Ginko surveyed his surroundings. The forest did not appear tangibly different than any other would in winter.
Snow, trees, withered brush; decidedly dull. Dully crunching snow over dull brown dead plants on the floor of a universally dull forest.
He normally wouldn't have given it second thought, but the stony little creatures shown to him by the old man (What was his name? Hiroyuki?) had stuck in his mind. The villagers and Adashino-sensei may be right about the so-called "monsters", but determining this was turning into a complete pain.
Four Days Earlier...
Ginko and Adashino sat across from each other; Adashino cross-legged at a low table furnished with a teapot and partially filled tea bowl, Ginko with his back leaned against the wall and his mushi-tobacco cigarette lightly grasped between his fingers.
"I don't know why I have to explain this to you, sensei. Surely you haven't forgotten the nature of my profession. Creatures, no matter how... supernatural, aren't exactly my specialty. Surely kari hito, hunters, would be better suited for this task? There really are some spectacular ones coming in from the West. A little... overzealous in their methodology if you ask me, but they get the job done with remarkable efficiency."
"Have you ever encountered a supernatural creature where mushi were not the root cause of its malevolent intentions or abilities?"
"On the contrary, many have turned out to be something completely natural, if vicious, that people simply fail to see for what they are. Things at which I am not an expert in eradicating."
Adashino took a sip of his tea.
"Even so, you have the skill to recognise that. The villagers could still benefit from your visit."
Ginko paused for a short while, inhaling on his cigarette and letting the smoke drift slowly from his mouth and dissipate into the air. The smoke smelled sour, but not altogether unpleasant.
"How did you come across this information?" he asked Adashino, still refusing to respond directly to the request.
"I heard about it through some travelers that came through this way not that long ago. They'd apparently stopped off in the village a couple of days before running into me... I know what you're going to say, Ginko, but I think we can both agree that around here, rumours have a tendency to be at least partially true... I don't know why I have to explain that to you.", Adashino finished, a vague smile appearing on his face.
To shorten a mundane story, Ginko soon found himself being led through a small, uncomfortably cold snow-laden settlement in northern Japan by an old man calling himself... yes, it definitely was Hiroyuki, who had greeted him rather enthusiastically upon his arrival. He directed Ginko's attention to a series of gashes in the sides of a house that he claimed had been made by "an upright shisa". He also told Ginko about several small animals that had been turned to stone by what he described as "a most malevolent cockerel".
"'Most malevolent'?" thought Ginko. "If he waxes any more poetic, my brain'll probably leak out of my ears."
Ginko remained skeptical until Hiroyuki displayed for him a collection of mice, small birds and a fox that were quite clearly frozen in stone. They were far too detailed and lifelike to simply have been carved on the spot for a hoax.
The man proceeded to ramble on about an assortment of strange creatures that had wound up in the village recently, most of which he provided no hard evidence for, but Adashino's words about rumours turning out to be true stuck in Ginko's mind, and so did the petrified animals.
He'd ascertained from the villagers that the creatures all seemed to originate from a particular section of forest east of the town.
Present
Ginko shook himself out of reminiscence. He continued his slow, deliberate walk deeper into the forest. So far, he'd encountered nothing out of sorts. No strange creatures, no signs of mushi activity, absolutely nothing. Things were starting to get bland.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that he realised that something was odd about the forest: the trees were all wrong. They weren't exactly strange: as far as trees go, these were quite normal. The odd thing was that they simply shouldn't be here. Ginko, having spent an inordinate amount of time around woodlands, was fairly familiar with their characteristics. These trees should not have been found anywhere in Japan. The transition from typical trees to whatever these were was subtle enough that he didn't notice, but now it was impossible not to notice. Even if they had been imported, there should not be this many, nor should they be this mature.
'Now this is interesting. Definitely not so dull anymore. Maybe you were on to something, eh Adashino?' Ginko thought.
He pressed on, deeper into the increasingly shadowy forest.
He found nothing additionally abnormal. A few scuttling sounds here, a few twigs snapping there, but nothing conclusive.
He gathered his scarf closer around his quickly-reddening face.
Ginko trudged on for what seemed like an eternity before he realised he was approaching what appeared to be a clearing. A small trickle of smoke rose up above the trees.
"Perhaps I can cull some more information from whoever lives there and put a rest to this whole affair… and maybe convince them to let me rest up there for a few minutes."
Turning his heading towards the smoke, Ginko soon found that it was coming from a small, slightly-misshapen sod-roofed house adorned with birdhouses. A small town seemed to be situated not far from it. Picking up his pace, he approached the door, which seemed oddly short.
Just before knocking, something caught his eye. A lone cloud hovered in the otherwise clear sky, depositing snow on the ground under the small area that it covered.
"A kumohami?", Ginko mused. "I suppose the air has been unnaturally still lately. I should probably warn the residents about it when I'm through at this house."
As he turned away, Ginko thought he saw a rainbow-coloured streak speeding towards the kumohami, but in an instant, it was no longer there. He would have to chalk it up as something else to investigate if it wasn't simply a trick of the eye.
He rapped on the cottage door four times and then stepped back. After some shuffling, the door opened with a slight gust of warm air to reveal... a small horse? One with a pink mane and yellow fur at that.
"Uhh... hello?" it, no, she said, judging by the sound of her voice, muffled as it was from cowering slightly behind the door.
"Hm. A tiny talking, painfully shy, pastel coloured horse that speaks the dreaded mishmash that is English. This is going to be an interesting challenge."
Any normal human being would have been taken severely aback by such a turn of events. However, there are only so many times that a Mushishi can be startled by what he finds before he starts to simply take it in stride. Racking his brain for the English he'd managed to pick up, Ginko ventured the most non-threatening reply he could come up with.
"Hello. I'm sorry for intruding, but do you have any tea?"
Elsewhere
*Flumph!*
"Awww, c'mon Rainbow! What did you do that for?" complained a disappointed Scootaloo from the snowpile in which she and her fellow Crusaders found themselves buried.
"What're you talkin' about? I didn't do nothin'!" yelled a hovering Rainbow Dash.
"Anything." Sweetie Belle mumbled under her breath.
"We were Crusadin' under that snow cloud!" chimed in Applebloom, "We were tryin' to get our snowflake-catchin' Cutie Marks, an' you done n' wrecked it!"
"Hey, that cloud was a rogue! It wasn't supposed to be here, and when I went to give it a good shove, it just turned into snow and fell apart! Not my fault it ruined your playtime!"
The snow-caked Crusaders looked down, crestfallen.
"Alright, look: that was harsh. I'm sorry. Whaddaya say you clean yourselves off and get something down at Sugarcube Corner? My treat."
"YAY!" the Crusaders yelled in unison. "Cutie Mark Crusaders: Professional Cupcake Eaters!"
They shook themselves off and bolted for Ponyville, immediately getting their coats covered in snow.
"Sweet Celestia, was I ever that ridiculous?" pondered Rainbow, promptly realising that if just about anyone else heard her say that, they'd say she still was. A slight smile on her face, she flapped off in pursuit of the rambunctious Crusaders.
In the commotion, nopony had noticed a small curl of mist rise from the snow in an oddly deliberate fashion and snake its way into Applebloom's nostrils.
