Eternal Warrior of Harmony

Chapter 3

Stepping into the Light; A Meeting of Heroes!

Three days had passed since Equestria had met with its newest Hero, Kamen Rider Eternal, and now Twilight, her friends, and Princess Celestia and Luna were on their way to met up with the Heroine along side a couple members of the Royal Guard who walked in front of the group and one more being. He was a tall amethyst purple dragon -just as tall as Twilight if not a bit taller- with large leathery wings that draped down his back and green spikes running down his head, along his back, and all the way to the tip of his tail which made him seem even taller than he was. He wore a black coat with emerald green flames raging upwards into the darkness, a tan t-shirt made to look like parchment and black dress jeans. The dragon was staying close to Rarity who wore a wine red shirt with a black jacket over it and a pair of black colored pants all of which highlighted her figure wonderfully.

"I wonder if I'm cursed," the young dragon grumbled out loud, "The one time I decide to go to bed early and something awesome happens."

"I would not call it 'awesome', Spike," Rarity spoke up as gingerly stepped over a root, only to catch the one hidden behind it with her hoof. Just as she was about to fall, the dragon -Spike- quickly reached out and steadied her earning him a smile from the sophisticated mare which caused him to blush.

"I thought it was pretty awesome!" Pinkie countered as she skipped along the route somehow dodging all tripping obstacles that appeared in her path, "Well besides someone trying to kill Twilight and many other ponies."

Princess Celestia agreed with Pinkie Pie on that one, "Indeed Pinkie. And the power that the Assassin and Eternal used was very interesting; both ancient and new at the same time."

"Wish we could have studied at least one of those items they used to find out why our magic was struggling to work on them," Twilight added with a sigh, "but one of them was destroyed by Eternal who somehow vanished when she set off that flash bomb. I still wonder who that mare was."

"As do I," Princess Luna said with a look of concentration on her face, "Especially since I could not discern her name at all."

While the other ponies looked at the moon princess curiously -minus the guards-, the elder princess turned to her sister as she asked, "So you could not tell what her name was either?"

Twilight was very curious about what her ex-mentor and fellow princess was talking about, "What do you mean Pri- Celestia?"

The solar princess smiled as she explained, "All Alicorns have the ability to instinctively know the name of any Pony they meet. The 'Royal Instinct' as some call it, can only be fooled by the most powerful magicks, so for us to not know Eternal's true name only means one of two things."

Celestia -being the wise mentor she is- kept silent about her suspicions to let her ex-student shine once again; and she was not disappointed.

"That means either Eternal is somehow protected from the 'Royal Instincts' or is not a pony at all." Twilight hypothesized causing her friends, little dragon brother, and the two guards to look at her in shock.

"Wait one minute," Applejack quickly interrupted, "You're tellin' me that the mare that saved you might not be a Pony at all?"

"That seems to be the case Applejack," Lune replied with a small smile on her lips as this conundrum started to interest her, "There is also the chance that the 'Gaia Memories' Eternal and the assassin used could also be protecting them but that only seemed to work when both of them were transformed."

"So you know the name of the mare that tried to kill me?" Twilight asked but before either of the sisters could answer... and sharp whistling sound pierced the air before a 'THUNK' announced the appearance of an arrow at the feet of the guards, quickly making every-pony be on alert.

"Sorry about that," A familiar voice called out to the group from above and to the front causing every-pony to look towards the sound. There 'Eternal' stood on top of a thick limb with a bow in her left hand as she continued speaking, "but your guards were about to step into a trap and I didn't want anyone to get hurt on my account."

"Like we will believe that," one of the 'braver' guards barked as she stepped over the arrow...only to scream when she was quickly hoisted up by that hoof into the air via a snare made from woven vines.

"Baka," Ichigo groaned as she face-palmed along with the smarter guard and the others behind her. The Kunochi tree hopped over to the mare -stunning the ponies beneath her- and quickly yet safely let the trapped guard down from her 'high peak'.

"How was the weather up there, Silver Arms?" the smarter Unicorn guard asked the not so smart one after she was safely on the ground.

"Ha, ha," Silver Arms replied as she quickly let herself out of the noose around her hoof, stood up while grabbing her dual broadswords and glared at the kunochi.

"I did try to warn you," Ichigo stated as she jumped down after rolling up the vine rope, "Now please follow me to my campsite. It's not much but it works for what I needed it to do."

And with that the dimensionally displaced ninja lead the group towards her camp helping them dodge the traps she had placed which made Fluttershy cringe seeing them. She had more then a few bad experiences seeing that some of her animal friends had been violently killed by them. After a while the group finally reached a small open area where four large logs surrounded a expertly built fire with a metal stove over it that had a metal coffee pot on top of it. Off to the side was a simple lean-to tent build with large sticks, rope, two trees forming the main support with the back part made of canvas over a frame and leafy branches over that to help protect it from the rain. Under the lean-to was a sleeping bag with large canvas bag under it filled with dry grass to soften the ground beneath the sleeping bag.

"I would say make yourself at home but this is not much of one," Ichigo said as she took off her cloak and threw it over another nearby rope to let it air out.

"Oh sweet Faust," Rarity exclaimed in shock, "How long and you been living like this???"

"Just over a month," the Kunochi replied as she went to another hanging rope and took off a few tin cups hanging from some hooks connected to the rope, "But believe me I've been in worst situation in my survival training. Would anyone like some coffee?"

For the cultured mare it just would not do, and with a glow from her horn, summoned a very nice couch to sit on around the fire. Her friends just rolled their eyes as they sat down on the logs and accepted Ichigo's offer except for the guards who kept standing making Celestia roll her eyes. After everyone/pony had been served, Ichigo got the last cup but was a bit reluctant to drink from.

"What's wrong Eternal?" Twilight asked a bit confused as she looked at the Rider/Ninja.

Ichigo winched at the name slightly before looking away while deciding to be honest with them, "Before you ask I did not poison the coffee or anything...I'm mainly worried about how you might react to how I look."

"Well," Applejack began after taking a sip of the surprisingly good coffee -her senses were telling her that Eternal was a good pony or whatever she was- as she said, "We already know you might not be a pony. So if you are a griffon or something, we won't mind."

The other non guard ponies nodded in agreement surprising Ichigo before deciding to jump in feet first. Setting her cup down, the Kunochi reached for both her hood and face mask bringing them to reveal herself stunning the ponies when they saw her furless face.

None more so were as shock as the princesses who shouted, "A HUMAN?!?!?!"

Ichigo turned to the princesses with her own shock as she stuttered out, "Y-you know what I am???"

"Twilight may have only heard about you from history books," Celestia explained, "But we have actually met humans almost two centuries ago."

So shocked was Ichigo that her mouth took over briefly, "Both of you have aged very well..."

That unexpectedly broke the ice as the two elder princesses began to giggle which everyone/pony else quickly caught before settling down.

"Thank you..." the solar princess began before a look of curiosity crossed her muzzle, "I don't believe you told us your name."

"What do you mean Princess Celestia?" Fluttershy asked in a quiet voice that was nearly lost to the winds.

"From what We remember about human," Princess Luna explained, "A human's name does not revolve around their talent or Cutie Mark since humans do not get them unless they have been touched by magic."

With a smile, Equestria's only human said, "While I did not get all of your names, and I hope to learn them soon; My name is Katherine Ichigo Wilson."

For a few seconds no-pony spoke until a giggle was heard causing everyone to turn to Celestia who was giggling madly, "Your middle name is Strawberry?"

A vein suddenly popped on Ichigo's forehead as she shot up to her feet shouting out, "MY MIDDLE NAME DOES NOT MEAN STRAWBERRY!!! IT’S ‘ONE WHO PROTECTS’; ICHI FOR ONE AND GO FOR GUARDIAN!!!"

Celestia just kept on giggling as everyone -minus Luna and the Guards who were used to the elder princes' antics- watched in shock as Ichigo tried to tear into the Alicorn verbally. After a few futile minutes, the girl calmed down, picking up her tin cup to take a drink and hopefully calm down.

"Um, excuse me Ms. Wilson..." Fluttershy began quietly only to be briefly stopped.

"Please call me Ichigo...um."

"F-Fluttershy," the butter furred Pegasus replied with a blush, "T-thank you for s-saving myself and Princess Luna."

"Indeed," the moon princess added with her own smile, "The monster that the assassin had turned into was immune to our magic for some reason which briefly affected me after I attacked it. Thanks to that I was unable to get the two of us out of her path."

"It's wasn't a problem at all," was the princess' reply, "I was just doing as I was trained to do."

"Be that as it may," Twilight interrupted, "I remember reading that Humans were forced to leave this world 2 centuries ago for some reason. So why are you here?"

That really caught everypony's attention especially Luna and Celestia since they sadly knew why the human's had to leave. Unknowing of this, Ichigo just shrugged as she replied with her answer.

"I don't really know. I was sent to this world by Kami-sama after passing a test and told I would be the perfect defender for this world."

Every Unicorn's and Alicorn's eyes widen in shock when they heard that while all the other ponies were confused. "You mean to tell me," Silver Arms -who had kept quiet despite the heated looks she gave Ichigo- asked in shock, "That the creator the worlds sent you here???"

"Yep," Ichigo replied before taking a sip as magic using ponies stared at her dumbly.

"What in tarnation as ya'll talking about?" Applejack asked getting quite confused.

"The Creator of worlds," Luna replied as Twilight tried to get her head wrapped around the Creator being real, "Is a legend for any magic users. He is a very powerful being greater than myself and Tia combined who forged the world we live in along with multiple others each one as unique as our own and yet similar at the same time."

All the other pony's eyes widen in shock when they heard that as Celestia asked, "Why did he send you here?"

“Because someone in this world seems to have found a way to create Gaia Memories,” Ichigo replied taking another.

“You mentioned those before,” Twilight pointed out, “what are Gaia Memories exactly?”

Ichigo set her cup down and pulled out her Eternal Memory as she began to explain, “Gaia Memories are rectangular shaped devices that hold the conceptual existence of a word; a literal mental representation that is Observed by the world it is created from. They can be anything from a simple thing such as Heat, to objects such as Blades, and even concepts such as my personal memory.”

=ETERNAL!=

The ponies jumped slightly when the Eternal Memory ‘spoke up’ without Ichigo pressing the button. “Now because Gaia Memories are draw from the world’s own memory of a Concept, they hold a lot of power in them. There are multiple way of using the power sealed inside each Gaia Memory; and you only saw three of them a few days ago.”

“How much power do these memories hold?” Luna asked a bit scared of the what looked to be a harmless object.

“It depends of the concept they were created from, how they are forged, and how the person -or in this case ponies- use them,” the ninja rider replied as she placed her personal Rider Memory back into her jacket. “Straight out of the Earth without any modifications or items to regulate the Memories power; they can be inserted into a person which would then transform their body to represent the concept sealed within the Gaia Memory creating a Dopant.”

“Unfortunately this is the most dangerous way as normal people, I mean ponies can’t handle it because of the seer conceptual power contained within each Memory would making them go crazy as a result. Sure there are some ponies that can match a Memory so well they can’t go crazy from the power; but this make them harder to defeat. There are also devices called Gaia Drivers that Filter out enough of a Memory’s influence that the user won’t go crazy; but it also weakens the Dopant at the same time forcing the person to use more powerful Memories to compensate.”

As she finished that part of her speech she reached into the back pouch of her belt and pulled out her Lost Driver. “There are ways too ‘dilute’ a Memory’s power; but those memories need a bridge -similar to my Lost Driver here- to connect it to a person/pony and they are weaker than non-modified Memories. The bridges are similar to the Gaia Drivers in that they can harness the Memory’s power but instead of transforming the person; they form a shell of armor around them while still granting the person their power though limited. Their full power only can be brought out for a short time creating what is know as a Maximum Drive which temporarily super charges the user and grants them access to a ‘finishing move’ of sorts.”

“My Eternal Memory is different from other Gaia Memories. Unlike normal Gaia Memories which can only use their own power and no others -except in certain cases; My Eternal Memory can draw power from any other Gaia Memory in the form of a Maximum Drive.” With a sigh Ichigo finished her speech, putting her Lost Driver away as she said, “But sadly I haven’t been able to pull out Eternal’s full power so I can only do so much at the moment.”

All the ponies looked at each other as Ichigo looked at the ground sadly before Applejack asked, “Why don’t you tell us how you came across those Gaia Memories?”

Ichigo perked up slightly as she told her guests the story of how she came across the Gaia Memories. Then Fluttershy, who noticed something, asked, "What happened to your parents?"

Finally the question Ichigo had been dreading was asked and with a deep breath she answered. “My parents have been dead since I was five years old over thirteen years ago.”

All the girls gasped in shock at that while Celestia, Luna and the two guards looked at the human with pity in their eyes. But before they could say anything, Ichigo quickly tore into them.

“Don’t any of you dare pity me or make any comments about how bad my life must have been since I’m an orphan!” She said with fire in her eyes, “My life after my parents died has been very good since their will allowed me to stay at a orphanage where a friend of the family worked at while allowing me to learn the skills they wanted to teach me such as surviving in the worst environment as well as the eighteen disciplines of the Ninja.”

The ponies could do nothing but blink in shock before Rarity gently cleared her throat. “Forgive us dear,” she began, “But I believe because of the horror stories every-pony has heard about orphans and orphanages, we expected the worst.”

With a sigh, Ichigo began to apologize, “Sorry; I’m so use to hearing people saying that they are sorry that i’m an orphan and giving me pity since they think my life is hard or something. While it is in a sense -mainly because of my training- it was not emotionally at all.” Holding a finger up Ichigo continued, “You need to remember; for every bad story you hear; there are at least three times good ones hidden behind it. Unfortunately because of people’s insistence on only focusing on the bad, the good stories more often than not get pushed to the wayside.”

Celestia smiled as Ichigo lectured briefly before adding, “That is a good lesson to learn for all ponies to learn.” she then turned to Twilight as she said, “That lesson may not be one on friendship, Twilight; it is one you should learn nonetheless.”

“I will remember that Pr- Celestia,” Twilight replied with a smile as she mentally wrote the lesson down.

Ichigo on the other hand was a bit confused, “Lesson on friendship? What is that???”

This time it was Twilight’s turn to talk as she told about her time in Ponyville and how she discovered the ‘magic of friendship’ and how it allowed her and her friends to face off against Equestria’s own bad guys. Personally Ichigo believe Twilight’s and her friends’ power came from their bonds and not just the magic of friendship -the Kunochi was a big believer that the bonds a person/pony makes is makes a warrior strong- but she kept her peace for the moment. The tight knit group of friends also told Ichigo about some of the adventures they had and embarassing/funny moments learning about friendship which made more than one pony bright red.

After laughing about one time Twilight’s went a bit crazy- read a lot- when she discovered she was going to be ‘late’ for her friendship report and nearly tore Ponyville apart trying to find a lesson; Ichigo wiped her eyes before sighing sadly. “Listening to all of those crazy adventures makes me wish I could go with all of you back to Ponyville, Twilight. But I doubt it would be possible.”

That really confused every-pony as Celestia asked, “Why do you believe that Ichigo?”

“Well for one, I’m a human not a pony so I don’t know if I’ll be well received or treated like some sort of rare find,” Ichigo explained as she reached for the refilled coffee pot and poured herself another cup, “and two; I really don’t want to be a burden on anyone since all of my training had me work towards being independent.”

Ichigo took a drink to hide her worry as the ponies looked at each other sadly before one of them had an idea. “Well Ichigo,” Celestia began, “Since you want to be independent of anyone, How about I offer you a job to help protect Twilight when she goes back to Ponyville.”

Nearly choking on her coffee, the displaced Kunochi looked at Celestia in shock along with Twilight and her friends. “You want Ichigo/me to what???” the new princess and ninja asked simultaneously.

Celestia sighed as she explained herself, “It is hard for me to admit this; but the ponies who sent that assassin after you might try something else in the future since their first attempt failed. I know that you and your friends can protect yourselves, Twilight; but it doesn’t hurt to have a little bit of extra insurance just in case.”

Twilight thought about it for a bit but was unsure; until Celestia sent her a mental message, “It would also be a good way for you to help learn how to spreading your message of friendship across Equestria when it is time for you to fully immerse yourself in your future responsibilities. But that still won’t be for a few years.”

That sealed the deal -since her mind thought of it as a test- and quickly agreed. “I think that would be a good idea since we are more use to fighting face to face and not in the shadows like Ichigo is.”

Ichigo was a bit stunned that the ponies would so easily ask her to stay with them when she was certain they wouldn’t. Of course this caused her to smile since if she was going to protect Twilight, it would be best to stay at her side as a friend like her ninja sensei recommended all those years ago when it comes to protection detail. And with a wide smile she said, “I accept your offer.”

Every-pony smiled when she said that as Celestia clapped her hands, “Very Good! We will still need to work out payment; but I think this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

And with that, the kunochi began to gather up her supplies with the ponies chipping in too -to her surprise. Ichigo mainly worked on the food -since she had hidden away some fish she had smoked away knowing that Ponies were herbivores... At least until she accidentally tripped and dropped the container where it bounced, rolled, and landed in front of Fluttershy who looked at it curiously.

“What is this?” she asked picking up the container and -to Ichigo’s dread opened it up and pulled out one of the fish jerkies before paling slightly. “Is this... Meat?”

Everypony looked at the item before looking at the sweating human...At least until Celestia and Luna smacked their foreheads.

“Of course we forgot about that,” The older sister ‘moaned’ as the younger nodded her head, “Humans are omnivores but can choose if they want to eat meat or not.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked as she towards Ichigo, only to find the Human gone.

“Sorry,” Ichigo said from somewhere but since her voice was somehow echoing it was extremely hard to pinpoint where she was exactly, “I know that ponies are herbivores so I was trying to keep things like that hidden. If you don’t want me to stick around, you can leave and I won’t hold it against you.”

A second later, Ichigo found herself being pulled out of her hiding place -a nearby tree top- by a golden aura which was admitting from Celestia’s horn. “You don’t have to worry about that Ichigo. There is no laws about eating meat at all nor are ponies strictly herbivores.”

“Huh?” was Ichigo intelligent reply.

“Ponies can eat meat,” Luna added as Ichigo was set down, “We just don’t need to like humans do.”

“Oh...” Ichigo said embarrassingly and the girls giggled -except for the guards who kept to the side watching out for their princesses though they did smile briefly.

Scene Change

Deep beneath Canterlot Castle, a shadowy figure easily dodged the guards inside,heading for their destination. Soon the shadow reached a certain cell where within resided the defeated kunoichi still ‘knocked out’ hanging from the cell walls with chains to keep her in place; a simple robe covering her body instead of the armor/clothing she had worn before. The shadow easily picked the cell’s lock and entered the room before pressing a certain part of the mare’s body waking her up quickly.

“Nee-sama,” the Kunochi gasped happily seeing the familiar mask of her elder brother, “You have come for me!!!”

“In a sense little sister,” the stallion replied as he stared at the slightly younger and shorter mare, “You have failed your mission.”

“Not yet Nee-sama!” the mare quickly replied, “If you free me, we can still...”

“You know the punishment for failing a mission as important like this,” The stallion interrupted making the mare’s eyes widen in shocked horror.

“No...NO NEE.....”

The frantic mare was quickly muzzled by her ‘older brother’ who did not seem at all sad at what he was about to do. “This is for your own good sister, since you have become a liability to our clans” He said, pulling out a kunai which caused the mare to start to try and struggle out of her bindings with no luck, “May Faust-sama have mercy on your soul.” And without hesitation; performed the deed.

A minute later, the stallion quickly sneaked out of the cell, a few splattering of blood on his chest plate and gloves. Just before he could make his full escape; some-pony called out, “HEY YOU!!!” Without looking back, the ninja quickly took off with four guards behind him. One of them, wearing gold and purple armor signifying he was captain of the dawn guard, started to bark out orders.

“Straight Arrow, check on the prisoner; the rest of you are with me!”

“Yes Sir; Captain Armor!” the three replied as one of them quickly stopped and entered the cell while the other three raced after the ninja.

As soon as Straight Arrow entered the cell; she gasped in horror, covering her mouth to keep her bile from escaping. The scene in front of her was too gruesome to describe but it was clear to see that the assassin they had caught had been quickly yet brutally murdered; her face wide eyed in horror.

Saying a quick pray for the poor soul, Arrow quickly raced out of the cell to send a message to the princesses hoping that this assassin didn’t have the same strange item the last one did.

Scene Change

Back in the forest, Ichigo and her new friends -thought she was slightly reluctant to call them that to early- was just finished putting up the campsite when Spike’s cheeks began to bulge before letting out a small plume of fire which quickly transformed into a scroll that fell into the dragon’s claws.

“It’s addressed to you Princess Celestia,” He said, handing the scroll to the elder princess who opened it only to gasp in shock at what was written within.

“There is another assassin inside the castle!” she exclaimed stunning the ponies while Ichigo frown which deepened when Celestia added, “And he just killed the first one.”

Quickly making a decision, Ichigo asked, “Princess Celestia; I suggest that we head over to Canterlot as quickly as possible.”

“I agree,” Princess Luna acknowledge, “We need to capture the assassin since he is our only lead to who is trying to kill Twilight Sparkle.”

“Indeed,” Celestia replied as Ichigo quickly threw on her cloak while pulling up her face mask and hood, “I will set you just inside Canterlot’s walls while the rest of us teleport into the castle and hopefully herd the assassin away from the major pony population without spilling any innocent blood. And do not worry about your items, I will be transporting them into a spare room near Twilight’s.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Ichigo replied as she check over her gear before she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to see Twilight looking at her, a worried expression on her face.

“Please be careful Ichigo,” she said softly as her friends looked at the kunochi with the same expression on their faces, “I don’t want one of my friends to be killed because of me.”

Stunned was the only thing Ichigo felt as he saw the conviction on Twilight’s face when she said that Ichigo was her friend before she smiled, patting Twilight’s hand. “There’s something you should know about Kamen Riders; As long as we are needed, we will never die.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to be stunned along with her friends as Ichigo turned to Celestia and with tongue-in-cheek humor said, “Beam me up Celestia!”

The solar princess shook her head before focusing on Ichigo and Teleported her to Canterlot. A brief moment of vertigo greeted the ninja as she appeared on a rooftop near the walls of Canterlot and after shaking it off began racing towards the castle.

A minute later -after transmitting Ichigo’s things- Celestia, Luna, and Twilight worked together to teleport the rest of the group into the castle grounds. Unfortunately just as they appeared, Applejack saw something that made her shout, “WATCH OUT!!!” as she pushed Twilight to the ground. A second later...

“AHHHHH!!!!!”

Twilight looked up and saw that Applejack now had a kunai stuck in her right arm just below her shoulder causing the newest princess to gasp in shock. “Applejack!!!” She shouted along with her friends as they quickly yet carefully sat her up while Celestia cast a shield spell around them.

“Now I can see why my sister had a hard time killing you Twilight Sparkle,” a male voice spoke from seemingly everywhere, disguising where the Assassin was hiding.

Glaring out of the shield spell, Applejack -fighting through the pain- called out, “What do you mean your sister???”

“The pony that attacked Twilight three days ago was my own sister,” The pony replied as he stealthily moved through the shadows of the castle trying to find a weak point in the shield, “Unfortunately because of her failure and capture, I was forced to dispose of her as per our laws.”

All the ponies gasped in horror as they heard that while Rainbow Dash was pissed, “YOU KILLED YOUR OWN SISTER?!?! HOW COULD YOU?!?!”

“Family ties mean nothing when it comes to completing a mission and the laws of our clan,” The pony coldly replied as he saw there was no way to breach the shield quickly and decided to use his trump card -a crimson red Dopant Memory with an ‘M’ shaped like a volcano for the symbol, “And since you do not want to die quickly Twilight Sparkle; you will just have to settle for dying painfully.”

A second later, the ponies heard the dreaded voice from three nights ago speak out once more.

=MAGMA!!!=

A dark whirling sound later, all of the pony’s eyes widen in shock as they saw what could only be called a monster made up of magma -cooled on the arms and legs but burning hot everywhere else- stepoed out of the shadows. A second later, a ball of flames appeared in it’s right hand and with a roar the ninja threw it at the shield which held up for a while before shattering into shards of energy.

The Dopant quickly threw another ball of fire at the ponies who quickly threw themselves to the side with Applejack crying out in pain from jostling her wounded arm. Quickly picking up on that, the ninja fired another ball of flames at the downed Earth Pony and mentally smirked when he saw his prey teleporting in to block the shot with her own shield. Unfortunately just like before, it to shattered but more flames escaped the broken shield and almost hit Twilight who was forced to summon water out of the air to block the rest.

Quickly thinking on her feet, the new Princess of Magic gathered up the remaining water and threw it at Dopant who hardened into igneous rock. Just as every pony was about to breath a sigh of relief... The Dopant’s body suddenly flared up; quickly melting the rock back into magma to everypony's shock.

“That almost worked,” the ninja taunted -the memory already starting to taint his mind- “Unfortunately for you, my new body is too powerful for even the oath traitors, Celestia and Luna to defeat me.” He then threw another fireball too quickly for Twilight to get a proper shield up, forcing her to the ground next to Applejack.

The others and some guards that appeared quickly tried to head for them...only for the Dopant to slam his foot down causing a large wall of lava to suddenly spew out between them and the ninja who started to gather a large amount of flames together.

“Good Bye, future destroyer of Equestria,”the Dopant taunted as the flames finally reached their peak.

Suddenly...two kunai flew through the air and pierced the fireball before exploding causing the Dopant to lose control over the death ball while allowing Twilight time to grab Applejack and teleport away.

“WHO DID THAT?!?!?!” the Dopant demanded after he cleared the cobwebs created by the explosion from his mind, “SHOW YOURSELF!!!”

[Wild ARMs Alter Code: F; Warrior’s Whistle]

At this time, the magic of Equestria decided to activate as a strange echoing song started to resonate throughout the castle with the sounds of fingers snapping to the tune -that nopony seemed to be doing- before a familiar -to Fluttershy and Luna- instrument started to play. Everypony looked towards the sound and saw a hazy figure slowly start to appear in the streets through the nearby entrance of the castle walls, a cloak wrapped around their neck softly flapping in a sudden breeze. The minds of the sudden audience was entranced as the figure -playing a sky blue sweet potato ocarina- slowly walked through the streets towards the Dopant without a care for their own life. As soon as the figure got closer, the Princesses, their friends, and some guards instantly recognized the figure as Eternal/Ichigo who continued walking forwards playing her ocarina.

In a nearby alleyway -hidden in the shadows- the same figure from three nights ago could not help but sweatdrop as he saw the Iga trained kunochi slowly walking towards the upcoming fight playing in instrument like a ronin samurai in a story. Of course they also knew that Eternal was doing this as a show of confidence of sorts since no ninja worth their salt would ever do something like that if they did not have a plan. Thought he was thankful that the sounds of his snapping fingers reverberated enough to keep hiding him.

Captain Armor, who had briefly followed a false lead, quickly caught up to the rest of his guards and saw a familiar pony stand stunned a few yards away from a magma monster. He quickly raced up to Twilight and asked, “Are you okay Twily?”

The unicorn turned alicorn turned around quickly and saw her big brother behind her. “Shiny!” She said and hugged the older unicorn before pulling back, “I’m okay. The Dopant didn’t get a chance to hurt me before Ichigo stopped him.”

“Ichigo?”

Smiling, Twilight turned to the still strolling figure as he said, “That person right there.”

Shining Armor was a bit stunned to see Eternal/Ichigo walking up to the monster, projecting a confidence that he has rarely seen before. “That’s Eternal’s real name?”

As Ichigo ended her song, stopping a few yards away from the Dopant, her cloak settled back over her body as she hid her arms inside it, glaring at the monster. “So another one of you assholes has decided to try your luck.”

“And you are the one who stopped my sister from completing her mission,” the dopant replied back not in the least bit worried about the hero in front of him.

More than a bit pissed Rainbow Dash shouted out, “HOW CAN YOU STILL CALL HER YOUR SISTER WHEN YOU KILLED HER WITH YOUR OWN HOOVES?!?!?!”

The Manga Dopant glared at the pegasus who was trying to keep talking as everypony moved to calm her down. Ichigo on the other hand just asked one thing.

“You killed your own sister...why?”

Turning to Ichigo, he replied with, “That is the rule of our clan. Those who do not complete their mission are considered a liability and must be eliminated as such.”

Ichigo kept quiet as she bowed her head before saying one thing.

“Trash.”

“What did you say?” The Dopant replied in his native language.

“No your not trash..” Ichigo corrected as she glared at the ninja, “Your worst then trash!” She then began to secretly pull out her Lost Driver as well as a Gaia Memory as she said, “True those who don’t follow the rules are trash; but those who harm or abandon their own comrades ARE WORSE THAN TRASH!!!”

And with that our Heroine charged forward as the Dopant -quite pissed off- shouted, “YOU BITCH!” Before creating another fireball which he threw at the kunoichi who threw her cloak in front of her where it exploded as it connected to the fireball stunning everypony. Suddenly...

=METAL!=

“Henshin!”

=METAL!=

The familiar Gaia Memory voice spoke out again but with a different word along with the sounds of someone wording on metal with a tune. A second later, the Dopant was hit with a long metal shaft that sent him flying away from the ponies while dispersing the flames.

Ichigo was still wearing armor similar to the Eternal armor; but it was entirely a shiny metallic grey color instead of the white with crimson flames. In addition the bands on her wrists and ankles had turned to silver with rivets along the edges as a ‘W’ shaped marking on her chest and shoulders in the same color and pattern appeared. Her helmet was also a metallic grey but the compound eyes were more rounded instead of the infinity symbol shape the Eternal Eyes made, and the crest on her forehead wasn’t an ‘E’ shaped but more of a ‘W’ with the red gem in the bottom part of the crest.

“Kamen Rider Metal,” Ichigo said as she took a stance with her stave, that was almost six feet in length with the very middle of it having a slanted slot for a Gaia Memory and black grips on either side, stretching out for almost a foot and a half. “Saa…omae no tsumi o kazoero,” Metal add with a subtle anger in her voice. (Now... Count Up Your Sins.)

“I have no sins to count!!!” The Dopant replied as he shot up and charged at the Rider.

Just as he got close enough to lay his hands on Metal, the Rider quickly flipped her stave up knocking his hands away before smacking his head a few times. She then twirled the stave over her head a few times and batted him away like a baseball. He rolled away a few times but quickly swung his body up and threw a few kunai made of molten magma at the Rider who just used her stave to bat them to the ground. This was only a ruse to allow the dopant to get closer as he began to throw a rapid amount of punches at the Rider who blocked with her stave before slamming one end of her weapon onto the Dopant’s head making him stumble back while rubbing his head.

Taking the moment offered, Metal pulled out another Gaia Memory and slid it into the (Maximum) slot on the Staff -with Equestria’s magic activating once more to play music- as she said, “It’s Climax Time!!!”

=LUNA: MAXIMUM DRIVE! =

Suddenly one end of the stave slid back into the black handle as Metal swung the stave over her head before swinging it forward. Then, to everypony’s shock, the other silver end of the stave began to stretch and swing around like a whip. The dopant didn’t have time to dock as the whip hit him multiple times without any relief. Metal then swung the Metal Stave up, uppercutting the monster in the jaw and sending it flying before the Rider spun her body around, giving the whip more momentum as she slammed it into the dopant’s gut sending it crashing into the dirt.

Once Metal got her footing back, she pulled out the Gaia Memory in the Lost Driver, an opaque light grey USB drive with a picture silver riveted ‘M’ on a black background, and slid it into the Maximum Slot on her belt; with a pray on her mind, ‘Hope I’m sturdy enough for this...’

=METAL: MAXIMUM DRIVE!=

She then took out and replaced the Luna memory in the stave causing it and the Metal memory to began to repeat the same words over and over as silver and gold light began to shine through the slits on her armor.

=MAXIMUM DRIVE! MAXIMUM DRIVE! MAXIMUM DRIVE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!=

Metal winched as the energies from the two activate Maximum Drives began to fight her to be released, which she was ready to do. And with that, the kunoichi Rider began to spin the Metal Stave on either side of her body causing the now rope like silver ends to twist about forming six rune circle around her. The thing that really stunned the ponies watching was that each circle had a one of six familiar symbols inside them.

“The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight gasped confirming everypony’s suspicions.

Their surprise grew when Metal then spun her stave around her head while spinning creating two more rune circle that both Celestia and Luna were very familiar with.

“Our Cutie Marks!!!” the solar princess gasped in shock while Luna just looked on speechless.

The Rider was unknowing of this as she focused all of her attention and will power to controlling the attack before she launched the rune circles with a roar of, “TWIN MAXIMUM: LUNAR METAL ILLUSION!!!” All eight rune circle shot through the air spinning like discus as each one slammed into the Dopant one-by-one, bouncing off him before circling back and all hitting him at once with an explosion.

Once the attack was over; the Gaia Voice stopped repeating himself as Metal fell onto her hand and knees, panting as the armor dissolved into particles along with the stave, and the Memories clattered to the ground as the music stopped. At the same time, the flames and smoke cleared to reveal the assassin on the ground with the Magma Dopant Memory shattered.

All the ponies quickly gathered around Ichigo as the guards quickly gathered up the assassin. “Are you okay Ichigo?” Twilight asked as Rainbow Dash and Applejack helped him up.

“I’ll be okay,” she replied, grateful for the helping hand, “Still not use to using a Twin Maximum Drive attack.”

“So you are like those Iga bastards,” the voice of the Ninja sounded from his place within the guard circle, “I will tell you this before I go, there is still another here in Canterlot. If you can defeat him well...I’ll buy you a drink when we met up again.”

“And what makes you think you can get away from us?” Shining Armor said as he held a sword to the prisoner’s throat.

To his surprise, the ninja just smiled, “Who said anything about escaping???”

Ichigo’s head shot up as she heard that with her eyes widening as distinct and familiar crunch echoed the silent grounds. “GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!” the kunoichi shouted as the ninja began to convulse with his eyes rolling up and towards the back of his head.

The guards quickly let go and jumped back as the ninja fell to the ground, shaking harder than San Francisco during an earthquake with foam coming out of his mouth. A few seconds later, his convulsions stopped as his eyes stared up into the sky and was silent. Ichigo gently pushed the poneis away from her, walked up to the still ninja, and knelt down while running a finger through the foam around his mouth. She brought it up to her nose briefly before pulling back quickly.

“Potassium cyanide,” she said stunning the ponies there when she recognized the bitter almond smell, “He basically killed himself.” Ichigo then brought her hand to the deceased ninja’s eyes and gently closed them.

“He k-killed himself?” Fluttershy asked with horror in her eyes along with Rarity before both of them fainted with Rainbow Dash catching her old friend while Spike caught Rarity.

Ichigo stood up as the guards quickly gathered up the ninja for autopsie to at least gather some information about him if possible. The kunoichi forced herself keep standin as she turned to Celestia and said one thing.

“I think we will need that talk sooner than expected.”

The princess nodded as she led the group back into the castle for that talk. At the same time, on a rooftop a few blocks away from the castle, a figure who was watching the fight from the beginning took another drag from his cigarette as he watched them go.

“Damn! That was an awesome fight! Even if it didn’t have any blood or gut spilling, It was still on the level of my man Afro Samurai!” the pony ninja, who was a lanky fellow with dark brown almost chocolate fur with dark blue almost navy shinobi clothing but without the headgear as it was replaced with a pair of crimson sunglasses. The strangest thing about this pony was his white mane and tail which was long and very much like an afro with the mane sticking straight up and a long scarf around his neck.

“She may not be a cold hearted killer like Afro,” the ninja said as he stood another draft, “She’s still one tough b...” At that he began to choke on something for some reason before catching his breath.

“I forgot,” he stated with a deadpanned voice, “While this world may have some fine women here, it doesn’t allow for harsh words like that unless you’re immune to the magic somehow.” He took a puff from his cigarette before he said, “At least there is some good booze, cigs, an’ shit like that, even if I do need to report to Tanba.”

He then began to smirk as he turned to the reader and said, “Thought I have a feeling this may just be the first body on that girl’s body toll. May god rest those ‘poor’ souls.”

And with a cackle he took off shouting, “NINJA NINJA; OUT!!!” startling anypony that was near him.

Author's Note

For those of you who are interested... the reason it took so long to put this chapter out was because I was trying to find a way to keep it rated T while using the scenes I had. Unfortunately I could not find a valid way of doing so and I just said 'freak it' and decided to bump up the rating. Of course this allows me to add a character I think would be prefect for this story in. The name at the end should tell you where I got this character from. and don't worry there will be a backstory later on that reveals how in the world he got to Equestria.

Also I have to ask, do you think I should keep the amount of Japanese used in this story to a minimal or jus not use any at all?