//------------------------------// // The Ninja of the Night // Story: When They Were Young: Luna and Celestia's Memories // by InvaderSplorch //------------------------------// Tia was rudely awoken by a loud crashing noise outside. She woke up in a cold sweat, terrified by what was happening. She clutched her sun plushie, giving it an audible squeak, the sole noise that could calm her down. Tia quickly rolled over and looked outside her bedroom window. She tilted her head to the side as she saw a few trashcans littered about in the driveway. Odd that they fell over that way. Oh well, probably just the wind Tia thought to herself as she lie back in her bed. She snuggled up with her sun plushie, giving it a hard squeak as she sighed deeply and contently, her mind now at ease. That was, until, a second loud crashing noise came from outside again. Tia's head perked straight up and her whole body went rigid. With stuttering movements, she slowly looked outside the window. She saw a person with a mask on stealing things out of the garbage can. Tia was appalled by this behavior and called for her sister, Woona. Woona lay in her bed, sound asleep, her front forelegs softly kicking in the air. Tia's face frowned at this scene and decided to change it. She threw her sun plushie at Woona; a soft, but audible squeak echoed as it bounced off Woona's nose. Woona groggily shook her head, quickly yawned, then donned herself further into the blankets. Tia could not believe that her sister could sleep so soundly while all this ruckus was going on outside. Tia jumped from her bed onto the half pink, half purple carpet that divided the room into two. The pink side of the room was Tia's half and the purple side was Woona, an agreement that each sister had acknowledged and signed. The parchment of their agreement hung in a neat, single frame on the wall between both sections, thus amplifying the seriousness of the agreement. Tia walked over to Woona and blocked her nose with her front hoof. Within seconds Woona woke up, desperately drawing for oxygen through her mouth. Woona gasped and shot a glare at Tia, dissapointment and anger colored all over her chubby, small face. "And you woke me up, why?" demanded Woona. "There's a thief outside, dear sister! And he's raiding our garbage cans!" pleaded Tia. "A thief...outside....in the trash cans?" Woona said, her right foreleg pointing to the window. "Out there?" "Yes, look in the window," Tia said with concern in her voice. Woona rolled her eyes and climbed out of her crescent bed. She jumped into Tia's bed and looked outside through the window. She scanned the knocked over trash cans, but no one was there. No person, no thief, nothing. Just knocked over cans and the occasional blowing of the wind on the spilled garbage lay outside. This is a waste of time Woona thought to herself, as she yawned in boredom. As Woona was about to mock Tia, she saw a small shadowy creature emerge from behind a tree and sprint towards the can. It grabbed one of the bags and began to pull it, dragging its contents along the ground. "Hmmmm, there is something out there, Tia," Woona said, a hoof resting underneath her chin. "However, I can't see what it is, so let's go investigate!" Woona exclaimed as she jumped from the bed. "Sister, no, I'm scared," Tia replied. "Pee-shaw, Tia. Don't you remember what mom and dad said. 'I am the ruler of the night. The shadows and darkness shall bow before me.' Remember?" Woona said, reassuring Tia. "They also said that when you eat peas, you get gas," replied Tia. "That's something else!" Woona cried out. "C'mon, let's go see what it is. I'll be right behind you, ok?" asked Woona. Tia somberly nodded her head as the duo quietly left their room. They went on the tips of their hooves as they approached the stairs. They went down the stairs backwards, the carpet of the steps tickling their soft underbelly. The sisters stifled their giggles as they reached the bottom of the steps. They went alongside the railing and into the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen, the noise that could be heard outside was even stronger than it was upstairs. Woona located the door leading to the garage at the far right side of the kitchen, merely feet away from both of them. "Are you ready, Tia?" asked Woona. "No," peeped Tia. "Here," Woona said, grabbing a strainer from a cabinet near the floor. "Put this on, it'll keep you safe." Woona put the strainer on top of Tia's head, providing some protection from whatever force was out there. Woona chuckled at this sight as Tia looked like she had been in a Royal Guard outfit, the strainer too big for her head, and its length covering most of her face. Woona turned the flood light on so they could both see the driveway and whatever that thing was outside. Woona unlocked the door and triumphantly stepped outside, with Tia meekly following behind her. As they both rounded the corner of the door and walked towards the driveway, they saw what destruction lay before them. Two trashcans had been knocked over and its contents lay sprawled all over the driveway. A couple of bags had been torn open and litter now covered most of the entire driveway. Even the pieces that didn't end up in the driveway had been blown into the grass thanks to the gusty and ill-timed wind currents. Woona tried to find the culprit who did this, a sense of justice and righteousness welling up within her. Tia hid behind her sister, not knowing what would attack of harm them. Without warning, a brown and black creature jumped out from the darkness and onto the driveway. Tia shrieked in terror and ran into the house. "Figures," said Woona as she rolled her eyes. Woona stared at this masked creature, its black and brown fur enveloping and twisting around its body. Woona thought the creature was pretty cute, in a dastardly and sneaky way. Woona just stared at the creature as Tia called for Woona to come back into the house because it was too dangerous. Woona declined the offer, stating that she would defeat this tyrant of garbage cans. Upon hearing this, the raccoon stood on its hind legs and took a defensive stance. Woona recognized this stance and immediately went into her "crouching tiger" stance. The raccoon chittered, unaware that Woona knew karate as well. "So, you are a ninja!" Woona exclaimed gleefully. "Then this will be fun! But let's make a deal shall we? If you win, you can have whatever you want inside our house, food-wise of course. But if I win, you become one of my first most loyal servants, serving under me until the day I die," Woona requested, her eyes brimming with excitement. The raccoon seemed to understand as he chittered before he made his first move. The raccoon threw a left kick at Woona, but she easily blocked it and counter-attacked with a sweeping leg kick. The raccoon was caught off balance, its right leg being swept out from beneath him as he landed. Woona pressed on the offense, throwing a hard right hoof hook at the creature. The raccoon saw this in time and did a back-flip, perfectly disengaging from the blow. "My, you're good," Woona said, complimenting the creature. The raccoon chittered back, as if to say The same to you. This ferocious and furry battle lasted for a couple of minutes, but in Woona's mind, this was a battle for the night itself. Woona engaged and disengaged with the beast, receiving blows and dishing them out. Tiny little hooves and paws were flying everywhere until the final attack decided the outcome of the battle itself. The raccoon went in with a left jab, jumping in the night sky and flying towards Luna. Woona sidestepped the attack, and threw a right counter hoof into its back, slamming the creature to the pavement with a thud. Woona gasped in fear that she might have hurt the poor creature. Woona ran over to the raccoon and sat down, a look of worry cast over her face. "Are you alright," she asked. The raccoon merely chittered and sat up, his arms crossed in defeat. The raccoon nodded his head and bowed, signaling Woona's vcitory. Woona squealed with joy as Tia came back outside. "You won?" said Tia, surprise filling her lungs. "Yep, it's all thanks to the karate lessons dad makes me take. It seems they came in handy!" Woona replied as she struck different karate poses. "Well, I think I figured out a name for him." "What's his name then," asked Tia as she looked at the raccoon. "His name shall be Reginald. Reginald, The Raccoon, my most faithful and loyal servant," Woona said smiling. "Ummmm, yea, servant? Yeah, right," Tia scoffed as laughter started to bubble out of her noise hole. "Oh Reginald? Praying Mantis," Woona ordered. The raccoon saluted Woona and jumped at Tia, causing her to run back into the house. "That....was.....AWESOME!" squeaked Luna, her face gleaming with pride. Woona ran back into the house and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. "Here, your spoils of war," replied Woona chuckling as she handed the banana to Reginald, the purple aura fading from the curved fruit. Reginald nodded and ran off into the darkness as Woona locked up the house and went back to sleep. "Hey, Luna, remember that raccoon you fought?" asked Celestia as she was raising the sun. "Yes, what about him?" replied Luna as she was lowering the moon. "What ever happened to him," Celestia inquired. "You know the pony yellow pages?" said Luna. "Yessss?" "You know how no matter what they always magically appear on your doorstep, no questions asked?" said Luna. "You don't mean-" "Ninjas! Thousands of little ninjas, Celestia. So the next time you prank me, watch your back," Luna smiled as she finished her royal duty of lowering the moon.