The Shogun Six

by Warwolf

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Human, Anthro, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna
Length: 34304

AU. A very different and male version of the Mane Six from a very different Equestria must defeat an ancient evil that threatens their world.

AU. Dusk Shine is the apprentice to the Shogun of Equestria. When an ancient evil threatens to return, Dusk must gather the only thing that can stop it: The Elements of Bushido. Now Dusk begins a quest that will bring him together with five other ponies.

Their journey will bond them together as brothers in arms for the rest of their lives.

Their adventures will make them the stuff of legends....

First in a Saga.

Currently rated Teen. May jump to M if the fic requires in later chapters. Crossposted on Fanfiction.net. While it isn't going to be grimdark, it is marked dark for certain scenes. Will contain a crossover VERY late in the story, so the crossover tag is in place. Human tag is for occasions in this story that feature the ponies in anthro form as well as actual humans who may show up.

Cover artwork....or just artwork in general for the fic, would be greatly appreciated, since I have ZERO skills when it comes to drawing. PM me if interested in providing artwork for the fic. You will get full credit for any artwork provided if used in some way on the fic.

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Recently, I discovered that this fic has gained a listing on TVTropes.org! Not an actual page, but a listing. But could use a bit more love. Maybe someone will expand on it in the future and make it its own page. Keep your fingers crossed. :pinkiehappy:

Published 2012-04-21 16:14:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-12-16 22:14:39 UTC

Dusk Shine

The Shogun Six

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or any characters belonging to Hasbro or any other company mentioned herein. All original characters mentioned here are my own creations. I do this solely for entertainment purposes and in no way make any profit from it.

Chapter One:

Dusk Shine

In the time of Solaris, there were precious few who could be called heroes.
In the time of Lunaris.....there were the Six.

-Blood Jade, Equestrian historian. Known to be descended of one of the Shogun Six.

The Shogun looked up at the night sky and sighed. It had been so long since his elder brother had been corrupted. His ambitions had nearly destroyed Equestria. And eventually he would be free. There could be no question of that. The question in the mind of the Shogun however, was what to do about it once it happened.

He paced his throne room. The guards gave their ruler a wary look. While he'd never given any untoward movement or word towards them in all their years serving him, they knew when he had taken to a bad mood and as such would be somewhat short tempered if provoked just so. Normally this wasn't an issue, but it appeared he was in a particularly sour state of mind at the moment, so they wisely continued to hold their silence.

If only he had listened. If only I hadn't needed to banish him because of his insanity... The Shogun thought to himself. Then shook his head. Such recriminations were foolish now and well beyond the point when he could feel any true right to them. He couldn't wallow in regrets. A clocked announced the hour and he looked up in surprise. Midday already? He frowned. He'd dealt with the majority of morning court business far quicker than usual and actually had much of the the rest of the day to himself, a rare treat. Between his days at the court, his training, and time spent with his prized pupil, free time was a luxury he didn't often encounter. The Shogun smiled.

I have been promising Dusk I would take find extra time to help him with his studies... he thought to himself. Nodding to himself as a grin split his face at the thought of his star pupil, one of the few ponies who could legitimately brighten his mood with surprising ease. He was a joy to teach. One day, he would make a truly fine Samurai warrior.

Dusk Shine, a unicorn pony with green eyes, a dark indigo coat and dark blue mane with a few streaks of bronze in it, was flipping through a few digital pages on the computer screen before him. He had been studying the evolutionary jump that had occurred several thousand years back that had allowed ponies to be able to switch at will between the standard pony form and an anthropomorphic form. He was fascinated by the magical physics behind such a change, and wondered how it was even possible to make such radical changes in physical form without ripping the pony in question apart. Spell creation was one thing. Everypony in Equestria had at least some magic to them. But this was something else altogether. It was an evolutionary change that seemed to take magic and actual biological construction and bind them together in ways he still couldn't wrap his head around. His Warrior Mark, a large silver star with golden points and five golden stars surrounding the larger one, indicated his special talent for magic in and of itself. But even he didn't quite understand this. He was a prodigy with the mystic arts. The Shogun himself had claimed he might be the most powerful pony of his generation and took him as his personal apprentice. He was a terror with Katanas. But this was so far outside his realm of knowledge that he felt like pounding his head into a wall as he kept trying and failing to come up with a working theory on how this was possible. He benefited from this ability as did every pony alive today. But he couldn't figure out how it worked. And it was driving the usually calm and composed scholar up the wall!

"Still on that issue, I see."

The young colt almost leapt right out of his fur as the Shogun had seemingly appeared from nowhere and was looking over his shoulder.

Why is it he can always sneak up on me like that? The unicorn seethed internally. I should be able to sense things like that by now. I can do it with the other teachers in the school and even my classmates! He knew it was hardly a fair comparison. They were normal, mortal ponies while the Shogun was...well, the Shogun. It would be like comparing rocks to water. True he was one of the more advanced students in both the mystic and martial arts, but he was nowhere near as skilled as the Shogun. He bowed once he'd gotten his breathing under control and slowed his heartbeat to something resembling a sane pace.

"Your Majesty." he said with a smile. "I didn't expect to see you for some time."

The Shogun chuckled.

"No, I imagine you didn't. Neither did I, in all fairness. However by happy coincidence, I was able to finish up all of the morning work early and as fate would have it, I had nothing on my schedule for the rest of the day. Since I have, in essence, the day off, perhaps you might like to spend some extra time with me and further your studies aside from the academic ones?"

Dusk's eyes lit up and he nodded vigorously.

"It would be my honor, Shogun!" he replied with a smile that threatened to shatter the muscles in his jaw. "What will we be studying today?"

The Shogun simply chuckled and waved a hoof airily.

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that." he said with a cheeky grin. " Knowing you, I expect you'll have the hang of most of it by day's end. You've proven to be quite the sponge when it comes to knowledge, my student."

Dusk looked away shyly, rubbing the back of his neck at the praise sheepishly.

"Well, I'm not really as much as all that. You just have so much interesting stuff to teach and I want to make sure I don't disappoint you by not getting it as fast as possible."

The Shogun smiled and put a hoof on the colt's shoulder as a father might do with a favored child.

"Understand me, my young apprentice. You have done me more honor just in being so enthusiastic for my teachings than I believe you'll ever understand. I don't expect you to learn everything immediately. I don't expect instant results. You are young and the only way you could disappoint me would be either by ceasing to care about improving yourself, or by working too hard to do so and injuring yourself in the process. I'd sooner see you have to take your time in learning than have it come to you being injured. I would never forgive myself if you came to harm from overexertion or overreaching in an attempt to do more than you are able." The seemingly ageless ruler of Equestria replied. "You have great potential, my student. To burn yourself out so young would be a waste of you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Dusk answered, looking abashed but still eager to please. He tempered it, however. They often had some variation of this discussion seemingly once every few weeks. Sometimes every few days when the indigo coated unicorn got too carried away and nearly hurt himself trying to get something perfected. Luckily, he'd been unhurt on any of those occasions aside from a brief case of exhaustion. After the third time, the Shogun had basically ordered him to practice his magic and fighting only twice a week and had posted guards around the colt twenty four/seven for almost two months to make sure the edict was obeyed. Dusk eventually returned to practicing on a more rigorous schedule, but had yet to truly overextend himself since he was sure the Shogun still had eyes and ears on him in case he went overboard again. "So...what will we be doing today?" he asked again, in a calmer, but no less curious, tone.

"Come with me, child. And find out."

Dusk returned to the room at the palace he lived in, and sank bonelessly into bed, pulling the blankets up magically and let out a tired but accomplished-feeling sigh. It had been a long day and they had continued well into the night after the Shogun had lowered the sun and raised the moon. He marveled at how the Shogun seemed so much more at home during the night. Granted, he was the prince of the night, and had always been. As he dozed off to sleep, he wondered who had trained the Shogun. He may have seemed ageless, but even he had to have been a colt once....

Right?

The Shogun stood as still as stone as he gazed up at the full moon and the brilliant night sky. He considered it one of his better works for the nocturnal canvas. Certainly he felt it was better than the days he supplied to his ponies. He knew they were good. And many ponies considered them beautiful. But they would never truly be a match for his days.

If only things could have been different, brother. If only I had been able to save you... He looked towards the School For Gifted Unicorns and smiled. Maybe I still can, if what I suspect is true.

He'd taken in Dusk Shine only about two years ago. The little colt had been sponsored for a scholarship due to the kindness of an old unicorn who believed the child had great potential. He was very bright for his age and despite his background. Despite a streak of naivety, he was surprisingly street tough. And perhaps in spite of his somewhat anti-social attitude, the colt attracted interest from his tutors like a magnet. He could count on one hand the foals he'd met over the centuries who could claim anything similar and still have fingers to spare.

Nopony knew who Dusk's parents were. Including Dusk himself. He couldn't remember them or how he'd come to be orphaned. But when the Shogun offered to take him in as his personal protégé, he had been excited to the point of hilarity, jumping about and whooping and hollering at his sudden lucky break. He wasn't officially adopted, of course. He was more a ward than a foster son. But there were few things in life the Shogun would not do for Dusk, whom he had begun to consider like a son, and had even been considering offering to adopt the colt formally. It would make him a prince of the realm, and he doubted Dusk Shine would turn it down simply because he knew how much the unicorn wanted to be part of a family, since he'd never known the one he was born to. He also knew that unlike his niece, who had all the signs about her that she would become a spoiled brat of a Daimyo as she grew, being only a minor princess now, Dusk would be almost entirely unlikely to abuse his position as a prince, adopted or otherwise.

The Shogun was convinced the only abuse of authority that might come from Dusk would be him commandeering the library for himself and be damned anyone who got in between him and anything with a printed word. He snickered at this thought and grinned.

It was a grin that slowly began to fade as his mind went back over some of the things he'd begun to see in the colt in the last few months. Something he never believed he would see, touch, or feel again. If he was right, it meant a great number of things. Things he wasn't sure he wanted to think about.

Not the least of which was the possibility that the colt he was beginning to see as his own son had a destiny that was greater than simply being an heir to the throne. A destiny that might one day claim his very life. He didn't like to think of that. But he had little choice. He knew, from painful experience, that no matter how hard one tries.....well, he'd heard it said once that when the call to greatness goes out, you can never avoid it. Because the call knows where you live.

Three months later

The Shogun couldn't deny it any longer. What he was sensing from Dusk Shine was no accident. He would have to make a decision, and soon. He could sense the rumblings within the sun. While they were faint at the moment, they would grow stronger. They would be needed again. But he could no longer use them. But there were those who did have the capacity for it. He was sure of it. One of whom was his own ward. As to the others, he had little clue at the moment. But he was sure he would in time.

He just hated what this would have to mean.

One year later

"Y-You...want me to leave the palace?" The young colt choked, tears already building in his eyes. "You're sending me away? Why?! What did I do? It's not fair! I've always done my best, haven't I?"

The Shogun winced at the hurt look on his ward's face. He no doubt saw this as a betrayal by the only father figure he'd ever really known. He decided he would have to impart at least some of the truth, or he'd never forgive himself to having to cause his ward...no, in many ways Dusk was his son in all but legality now he admitted to himself...such pain.

"Dusk...I wouldn't ask this of you if I had any other choice. I consider you family. The son I never had. I wouldn't do this if I could avoid it." The Shogun said, folding the colt in a firm hug, before holding him out at arm's length. "I wish there was some other way. I detest the idea of exposing you to the dangers I need you to face now at this age. But this is something you must do. I'm not banishing you, my student. I am not sending you away in the way that you think. I am asking you to go on a quest for me."

Dusk looked up sharply at his mentor. The Shogun had never lied to him in all the years they'd known each other. But he'd kept things secret from him at times. Usually for good reason. It had sometimes caused strife between the two when the Shogun had to put matters of state before his relationship with the young pony, and everytime something had blown up in their faces, Dusk had always blamed himself. But now...now his Shogun....his father in all but name....was banishing him. There was no other way around it. He must have done something so awful that the Shogun didn't want him anymore. This quest must have been the pretext on which he would get rid of him. But even a lie was better than the naked truth in front of him. He sniffled a bit and rubbed his eyes to clear them of tears.

"A-a quest?" The colt asked. The Shogun nodded.

"That's right. You know that I have several powers at my disposal, right?" he asked. Dusk nodded. "I have felt a great danger coming to Equestria, Dusk Shine. A danger I cannot defeat. It is far beyond my power." He smiled and raised a hoof to stop his son's protest. "I am powerful, my dear child. But I am not invincible. It is beyond my power to defeat this danger. It is not my destiny to do so this time." He looked the indigo unicorn dead in his deep set green eyes. "This time, the hope of Equestria falls on your shoulders."

Dusk gaped at him. For a lie, this was pretty farfetched.

"But...what can I do?" he asked.

The Shogun gave him a sad smile. "You must venture out into Equestria, my brave little Samurai. Within you is a power lost for over a millennium. It is part of a far greater power, one that now stands divided between six ponies, who must come together if we are all to survive." He chuckled. "Do you remember the story I sometimes told you before you went to bed at night?"

Dusk gave the Shogun a piercing look. He did remember the story his surrogate father was hinting at. It had been— indeed still was— one of his favorites. "The downfall of Anarchy Helios?"

The Shogun nodded. "That's the one. Do you remember how I defeated him?"

Dusk nodded. He was about to ask what that had to do with anything until it hit him like a bullet train between the eyes.

"You don't mean—?"

Again the Shogun nodded. "They have chosen their wielders, my child. You must find the other five. Once you do, they will gain a physical form once more that the six of you can utilize. Together, you will defend this land, as its new guardians."

"But....which one am I?" Dusk asked, not feeling particularly confident, but at the same time almost hoping against hope that this was real. That the Shogun really intended for him to go on an actual quest that would help protect his home. But the Shogun merely shook his head.

"I can't tell you that right now, Dusk. It's something you'll need to learn on your own, or else it might make you reckless. Remember my brave child, Bushido teaches us that there is a fine line between courage and recklessness. Cross it, and you might never find your way back." The Shogun replied. Then got to his feet, as did Dusk. "Come. I'll help you pack for your journey. I will expect you to keep in contact. I want you home as soon as possible, but in the meantime, I will equip you with the means to stay in touch."

The two made their way towards Dusk's room. Each hoping that it wouldn't be the last time Dusk would ever see it, or the palace and imperial capital, again.

Dusk slept, his gear prepared and ready for his journey, which would begin the next morning. The Shogun ran a hoof through the colt's mane fondly. He wondered how long it would take. How many years would go by before he would see the colt he viewed as his son in all but name and blood again? He pulled the blankets tighter over the colt and then left the room, heading to the roof of the uppermost tower of the Imperial Palace. The sun was still in the sky, slowly setting as the Shogun's magic guided it down, causing it to seem as though it had turned blood red. He imagined he could see its prisoner glaring back at him.

"Damn you Solaris...." The Shogun rumbled. "My son could get killed out there, and it's your fault. Why couldn't you have listened to reason?!" He snarled at the sun, stamping a hoof against the tile of the roof.

His elder brother's fall from grace still horrified him to this day. He never was able to figure out what instigated it. But he knew something had caused it. He'd nearly trapped all of Equestria beneath the sun for eternity. Ultimately he would have destroyed their subjects with the everlasting day. Only the Elements of Bushido, the six components of the physical power of the Warrior's Code, had defeated Solaris. Or as he had come to call himself, Anarchy Helios. Now the Elements, long since missing, had resurfaced. He felt one of them had become part of Dusk Shine. It was the only reason he'd have suggested this madness at such a young age. Dusk was often bookish despite his skill with weaponry and the martial arts. As a result, he had very few ponies that called him friend. But now he was going to have to pull up roots and go on a search that might take years to accomplish.

The Shogun wasn't sure Equestria had years to spare.

Pulling off his ceremonial Shogun headgear, he allowed it to fall. His mane, semitransparent and looking like the night come alive at sharp and wild angles was flowing in a nonexistent breeze towards his back. Lunaris, Shogun of Equestria stared hard into the sun, his horn glowing with light almost as black as his fur before flaring his wings and rearing up on his back legs.

"So help me, big brother, if my son dies trying to save Equestria from the madness you would bring down upon us again, I will see you dead, whatever it takes!"

He shuddered as the wind blew over him. He could swear he could hear Helios mocking him from his prison in the sun.

'We shall see, little brother.' The phantom voice on the wind seemed to be saying. 'We shall see.'

Author's note: This is an AU, as you might have guessed from the AU tag. Dusk Shine is a counterpart to Twilight Sparkle, and while he may have some things in common with her, he is also his own pony, as will be other characters you're going to meet here. This Equestria is very different from canon, but is still set in around the same general time period. However because it is in fact an AU, be aware that a great deal transpired differently in the past of this Equestria, which is much different from canon both in the past and present day of this story. A good example is the existence of high tech machinary here as already seen. Further, Dusk is maybe a year or two older than the canon mane six in their flashbacks from Cutie Mark Chronicles (with the possible exception of Fluttershy's analogue, who will pop up later.) as of this chapter. This is deliberate and I'll speak more on that matter in the next chapter. Hope you enjoy the ride, cause it's gonna be a weird one! Any decent questions regarding the fic will be answered by author's notes at the end of each successive chapter on Fanfiction.net or in the comments on fimfiction.net, assuming I find any of the questions worthwhile and/or pertaining to this story.

Constructive criticism is welcomed.

Flames will be used to broil Solaris in the heart of the Sun.

Travelers

The Shogun Six

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or any characters belonging to Hasbro or any other company whose characters may be mentioned herein. All original characters mentioned here are my own creations. I do this solely for entertainment purposes and in no way make any profit from it.

Chapter Three:

Travelers

True to his word, Flash had managed to buff out the knicks in Dusk's Katana in only a short while. While nowhere yet as skilled as his father, or so he claimed, Dusk noted the other unicorn was a deft touch with the skills all artificers needed to be successful.

"So, Flash, have your family always been artificers?" Dusk asked, his curiosity getting the better of him, hoping that the other colt was open to discussion while working. Luck, it seemed was on his side, for Flash snickered in utter amusement at this.

"Hardly. My mother is so utterly against father and I being artificers. She used to be a minor noble on the outlands near the border." he replied. "That was before I was born and well before my parents met, mind you. We do good work and we live comfortably. But she still misses the glory days."

"You're a prince?" Dusk just about swallowed his tongue at the idea that he was being that casual with royalty.

Flash snorted this time, sounding annoyed. "By the Shogun, no. Mother was a part of the nobility, but only in the loosest sense. She was something like a daimyo's daughter or something. I suppose that does technically mean she had the title of princess, though. She has no blood tie to the Shogun. That I'm aware of, at any rate. So she was part of the extended nobility, not the direct bloodlines."

Dusk let out a sigh of relief at that.

"Sorry." he said. "For a minute there I was worried if I should have been bowing or not."

At this Flash actually laughed.

"I'm glad you aren't. Mother may still see herself as a noble, but I'm happy just being a Samurai in training like yourself. The Samurai are extended nobility in their own right and I've always dreamed of being able to serve Equestria on the front lines. Much like yourself I imagine, seeing as you've been given such a wonder as this by the Shogun himself." The silver-white unicorn stopped short at that for a moment. "On the subject, my new found friend, why exactly are you out here if you're the apprentice—or at least used to be the apprentice— to the Shogun himself? What could possibly have sent you out of the capital?"

Dusk shook his head, giving Flash only a snapshot version of the truth. He was on a quest for the Shogun, but he didn't have the slightest clue as to how in Equestria he was going to accomplish it since he wasn't even sure what he was supposed to look for. He was sure that if he mentioned the Elements of Bushido that Flash would think the Shogun had just wanted to get rid of Dusk, and that thought had been nagging him all too much in the last day or so since he'd had to pack up and leave the only real home he'd ever had and leave behind the closest thing to family he'd ever known.

"A quest, hm? Did he say you had to go it alone?" Flash asked as he handed back the Katana to test its weight and heft. He wanted to be sure that his work wasn't affecting the weapon's balance or alter Dusk's physical sense of the weapon, as it could be dangerous if that were to happen in the midst of a future fight. Dusk looked up in surprise. "Oh don't look so shocked. I'm aware that some quests must be undertaken by individuals, but its highly unusual to see a Samurai so young be sent on one, so I was curious, that's all."

Dusk gave this some thought. Since he was supposed to find the others who were incarnates of the Elements of Bushido, that was in essence an order that could mean he was supposed to travel with others. It wasn't like he couldn't use the company, and there were supposed to be five others. He smiled and shook his head as he handed the weapon back to Flash to finish his work, sensing no negative impact on the weapon.

"He didn't say I had to go it alone." Dusk said after some consideration. "The problem would be finding anyone interested in joining in on such a quest since there's no telling how long it would last or even where I'd have to go to complete it." He shrugged. "I get the feeling this isn't going to be some three day trip or something. It could be years before I've finished the task he set out for me."

Flash nodded, giving that some thought. Eventually, he handed the Katana back to Dusk, who shifted into anthro form to examine the weapon again. True to his word, the few knicks in the blade were gone, and the thing looked like it was brand new. He had to give Flash credit. The other unicorn certainly knew his trade, and he suspected he might be being a bit overly modest about his actual skill. He paid Flash the five bits he'd charged, adding in another five as a tip, which Flash had smiled in response to, and sheathed the blade.

"Thanks again for your help." Dusk said with a grin as he changed back to full pony form. "I hope we'll run into one another again sometime. I'll put in a good word for you and your father with the Shogun, when and if I ever get back."

Flash's smile was grateful but he waved it off.

"No worries, Dusk. It was a pleasure to work on such a phenomenal blade. And the free advertising is more than appreciated."

The two parted ways and Dusk headed out into town once more. He noticed that the bandits he'd taken down earlier were finally getting help as well as being arrested. He wondered how anyone had known they'd tried to mug him. Then he shrugged as he heard the charges being levied against them. He had apparently not been the first pony they'd tried to accost today by the sound of it. He was just the only one to successfully prevent them from making off with his possessions. He walked on, wondering what to do next. Checking his watch briefly, he noticed it was getting onto mid-afternoon. Realizing he would need to find a place to sleep for the night, he quickly found and rented a room. It had been difficult at first. Being still just a colt, the manager had been reluctant to rent to him, even if he was a Samurai-in-training. It took him revealing that he was an orphan who had been taken in by the Shogun's school before he was given lodgings for the night. He felt a little bad about not revealing the entire truth— after all, the Shogun had taken him in and made him his ward as well as his apprentice, practically adopted him in all but fact— but didn't think this was the proper time to invoke the Shogun's name. It hadn't come down to an emergency, otherwise he might have explained just who he really was. If worst came to worst he could have simply set up camp somewhere in one of the parks. Between his time on the streets and his training at the school and with the Shogun, he was no stranger to making do with far less than most ponies took for granted.

He slept fitfully that night. His dreams were filled with terror and fear. His dreams bounced from one horror to the next....

The sun bore down upon Equestria with all the hate and fury of a monster. A demonic eye that never blinked, and slowly crushed all beneath its heat and oppressive gaze. Trees and crops withered under the unending heat, ponies stretched themselves to the breaking point to find shade, only to watch as firey monstrosities would destroy their sources of reprieve. From a high tower nearly a mile high, a laugh that could only be called evil rang across the land of Equestria. A laugh that belonged to a force he couldn't see or identify. In the mountain ranges of Scottsdale, what was left of the moon lay shattered along their length. Ponies labored in chains, many being worked to exhaustion, and then far past that point.

In what was once the fertile plains known as appaloosa, the desert had taken hold. Many pony corpses littered the grounds, the heat proving too much for the once hardy settlers who had tamed the forestry there.....

In what was once imperial capital.....The dessicated corpse of the shogun hung, a pike driven up through the back of his neck and out his skull, making it seem as though he had two horns. His lifeless eyes spoke of loss and horror, and of a great failure. The failure.

Dusk's failure.

Dusk himself was chained to the base of the pike. Never allowed to die, but forced to be incapable of leaving his surrogate father's side for the rest of eternity. Forced to live forever with the price of his failure.....

Dusk woke in a cold sweat as dawn neared, unable to stand any of the further horrors he saw after that vision. It took him nearly ten minutes to get his breathing under control again. He turned to look out the window as the sun began to crest the horizon.

I won't fail. I won't let that come to pass!

So resolved, he got up, and after a quick shower, gathered his things, checked out, and started on his quest with renewed vigor. That had been more than a dream, he realized. It was at the same time what he needed most— validation that the Shogun had indeed sent him on a genuine quest instead of simply trying to find a nice way to get rid of him— and a message from a possible future as to what awaited him if he failed.

Setting out, he tried to figure out how to accomplish his goal. He knew so little about how one would go about finding one of the Incarnates. The Shogun had more or less told him he was one of t he Incarnates of the Elements of Bushido. But he had no clue how to find the others. Would they find him? Would they perhaps not even have chosen their hosts yet? There were so many variables.

"We meet again!" called a voice from Dusk's right, and he turned to see Flash cantering his way. The artificer had been very easy to get along with the previous day. He had a naginata strapped along his back at an angle for quick draw if necessary.

"So it seems. What brings you out of the forge today, Flash?" The indigo unicorn asked with a grin as the silver-white unicorn finally caught up to him. Since it seemed both were heading the same way, they walked together.

"Out getting some supplies. I have rather a talent at finding gems. And seeing as my father and I are artificers who work with various materials, including Metagem weaponry...." he trailed off meaningfully, but the pride in his eyes was apparent.

"You're the perfect choice to go scouting for materials when supplies run low instead of spending money on things you can actually go out and acquire yourself for free." Dusk finished, and Flash gave a quick, sage little nod. "Mind some company? I'm still not sure how to go about fulfilling my quest for the Shogun, and I could use another pony to bounce ideas off of."

"My pleasure. I'm no slouch at defending myself and all when I go out there to find gems— Shogun above knows the Diamond Dogs are incessant, but I've never had much trouble in the past— but an extra body would be helpful in keeping them from trying anything too risky. They still fear the Shogun and their fully canine cousins and even the other races on our fair planet. But if they think they have a shot..."

"Fair enough." Dusk said with a smile.

The pair walked along, picking up a pair of carts for gems when they reached the town borders, and headed out into the outlands. It was a more rocky, semi-mountainous area outside the city, though the bullet train made it possible to go between cities in minutes, but few wanted to try to upset the balance of nature too much in this part of Equestria for reasons Flash tried to explain, but which Dusk wasn't entirely sure he understood. But he listened anyway, and the two chatted for some time as they went to work collecting gems. Flash, despite being trained differently than him in terms of his combat style, was by no means disagreeable. He wasn't anypony that Dusk himself wanted to be, but he wasn't someone Dusk would make a point to go out of his way to avoid. He made a mental note to visit the artificer when he had the chance once his mission was over. He was friendly and open, and while he had a distinct love of his work such that he often started to briefly go off on a tangent about it before realizing Dusk would have had no idea what he was going on about, he was good company otherwise. Besides, Dusk had so few friends at this point in his life, that he would be more than glad to have one more to call on when opportunity provided the chance.

"So, Dusk, a question occurs. You said you weren't sure how to go about fulfilling your quest, right?" Flash asked after a brief but companionable silence in which they'd done little more than collect gems of various types and sizes and shapes.

"So far I have no real clue. I'm not even sure how to find what I'm looking for. Or even if I'd know it when I saw it." Dusk replied with a nod and a helpless shrug of his shoulders. They were still in pony form since their horns were a better means of extraction than their hands at the moment.

Flash nodded, and was lost in thought for a moment before speaking.

"Would you like some company for the trip? At least for a little while?"

"Pardon?" The question hadn't been one Dusk was expecting.

"When an artificer comes to the end of their apprenticeship, they are required to go on a journey, to find themselves, and to craft a weapon solely their own. One that will become like an extension of themselves in battle. It's the final trial for an artificer. I'm coming close to the end of my apprenticeship. In fact, it ends in about two days time. While I am required to make the weapon myself, the rules of the apprenticeship among artificers don't say that the journey has to be made alone, and several others have had friends to travel with. Usually fellow Samurai in training, such as yourself. You're on a quest, and I'm about to undertake my final trial...I don't have many friends who haven't already gone off to train at one school or another, be it in the civilian or martial fields. And you look like you could use a friend. I get the feeling you were something of a shut-in when studying under the Shogun. A friendly face on a trip like yours would do you some good, I think." Flash explained with a chuckle.

Dusk gave it some thought as they walked their way back into the city, and with some coaxing, joined Flash for lunch, where he met the other unicorn's father, Flare Burst.

"Dad, this is my new friend Dusk Shine. He's the one I told you about from yesterday." the silver-white colt said by way of introduction. Flare Burst looked a bit surprised at Dusk, but then broke out into a light laugh.

"So this is the one with the metagem blade that you were drooling over, eh?" He looked the young indigo unicorn over. "He definitely has the build of someone trained to be a Samurai." Flare eyed the Katana sheath. "If it's not much of an imposition, could I see the blade? Flash here was going on about it for the better part of dinner last night."

Seeing little reason to deny the elder unicorn, Dusk pulled the weapon free and allowed Flare to take the weapon in hand as he shifted to anthro form, looking it over with great interest. He studied the weapon from nearly all angles, before handing it back to Dusk, though he looked sad at having to do so.

"That weapon is a miracle of metagem-craft, child. The Shogun must think very highly of you to make such a valuable weapon a gift to one so young."

"Yes sir." Dusk said, smiling bashfully. "I've been his apprentice for years. I'd still be at the Palace now if he didn't need me to do something outside the Imperial Capital."

Flare Burst nodded. The trio chatted amicably for a bit longer, and then the elder artificer went back into the forge, while Dusk offered to give the younger unicorn a hand with his chores outside of it. As the sun came to slowly set on the horizon, they were joined by Flash's mother, High Aspirations. She had been surprised to learn that the Shogun's apprentice was wandering about on his own, but she seemed gracious enough. Though she asked after the events at court so much that Dusk was beginning to see just what Flash had meant when he'd mentioned that she had been a daimyo's daughter. He wondered when she had lost her seat of power though. While Daimyo were occasionally unseated and replaced, either by election or by the edict of the Shogun, it was rare in the extreme. It was usually a lifelong— and hereditary— posting. He answered her questions as best he could, and was surprised when Flare Burst offered to put him up for the night. Since he hadn't thought to book a few days at the inn beyond the one, he humbly accepted.

The family put him up for the night in a spare bedroom, and he eventually got around to making use of it after a sparring match with Flash. Who as it turned out, was very good with that naginata of his. They'd spent the better part of two hours sparring and then doing some joint training in both pony and anthro forms. The next day had found Dusk giving some serious thought to Flash's offer to accompany him on his quest. Though he knew this meant he would have to explain to Flash just what he was sent to find. He hoped that the other unicorn wouldn't change his mind once he found out.

Dusk was of no real use in a Forge, so he helped Flash out again when he was sent to procure some more materials that would go into the construction of various weapons. This trip took them around the city a bit. By sheer chance, they found themselves running into a pair of Earth ponies whose attention was immediately caught by Dusk.

"Well, well. The mountain comes to Mohammed." One of them said. He was a roan colored pony with a brass knuckle for a warrior mark. "You put two of our buds in the slammer and laid them up in the hospital on top of it, kid. We ain't happy about that. No sir, we ain't happy about that at all."

"As I understand it, those dimwits got themselves in over their heads again." Flash said. "What is this, the twelfth time this year they've been arrested?" Dusk looked over at him in surprise. He'd had no idea his attackers from a few days before had a record. Let alone that this was something they were known for. He wondered why they kept trying to be criminals if they were so apparently horrendous at it. The Earth ponies were not amused as the one with the brass knuckle warrior mark snorted through his nose and the two charged, transforming to their anthromorphic forms as they did.

It was clear that like the Pegasi, these ponies were basically thugs whose skill in combat came from being on the streets but lacking any extensive formal training. In that regard, Dusk and Flash, who transformed as well to meet them with a pair of overhead judo-style flips, had them beat. But they hadn't beaten them just yet. The two Earth ponies charged them again, and again they were dealt with by a simple use of leverage. This second attempt and failure forced them to rethink their strategy. They came in slower, each pulling out a sickle apiece. In response, Dusk drew the katana he'd gotten from the Shogun, while Flash pulled his naginata free to stand at the ready.

The two pairs of fighters stared one another down, each wanting the other to make the first move. Eventually, it was the thugs who moved first, attacking in tandem. Dusk paired off with one and Flash with the other, and the four of them went at it, blades clashing, even as Dusk and Flash began using their unicorn magic to levitate objects and use them to distract and harry the Earth ponies. Luckily for the young samurai, their foes weren't trained in any of the non-unicorn magical disciplines, so they had the edge there. But they were still colts, while these Earth ponies were not and this was the only real way to offset their strength advantage. Flash, using the greater reach his naginata afforded him, was able to keep his opponent further afield from him. Dusk on the other hand, had little choice but to get up close and personal. Only the fact that he'd had formal combat training kept him from being pretty soundly trounced by the older and bigger pony despite his lack of magic or formal training. And it became a near thing only a few moments later.

Flash had just managed to maneuver his own opponent into a position to knock himself out by running headlong into a nearby wall with great force. He turned to see Dusk contending with the other one and holding his own at the very least, when he tripped on a loose piece of pavement and went down in a heap. He didn't seem hurt, but that wasn't going to hold true for long if the thug with the sickle and brass knuckle warrior mark had his way. He was on Dusk in a moment, blade at his throat.

"Say goodbye, kid." The brass knuckle marked pony said. He had an amused and smug look on his face. One Dusk hated to admit probably had good reason to be there. He'd been stupid enough to fall because he hadn't paid better attention to his surroundings. Just as he was wondering how best to apologize to the Shogun for his failure if he ever got permission from the rulers of the afterlife to speak to his surrogate father again, a body was flung at the pony above him, which turned out to be his own companion. Flash was moving in the blink of an eye right behind the unconscious body that now left Dusk's adversary supine on the ground. His naginata blade was pointed squarely at the underside of the snout, where neck met jawbone.

"I think it might be best, my friend, if you forget you ever saw us, hmm? I'd prefer not to shed your blood here, but I can't have you endangering the life of a friend of mine, now can I?" the silver-white unicorn said. The Earth pony set his jaw mulishly, looking ready to argue, but Flash pressed the tip close enough to draw blood, which gave the downed pony reason to reconsider, and nodded once, briefly.

"Good. Now if you'll kindly spread the word among your friends not to try this kind of thing anymore, I'll see fit not to report this to the police, and neither will Dusk. Though as a word of warning, you really wouldn't want to upset Dusk's family. He's from a very prominent house, and they could make life very difficult for you."

This time the pony's nod came faster and much more vigorously. The threat of having the wrath of a house come down on somepony wasn't a good thought for street thugs. Flash nodded, and pulled away his naginata. After putting it away, he gathered up Dusk's katana and helped the indigo unicorn to his feet as the Earth pony picked up his companion and ran.

"Part of a prominent house?" He asked, raising one brow, amusement twinkling in his green eyes.

"You are the Shogun's apprentice. Close enough." Flash said with a grin. Dusk shook his head and snorted in good humor.

"You were pretty generous back there, promising not to go to the cops if they backed off."

"Of course." Flash replied. "being a benevolent victor never hurt, now did it?" Flash returned, as though it were the simplest thing in the world. Dusk gave him a thoughtful look.

"I think I will take you up on that offer for company on my quest. Just...try not to think too much less of me about it." And so Dusk began relating just what it was he was tasked to search for...

Author's notes: Seems things are starting to look up for Dusk Shine. A new friend and traveling companion aside, he's learned a valuable lesson. Guess we'll have to see how this new development affects both of our young samurai in future chapters. On fanfiction.net, this chapter went up March 10, my birthday. So this is something of a gift to myself! But it's also for my fellow bronies. Not much to say about today's chapter in notes. See ya next chapter!

As ever, reviews are welcome, constructive criticism is a gift, and flames will be used to broil Solaris within the heart of the sun.

Gunblader

The Shogun Six

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or any characters belonging to Hasbro or any other companies listed herein. All original characters mentioned here are my own creations. I do this solely for entertainment purposes and in no way make any profit from it.

Chapter Four:

Gunblader

"I tell you, Dusk, if you've got one major flaw it's that you need to learn to keep your nose out of books more often." Flash said to Dusk in good humor as they traversed the roadway. Magic grip or not, Flash tended to worry for his friend's apparently over-studious nature. In the four months since they had begun traveling together, Dusk had spent as much time as possible immersed in one book or another. Sadly, none of them seemed to be any use in locating what they needed to complete Dusk's quest and only a handful seemed to be of any use in showing Flash any tricks as an artificer that he didn't already know thanks to his father's instruction. Dusk it seemed, felt more at home amongst books than with most living beings. Flash put it down to his lack of upbringing as an orphan until the Shogun had taken him in.

"Well, you never know when a new spell or long-forgotten knowledge of the martial arts will come in handy." Dusk replied. They had this discussion seemingly every few weeks or so. Dusk knew Flash meant well, but he still wasn't entirely comfortable outside the Imperial City. He felt a bit less guilty about sticking himself in the closest book on hand at any given opportunity by the fact that his reason was at least truthful. They were still young, just colts really, and as such there was a lot they could still stand to learn. Quick study or not, Dusk Shine was nopony's fool and he knew that he didn't know everything. He was still trying to figure out how the anthromorphic form had come to exist. He had searched through various books and in any historical archive he could access with his digital handheld connection to the Hyperweb. But the most he seemed to be able to do was place it as happening sometime after the Great Merger. The time when the Human race had come to their world an interdimensional fusion between the reality they knew and one in which had rested a world called Earth. The result of which had resulted in a world whose size was double that of the world known as Jupiter. But that was millennia ago. Though now he came to think of it, there were known human mystics, among others, who studied various fields of science and technology. A great deal of which had been adopted by the Shogunate of Equestria. Maybe the humans were partially responsible for this odd evolutionary change?

"Well, there's the next town." Flash said, pointing a hoof at the town in question and breaking Dusk's trail of thought. The town was actually just that. A town. Decently sized and certainly modern, but not a city that had long outgrown the title of town but had stuck with it out of nostalgia. They approached the town limits and made their way to the closest eatery. While they were well stocked for at least another week or so's worth of food, eating food that didn't require their own cooking would be a welcome change of pace. They hoped to restock and maybe catch the next train out of town. The previous town hadn't been located along the railways and as such had no train station. Dusk had decided about three weeks ago that he wanted to check out the ancient ruins where the Elements of Bushido had once been said to reside. But that was a long ways off. As luck would have it though, there was an archaeological survey going on in that general area. While he was still reluctant to use his connections to the Shogun to further his quest if he didn't have to, he was fully prepared to do so in this case.

"New ta town, huh?"

The two looked up after having sat down at a table to wait to order and saw a pony in anthro form. He was orange and had green eyes. His mane and tail were jet black and he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. He was also wearing a stetson cowboy hat. And interestingly enough, he was about their age, give or take a few months, by Dusk's best estimate.

"Yeah, pretty much." Dusk answered the orange pony, who nodded. The indigo unicorn couldn't help his curiosity though. "Any reason you're in anthro form?"

"Makes it easier to take orders down and deliver'em." The orange pony replied, and Dusk noticed he had a southern drawl. It wasn't uncommon to hear that accent in the Imperial City, but this was the first time he'd ever talked to anypony with the accent. "Plus Ah felt like it. Problem with that?"

"Hell no." Dusk returned with a smirk, echoed by Flash and countered with a grin from the orange pony.

"Well, Ah'm Ash Jade. Anything you boys lookin' ta sample while you're at the best diner in Ponyville?" The orange pony asked. Dusk raised an incredulous eyebrow, but managed to keep himself from laughing. Flash picked up his menu and scanned it quickly.

"I think I'm in the mood for the carrot salad with a side of beef. Medium rare, please." The artificer said after a few moment's thought, handing it to Ash, who wrote the order down and accepted the menu.

"You got it, brah. How 'bout you?" he asked, turning to Dusk, who was perusing his own menu. Meat had become a great deal of the foodstuffs made available when humanity had come to Equestria and brought with them several examples of non-sentient livestock which was designed to fit with the omnivorous diet of the bipedal 'aliens'. Though it had caused a great stir in the first century or two after their arrival, even ponies ate the non-sentient breeds brought from Earth these days. Dusk had a hard time picturing the fully plant-based diet of what came to be called the pre-fusion era.

"Cheeseburger, hold the pickles, large fries and a side of bacon." he said, and handed the menu to Ash, who nodded after writing it down and taking the menu.

"Give it about twenty minutes or so. You guys need a guide around town or anythin'?" Ash inquired. The two unicorns looked at one another, and then after a moment, Dusk turned to Ash and nodded.

"Sure, why not?"

Ash smiled at that.

"Cool. Always try to help out the newbies in town. My shift ends in about an other half hour or so after yer food'll be brought out. Meetcha boys outside?" he asked, and the two unicorns nodded again. He turned and went to the back to drop off their orders, and the two Unicorns were left to themselves again.

"Guess it's true what they say about Ponyville. Still goes by the old-fashioned ideals it was founded on." Flash remarked. Dusk give him a confused look, and the silver-white unicorn chuckled. "I'm sorry, I should have mentioned I'd heard of this place before. My grandfather used to live in Ponyville. He always told me it was one of the friendliest towns you could ever hope to find yourself in. It's not a perfect utopia or anything, but it has one of the lowest crime rates of any city in Equestria and most of the old families here still get a lot of respect. At one point, according to my grandfather, Ponyville was a trade hub. I have some pictures from him on my datapad of Ponyville from his day if you want to look at them later."

Eventually their food arrived and the two ate and chatted a bit about what Flash knew of Ponyville. At about the midway point of their meal, there was a bit of commotion near a stage set at the far end of the place, and they like nearly everyone else in the place, turned to it, where the proprietor was making his way up. Behind him was all the elements needed for a band to play. From guitar to drums and various brass instruments.

"Evenin', fillies and gentlecolts. As most of you know, it's time for a little home grown musical accompaniment. So," the owner of the establishment said as several ponies began to make their way up to the stage. "without further adieu, I give you the musical stylings of Ash Jade!"

Ash was a unique artist. He was largely an instrumentalist as well as a singer, as he went through three or four songs as everyone ate. A few songs grabbed Dusk's attention. Mostly for the fact that they were pretty cool sounding, but one grabbed him as distinctly Japanese, and very old at that. Possibly well predating the pre-Fusion era from Earth's side of the historical divide.

Eventually, after his performance ended, the orange-pelted coat took a bow, and hopped off the stage. About twenty odd minutes later, the two unicorns met up with the Earth pony outside, and he gave them a tip of his stetson in greeting.

"Y'all ready for that tour?" he asked with a smirk. Receiving two nods in return, Ash Jade began leading them through Ponyville. It was, as Flash had said, a nice town of a decent size, and as luck would have it, it did happen to be a stop on the bullet train network.

"So, Ash, what were the names of those two songs again?" Dusk asked. "The ones in the fourth and fifth set. I didn't catch the names while I was eating because there was a good bit of applause making it a bit hard to hear between each one."

"Peace in Our Life and Treasure Sniper, respectively." Ash replied. "They happen ta be favorites of mine. Ah cain't say too much about the original artists since they're long dead 'n all, but their music was great."

Though neither unicorn had heard either song before, they couldn't deny the songs had been good. They had also heard Ash's rendition of Beautiful Day, a song by an ancient Earth band called U2. Their discussion turned from music to the various places within Ponyville. Ash also filled them in on the town's history. Begun as a mining town some three hundred years ago by the Jade family of which Ash was a member, the town had been lucky enough to flourish due to the high concentration of precious stones and metals located in the mine shafts which were part of the town and its outlaying suburbs. Eventually, it became part of the rail lines, and the town soon grew to its current size. Although it was nowhere near being a major tourist center, its history as part of Equestria's outward expansion meant it was still visited several times a year by histories if nothing else, as well as by ponies going to and from other destinations. The envoys to and from the Griffon and Dragon Kingdoms had once made stops in Ponyville as part of their itinerary, as was still true of many of the human governments, and all three nations did so for much the same reason as the historians would often visit; the town's historical significance.

Dusk, fascinated by this, had begun getting all this down in his datapad, and uploading it to his personal storage space. The information he was getting from Ash wasn't anything he'd heard about before and there was a chance he might be able to add to the store of knowledge of Equestrian history. He made a mental note to read up on Ponyville over the Hyperweb when they got on their next train.

Ash, once he was done helping them restock, offered to put them up for the night since the first train due to the archaeological dig wouldn't be until near the end of the next day. Seeing no reason to decline, the two unicorns accepted the offer and were soon led to the home of the Jade family, just outside Ponyville but not yet past the town limits. It was settled on a large tract of land which the Jade family mined from to the present day, and which, Ash had proudly said, had yet to run dry of any gems or metals. The Jade family mine was going to be a healthy business for another century and a half at least, by his estimation, before they might see any signs of trouble on the horizon.

They were also introduced to Grampa Jade, as Ash called him. His name was actually Strike Jade, and he was far more spry than his age would suggest he should be. Despite his advanced age, he moved as easily as the three colts and had all the gentility one would expect from a family that still held hospitality to others as a cherished family value. Ash next introduced them to Cut Jade, his elder sister. Already in her early teens, Cut was cut, no pun intended, from much the same cloth as her grandfather and brother. Dusk and Flash liked her almost at once with her easy-going nature. Despite being miner-folk, the Jade family seemed to all be very well read, even if their accents didn't necessarily reflect that.

After meeting Cut Jade, they were introduced to Shatter Jade, Ash's younger brother. Still just a baby, Shatter was the last child born to the proud parents Break Jade and his wife Dust Jade. Sadly, both had been lost a few years ago in a mining accident that had resulted from a bad reaction in some of the gems to the magic the Earth Ponies had put into them when they tried to dig them out. They and six other miners had lost their lives. But their children lived on, and the mines still ran thanks to the help of friends and family of the co-workers who had also worked the mines. Shatter didn't say much. He was barely six months old, after all, but he was cheery and playful, wanting to touch everything new he came across, and it was all the two unicorns could do to keep their weapons out of his hooves so he wouldn't accidentally harm himself. Not that this stopped him from yanking on their manes and tails. Only a combination of their training in the martial arts and the fact that they knew he didn't know any better stopped either one from outright yelling at or scolding the young foal for doing what was only natural. They didn't begrudge the child his natural curiosity, but as they weren't much older than he was, it did test the limits of their patience. Strike Jade luckily got him in his crib quick enough, and he settled down shortly after the rather lengthy introduction had been made.

Ash had changed back to full pony form not long after the introductions and went out to go check on a few things around the property, check in with some of the miners, and a few other things before the colt would be willing to consider his work done for the day. Ash's Warrior Mark, as it turned out, was three shattered pieces of Jade in perfectly rounded spheres. Dusk wondered what that meant. His own mark established the fact that magic itself was what he excelled at as a combat skill, while the diamonds that marked Flash's flank indicated not only his ability to locate things which would be of use to himself or others, which he often exercised of gems, but his ability to create things from that which often seemed worthless.

The unicorns decided to lend what help they could around the house, not wanting to freeload when they had been offered lodgings for the night out of nothing but kindness from ponies they had only just met. Ash was more than happy for the assistance, and with the help of Dusk and Flash finished his chores with three hours to spare. This left the rest of the afternoon free. As was the custom for the two unicorns, they decided to spend some time sparring to keep their skills in both physical and mystic combat sharp. Ash had watched from the sidelines, though he looked very interested in the exhibition. Cut Jade, who had come to watch the display as well, remarked that she hadn't known anyone that young to be allowed to travel alone, even if they were traveling together.

It was getting on to literal dusk when the two unicorns called an end to their sparring. They had invited Ash to join in during some of their hand to hand exercises, and found themselves regretting it. Ash was frighteningly strong for his age. Dusk wasn't too far off in the strength department from AJ, as he had told them to feel free to call him, but Ash was still in a league beyond. The group was settling down to dinner when a knock came at the front door, prompting everypony to look to and fro at one another, aside from Shatter Jade, who was just enjoying life, wondering who would be outside at this hour.

Strike Jade got up from the table and opened the door. And frowned, seeing ponies he'd rather not. One was a noble. Not quite a Daimyo, but not a simple town official or administrator. He was a dark magenta color and had a white mane and tail. He was dressed in finery befitting his noble status, but his face was almost constantly drawn in a sneer. The other pony was dirty brown and had a blonde mane and tail.

"You boys don't know when to stop, do ya?" the old stallion said in disgust. "Ah told you before, Ah'll tell you again. Answer's no."

"You know that isn't the answer I want, Jade." came the oily voice of the noble. Dusk Shine knew that voice, too. Knew it personally. He got to his hooves, and shifted to Anthromorphic form, making his way towards the door, much to the surprise of the others at the table.

"It's the answer yer gettin', Baron." Jade said. "Now git off mah property before I call the law down on ya."

"I don't think so, Jade. See, I get what I want one way or another. And I want your mine."

"Too bad you can't always get what you want Baron." Dusk interjected with venom in his tone, arriving at the doorway and taking both stallions by surprise. "I don't know what you're doing harassing these nice folks, but I think you might want to step the hell off. Wouldn't want the Shogun knowing you're up to your old trick again, now would you?"

The Baron scowled. He knew Dusk from the Imperial palace. He had never been the most amiable sort, believing wealth gave one the one to do whatever one wanted. Only the Shogun and the higher ranking nobles or Samurai could do more, and the idea of the Shogun taking in an orphan and all...the fact was that nobody at the Imperial Palace and the Imperial Court could miss the fact that the Shogun and Dusk acted like family. Dusk was known to be the Shogun's official ward, and many wondered how long before the alicorn simply adopted him, making him Crown Prince. He was practically the heir to the throne as it was. He was also a Samurai, and from all recent accounts, one who answered only to the Shogun, by royal decree.

"You have no right getting involved here, boy." The Baron snapped. "This is a business matter."

"Really? Because it looks to me like you're trying to strongarm a family out of their home-grown business for the sake of lining your own fucking pockets." Dusk retorted brusquely. "A matter I believe the Shogun has reprimanded you for in the past, if memory serves. Or have you forgotten the last time you stepped out of line?"

The stallion and colt stared one another down. The Baron had little doubt that Dusk would point the Shogun at him if he kept openly trying to force Strike Jade to sell. He didn't know how the little orphan bastard even knew the Jade family, but it was clear he was flexing his political connections here. Gesturing to his second, the two ponies turned to leave. But the Baron couldn't resist one last dig.

"Careful, boy." The Baron glared as he spoke. "Never know what kind of trouble can come in a mine, or to those who wander aimlessly. Accidents happen." And with that, he and his companion were off. Strike shut the door with a bit more force than necessary. Dusk turned to head back to the table, before the elderly stallion stopped him by changing to anthro form himself and putting a hand on one of the colt's shoulders.

"How's it you know that sack of crap, Dusk?" the old miner asked.

"I lived at the Imperial Palace since I was the Shogun's direct apprentice. I met him more often than I like to count during the days when I was studying the martial arts, magic, and politics, and the latter meant I had to spend time at the Imperial Court." Dusk explained as he led the way back to the table, and settled down in his seat. "The Baron had the bad habit of thinking he was more than he was from the moment I met him. Has a real thing against anyone he considers below him, too. The Shogun's had to censure him a couple times already. He tried to strong-arm someone else the same way he was trying to do with you. They were closer to the capital though and went right to their city officials, who in turn put the Shogun's offices on the case. The situation got the Shogun's personal attention, though I'm not sure how or why, and he really let the guy have it with both barrels."

This drew chuckles from the Jades and Flash. They spent much of the early evening trading stories form across their lives, and by the time everyone turned in, They'd all had a few good natured laughs at each other's expense.

The Jades, much like Dusk and Flash, had a tendency to rise with the sun. So the two unicorns ended up meeting up with the Jades aside from Shatter, who was still in his crib, and the two traveling colts insisted on helping Ash with his early morning chores as a way to repay him for putting them up at his home. Strike Jade found their refusal to hear no for an answer amusing and endearing so he allowed it, but he cautioned them to follow Ash's instructions. Like them, Ash had been training in the martial arts from a young age, but he also had training in long range combat via projectiles and firearms. More importantly for the morning ahead though, he also knew how to work with things often to be found around a home that boasted its own mine.

Ash wasn't so stubborn he would turn down help from his new friends, though he did insist on doing the major stuff himself since it was stuff that required specific work when it came to the devices in question, but he was more than willing to discuss what each piece of equipment did. Not that he was doing anything major himself by comparison. Strike and Cut, along with the other miners did the truly important stuff that Ash wasn't going to be ready to do for at least another few years assuming he stayed on at the family business. Ash had a bit of wanderlust in him, and he was more than willing to admit to it to his friends since he saw no reason to lie about it. He didn't think he would want to stay away forever, but he did want to experience a bit more of the world before settling down to a life he wasn't sure was necessarily for him until he had a chance to explore his options.

It was getting around ten in the morning when they heard it. A massive explosion and rumbling following soon after. Ash was on the move almost immediately.

"What's up?" Dusk asked, as he and Flash sprinted after Ash, keeping close to the cowpony colt.

"That weren't no normal event!" Ash called back. "Somethin's wrong, and Ah aim t'find out what!"

"We're right behind you." Flash said, and the three quickly made it to the entrance of a mine shaft which looked to have been blown outward and then collapsed back in on itself, giving off massive amounts of dust into the air. Several other miners and Strike and Cut Jade themselves were closing in on the shaft as well. A few miners had managed to apparently escape the cave-in and were being looked after by some of the mining staff who were versed in medical aid while one pony whipped out a cellphone and made a call to the Ponyville hospital and then another to the police to let them know what was going on.

"The fuck happened?" Strike snapped. "There shouldn't be any explosives bein' used anywhere near these mines!"

"No time to worry about it, boss. Not all of us made it out!" One of the miners, a pegasus with an orange coat and freckles, managed to say between coughs.

The miners, Jades, and the two unicorns spent the next few hours digging their way through the crumbling rock and trying to shore up the supports that were still present but threatening to break. Medical teams from Ponyville along with the police and other first responders also pitched in. Dusk and Flash quickly learned that the sheer and somewhat freakish strength Ash had displayed appeared to be a family trait. Dusk and Flash were certainly no slouches either, and soon enough they were able to clear away much of the rubble. What met their eyes however was enough to turn the stomachs of the younger ponies despite their training.

Several ponies had survived the cave-in, by the grace of the Shogun himself it seemed. Some with minor injuries in a few cases, and broken limbs in the case of several others. The wounds would heal and broken bones would mend with time though, and they were glad for that. It was the ones who hadn't been so fortunate and were either crushed under the rock or caught by the full force of what appeared to be a very brief but brutal explosion, leaving them charred almost to the bone in some cases that disturbed them. It would take DNA testing to identify some of these. While the Jades and their fellow miners were tending to the wounded and the dead, Dusk moved deeper into the mine, using his horn to light up the interior since most of the lights had been destroyed in the blast.

"You shouldn't be here, young colt." Dusk heard from behind him and turned to see am earth pony in anthro form and dressed in a police uniform not far behind, making his way over with a few others. "This is police business."

"I'm Dusk Shine. Apprentice to the Shogun, and currently on a quest for him. The Jades were nice enough to put me and my friend Flash up for the night out of the kindness of their hearts. Considering I have a suspicion about what happened here, I'm making it my business." The indigo unicorn replied firmly, raising up his digital device, which showed his identification and official standing to the stallion, who looked surprised.

The stallion had a hard time believing that this colt, perhaps not even in the double digits yet, was not just the Shogun's apprentice, let alone on a quest for him. He had heard that the Shogun had taken an apprentice, but had assumed the pony in question to be older. He looked over the credentials the colt was showing on the digital uplink, and frowned. It was legit, so far as he could tell. He would have to double check with the office later to be sure that Dusk wasn't some fool colt playing at being a Samurai— such an impersonation was a crime and would carry severe punishment, as one did not forge the identification marks on that screen without being given at least a ten year prison sentence, but for the moment he would have to let it go.

"I'm the Ponyville police chief. Name's Proper Procedure." The officer said after a few moments. "How do you know the Jades?"

"Met them yesterday through Ash. His family's been nothing but kind to my friend Flash and I. I'm not about to just sit on my haunches when the Baron is up to stunts like this."

Proper looked surprised. This colt had only known the Jades for a day and he was willing to get involved like this? The Shogun must have raised this child better than he would have guessed, if this was indeed his ward.

"The Baron? What makes you think he has anything to do with this?" The chief asked as Dusk continued in further, with himself and a few of his other officers following behind the young Samurai.

"The pompous windbag was here last night, trying to strongarm Ash's grandfather Strike Jade into selling the mine to him. When he didn't get the answer he wanted, he walked off saying we should watch out because 'accidents happen'. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together to see he's a prime suspect in this." Dusk called back as he began a light magical scan.

"That's a pretty loaded accusation." The police-pony pointed out as they moved deeper in.

"I know." Dusk answered with a nod. "It's why I want proof to back it up. If it turns out this was a genuine accident or something, that's one thing. But if this was deliberate, I want to be able to back that up with cold hard fact."

The kid's got his priorities straight at least. If he weren't Samurai, he might make for a good cop in a couple of years. Proper thought to himself. They made their way deeper into the mine. Dusk leading the way and the other officers behind him. Dusk found his vision starting to react oddly to the area. It was as though he was seeing light and energy around him. This wasn't new to him as it had happened before, but the Shogun hadn't told him exactly what caused it. He had taught him a bit how to handle it. Sadly, all he knew about having what the Shogun called 'Powermaster' eyes was what little he'd been able to muddle through. It was a rare condition, however largely benign and helpful. But there were times when it overpowered him. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as normal. In fact, his eyes soon came upon something unexplained, and his magic scan also pinged on it.

"You found something?" Proper asked, picking up on the fact that Dusk was suddenly very intent on a specific section of the mine's interior.

"Maybe. And I stress maybe." Dusk replied. He shuffled through some of the rubble with his hands, picking up and checking various rocks and gems. "I'm picking up some kind of residual magic. But I'm not sure I can place it. It doesn't feel like anything I've seen before."

"I thought unicorns could pick out magic based on the three pony species and any others who use magic?" One of the other officers, a pegasus, asked.

"That's part of the problem. This magic, whatever it is, doesn't feel like pony magic."

"So who then? Human? Griffon? Dragon?" Proper asked.

"If it were dragon magic we'd never have to wonder how this happened. We'd have still been able to see whoever was involved, even if it was one of the smaller species. Magic of this type for a dragon so far as I know would require the caster to be in incredibly close range if they happen to be draconic. Downside to their spells. The more fine-tuned the spell has to be, the closer the caster needs to be. They're great for long range, but they suck eggs up close and personal." The indigo unicorn snorted. "Besides, dragons aren't likely to do this kind of thing. We may be in the midst of a cold war with the them, but I don't see how they would find any reason to attack an old mine that has no tactical advantage to them. I'd sooner believe a mouse did this than a dragon."

"So that rules out the armorhides." One of the other officers who'd come with them said. "What about other magic users? I mean, the Griffons aren't exactly known for giving a damn why they do anything if it hurts ponykind."

"I wouldn't put it past the Griffons. But this doesn't have the same taste as the magic they tend to use. Could be someone else they've taught to use their particular type though." Dusk said, trying to force his strange new way of seeing to give him something he could use. It wasn't easy though. He didn't know what he was looking for, so his 'Powermaster' eyes were about as useful as a second set of ears right now.

"Well, if you can't tell us what it is, why not tell us what it isn't." Proper Procedure inquired.

"It's not pony, dragon, or griffon in origin. That leaves three possibilities: human, paranormal, or divine/demonic." Dusk said after a few moments more. "Given the tentative peace we have with the humans, I'd rule them out for the time being."

"So that leaves the last two. I'd say that also rules out the Baron." Proper said. Dusk shook his head.

"Not necessarily. The Baron may be a pompous ass, but he does have, if memory serves, several tomes of ancient magic. If he was able to find and bind a creature from outside our realm, he could then have ordered it to do this. It would be hard to prove, and he might be counting on that." Dusk frowned. "That's part of the problem though. The Baron is a pompous ass. I don't think he's smart enough to know the risks in such a summoning and how to avoid them."

"Risks?"

Dusk shook his head. "You don't wanna know unless you plan on summoning anything. Which I highly recommend against even considering unless you're facing extremely dire circumstances."

The officers gave each other glances that told the Shogun's ward that his comment had unnerved them. Good. he thought. They'll be less likely to try it now.

Dusk spent another thirty minutes examining the area. He couldn't figure out anything more about who had been responsible for the magical signature left behind, but it quickly became apparent to him that this was indeed the magic that had caused the explosion and near-collapse of the parts of the mine closer to the exit to the surface. When they emerged from the mine it was around three in the afternoon. They quickly filled in the Jades on what Dusk had found. Medical teams were still helping to remove the injured and dead.

"I'll call you if I find anything new, chief." Dusk assured Proper Procedure, and the two shook hands. "I hope you'll do likewise."

"Of course. I take it you'll be staying in the area until the situation is cleared up?"

"Damn right we will." Flash said with a snort as though it were obvious, and Dusk gave a curt nod as well.

"There's no question we're staying. The Jades are good people, and I don't think either myself or Flash would ever be able to live with ourselves if we left now." Dusk added, and this time it was Flash who nodded.

"Mighty kind of you, boys. But Ah thought you two wanted to git on to some research dig or sumthin'?" Strike said as he wiped his hands off with a rag.

"The dig will just have to wait." Dusk said with a smile to the old stallion. "Friends come first. You and your family took in two complete strangers and showed us nothing but kindness. That means a lot in this day and age. We're sticking around until the matter is resolved."

"Well in that case, Ah guess that means we'll have to keep those extra place settings at the table for meals till then." Ash said with a grin, dusting off his stetson.

"Huh? Oh...no you don't need to do that. We can find a place in town. We couldn't think of imposing on your hospitality again, not what with all this having happened." Flash said, but The Jades just gave the two unicorns a knowing look.

"T'aint no imposition, boys. Yer takin' the time to help us when ya could be doin' whatever it is you were on yer way ta when all this kerfuffle went and screwed things up. Least we can do is put you up till things're settled. Besides, ain't the day gonna come when the Jades'll turn friends out if we can help it. Besides, how often do Ah get to meet up and hang out with fine upstandin' Samurai like yerselves?" Cut Jade said with a smile and a wink. The two unicorns blushed, but laughed along with Strike and Ash.

"No use arguin' fellers. Mah sis's speakin' fer the whole family here. An' we won't take no fer an answer." Ash added when Dusk opened his mouth again to object. The indigo unicorn closed his mouth and gave a helpless shrug.

"Okay, okay." Flash chuckled as he watched his Katana wielding friend give in. "I suppose we should help finish the evacuation of the injured from the mine as best we can, and decide our next move afterwards."

So deciding, the group set back to work, helping the survivors out. It was sunset before the Jades, Dusk, and Flash retired to the house. Having nothing left they could do, and with emergency vehicles still present and moving to and from Ponyville to continue the survey and location of anyone that might have been missed, the group settled down to a much more somber meal than the one they'd shared the previous day. Dusk, prior to dinner, had started writing an email to the Shogun.

Your Majesty,

I apologize for sending this letter so late in the day. However things have developed here that require that Flash and I take time out from our quest to aid a new friend. Actually, a family of new friends. Yesterday, Flash and I arrived in a town called Ponyville. I don't know if the name means anything to you. But when we got into town we made the acquaintance of a colt roughly our own age named Ash Jade working in an eatery. Ash agreed to put us up for the night with his family, who are just as easy-going and friendly as he is. Despite being total strangers, they took us into their home with no qualms, simply because Ash put forth the invitation. I used to think 'old town' hospitality was something you only saw in various fiction across the media spectrum, so imagine my surprise when I met a family that lived that unique set of core values!

The Jade family owns their own mine, one that is currently in the sights of a less than savory figure from Court: The Baron. He appeared at the Jade home last night, trying to strongarm Strike Jade, the patriarch of the Jade family and owner of the mine into selling. I don't think I need to tell you that Jade gave him a firm 'no'. I think it also goes without saying that the Baron quickly worked my last nerve by refusing to let it go at that and step off graciously and I was more than willing to get involved. I apologize for letting him get to me, but you know how I feel about his attitude, and our last few encounters prior to this run in left a bad taste in my mouth, so I was more than happy to stand up on behalf of the Jades. It also seems that he hasn't forgotten the way you shut down his last attempt at bullying people into letting him have his way at the expense of their livelihoods, which is probably why he's this far out from the Imperial Capital to begin with. He must have figured that nopony would think to call on the Imperial Court to help this far out because of the fact that Ponyville is fairly out of the way by most standards. I don't think anyone else from the gentry OR the nobility besides the Baron are anywhere within fifty miles of this town right now.
Flash and I would have continued our journey this morning, but a sudden attack on the Jade family's mine has caused us to put that off for the moment. I realize how important it is for me to figure out which of the Elements of Bushido I represent, and to find the other Incarnates of the remaining Elements , but I cannot.... will not.... leave my new friends in the lurch like this. I suspect the Baron's handiwork in this. Or at least I did at first, but something tells me there's another angle to this. There was magic used in this attack. Magic of a type I can't quite place at the moment. If the Baron is responsible, then I hope he hasn't done something even dumber than usual for him. If he's been idiotic enough to SUMMON something to try to make it harder to pin this on him, and isn't prepared to handle the potential dangers involved with such an act, it could lead to grave consequences beyond just the damage done to the mine and the loss of life already sustained in this attack.
I'll keep you informed on events as they happen. I hope I haven't disappointed you too badly by putting the search on hold, but this is important too.

Your faithful apprentice,

Dusk Shine

Dinner was eventually served and the group ate while making light conversation, mostly responding to Strike and Cut's recent updates from the mine, which were being sent to them every few minutes via cell phone texts. It seemed the majority of the roster of workers for that day had been accounted for, with the search continuing so to try and uncover anyone else who might still be trapped in the tunnels. Strike and Cut, tried from the day's exertions, called it a night early. Ash also stepped out, citing that he had one or two last things to do before he considered his day done. Dusk and Flash were left to themselves for the time being, and the silver-white unicorn turned to his compatriot.

"What do you think we should do next, Dusk? I'm not exactly an expert on criminal investigations."

"Neither am I." Dusk admitted. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. The Baron is our top suspect right now. And if he is involved, it means he probably has a residence somewhere near town."

"Too bad we don't know where it is, or we could at least get an overview of the place so we could try to plan a way to get in and find something that might incriminate him." Flash sighed with a nod.

"Ah think Ah can help ya there, brah."

The two Unicorns almost leapt our of their skins, before turning to see Ash had returned, and wearing a belt that had a pair of holsters attached to it. Holsters that looked like none that they'd ever seen before. They tapered to sharp points. As if sensing their confusion, Ash pulled one of the weapons free.

It was neither gun nor sword. Instead it was some kind of fusion of the two. Flash was the first to recognize what they were seeing and his eyes went wide.

"My word, AJ. Are those what I think they are?" The artificer asked in astonishment.

"Eeeyup. Gunblades. Been in the family for damn near a hundred years now. Grampa Jade taught me how ta use'em, an' I reckon y'all can use all the edge you can get if'n you plan ta try to get anywhere near the innards of the Baron's house." Ash replied.

"You don't need to do that, Ash." Dusk said, though he was touched by the stetson-wearing colt's offer of support. "I mean, that's going pretty far out of your way, isn't it?"

"No more'n you two've done, Dusk. This here's a matter that only really affects mah kin an' mahself, but you an' Flash are stickin' yer necks out fer ponies ya hardly know. We got a bit of a tradition in the Jade clan." Ash said. "We look out for our friends. You two've already gone way outta yer way to help. An' that says a lot for two Samurai on the move that they'd take time out to help ponies who were complete strangers just the day before. Ah'll be damned if Ah do any less when you two're gettin' ready to possibly walk right inta who knows what. You two're mah friends, an' the day'll never come when a Jade turns tail on his buddies. One thing you can be sure'a. Us Jades don't tell many lies. When we say somethin' you can usually take it to the bank. An' Ah say Ah'm gonna do what Ah can to help you two on this. This ain't even what yer on the road fer, but yer stickin' around anyway, right? It's only fair Ah help since when it gets down to it, you don't owe us anything and yet yer still plannin' this whole investigation o' yers. Ah tell ya, the two'a you might not be blood, but Ah'd be proud to call you honorary Jades on account of the way you stick up fer others and fer the right thing. Reckon Grampa and Cut would say the same if'n they were still awake."

The two unicorns looked at each other, and then back to Ash as he holstered the free Gunblade and sat down at the table with them. Then Dusk grinned and offered a hand, which Ash took, even as Flash laid a hand on top of theirs.

"Well Ash, if that's the case, let me say it would be an honor to have you watching our backs." Dusk said.

"Quite the eloquent speech, Ash. You could have a wonderful career as a motivational speaker." Flash added with a chuckle. "I have to admit, it was very inspiring."

"Honesty's usually the key to getting out what you want to say, fellers." Ash replied, as the three broke their collective 'handshake'. "So lemme grab a map from th' other room an' we can get started on plannin'. Sound good, Dusk?"

Dusk nodded.

Somewhere else in the multiverse....

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and sat up, ears perked and alert, eyes wide. With barely a moment's hesitation to make sure she hadn't accidentally woken Spike, the purple unicorn leapt out of bed, and pulled out her journals from a closet. It was her third week at the palace since Princess Celestia had taken her on as her protegé, and she had been having strange dreams about a colt that she'd never heard of before. Confused, she decided to do what she did best: research it. But since all she had to go on was her own dreams, she committed herself to putting everything she could remember onto paper when she woke from her dreams. Since she was so often up before the infant dragon she'd hatched, she had ample time to do so.

She found it frustrating though. She could remember details about numerous figures in her dreams except for the name and most of the physical appearance of the colt who featured so prominently in them. She only remembered flashes of him. Bronze streaks in a dark blue mane...and the greenest eyes she'd ever seen. A cutie mark that, except for the colors, was an exact match for her own. Only the ponies in her dreams didn't call them cutie marks. They called them Warrior Marks. There were a lot of words she didn't understand being thrown around in the dreams. Samurai. Shogun. Bushido. Katana. More recently the term naginata had joined the list. None of them made sense. This dream had given her a new word to add to her growing vocabulary; Gunblade.

She hadn't been able to find them in any of the books in bookcases she had in her dorm at the school. Not wanting the princess to think she might be losing her mind or something, she'd kept it all to herself. Writing down anything and everything as best she could remember it. She even had managed to draw up the pony that in her dreams was called the Shogun, or a reasonable approximation of him at least. In some ways he reminded her of Princess Celestia. Tall and regal, with a noble bearing, the armor-clad stallion also seemed capable of great kindness as well.

Her latest dream featured a third colt. She had been surprised when the silver-white unicorn colt— Flash, she thought she remembered his name as being— had joined the indigo unicorn colt. But the two had become friends, and she wondered how that was possible. The indigo one seemed more like her. Bookish and studying whenever he could. Sure he also seemed pretty vicious with that katana he had— the first time he had used it in actual combat had frightened her out of her dream because she had never seen anypony cut into the flesh of another like that on purpose— but he seemed generally nice on the whole otherwise. By the time she had fallen asleep again, the two unicorn colts were in the midst of dinner with Flash's parents when her dreams found them again.

The strange thing about her dreams was that each of the colts she had seen seemed to be represented by strange songs, which she would hear at times. The one with the Katanas, the one she wanted to remember more clearly and felt frustrated for not being able to, was often preceded in her dreams before she saw him by a song that spoke of eventual triumph over adversity through great struggle, while the silver-white colt, Flash, was represented by one that spoke of his somewhat bombastic personality. This third colt was different. The music that seemed to be attributed to him was...strangely calm by comparison to the other two. But then, that almost seemed to fit the general personality he seemed to exhibit.

Ash Jade. Twilight thought as she began to write down the new colt's name, description and everything she could remember about the dream. He seems...almost like the ponies I see in real life.

These ponies were so strange. The Royal Guard were trained to fight, sure. But everyday ponies living in a world where a culture existed that developed around martial skills? It just seemed too weird.

She wrote for another hour or two. The sun wasn't quite up yet and she was starting to feel sleepy again. With her work finished however, she could afford a few more hours sleep before it was time to begin her classes with the Princess. She wondered what she might see next time she dreamed of the strange colt with the bronze streaks in his hair....and also wondered what he dreamt of when he slept....

Author's Note: And thus ends yet another chapter of The Shogun Six! Damn. 8,694 words, just for the chapter's story content alone. This is so far the longest chapter in the story yet. And included for the first time, the personal theme songs for the Six themselves. These have been planned from the beginning, so expect at least three more. I don't know if future chapters will be this long. This one kinda got away from me, and like with Flash, AJ's introduction to the team will see it's conclusion in the upcoming chapter. I invite readers to take a shot at predicting who the next member of the team to be introduced will be via Private Message. Whoever guesses the next member to join the six gets a shout-out in the author's notes next time around, but the character himself won't be revealed until the following chapter, so even if you win, keep it under your hat. ^.~

Now the piece that I'm sure many were caught off guard by: Twilight appears! I hope this was a nice surprise for everyone. And let me clarify here. The Six are NOT just something she made up in her dreams, before anyone suggests that. They are very real. She's basically seeing parts of their lives at different parts of her own life. She will be in and out of this story, and she won't necessarily be seeing everything that happens. For example, her first sight of Dusk in combat is in Chapter 2, but the next time she sees Dusk is about the mid-point of chapter three when Dusk and Flash are eating with Flare Burst and High Aspirations. Meaning she misses a decent chunk of some of that chapter, and also cannot see the things Dusk may dream about. (Which is probably a blessing, all things considered, am I right?) She won't see the story all the way through as a filly, by the by. Her dreams aren't going to be done linearly. Twilight's appearance is something I also had planned from the beginning, and this is going to be important to the saga as a whole. How? Wait and see. I have some curveballs to throw your way as we go.

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. There's more to come, folks. Far more to come!

Bullets and Blades

The Shogun Six

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or any characters belonging to Hasbro or any other companies listed herein. All original characters mentioned here are my own creations. I do this solely for entertainment purposes and in no way make any profit from it.

Chapter Five:

Bullets and Blades

Dusk, Flash, and Ash Jade had set out just before the rest of the Jade family would have normally awoken. Leaving a message that the boys were going out to take care of some errands and do a little investigating at Ash's insistance since he didn't want the family to worry, the trio of colts had begun making their way through the still largely asleep town of Ponyville towards the occasional home of the Baron. The Baron was a typical noble, in Dusk's view. Many he had met were pompous in the extreme, believing their positions, granted by the Shogun, whether to themselves directly or to family members whose positions they had inherited, made them somehow better than the rest of the populace. It was also common for them to try to increase their own standing and 'political capital'— whatever the hell that even meant— at the expense of one another and the so-called 'common' ponies or others seeking asylum in Equestria.

Dusk's general view of nobles wasn't a good one, as one might expect. He had met a few decent nobles. But they were so few and far between as to be almost non-existent. Only the Shogun truly counted as a great noble in Dusk's mind, as he was always putting his subjects before his own wants ninty-nine percent of the time. Granted, he was Prince of the Night and if he actually wished to, could cause the change of day to night and vice versa at will by affecting the planet's orbit. So he couldn't get much more powerful than that. Thus, he felt little guilt in what he was planning to do alongside his two friends.

The Baron's house was fairly well fortified. From the front. It seemed that there were less fortifications in the rear of the mansion the Baron had had constructed on the outskirts of the opposite side of Ponyville from the Jade family mines. It didn't make much sense to the Jade clan on the whole why the Baron would park himself so far from the land he wanted to own. But Dusk was pretty sure he saw the tactic in it for what it was. While the Baron might have a residence in the Ponyville area, he didn't always reside there. But if anything happened, such as the explosion at the mine, he could have witnesses to either back up his claims of being at the residence or of being abroad at the Imperial Capital if the law came calling. Being so far from the Jade's mines also meant that if he had hired someone to attack the mines as Dusk suspected, he could also cite the distance between the two areas in case he was home when and if the matter came up during an inquiry by the law.

Dusk could also feel the large amount of magic dampeners circling the property almost before they even got within twenty feet of it. It likely was designed to impede attempts at teleportation. Both to deal with unwanted intruders, and as a gesture of the Baron wanting to further protect himself from scrutiny. Barriers like this one were strong. Only the Shogun could punch through something this strong. Or at least Dusk was pretty sure only the Shogun could do it. He'd been told he could do things with magic that no other colt his age could, and that he had the potential to be even more powerful as he grew older. He wasn't sure how to take it, honestly.

They managed, with a little difficulty and some clever thinking on all their parts, to get past the patrols and onto the grounds, with Dusk looking out for anything magical that might impede their way. While all ponies had access to magic, Dusk's very skill was magic itself, and he was far more experienced on the subject than either of his two friends. As a unicorn himself, the Baron was clearly possessed of some skill that he wouldn't have expected from the blowhard, as Dusk found himself having to make allowances for variances in the magical field around his property that were working to dampen his magic. He imagined Flash was having similar difficulty, and Ash, who didn't seem the type to exercise his magical capacity much probably wouldn't even notice the difference.

"Y'all okay, Dusk? Yer lookin' a mite strained there." Ash asked. The indigo pony realized his appearance must have given away some of the effort he had to exert to deal with the fields in place.

Dusk turned to the stetson-wearing earth pony and grinned. "I'll be fine, Ash. Just a minor issue with the magic fields the Baron's set up around here to dampen magic."

"No kidding." Flash groused. He looked to be feeling the effects a little worse than Dusk was. Possibly because he was used to working his magic in the forges more than he was used to exerting it in the field. Not that he was incapable of doing so. Up until now, it had never been this big of an issue however. But the artificer forged on— no pun intended— with his friends. They slowly made their way towards the rear of the mansion. They counted themselves fortunate, for it was almost completely unguarded from the back end. Dusk snorted in amusement as he noted that the Baron, like so many other nobles, seemed to believe that anypony who would try to break in would do so from the front, rather than the sides or the rear of the mansion. He believed that the magic barriers would make ponies desperate to achieve their goals and thus foolishly attempt a frontal assault.

While the defenses were light, they weren't gone. Only a pair of guards, both in pony form, barred the way into the mansion. Both were Earth ponies. Dusk frowned. He had expected it given that the Baron was generally of the idea that most earth ponies were intended by nature to be servants to unicorns— The Baron had always detested the idea of Earth Ponies in positions of power, particularly when they were more important in the governmental structure of the Shogunate than he was— and that anything else would be uncivilized. The Baron, Dusk noted to himself, was an ass of the highest caliber. The ponies didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about being there either. Given that they were earth ponies, Dusk surmised that the baron had put them at the back of the house to 'hide' their presence. Though he employed earth ponies to serve him, that didn't mean he liked having to see them when he could avoid it.

"Any ideas, brah?" Ash asked as the three, looking on the bat doors from the cover of some of the shrubbery laid about in what was essentially the mansion's backyard. Granted said backyard was several acres, but that didn't change much.

"I'd suggest a sleep spell." Flash said. "Quick, effective, painless, and they won't be able to resist it, not if the magic dampeners are giving them even a third the trouble they're giving us." Dusk gave him an impressed look.

"Not a bad idea. I'd like to avoid unnecessary bloodshed myself if I can avoid it. Just because the Baron is a bastard doesn't mean those who're working for him necessarily are." Dusk replied with a nod. "The problem is we don't know how many others are inside."

"Mah guess is not many." Ash interjected. "If'n the Baron knows he's already th' chief suspect f'r what happened in the mines, mah guess is he's gonna keep down th' level of guards, just so's he don't look like he's up ta somethin'."

The two unicorns mulled that thought over. Neither was entirely sure they agreed with the reasoning, but it might end up being the correct assumption. For the moment, the big issue was removing the guards at the entrance. Focusing power into his horn, Flash took the initative, much to Dusk's surprise. He knew that Flash was trained in various forms of combat including magical forms, but he didn't expect him to take the lead. Dusk knew Flash was no slouch though, and if he wanted to take a shot at this, why not let him? He began focusing his own magic, preparing it in case his silver-white coated friend needed the help. It proved to be unneeded though, as the guards began to feel drowsy, and then fell asleep within a few minutes.

"Nice one." Dusk chuckled.

"Thanks. I'm not exactly great shakes with tranqs, but I do know how to use the spell when I need to." Flash replied with a smile of his own, gesturing with one hoof to the back entrance. "Shall we?"

The trio of friends made their way inside the mansion cautiously, with Dusk setting up a passive scanning spell. He trusted his senses to protect him, but he had two friends to look out for now, and he wasn't sure Flash knew this particular spell, and AJ didn't seem to make use of his own magical ability at all beyond the standard transformation between the two forms. They were doubly lucky. Inside the house, the magic suppression field was non-existent, and so the trio quickly changed into their anthro forms. There was little telling if they would need the extra advantages the half-human form gave them. Ash seemed far more comfortable with having hands ready to use with those gunblades of his anyway, as he seemed slightly less tense than before, though he was still on his guard. Dusk wondered as to why the suppression field would be set at such a low level inside the house. Either the Baron was out of the area altogether— and thus so would be the majority of his servants since he liked to keep his best attendants on hand when he traveled, which meant that he wouldn't bother keeping the field up within the house since he believed anyone trying to get in would be caught well ahead of time— or else he was so assured of his current situation being unassailable that he had decided to chuck all caution to the four winds.

Either way, it was making things easier for the trio of young colts. They didn't want to fight anyone if they could help it. They were good fighters, true, and Dusk and Flash had some decent reach with their particular weapons and the gunblades would give Ash a wide range from which to fight, but they didn't want to shed any more blood than was absolutely necessary. Combat, while a part of Equestrian life, wasn't the goal here. The goal was evidence gathering. They didn't exactly have the place mapped out, but they had a general idea of where the stuff they were probably looking for wasn't going to be. The trio had a few close calls, as there were still some servants in the house, and none of them were the greatest hand at stealth, though they weren't rank amateurs, either. Eventually, they managed to make it to the second floor.

"Where to now?" Flash asked. Ash looked down the various corridors.

"Don't rightly know." he replied. "Ah never actually been inside the place before, 'member?"

"Right, sorry." Flash returned with an abashed chuckle, and even Dusk grinned.

"Well, if the Baron works here the same way he does when he's in the capital, that means he'll go for the cushiest place to set up shop for his bedroom, and the place that has the greatest sense of 'gravitas' for his so-called study, which would be where he'd keep anything of importance to him." Dusk answered a few moments later. "I've been to his place a few times with the Shogun as part of my education into life at the Imperial Court, and one of his less thrilled servants mentioned it to me when I was waiting for them to conclude their business." He added, answering their confused looks.

With that bit of information now in hand, the three friends felt they actually had a better idea of where to go. They soon found what looked like it pretty much couldn't be anything but the Baron's study. Making their way in, the three shifted into anthromorphic form, and began to carefully rifle through the most recent bits of paperwork, doing their utmost to make sure that anything they moved was put back where it came from just in case, as they didn't want to let the Baron know anyone had been on to him, or that they had managed to get into the mansion. They looked through the place for the better part of twenty minutes, but couldn't find anything that looked like evidence connecting the Baron to the explosion and cave-in at the Jade's mines.

"Reckon we might'a come out here fer nuthin', brah." Ash said to Dusk after a few minutes more searching. The young gunblade wielder found himself feeling annoyed that the Baron hadn't left anything behind they could use. It meant that the whole mystery of who set off the explosion in the family mine could drag on for who knew how long. He'd been hoping Dusk's hunch that the Baron had been involved and might have left some kind of clue behind would pay off. "Seems if th' Baron was behind it, he did a good job coverin' it up."

"You could be right, but let's try just a bit more searching. I want to be sure there's really nothing here, because our only other hope would be the Baron's bedroom, and frankly, I don't think I want to know what he does in there in his spare time." the indigo unicorn joked, causing Ash to crack a grin and Flash to roll his eyes in amusement. It was a rare thing for Dusk to tell even a halfway decent joke, so seeing the amusement in his friends' faces warmed him in a way that even the feel of magic flowing through him did not. They continued searching the Baron's study. Ash gave a frustrated sigh after another few minutes worth, in which they again checked all over the study, making sure they'd left no stone unturned. And they had come up with the same thing as before. Namely not a damn thing.

"Ain't nuthin' here, Dusk." He said, and closed one drawer with a little more force than necessary due to his frustration. Dusk's ears went up and he walked over to where Ash was, and pulled the drawer open again. "What in tarnation' are you doin'?" the miner pony asked, as Dusk began removing papers from the drawer and putting them in a neat stack in reverse order.

"This drawer has a false bottom. Didn't you hear the way it sounded when you closed it a minute ago? That sound that something was in there that was a lot heavier than just some papers or a loose-leaf notebook?" Dusk said as he pulled out the last paper. Ash and Flash looked curious. And now that Ash thought about it, the drawer looked like it should be a lot deeper and yet Dusk hadn't taken more than maybe two thirds of its size out. The indigo unicorn knocked lightly on what appeared to be the drawer's bottom boarding, and as he suspected, it sounded somewhat hollow. He took a moment to find where the latch was and soon enough pulled loose a book of spells. And by chance, there was a marker indicating a specific page that the Baron wanted to keep in mind. Flipping the book open, Dusk began to read, and then went as pale as his indigo coat would allow, and he facepalmed despite himself.

"That idiot..."

His two friends peered over his shoulder curiously. Ash, sadly, was no great magical theoretician. Flash was a little better however and frowned.

"Dusk, I'm not nearly as good with magic theory as you've proven to be over the course of our short association, but am I reading this right? Did the Baron actually...?"

"I'm not entirely sure, Flash," Dusk replied, "but I'm starting to think he might have, yes. These pages detail ingredients needed for a Summoning, and a powerful one at that. I hope he understands the risk he's putting himself and others into. Because this kind of thing is dangerous on levels I don't even want to consider. This is the kind of thing that even most accomplished mages balk at doing unless they have no other choice."

"Is this gonna be enough evidence to bring to the law?" Ash asked. He still wasn't entirely sure what the two unicorns were talking about, as he used his magic largely as a means to enhance his own innate toughness and strength more than anything else, and had resisted most of his grandfather's offers to teach him anything more advanced as Earth Pony magic went.

"Maybe. As the Shogun's Ward I'm one of the few people who can go anywhere for any reason and search places without a warrant. If we can get this to Proper Procedure, I think we have a shot at sewing this up pretty tight." Dusk replied with a firm nod. "It's probably the second best thing to an outright confession from the Baron himself."

"Would you like it in writing?" The trio looked up to see the Baron, who looked enormously smug as he stepped into the room in his anthro form. "Nice try boys. I've got to hand it to you, Shine. You're as skilled as the rumors say. My staff should wake up with no idea whatsoever as to why they suddenly fell asleep. If I hadn't had a special charm set to alert me if anyone not keyed into it used any form of magic against my staff in any form of offensive manner, I wouldn't even have known you were here. Just my luck I was only halfway into town when I felt the alarm spell."

"Credit where it's due, you pompous windbag." Dusk said, gesturing to Flash, who gave a dry look to the Baron, who seemed to be surprised by this.

"Oh, look. You've made yourself a friend." he drawled. But then he did a double-take as he gave Flash a look over again, trying to commit his face to memory, and found something unexpected. "Well, well. Not High Aspirations' boy, surely?" he said, and chuckled at the look of astonishment on the faces of the two unicorn colts. "Come now, Dusk. You didn't really expect me not to know about the offspring of a former member of the nobility, did you?"

Dusk would have kicked himself had he had the time. Flash had told him that he was the son of a former princess. Of course the Baron would have known of her. He had to have had some knowledge of present and former peers. He made use of his political muscles any chance he could get.

"You realize I can't allow you to just strut in here and steal from me, don't you?" said the Baron. His tone was light and playful, but the smug look in his eye was such that Ash wanted to take a gunblade to his face. "Particularly seeing as you have something that could cause me a lot of trouble."

"More than you know, Baron." Dusk snorted. "Do you have any idea what kind of forces you're dealing with here? There's a reason why most practicing magicians don't screw around with this kind of stuff!"

"Yes, yes. The horrors that Summonings can conjure up and the price they might extract. Really, boy. I heard all this well before you ever came along. I know what I'm doing." the Baron ground out in annoyance. "You seem to think that just because you're Lunaris' pet, that it means you can lord it over me. I don't give a damn how good at magic or combat you are, boy. I'm not some backwards country bumpkin like your earth pony friend over there who doesn't know the risks."

"Considering you're using something as dangerous as a summoning just to try to scare a family that never did you any harm into selling their land to you, I think calling you a country bumpkin would be an insult to actual country bumpkins. And Ash is no idiot, Baron." Flash suddenly cut in. "He may not be classically educated, but he's a damn sight smarter than you. What do you think would happen if something happened to us, with the police already aware that we're investigating this issue? I mean seriously, did you really think that if something happened to us that nobody would suspect anything? My father is a well known artificer. Ash's grandfather runs an abundant and fruitful mine, despite it being relatively remotely located. Dusk is the Shogun's ward and apprentice, for crying out loud!"

"Ah, yes. And what do you think the Shogun will say when Dusk is arrested for breaking an entering, theft, and using magic against ponies without due cause?"

The three colts stared at the Baron as though they believed he had completely lost his mind, as they were pretty sure that would be a ridiculously hard idea to sell. And the Baron stared back as his assistant from the night before arrived.

"Problems, Baron?" he asked.

"None whatsoever. It seems we arrived just in time." The Baron replied. But then gave Dusk an askance look at the smug expression on the indigo unicorn's face.

"Wrong." Dusk said, as his horn lit up, and there was a great crunching noise as beams of wood ripped upwards, smashing into the ceiling and creating a makeshift cage around the Baron and his assistant.

"Break for it!" Dusk shouted to his companions and the three of them dashed past the cage. Dusk held it in place with his magic as long as he could with the Baron focusing his own magic against it. It held long enough for them to get down to the first floor. The guards and servants were still asleep, but the trio of colts knew they wouldn't stay that way for long. They scampered past them even as they heard the Baron bellowing in rage as the cage gave way and he thundered down the stairs after them with his assistant not far behind him. They headed out the back in order to head off any threats from the front, and ended up scattering away from one another to avoid several magical bursts and even a few bullets. Luckily, none of the three friends was any slouch in the agility department, and Ash proved to be a capable sharpshooter in his own right, firing his Gunblades with such accuracy as to destroy incoming bullets, protecting the three from serious injury, as each bullet he fired was enhanced by Earth Pony magic. Dusk and Flash added their unicorn magic to the fray, covering one another and Ash in magic fields to repel spells and bullets. The three came back together from where they had scattered as they approached the borderline of the Baron's property.

"You won't get away from me, boy!" The Baron called after them as Dusk threw up a massive barrier of ice which extended in a line towards the Baron, which he countered with a spell designed to melt the ice, only to have it start detonating due to a secondary effect Dusk had woven into the spell. Neither the Baron nor his assistant were harmed, but the explosions and smoke had been enough to slow them down long enough for the boys to escape.

The trio arrived in Ponyville about twenty minutes or so after their escape from the Baron's estate. All three were exhausted from running at nearly top speed. They stopped near a small store somewhere in the middle of town.

"That was too close." Flash panted. "Shogun's wings, Dusk, I thought we'd be done in there and then."

"You and me both, brah." Ash said as the trio worked to regain their breath. "But if'n we got enough evidence to put the Baron away, Ah'd call it a risk worth takin', personally."

"This isn't over. We need to get this to the cops, and I need to make a vidcall." Dusk replied to his friends. Despite the hard run, the three were quickly off to the police station, where they were met at the front desk by Proper Procedure himself, who was checking in. He was shown the book, which he was told was evidence that the Baron had been involved in the incident at the mine. After Dusk had explained what the Baron had done, the officer was all for destroying the book, but Dusk immediately shot this down.

"This is heavy magic, chief." Dusk said firmly. "This kind of magic is rarely used and for good reason. Bad enough he's used it, but to use it in the way he has makes it worse. The Shogun needs to be brought in on this. I need access to a hololink."

Ten minutes later in a private room, the Shogun's visage was rendered in full three dimensional holographic form. And as Dusk explained more and more of what was going on, the more the Shogun looked fit to explode.

"Dusk, you took a major risk on this matter. I understand that the Jades are friends of yours, but you've got to be more careful. You know what's at stake." Lunaris said. But his features softened as he saw the chastised look on his ward's face. "I'm not saying you did the wrong thing by helping the Jades. If I were in your position I'd like to hope I'd have done the same thing. But you should have planned your infiltration better than you did. You were lucky to escape. I'll send a contingent of the royal guard to aid the police in arresting the Baron."

Dusk nodded. "That's good. I'm worried though. If he's been stupid enough to go this far, who else is? For that matter, who else was in on it among the nobility?" the indigo pony said with a frown. "For all we know he could be working with the Griffons or the Dragons."

"It's possible." The Shogun nodded after a moment's thought. "I'll put some of my best agents on the case, see what we can find in his other estates. You do what you can to help the Jades finish their cleanup and then get back underway, alright? You still need to find the other Incarnates."

Dusk nodded, and despite the severity of the situation, smiled at Lunaris. "I won't let you down, your majesty."

The Shogun snorted. It was an old joke between the two, as he had often told Dusk to either call him by name or just Shogun. But sometimes Dusk used the proper stylization that came with the title and throne. After a few minutes more discussing some of the plans Dusk had for finding the Elements of Bushido, Dusk exited the room, where he met AJ and Flash, both of whom were expectantly waiting on him.

"The Shogun's sending members of the Guard to assist the cops here in town to bring the Baron in. He's shut down totally, at least for now. But I don't expect he's going to go down without a fight. He may make one last push against the town, or even the mine, now that he knows he's been exposed. I've seen it happen before with other Nobles." The indigo unicorn told them.

"If'n he's gonna try something 'gainst mah family, then Ah better get back there fast." Ash said. The idea of the Baron attacking his family's lands and livelihood making him angry enough that his southern drawl actually became more pronounced.

"You won't be going alone, AJ. Not if Dusk and I have anything to say about the matter." Flash replied, and Dusk nodded. And so after asking for a small squad of officers to accompany them to the mines from Proper Procedure, the trio of colts, now in pony form, were sprinting out of town to the Jade family mines.

The trio made their way to the gates of the Jade property with the escort and found Strike Jade waiting for them on the front porch. He seemed to be halfway between furious and relieved at the sight of the trio. He gave Ash a light cuff to the side of the head as he came within arm's reach.

"Don't go scarin' me like that again, Ash." he said sternly. "I thought th' Baron had come and run off with ya and yer friends. Cut's been makin' vidcalls to the police all day!"

"It was my fault, sir." Dusk said, moving up to stand next to Ash. "I was the one who was planning to infiltrate the Baron's home in hopes of finding some evidence to link him to the attack on the mine. Flash and AJ were bound and determined to back me up and wouldn't take no for an answer. So if you have to blame someone, you should blame me."

"The hell he will." Ash said sharply. "Ah made th' choice ta help ya an' Ah'm stickin' by it. The Jades look out fer their own and the day we turn tail on a friend is th' day hell freezes over." The stetson wearing colt turned to give his grandfather the sternest look he could muster. "Do whatever you gotta do, Grampa, but Ah ain't about ta apologize fer doin' what Ah saw t'be right. They done stuck their necks out fer us when the mine collapsed, an' Dusk even spoke up 'gainst the Baron for us when he didn't haveta. Ah wouldn'tve felt right leavin' them to do this alone."

Strike gave Ash a contemplative look for a few minutes, then sighed, shaking his head, before letting out a low chuckle.

"Yer def'nitely yer dad's son, Ash." the old stallion before he turned back towards the front door. "Well, c'mon. Breakfast's ready, an' the station called to tell us you were on yer way back, so we got enough fer ever'one who wants some."

The trio were more than happy to oblige and were just about to dig into what looked to be a small feast for breakfast when an inarticulate roar sounded through the Jade estate. Jumping to their feet, the Jades, Dusk, and Flash darted outside, and stopped in pure disbelief of what stood before them.

"You gotta be shitting me..." Dusk said, which summed up the feelings of all present.

Before them stood a being that looked like a semi-amorphous quadrupedal being made of burning shadows. How such a thing was possible, only a few of the truly great magicians in the world could have explained. All that anyone knew was the thing was there. It didn't look like a pony, a griffon, a dragon, a human, or anything else native to the planet.

"That sonuvabitch! He actually did it!" Dusk raged as the sight confirmed in his mind just how foolish the Baron truly was. "He summoned a demon!"

"Well, at least we know one thing now." Flash deadpanned as he pulled his Naginata loose and held in in an aggressive fighting stance. "The Baron really is as idiotic a git as he seems."

Ash gave the artificer a confused look. But then shook his head and pulled his gunblades free and crouched, waiting to see what the monster the Baron had unleashed was going to do next. Dusk pulled his twin Katana free. He was sure of the strength of the one he'd gotten from the Shogun. It had been made by the Shogun himself from within the heart of a neutron star. It would take far worse than this creature to destroy it. The other was a good blade, even if it didn't have the benefit of the Shogun's hand as its creator. But whether or not it would hold up against a demon, he wasn't sure. He crossed the blades near the tips, before pulling them away from one another and creating a small electrical flash of light, before he settled into a combat stance of his own.

"This isn't going to be an easy fight, guys. I think you two should worry about getting the rest of the people here to safety. I'm no archmage, nor am I a combat Master, but I can buy you enough time to get everyone out safely before this thing shreds me." Dusk said.

"You're right about one thing, Dusk." Flash said. "This won't be an easy fight. But you won't be doing it alone."

"Flash, I'm serious. This thing would give Samurai with more experience then I'll ever have in a lifetime trouble. We can't win this fight! At least if I buy you some time, you and Ash and everyone else here can escape, bring back the police, or the guard, or someone who can help!" Dusk said, real fear entering his voice now. His friends couldn't possibly be so foolish as to throw their lives away. "Besides, I'm an orphan! If I bite it here, nobody will miss me. You two don't have that luxury!"

"The Shogun'd miss ya, Dusk." Ash said calmly. "That is, if'n yer tellin' the truth 'bout bein' his apprentice an all—"

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to lie about something like that?" Dusk snapped.

"No. Ah know when someone's tellin' th' truth most'a the time. An' few dishonest folks'd stand up fer people they only known a day or two when they come under fire like this. But yer wrong if you think nobody'd miss ya if you kicked it here. The Shogun'd miss ya. Flash'd miss ya. Ah'd miss ya, an th' family'd miss ya. Yer our friend, Dusk. An' like Ah keep tellin' yah: It'll be a cold day in hell 'fore a Jade cuts an' runs on his friends."

Dusk almost recoiled from the strength of purpose in the Earth Pony's voice. But then smiled even as he closed his eyes and shook his head in something between wonder and amazement, laughing lightly. "I never looked at it like that." Dusk said as he opened his eyes again. There was a harder look present there now. "Well then guys, make me one promise;" he grinned. "Don't either of you let this bastard kill you. I plan on having you two as my friends for as long as I live and it'd be pretty hard to do if you two were worm food."

The other two shared a look with Dusk before the entire trio grinned at one another, and as one, the three moved to attack.

The creature was fast. Faster than any of the three were individually. But facing a three-pronged attack meant that the odds were against it getting away without taking damage. However, as the trio of young ponies closed in on the thing, odds seemed to be the last thing on its mind as it grabbed all three in a magical grip and smashed them all together. Dusk's skull practically bounced off of Flash's, and Flash's head was sent careening into Ash's off that contact, leaving all three with spots in their vision momentarily, even as Ash tried to pull a bead on the creature and fired, only to see it almost lazily tilt itself to one side, the bullet going wild by almost a half a foot. However this turned out to be what Ash was hoping it would do, as his second gunblade roared to life, striking it solidly in the upper left shoulder and ribcage. The tactic was enough that the magic holding the three began to destabilize.

Flash took advantage of the magical grip coming loose to charge forward and break it altogether, jamming the blade of his weapon into the chest of the monster, right below where he figured the heart would have been in a mortal being, and heaved, trying to force it through whatever it might have had that would pass for a spine. The creature bellowed again, but then reared up on its hind legs and used its forelegs to grasp the naginata and yank on it, causing it to slip free from Flash's hands, causing him to tip over, though Dusk quickly caught him in his magic and set him upright on his feet even as he darted in and tried to slash out the tendons in the creature's lower hind legs. The creature pulled the Naginata loose at almost the exact moment Dusk's blades cut into the flesh of its leg and it turned, smashing the pole of the Naginata into Dusk and sending the young ward of the Shogun tumbling end over end nearly twenty feet. Only by luck did he manage not to be injured by his own blades despite keeping a firm grip on them.

"Damnit...we're gettin' nowhere fast, guys!" Ash said as he laid down some suppression fire to cover Flash as he used his magic to pull his weapon back into his hands and in turn cover Dusk who was just regaining his feet. "I dun' suppose either of yah got some kinda one hit kill spell or somethin' y'all can throw at this ugly bastard?"

"If we did, I'd like to think we'd have used it first, my friend!" Flash returned as the creature decided to show off just what it meant to challenge one of its ilk by spitting a number of fireballs at the trio. "Dusk? Please tell me you haven't been holding out on us here."

"I haven't." Dusk said as all three of them were diving for cover as the fireballs landed and detonated with incredible force. "I wish I knew what to do here. I've read about Summonings, but they're extremely rare for a reason. Most people aren't so screwed up that they would run the risk of bringing something Demonic into this world. Not after the way things went down during the Age of Heroes!" The demon launched more fireballs their way, sending them each scurrying for some kind of cover. Think, Dusk, think! the indigo unicorn berated himself mentally. You've studied all kinds of magic since the Shogun took you in! There has to be something in those books and mechanized files you've had your nose stuck in that can help!

The creature stomped the ground, sending a line of flame outward which split into three and homed in on the current cover each of the three were hidden behind. Ash and Flash darted backwards just in time to avoid the explosive reaction that ensued between their respective hiding places and the demon's attack. Dusk was a half a second slow, still trying to think of some spell or enchantment that might help, and was again sent end over end, this time sporting several light burns. His clamped his jaws shut to avoid giving voice to the pain of the flames that had licked at his body. He refused to give the Baron's monster that satisfaction.

As the trio began gearing up to counter attack, four new gunshots rang out and the creature bellowed again as it staggered backwards from the unexpected assault. Dusk and the others turned to see Strike and Cut, each armed with gunblades of their own standing about two hundred feet away. Ash winced. He hadn't seen his grandfather use gunblades outside of giving him lessons on using them before, and he'd never seen his sister use them ever. He made a mental note never to get on their bad sides. They just made a set of shots he was pretty sure he couldn't have made even if he'd had laser sights on his blades.

"Get the hell away from my grandson and his friends, ya freaky bastard!" Strike called to the creature. "You wanna fight someone, fight me, ya underbrained varmint!"

The creature looked all too willing to oblige. But the colts would have none of it, as both Dusk and Flash launched magical blasts from their horns even as Ash pushed every ounce of Earth Pony magic he could muster into the gunblades, firing massive glowing spheres of power at the creature. Strike and Cut added their own weaponsfire to the mix. The result was impressive, as the mix of magic and sheer kinetic energy combined to send the beast flying a good hundred feet back with a small explosion of force. It seemed to be genuinely hurt, too, as it seemed to now be 'bleeding' some form of odd glowing white ichor. Dusk, Ash, and Flash began to regroup.

"Thanks for the assist!" he called to the two older Jade family members. "Keep everyone out of harm's way if you can."

"Ah'll lay down some coverin' fire if'n you need it while Cut gets the other folks clear. We still got workhands recuperatin' from the other day that haven't been able to get a spot over t'the hospital yet!" Strike called back as Cut was already in motion, circling the long way around, with the creature thankfully ignoring her in favor of the others, who were the larger threat. It was also, they noted, favoring its wounded side as it got to its feet.

"Great. Our job just got that much harder...." Dusk muttered to himself. But he shook his head and took a cleansing breath, trying to compose himself. "Okay guys...you heard him. Let's keep that thing's mind on us." That said, he began pouring magic along his arms and into his twin Katana, giving them a dark black-silver glow. "Keep it off balance. We know this thing can be hurt now. Let's see if we can't make it worse." And in the meantime, he thought to himself, maybe I can figure out some kind of spell to kill it. If we just keep attacking it, odds are good it'll kill one or all of us before we can really do it any real damage. It's hurt, but that won't stop it for long...

The creature quickly lived up to that prediction, and had apparently decided to mix and match attacks, sending out fireballs and that odd snaking fireline assault, trying to get the trio one way or another. Dusk poured magic into the blade the Shogun had given him and batted the fireball sent his way into the middle of the fireline at the point that it split in three to try to snuff it out at the source. To everyone's suprirse, the move worked, and Flash and Ash took quick advantage of it, as the unicorn fired several magical bolts through his horn wile the Earth pony fired magically enhanced bullets at the thing. Strike added in his own magically enhanced bullets to the assault, but this time the thing seemed to be ready for such an attack and had no wish to experience the effects of a combo assault of that nature again, raising a shield of raw flame, which withstood the bullets. And though the magical bolt fired by Flash caused it to snuff out, it did lost cohesion in the doing, allowing the monster to surge forward, trying to ram the silver-white unicorn. Flash responded to the bullrush by stabbing the Naginata forward and using the leverage of the impact to flip the creature overhead, thanks to a bit of magical reinforcement to his muscles.

"This is getting us nowhere fast. All we can manage is a holding action right now. Unless we can get some kind of reinforcements, we're screwed!" Dusk said as he leapt forwards, meeting the rising demon with a slash of his Katana to its back, causing it to bellow in pain and briefly collapse to the floor again. "Strike, by any chance, did you manage to get word back to town about what was going on?"

"If they didn't hear that thing screamin' its head off when it first showed up, they ain't comin'!" Strike Jade responded as he shot off another few rounds. Cut Jade could be seen out of the corner of Dusk's eye, doing her best to help the wounded to safety.

"Even if they were, you'll be dead long before anyone else will get here."

"Baron...." Dusk snarled at the sound of the familiar voice.....which came from the mouth of the monster they were fighting. Dusk narrowed his eyes. "Using a spell to see and communicate with us through your pet, Baron?" he sneered, leaping at the creature and corkscrewing through the air, cutting several gashes into whatever passed for its flesh with both his Katana, which were reinforced by his magic.

"Of course. How could I pass up the opportunity to see the demise of Lunaris' pet and the Jades all in one fell swoop? Almost a pity about Aspirations' boy, really. He could have been a great Samurai when he grew up."

"I'm not dead yet, you bloody demon trafficking wanker!" Flash said, slamming the Naginata home in the creature's lower right side when it reared up to try taking a swipe at Dusk. "But I'll be right glad to help Dusk and Ash dispell whatever plans you have like so much smoke!"

....Oh fuck me. Why didn't I think of that sooner!? Dusk thought to himself, eyes wide. "Flash, you're a damn genius!"

"Well of course I am!" Flash replied. Then blinked, looking over to Dusk. "Wait. What? What've you got up your sleeve, Dusk?"

"Everybody fall back! Gimme some room!" Dusk shouted. His horn was lightning up slowly, but growing in strength every second. The Jades and Flash and the wounded that Cut Jade was working to evacuate give him as wide a berth as possible, moving as far away as possible, and hoping the young blade wielding Samurai knew what he was doing. Dusk's horn continued to glow, and it increased in power and light until it physically hurt to look at it, and then, as the monster the Baron had summon lunged towards the indigo colored unicorn, Dusk let out a massive spell that engulfed everything around them for roughly fifty feet around. There was a blinding flash of light and a thunderous sound like the firing of a thousand cannons at one time.....

When the light had faded, the demon was gone, leaving less nothing more than a small burn mark on the ground to show it was ever there in the first place. Dusk was nowhere to be seen. But one of his Katana lay thirty feet from where the two had been. Flash and Ash moved quickly to it, and spotted its twin laying not much further away, and just beyond that by perhaps another seventy feet....

"What the...." Flash stared. Ash stared. The Jades stared.

"...Uhm...is that normal for unicorns?" Cut asked, and Flash turned an incredulous look her way.

"That was a joke. Right?" he asked, his voice lacking all humor.

"Let's get him inside...." Strike said quietly.

Dusk had a pounding headache that just wouldn't quit.

"Ugggrrhh...anyone catch the number of that war cruiser that hit me?" He muttered, and winced, clutching his head, as his own voice seemed to hurt to hear, and his throat felt like he'd swallowed lava.

"Y'all had us worried, boy." Strike Jade said, coming into the room where Dusk lay. He carried a tray of food and set it down on the bed Dusk had been settled into. "Ah dunno what in the seven hells you used out there, but it worked. The demon's gone, an' the guard found the Baron and put him away. He's gonna be out of everyone's hair for a long time to come."

"Good to hear." Dusk said, no longer feeling any pain from hearing anyone speak. "How long was I out?"

"'Bout seven hours. The boys and Cut are waitin on yah to wake up."

"What about Shatter? I know he was nowhere near the fighting, but I hope all the noise didn't scare him too badly." Dusk asked. Strike smiled.

"Don't you worry none about him. Shatter sleeps like the dead and the demon popped up durin' his nap, Ah reckon. He was snoozin' without a care in the world when we brought you in." the old stallion said. "Dig in. You gotta get yer strength back. Flash filled me in on what you two're upta. Tryin' t'save the world, huh? Somehow Ah get the feelin' the world's in good hands."

Grinning a bit at the vote of confidence from the Jade patriarch, Dusk reached for some of the food, and stopped dead in his tracks as he got a look at his arm.

"What in—?!"

"Yeah...that was somethin' we were wonderin' ourselves." Strike said, rubbing his chin. "Never seen anything like this happen before. Thought maybe it was a side effect of whatever it was ya used on the Baron's monster. What didja use, anyway?"

"A high level disruption spell." Dusk said, still staring at his arm. Something told him however, that it wasn't just his arm that had been affected though. He looked around and quickly spotted a full-body mirror on a nearby wall. Moving the tray aside, he made to get out of bed. He stumbled briefly, but Strike was quick enough to help steady him. Once he was sure he could walk on his own, Dusk made his way towards the mirror and looked into it.

What stared back was a unicorn, sure enough. But instead of being an indigo coated unicorn with bronze streaks in a blue mane and green eyes staring back....

There was a unicorn with green eyes, a green coat of fur, and a green mane with silver streaks staring back at him......

How did this happen? Dusk thought to himself as he looked over the changes in his body. His tail was the same color as his mane before, and it still held true now. He shifted into full pony form, and saw that the changes were constant in both forms. The only thing that seemed to remain unaffected was his Warrior Mark. He tried to figure out what could have caused such a change, and began pacing, trying to replay the battle's conclusion in his mind. He stopped suddenly as something occurred to him. He felt....lighter. As if there had been some kind of restraint on him that he'd never before noticed and it was suddenly gone.

He frowned. The only thing he could remember at the conclusion of the battle had been the dispelling of the demon. He didn't know the exact spell that would send the demon back to its own dimension, so he had used the one spell that was designed to disrupt spells of almost any type. Only an Alicorn or equally powerful spellcaster could have repulsed it, and the Baron was no master sorcerer, nor was he close enough to the creature to give the summoning spell any reinforcement.

After a good ten minutes of pacing and not coming up with anything, Strike got Dusk to eat and then let the others come fuss over him for a bit, and after a bit, everyone had settled in for a good night's sleep. Everyone, save two.

"You sure about this, Ash?" Strike said as he and his grandson settled down at the kitchen table. "Ah ain't gonna stop ya, but you need ta be sure."

"Sure as shootin' grampa. Those two could use some help. An' let's face it, Ah've got a bit of wanderlust in me as much as dad did when he was a kid." Ash replied. "Me an' Flash already talked about it, an' Dusk'll prolly go along with it if he knows yer on board."

Strike smirked, before pulling his grandson into a strong hug. "Never could stop yer old man from doin' anything he set his mind on. You an' yer sister are the same way. You watch out for yourself and those boys, y'hear? Ah don't want to bury my grandson anytime soon."

"Ah'll be back, gramps. Me an' Flash'll help Dusk find them Elements of Bushido things an' the folks who're supposed to use'em, you just watch and see if we don't."

Grinning, Strike nodded.

"Ah better get ta bed. Ah figger Dusk'll put up a fight at first even if you are givin' the ok."

"You sayin' Dusk'd call ya a liar?" Strike asked, quicking a brow curiously.

"Naw. But he won't wanna believe it at first cause he thinks too much like an orphan. You saw what happened today. He figgered nobody'd miss him if somethin' happened to him. Boy's got a lot of courage in'im, but doesn't really think he matters as long as he gets the job done. Someone's gotta hammer some home truths inta the guy."

Strike nodded. "Makes sense. You think you can get through to'im?"

"Well, like Ah always say, honesty's usually the key to gettin' things done." Ash said with a grin as he got to his feet and tipped his stetson to the older stallion. "Night, Grampa."

"Night, Ash."

"I wonder...." Lunaris muttered to himself. He stood in the royal archives, poring over a number of data files on a large supercomputer. The information he'd just been given by his old friend Strike Jade had triggered something in the back of his mind. A memory that danced just out of his reach. Something about the change wrought in his ward sounded so tantalizingly familiar. "Where do I know it from....?"

The answers weren't yet forthcoming. But he had time. He had no appointments for the rest of the afternoon before the sun set and the moon rose. He would find the information eventually. There was no rush.

Sitting in his cell, the Baron scowled. He had come so close. Then the Shogun's damned brat had appeared and it had all unravelled. He knew the Shogun had used agents to thwarts many of his agents and plans in the past. But then came the boy. And now his plans for the Jade Mines had come to a close.

"Such a pity." a voice sounded in his mind."With the aid I granted you, Baron, this should have been mere child's play."

The Baron was startled to hear the voice in his mind. He looked about, but saw no guards. "I underestimated those colts. They were stronger than I imagined. Almost unthinkably strong for boys of their age. Dusk's magical power alone is savant-like. No unicorn his age should be that strong. Flash Burst isn't that far behind him. And Ash Jade will be as dangerous a stallion as any who ever took up arms, regardless of the species or the magic."

"And so they quest together." The voice said. "Such a pity you fell so far after climbing so high, Baron. But then, Icarus fell too, didn't he?"

The Baron puzzled over the reference for a moment, before he realized it was a reference to a myth from Ancient Earth. The realization came with it a burning sensation beneath his skin. He groaned in pain for a moment, but it passed. "I have no intention to repeat his mistake." the Baron replied. A split second later, he almost doubled over in pain. Beneath his skin, his veins glowed brilliantly. "....What is this...?!" he ground out as his body began to heat up.

"I told you, Baron. Icarus fell. So it was, so it has come to be again."

The Baron's screams of pain sounded throughout the cells.

All that was found ten minutes later was a smoldering skeleton and flesh burnt to ash.

The guard who had served the Baron his food smirked as the screams made their way to his ears.

"Solus Infinitum."

Author's Note

And so Chapter five joins the party! Merry Christmas update to all the followers of this story! Here, we get the answer to why Dusk is green in later stories. Or at least part of the answer. There's a bit more to this story than just this, but you'll have to keep reading the series to learn more. I'm also trying to think of a name for what to call my stories featuring this group. I'm trying to decide between Stallionverse, Bushidoverse, and Shogunverse. Though I'm open to suggestions and I may have some ideas that might come to me later on. In the meantime, I offer the following holiday enjoyment!

Rurouni- Part One- On the Mountain Trail

The Shogun Six

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or any characters belonging to Hasbro or any other companies listed herein. All original characters mentioned here are my own creations. I do this solely for entertainment purposes and in no way make any profit from it.

Chapter Six:

Rurouni

Part One:

On the Mountain Trail

In the four months since Ash Jade had joined the two unicorns, the group had travelled farther from Ponyville than AJ had ever been or had even dreamed of going before. He loved every moment of it, and was more than willing to listen to some of Dusk's facts on some of the various places they had gone. Though Ash quickly learned something Flash had himself discovered not long after he had begun traveling with the other unicorn.

"How often does he have his nose stuck in that book?" Ash asked Flash as the trio, all in pony form at the moment, were settled in for the night at the local hotel. Dusk was engrossed in a novel off to one side while the other two had been engrossed in discussion up until Ash had noticed why Dusk wasn't participating. "Ah mean seriously. This's the third time this week he's read that one."

"I'm not entirely sure about it myself, AJ. He has something of an attachment to it, though. He about had a panic attack the one time he thought he lost it not long before we met you." Flash replied. Then shrugged. "I'm not really sure why. But then again, it seems to be personal for him, so I've never considered asking."

Ash frowned. Then got to his hooves and walked over to Dusk. And poked him in the side. "Question."

Dusk looked up. "Answer. Let's see if they match." he replied. Flash gave a dry chuckle and Ash rolled his eyes at the odd pun.

"What's the deal with this book? Ah've seen ya read a lot, but this one you seem to come back to a lot more than anythin' else Ah've seen ya read since we met. Ah mean, sure it's prolly good, but it's the only one Ah ever see you constantly pullin' out ta read over an' over again."

Dusk closed the book, a copy of Vampire Hunter D, volume 1, and set it in his bag with the kind of reverence one would treat a priceless artifact. "To be honest, it's really the only thing I have to connect me to my parents."

Ash gave him a confused look. "Ah thought you said you never knew yer folks?"

"I didn't know them." Dusk replied. "I have no idea what they looked like or where they were from or why they abandoned me. But this was with me from as far back as I can remember. There was a small barrelfull of preservation and protection spells put on it, to boot. I actually learned how to read thanks to this book. I used to eavesdrop on some children in the park in the northern part of the Capital when they would have classes during the day. I learned the alphabet through them, and from there, I started applying it to the book. I guess it was something they wanted me to have and hoped I would hang onto it as a way to identify me if they ever met me again. Or vice versa, or whatever." Then he looked himself over. "Not that it would matter in the long run I guess. If they saw me now, they wouldn't recognize me."

Dusk was still acclimating to the radical change in his appearance. The fact that he'd had to have all of his ID changed to match his new look did little to set his mind at ease about it either. He still expected to see the same indigo coat and bronze stripe in his mane that he'd known for most of his life. Not the green coat and silver stripe that he now sported, or the fact that he had started letting it grow out more in the back, trying to achieve something of what Ancient Earth history would have called a 'punk' look simply because he felt his old and somewhat bookworm-like look didn't feel right now that he was in what felt to him like an entirely new skin. Ash grinned and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't sweat it, Dusk. Ya got us an' the rest o' the Jade and Burst clans, an' ya got the Shogun. If'n yer folks ever come back, Ah'm sure you'll know. Or at least they'll know. They gotta know you're tight with the Shogun. It ain't exactly like either of ya ever tried t'hide it or nuthin' like that." the stetson wearing pony said. Dusk eventually nodded and smiled. "That's the spirit. Now c'mon, yer the leader on this little expedition of ours. So you oughtta be helpin' us look over this damned map t'figger out where ta go next. Them Elements ain't exactly makin' themselves any easier to find now than they did when y'all started this mess, ya know."

Dusk let out an annoyed grunt. "Tell me about it." he quipped. The trio opened up the map they had been looking at on the bullet train on the way in. "Okay, we're here." the green colt said, tapping a spot on the map. "And here's the ruins I think we should check out." he added, tapping another spot on the map.

Flash leaned in for a closer look. "Isn't this out in the Scottsdale Highlands?" he asked. "That's pretty rough terrain for anyone not from the area. You planning to hire a guide?"

"I'm hoping we won't need to." Dusk said with a shrug. "The ruins are pretty close by the train station. Might be....maybe two or three days travel both ways, assuming this map is to proper scale and the landmarks are still accurate. So, maybe a week tops, all things taken together. We can stop in town real quick before making our way up there."

"What exactly are we lookin' fer up there anyway, Dusk?" Ash asked. he was looking over the map himself, keen to figure out where the rivers and the like where in case they became necessary.

"I'm hoping to find some clue as to where the Elements might be located." Dusk replied, walking over to a mini-bar in their cabin and pulling open the door to the mini-fridge on the other side of it and pulling out a bottle of Dasani spring water. "So far every stop we've made, I've hit up the local library's myth and folklore section if it had one. Most of the books I've had the chance to read seem to agree that the Elements exist but few clues to their current resting place are still around. One place that keeps being mentioned however," he said as he returned to the map and tapped the mountain on the map again, "are these ruins. So there might be something worth checking out there."

After purchasing a few extra supplies in town— Dusk had insisted, citing there was no telling what they might run into and having a few days extra rations would mean less time needing to forage if things went south— the trio had begun to make their way up the mountain. Ash had more experience with plants than the two unicorns did, so he kept an eye out for anything dangerous that might impede their way. Dusk had resolved that he would brush up on his botany studies as soon as possible. Ash shouldn't have to carry the entire load of warning them about dangerous plant life in any given area. Not that the gunblade wielder seemed to mind. He enjoyed having something beyond his raw strength to contribute to the expedition.

"Remind me again how a miner knows so much about plants?" Flash asked as they took a brief detour around a growth of shrubs that Ash claimed were dangerous.

"Mah family's land is pretty rich in plant life, remember." Ash pointed out. "Plus, Grampa and Cut would take me campin' ever so often, and taught me what to look out fer. Cause we always planned t'expand our property at some point when the mines we had started t'run low. So they hadda do a lot of land surveys of surrounding land that could be bought or claimed."

"Makes sense." Flash conceded with a nod. Dusk took a quick snapshot of the plants they had avoided to make a point to catalogue later. The way once more safe to travel on the pathway up the mountainside, they increased their pace a bit, wanting to make it at least another three miles before nightfall. They stopped briefly for a quick, utilitarian lunch, and then resumed their trip. They had made it up maybe an eighth of the way to the ruins when the sun began to sink below the horizon and the team set up camp, unfolding a high level tent with a spell on it to make it far larger on the inside than out. It had been something Dusk had perfected a few years back and it allowed them to have a small 'home' out in the wilderness. Armed with protective spells and a few traps set around it, the team decided to forego use of the kitchen inside the tent and instead cooked out over a campfire.

"Nice night." Ash said, looking up at the sky as the sun's last rays of light had faded away and the moon began its ascent into the heavens.

"Yep. Nocturne must be having an easy time of it if he was able to get the switch made so smoothly." Dusk said absentmindedly as he continued to cook the hot dog he had impaled on a stick. Then looked up at the confused silence and questioning looks of his friends. "What?"

"Nocturne?" Flash asked simply, quirking a brow in curiosity.

Dusk blushed a bit. "It's the Shogun's real name. Lunaris is his Regnal name, the one he took when he ascended to the throne. Found out about it a year or so after he took me in." Comprehension flashed across Flash's face and he nodded.

"Reg-whatnow?" Ash said with no understanding of the word. Flash chuckled.

"It's an old tradition that some rulers still adhere to, Ash." Flash said. "Sometimes a ruler will take on a secondary name, different from the one they are given at birth, by which they will be addressed in all official capacities. It's also sometimes referred to as a 'reign' name or 'Imperial' name. While some choose to only have this name be how they are known in official or posthumous capacities, others will take it to the extreme of only responding to that name at all times. The Popes of the human religion of Christianity still practice the latter form of it. The Emperors of Japan have a slightly different take on it; when they ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne, they end up choosing the name they will be known by when they pass. For example, one of the longest lived emperors of Japan in the days of Ancient Earth's twentieth century, Emperor Hirohito, chose the Regnal name Showa. His son Akihito chose the name Heisei. As such, the years of Hirohito's reign are referred to as the Showa era, and the calendars of the age that did not conform to the gregorian calendar would have referred to each year of that reign as Showa One, Showa Two, etc. For basically every year that Hirohito was emperor, the calendar used the term Showa and then that year. So he would have been said to die in either the year Showa 63, or Heisei 1. I'm not entirely sure how that aspect of it works when a new Emperor ascends the throne."

"And they all do this?" the miner asked, starting to grasp the idea.

"No." Dusk replied to Ash, joining in on the explanation. "That's purely the choice of the ruler or religious leader in question and not everyone abides by the tradition. The previous Shogun took up the tradition. His personal name was Hyperion, but took the name Solaris when he was made Shogun. Nocturne took the name Lunaris as a way to honor the tradition, though he's told me he's not as fond of the imperial name as he is of his personal name. But he felt he should follow the tradition since he felt that it was what his subjects would have expected."

Conversation continued a bit further into the night, turning from one topic to another seemingly on a dime. They discussed everything from sports to magic to even curiosity about who had murdered the Baron. They had learned about his death a few weeks ago during one of Dusk's check-in vidcalls with the Shogun. The Baron was harmless by this point, but he had enemies. A lot of enemies. But the Shogun had no idea how any of them could have gotten at him in a cell patrolled by ponies loyal to him above all others. Ash had wondered why anyone would bother, figuring that the humilation of his defeat would have been a more effective revenge than just killing him off. Eventually, they headed inside their tent-base and each chose a room to head to sleep in as the spells and wards were strengthened one last time before they all turned in for the night.

Had they stayed up a bit longer, they would have seen a shape dart past the moon from where it had been hidden in the foliage of a tree within the perimeter of their protective enchantments. As it was going out rather than heading in, the spells made no attempt to arrest its departure or even signal to the occupents within the tent that anything had been there.

Dawn broke over the horizon and the trio began to break up camp after shifting into anthro form to save on magical expenditure. Dusk checked the map again, making sure they were still headed in the right direction. Once he was satisfied that they were, he set it into his pack.

"Anyone for some quick practice before we get on the move?" Flash asked of his two companions as he twirled his Naginata a few times.

"Normally I'd say yes, but I think we might want to save that for when we settle in for the day when we stop next." Dusk said. "We still don't know what's on this mountain, after all. Just getting up there's going to be a chore. Expending extra energy and needing more time to rest afterwards would probably slow us down."

"Also probably a good idea t'keep things quiet in case anyone else is around who ain't particularly fond'a strangers in these parts. Don't wanna attract the wrong kinda attention, right?" Ash added.

With that decided, the trio headed off as soon as they had finished breaking down the camp. As before, Ash took point, due to his greater knowledge of plants and animals, while Dusk this time took the rear guard, leaving Flash to take mid-point. They kept conversation to a minimum this time. Ash had raised a valid point they hadn't considered the previous day; They had no idea who or what might call the mountain home. About three hours into their upward trek, Ash called a halt, staring at something on the ground. Curious as to why he had called a stop since it was barely noon, and lunch wouldn't be for another hour and a half, the two unicorns came forward to meet him.

"Tracks." Ash said, pointing at said with one finger. "Recent too. Maybe two hours ahead of us."

"Look at the gait though. This isn't a normal stride." Dusk said, nodding. "I think we're dealing with a flyer. the tracks seem to jump every few feet."

"A trap?" Flash asked, looking around. Then he frowned. "Look." he said, poiutning to a nearby tree. His horn lit up and from it he plucked a few ragged feathers of dark sky blue. "These aren't bird feathers."

Taking the feathers into his own magical grasp, Dusk began to scan them with a spell. Then he nodded. "Pegsus type. Probably our age, given the size. But what the hell was it fighting? This isn't the kind of natural damage that happens to a feather if a pegasus crashes or has to pull feathers loose to get free from entanglement."

"Must'a been durin' the night, too." Ash said, musing as he rubbed his chin. "Scuffle like that would'a caught our attention even this far away. Only way we'd've missed it would be if'n we were sleeping at th'time." He began searching for signs of whatever had attacked the Pegasus. When he couldn't find anything that immediately stood out, he frowned.

"Problem?" Dusk asked. Ash shook his head and gave an annoyed shrug.

"Yes an' no." he responded. "It's hard t'put it inta words. But...if this flyer was in a fight, you'd think we'd see tracks of whatever it was fightin', right? So why's it we don't see any tracks aside from whoever left the feathers behind." he looked around. Even turned his eyes to the sky. "Not a damn thing. How're we sure this pegasus ain't just tryin' to mess with us?"

"Or maybe there isn't even a pegasus to deal with at all. How do we know that whatever made these tracks was an actual pony? I mean, we know there are those who can use magic to disguise themselves. Hell, think about the Changelings of myth. If there are any around..." Flash trailed off. Dusk considered that. Then shook his head.

"Couldn't be changelings. Assuming they actually exist. They wouldn't leave feathers behind. Not this clean anyway. There'd be blood, if nothing else." he said. "Besides, what if whoever this flyer was fighting— assuming Ash is right and it was an actual fight and not something else— was also a flyer and wasn't the type to have feathers? It works out that we'd only see the feathers knocked loose by the confrontation."

"That or whatever it was fighting didn't have legs." Flash quipped in a sotto voice. His friends still heard it, though, and soon all three were laughing at it, even though it could very well have been true.

Not sure what else to do, they headed further up the mountainside, but now keeping a lookout for more signs of what was going on with that pegasus, which they were assuming to have been what left those feathers behind. Each had their own theories, but they all kept their own council. Particularly since for all they knew, they might have misread what they found earlier. Maybe the pegasus had been drunk. Maybe it got in a fight with a bird. Maybe it was a magic user who tried to teleport and got its wings stuck where the feathers had fallen out.

Another half an hour up, Dusk stopped dead in his tracks. His friends, after another few minutes trek, realized he wasn't with them and returned to where he was standing, looking lost in thought.

"Somethiong wrong, Dusk?" Ash asked. Dusk took a few more minutes to think then turned to him.

"Something's wrong here. Those tracks, you said they were indicative of someone maybe only an hour or two ahead of us, right?" Dusk asked. Ash nodded. "Well, then how could the fight have happened when we were asleep? The wards I set up should have detected something like that."

"A silencing spell?" Flash asked, starting to see where the green unicorn was going. "Or some counter-spell or anti-ward incantation or some such? Something that would disguise whatever was fighting with that flyer?"

Dusk looked around, horn lighting up and pulsing. Flash frowned in confusion, not recognizing the type of spell Dusk was using.

"If it is, it's a good one." Dusk said after a few minutes. "I can't pick up traces of any ambient magic of any kind. And that worries me. Spells that powerful usually leave behind some sort of tell."

"Maybe it ain't magic then." Ash suggested. "There's tech that can deaden sound, and even mess with time nowadays."

Dusk looked up at Ash in surprise, and then slapped himself and laughed. "Good God, how did that not even occur to me?" he asked. "I should've thought of that. I grew up in the freaking capital. I was surrounded by as much tech as magic. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" he said, thwacking his forehead with the heel of his palm with each repetition of 'stupid' before nodding at Ash. "Good call AJ."

"You're not stupid, Dusk. I live not too far from the capital and I didn't think of it either." Flash said.

"Grew up aroun' miners. Tech and magic're just two sides o' the same coin when it comes to that. Plus, you guys're a bit too close to the problem. Yer used to usin' magic when there ain't no tech to use." AJ replied with a grin. Dusk and Flash shared a bemused look. They'd never really thought of it like that.

"Well, if we're talking tech, that leaves a pretty wide field to choose from when it comes to what could have been used. Keep a lookout for anything unusual. No matter how innocuous it seems." Dusk said, getting nods from the others.

So resolved, the three friends moved further up the mountain again, now keeping a sharper eye on their surroundings. Dusk would occasionally use the spell he had used earlier.

"What is that, anyway?" Flash asked, two hours, three and a half miles, and some ten uses of the spell later. "I don't recognize the spell. It feels totally different from anything I've seen or felt used before."

"Hmm?" Dusk looked around at Flash from the ravine he'd been giving a look over. "Oh. Home made detection spell. I realized when I first started studying under Nocturne that some spells had a unique tell if you knew what to look for magically. I created a kind of 'catch-all' sensor spell. It's not as specialized as other detection spells, so it can cast a pretty wide net. I've been checking to make sure there aren't spells or traps of any kind waiting for us. It's not infallible, but it's got its uses, at least."

"Makes sense." Flash nodded. Making a mental note to ask Dusk to teach him that one at some point in the future when they weren't on a march up a mountain, Flash turned his attention back up the mountainside. He was tacking point now, with Dusk right behind him, and Ash bringing up the rear. He caught a glint of something up the way. "Guys, check it. About fifteen feet up the way. Anyone else think that doesn't look like a natural formation?"

They hurried towards it, though they slowed once they got within about five feet of it. Dusk frowned. "No signs of any kind of offensive enchantment." he said, making his way still closer to it. He frowned, and picked it up in his magical grip, holding it up for the others to see. It was a Sai, and one that was meticulously taken care of. It was also partially bloodied.

"Well, that proves our theory that someone had a fight recently. This's still fresh." Ash said, looking the weapon over, but not taking it from Dusk's magical grip. "Looks like the fight kept goin' too." he added, pointing at what appeared to be a fresher set of tracks. "Same tracks as before. But look here," he pointed out a new set. "These're new. Looks like he brought down another flyer or somethin', cause these ain't his."

The second set of tracks were humanoid, much like their theorized pegasus, which indicated that both were in anthro form.

"Look like anything you might have run into on past excursions, AJ?" Flash inquired. Ash shook his head.

"Uh-uh. These ain't anything Ah ever saw b'fore. Don't know if I ever even heard of anything with eight toes to a foot in mah lifetime, either." He said. They both turned to Dusk.

"Hey, don't look at me." Dusk said with a half-snort of laughter and shrugging. "I've never heard of anything like it either. Just cause I was the Shogun's ward it doesn't mean I knew everything about everything out there in the world. The only things I know that have eight toes are a couple breeds of Dragon, but none of them have humanoid feet in anthro form."

"The tracks work sideways along the mountain." Ash noted as he looked them over again. "Well, sideways and diagonal-like, at least." Indeed, the tracks seemed to be following a curving upward pattern from where they stood. Dusk pondered this, hand coming up to his chin in thought.

"This would have to have been a helluva fight. I say we go find out who won." the green unicorn said at length. "The ruins will still be there. Someone could be hurt or dying just up the trail, and I don't think I could live with myself if I left someone to die out there if we could help."

Agreed on their next course of action, the trio headed after the tracks, unsure of what new adventure awaited them.

Author's Note

Just in time for the Holidays! Chapter Six is — for now— being split into multiple parts. I may eventually merge them together. But for the time being, happy holidays!

Also, as a note, since I know some people are likely wondering about this, the anthro forms for the boys are akin to what's seen in Equestria Girls. Dusk's horn is visible at present, but only when active. Otherwise, his anthro form is akin to Twilight and Rarity's in the movie. The same is also true for Flash, and all other unicorns or alicorns in this world. This is also subject to change, pending events within the story or indeed the series proper.

Happy Holidays to one and all, and just to indulge in a little nostalgia, here's some old friends from holidays past to ring in the season!

...God I miss the Hub.

Every Journey Begins With a Single Step

Every Journey Begins With a Single Step

The Shogun Six

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or any characters belonging to Hasbro or any other company mentioned herein. All original characters mentioned here are my own creations. I do this solely for entertainment purposes and in no way make any profit from it.

Chapter Two:

Every Journey Begins With a Single Step

Dusk Shine hadn't set foot outside the Imperial Capital in his life, so far as he could remember. If he'd ever been outside the capital city, it would have been sometime before his parents disappeared while he was still a baby. It was an odd experience for him. The unicorn had some idea of city life of course. He'd been on the streets until he'd been sponsored for consideration at the School for Gifted Unicorns, where he'd then wound up all but officially adopted by the Shogun. He'd grown up on these streets, and despite living in the palace and training in arts both martial and scholarly, he hadn't neglected to follow up on the goings on in the imperial city. One never knew when one might find new historical texts or weapons masters in the square, library, or marketplace to learn from, after all.

Dusk was in his normal pony form, saddlebags across his back and Katana sheathed along one of the bags' underside. He could easily draw it telekinetically, or if pressed, shift to his anthro state and use the weapon by hand. He just hoped he wouldn't have to. For all his skill with the blade, and he was skilled, he was still just a colt, which meant that unless he was up against someone his own age and of a similar skill level, he would likely wind up dead if a truly skilled or simply greedy enough bandit really wanted to try to attack him. As such, he was more than a bit nervous at being out beyond the walls of the capital city.

He was on a paved road leading to the station where he could board a bullet train, and head out into the rest of Equestria proper. It was one of the few problems for those traveling to and from the capital. The place was insanely fortified, and the only way to travel between the city and Equestria proper was by bullet train. Though Dusk was well aware of some Samurai who traveled everywhere by foot the way the warriors of old did. But that was an extremely rare thing in the modern day.

He had to find the other Incarnates. Others like him who had the power to defeat whatever this coming evil was supposed to be. If the Shogun was telling the truth about why he'd been sent out of the palace— and Dusk truly hoped this was the case— then they would need to find something that Dusk had believed were just things he'd made up as bedtime story material: The Elements of Bushido.

He hadn't heard the story in a long while now, but he remember much of the basic details. The Elements, so far as he knew, were supposed to be a physical embodiment of the power that existed in Bushido, the Warrior's Code. But he didn't know what the actual Elements were. He had only begun learning the Way a year or so before he'd been tasked by the Shogun to leave the capital to find them just two days ago. There was a lot to learn about becoming a Warrior. But learning the Way was just as daunting a task as learning many of the skills he'd gained under the direct tutelage of the Shogun. He didn't fully understand the concepts they were trying to teach him at the school, which was part magic training center— everypony in Equestria could use magic to some extent. Unicorns were just filled up with a helluva lot more of the stuff— and part training dojo for the physical side of being a warrior. These parts of how to be a warrior were taught first since basic self defense as a general rule was taught to all ponies in case of attack. But the philosophical side of being a Warrior was taught last because by comparison, it was much harder to grasp.

As he checked his bags in storage above his seat, Dusk shifted into his morphic form, settling down with a book he'd taken from his bags. Because of an enchantment put on them by the Shogun, his bags could carry a great deal more than physical dimensions would indicate they should be capable of. It was a spell Dusk quickly resolved to learn so that he could use it himself in the future if he ever needed to. In point of fact, it was what he was looking for in the book he'd taken out to read. He was on a quest, but that didn't mean he should stop studying magic and the martial skills he'd worked so hard to develop. Indeed, he thought it would be a good idea to keep his studies up simply because of the dangers he was likely to face on this quest.

He studied the book of spells for the next two hours, emerging from the bullet train as it pulled into the station that let out into the outer lands of Equestria. He knew there was little chance he was going to just run into his fellow Incarnates just as he got off the train or anything, so he set off on hoof, determined to do his best to locate them. After about three hours of travel through the city that the train had let out at, he began to get hungry, so he headed to a small tavern. If the phrase 'hole in the wall' could be applied to anyplace in Equestria, this one certainly fit the description. It was lively but not overly so, and Dusk felt that at this point the phrase 'any port in a storm' was apt. The Shogun had outfitted him with a Bit card that would pull money direct from the royal coffers, but Dusk was loathe to use the Shogun's money unless he had to. He'd been given an account of his own as well so that he could avoid unnecessary curiosity if at all possible. It wasn't unheard of for the Shogun to allow certain individuals in his court access to the royal treasury. But a mere colt? That would raise more than a few eyebrows, something neither wanted to do if it could be avoided.

Dusk settled in at the bar and ordered a sandwich, while he looked about. This search could take years, or it could take the rest of his life, which would leave Equestria wide open for the evil he had been sent on this quest to defeat. He didn't know anything about how he was supposed to go about finding the other Incarnates. As he wasn't even sure which one he was, this would be just that much harder. Without some way to actually track down the others, all he could do was pray that his efforts would be enough.

While lost in his musings, he failed to notice that his presence had been noted by a pair of pegasi who had a fairly bad reputation in town. These two enjoyed roughing up new ponies had been in and out of jail a number of times for theft and assault amongst other things. Seeing the unicorn colt make his way into the tavern, they smirked at one another, figuring him to be an easy mark.

The pair bided their time, waiting for Dusk to finish his food and leave the Tavern. Once he did, they got up and followed him nonchalantly out the door. There was, after all, nothing suspicious about that. As such, nobody, including Dusk, gave it much thought that there were ponies coming and going from the tavern. It was about ten minutes later as Dusk was traveling down the street that he began to sense a hostile air about him and wondered if perhaps agents of the evil he'd been sent on his quest to stop hadn't been deployed to prevent him from making any headway. Then again, Dusk was nopony's fool. He'd lived on the streets for a time. These could have just been a couple of idiots looking for an easy hit. But he wasn't the helpless foal he'd been once upon a time before he'd smartened up and learned to fight. He ducked down an alleyway and hide behind an open door, waiting to see what happened. The pegasi followed, and looked about in confusion.

"Where'd he go?" One asked of his compatriot. "Did he teleport?"

"At that age? No way. I'd be surprised if he could do more than a few basic spells." The other replied. "He's got to be here somewhere still."

No truer words were spoken. Dusk emerged, shifting to morphic form, armed with a katana he'd been given by the Shogun before he'd left on his trip, striking swiftly and with purpose, slicing along the muscles of the two Pegasi's wings. Caught off-guard, the two winged ponies staggered away from t he now blood coated blade with shouts of pain. But Dusk wasn't finished, taking a second set of swings at his would-be attackers despite the fact that he wasn't full grown as they were. His targets this time were the tendons in the hind legs, intending to hobble them. He succeeded with one, but the other jumped away, shifting to morphic form as he did so, pulling out a gun, but Dusk was swift enough that he was able to slice the barrel clean off, rendering the weapon useless. The older pony charged him, but Dusk ducked down as he approached and then used his own physical strength and magically induced telekinesis to flip him over onto his back. This sent jolts of pain along the pegasi's already injured wing. Not wasting the opportunity, Dusk slashed at the leg of the morphic flier, before shaking the blood from his blade off with a diagonal swing, then pulling out a cloth and wiping the remaining blood off as he turned and headed back out the way he'd come as he stowed his weapon.

That was too close. Dusk mused to himself, as he lost himself amongst the crowds. They were probably commonplace bandits. They'll find help eventually. He hadn't tried to cripple them, after all. Just injure them. He wasn't going to kill them for no good reason when incapacitating them was so much easier. However this still lead to one major issue. Namely, the fact that ponies would take him for an easy hit due to his age and size. He was as skilled as any other Samurai his age, and in some cases a bit above the average skill level such as in terms of magical ability. But he was still young, not yet a stallion but obviously no simple foal. He would need to start making connections in this city and others, form a network of support when and where possible. He couldn't rely on his connections to the Shogun though. While he was known in the capital as the apprentice to Shogun Lunaris, it wasn't very likely that many ponies beyond the capital knew of him aside from, perhaps, people in the army, since he was registered as a Samurai officially due to this quest. However the army knew hundreds, if not thousands of Samurai, so one more would hardly make a difference. Though if he could form friendly ties with those parts of Equestria's defenses, it would be an immense help.

Spotting a forge, Dusk smiled, and headed towards it. He wanted to make sure his blade hadn't been damaged by cutting through that gun barrel. It wasn't likely, given the Shogun had been the one to give it to him, and he suspected it was either enchanted or made with Metagems, but it never hurt to be sure. He knocked at the door.

"Anypony home?" he called. There was some movement in the back and a door opened to the forge proper as a colt with a silver-white coat, a dark blue mane and tail and red eyes appeared. His flank bore three gems as a Warrior Mark. He looked surprised to see somepony his own age at the front door. But he trotted over and gave a professional smile.

"Good afternoon! Welcome to the forge. I'm Flash. What can I do for you, sir?" The colt said in an accent that, on Earth, would be considered British.

"My name's Dusk Shine. I'd like to have one of my weapons checked. I was just in a fight and I want to make sure I didn't damage it as a result of some of the actions I had to take." Dusk replied, pulling out the Katana and scabbard, handing them over to Flash. Taking the scabbard in hand, Flash pulled the blade free and his eyes went wide.

"By the Shogun's hooves! This is a masterwork if ever I laid eyes on one!" he exclaimed. "How did you ever get your hands on such a fine blade?"

Dusk blushed a bit. "Uhm.....believe it or not, I actually got it from the Shogun. I used to be his apprentice."

Flash eyed him with disbelief. He shook his head with a snort. "Right. Well, I can certainly have this looked at if you wish. But I warn you if there is any damage, repairing it won't come cheap. My father would probably have to be the one to work on this, as I wouldn't want to risk doing any further damage, if there is any, to such a work of art." he said. Then gestured Dusk to enter, which the indigo pony did and then followed Flash to the forge itself.

Dusk let out a low whistle. He'd been inside forges in the capital. But something about this place spoke of people who not only did artificing because they were good at it but also because they enjoyed it. He didn't see that often. Flash was obviously very skilled as an artificer himself, as he had a good idea of what to look for. He checked, double checked, and even triple checked his Katana for signs of damage. He finally gave a smile and sheathed the blade before he handed the weapon back.

"It's got a few nicks, but that's easily buffed if you want for a few bits. Other than that, it's in fine working order. Metagem-craft like I've never seen." Flash commented. Dusk considered that for a few moments, and then nodded.

"Sure, might as well have the blade in top condition. How much was it again?"

Flash smiled. "Only five bits." he said, and chuckled when Dusk gawked at him. "Don't look so surprised. I enjoy my work. And I would be remiss to charge more than that for the chance to work on a masterpiece such as this. Now let's get your blade back to top form, shall we?"

And so Rarity's counterpart appears! Unlike the first chapter, which was a snapshot of young Dusk's early life, though largely told from the viewpoint of Shogun Lunaris, this chapter brings the story to its true beginning, as Dusk will begin to encounter more ponies who will have a greater impact on his life than he yet knows. For those wondering what the term Metagem refers to? Read on, the answers lie in future chapters.

For those who may think Dusk got too easy a win in that fight, let me point out they are not nearly as well trained as he is and are, as he suspected, merely common thieves who thought he was an easy mark. While this Equestria skews different from canon, such as the martial culture and ultra-modern technology, not everypony is a master of combat. Dusk Shine was trained by the Shogun himself in a number of fields and like Twilight Sparkle, Dusk is a prodigy with magic. Add in the fact that ponies can take on an anthromorphic form in this Equestria, and he has all the tools he needs to defeat some simple bandits. It'll take him a bit longer before he'll be able to truly win any one on one fights with genuinely skilled opponents.

If you're wondering about the Elements of Bushido mentioned in the description here on the site, don't worry too much. The Elements will be explained and the ways we'll see them manifest will occur over the next several chapters. Their story will be told as we go along. There will be action, intrigue, some comedy, and everything in between- I hope- as we learn more about these ponies and the Elements of Bushido and how they'll play into this. The ancient evil these six must unite to defeat will begin to have a presence sooner than you think, but don't expect it to go the way it did with canon. Anarchy Helios is far more aggressive than Nightmare Moon was. Moon was largely soft-hearted as a villainess, since most of what she did had little real chance for actual harm, the manticore aside (and I stress most, she still nearly caused Twilight to fall off a cliff by the virtue of the girls having to undertake that entire quest to begin with.). Helios will not be anywhere near as kindhearted. This world also has far worse than a few manticores, hydras, and the like running around, and Helios will be more than willing to take advantage of that fact. And he's not the only threat that will confront the Six as the story goes along. This is your first warning. It won't be your last. This story will, I hope, avoid being 'grimdark' but it will probably get dark as we go along. Consider this your head's up on that. Expect a minor crossover at the end of this story, by the way. I won't tell you what the crossover is until the chapter it occurs in however.

Finally, yes, Dusk is only a colt here, as is Flash. I mentioned I would discuss this last chapter. This team of six begin their adventures at a much younger age than the canon six, and this is by design. These six will have to bond in a very different way and it won't be the almost immediate connection the canon Mane Six had. Hopefully, this will come about in a way that will satisfy everypony reading. And if not....well as Lincoln said, you can't please all the people all the time.

As ever, reviews are welcome, constructive criticism will be enjoyed, and flames will be used to broil Solaris within the heart of the sun.