotted along the cold mud of the street, trailing her Earth Pony victim as she wound her way along between the sake shops. A samurai of the Moon's Hoof she might be, but she was just a susceptible to the vices of alcohol and stallions as any peasant. Perhaps moreso, Twilight was tempted to think. The power of the silver crest on her kosode went right to her head.
The samurai stumbled and pushed her way to another counter, seating herself and calling loudly for a cup. She never noticed the violet unicorn sit right beside her.
"Hey! I'm… I'm talkin' t' you, mister! You better learn how to serve a noble faster than that!"
"I'm sorry, mi'lady." The harried pegasus behind the counter bowed, neatly dropping a drink off of his wing. "Please, have your first cup on the house."
"Damn right! I'm amazed I even brought myself down to a shit-hole like this!" The inebriated mare downed the cup of sake and giving a satisfied sigh.
"You would think…" Twilight said conversationally, "that the noble samurai would want to set a better example for their subjects than drunkenly yelling at the owner of the best sake shop in Ponyville."
Said owner's eyes widened, and he scurried away before the inevitable bloodshed began. The samurai, however, was distracted but the sudden and uncomfortable feeling of her own wakizashi short-sword pressing against the inside of her foreleg. "Wha-? H-how dare you. Nopony with honor would taint a samurai's sword with magic!"
"I have no honor, and I want the letter in the right-front folds of your kimono. And you purse, while you're at it." Twilight said pleasantly, keeping the levitating blade steady as she idly looked down the counter for the owner. She hoped the pegasus was not going to call an alarm.
"Thief…" hissed the samurai, but slowly began to reach for the small roll of paper Twilight had seen go in there this morning.
"Just drop it on the floor, and feel free to-"
"THERE SHE IS!"
Oh, so he did sound the alarm. Twilight increased the pressure of the wakizashi against her victims leg slightly, leaning back to look. Four of the magistrate's samurai where charging down the street, and other samurai where turning to look. They caught sight of her instantly.
"Ha!" Twilight's hostage stamped her hoof down on the grip of the floating blade, pinning it to the floor and drawing her long katana like lightning as the letter fell to the ground. She felt several hairs of her mane part ways as she ducked, pirouetted on her foreleg, and slammed both iron-clad rear hooves into the samurai's chest. The drunken swordsmare went crashing through the counter in a pile of splinters. A black eggshell filled with a mixture of ashes, pepper and explosives came out of Twilight's saddlebags, dropping into the mud as she turned and fled, fuse sizzling.
A sharp bang and cries of pain and anger signaled that the bomb had done its work as the unicorn galloped ahead, shifting agilely through the crowds before suddenly skidding to a halt, turning and casting a spell. The magistrate's ponies came charging down the street, many if them with red-rimmed eyes and running noses. Twilight shied out of the way, her illusion making her look just like the pegasus barkeep that had ratted her out moments ago.
She walked calmly away as they passed, screaming battle cries, then stepped under an awning and began scanning the street for observers as she undid her magic, nopony the wiser. Flicking her tail, she spoke to the empty air.
"Did you get it, Kasui-kun?"
"Of course I did, Twilight! I'm your number-one agent." Came the indignant reply from the edge of the roof directly overhead. The head of a slim green-and-purple dragon poked over the edge and dropped the roll of paper they had been after. "I also got her purse, that ugly samurai stallion's purse, and dinner. What'd'ya say we bail and go get mochi?"
"Later, I promise." Twilight said, grateful for the young dragon's help and well-aware of his sweet tooth. The letter contained valuable information on the local magistrate's shipments of lantern-oil out of the province, but not nearly as useful as Twilight had hoped. She used her Telekinesis to tear it to bits and scatter it in the mud, then trotted down the alleyway, Kasui scampering along the rooftops above like a fire-breathing, scaly cat. She opened the sack where she kept her gear and quickly slipped it on, tucking away countless weapons and tools in hidden harnesses under the nondescript kimono and saddlebags. Kasui leapt down and landed on her back.
"Are we going to see Lady Celestia?" He asked.
"Yup. I haven't been overdue yet, I will not start now." Twilight stated, igniting her horn.
In a flash of smoke and magenta light, they where gone. The purple unicorn did not even leave hoofprints.
***
"Where is she?" Kasui asked aloud as they entered the shrine. "She normally would have met us at the gateway."
"We are early…" Twilight suggested halfheartedly.
Her dragon companion snorted. "Like she doesn't always know when you're coming. When anypony is coming."
Twilight didn't answer, lettering her eyes slide across everything and reaching out with her senses. "Stay alert."
The shrine was nestled in a forested valley, hidden from all view until one approached within a few feet of the gate. There was no magic hiding it, just careful gardening of the surrounding vegetation and skillfully-placed rocks.
Once past the archway-gate that marked the entrance, it was like stepping into another world. White lacquer and brilliantly-polished mirrors brought so much light to the area that it nearly was painful after the long dark of the outside world, and a winding path of small river-stones made their way up the valley to where the small temple the Empress Celestia lived… and hid. She could observe nearly everything with her magic from there, and once a day would try, in vain, to raise the sun above the horizon. Every day it was forced back down, but Twilight had always respected her mentor's discipline in the attempt.
Today, though, no elegant Mare of the Sun waited for her, to walk up the valley with her and share her wisdom.
The unicorn kunoichi walked carefully up the patch, iron horseshoes tapping softly across the stone. Kasui sat on her back, head on a constant swivel for every angle an attack could come from. They reached the door of the temple, keen on the silence pervading the area.
"What happened, Twilight? What went wrong?" Kasui asked, huddling low against her cloak.
Twilight opened her mouth to answer when the door was pulled violently open, framing a samurai archer with a fully drawn umi bow, longer than she was tall. The Earth Pony loosed its' spear-like arrow, and Twilight dove backwards, bringing her rear hoof up to kick the tip of the arrowhead as it flew to skewer her, deflecting the shaft overhead. She landed, floating out two six-pointed iron shuriken from under her saddle.
She was just as accurate as the samurai, but the archer did not have Twilight's reflexes or training. She fell backwards with a gurgle as the shuriken embedded themselves in her neck and chest. With a shout two more samurai, both with their long katana drawn, charged out.
"I think what went wrong is that our little sanctuary has been discovered." Twilight said dryly, floating out more of her magic-stars. She launched them in a rapid flurry at the closest opponent, who dodged the first and swatted away the rest with his blade. Kasui wisely leapt clear of her back as the samurai charged. The first reached her, katana flashing through the air, and sliced through Twilight's empty kimono.
Twilight cartwheeled backwards, abandoned robe fluttering to the ground in tatters as a pair of short, straight ninjato flew out from previously hidden sheaths in her magical grip. She spun them through a complicated pattern as both samurai attacked, locking all four blades together in a single point as they swung.
"How did you find this place?" Twilight growled, straining her horn's magic against the two Earth Pony's massive strength. They broke off, one tossing his sword and catching the hilt with the braided loop at the end of his tail to whip it toward her. Twilight swatted it aside.
"Heh heh heh..." The samurai mare chuckled evilly. "We found you, rebel scum, because non can oppose the shogun! Well..." She looked around at the shrine built in the valley. "Not forever, anyway."
Twilight let her swords float a little lower, baiting a opening. "So I guess you already killed the Empress of the Sun, then. Which of you did it, huh? You, big guy?"
Both samurai's eyes widened at the taunt, and Twilight got the underlying message: The Sun Empress was here?
"Well. Idiots." Twilight ignited a second layer of magic over her ninjato. She dashed forward, swinging her blades at the stallion, and teleported away in a flash to be above the female instead.
The surprise attack was barely blocked, but Twilight was already vanishing, kicking sand from the path into their faces as she began a three-pronged assault; each ninjato fighting separately as Twilight herself ducked and weaved between them, jabbing with hooves and blasting sparks of magic into the fray. The two samurai fell back, parrying and dodging with ever-increasing panic as Twilight reversed the flow of the fight.
Both of them where equally shocked when the melee suddenly stopped in a flash of violet light and thin smoke. They readied their blades, huffing and puffing.
Twilight dropped out of the sky like a thunderbolt and snapped the stallion's neck.
"The thing is..." Twilight said calmly, standing up straight as the remaining samurai whirled away. "You samurai with your illusions of honor and the way things should be done... you never see it coming when a ninja cheats."
"How dare you..."
"That is the second time I've heard that today." Twilight pointed out. The other mare's eye twitched.
"You can't escape this time, ninja!" She spat around her katana. "You've been found, and Empress Celestia will be found as well. The shogun will finish what she started one-hundred years ago!"
Twilight rolled her eyes, levitating her ninjato higher. "What makes you so certain?"
The samurai did not answer, instead, a smokey purr laughed quietly behind her.
"Because, my little pony," the voice said, punctuated by the sound of a long sword being slid slowly out of it's sheath. "The I do like to inspire confidence in my loyal subjects!"
With an unpleasant stirring in her belly, Twilight turned around.
"Shogun Nightmare..." Aww, poop.
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.
