Author's Note
So thanks to my amazing new editor/proofread K9theBrony we were able to re edit this story in hopes for you all to enjoy
Prologue(re edited)
EDITED AND PROOFREAD BY K9theBrony
Equestria, a land filled with
anthropomorphic ponies and mythical creatures. This is the place I call home. But it wasn't always like that I used to live on Earth before. And, although my story had a sad beginning, it didn't stay that way. I guess it would be best to start from the beginning...
When I was five years old, my mother and father decided to take me with them on a trip to Japan. My parents were business people who helped in a Japanese car manufacturer company in America. They had to take care of some business in Japan for the company, so they decided to make a vacation of it so that after they were done we could spend some family time together. It was supposed to be a fun time for my parents and I to bond. Little did I know, it would be the last time I ever spent with them.
My parents and I were on our way back to the hotel we were staying at, having just finished dinner, when suddenly this group of men came out of nowhere. They were all wearing smiles on their faces, so I thought they were just the locals trying to be friendly. How horribly wrong I was.
Without warning, the man at the front of the group pulled out a gun and shot my father. My heart dropped as I heard my mother screaming. Then, the man turned his gun toward her and fired two more shots. I watched as my mother's lifeless body fell the ground, blood oozed out of her.
I felt tears sliding down my face as my face burned with rage. I charged at the man and flailed my arms at him, trying to fight off our attackers. Before I knew it, I was lifted of the ground by the back of my shirt and felt my body being tossed aside. I flew through the air landing in an alleyway. I felt a searing pain in the back of my head before everything faded to black and I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, it was hard to remember what had happened. I felt a sharp pain throughout my skull and the memory of my parents flashed in my mind, bringing me out of my groggy state. I got up and ran back out of the alleyway to where they were.
But, as I darted out of the alley, I saw that neither of my parents bodies were there. On top of that there were no police or paramedics, just people walking by as if nothing had ever happened. As if I hadn't just seen my parents die here.
My body began to shake with both fear and sorrow and I bolted away. I just had to get away from that horrible spot, so I ran.Never before had I felt this many negative emotions at once. I felt scared, sads and lonely. After that, things only got harder for me.
Since I didn't know any form Japanese, I couldn't find anyone who spoke English, so I couldn’t ask for help. I was alone and tired. What's worse is that I knew no one would come looking for me.
You see, my mother and father were the only family I had left in this world, so I had no one else to go to back in the States. And to add insult to injury, I ended getting myself lost in the city. I remembered that the hotel was somewhere close to the restaurant we ate at, but due to running away, I couldn't find the way back. I felt hopeless…
Three whole days I went without food or water. I tried to find somewhere to rest, somewhere to get food or water, but because I was a foreigner, people were quick to shoo me away.
And as I traveled deeper into the city, the people only got more bitter and more cruel. Finally, fatigued beyond comprehension, I collapsed in an alleyway. With no strength to draw on and with my body only getting colder, I lacked the strength or will to go on
The moon rose into the sky and with it brought nighttime. And as if I hadn't suffered enough, I saw clouds forming in the sky as it began to rain hard down. My body started to shiver as I felt what little strength I had in me fade away, closing my eyes and accepting my fate.
But, when I had finally given up and had lost all sense of hope, I felt the rain stop falling on me. Confused, I opened my eyes and was met by a pair of shoes standing before me. I turned my head up and saw the silhouette of a man looking down at me, an umbrella in his hand.
Then, my vision began to blur as I saw the man bend over and grab me. I felt my body being lifted up as I finally lost consciousness and world faded to black.
When I awoke, I found myself in a room with a fireplace going on. I had a damp rag on my head and was lying down on a traditional Japanese futon.
My mind was at a lost for words as I lie there wondering how I got here, and more importantly, where “here” was.
I saw the man from before enter the room, and with him, he brought some some food in a bowl and a cup full of water. He handed them to me, which I took, nodding to him in thanks.
Despite being starved and thirsty to the point of dehydration, I made sure to eat it slowly out of respect. As I ate I took in more of this stranger who had saved my life.
He appeared to be in his forties and had a stoic look about him. Not the rugged type, but more the calm, zen kind of guy. When I had finished eating the man began to speak, however, being that it was in Japanese, I couldn't understand a word he said.
Hoping that he could understand English, asked him the question that was on my mind.
“Where am I?”
But, unfortunately he didn't understand what I was saying either. I was sure he would eventually grow frustrated and just kick me out, but he left the room and came back with a piece of paper. When he opened it I saw that it was a map of the world, he then pointed to himself then to a part of the map that was Japan.
I figured he was trying to ask me where I came from, I pointed to myself and then to the spot that was the United States. Then, he got back up and left again into another room.
I waited there about 4 minutes before he came back with a book in his hands. He handed me the book and I saw that it was written in Japanese. I gave him a confused look, then saw him gesturing with his hands for me to open it.
Upon opening the book, I saw English words and phrases with their Japanese translation next to them. I realised it was an English to Japanese book. Finally, I had a way to communicate with people.
Using the book, I pointed to the book, trying to explain what had happened to me and why I was alone. I told him about my parents, and the fact that I had no other family. He sat there, pondering what to do next, before he nodding to me and standing up.
Again, he went back to the other room and brought back another book After looking at the cover, I saw this one was a Japanese to English book. I watched as he took a piece of paper out and started to right down some words from the book and onto to the paper.
It told me, in very broken English, that I would be allowed to stay with him. However, I would have to become his apprentice and earn my keep. With little to no other choice, I nodded in agreement. With that, he wrote down that I shall refer to him as Master and he would refer to me as his Apprentice.
For the next two years, I studied Japanese, learning how to read, write, and, most importantly, how to understand it. While studying Japan’s history, I also learned of where I was living.
Deep in these mountains, lay a small village that looked like something straight out of a painting from a history book. According to my Master it is often referred to as “The Village Untouched By Time”.
Master told me that long ago this village was a peaceful and simple place, but one day a dark evil had plagued the village and forced it into eternal darkness. For years, no light could be seen, no sun or nor moon light could pierce its evil.
The villager were in despair. With their crops dying and the evil constantly tormenting them, all hope seemed lost. But then, one day, a golden light pierced the darkness, and from it came the most beautiful creature the villagers had seen.
A women of equine feature flew down from the heavens above, with fur as white as freshly fallen snow and wings like an angel. She had hooves for feet, but her hands like a human’s and her face had a bit of muzzle and a long spiral horn coming out of her head, however, retained a mostly human appearance.
She soon vanquished the evil and cast the evil back to the dark abyss from whence it came. Afterwords, the villagers rejoiced and rushed out to thank her, but just as fast as she had appeared, she vanished.
On that day the village had done three things: The first was to create a statue in her image and created a shrine around it of which to praise her for saving their lives, forever referring to her as “The Sun Goddess”.
The second, was that every ten years they would hold a festival in her honor, called the Sun Goddess festival.
And third was how the village got its name. The inhabitants of the village decided that, should the case be that she should ever return that the village, they wanted to make sure she’d recognize it. So they opted to maintain the village the same way throughout all time, tll the day she returned.
Once I had turned nine, I found out that Master was actually a master of blacksmithing and an expert swordsmen. He was well known throughout the village and beyond for his beautiful swords, swords that were both incredibly strong, as well as deadly sharp.
Master would always get commissions from across the globe for his katanas, and I had the honor of helping him make them. He often spent time teaching me the proper method for creating strong and powerful swords. He told me it took time and dedication as well as finesse and concentration.
Learning how forge swords wasn't the only thing he taught me. He also showed me the way of the sword and the way of the samurai, known as bushidō. Over the years, taught me all of the virtues of bushidō and how to live by them. He approved of every aspect of bushidō, except for one part: seppuku, which was essentially suicide as a way to regain honor through death.
He vehemently condemned seppuku, as he believed the practice was wrong, and instead explained that there were other ways to regain honor. He also taught me many different forms of martial art that he had learned throughout his journey across the world when he had been studying different forging techniques.
At ten years old, it was time for the Sun Goddess Festival. The festival was to be held on the last month of the year, and Master said that would be plenty of time to start on his offering. Master had started working on his offering when the year began.
It was a special sword that he would offer to the Sun Goddesses shrine during the festival, and the day after the sword would disappear as it was taken by her. This had been part of his family's tradition since the first festival. This was also coincidentally, the year in which I received my new name, Kotetsu.
Master thought that I'd been by his side long enough to tell him my real name, but for some reason I had forgotten it the day I lost my parents along with a few other memories. So, Master gave me the name Kotetsu named after a famous sword maker.
Making the ceremonial sword took a total of eight months, but Master was very proud of how it came out and grateful for my help. So much so, that he gave me a reward.
He gave me money to go buy myself something, anything I wanted. But truth be told, what I really wanted were books. I remember when I told Master, he laughed so hard that there were tears coming out of his eyes.
He decided that it was time to finally take me to the village further down the mountain so I could buy some new books. I was a bit scared at the idea of leaving the village but Master told me that I couldn't let fear run my life forever, that I would have to be brave. Even though I still didn't like idea of it, I agreed and headed off to the other village with Master.
It only took us about eight hours by foot to reach the other village. Master had told me that this village designed to be a second community for the original village. This village was the source for anything needed from the “modern world”. They had a fire department, hospitals and a school. According to Master, should any of the village want to move out into the modern world, this would be a first step to learning how to adapt to it.
This village was more of a town and had stores for all kind of thing including a book store, the reason we came. When we reached the doors to the bookstore, the doors opened up without anyone touching them, This made me step back in confusion.
This caused Master elicit a chuckle. Once we stepped, inside my eyes widen in amazement. Wall to wall, there were books everywhere I looked, I felt like a kid in a candy store. However, having such a huge selection made it hard for me to choose. That's when master decided to help by making a suggestion and lead me to a section labeled “Manga”.
Inside were books with many different colors and images on the cover, my mind was overwhelmed. I asked Master if he had a suggestion for what I should pick and, luckily he knew just the set for me to pick.
The series was called Rurouni Kenshin, and it was about a samurai who wielded a reverse blade that he used to maintain peace throughout the land. Master bought me the entire collection and it was the best gift ever.
When the time came for the Sun Goddess festival to start I was a bit nervous, since that meant I would have to interact with the village people. Master house, which doubled as his workshop, was actually further away from the village. It lie next to a water stream, so Master could use the water to cool down the metal after heat treating. Plus, it made a great fishing spot.
I rarely ever made my way into the village.You see, I always felt like an outsider, but this year, I didn't feel like that at all. In fact, I felt incredibly welcomed by the villagers. They all smiled and greeted me in such a cordial manner, that I almost felt bad for isolating myself all this time.
I played festival games, ate snacks, and heard stories from the village Elders. Then the time came for the offerings. I made my way back to Master so we could retrieve the sword. When we arrived at the shrine, I finally got my first glimpse of the statue of the Sun Goddess, she was just as Master described her.
For some reason, the statue seemed to give off a motherly feeling that I had not felt since my own mother’s death. I was brought out of my trace by Master’s hand on my shoulder. He handed me the sword and I approached the shrine. I looked over the statue once more before setting the sword onto the offering pedestal. Then, both Master and I gave our thanks and set on our way back home.
Nine years later, I had matured into a strong young adult, thanks to my Master. By then, I too was well versed in the art of blacksmithing and had learn the ways of bushidō and trained in the way of the sword, as well as a variety of martial arts.
Life was good. Master and I would work together on sword orders he got. I helped whenever he received an order that was in English. Despite having those books, he never bothered to learn English.
One day when I was out fetching some wood for the forge to burn i saw a large group of men in black suit standing outside the front of our home. Quietly I placed the wood down and sneaked around the back. I quietly made my way to the doorway of the main room where a man with jet black hair was speaking to my master.
The man wanted my master to forge him a strong and mighty sword for his boss and that they would pay any price that my master would want. But my master would not hear of it and told them that he would never make a sword for people like them. The man in the suit was furious and took his leave,before he left I could have sworn he caught a glimpse of me hiding. Ever since that day I haven't seen them since. When i asked Master why he refused he told me that he could tell that those men had cruel intentions and would never make a sword for people like them
It was the year of the next Sun Goddess festival,and, to my surprise, Master had wanted me to forge the sword, the greatest honor he could bestow.
But life’s cruelty struck again, Master fell deathly ill. On the night he dies, the last thing he told me was how proud he was of me and that, even though he never said it, I was like the son he never had. He told me to live my life just as he’d taught me and to always remember the way of the samurai and the bushidō code.
After he passed, I felt alone, just like when I’d lost a family. But, his last words kept me strong. I decided to live life to the fullest and hold my head high. I made sure to give him the proper traditional burial. I found out later that he’d left me everything in his will so that I my carry on his legacy as a world-class blacksmith.
When it was almost time for Sun Goddess festival, I was told that this would be the most important one yet since it would be a thousand years since her first appearance. With that, I decided to make this year’s sword one that would make my Master proud.
I made it so that the blade was folded 1 million times so that the sword was the strongest of its kind. Nine months after Master’s death, I had finally folded the metal one million times making it both pure steal and incredible strong. Then, I drew out the blade and sharpened it as much as physically possible. Once I had blade ready, I set it aside to work on the rest of the swords details, such as the sheath and handle.
With only a day to spare I had finally finished the sword and the little detail that needed to be finished. This sword would be the finest sword that has ever be offered to the Sun Goddess yet. Before I decided to head to bed I made my way to my Master grave with the sword and prayed that he and my parents would watch over me tomorrow.
Finally, as the sun rose up past the mountain, it was time for the Millenial Sun Goddess festival. For this year's festival, I wore were the traditional kimono that my master had left me before he past away. I grabbed the katana and made my way to the village, excited for this years festival.
When I arrived at the village I was greeted once again with warm smiles, as well as some heartfelt apologies for my loss. I told them all that I was okay and that my Master had lived himself a full and happy life. The village leader came up to me and told me that if I ever needed anything, not to hesitate to ask.
I bowed to him in respect, eternally grateful for the notion. Unfortunately, the heartfelt moments were cut short when a loud gunshot went off, garnering everyone's attention.
At the entrance to the village, were a group of men in black suits and shades six in total, I recognized them as the same group of men that had came to seek out my master for a sword. I felt a thousand questions race threw my mind.
But, my questions were soon answered, as the men were actually looking for me. They found out that my master was dead, but knew he had trained an apprentice and wanted me to come with them to make the same quality of swords.
Before I could even think of what to do, the village leader told me to run away, to leave while I still could and that he would cover for me. I hated to run away like that, but I could tell he was just looking out for me, so I snuck behind a house and off into the forest.
Then, I heard the men yell that if I didn't show myself, they would start killing the members of the village one by one. I knew I couldn’t just abandon them, so I shouted and told them I was the one there were looking for. One of the seemed to recognize me right away and once I got there attention, I booked it through the forest, using the trees as cover. I was trying to get them as far away from the village as I could.
I eventually found myself at the Sun Goddess shrine and hoped that I could lose them in there. A warning shot in the air told me otherwise. The leader of the group stood before me, gun aimed at my head.
“So your the one who the old man had trained huh? Heh, it's funny for a man as amazing as he to take in a lonely foreigner like you to be trained in his masterful ways.” I was surprised that he knew English but that was quickly overshadowed by the rage building up inside me. But at the same time, I couldn't speak as fear took hold of my heart looking down the barrel of that gun.
“Now listen up kid causes I'm only gonna say this once. You are to come with me and my men and continue your old man's work and make swords for us just like before. You got that?”
I tried to back away, but soon I found myself leaning against the offering pedestal. I felt something against my back, glancing back, I saw it was the ceremonial sword I’d placed there earlier. I snuck a hand behind my back, gripping the handle. I knew it would be futile to use against him.
Even if I had managed to disarm him, there were still 5 other guys, all of which had guns drawn, but just the feeling of the the sword in my grasp made me feel slightly safer.
“I'll give you to the count of three to make your decision either come alone quietly, or die. 1…….”
I closed my eyes and accepted my fate and waited to die and rejoin my parents and master.
“2…….”
However, before he could say three, I felt myself falling backwards. The sound of the gun went off and I thought he killed me, but I could still feel myself falling a bit until finally, I landed on solid ground
I was a bit dizzy and felt kinda woozy, but, to my fortune, I was still very alive. As I sat up, I noticed that I wasn't at the shrine anymore, but instead, in a large pinkish-white room lined with tall marble columns and stain glass windows lining the walls.
The windows seemed to be pictures of...
“Anthropomorphic horses?” I asked out loud.
“Actually, they’re ponies.” A female voice said from behind.
“Oh, anthropomorphic pon….” the words got lost in my throat as I realized I not alone.
I slowly turned my head and and saw that the statue was still there. Everything from its wings to its horn and flowing mane...
“Wait, what?” My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped as I realized that the statue had been replaced by the real thing.
I was staring at the Sun Goddess herself. “Oh dear lord, I did die.”
I watch as the Sun Goddess put a hand to her lips, trying to stifle a giggle. “No dear one, you're not dead, but I will say this is a first time that a human has been offered to me as tribute.” she said, an edge of concern in her voice.
Still processing what had happened, I shook my head to regain my thoughts and stood up.
”Actually, I kinda came here by accident. You see, I was being chased by some goons and found myself at the shrine offering pedestal. When I leaned back on it, I fell backwards and, well here I am.” I gave a bow as a show of respect. “Also, it is an Honor to meet you Sun Goddess, please, forgive my intrusion!”
“Celestia”
I look up at her confused ”Huh?”
“That's my name, Princess Celestia, not’ Sun Goddess’.” she smiled warmly at me. My mind drew a blank as I stood before her.
“Um….okay, uh, Princess Celestia is it?” I bowed again. “So, uh, I guess I should leave then?”
Princess Celestia raised a brow at this.”And how do you plan to go that, my friend? “
I felt a bit worried when she asked that.”Well uh…your majesty, if you could send me back I would be deeply in your debt.” I clamped my hands together and bowed again.
“Oh dear, I'm sorry, but I can't do that as is right now.”
“W-what, why not?” I asked, feeling uneasy.
“Well, you see, the portal that brought you here only happens once every thousand years. That is when the Portal is strong enough to let someone pass thru it. And, I'm afraid I have no way of opening it back up.”
She looked upon me with a look of sympathy,“I'm so sorry.”
At that moment, I felt my heart drop as I fell to my knees.
I had lost yet another home. But, what saddened me most of all...
I was alone again.
I was at the point of falling into complete despair, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking up I saw Celestia kneeling down next to me, she had a warm smile with caring eyes that seemed to look into my very soul.
She pulled me in for a hug, enveloping my body in a gentle warmth. It was as if I was being hugged by my mother once more, a feeling I had long thought I'd never feel again.
She spook as she gently pulled away,“Do not worry, you are welcome here in Equestria.”
And with that I felt as if a heavy stone was lifted off my heart, allowing me to feel joy once more.
