My little Short Stories: Chronicles of Ponyland

The two ponies set out from Hoofkaido, taking the pathways that led north to the oni's cave. They spent the time happily chatting, passing by a small waterfall and a stream. On this early leg of their journey, they passed several interesting ponies; from a unicorn monk with a basket over his head, to a group of traveling kabuki performers. All of these ponies of the road greeted the two equines, and chatted with them like old friends, making the journey a lot easier for the shugenja and the samurai.

Making their way north, the two ponies trotted through the forests of the unicorn run. Starglow and Rocky slowly made their way down the winding and overgrown path, cautiously looking around for any potential threat coming out of the darkness. Both samurai and shugenja felt the shadows and despair closing in on them, and the usual life and light that filled the lands of Hoofkaido was entirely absent in these ominous border lands.

"This doesn't feel right, there is darkness in the very air." Rocky whispered, as he and the mare trotted along. "I feel the corruption all around us... we are being watched."

"I can feel it too, Rocky-san. The dark chi is swirling all around us like a shadowy cloud." Starglow reached for her katana with her hoof. "There are dangerous enemies nearby, just waiting for their chance to strike from the shadows to destroy us."

Rocky suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, raising his hoof to stop the samurai mare. The two stood there, staring silently into the shadows for several minutes, as they both felt the darkness draw in closer and closer. Starglow drew her sword, and Rocky began to silently chant a charged spell, as a pair of glowing eyes appeared from deep within the trees. Both ponies stared at the mysterious figure for several tense and terrifying moments, before the shadowy form suddenly lunged at the two ponies, brandishing extremely sharp claw, a look of murder in his eyes.

"RAAAAWK!" The angry bird man cried out, slashing away at the two ponies with his twin short swords.

"LOOK OUT!" Rocky cried out, as the two ponies dove in different directions, to avoid their attacker. "Starglow, watch your back, it's a Tengu!"

Starglow gazed at the creature in disgust; a large humanoid crow, wearing a black gi, and carrying a pair of short naginata swords. The bird-man lunged at the Pegasus Samurai, who raised her katana and blocked the attacker's twin blades. "The red oni must have heard about our quest, and sent these buzzards to stop us!"

"Gaaah! Get off of me!" Rocky cried out, kicking away another Tengu, who pounced on him from the bushes. "They're coming after us! And they're everywhere!"

Several more of the bird-man ninjas dropped down from the trees, aiming their bows, and opening fire upon the pair of equines. Starglow deflected several arrows from the left with her sword, while Rocky chanted a prayer that created a thin wall of ice, blocking the arrows from the right as they shattered it. Starglow slashed away at the angry tengu, while Rocky launched several small lightning bolts at the tengus, both attacks driving the bird-men back. But as even more tengus emerged from the trees, swarming over the pair of already struggling equines.

"Starglow, I believe there are too many of them!" Rocky yelled, as the two ponies stood back-to-back. "We need some way to drive the flock back!"

"Hmmm, I may have an idea." The Samurai replied, opening up her wings. "I'm going to take to the skies, shugenja. Cover me with your magic."

Rocky nodded, and Starglow took to the skies. The tengu opened their wings and flew after her, firing arrows and slashing with their foot talons. Rocky used his magic to fire ice arrow after ice arrow, knocking the attacking bird men away, until Starglow got high enough to unleash her secret weapon.

"Foul tengu! So, you refuse to leave us alone, eh?" The samurai snarled, rising to a height where all of the tengu could see here. "Then please allow me to shed some light upon your terrible folly!"

FZASH!!! A bright light flashed out from the samurai's body, lighting up the sky with a blinding flash. The tengu were temporarily blinded, allowing Rocky to fire a powerful gust of magical wind, sending the squawking tengu flying off in every direction.

"RAAAAWK!" One of the bird-men wailed, as he and his companions scattered into the clouds.

"Huh, I guess they have had enough." Starglow gasped for breath, as she came in for a landing beside the stallion. "The rest of our journey to the kirin village should be free of incident."

"That flash of light you created back there... that was incredible!" Rocky replied in awe, and he and the samurai started trotting along the path again. "You're a glow n' show pony, aren't you? One of the mares who can generate bioluminescent light from your bodies!"

"Yes, that is correct. We use the blinding light to stun enemies and predators." The Pegasus replied proudly. "But I'm not the only one with a trick up my hoof, am I? Those shugenja spells of yours are quite handy. I'm still amazed an earth pony can wield magic like that!"

"Thank you, but it's not actually spell casting." Rocky stated, as they continued to trot along. "We shugenja pray to the spirits to turn the elements in out favor, and the spirits give us the ability to bend the forces of nature to our will with earth pony chi."

"Still, it's a very effective ability. One that could prove very useful to us on our adventure." Starglow pointed out. "Perhaps that is why the shogun sent us on this mission together, in order to accomplish such an impossible task."

Rocky nodded, as the two ponies continued on down the path. It wasn't long before the forest began to look and feel alive again, as color and vibrancy returned to the world around them with each step. Soon, the birds began to sing in the trees again, and they could see the animals scurrying about through the woods once more.

"I believe we are approaching the kirin village." The samurai stated, as she and Rocky gazed at their surroundings. "They are a kind and truth-telling race of pony, so they should be happy to help us."

Soon, the two ponies heard a rustling in the trees, and the samurai and shugenja took a fighting stance again. Suddenly, several pony-looking creatures, with crooked horns and scales like a dragon on their bodies, emerged from the foliage.

"Huh, what do you know." Rocky stated, a smile crossing his face. "I do believe we have found the ponies that we were looking for."

"Greetings travelers." The tallest of the dragon-like ponies smiled, trotting forward to greet their visitors. "Welcome to the village of the kirin."