Chapters Prologue 1: Twilight Sparkle Part 1
An average day in Gensokyo. So very average. It is always average. Nothing ever happens anymore, and that is why we find this creature sleeping on the job. This is the one and only Scarlet Devil Mansion. This here is Hong Meiling, and it is her job to guard the gate to the mansion. However, she doesn't seem to be very reliable. Always sleeping on the job. She is a tall, bipedal female with long red hair, a green sleeveless top with a whit, short sleeve top underneath, along with a matching green skirt that is cut at the sides. She also has a green hat with a star on it. She is certainly not a pony of any kind.
She is sleeping peacefully, leaned up against the wall be the gate, when she hears a noise coming from the forest. "Huh..?" She looks up and off into the forest. As she does, a purple pony with a horn and wings comes galloping out of the forest. Finally, somepony we know. Twilight stops running to catch her breath, then looks back at the forest. "That...little...creature...is...insane." She quickly hits the ground when she sees a foot swinging toward her head. "WAH!!"
Meiling brings her foot down and gets into a fighting pose. "Hey! Weird...thing! What's your business here!?"
Twilight quickly backs away. "Why is everything here out to kill me?! I-I'm not here to cause trouble or anything! I'm just lost, I have no idea what this place is, or who you are, or even WHAT you are!"
Meiling drops her fighting stance and scratches her head. "No idea..? Seriously?" Twilight quickly shakes her head.
"Excuse me..."
Both Twilight and Meiling nearly jump out of their skins when they finally notice another presence near them. This one is slightly shorter than Meiling. She appears young but she has grey hair, with two braids on either side of her face and green bows at the ends of them. She is also wearing your typical maid outfit and has a seemingly calm look on her face, though by her tone of voice you can tell she is annoyed by the amount of noise.
"S-Sakuya-sama..! Uh..um.." the gate guard stutters nervously, trying to think of what to say.
The maid, known as Sakuya Izayoi, holds her hand up to silence her. She then looks down at Twilight in confusion. "What is this thing..?"
Twilight sighs and gets back onto her hooves. "My..My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am not a thing...I'm a pony. Now please...PLEASE tell me where I am. One moment I was practicing a spell and the next moment I end up in that forest being chased by some creepy little..thing..trying to eat me!" She exhales after saying all that in one breath.
Meiling laughs at this. "Rumia huh? Please, she's harmless....mostly."
Sakuya thinks for a moment before responding. "I have a feeling you're not from around here." Twilight shakes her head. "Very well...Meiling. Back to your post....AND NO SLEEPING DAMN IT!!!" she yells.
Meiling quickly moves back to her spot next to the gate. "YES MA'AM!!!"
Sakuya nods to Twilight and leads the way into the mansion. Twilight looks around for a moment, slightly shocked at the size of the place, then speaks up. "So...Sakuya right? If you don't mind me asking, what are you??"
Without even turning her head she responds. "I am the head maid of this mansion."
"I mean your species...you certainly aren't a pony." Twilight responds as she face-hoofs at the maid's slightly obvious answer.
Sakuya stops at this and raises her eyebrow at her. "...You really don't know..?" She sighs when Twilight shakes her head. "Hmmm...well, I am a human. It is completely different from a pony. It is more like...a monkey, but with less hair and much more intelligent."
Twilight's eyes begin to sparkle with interest. "Ooooh...a new species. Oh this is exciting!"
Sakuya stares at her for a moment. "...Maybe I should take you to Patchouli-sama...She can help you with anything you wish to know. First however.." They stop when they reach a large door at the end of the hall. "...We must speak with the mistress."
Twilight tilts her head. "The owner of this mansion? Is she a human like you are?"
Sakuya shakes her head in response. "She is a vampire."
Twilight gasps. "B-But..vampires are just myths..! Stories to scare children!" Slight panic is evident on her face. Vampires? To her, such a thing being real was impossible.
Sakuya chuckles at her reaction. "I am afraid they are as real as you or me. Don't worry though. Remilia-sama only drinks blood when absolutely necessary." Sakuya pushes open the doors and they step into the large room with a chair against the back wall. Seated in the chair is a little human-looking female in a frilly pink dress and matching hat. She also has bat wings and light blue-ish hair. She is nearly about to fall asleep when Sakuya clears her throat. "Remilia-sama. We have a visitor."
The adorable vampire rubs the sleep out of her eyes, then looks at Sakuya. "Visitor? ..." She finally spots Twilight, who shivers a bit when she looks at her with her piercing red eyes. Remilia grins like a girl on her birthday. "Ooooh a pony! ..." Sakuya holds back a giggle at her reaction and Remilia blushes and quickly pushes back her child-like behavior. "...Sakuya. You know very well I am to old to be playing with ponies. Send it into the basement. I am sure my sister would like a little snack."
Twilight's eyes widen. "S-Snack..?!" She begins to panic again.
Sakuya quickly steps forward. "Remilia-sama. This pony is intelligent. It can talk, and it is very lost. I would like to help it, if you would allow it."
"Ah..." She takes a moment to think. She stands up and flies over to Twilight and inspects her from all sides. "..What's your name?"
"M-My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm a Uni-...I mean, Alicorn." she corrects herself. She still has yet to get used to being a whole other race of pony, let alone an Alicorn of all things.
After another moment, and a quick fly-around, Remilia makes her decision. "Very well, you may stay on one condition." Twilight sighs in relief, but again looks up at her, a bit scared. "You must serve me for as long as you are here. Usually a job at my wonderful mansion is not one you may simply quit, but I shall make an exception for you considering you are not from this world. Tell me Miss Twilight. What can you do?"
Twilight is slightly surprised at this deal. She takes a moment to think about her situation. Try and survive the wilderness that is home to creatures that want to have her for dinner, or safely stay at a creepy yet adorably childish vampire's mansion in exchange for work. "Well...I guess that is a fair deal. Well I'm really good at using magic, and I absolutely LOVE reading. I'm a librarian back home."
Sakuya speaks up at this. "In that case, I believe it would be a good idea to have her assist Patchouli-sama and Koakuma in the library." she says.
Remilia smiles and nods. "Good idea. Take her to the library. She will be assisting Patchouli and will be working alongside Koa." Sakuya nods and she and Twilight turn to leave, until Remilia stops them. "Wait..!" They turn back to her and she flies over to Twilight again.
"Yes..?"
"...Can I pet your mane?"
Prologue 2: Twilight Sparkle Part 2
After allowing Remilia Scarlet, the mistress of the mansion, to pet Twilight's mane, as well as a quick explanation of the mansion and where it is located from Sakuya, her and Twilight make their way down the long hall to find the library. Needless to say, Twilight is excited. "Oh a whole world of knowledge. I'm so excited!" Sakuya smiles as she leads Twilight down the hall. "This librarian I'll be working for. What's her name? What is she like?"
Sakuya stops when they reach the door to the library. "She never leaves the library. All she does is read. Her name is Patchouli. Patchouli Knowledge. One of the smartest beings in Gensokyo, as well as one of the most powerful Magician Youkai."
Twilight tilts her head. "So...she's good with magic like me, and she's a librarian like me? Not often I get to meet somepony with as much love for magic and books like myself! ...Just one question. What's a Youkai?"
Sakuya knocks on the door before answering. "I will let Patchouli-sama explain things."
The doors open and the two of them step inside. Twilight takes one good look around and nearly passes out from the shocking size. The library seems to be even bigger than the mansion itself, and it looks as if it goes on for miles more to the left and right as Twilight is unable to see the other walls. Filling the room is, of course, shelf after shelf filled with a variety of books. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! What...how...huh?! This is...incredible..but how is it even possible..?!" In front of them she spots a table and tall piles of books in the middle.
"Its about time..." A head peeks out from around the pile of books. Soon after a body follows as the one and only Patchouli Knowledge comes out from behind the books, her feet hovering a few inches off the floor. She has long, lavender hair, eyes of the same color, as well as a faded pink dress and a matching hat thing with a crescent moon on it. She also has an uninterested expression on her face. "...You must be the new servant..."
Twilight can't help but wonder how she's making herself float and not even breaking a sweat. "Y-Yes I am. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm staying here until I can find a way home."
Patchouli plants herself back on the floor and walks to Twilight to get a closer look. She kneels down in front of her and stares at her. "...Unicorns don't exist..."
Twilight's eye twitches a bit. "H-Hey..! I happen to know plenty of Unicorns. They do exist. Besides, I'm not a Unicorn...at least not anymore. I'm an Alicorn."
Patchouli takes one of her wings and spreads it out. She also inspects her horn a little, and pokes it. "...I can feel a lot of magic in you..."
Twilight smiles sheepishly and backs up a little. "W-Well my special talent is magic...plus I'm learning under a Princess...But I do like books, and I'm kind of excited to be working here..!"
Patchouli stares at her for a second, then stands up again. "I can tell you are a diligent worker...I suppose you also want to know more about this world...I will help you with this as well."
"Oh..! Thank you! I promise to work hard."
Sakuya bows. "My job is finished. I will be off now. Do you need anything, Patchouli-sama?"
Patchouli shakes her head and goes back to the pile of books. Sakuya leaves and the doors close, while Patchouli picks out a few books. "...For your first job, I would like you to take these books back to where they belong. Do not worry about knowing where they go, the library will show you...When you are done, these two books are useful for information about Gensokyo. There is no formal history book, however there is a book about it's geography as well as a book of my own creation about the important residents of this world."
Twilight smiles and picks up the pile of books with her magic. "Easy job. Thank you Miss Patchouli!" She trots off to put the books back to their proper places.
As she is trotting through the library, she looks at some of the books she is carrying and becomes a bit worried about their contents. "Oh my...black magic? I hope I didn't just sign up to work for somepony evil..." As Patchouli said, she somehow knew where to put the first few books. She floats the books into the shelf in their right places and moves on. "...Its almost like the library is actually leading me to the right places. There is so much magic in the air around here...just the size is telling me this creature is more powerful than I can imagine...I hope I'm not in any danger here..."
"Oh you'll be fine."
Twilight jumps a bit and nearly drops the books.
The creature who startled her smiles and waves. "Sorry for scaring you. I'm Koakuma, Patchouli-sama's other assistant." She is much taller than Patchouli. She has long, red hair with a pair of bat-like wings growing from her head. She is wearing a black dress with a white top underneath, plus a red tie. She also has larger bat-like wings growing from her back.
Twilight sighs and waves a hoof. "I-Its fine. I should get used to it...so are you one of these Youkai too? You don't seem like an average...creature."
Koakuma shakes her head. "Nope. I'm a Succubus...uh..don't get the wrong idea. Its really just a species. The other things depend on the Succubi's choice..."
Twilight tilts her head in confusion. "You mean not all Succubi are like the ones in stories?"
Koakuma again shakes her head. "No not all of us...Anyways, I came to you because I feel I should warn you about certain things that go on here at the library."
Twilight continues putting the books away. "Hm? Like what kind of things?"
Koa scratches her head. "Well...every so often a witch will come in and try to steal some books. She is a friend of Patchouli, and sometimes I think she just comes for a good fight but...its really annoying. I thought I might warn you. Better to be prepared after all, right?"
Twilight blinks and stares at her. "Steals books..? Wow. Never thought anypony would love reading so much that they would turn to stealing books! ...Well except for that one time with one of my friends..." She giggles and places the last book on the shelf, thinking back to her best friend's little stunt at the hospital. After chatting with Koa for a little while, she goes back to where Patchouli is reading at the table and picks up the book about Gensokyo's geography. "Again, thank you for letting me study while I'm here."
Patchouli simply hums in response as Twilight begins her studies.
The very same average day in Gensokyo. This time we find ourselves in a large forest made of bamboo..and at the perfect time. After a flash of light, our wonderfully shy Pegasus finds herself falling from the sky. Her fright is keeping her wings from doing what they should be doing as Fluttershy falls straight into the forest. She slams into many bamboo trees during her descent, and gains several scratches and bruises until she finally hits the ground. Thankfully the bamboo slowed her fall enough for her to survive, but she is now unconscious. She simply lays there, dreaming of being back in Ponyville. Finally, a strange creature similar in form to those of the Scarlet Devil Mansion approaches her.
"The hell is this thing??" She says as she scratches her head. She is of average height. She has very long, white hair that reaches her feet with strange red and white ribbons tied in it in several places as well as one in the back of her hair. She is wearing a tan shirt under baggy red pants with suspenders. The pants also have these strange ribbons stuck to them, only they are all flat like some kind of stickers or tags and they have strange markings on them. She puts her hands in her pockets as she kneels down to check on Fluttershy. "Looks pretty beat up...Guess I outta take her to Eirin." The creature picks up Fluttershy and continues walking through the bamboo forest.
Eventually she reaches the end of the forest where a very large Japanese mansion stands. "Hey! Anyone home?? Geez. What a pain in the ass..."
Another humanoid creatures comes out of the mansion. "Ah..! Miss Mokou." This one is wearing a white shirt under a black blazer, along with a red tie and a pink skirt. She has long, pale purple hair and a pair of rabbit ears growing from her head.
The one known as Mokou nods. "Udongein. Found this thing in the forest. It looks injured and you freaks are the medics." She hands off Fluttershy to Udongein, better known as Reisen.
She struggles to hold her up, and she quickly places Fluttershy on the ground. "...Thankfully it doesn't look too serious. I'll take it inside to Eirin-sama. Thank you for bringing it here."
Mokou simply nods and wanders back into the forest while Reisen struggles to bring Fluttershy inside.
"..." Fluttershy barely makes a sound as she finally awakens. "Huh..?" She looks around the unfamiliar room. It reminds her of a hospital room, but a bit more homely. "W-Where am I..?"
Reisen, who was standing outside the room, peeks her head inside. "Ah..! Eirin-sama! The creature is awake!" She steps inside and approaches Fluttershy, who quickly hides under the bed sheet. "Ah..its okay. I won't hurt you. Quite the opposite actually. I fixed you up."
Fluttershy pokes her head out at that. "Y-You did...?"
Reisen nods and sits down in a chair. "Yes I did. Judging by your voice, you must be female. My name is Reisen. Reisen Udongein Inaba."
After a moment, Fluttershy finally takes a good look at her and the first thing she sees are Reisen's ears. "...Y-Your ears..."
Reisen tilts her head and feels her ears. "Is there something wrong with them? Are they dirty?"
Fluttershy shakes her head. "N-No but...what are you..? U-Um..if you don't mind me asking..."
"Oh! Eirin-sama did say you weren't from this world. I am a rabbit from the moon. A Lunarian."
Fluttershy's eyes widen in surprise. "There are bunnies on the moon..??"
Reisen nods. "Plenty of them. Though I managed to run away several years ago. That's how I came to be here with my mentor and the Princess of the Moon herself."
Fluttershy gasps. "Princess Luna is here?!"
Reisen quickly waves her head to dismiss the idea. "N-No no..I'm not sure who that is, but I think our moon has a different princess. Her name is Kaguya Houraisan. Though she was banished from the moon for drinking the Hourai Elixir. A special elixir that makes the drinker immortal. Its forbidden. When she left, she took me and Eirin-sama with her. Eirin Yagokoro is one of the most genius minds from the moon, and now Earth. Her specialty is medical things and of course she created the Hourai Elixir."
Fluttershy is naturally stunned to learn of rabbit creatures living on the moon. She could barely comprehend how Princess Luna lived there, let alone the little critters she loves so much.
"So what's your name?"
Fluttershy snaps out of her shocked state. "O-Oh um..my name is Fluttershy...I'm a pony. I live in a world called Equestria, and its inhabited by ponies like me. We have a Princess of the Moon too, but she doesn't live on it. She and her sister raise the moon and the sun every night and day, and they both rule over Equestria. I was watching my friend Twilight practice a spell and...I ended up falling into that forest...it hurt a lot..."
Reisen moves here chair over to her and checks some of the larger bruises. "...Some of those might be there for a while, but they'll go away. Just try not to exert yourself too much."
"The pony lives."
Fluttershy and Reisen look up at the voice to see a new person in the doorway.
"Eirin-sama..! Yes she is awake, and you were correct. She is from a different world." Resien says as she stands up and bows to her mentor.
Fluttershy shyly hides behind her mane as Eirin looks her over. Eirin is a fairly tall being. She has white, shoulder length hair and is wearing a red and blue dress and a nurse's hat. "You seem to be doing much better Miss Fluttershy."
Fluttershy looks up at her in shock. "H-How did you..."
"I was listening at the door of course."
Reisen sighs at her bluntness. "What are we to do with her? I would rather not have her go back into the forest. She is not from this place after all...Besides that she needs to rest a bit more."
Fluttershy remains silent as Eirin thinks things over. "...I suppose once she is fully healed, she may stay here. However, I would like it if she would help out in exchange."
"...You'll really let me stay here..? I-I guess I don't mind helping you out. I've had experience with medical needs before..."
Eirin smiles and nods. "Then its settled. Welcome to Eientei, Gensokyo. Reisen, I will leave you in charge of taking care of her for a while. Tell her everything she wishes to know, within reason. I must get back to work."
Reisen nods as she leaves, then looks back to Fluttershy. "Glad to have you on board Miss Fluttershy."
Fluttershy smiles a little and hides behind her mane. "I-Its okay....and you can just call me Fluttershy..."
Once again, an average day. This time we're moving away from the world of the living to a much spookier place. In this place, we find our pink friend making her way up what might just be the longest staircase in history. "So...many...staiiiiirs..." She stops to rest and takes a look around the place. "Wooow there's floaty ghost things! Should I laugh at them? They aren't really scary. Oooooh who's that?"
She looks up toward the top of the stairs where there is a humanoid figure standing there, glaring down at Pinkie. Pinkie, the smart pony she is, simply waves and grins. "Helloooo..!" She quickly retracts her hoof as a blade barely misses slicing it off. "Hey! ...Whoooa, you're floating!"
The girl floats back a little and continues to glare at her. She is fairly short. She has short white hair with a black ribbon tied in it. She is wearing a white shirt with a green vest, and a matching green skirt. She has a short ninja blade on her back, plus she is holding a long katana with a white wisp on the handle. There is also a ghostly white ball floating around her. She also doesn't look very happy.
"What business do you have here? If you value your life, I suggest you leave. Intruders are not welcome in Hakugyokurou..."
Pinkie just blinks in confusion. "Haku...Hokey...Hoho...Never heard of it. Has a silly name though!"
The girl's eye twitches in annoyance. "Hakugyokurou! How could you not have heard of it!? ...Maybe this isn't worth the trouble. Just go home already..." She turns around to head back up, and ends up nose to nose with Pinkie.
"So what's your name?"
"AH!!!" She quickly backs away and grabs her sword again while Pinkie just continues talking.
"My name is Pinkie Pie! I'm from Ponyville! This doesn't look like Ponyville though. Or is it? There are definitely more ghosts than I remember. Hey does your eye always twitch like that? You should probably see a doctor about that. OH OH WAIT! If this is Ponyville, then you're new! That means I need to throw you a welcoming party!"
The girl quickly covers Pinkie's mouth. "Please stop talking...You really don't know what this place is?"
Pinkie shakes her head.
"How about how to leave and get home..?" Pinkie shakes her head again and the girl sighs. "Maybe I should take you to Yuyuko-sama...I sure have no idea what to do with you." She removes her hand. "...Your name is Pinkie Pie..?"
She nods happily. "Yep! Pinkamena Diane Pie, number one party pony of Ponyville!"
The girl sighs in annoyance. "You're so cheerful...I have a feeling Yuyuko is going to like you...My name is Youmu. Youmu Konpaku. Well..follow me I suppose." She begins flying back up the stairs and Pinkie follows her.
After a few minutes, Youmu reaches the top of the staircase. "Well, here we are. Hakugy-...Huh?!"
She finally notices Pinkie is already there before her, staring at the mansion. "Wooooow its huge! There's no place like this in Ponyville!"
Youmu just stands there wondering how this annoying pink pony managed to pass her without her noticing. Its impossible! After a moment, she just rubs her head and sighs. "Let's just...go. Yuyuko-sama should be sitting in the back." She leads Pinkie inside and through the large mansion until they reach the back door. Youmu opens the sliding door and steps out into the snowy yard. She sighs deeply, wishing for once they could feel the warmth of Spring this year. "Yuyuko-sama. The intruder is here...turns out she is simply lost and has no idea of how to get home or where she is..."
The one known as Yuyuko is found standing at a large and bare tree. She turns around to face Youmu, and Pinkie comes out soon after. She smiles upon seeing the grinning pony. "...A pony? Oh, how cute." Yuyuko stands much taller than Youmu. She has short, pale pink hair and is wearing a nice blue kimono with cherry blossoms on it and a matching blue hat with a red symbol on it. Beautiful, to say the least. "Ooh and she's pink. I do so love that color." Yuyuko approaches Pinkie and kneels down in front of her. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Yuyuko Saigyouji."
Pinkie, of course, just keeps smiling. "I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you! I like pink too! I really like your mane too. Hey are you a ghost? There's a lot of ghosts around here. Is Youmy a ghost too?"
Youmu's eye twitches at the name while Yuyuko holds back a laugh. "Hehe..Youmy. So cute... Yes, we are ghosts. Though Youmu is only half ghost. She is my gardener and loyal friend. But...she can be kinda mean sometimes." She makes a silly pouting face and Youmu rolls her eyes. "Youmu dear. Will you be so kind as to make some snacks for our guest? Pinkie Pie, what do you like to eat?"
"Oooooh I like a lot of things! Hmm..how about cupcakes?"
Yuyuko grins like Pinkie and looks at Youmu. "Cupcakes please!"
Youmu sighs, but bows and goes inside. "Right away Yuyuko-sama..."
Yuyuko giggles and stands up. "So, welcome to Hakugyokurou. That's the name of this mansion. Located right at the top of the Netherworld. I am the ruler of this world."
Pinkie wanders around the snowy yard and admires the plants and the sky. "Neat! Who else lives here? I love meeting new ponies..erm..people..or..ghosts!"
Yuyuko sighs deeply at this and leans against the large tree. "It is just Youmu and myself. The spirits generally keep to themselves, and the living never visits. Not that we would want them to. I do feel lonely sometimes, but Youmu is here and I couldn't ask for anything else really."
Pinkie grins again at that. "Well as long as you have your best friend, what else would you even need?"
Yuyuko smiles and nods. "Yes...You're right."
"AH BUCK!!!"
Well so much for an average day at a certain shrine in Gensokyo. The shrine maiden is sweeping the outside of the shrine when she hears the oddly censored profanity. The maiden is about average height, probably about fifteen or sixteen. She has long black hair and is wearing a typical shrine maiden's outfit, red top and skirt with white detached sleeves hanging on her arms. She also has a red ribbon in her hair. and a yellow neckerchief. "The hell..?" She drops the broom and rushes into her shrine to find...the lower half of an orange pony sticking out of her ceiling and it is kicking around a lot, trying to get loose. "THE HELL?!"
The pony stops kicking its legs when it hears her voice, then replies in a a stereotypical southern accent. "Y-Y'all mind givin' me a hoof here, whoever that is?"
"..." The maiden grabs one of the pony's legs and pulls down hard, causing the pony to fall in the rest of the way and land on its stomach. Oh, its Applejack. "Ow..." Soon after her fall, a tan-colored stetson hat falls down through the hole in the roof. She stands up and grabs her hat, then turns to the shrine maiden. "Thank ya kindly fer...helping...whoa."
At that, the maiden finally loses it. "'Whoa'..? 'WHOA'!? YOU PUT A HOLE IN MY SHRINE AND ALL YOU SAY IS WHOA?!"
AJ quickly backs up a couple steps and waves her hoof. "Now hold on there..uh, critter. Ah didn't exactly have a choice in how ah landed. When ya end up appearing in the sky, ya can't exactly control yer landin'."
The shrine maiden begins to retort, but catches herself. She takes a moment to breath deeply and calm down, and think over what AJ said. Critter? Does she not know what a human is? What's this crap about appearing in the...sky...I swear if that gap hag has been fooling with the outside world...
Applejack stares up at her for a moment, still in wonder about what kind of creature she might be. Certainly nothing from Equestria, and likely not even the Everfree Forest. She puts her hat back on her head and finally breaks the silence. "Erm...My name's Applejack. Pleasure to meet ya Miss..."
The maiden chooses to ignore the fact that a pony is speaking and answers.. "Reimu. Reimu Hakurei. This is the Hakurei Shrine. I...assume you're not from here..."
AJ nods, then grins nervously. "Ah'm..sorry 'bout yer roof."
Reimu buries her face in her hands. "Its..Its fine. I'm used to it. Happens all the time...all...the...time...So. Applejack. How exactly did you end up falling through my roof?"
AJ takes a moment to look around the room as she responds. "Well...ah was in Ponyville with my friends watching one of em practice this extra powerful teleporting spell, then ah ended up just above yer shrine thing. If y'all don't mind me askin', what exactly is a shrine for?"
This time, Reimu becomes a bit more...depressed. "Well, it is supposed to be for others to come and pray to the gods as well as donate money to the shrine...but proper visitors here are so rare..."
AJ scratches her head. "Not gettin' much business huh? That's a darn shame."
Reimu takes this moment to ask her next question. "...What exactly are you? You have hooves like a horse or a pony, but you can talk...not to mention your facial features. Are you possibly some sort of mutated pony..?"
AJ's eyes widen at her left field guess. "Now hold on a minute there. Ah happen to be a perfectly normal earth pony...What'r ya doin' now??" Reimu is at her sides, poking her and inspecting her.
"...Sorry, but normal ponies that I've seen look nothing like you. They're more..ugly. They can't talk either, and they don't wear hats...or have apples painted on their asses..."
"That ain't paint, its a mark. A cutie mark. Its part of me, not painted on. Its who ah am. Ah'm an apple farmer!"
Reimu backs up again and sits down to think. "...Well, I suppose it isn't completely odd to think you might be from another world...Ponyville you said? There is no place in Gensokyo or Earth called that. Welcome to Gensokyo, I guess..."
AJ smiles and tips her hat. "Well thank ya! Gensokyo. Strange name. Then again, yours ain't all that normal to me neither."
"Applejack isn't exactly common either..."
Applejack and Reimu sit in the shrine, talking to each other about their worlds and such. Reimu had made some tea a while ago and they are actually enjoying that and their conversation. "...It is nice to be able to have a normal conversation for once. Most of Gensokyo's residents prefer action over words."
AJ tilts her head in confusion. "How do ya mean?"
Reimu sighs and finishes her tea. "Well...arguments in this world are settled with fighting. Magic, danmaku battles, or just straight up beatings. On top of that, most of the people who come to this shrine are either an annoying, kleptomaniac witch or a drunken Oni. There is no such thing as normal conversations as far as I'm concerneed."
AJ finishes her tea as well and scratches her head. " Ah suppose a pony and a human thing ain't all that normal either...Looks like ah ended up in a pretty violent world huh...?" Her ear twitches when she hears a voice outside.
"Reiiiiiiiimuuuuuuu!"
Reimu makes an annoyed face and sets her teacup down. "Speaking of drunk Oni..."
At that, another two-legged creature stumbles into the room. Clearly she is drunk, but still functioning somehow. She is very short, compared to Reimu. She has long orange hair tied into twin ponytails. She is wearing a white sleeveless shirt and a purple skirt. She also has a pair of horns sticking out of the sides of her head, one with a purple ribbon tied on it. She also has chains hanging from her wrists and one ankle. Attached to the ankle chain is a blue cube. On her wrist chains are an gold orb and a red pyramid. She is also carrying a purple gourd, likely filled with whatever made her drunk in the first place.
"Suika...do you need something?"
The whole time, Suika has been staring at Applejack. "...Reimuuuu...when did you turn into a horse?"
Reimu sighs and steps in between AJ and Suika. "I didn't. She is a visitor. I take it you're here just for the sake of being here?"
Suika looks up at her drunkenly, then she grins and nods. "Yep!"
Reimu groans and sits down again. "Of course...Applejack. This is Suika Ibuki. She is an Oni and is very clearly drunk."
AJ is pretty shocked at how drunk Suika is. Even she never got that drunk before, and she's been known to put them away. This creature is wrecked. "Geez its the middle of the day!"
Suika laughs like an idiot and falls over onto her back on the floor. "Hehehe...I'm an Oni! Oni don't do anything BUT drink! Its like a tradition! ...No! Its..Its a way of liiiife!"
Reimu nods. "She's not kidding, unfortunately. Sake is the only thing she'll drink, period."
AJ looks at Reimu again. "Sake?? What's that?"
This struck a bell in the midget Oni's head. She immediately sits up and stares at AJ as if she had just grown a second head. "What is sake..? WHAT IS SAKE?! Sake..is..its...it-hmpf!"
Reimu quickly throws an arm around her head to cover her mouth. "Saving the useless rant from the Oni...Sake is basically rice wine. Its made from fermented rice and is brewed much like beer."
AJ nods her head in understanding. "Okay. Ah think ah read about that stuff somewhere."
Reimu releases Suika from her hold and once again takes a seat. They all remain silent for a while, and Suika ends up falling asleep. Finally, AJ breaks the silence. "Y'all said ya don't get much business, and ya don't get much money for food and stuff right? Maybe ah can help ya!"
Reimu looks up at this with probably the most pleading look she has ever given. "HOW??"
AJ chuckles a bit at her expression. "Calm down there now. Well, fer starters...try makin' the place look more inviting! Plant some flowers maybe, and smile more. That'll look more pleasin' to the eye and attract more ponies..erm..humans."
Reimu quickly grabs some paper and a pencil and starts taking notes.
"If yer really desperate, sell somethin'. Extra money won't hurt a bit. ...Huh?"
She and Reimu both look toward the door when they hear a loud boom from outside. They both make their way outside in time to see a multicolored sonic boom cover the skies of Gensokyo, with a rainbow trailing from the middle.
"Oh my word...it can't be!" AJ says, staring up at the rainbow in surprise.
Reimu looks at her. "What's going on..?"
AJ grins and takes off her hat for a better view. "That's my pal..."
Once upon the same average day in Gensokyo. Same time as the other ponies landed, we find another resident of Gensokyo . This one has short blond hair, along with a red hairband. She is also wearing a blue dress with a pink-ish red ribbon tied around her middle, as well as another pink-ish red ribbon and white cloak thing around her neck. As she wanders through the forest, she kneels down and picks a few mushrooms growing from the ground and places them in a small basket. "Hmm...These are new." She says as she picks out a few purple-colored mushrooms. As she places them in the basket, she looks up at the sound of a high-pitched scream. She quickly stands up, revealing a small floating doll behind her. It has blond hair with a red ribbon in it, and is wearing a dark blue maid's dress. It takes the basket on command and flies off, while the girl runs off toward the source of the sound.
With a second doll close behind her, she makes her way deeper into the forest until she hears the not-so-pleasant sound of a female voice whining about stupid things. "Somepony help me!!! So much dirt and bugs and...and...OH MY BEAUTIFUL MAAAAAAANE!!!" "Um..." "WAAAAAH!!!" The girl steps into the area where she finally sees that it is a white pony. A unicorn. Specifically, the one and only Rarity. Oh dear. "Wha-Wha-What do you want?! ...Or more importantly, where did you get such a beautiful dress?" The girl scratches her head. "Um...I made it. Wait, why am I talking to a horse???" Rarity looks up at her, almost looking appalled at being called a horse. "Excuse me! I happen to be a pony, NOT a horse...and my name is Rarity darling." The girl's eye twitches a bit. "Erm...My name is Alice...I assume you're not from around here." Rarity takes a moment to look around the dense forest, then back at Alice. "Well I would say not dear. How many fabulous ponies do you know wander around strange and unknown forests? Now for more important questions, such as what ARE you?? You are certainly no pony, yet you are clearly making this...doll thing...float on its own. Back on the topic of your dress, its so dirty! You should not be messing about in a dirty forest with such a-" Alice puts a hand up, signalling her to be quiet. "Please, one at a time...and preferably we should wait until we have left the forest. I will take you to my home for now. I will answer your questions, but you must answer mine as well. That way we both learn a thing or two from each other." Alice says, and Rarity nods in agreement. "Oh most certainly dear. I will be more than happy to get out of this dreadful place."
After several minutes of travel, they finally reach a large clearing with a small, but nice house. Just on the ground outside the door is the basket of mushrooms and the other doll, now non-moving, resting against it. Alice picks up the basket and the doll and opens the door to let Rarity and herself in. Rarity curiously takes a look into the basket. "Mushrooms? ...They don't exactly look very appetizing." Alice sets the basket down on a small table and sends the dolls off into another room. "Some of them aren't meant for eating...I was searching for ingredients for other things as well. Potions and magic and such. Some of them are poisonous." Alice says, and Rarity's eyes widen and she backs away from the basket. "How..interesting. So tell me, what do you do as a profession?" Alice stops at this to think about it. "Hm...I don't have a profession exactly. Everything I do is, for the most part, my hobbies. I am, above all else, a Magician type Youkai. A youkai is a sort of demon, though the ones here in Gensokyo don't look or even act very demon-like. I am also a doll maker and puppeteer, to go alongside my magic. I also hand-make my clothing." Rarity smiles brightly at the mention of making clothing and even the dolls. "Oooh! Now we are getting somewhere! Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Rarity! Seamstress and Fashion Designer of the lovely town of Ponyville! I can certainly see you have quite a bit of skill in the art of dressmaking."
Alice scratches her head as Rarity rambles on about how much she loves her job, then finally decides to cut in at a quiet spot. "You also make your own clothing then..." Rarity smiles again and nods. "Yes, though I also make clothing for other ponies. I run a business. A boutique, which has gotten quite popular if I must say. I must admit, making dolls does not seem quite as...well, fun. What do you do with them?" Alice smiles at her question and picks up one of the dolls. "Well, some are simply for show...however using my magical abilities, I can utilize them for other situations. They become almost sentient in fact. They can help me with anything from typical chores to combat." She lets go of the doll, but it stays floating in the air. Alice twitches a finger, and the doll flies off into another room. It comes back with a towel. "You may use this to wipe the dirt away, though I can have my dolls prepare a bath for you if you wish." Rarity smiles and uses the towel to wipe the dirt off her hooves. "That sounds lovely. Oh and if it is alright, I would very much like to see some of your other creations. Perhaps I might learn a thing or two from you." She says as Alice sends a few other dolls to start a bath. She nods to Rarity and picks up the basket of mushrooms. "Very well, but I have a bit or research to do first. The bath is in that room behind you." Rarity nods and watches Alice leave for her study, then trots off for her bath. "Such a nice creature."
"Man I'm really startin' to get fast at this!" Says a rather excited creature on a broom . She's wearing a black dress with a white apron, and is wearing a black witch's hat with a purple ribbon tied around it. She has long blond hair and golden yellow eyes. She is currently flying laps above the forest below her. "I wonder if I could use the Master Spark to propel me forward even faster....Eh?" She looks up toward a bright flash of light and spots something falling straight down toward the forest, just a bit away from her and from up high in the clouds. Whatever it is, it seems to be unconscious. "Tch. That ain't how ya fly! ...I guess I should help 'em." She grips her broom tight, aims herself just below the falling creature, then takes off flying like a rocket. "WOOHOOOO!!!" She quickly starts closing in, but realizes that the creature is falling too fast. "Damn, this won't work..." She attempts to speed up a little, but still she can't get there fast enough. "...Well, guess I might as well put my idea to the test!" She pulls a small, wooden, octagonal...thing from her hat and aims it behind her with one hand. "Here we go..."
"Love Sign: Master Spark!!!" On cue, the wooden thing conjures up a huge magic circle, which in turn fires an equally huge multicolored laser beam behind her. The force from the powerful spell launches her forward faster than she has ever gone before. "Faster...Faster! FASTER!!!" She puts a bit more magic into the beam to make it stronger and she again feels a burst of speed as she zooms toward the falling creature. As she reaches the creature, she manages to snag it by its rainbow colored tail. "The heck is this..? A rainbow horse? ....OH SHI-" She cuts herself off as she nearly hits the mountain and swerves upwards, then back around. She cuts off the beam and stores the wood block thing in her hat, then makes her way back toward the forest. "It worked! Freakin' awesome!" She slows down to pull the pony onto her broom, then flies down into the forest and lands near her own little house. She lays the pony on the ground...then procedes to poke her. "...Oi. Are ya dead?" The pony,AKA Rainbow Dash, groans and opens her eyes. "What hit me...?!" Upon seeing the witch, she jumps to her feet and gets in a defensive pose. "Who are you?! What did you do to me?!" She yells at the witch, obviously not trusting her, as expected. The witch blinks and scratches her head. "In order? Marisa Kirisame, and I didn't do a damn thing to ya."
Rainbow flies in so she's nose to nose with Marisa and glares daggars at her. "Likely story! I bet you're the one who knocked me out! Trying to kidnap me huh?!" She raises of hoof to punch at the witch, but she jumps away first. "Geez. You're already fitting in. Beating now, asking questions later...my kinda gal!" Rainbow growls in annoyance and tries to rush her head on. Marisa grabs her broom and side-steps Rainbow, then wacks her with the broom handle. "That all ya got? Hehehe..guess I can't expect much else from a cute little po-WHOA!" She quickly ducks and narrowly avoides getting bucked in the face. "Hey! Hold still!" Marisa just laughs at that and hops on her broom. "That'd make it too easy for ya! Magic Sign: Stardust Reverie!" Suddenly, loads of colorful stars made of magic being swirling around Marisa and attack Rainbow. Not expecting this, the non-lethal attack manages to hit her multiple times and knock her down. "...You're supposed to dodge that."
After a few moments, Rainbow gets back up on her feet and rubs her head. "That was...really..AWESOME!! ..I-I mean, not as awesome as me, but still pretty awesome.." Marisa laughs and flies around her on her broom, checking her out. "Oh, really? You think you're more awesome? Says the talking rainbow that got beaten up just a minute ago." Rainbow gives her a scowl and turns away. "Well how was I supposed to know you could use...whatever that was??" Marisa jumps off her broom and sends it inside. "Magic. Its called magic." Rainbow's eyes widen and she looks at her again. "How?! You don't even have a horn! ...You're not even a pony! What are you?!" Marisa stares at her for a moment. "...Uh...I'm a human. What, never seen one before?" RD shakes her head. "Never heard of a human before." Marisa thinks for a moment after taking a closer look at RD's mane. "...I take it you're not from this world. Well, this is Gensokyo! Home of youkai and humans alike, plus one vicious shrine maiden! Me? I'm just an ordinary witch, with plenty of magic to go around! If it ain't flashy, it ain't magic!" Dash smirks at this. "A show off huh? Kinda like me. Nice to meet you Marisa. I'm Rainbow Dash, best flier in all of Equestria!" She strikes a tough pose, but her eye twitches when Marisa snorts from holding in a laugh. "More like best faller. You think you're fast huh?" She calls back her broom. "How about a race then? Up to the clouds and back!"
Rainbow looks up to see the clouds very high up in the air. Piece of cake. There's no way she can't win, with her talents. "You are so on!" She puffs out her wings to get ready. "Alright! If you beat me, I'll let ya stay with me until you can get a ride home! You lose and...and you'll have to...be my slave for the day!" Marisa says as she calls back her broom and gets on it, then aims herself upwards and her wooden thing, called a Hakkero, downwards. "Ya better be ready...get set...FLY!!!" Both of them take off as fast as they can straight up into the sky. Rainbow, determined to not become a slave, flaps her wings as fast as she can to pull ahead, but only by a few inches. Soon they both reach the clouds and fly straight up into them. Right away, Marisa turns back and starts flying straight down. When she exits the cloud layer, she sees no sign of Dash. "Huh..guess she got stuck and what the hell is that?" She looks up as she sees Dash flying extremely fast, just a bit behind her. "Yikes! Better speed up. Love Sign: Master Spark!" She fires her Master Spark behind her and jets off toward the ground. She looks back to see Rainbow already gaining on her. "Whoa..." A mach cone starts forming around Rainbow as she flies. The cone around her thins out more and more until finally...BOOM!!! Rainbow zooms past Marisa, leaving behind a rainbow trail and her famous Sonic Rainboom high in the sky. Needless to say, she won. Marisa slows herself down, knowing she has been defeated, and watches Dash in awe. "...Wow..."
Emponiment of Scarlet Devil Stage 1
It has been two days since the ponies arrived in Gensokyo. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are the only two so far to find each other, thanks to RD's Sonic Rainboom. Nopony else saw it, as they were too busy or they were sheltered from the sound. This time, we bring our story back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. In the library, we find Patchouli reading as usual. Suddenly Twilight rushes into the library. "Miss Patchouli! There's something wrong! There's a strange red mist blocking out the sun..!" Patchouli glances up from her book. "...I know..." Twilight tilts her head, still panicking a little. "Huh??" Koakuma lands beside her. "You can relax Twilight. The mist belongs to Remilia-sama. She's a vampire, so she decided to block out the sun for her own sake." Twilight's eye twitches. "That is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard, and the most dangerous!" The silence takes over for a moment, until Patchouli speaks. "...You have a good point. However there is nothing we can do about it." Twilight opens her mouth to retort, but realizes how futile it is and sights. "Ugh..."
"Patchouli-sama." Twilight jumps a bit at the sudden voice behind her, then turns to see Sakuya there. Patchouli nods. "Yes, what is it..?" Sakuya steps to the side to reveal a short fairy with ice crystals for wings, short blue hair, a blue dress, and a blue ribbon in her hair. "This...fairy...managed to get into the mansion. She tells me that the miko and her witch friend are likely on their way here because of the mist..." They all stare at the fairy, unamused. Patchouli puts down her book and sighs. "Baka..." "Hey!" "...I expected as much from those humans to be honest. The fairy is likely telling the truth..." Twilight thinks for a moment...then something pops into her head. "Wait, how did she know the mist was from here??" The fairy just scratches her head and shrugs. "The other fairies told me." "Baka..." "H-Hey!"
"A miko and a witch...Do you mean Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame?" Koakuma nods to Twilight. "Yes, they are usually the ones to solve problems around Gensokyo. Though...the witch usually has ulterior motives..." Patchouli nods in agreement. "We will be ready when they come...Twilight Sparkle. You will assist me in the impending battle should I need it." Twilight gulps nervously. "B-Battle..? Well..I will try my best. I don't know if I could do much considering how different out magic is." The fairy has been staring at her throughout the conversation, and now finally speaks. "Hey! You're a pony thing like Derpy!" Twilight gasps in surprise. "Derpy?? Derpy Hooves?? She got caught in my spell too?!" The fairy scratches her head. "Uh..yeah. She's fun! I gotta go now. I have humans to beat up!" She flies out of the room and leaves the mansion. "Baka..."
We return to the familiar forest to find Reimu flying through it, looking for the mansion, while Applejack follows from below. "Are ya sure y'all know where to go??" AJ says. Reimu looks down at her. Soon after, Reimu spies Marisa and and Rainbow Dash flying ahead of them. "...Not a bit. Let's catch up to those two though." They fly and run faster and eventually catch up to Marisa and Rainbow. "Howdy there you two!" Rainbow looks down while she flies to wave at AJ. "Hey! You two headed to fix this mist thing?" They all stop when they hear a noise. "Stay on guard..." Reimu says as the forest begins to darken more than it should be. "Oooh..you're here! I'm hungry!" A strange little girl floats out in front of them, blocking their path. She has a white, long-sleeve shirt and a black dress over the top of it. She has a small red ribbon tied in her short blond hair. She is floating in mid-air with her arms outstretched to her sides. Reimu groans. a bit. "You're in the way." Marisa grabs her Hakkero from her hat. "Move it Rumia, before we beat ya up!" The area darkens a bit more until they can barely see. AJ looks around, trying to adjust to the darkness. "Careful now ya hear? Rainbow, try flyin' above the forest and see if y'all can spot her...WHOA!" She quickly dives to the side to avoid a shot from the strange girl. She giggles at them and releases more magic shots all around. Rainbow flies around them, barely able to avoid them. Reimu and Marisa have no trouble grazing past the bullets. AJ on the other hand is having a bit of a hard time, as she can't fly.
Getting tired of it, AJ picks up on a faint giggling sound behind her. She immediately rises up on her hind legs and bucks Rumia square in her stomach. "Owww..." "GOT YOU!" AJ quickly steps back a bit when she hears Rainbow. Rainbow then starts flying fast circles around Rumia, letting the wind pick up into a small tornado. The darkness around the area starts to fade and they can finally see a bit better. Rainbow leaves the tornado right as Reimu unleashes a spell card on her. "Dream Sign: Duplex Border." A magical barrier forms around Rumia, preventing her escape. "Magic Sign: Stardust Reverie!" Marisa unleashes her flashy star spell on Rumia, essentially knocking her out. The darkness fades completely and Rumia is left on the ground, unconscious. Reimu and Marisa nod to the ponies and they all continue on through the forest. "...Are y'all sure we should just leave her there?" Rainbow rolls her eyes and flies down lower, next to AJ. "She'll be fine! She lives in this place right?? I'm sure she can handle it." Marisa thinks aloud for a moment. "Hmm...I wonder if the one responsible for the mist has anything valuable..." Reimu facepalms. "Freaking klepto..." They remain silent the rest of the time and continue on through the Forest of Magic.
Emponiment of Scarlet Devil Stage 2 and 3
As our heroines make their way through the forest, they start encountering a strange amount of fairies. Fairies aren't all that smart, so they were mostly easy to take care of. "Its official. Fairies are NOT cool. They're annoying!" Rainbow Dash complains as she avoids a few fairies trying to rush her. The miko and witch both make easy work of most of the fairies, while Rainbow and AJ take care of the ones that slip away. "Ah'd be lyin' if ah said ah didn't agree with ya..." AJ says as she bucks another fairy into a tree. She looks up just in time to see an icicle fly towards her. She manages to avoid it, just barely. She looks up again to see two larger fairies flying above. One is Cirno, of course. The other has green hair in a side ponytail and a blue dress, plus a yellow ribbon around her collar and in her hair. The green-haired fairy decides to take on Rainbow and AJ, while Cirno fights the other two.
The green-haired fairy, named Daiyousei, rushes AJ first, who dodges. She then turns quickly and throws several kunai at her. Rainbow decides to swoop in and pull AJ away before they can hit. Rainbow tosses AJ at her and AJ manages to land a kick on the fairy. "Got ya!" Yells AJ. Daiyousei rubs her head. While she's distracted. AJ and Rainbow take off running. While this is happening, Marisa started flying circles around Cirno to distract her and make her dizzy. When they see her start wobbling in the air, Marisa and Reimu take off behind the ponies. The fairies finally snap out of it and follow them. They continue this chase until they finally make it out of the forest. Before having time to react, AJ ends up running right out into the lake. She closes her eyes, expecting the feeling of freezing cold water, but it never comes. She opens her eyes to find herself sliding along the ice. "Well ah'll be..." She looks up at the other three waiting for her. "Hope y'all don't mind!" AJ grabs her lasso from under her hat and ropes it around Rainbow's tail. "Let's go!" Rainbow rolls her eyes and continues flying and pulling AJ along behind her. Marisa and Reimu follow close behind.
Reimu takes a glance behind them to see the fairies flying after them. "Marisa...let's take care of them already. They're getting on my nerves." Marisa looks back at them as well and turns around to face them. "On it!" Reimu stops as well and throws several magic spell tags at them. Cirno and Dai fly off in opposite directions to avoid them, but Dai is caught off guard by a burst of stars from Marisa and gets forced downward. Rainbow spins around to whip AJ forward and she jumps and throws a hoof punch at Dai, hitting her right in the stomach. She even manages to land on her feet, but not until something gray and blond slides under her and trips her. It continues sliding until it comes to a stop under Rainbow. "..Hi Rainbow Dash!" It calls out to her. Rainbow stares at the creature before finally face-hoofing. "Derpy..." Cirno stops firing ice shards at Reimu and Marisa to look down. "Huh..? WAH!!!" She is suddenly hit with a large yin-yang orb and is sent flying. As she falls back into the forest, Derpy waves. "Bye flying thing...Huh..? Uh I can't stop myseeeeeeeeelllllllllllf!" Derpy yells as a burst of wind sends her sliding uncontrollably back toward the forest. AJ look over at Rainbow. "Why did y'all do that?? Did ya wanna know how she got here??" Rainbow groans and shakes her head. "If there are two things I know, its not to question Pinkie Pie randomness, and to not question how Derpy gets into trouble."
Having taken care of Cirno and Derpy, and watching Daiyousei fly off after them, they finally continue on their way. "Hey! We made it!" Rainbow yells. All of them look ahead to see they are finally approaching the mansion. "Good old Scarlet Mansion. I should pick up some books from Patchy..." Says Marisa. Reimu glares at her. "We aren't here to steal books! We're here to put a stop to this mist!" They finally get off of the lake and make their way through the rest of the forest. Just as they make it out, a colorful display of energy balls fly at them and they all dive for cover, narrowly avoiding them. "About time you showed up." Reimu looks to see Meiling standing before them in a fighting stance. "You were expecting us? ...No matter. We'll just take care of you and be on our way inside...!" She suddenly takes a foot to the face as Meiling decided to interrupt her to kick her. She kicks her foot at the others, sending another barrage of multicolored shots at them. Marisa manages to graze through, but the ponies end up taking several hits each. Reimu comes back to her senses in time and fires three yin-yang orbs at Meiling, one of them hits her and sends her back several feet. Rainbow chooses to come down from above with a heavy kick, but Meiling manages to block it with her hands. This leaves her wide open for AJ to attempt to kick her, but she moves faster and pulls Rainbow down to use as a shield. Rainbow yells in pain as AJ ends up bucking her in the side. Meiling drops her and jumps back away for a breather. "You guys are pretty good. Not enough to beat me though, obviously."
"Ah don't think we can win this one..." AJ says. Rainbow shoots a glare at Meiling. "No way are we giving up now! We've come this far, we have to keep going!" Meiling starts getting impatient. "Rainbow Sign: Wind Chime of Colorful Rainbows." She spins around and produces a heavy wave of colorful magic shots, most of them directly flying towards the heroines. The girls are hardly able to avoid them all as the barrage of shots continuously hit them with seemingly no end. Marisa decides she has had enough. "Ugh..Hey..! Rainbow! Do that tornado thing and make it big..!" Rainbow hears her and smirks. She manages to avoid enough of them to fly up and away from the barrage. She then starts flying rapid circles above, causing the wind to pick up with her more and more until finally it forms a big twister that proceeds to stop Meiling's attack and pick her up. "Waaah let me doooown!!!" The tornado continues to spin while Rainbow snickers at her. Reimu shoots a spell tag into the tornado and it hits Meiling right out and she spirals back to the ground. "Yeehoo! Way to go Rainbow!" AJ exclaims as Rainbow lands next to her and grins. "No need to thank me! Just being my awesome self!" Marisa rolls her eyes and flicks her ear. "Quit showin off. We aren't finished yet!" She and Reimu fly in through the window in the side of the library. AJ and Rainbow nod to each other and jump in after them.
Emponiment of Scarlet Devil Stage 4
Our four heroines find themselves within the abnormally large library of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, once more fighting off waves of fairies. "These gosh darn flyin' things are gettin' on mah nerves!" Applejack says as she bucks a few of them away from her. Reimu and Marisa seem to be having no trouble dealing with them, but they both still seem a bit irritated. "Guess Patchy knew we were comin'." Marisa says as she knocks out a small drone of fairies with her magic stars. Another drone quickly takes their place, however Rainbow Dash quickly flies in past Marisa and zooms circles around them to make them dizzy and fall out of the air. "These things are way too easy....!?" She nearly gets knocked out of the air herself when several red magic shots fly at her. "Huh??" They look up toward where the shots came from to see Koakuma flying above them. "They were serious about you coming here..? I didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to attack the library..." She closes her eyes and fires hundreds of magic shots at them at once. AJ, being grounded and unable to dodge as well as the others, takes cover behind a bookcase. "Darn things, just won't leave us alone!" She bucks out a few fairies and moves ahead to another bookcase.
"Spirit Sign. Fantasy Orb..!" Reimu calls out as she unleashes several glowing balls of energy that attack Koakuma all at once. She gasps and starts to cover herself with her hands, but suddenly a purple-colored barrier appears over her and completely stops the spell. "...Huh? Oh!" Koakuma glances down below to see Twilight down on the ground. She breaks off her spell and fires off a few blasts of her own at the two magical girls. "Hold it you two!" Reimu and Marisa both dodge the blasts and stare down at the Alicorn and Marisa scratches her head. "...Another pony?" At hearing Twilight's voice, AJ peaks her head out from behind the bookcase. "...Twilight!" AJ calls out to her and makes her way through the fallen books to her, while Rainbow flies down as well. "Oh, you're both here! I'm so glad you're both safe!" Twilight hugs the two of them, then looks at them confused. "Wait..why are you teamed up with those two..?" She says and points up to the two girls above them. Marisa gives a wave while Reimu just stares at them, slightly annoyed at the hold-up. "I don't think you two should be helping two poni-...people...attack a library!" AJ face-hoofs while Rainbow decides to defend the girls motive. "Well maybe if whoever lived here didn't decide to block out the sun, we wouldn't NEED to storm the place!" Twilight sighs at this and puts back a few books to their rightful places. She glances back up to see that the other three decided to fight without them. "Ugh...Some of these creatures are so violent....I KNOW about the mist. I wanted to talk to the one responsible, but she just cannot be reasoned with. She's like a spoiled little filly who wants a new toy!"
"I must admit she is a bit...bratty sometimes..." Twilight nearly jumps three feet at the sudden voice behind her. "However there really is not much we are able to do about it..." AJ and Rainbow both get into fighting stances, but Patchouli puts up a hand to show she is not here to attack. "I will not attack...so long as you tell THOSE TWO..." She shoots a glare up at Marisa and Reimu...mostly Marisa. "...to stop destroying the library..." The three ponies look back up at the fight to see that Koakuma has quickly been defeated. Marisa waves down to them, specifically Patchouli. "Heeey Patchy! Get any new books lately?" Twilight looks at Patchouli. "You know her..?" Patchouli sighs and closes her eyes. "...Unfortunately..." She snaps her fingers and a bubble appears around Marisa, trapping her in place. She then shoots a glare at Reimu, who smiles sheepishly. "I-I'm not with her I....Sorry about her..." Marisa just laughs a bit and smiles like an idiot. "You know you both love me." Patchy rolls her eyes at her comment and motions to Koakuma to come down. "Koa, go fix yourself up and let Sakuya know we have a pair of invaders coming her way...I am interested to see how this all plays out now." Koakuma nods and quickly flies off to find the maid. Reimu looks at Patchy in shock. "Wait..you're letting us go?? Even though we're basically invading the mansion to beat up your mistress?" Patchy simply nods in response. "...Okay. Let's go Marisa." She kicks the bubble Marisa is trapped in and follows it down the hall, with Marisa yelling at her the whole way.
Twilight just shakes her head and turns back to her two friends. "So I'm guessing you two already know what this place is and how dangerous is it." They both nod their heads. "Ah don't suppose y'all know where the others are yet?" AJ asks but sighs when Twilight shakes her head. "Sorry AJ...It might be a while before we find them too. This place is very large and has a lot of dense forest areas. There's even a whole other world with an entrance that's Celestia knows where. It could take weeks, or even months." Rainbow rolls her eyes and Twilight's negativity. "Come on Twilight! You'll never find them if you just stay here and read. Who knows, they might even be right nearby!" Rainbow looks to AJ for support, who looks at Twilight for confirmation. "...You're right. Think positive....Though I think we should sort out this mist problem first. Maybe we can get to Miss Scarlet before those other two do. Are you two going to help me or follow them?" They both think for a moment until AJ trots next to Twilight. "Ah'll go with you. Not like ah'll be able to help with all that magic fightin' and stuff." She nods to Rainbow and she flies up into the air again. "I'll follow the girls then. I'm sure they'll need some good back up." She grins at her own awesomeness and flies off after Reimu and Marisa. Patchy clears her throat to get the attention of the remaining two. "I shall also go with you. I have been wanting to try talking sense into Remilia..." The ponies nod in understanding as she takes to the air to lead the two to the exit, while Twilight remains on the ground to chat with AJ.
Meanwhile, in Remilia's room, there is a knock on the door. "Come in..." Remilia answers in a bored tone and Sakuya steps inside. "Mistress, your sister is becoming...restless..." Remilia rolls her eyes. "Geeeeez..just give her some food and she'll be fine." The maid shakes her head at this. "...She isn't hungry...She's bored..." This makes Remilia lift her head to look at her. "Bored...?" She grins widely, showing her fangs. "Hehehe...I think things are going to get even more interesting around here..."
Emponiment of Scarlet Devil Stage 5 and 6
We find the head maid Sakuya standing in the middle of the hallway leading to Remilia Scarlet's room. Reimu, Marisa, and Rainbow Dash are quickly closing in on her. "Hehe..this maid lady really thinks she can stop us..?!" Rainbow's taunting is interrupted by a few knives barely missing her as she is forced to fly out of the way. "Whoa..I didn't even see them coming..!" Marisa just grins. "Try not to underestimate anyone here in Gensokyo...Hey Reimu! Dash and I will hold her off. You try and go on ahead, alright?" Reimu nods and falls back behind them, while Marisa and Dash speed up. They dodge several more knives and begin their attack. Dash first flies around behind her and tries ramming into her, but in just a split second she is already gone and hovering in the air, about to send some more knives her way. "Dream Land...Super Duplex Barrier." The three girls look up to see Reimu flying by overhead. Suddenly a cube-shaped barrier forms around Sakuya and traps her within. Reimu flies off down the hall as fast as she can while Sakuya is stuck. Marisa takes her chance to attack and she jumps off her broom, lands on the floor, then catches and holds the broom much like a gun. Immediately she fires off dozens of star bullets at once, aimed right for Sakuya. "Hmph...Time Sign. Private Square." She waits for a moment before unleashing the spell. The second the first star bullet hits and breaks the barrier, she unleashes the spell and time slows down drastically. Just enough for her to move out of the way and then throw a time-accelerated knife at Marisa. It misses her, but it manages to strike the broom out of her hands just as time speeds up again.
Leaving behind the other three, Reimu continues flying down the hall until she finally reaches the door at the end. After fighting off a few fairies guarding the door, she pushes it open and enters. "Finally made it...? How..the hell did you get here before me??" She stares in shock at the other two ponies and Patchouli already in the room. Patchy barely turns to look at her before answering. "We teleported..." Reimu face-palms as Remilia smiles and stands up from her chair. "I'm going to have to say no to you Miss Patchouli. Sorry Miko, but the mist will stay." Several spears made of a glowing red aura appear around her and she sends them flying toward Reimu. "Like hell it will..." Reimu manages to avoid most of them but is forced to put up a barrier to block the last one. Twilight and AJ both face-hoof. "Do the creatures in this world know how to do anything besides fight?" Twilight says, as Patchy shakes her head. "Not many of them, no..." Remilia summons another spear in her hand and blocks a hard swing from Reimu's gohei. Reimu continues to strike it until it breaks, but Remilia quickly counters with her Vampire Claw and starts swiping at Reimu. "Spirit Sign. Fantasy Orb!" She jumps back and unleashes her Fantasy Orb spell, which manage to knock Remilia off her feet. She uses her wings to lift herself into the air as she summons another spear. "Certain Kill..Heart Break!" She throws the spear at Reimu who barely manages to dodge, but it leaves a cut in her clothing where it grazed her.
The epic battle is suddenly interrupted by the doors opening and Sakuya being sent through them backwards. Rainbow and Marisa fly in soon after, grinning. Sakuya lands on the ground painfully. "D..Damn them..." Marisa flies over to Reimu. "Yo! Need some help?" Reimu nods while Rainbow flies over to the other ponies and Patchy. "Hey guys! Did we miss anything cool?" They all shake their heads while Twilight watches the others. "Just them fighting...I hope this doesn't end badly." She says. Remilia has summoned more spears to attack Reimu and Marisa, who both manage to avoid them. Marisa fires off some star bullets to distract her while Reimu flies around behind and gets in close for another strong spell. "Treasure Sign. Yin-Yang Orb." He holds out her hand and creates a circular blast around Remilia. "...Night Lord. Dracula Cradle..!" Remilia manages to protect herself with a red aura just in time and is about to launch herself at Reimu when a blur of rainbows rams into her and knocks her into a wall. "Not happening!" Reimu looks to Rainbow Dash, who had just slammed into Remilia, and nods in thanks. Remilia removes herself from the wall, now with a very pissed off look. "I will NOT be defeated...by a horse!" Twilight quickly rushes into the fight and takes flight right beside Rainbow. "How about two then?!" Remilia smirks and begins glowing red again. "Then you will all perish here..." All at once, Rainbow conjures up a twister, Twilight fires a magic blast, Marisa shoots off her Master Spark, and Reimu launches her Fantasy Orb spell. During the the battle, Sakuya had left the room unnoticed by all but Applejack, who decided to follow her in secret.
"Night Sign. Bat Lady Scramble!" Remilia screams her attack as her aura bursts and twists around her like a corkscrew as she barrel rolls forward through the air. She easily plows through the attacks by the other girls and heads straight for Rainbow Dash. Reimu catches this in time and jumps up into the air. "Divine Arts!" She kicks upwards and lands a blow on Remilia's shoulder, knocking her out of her attack. "Sky..!" Second kick to the chest. "Conquering.." Third to the chin. "Wind God..." Fourth to the stomach. "KICK!!!" Finally, a kick to the back that sends Remilia right back down to the ground. The other four lands gently on their feet around her as she summons a spear to help herself off the ground, weakly. "This...is one hell of a fight...One I clearly cannot win..." Rainbow stomps on the ground once. "Darn right you can't win! Don't you know the bad guy never wins?" Marisa grins at Remilia. "Still a pretty damn good fight! Too bad you-...?" The five of them quiet down at her signal just in time to see Applejack and Sakuya rush inside, slightly beaten and out of breath. Sakuya steps forward weakly and bows to Remilia. "M...Mistress...She has finally escaped..." Applejack's ear twitches at the sound of a menacing giggle from the hall and quickly runs out of the way of the door as it is suddenly blasted off its hinges. Everyone looks toward the door frame in horror to see a blond girl with her hair in a side ponytail and wearing a red dress, a white hat, and is holding a long, bend clock-hand looking spear in one hand. She has a pair of odd, thin wings with multicolored crystals hanging from them, and is sporting a creepy smile. "...Ooh...New toys to play wiiiith!"
Emponiment of Scarlet Devil Final Stage
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