//------------------------------// // The Showy Samurai Ponies // Story: Cutie Mark Sentai Crusader! // by RaisingShad0ws //------------------------------// Chapter 14 -The Showy Samurai Ponies- While everypony else was inside the Temple of Grimclaw the Terrible, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had made their way back to the wreckage that was once the Cutie Mark Crusaders Airship. They could see several members of Utopian’s Army standing around, looking at random things. One would pick up a small gear with its magic while two others would be fighting each other over who got the shiniest object. The two fillies looked at each other nervously. “They wanted us to head back to a hunk of junk?” Diamond Tiara whispered, looking over at the depressing scene. “Well, did you want to stay back inside the temple and get sacrificed?” Silver Spoon asked. “No, but I would have expected our rescuers to have the decency of not having a junked up way back to Equestria.” Diamond Tiara said coldly. “Well you have to admit that they tried. I mean we wouldn’t be here now if they didn’t bust us out.” Silver Spoon replied. “Especially after all of the mean things that we said to them over the past few weeks.” “ARE YOU KIDDING?” Diamond Tiara shouted loudly. “You mean to tell me that you’re actually thanking those blank flanks?” “No, but...” Silver Spoon looked over her shoulder as several members of Utopian’s Army turned to the direction of her shout and began growling angrily. “But what?” Diamond Tiara snapped, not noticing the soldiers hearing her angry tirade. “I don’t think that this is a good time for this...” Silver Spoon uttered, nudging her head over to the left of where they stood. Diamond Tiara didn’t catch the hint, ignoring her friend’s signal as she continued. “We’re better than them. We have our Cutie Marks. They don’t have anything. They aren’t special, Diamond Tiara-” Silver Spoon began, only to have her voice cut out by the other foal. “They don’t have their Cutie Marks; they cause a lot of trouble in Ponyville, Umm... maybe we can... You know, talk about this later...” Silver Spoon continued, the impending danger of Utopian’s ponies advancing on them by the second. “No! I will not stand for my supposed best friend when she thinks that a bunch of second-rate, Blank Flanked, loser ponies are better than I am. Better than we are!” Diamond Tiara countered, the anger and frustration of her captivity boiling over like water from a boiling pot. “But- No buts Silver Spoon. We are better than they are. We are the superior ponies. We are-” Diamond Tiara stopped, her tirade and anger had been cut short as the sounds of a chorus of low rumbling growls had echoed in her ear. She turned, seeing the midnight sky colored ponies and gulped nervously. “Well well well. Look what we have here Tuff Stuff. Two little fillies lost and alone.” A gentle voice commented behind them. Both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon turned, and nearly let out a scream at the sights of both General Tuff Stuff and Serene Grace had somehow appeared behind them both. “Well now, they don’t seem too harmless. Maybe I can toughen them up by sending them to work in the diamond quarry we captured. Or I could send them out as arrow-fodder when the war comes.” The intimidating voice of the General rumbled. “But they’re so pretty too... Natural beauty like this would be a shame to waste on the battlefield. Maybe if they get older they can keep the soldiers happy and well entertained.” Serene Grace added, getting a hearty laugh from the General. “Too bad that Utopian’s ordered their death warrants.” General Tuff Stuff commented. “The boys probably would have had a good enough time with them as teenagers.” “And orders are orders.” Serene Grace added, glaring at the two nervous foals as her horn charged up with magic. “Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you going to do with us?” Silver Spoon stammered, staring at the two ponies nervously. She reached for Diamond Tiara and held her close, staring into the eyes of what she assumed to be her own impending doom. She chanced a glance over at Diamond Tiara, watching as her rage was washed away in the place of fear. As both foals held each other close, General Tuff Stuff chuckled. “These ones aren’t too bright are they?” He asked, receiving a nod from Serene Grace. “Well, being born in the upper crusts of society has to have some draw backs.” She sneered, looking down on the foals with contempt. “You see dears, your going to die.” She said calmly, her horn beginning to flare up with magic. The next thing that happened to both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon changed them in such a way that they would eventually part company pursuing different interests entirely. As Serene Grace’s horn continued to glow, possibly to generate a spell that would potentially annihilate both foals on the spot, a soft sort of loud bong echoed throughout the valley that they were all standing in with a gentle, “Bong.” Everypony stopped to find the source of the offending sound but as they did so more of the noise continued to flood the area as if generated from a drum player. The next few moments caused everypony to look at base of the valley wall, as at least a half dozen or more ponies all dressed in black seemed to appear out of no where. Nothing about the ponies could be seen, everything from the tips of their snouts all the way to their tails were covered in black. And based on what they appeared to be doing, they seemed to be preparing a stage. The Captors and the captives watched in stunned silence, seeing several bamboo flags with an all black trio of stars rise from almost out of nowhere. As each of the bamboo flags rose into place, a pair of extremely long banners appeared in between the flags each bearing the same mark. The whole set up appeared to both foals that they were about to be in some sort of play, but as the drum beat continued to get faster and the banner that was closest to them moved, their reasoning was proven dead wrong. “What the-” General Tuff Stuff gasped, at a loss for words. “But how? You were imprisoned by Utopian’s magic!” Serene Grace snapped. Standing before the crowd of ponies, each clad in Nipponesian attire, were five different ponies. Each one was different in a slight way, but they all appeared to belong to the same family. The pony in the exact middle of the line that they formed spoke up, her flat pink hair and cold and serious stare taking the two foals for a loop. “You stand on this battlefield accused of high treason against the Princesses of Equestria.” She said, not moving a muscle, her outfit fluttering in a gentle breeze that now flowed through the valley. “As the Nineteenth head of the Pie Clan, I Pinkamena Diane Pie, order you to surrender or face your fate in the pits of Tartarus.” “Of course it would be the Princesses Lapdogs out to come and do what she can’t.” General Tuff Stuff commented, surprised to hear what the crazed mare was saying. “And if we refuse your offer? Will you try to take our heads?” He smirked evilly. “Or are you unable to risk the foals we have here.” The pink earth pony said nothing, continuing to glare at the crowd of ponies around Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. She remained silent, calculating her options at the scene. After looking at the other ponies around her, a black maned earth pony with a dark gray coat, a gray maned earth pony dark blue coat, a yellow maned pegasus pony with a white coat, and a green maned unicorn with a blue coat who sported jagged orange sunglasses, she smiled and rose onto her back legs. “What’s she doing?” Diamond Tiara whispered nervously. Silver Spoon shrugged, watching as the other ponies in the line up also began to stand on their back legs. The members of Utopian’s Army, even both General Tuff Stuff and Serene Grace watched as all five ponies used one of their hooves to pull out a weird looking oblong device. They all stared in a trance-like state almost, and only when the tops of the devices revealed themselves to conceal a brush tip did it click for the adults. “Tuff Stuff, throw everything you have at them now!” Serene Grace demanded, watching the Earth pony nod before turning to his troops. “All of you, get them. Get them Now!” He screamed, turning his attention back to the row of ponies, hoping that he executed his order fast enough. “MOBILE BRUSH!” The group of five ponies declared, glaring at the charging horde of enemies that headed right for them. “WITH THESE STROKES, WE REPORT TO THE PRINCESSES!” In that instant, time seemed to stand still. The five ponies calmly and quickly began writing with their brushes in the air, as if their strokes were recorded on a sheet of paper in front of them. Silver Spoon told Diamond Tiara later that each of the symbols that they wrote were actually the Nipponesian words for fire, water, wood, land, and heaven. When they were finished, with absolute perfect timing, they swung their writing hooves in such a way that made the symbols they had written spin around. After another blinding flash of light, everypony stopped moving as the ponies had changed into color coordinated jumpsuits and helmets. They each had a sword that looked more like a futuristic version of a Nipponesian Katana that Samurai would use if they were from the future. “Samurai Pony of Fire, Pinkamena Diane Pie.” The Pink mare declared, drawing her sword from its sheath with a hoof and resting it on her shoulder as she got down on all fours. “The Same, but of Water! Octavia Marie Pie!” Her blue clad companion on the closest right declared, drawing her own sword but bringing it gently across an invisible cello in front of her. “The Same, but of the Heavens! Bellamina Ann Pie!” The mare in pink declared, who was furthest from the right, gracefully drawing her sword and bringing it close to her heart. “The Same, but of the Forest! Humble Alexander Pie!” The only stallion in the line up that was the closest to left of the pink mare declared, drawing a hoof across the dull side of the blade. “The Same, but of the Land! Surprise Lydia Pie!” The pegasus mare in yellow finished, leaping into the air and dancing a little in her spot, furthest from the center on the left. After the roll calls were finished, everypony except for the one clad in red presented their swords before sheathing them and getting down on one of their back knees. As they did so, Pinkamena slowly drew her hoof along the bottom of the sword she held as she said, “We are the Samurai Ponies Authorized by Faust’s Providence!” At the end of that statement, the four kneeling ponies got up on their back hooves, drawing their swords with them as they went before they all slashed them downward. “Shinkenger!” The group of five declared at once. “Going forth!” The five jumpsuit-clad ponies then charged forward, all wielding their swords to meet the members of Utopian’s Army. They appeared to be outnumbered at least three to one, but as both sides met with each other, the levels of skill were staggered more towards the foals’ would-be saviors. The katana wielding warriors fluidly and gracefully danced around their foes attacks. It was as if that they had spent all of their lives practicing for battle, and had successfully honed their craft as foals. The mare in red was the most skilled of them all, blocking three simultaneous attacks from three of Utopian’s soldiers before returning them with a slash across their masks. Another follower attempted to swing its own sword at the red clad mare, only to have it blocked by her blade. The red clad mare then retaliated with a strike of her own, knocking the offending follower to the ground. The other ponies weren’t having any problems with the minions that they faced either. The stallion in green was surrounded by at least ten or twelve of the enemy, and took a deep breath before removing the guard on his blade. After placing it on the buckle on his belt, it changed colors from black to green before he replaced it on his sword. “Let’s see how you guys like my Wooden Spear!” He cried, spinning the guard on the sword as it disappeared in place of an actual spear with the Nipponesian symbol for Wood on the end. “Who in the hay do you think we are?” He roared, charging into the group of ponies that were trying to surround him. “You think we should tell him?” Surprise, the mare in yellow asked her fellow combatant Bellamina. “Let’s let him figure it out.” Bellamina answered, blocking the attacks of two more of Utopian’s followers before responding with a group of attacks of her own. The only ponies who weren’t saying anything about the green clad stallion’s comment were both Ponyville’s pink party mare herself and the pony clad in blue. Calmly she repeated the same action that her brother had done, and removed her sword guard from her weapon before replacing it with a bright red one. After giving it a mighty swing the sword grew in size, looking like it was capable of cleaving a pony in half with a single strike. “Pinkamena, are you sure you should be unleashing your weapon now?” Octavia asked nervously, putting two more of the enemy soldiers down with the dull side of her blade. “Don’t be so sure Octavia, they aren’t the only ones who have entered the fight.” Pinkamena replied, staring across the valley landscape as both General Tuff Stuff and Serene Grace had joined the fray. “I’m going forth.” She said calmly, charging at the two ponies with her large sword drawn. As more and more of their followers fell in battle, both Serene Grace and Tuff Stuff picked the ponies that were doing the most damage to their numbers. A blast of magical energies erupted from Serene Grace’s horn as both Humble Pie and Surprise leapt at her. “Here’s a present from me to you! My Land Star Barrier!” Surprise cried, her sword changing into a multi-bladed ninja star which reflected the attack back at her. Humble then swung the back end of his spear into the opposing unicorn, which knocked her backwards several feet. As Serene Grace was flung back, Tuff Stuff held up his hooves as several shots of blue energy that came from a bow that Octavia carried and aimed directly at him. He slid back at the impact, and looked up as Pinkamena’s massive sword met his hooves which caused a massive shockwave on impact. He took several steps back, blocking another attack that came from another massive horizontal swing from the pink mare’s sword. He leapt forward, bringing his massive hooves down on the mare only to find the massive blade where her face was. He let out an angry roar, bringing his hooves down on the mare, only to be blasted by another set of blue energy bolts. Tuff Stuff looked up, watching as the mare in pink’s blade changed into a fan in the light. The pony then swung her fan in the direction of the general, which created a tornado that lifted him off of his hooves and knocked him back to the ground. General Tuff Stuff tried to right himself without noticing the pony he was fighting originally. “You’re distracted!” Pinkamena declared, swinging her massive sword with the sharp edge first, which knocked him skyward. Meanwhile, Serene Grace found herself on the defensive. Attacks from both Humble and Surprise were keeping her from helping the General. Both ponies’ weapons were keeping her focused on using her defensive barrier spells as opposed returning their attacks back towards them. With each successive hit, she could feel the strength of her magic waning until, “Let’s Finish this Surprise!” Humble cried, leaping into the air with the pegasus pony. Humble thrusted his spear into the unicorn’s barrier, which pierced and shattered her spell. Surprise followed the attack by throwing her star directly at the unicorn’s hooves, which caused the earth from underneath to crack and shatter. Serene Grace stumbled backwards, just as an explosion knocked her flying several feet towards the fallen form of General Tuff Stuff. As the five color coordinated ponies met back up with each other, their weapons returned back to their original katana. General Tuff Stuff and Serene Grace staggered back to their hooves while their own remaining followers staggered to their side. “Are you guys ready to finish this?” Pinkamena asked, resting her now smaller sword on her shoulder. “Of course we are little sister.” Octavia replied. “So, are we going to try that?” Bellamina asked, receiving a nod from Pinkamena. “Of course we are. We’re the team who’s going to pierce through the darkness!” Humble cried, taking his sword in both of his hooves. “All the ponies out there are going to enjoy this surprise. Especially since you’re our team leader Pinkie!” Surprise said happily. Pinkamena nodded, grasping her belt buckle with her open hoof and opening it. She smiled, removing her sword’s guard a second time and placing it in the buckle. A half a second later, she reopened her buckle and withdrew her red guard, and put it in place of the original guard of the blade. The other ponies followed her motions, and stood firm as a mystic energy erupted from the source of the blades. “Hidden Sword, Disk Art!” She declared, which caused the General and Serene Grace to look up. “Tuff Stuff, what do we do?” Serene Grace asked desperately, watching as the earth pony shook his head. “We pray. It’s all we can do now.” He said, watching the blades erupt with colored magical energy. The group of Utopian’s ponies, all trembled as the unnatural pressure that emanated from the incoming attack. The group of Pies all began letting an unnatural yell as the energy from their swords increased ten-fold every second they held their blades aloft. After a few more moments of waiting, Pinkamena charged at their group, followed by the other members of her small team. “Dance of the Blessed Heavens!” Bellamina cried, swinging her sword which unleashed a hurricane force wind that slammed into the opposition with a force that would have made a dragon envious. “Dance of the Surging Waves!” Octavia cried, swinging her sword in a diagonal motion to her right before bringing the blade back over and crossing it to form an X. A huge wall of water then formed from the blade strike, slamming into the crowd of their opposition with the force of a tsunami. “Dance of the Vibrant Woods!” Humble Pie cried, spearing his blade deep into the earth. The residual energy from his sword caused the earth from beneath the hooves of Utopian’s forces to begin to glow before erupting into a massive collection of small trees. “Dance of the Shattering Land!” Surprise shouted, following suit with Humble’s attack and spearing her own sword into the earth. The trees from Humble’s attack immediately disappeared as the ground began to quake and erupt and shattered beneath their hooves. The ground quaked, and knocked them all backwards and sending them flying. With a leap and a battle cry, Pinkamena leapt into the air and shouted, “The Finisher! Dance of the Blazing Flames!” She brought her blade down in between the crowd of ponies in front of her, before swinging her sword horizontally with a wave of fire towards their number. As the five color clad ponies landed, they sheathed their swords and turned their backs on General Tuff Stuff and Serene Grace. With a loud agonizing scream, the group of ponies fell to the ground as explosions erupted amongst their crowd. As the smoke cleared, the only ponies that remained were both General Tuff Stuff and Serene Grace lying on the ground and unconscious. Both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon remained quiet after the battle. Neither one of them said a word as the five jumpsuit-clad ponies sheathed their swords and turned to the foals. They said nothing, wincing a little as the red clad party pony slowly advanced on them. “You two promise that you won’t tell any pony that you saw us right?” Pinkamena asked earnestly, watching both foals nod. “Great. Well then, we’ll be off now. You two can’t say a word of this to anypony.” “Jeez Pinkie, you sound more like a gangster than a hero of justice.” Humble commented, trotting over to the party mare. “But you two can’t tell anypony about what just happened. Seriously, we don’t need that kind of press.” “We want it to be a big surprise!” The pegasus pony exclaimed, watching the foals jump a little. “Now everypony, you have to head back home. We need to make ourselves scarce if we want this chapter to close.” Pinkamena said calmly. And as she said that, both foals watched as their rescuers shared a nod before dashing away and out of sight. As both foals tried to process what they had just witnessed, a low rumbling groan caused them both to look over to the top of the massive temple they had just escaped from before nodding together. “We need to get out of here.” They said at the same time.