//------------------------------// // Episode 1: Part 2 // Story: Friendship is Magic Z // by Typewrittensoul //------------------------------// "And you had to go through all of that? Wow, Hikaru-chan!" Sakura said as she skipped along. "So what happened next?" "You're kidding, right?" Ringo narrowed her eyes at the pink-haired girl as she pranced ahead of her. "You were there for it, Sakura! That's the reason we're heading over to Celestia-hime right now." "Oh, I know." Sakura replied and glanced at the blonde while wearing a chipper smile. "I just wanted to hear how Hikaru-chan would tell it! She's really good at storytelling!" Ringo sighed, getting a sympathy back pat from a snickering Rose. Unable to move while being carried, Hikaru spoke out. "Yeah...alright, that was fun and all, but could you explain to me why I had to do all that?" "Do what?" "Ugh..." Hikaru sighed. Craning her neck she tried her best to spot Sakura dancing as she walked along the group of girls walking down the hallway. "Recount how I ended up becoming a pony?" "Because I was curious...why else would I have asked?" Sakura looked at the pony incredulously. "I don't know! I thought if I did one of you girls would find a way to fix this...this!" "But didn't you just hear what Rin-chan said? Silly Hikaru-chan, you really need to work on that assuming problem of yours!" Hikaru growled again but was lifted up by the girl who had been carrying her. The once-normal-high-school-student-turned-pony was brought face to muzzle with Makoto Inoue, her senior who currently sported a lighter shade of pink hair and a more concerned expression on her face. "Hikaru-chan, there's no need to raise your voice." Hikaru's soft spoken senior said, "Technically Sakura-chan is still your senpai so you should treat her with as much respect as you would me or Ayane. Alright?" Hikaru lowered her ears and felt even more depressed that she had the ability to lower her ears in the first place. "Yes, senpai." Hikaru said to her own chagrin. Makoto smiled warmly at the sight and couldn't help but hug her cute little pony underclassman. "Guh!" The pony choked out as she was squeezed against the girl's bosom. While all of this happened, the girls continued to walk through the halls of the local television studio, doing their best to keep out of the way of the staff people scurrying about doing their work. It was only a few blocks-worth of walking from the factory-turned battlefield just moments ago, as they escaped just before the police cars, ambulances and firetrucks arrived at the scene. Turned around to face forward while carried by Makoto, Hikaru grew extremely tense and tried to remain as still as possible, pretending to be a stuffed animal. Her acting seemed to work as none of the adults the girls walked by took note of the purple pony she had become. But then, a strand of Makoto's long pink hair brushed against Hikaru's snout, tickling her nose and eventually caused her to let out in a loud sneeze that echoed down the hallway. "Oh no!" Hikaru blurted and shut her eyes in panic, but neither the girls nor anyone else for that matter, were made aware of the doll that seemed to have come to life. "Are you alright, Hikaru-chan?" She then heard her senior and felt the girl shuffle through the pocket of her skirt then upon taking out a handkerchief, wipe it dotingly against her wet nose, causing her to flail and sputter. "Please keep still, you don't want to look messy in front of Celestia-hime!" Hikaru's squirms ceased when that thought came to mind. "Uh...guess not..." She said, grimacing from the image of her idol poking fun at her for having snot hanging from her nose. Feeling particularly embarrassed, Hikaru simply let Makoto tend to her as the group rounded the corner. It was there that Hikaru noticed not just Himeko Harukawa, but a young man talking with her as well. Turning his gaze to them he offered a polite smile to the girls then turned back toward the woman, saying "Himeko, looks like a few of your fans are here." "Looks like, huh?" She commented upon following the young man's glance. Hikaru's eyes bulged when she recognized the man. 'Oh no!' She tensed up again, 'What's my brother doing here!?' Ken Mitsuko grinned at the woman, saying, "Looks like your fan club is here. Himeko, I'm gonna run. We'll do lunch another time?" The woman pressed her lips into a demure smile. "No problem. Catch you around." Once he disappeared around the corner, a more wicked look appeared on Himeko's face as her eyes trailed over to meet Hikaru's. She leaned down to Hikaru's eye level while pouting her lips, speaking like one would to a baby, "Awww, who's the cute lil' pony? You are! Yes you are!" "Ponies bite." Hikaru growled out, eliciting a hearty laugh from her idol. Or more accurately, the true personality that wasn't shown during broadcasts or to her impressionable fans throughout Japan and online. The personality that completely shattered Hikaru's ladylike image of her idol. "Let's go into my dressing room." Himeko Harukawa said, standing up. "It's a bit more private there." The average sized space was decorated with a mirror framed by lights, a makeup table and swivel chair, an armchair couch and full-sized couch that sat next to one another with a low coffee table in reach of both. Not even a second passed after the door to Himeko's dressing room closed before Makoto's worrying resurfaced. She walked forward with Hikaru still in her grasp as Himeko sat on private chair in front of the make up table and the rest of the girls filled up the space on the couches reserved for guests. "Will she have to wait the full day like we all did when we first transformed?" "Nah, that won't be necessary." Himeko patted Hikaru's head, much to the pony's annoyance. "Could you all please stop treating me like a pet, already!?" Hikaru angrily flailed her front hooves around, weakening Makoto's hold on the small girl-turned-pony enough to drop her in surprise. "Sure, sure." Himeko grinned and stood back up, placing her hands on her hips. Falling to her hooves, Hikaru let out a small yelp but found that the drop was not as perilous as it seemed, easily regaining her footing as she craned her neck to look up at the girls around her at comparatively imposing heights. "I'm so sorry, Hikaru! Are you alright?" Makoto squeaked out. "Yeah, senpai. No problems." She smiled back to the worried girl. The rest of the girls, seemingly more interested in the pieces of fruit and candy displayed on the table, continued munching much to their own delight while Hikaru retained a sense of worry. It seemed only her senior, Makoto Inoue shared her feelings. And though not stuffing her face like the others, Ayane sat quietly in wait without any disturbance to her ladylike demeanor. Letting out a sigh, Hikaru froze when she felt a heavy pat on her head. Nonplussed, she looked over to Himeko who had leaned down to patronize her once more. "There, there, Hi-chan, everything will be alright!" Just as she was about to make good on her earlier threat, a bright light shone from the crown on her head and Hikaru felt a warm sensation overtake her from head to toe. In the blink of an eye, she was floating and felt her arms and legs grow and the feeling of cloth against he skin. "Oh, I'm back!" Hikaru said in surprise as the glow dissipated from around her, not sure why she was back to her normal self again, but happy nonetheless. The activity caught the girls' attention and after wiping her mouth from finishing a whole bunch of grapes, Rose complained from her spot on the left arm rest, "Hey, why did you decide to help her when we all had to be stuck in our forms for a whole day?" "Couple of reasons." Himeko said graciously, reminding Rose of her rudeness to which she smiled sheepishly. Waving off the matter, the woman continued. "First one would be that she would have been stuck like that for at least a week before she started running low on magic." Patting Hikaru's head once more, Himeko walked over to the table to grab what was left of the free food and picked out a lonesome banana. "Another one would be that, since Hikaru skipped straight into her transformed state, she obviously doesn't know how to use her Summoned item, meaning she doesn't know how to control her magic, meaning she was pretty much like a giant neon sign that was saying 'please eat me!' It's a miracle that you girls weren't attacked on your way here!" As Himeko peeled the banana and took polite bites from the fruit, Makoto spoke out in a quiet voice, "Um, that's because I used my Summoned item to hide our magical presence..." "Really? Very resourceful, Makoto. Good job." The girl made the tiniest of smiles and stared down at the floor as though doing so would hide her embarrassment from everyone else. Her subdued giddiness was infectious as the rest of the girls including Himeko giggled. "Could someone please at the very least tell me what is going on?" Hikaru gave a tired sigh from being unable to follow anything that was just said. "Rose told me about magic and a bit about summoning, then we were just attacked by monsters and...what does all this have to do with me?" "Well, you're in luck. You came here just after my last weather report for the day, so I have some time to bring you up to speed." Throwing the banana peel into the garbage pail across the room, Himeko planted herself onto the couch between Ringo and Sakura, causing the two of them to bounce slightly from the inertia. "Tarnation!" "Wheee!" The young woman chuckled from Sakura's cheer but then straightened out the creases in her skirt and blouse and sat with her legs tucked together in as much a ladylike manner as Ayane had been. "But first...would you like to take a guess at how old I am?" To this Hikaru snorted. "Don't even have to. Your biography says you're twenty eight years old." Himeko cross her arms into an "X" and made a buzzer noise. "Way off." "Eh? You mean that's wrong?" "Well, let me just start off my answer to that question by saying that I was born way sbefore the black ships ever appeared off of Edo." Hikaru gave a blank stare, completely unable to comprehend what the woman had just said. Seeing this Himeko chuckled again and crossed her arms under her chest. "Back when myths still openly lived side by side with humans, I was a shrine priestess." "You see, my grandmother, the head priestess at the time, was charged with keeping an ancient demon sealed away. A demon named Discord. My mother, who was next in the line of succession, died shortly after giving birth to me. So when Discord managed to escape in a moment of my grandmother's weakness I was too young to inherit the powers of Harmony. "When Discord escaped, war and chaos broke out with him. What you kids know today as the Warring States period. My grandmother, though strong as she was, had already passed her prime and was no match against him. Before she succumbed to her wounds from the battle she fought, the Elements were given to me even though I had yet to complete my training. But there was simply no choice, because of the destruction of Chaos that Discord was sewing throughout the land; the distrust and wicked hearts of humans succumbed to his will and the vices of greed and hate led to suffering and wars broke out." "After several years of intense training with the other priestesses, I learned that I had quite the talent as an Onmyoji in addition to my sealing abilities that had passed down through my family. And so the site of my first and only confrontation with Discord became this city. But the peaceful life that exists did not come about because I succeeded. Entirely the opposite, actually. You see, because of my inexperience, I lost control of the Elements in the middle of the battle and they scattered across the world. "Without the boost the Elements gave to my still immature powers, Discord was too strong to destroy outright as everyone had hoped and so at great cost in the lives of many of my friends and family members, the remaining priestesses and I could only weaken Discord enough to imprison him into the mountain. "Sad isn't it, that old stories always seem to end up with such a solution, don't they?" Himeko sighed at that thought. "Of humans unable to defeat the powers of gods, even if they seek out harm? Because of the failure of my attempt, it was my responsibility to remain for all six Elements to reveal themselves and then destroy the Demon of Chaos once and for all." To stunned to speak, Hikaru felt a shiver run up her spine as Himeko looked her in the eye. "If you are the sixth and last Element, Hikaru, the one I've been waiting centuries for, the time to finally rid the world of Discord's evil will soon be at an end." To Hikaru's surprise, Himeko reached out and clasped her hands around hers. The soft look on her face, still young and full of beauty, made it hard to believe that the woman before her was at least 400 years old. "The fate of the world rests in whether you are the mysterious sixth Element." "Himeko...no, Celestia-hime..." Hikaru began to say in a soft voice, "...what's the sixth Element?" The woman stared blankly, which raised a red flag of worry for Hikaru. "Um...you do know what the sixth element is supposed to be...right...?" "Y-yeah..." The weather woman's confidence had evaporated from her voice and became shaky. "About that...it's, um...like I said...a mystery...heheh." Narrowing her eyes Hikaru wondered, why was it she idolized this woman, again?