Iato of Yūjō

Iato was born into a noble family, luckily enough for her. However, her daily life consisted of waking up, drinking tea, and going to sleep. This routine became to boring for the little filly, as her brothers would always train out in the yard while she was forced to watch them. It was torture, to her at least. Most of the other mares in the castle were entertained by the day-to-day monotony, but her mother, Hiroikkudōn, shared her sentiment of being bored all the time, but she had only recently come to that conclusion upon noticing Iato's discomfort herself.

"Iato, why do you squirm and huff at the colts in the yard? Is the entertainment not enough?" Hiroikkudōn asked Iato, who was sitting plainly with her head on the banister of their 3 story castle.

"Because mom, I'm bored. I want to be like them, I want train with a big old spear and defend my home. Otherwise, when an invading force attacks, what am I supposed to do? Get stabbed in the flank and die with a sad expression on my face?" Iato said with with an melodramatic hoof on her forehead.

"Well, that's not very lady-like, Iato. I'm going to have a discussion with your father about this. Maybe he can talk some sense into you."

Iato interest was peaked. Might she finally be able to do something more than sit on her flank all day? Iato quickly gulped down the rest of her tea and thanked her mother before heading back to her room.

Hiroikkudōn just looked back out to the yard. "That filly's going to be the death of us all."

Iato couldn't stop thinking about all the cool stuff she could learn. Wide sweeping blows while jumping and coming down like a total badass. Oh she was ready. But near the end of the day, as the sun fell under the horizon, Iato's father came to her. "Iato, look, I understand your discontentment, but what would the other lords think of me if I let one of my daughters among my ranks? I would be devastated!"

"Dad look I..."

"No, Iato!" The father pulled out a scroll. "I got you a journal. It may be no spear, but maybe it will help you be less ambitious." Iato's father tossed the large scroll in Iato's direction "I'm sorry, Iato, but this is the way it must be." Iato's father looked at Iato with sorrow in his eyes. He really didn't want to have this conversation. "It may help soothe your creative soul. Write some stories and whatnot." Iato's father went into a bow "Farewell, Iato, have a good nights rest." He left, leaving Iato to stew in anger.

Most of the entries listed for the next few years tell more archaic versions of ancient Nipponies folk tales (Perhaps this is where some of them got their origins?) and minor updates on the politics of the realm. Eventually though, our little protagonist convinces her youngest brother, a one "Kito Diete", to train her in the wee hours of the night. Iato was a quick study, despite her years lost to drinking tea and writing stories. The journal tells of a confrontation between the sparring duo and their father late in the night...

So my father found out about the training me and my brother were doing in the night. I don't know how he found out though. Maybe it was the bruises or the ruckus we would make. Regardless, he didn't seem mad, just upset...

Iato's father sat looking towards the rising moon. His wife lay sleeping in the bed behind him, having already succumbed to the night. He dwelled on the thoughts of his legacy, his children. His colts were turning into stallions. They would make fine warriors one day. His daughters would be useful tools in political negotiations, all of them were becoming beautiful mares, all accept for one, Iato. Sure, she was just as beautiful as her sisters, but her lady skills were lacking. Rather than focus on her mothers lessons, she would just write in that damn journal all the time. Sometimes he regretted his kindness to her.

Pushing the negative thoughts out, the father focused on the valley town below. Yūjō was beautiful at this time of night. The moons reflected light graced the hills and trees in the valley bellow as the townspeople slowly, one after the other, snuff out their candles and go to sleep. Alas, his bed was calling to him.

He sat staring at the moon for a bit longer before eventually deciding to rest himself. He lay his head on his luxurious silk pillow and was going to fall asleep when he heard a great loud clanking of what was either the weapons storeroom or the kitchen. "Shinobi".

Iato's father got in a low stance after jumping out of his bed. His wife still lay asleep on the bed, unfazed by the noise. It seemed he was the only one who was alerted to the metal cacaphony. He didn't want to awake his sons as they would just make killing the assassins harder. No, he had to do this alone. He inched towards his sword laying on its mount at the far edge of the room. He didn't like using the sword because it meant getting really close to his opponent, but it was all he had. He said a small prayer to the Sun and fastened the fine blade to his side. He slid out of his room, making sure there weren't any traps planted. Whoever hired these shinobi were obviously cheaping out. It was insulting, really. As he moved down the stairs to the second floor, he heard two little voices.

"What if we woke up somepony?"

"I don't know! Lets just continue anyway!"

The fathers body twitched. He had really thought that there were several really bad shinobi in his home, but instead, two of his sons were just fooling around in the night. But rather than make his presence known, he continued to sneak towards the armory, hoping he could find out what exactly the pair were 'continuing'. He made it to the armory, looking around only to see that two of the wooden training swords had been taken, however the spear rack had been knocked over, colliding with another rack, probably chipping the edges. Metal wasn't exactly a very common resource, so it would be expensive to replace.

He moved to the door that led to the outside, taking the utmost caution that he didn't accidentally alert the two colts to his presence. He peeked his eye through a peephole in the door and what saw him made him very furious. It wasn't two of his sons, it was Iato and Kito! At that moment, he began to move to slam the door and scare the little children, but he hesitated. He remembered why he was up in the first place: Iato's progression as a lady. He noticed he fluid moves and how she rivaled her eldest in raw skill, but with training she could be one of the greatest warriors Japone had ever seen. Maybe this was her destiny after all. Maybe she deserved to be a great warrior. He walked out into the moonlight, fully revealing his body and scaring the two sparring ponies into dropping their practice swords.

"Iato, Kito, what are you doing?!" Said the two kids father, already knowing the answer.

Kito was the first to speak up. "Uh... uh... we are, playing pretend?"

"You already do that during the day, why here at night with your sister?" The father sternly put down the thinly veiled lie.

Iato shakily responded "W-we were sparring, father"

"What for? I thought you were going to be a lady, daughter of mine" Their father said to Iato, in an attempt to egg her on while still acting like he was going to punish the two severly.

Kito had pretty much shrunk into a ball at this point. He didn't want to confront his father over their breach of peace.

Iato, however, was still on her hooves. She started to look down towards the ground, but rather than submitting, she piped up with "Father, I wont lie to you. I cant be some wife to some noblecolt who's just going to leave me a widow in a pointless war. No, I need to be more than that. I need to be a warrior."

Iato's father kept his composure on the exterior. however on the inside he felt a true rush of joy overcome him. This really is his daughter. Ambitious, brash, brave. Without giving way to his real feelings, stated bluntly "Iato, I expect you to continue your lessons with your mother. Kito, your grounded. Do you know how much those spears cost!?" And with that, he started to walk away. Iato, however, wouldn't just drop it at that. She grabbed his leg pleading,

"Please, father, let me train. I couldn't live with myself if I just gave up now." Iato started crying, but her father pulled her head up with his hoof, stopping the young filly from going deeper into that line of thought.

"Iato, when did I say you couldn't? I said you needed to focus on your lessons, not that you you couldn't train." Said her father with a smirk.

Iato stared at her father with glistening eyes in the moonlight, smiled. For the first time in her young life, she was really, truly, happy.

The entries at this point became more and more focused on all the techniques she was learning with her brother. However, around the time of her mid-teens, the journal takes a very dark turn. Most of the following entries were written years later, after the incident, rather than an account that was immediately written following the events. While most of this is just run of the mill diary material, me and other scholars in the field have been debating the following events and whether it was just an attack by pegasus with magical artifacts (unlikely, as Japone at the time and even to this day was inhabited completely by Earth Ponies) or if there was really was some kind of magical creature attack on the nobles castle.

"Entry number |Illegible words| They're all dead. Everypony was dead..."

Iato's training had been going well. REALLY well, in fact, because she got her cutie mark! It was two spears, one a bardiche and the other a javelin, two of her favorite weapons, crossed on a light blue, almost cyan, diamond. However, many of her brothers still shunned her practicing with them, as she had been allowed to join in on their daily training sessions once her cutie mark showed up, proving her point that she was supposed to be a warrior, not some housewife.

Her mother, Hiroikkudōn, however, was not so pleased. At first she was happy that her little filly was finally happy with herself, but she found soon enough that her day-to-day life became more and more drooling without Iato doing something stupid or getting in trouble.

In boredom, she snuck out to find somepony she knew all to well, her former coltfriend in the village of Yūjō, right below them. In fact, she wasn't so sure whose children were whose, for all she knew, Iato wasn't really her husbands daughter. But that didn't matter. She needed her little filly back, and she was willing to do anything to get that, even if it meant using dark magic.

Despite popular belief, Earth Ponies aren't devoid of all magic, in fact, some could even argue their affinity for creating new technology rivals the unicorns in their ability to manipulate the world around them. The ancient zebras of the roaming plains developed crafts like alchemy and poultices, an art that is lost to this day, which is why I argue for the side that the attack on Yūjō was not only magical in nature, but in fact caused by a pony in the town itself.

...those wings. Those godamn wings... draped in black... a horn on its head...

Hiroikkudōn passed by the peasants on the street, making sure her identity was hidden. She slipped into the small, but lavishly decorated, home of her once secret lover. "Hello, Buta, I need your help."

Buta sat up in his chair, smiling lazily. He had not needed to work a day in his life once he started his relationship with Hiroikkudōn, so he gained a bit of weight just sitting around. Hiroikkudōn would have had him killed to keep the secret, but she had doubts she could find another pony with so many connections, so the bribes kept on coming.

"Malady, have you come to bed with me once more?" Buta's disgusting smell coming out with his words, making Hiroikkudōn gag a little bit.

"No, Buta, I need you to find me somepony who can..." Hiroikkudōn looked down at her hooves, half out of disgust and half out of embarrassment "...somepony who can cast dark magic."

"Ooooh... malady made an oopsie. Here, let me look through my records." Buta got up from his seat to look through a nearby cabinet.

While Buta looked for his folders, Hiroikkudōn looked around the little abode. While furnished with some of the highest quality items in all of Japone, it reeked from years of uncleaned garbage and filth. How could she have chosen this pathetic excuse for a stallion as a mate?

Eventually, Buta emerged from the pile of filth and hooved over the scroll with all of the pony in questions personal information, as well as a note saying that the pony owed Buta a big favor. "Show him that, malady, and all your wishes will come true, if your wishes aren't too crazy, that is." Buta said with a lazy bow, then struggling to return to full standing posture. "So... how about later?" Buta then cocked his eyebrows a few times.

Hiroikkudōn, putting on her best fake smile, responded with "Sorry, Buta, but I can't. I have errands to run and things to do." Hiroikkudōn basically ran out at that point, taking a breath of fresh, clean air.

You see, with this new information, my colleagues and I have theorized that perhaps these "draped in black" ponies are, in fact, somehow related to the shadow pony attacks that began to occur around 3-4 AEF, which would line up with the timeframe told of in the account, proving that Old Equestria wasn't the only area suffering from these attacks...

"...it's gone... I worked so hard for it and its gone..."