The Elemental Samurai: Guardians of Umatochi

It was a beautiful spring day in the capital city of Canterlot. There were no clouds to be found in the sky. The air was filled with birdsong. The sakura trees were in full bloom, their blossoms filling the air with a sweet smell.

The city of Canterlot was a beautiful and bustling city. The city itself was surrounded by huge walls that were constantly patrolled by the kingdom's most skilled soldiers. Any threats to the safety of the realm would be dispatched in quick succession by these trained fighters. The gates going in and out of the city were heavily guarded and had to pass an inspection if they wanted to enter the city. The city itself was always bustling with activity. The citizens were going to work, setting up market stalls, and visiting the finest restaurants and teashops the nation had to offer.

The city's nightlife was also a site to behold. After sundown, the southern half of the city would light up with red lights. This part of Canterlot was host to its famous brothels. Places where men and women alike could go to "relieve stress" from the daily grind. But it wasn't just for that. These brothels provided other uses for their patrons. They provided couples a place to have some privacy together. These brothels also provide parents a temporary getaway from their children. People would go to these places to avoid the questioning of invasive parents or alleviate their concerns about snoopy neighbors. This half of the city was overseen by the Crown Princess, Luna.

The Solar Empress, Celestia, was walking down the halls of her palace in the very center of the city. The palace was a grand structure. The high sloping walls and towers made it an impressive sight to behold. There were floor-to-ceiling paintings of great samurai fighting ferocious monsters, god-like emperors and empresses from days long past, and entities that could grant wishes. There were beautiful gardens and verandas in the outdoor areas of the palace. These gardens were constantly managed by the most talented gardeners in the kingdom.

The Empress made her way to one of the palace gardens. The pond in the center was teeming with a school of healthy koi fish. Empress Celestia started feeding the fish handfuls of koi food when one of her samurai ran up to her.

This particular samurai had pale skin, dark blue hair with streaks of lighter blue, and deep blue eyes. His armor was standard armor in terms of appearance, but his helmet was different. His helmet had a stylized crest on it in the shape of a koi fish. The decorations on his helmet and armor meant he was a commander of other samurai. He ran up to the Empress and bowed respectfully.

"Your Majesty! I'm so sorry to disturb you like this, but I bring grave news.", the samurai said in a frantic voice. Celestia now looked to be extremely concerned.

"What is it, Captain Shining Armor? Is my sister in poor health? Is there a demon or evil yokai terrorizing a village?", she asked.

"No, Your Majesty. Something worse. Something sinister."

"Well, what is it?".

"The Crystal Empire. Sombra Khan is back. And he's begun his invasion of Umatochi!".

This news stunned Celestia for a good while. It took a few moments for her to find her voice.

"Sombra Khan and the Crystal Empire are invading? Are you sure, captain?".

Shining Armor nodded. "My scouts have reported seeing his armies crossing our northern border and attacking villages. They're killing our samurai and killing our people. The ones that the Crystal Legions don't kill are taken as slaves. Or are tortured for their evil Khan.".

Celestia was sickened. She knew of Sombra Khan's tyranny before, but to torture innocent people? That was just vile.

"Are our armies attempting to fight back?", she asked her captain.

"They're fighting to the bitter end, Your Majesty. They are throwing themselves to a warrior's death. Also, something about Sombra's soldiers disturbs me.".

"And that is?".

"Many of them should've died. But they still fight. My scouts have reported seeing soldiers they've killed themselves get back up and continue to fight. I fear dark magic to be at work.".

The enemy is using dark magic? This is really bad news. Dark magic is a mysterious evil power that no sane person should ever use. If Sombra Khan is using dark magic to bring his soldiers back from the dead, Kami help them all.

"Shining Armor, send a message to everyone in the kingdom to take up arms. Have every able-bodied citizen armed, trained, and ready to fight back the hordes of the Crystal Empire.".

Shining Armor saluted and left to carry out the Empress's orders.

In a quiet corner of Umatochi

Twilight Sparkle was practicing her sword skills in the dojo of the famed Starswirl the Bearded. She had taken up the sword at the age of six and hadn't put it down since. Currently, Twilight was practicing some drills with a bokkun, a wooden practice sword for training use. She was in the midst of practicing a proper swing when her sensei came up behind her and startled her. Twilight almost hit him with the bokkun.

"Sensei! You startled me!", she exclaimed.

"Now, now, my dear student. I'm truly sorry. If you had perhaps held a real sword, my head would be rolling on the floor.", the old warrior mage said.

Twilight had first started training with Starswirl-sensei when she was ten years old. The Empress herself recommended that she learn from him as she herself did. Twilight had grown up listening to stories about the old mage's remarkable feats on the battlefield.

He once saved an entire city from a horde of gaki. These abominations were the spirits of greedy people who lived their lives selfishly before they died. Gaki came back from their graves every night to devour anything they could find, even other people. No matter how much they ate, their hunger and thirst could never be satisfied. Starswirl-sensei used specially crafted talismans to banish these greedy spirits.

Sensei also rescued a kidnapped Kitsune from some pirates. The poor yokai was going to be sold off as a pet to some warlord. Starswirl-sensei summoned a great tsunami to batter the ship while he whisked her off to safety.

He once rescued some farmers from a fearsome Oni, one of the most powerful and dangerous abominations from Jigoku, the realm of demons and evil. The Oni intended to eat the farmers before Starswirl used one of his fabled magic swords to send that monster straight back to Jigoku.

Twilight was extremely honored to learn from a master of both the sword and sorcery. He was both samurai and onmyodo, a practitioner of magic. She had shown him that she had a great talent for magic, even going as far as to stay up all night making her own talismans.

Suddenly, the doors to the dojo burst open to reveal an injured samurai whose body was littered with four arrows. Both student and teacher ran to the dying warrior. As the man fell, Twilight managed to catch him and cradle his head on her lap while Starswirl tried to heal his wounds with magic.

"What happened?", Twilight asked the warrior. He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"The Crystal Empire... is... on the attack.", the injured samurai managed to wheeze out before losing consciousness.

Twilight looked over at her teacher to see him struggling to heal the samurai's wounds. Starswirl had pulled the arrows out to heal him, but somehow his magic looked to be ineffective in healing this man. The wounds didn't close up at all! Starswirl picked up the arrows and had a closer look at them.

The arrows were tipped with black arrowheads and had some kind of rune carved onto the shaft. The old sensei threw the arrow away in disgust.

"Sensei! What is it?!", Twilight asked her teacher. The old mage looked at her with haunted eyes.

"I cannot save him. These are cursed arrows, imbued with dark magic.", Starswirl replied.

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing! This samurai had been shot with arrows containing dark magic? And not only that, but he said that the Crystal Empire was invading?! If they're invading, that means that Sombra Khan has returned to plague the land.

Starswirl-sensei suddenly looked overhead, over the dojo wall. Twilight followed his gaze to see a column of black smoke rising into the sky. There was another black cloud getting bigger and bigger. The quickly began to look more like a giant flock of ravens flying towards them. Then, as the strange objects got closer, Twilight realized what they were actually looking at.

It was a giant volley of black arrows.