12 - A Series of Unfortunate Events
Sherbert - 15th of Harvestide 26
Kōmoriakademī, Neighdo - Neighpone
A lot of change has come into my life in the last three months. Kazumi had moved into the dojo, and while she wasn’t living in my room, it did mean we saw a lot more of each other. Especially since she started assisting Master Mitsu in brewing the dojo’s potion supplies. With my kenjutsu training, I was getting hurt a lot more than normal.
Fighting with weapons is obviously more dangerous than fighting with your hooves. But you just don’t think about how much more dangerous it is when you just start. Especially when you’re weapon is basically a bo-staff with a blade on one end.
I had only just started to understand how to not cut my own back by accident when performing a haft strike. Not that I’d actually ever done that. My training blade was dull. But I would have a few times. If it had been sharp.
Thank goodness I didn’t go for nunchaku!
I looked down at my watch, frowning as I noticed I was almost late for my morning training session with Master Tamiko. Master Rojā was still training me, of course, but he wasn’t a blades instructor. As a part of my second year, I would begin to rotate between the different trainers to be taught whatever skills they had mastered themselves, with Rojā acting as a personal guide to help me find my own way to use everything they showed me.
I sighed as I slid out of my chair. Not having to sleep has its advantages, but also major downsides. I envied Ash. Time just blurs together when you don’t get tired. I’d sort of just blinked and my science report was half done and I was about to run late.
Ash. There was another change. One I was starting to welcome.
Ash was an odd mare. Not because of her mutation, Sisters know I was familiar enough with hermaphrodites thanks to my dad’s work. She was odd because she had a lot of Aunt Twilight’s drive, but rather than an ecstatic love of all things science, she was more focused specifically on one and only one field. Enchanting.
I had no idea what it was or what she was doing specifically. Partially because I didn’t know anything about Enchanting, and partially because, well...
It turned out that by ‘secondary education’, Ash meant, ‘I did high school and college at the same time and am going for my doctorate’. Her hobbies mostly consisted of scrapping electronics and enchanted items she got from junk stores and using them to improve her own ongoing project, or getting bored/frustrated and making a quick toy out of the scrap.
Sometimes, she’d give whatever she made to me. Like a hologram system that projected a simulated avatar of anypony I called on my watch or mage gem. It projected a convincing image of that individual, just like they would be if they were talking to me in the same room. She made that out of parts of a microwave, a blender, and a dance-floor she found in a junkyard. Thus cementing in my brain that the mare was a budding genius billionaire playmare philanthropist.
A few days after she arrived, I had the idea to get Uncle Sky to see if the Emeralds could take her as a refugee so she couldn’t be returned home. She’d actually begged both of us to stay till she finished. Her school was paid through till the end, she had one semester left. So, why not?
As I turned to pick up my training blade and leave my room I saw Ash, slumped over the desk I’d gotten for her. Having fallen asleep over her project. Again.
How much time had she spent on that… Uh… Thing? I frankly had no idea what she was building.
She was light years ahead of me in magic, and she was working on this as her doctoral thesis. The lump of crystal and rock in a little silver capsule that rested in the grip of her soldering station, and the bracelet thing built to utilize it may as well have been alien technology to me.
Ash squirmed slightly in her chair, head sliding across the desktop, brushing a few blank cards aside. I frowned and gently reached out to pick her up with my magic. She always said to be careful around that thing. I didn’t want her knocking it off her desk by accident.
I barely lifted her out of her seat when the gray mare jolted awake.
“Aaa!” She yelled. “What are you doing!?”
“Sorry. I was just going to put you in bed. You were moving and I thought you might knock your thing over,” I explained as I set the sleepy eyed mare back down.
She eeped and pushed her chair back from the desk.
“Thanks, Sherbert,” she mumbled sleepily. “I just finished the basics… But it’s not refined. Let alone tuned. Could have gotten really hurt if the field overloaded.”
I blinked twice. “Wait, that’s a bomb!?” I demanded.
She shook her head and stood up, stumbling over to the bed. “No more than anything else which stories massive amounts of thaumaturgic current is, Mistress,” she said as she face planted into the bed with a wump.
Ah. Okay. So, it might rupture and damage things near it, but it wasn’t a grenade. Good.
Now for the bad…
“Don’t call me Mistress,” I corrected.
“Yes, Mistress,” Ash answered sleepy-snarky.
I’d been really mad the first few times she called me that. Recently, I was starting to think she was doing it as a joke.
“I’ll be up in a few more hours,” Ash mumbled into the blanket. “I’ll take care of the laundry then. Please put anything you want to be washed in the pile.”
“It’s already there. I have to go, sleep well,” I said as I turned and trotted out the door, levitating my naginata off its wall-hooks and to my side as I left.
I quickly made my way through the dorm hallway, heading for the back entrance which opened out right into the training yard. I didn't want to be late, Tamiko hated that.
Unfortunately for my plans, as I turned the last corner, Rin’s voice echoed down the hallway.
“Hey! Sherb! Wait,” he called eagerly.
I sighed and turned around.
“I’m almost late for training!” I called semi-irritably.
Rin nodded his long mane fluttering. “Yeah, I know,” he said apologetically. “Just wondering if you still can’t go camping with Kaz, Shinju, and I today.”
Shinju? I closed my eyes as I processed the name.
Oh yeah! That police Sargent who Rin met when Mai kicked my ass.
“No can do,” I sighed. “Rojā has something important planned for tonight. I have to be here.”
Rin’s ears drooped sadly. “Aww… I’d push things to tomorrow, but Shinju’s got a schedule from hell this week,” he apologized.
“It’s fine. Go, have fun!” I said as I turned back around. “Friends can’t always do everything together. See you tomorrow.”
“Okay, but you’re going to have to get out to Lake Tōya with us sometime. It’s supercool. Later,” Rin called as his hoofsteps began to echo down the hallway.
Yeah. I definitely would have to. It sounded really nice. Big lake inside a dead volcano’s crater with a white sand beach, the whole thing being one huge hot spring, and all of that surrounded by tropical flowers and forests which grew in volcanic soil.
One day, I’d have a house in a place like that.
I ran the rest of the way to the training yard, hoping I wasn't late. Master Tamiko stood in the middle of the stone courtyard, the other students having left a large ten-meter bubble for her and I to train in.
She didn’t look annoyed.
I ran into the circle sliding to a stop. “I’m sorry, Master. I lost track of time. I was writing a report on atomic theory and it drained everything from me. Total dead soul mode,” I said, hoping the excuse would be enough.
Tamiko nodded once, looking quite serious.
“Funnily enough, you’re on time for the first time,” she said super seriously before flashing me a huge grin. “You know what that means?”
I frowned as I thought back over the last three months to the very few times Tamiko explained her training methods. The dark purple Thestral hated repeating herself, at least in words. She taught by doing, not talking. Exactly my kind of teacher.
“Um… Oh! You show me one of your kata?” I guess, ears perking in excitement.
Tamiko sighed and reared up, holding her own naginata over her head in her forehooves to twirl it acrobatically, the scabbard somehow staying over the blade.
“Not quite, Sherbert,” she scolded, shaking her head. “Though you should be learning my katas every day, I perform them with you. Those are not the standard moves, they are mine.
“No. You’ve got the basics down, and you showed up on time. We had an agreement about what happened in these circumstances. Though it hardly matters you’ve forgotten about it.”
I frowned in genuine despair. “I- Oh come on! I’ll remember! Don’t skip it, please.” I begged.
“Skip it?” Tamiko said, cocking her head to one side. “We’re not skipping it.”
I noticed a few of the other training students slowly put more distance between the two of us. That was the only clue I needed. She was going to fight me.
“But enough talk! Have at you!” Tamiko shouted, whirling her weapon to launch the scabbard at me, before vaulting forward using the butt of the weapon to spring off the ground.
I jumped aside and raised my own weapon just in time to dodge her vault-kick and block the follow-up strike. Our weapons locking together with the violent clang of steel on steel. I honestly had not thought I could do that!
“Well done!” Tamiko encouraged, leaping backward to scythe her blade in to cut off my legs.
I jumped over the attack, managing to swing my own blade mid-air, aiming the blow towards her head. She flicked the back end of her naginati up, parrying my strike with the haft of her own weapon.
I lost track of our duel for a while. Not that I blacked out, but rather my mind was to focused on the future to remember the past. Her strikes, my dodges, and rare counter strikes all blurred together in one single ball of constant motion.
I could see why Tamiko ruled the local tournament circuit. I had no hope of ever hitting her. But at the same time, she wasn’t hitting me. Yeah, she was half-assing the entire fight, you could SEE how much she was holding back, but her barrage of cuts, jabs, and mixed martial arts was more than enough to keep me fully occupied.
And I endured.
Tamiko suddenly dropped low, her kimono rustling as she hooked her wingtip through the ring of a hidden kuni and somehow threw it at me using just that one wing. I saw the knife fly at me in slow motion, while her naginata cut upwards towards my barrel seemingly at normal speed.
I knew what to do.
I stabbed down, my weapon’s point stabbing her blade’s edge and driving it into the ground. I flicked my haft to the left, pushing her blade to the side, and smacking the thrown knife off course with a loud ting.
And then I saw it. The one opening she’d given me. I had her blade pinned, and with her wing extended for the throw…
I threw a punch with the rear end of my naginata, striking Tamiko’s shoulder with my weapon as if it were a quarterstaff.
To my immense surprise, she didn’t flinch, or scream, or grunt. She took that hit like she was an iron sculpture, and smiled at me. I felt my heart start to race in fear, I'd hit it, but nothing happened! What could I possibly do!?
“Outstanding!” Tamiko said, beaming me a huge grin as she disentangled herself from my pin and took a few steps back, clearly no longer fighting. “You took to the naginata like a duck takes to water. I’m surprised you didn’t gain your mark just now.”
I laughed then panted for a few seconds before returning her smile. “I think… That I just won't get one… Cuz ancient unicorn… Genome…” I gasped, just not noticing the sweat pouring off my face.
And back. Chest. Barrel… Everything, really.
“Be that as it may,” Tamiko said proudly. “You managed to hit me in under a half hour at my laziest. Take five, then we’ll go on to level two. Figure out where you lay on the scale so I can tweak the curriculum accordingly. I think that if you can hit me when I’m half assing it, we'll see you get some plotmarkage!”
I cringed at her turn of phrase. “Uhhhh… Did you have to say it like you’re in a porno?” I asked timidly.
She nodded. “Yep! I haven’t been this excited in a long time. I switched to the katana because no one could beat me with this lovely weapon,” she said, swishing her naginata happily through the air. “But I think, one day, that you might. That’s extremely arousing for a blade nut like me.
“Now come on! Get that rest. I wanna go again! Round two! Fight!”
I grinned nervously as the purple thestral eagerly hopped from hoof to hoof, her entire body still fresh as a daisy, clearly having spent no effort at all on that duel which left me, well, starting to cramp up. All I’d done to her was turn her on…
Then again, she was pretty cute… No, no. Kaz is out of town, you promised her you’d ask permission first.
“Okay. I’ll let you know when I can move again,” I promised, sitting down to meditate on the fight and see if I could remember anything useful I’d done in it.
That was another way to learn, after all. Rojā taught it to me. I was still getting the hang of it, but-
Suddenly the Dojo’s intercom crackled to life. “Mister Periwinkle, please report to the Elder’s cabin,” a mare’s voice announced. “Mister Periwinkle, please report to the Elder’s cabin.”
Tamiko frowned, genuine sadness filling her soft features at the sound of those words.
“Dammit, I have to go… We’ll pick this up tomorrow,” she said as she immediately sheathed her weapon before turning and sprinting off towards the rear of the Dojo, leaving me staring after her in confusion.
████████████████ - 9th of Plantation, 29 AE
███████████ - ████████, Neighpone
“Wait, I don’t remember a Code Periwinkle that year,” the shadowy mare said with concern, making Rojā fumble for his remote as he hastily paused the playback.
Rojā nodded sharply. “There’s a good reason for that, Ma’am. It was faked. I’m certain you remember my report from the incident?”
The mare paused for a few moments then shook her head. “I’m afraid I do not. It has been a few years, and while the Imminent Danger warning is something that sticks in your mind… Well, I’m me.”
“I imagine a pony in your position would occasionally forget about a few incidents. Nopony is an encyclopedia after all,” Rojā said with a sympathetic smile. “To refresh your memory, an enemy agent broke into the communications protocols and issued a report stating that a terrorist group was going to be attacking a Mana Reactor in Stable that evening.
“I mobilized the entire team to handle it, as the orders for us to deal with it seemed authentic. When we arrived, we were attacked by a group of unmarked special forces. We never found out who they were, but rather than trying to blow the city’s plant, the trap was exclusively meant to destroy my team.”
The mare hummed once then rapped her off against the arm of her chair in recollection. “Ah! Yes, now I remember that incident. I’m glad none of you died. It’s hard enough to replace experts. It’s far worse when those experts are like family to you. I still think one of Venisneighla’s Mageocrats was behind it...
“Back on track, why is this important? What makes this your case’s meat?”
Rojā smiled darkly. “Because while the cat’s away, the mice will play, Ma’am. With all of us gone, Sherbert learned she had made blood enemies…”
Sherbert - 15th of Harvestide 26
Kōmoriakademī, Neighdo - Neighpone
Today had gone from normal to weird in a hurry. I had no idea where the Masters had vanished to, or why. Obviously, it was some sort of emergency, but after I spent three hours wandering the grounds with my weapon out, looking for intruders, a fourth year came up to me and said that the last time that code was used, the Masters had left the Dojo completely.
So I’d just sort of gone back to my room and resumed working on my science report.
It felt so weird to not be training. I’d spent the whole morning on a day I didn’t have to go to school NOT hitting things. I’d tried to use the training posts, but I just wasn't ready to self-teach yet. I still needed guidance. There was nothing I could do that would have been a wise use of my time.
Except for this report. So that’s what I did. It was done now though. And it was just barely sunset.
Free time is now time, I guess. But what to do with it?
I sighed and leaned back in my chair, the wood creaking loudly as I moved.
“Are you stuck on something? I’d be happy to help,” Ash said without looking up from her own work.
She’d spent the day at her desk too. But that was normal for her. What with being an enchanter and all.
Actually, that should be 'what with her being an inventor and all'. She had a cutiemark for inventing things. That's what the stylized PCB shaped like a cog with a crystal set in the center on her flanks meant.
Ash had a few actual products for sale in real stores. I knew because I sort of was getting the profits from them now... At least for a few days till my bank transferred the money into her old accounts. Which I’d given her access to again.
Stupid evil nation laws. I was starting to kinda like Ash. As in, Like. She was sweet. I needed a way to not do this to her.
“Not really. I just have nothing to do now, and because I was expecting to have things to do today, I didn’t really plan any free time. Rojā and I were going to do nocturnal stealth training tonight, and my friends are gone sooo… Yeah. I haven't had to entertain myself for a while. I honestly can’t remember what I used to do,” I explained simply.
I really couldn’t too. I knew I had hobbies I just… Neighponese schools were stupid hard! And gave out so much homework it should be called torture! I thought that by freeing up my nights by eliminating sleep it would be a cure all. Nope! Turns out that was the minimum needed to survive.
“I would be happy to do something for you,” Ash said in a dead tone which I knew meant she would actually be really upset if I asked her to do anything for me at the moment.
“Ash, I don't care what your law says. You’re just my roommate. I can’t order you to do shit,” I protested.
“You totally can. Cuz my laws apply to me,” she grumbled, her ears folding.
I frowned suspiciously. This wasn’t normally how Ash behaved. Something was up…
“What’s wrong?” I asked her as kindly as I could.
She groaned in frustration. “I don’t want to talk about it, it’s rude,” she tried to dismiss.
I raised an eyebrow. “Ash, please, tell me. You’re upset. You need to talk things out.”
“Fine,” she sighed. “I hate your aunt Ayna. She’s a rotten bastard who's a total ass to DIY people who need high capacity instant discharge mana-batteries.”
I blinked twice. “Umm… What exactly is the problem?” I asked.
Ash turned around and held up the bracelet section of her project for me to see. The bracelet had a two-centimeter thick section that bulged out of one side. The bulge housed some micro electronics and a small lattice of arcane components which joined with the electrical parts in a way which I’d never seen before. Probably because it wasn’t Uncle Sky’s design. Or even based on his stuff.
The bracelet continued to float in her arcane grip as she gently slid the components free of their housing, and separate them out into a strand, the device’s guts having been wound up tightly. At one end of the string was a receptacle for the little cylinder capsule thing, at the other end, a SkyTech Arcane Ultracapacitor.
I knew those! Ayna invented them. They somehow held enough arcane power to perform six teleportations, and could be recharged within a mere eight hours exposure to the local ambient thaumaturgic current! I didn’t think Sky actually sold anything using them...
“So, my card game doesn't sell nearly well enough for me to be able to build my own rose quartz Ultracapacitor,” Ash began with a grumbling flick of her ears. “So I had to buy one of the deluxe SkyTech brand watches and cut this one out of it. No idea how you guys sell them so cheap when they have one of those!”
I frowned. “Card game?” I asked, already totally lost.
“My parents would fund my college and my stay at the Flying Horse Dojo, but not my project,” Ash said, turning her invention this way and that in her arcane grip, clearly still working on it despite talking to me. “I invented a card game to make money to fund this. It’s a simple game. It's basically a trading card RTS where each card is enchanted to produce little illusionary figures, buildings, or landscapes that battle or build as the cards dictate. But that’s not important!
“What’s important is that your Aunt is a total dick! These Ultracapacitors were made for exactly one standard of device. They output power at a highly specific rate, which is supposed to be modulated by a control chip. I don’t have that chip, nor the equipment required to reprogram the one from the watch I got this from. So I used a few transmutation tricks to make my own arcane equivalent to the chip.
“I thought that would work fine, but it’s not! I can’t precisely calibrate the energy levels to the required rates for safe operation. I mean, it will work, but it won't be stable in this configuration. It could cut out while in use, or misapply one of the spells when executing one of the two operations.
“Which is VERY BAD because the spell this device casts for me is a super complex transmutation of my own design. It could really mess you up to use right now, we’re talking WORSE than kill you.
“If your Aunt had made these to international standard, I could use simple spells to adjust the Ultracapacitor itself and bring it to spec. But noooo! It’s all proprietary horseapples up in here! Don't megacorps know that sometimes the little guy needs to scrap their stuff for parts? I'm nice to them! I buy their stuff cuz it's great stuff. They should be nice to me too!”
I nodded, sympathizing if not fully understanding the exact problem. I wasn’t dumb, I understood she was having power problems because SkyTech isn’t exactly open source. But it seemed like she was smart enough to find a way around it.
“Well, what’s this thing even do? All you’ve told me is that you’ve spent ten years on the project and it could kill you if it exploded in your face… And now that it’s got something to do with transmutation,” I asked hoping that by getting her to talk about the project she would find a solution.
Ash’s eyes lit up as I expressed interest. “I didn’t tell you? Sorry. Well, I had this idea ages ago while I was learning transmutation for the first time. I’d already mastered hobbyist grade enchanting, and I realized that with some very tight electronic based timers you could make a spell matrix which would function better than a unicorn ever could do on their own.
“While looking into that I discovered spell amps, battlemages tend to use them. But then I thought about the design of amps themselves and realized that with some very minor tweaking you could make an amp into a single purpose spellcasting engine that could produce one effect at extremely high energy levels.
“That had been done, but what hasn’t been done before is taking lots of spell amps, and hooking them into a computer controlled system which allows for-”
Ash trailed off as she realised my eyes were starting to glaze over from Technobabble poisoning.
Coughing awkwardly into her hoof, she pointed at her invention. “This casts about three hundred spells at once. Most of them are transmutation effects.”
“Okay, and what do those do?” I asked, still eager but now weary. “And um, I know I’m a unicorn, but pretend I know nothing of anything beyond Tier One spells.”
Ash winced. “Ouch… That’s foal grade… Um, well that’s the reason I was attending the Flying Horse. It’s also why I was still a first-year student when I quit, despite being there for four years. See, they require you pass an exam to move onto the next training year. But I wasn’t learning martial arts moves. I was there for access to their library on ancient ninja spells.
“Never learned any actual fighting skills. Heh… Though I can box! I do like sport fighting. That’s fun! But you know, I wasn’t really there specially to learn how I could-”
Ash was cut off as the room’s window shattered into a million pieces as a pony completely covered in dark red gi exploded through it. I ducked, instinct saving me from having a sai thrust into the back of my head. Instead, the ninja landed on my desk.
Before I could even think about reacting to that the wall next to the window evaporated into a sea of bright blue crackling magical sparks. A second deep red clad pegasus ninja charged over the rubble, a spear aimed for my shoulder.
I grabbed my naginata with my telekinesis, and hurled it point first at the second attacker. He failed to deflect the blade, which sliced along his shoulder, cutting deep enough to make him drop with a scream and pass out from the pain.
I’d pass out too if I’d been hit with a blunt practice blade hard enough to slice like that. Or rather, rip.
The first ninja spun around, rearing up in order to take a kama out from his gi and spin it intimidatingly.
“Don’t buck with house Xii, deadmare!” The ninja shouted as he swung the kama at me.
I pulled away. Too little, too late, the kama sliced into my barrel, opening up a nasty gash. It hurt, but it was a pain I was used to. Tamiko’s blades were never dull.
Offering my second master silent thanks for stealth-teaching me how to handle pain, I jumped backward out of my chair, landing on my bed. Still trying to process exactly what was going on. Two seconds ago everything had been sane!
The hostile ninja leapt from my desk, knocking it over in the process. His kama and sai aimed to strike lethal blows. I reared up, pulling my forelegs into a blocking stance.
Left hoof, sai. Blocked! Right hoof, his kama holding hoof. Blocked!
I snapped my right hind leg up, ramming the point of my hoof into the ninja’s groin. To my despair, instead of feeling something pop, my hoof hit a steel cup. The kick knocked my attacker back, sending him stumbling off the bed, falling onto the overturned desk back first with a crush and a grunt of pain.
Okay. Ninjas. Attacking. Something about Xii- Oh shit! Retaliation strike for Mai being arrested!
They want you deader than dead! FINISH HIM!
I reached for my magic, channeling it down to my forelegs and letting it build for two short breaths. The moment I felt the charged magic tingle in my hooves I jumped off the bed, landing on my rear legs in a rather painful way, rushed over to my downed opponent and threw two punches straight down into his chest.
One, two punches, one a millisecond after another. The TK charge’s twin booms echoed off the intact walls of my room like thunder. I felt his ribs shatter. My desk broke in half as I punched him through it.
I took a second to check on my attacker. While gurgling and twitching, he seemed to not be in immediate danger of dying.
Which means he can still attack you. You turn you back and he will put a knife in it. Finish him!
My instincts were right. This was a serious attempt to murder me. I wasn’t safe till they were out cold or dead.
I drew back my right hoof and smashed it into his temple. The ninja went limp. Unconscious, dead, I didn’t care. Ash and I were safe now. The threat has been dealt with.
“Okay, we should report these bodies,” I said turning to Ash with a tired but satisfied smile.
Ash’s eyes widened in horror as she saw something behind me. “LOOK OUT!” She screamed.
Instead of ducking, I turned around. Like a bucking idiot.
The chain whip caught me right around the middle, binding for legs to my sides and yanking me through the hole in the wall in a flash. I landed with a painful thud at the hooves of a third attacker. This one a unicorn.
I grit my teeth and sucked in my gut to try and slip loose from the whip’s coils. The Unicorn’s horn lit up a bright plum, his chain whip crackled with electricity.
I couldn’t scream, the bolts of lighting the whip sent through me wouldn’t allow it. All I could do was thrash in silent pain.
The pain stopped after what felt like an eternity. I heard my attacker grunt. I couldn’t see too well, my vision was splotchy. Clearing rapidly, but splotchy. Like an LCD screen someone had squished in places.
What the hay had that shock done to my bionics?!
“Odd,” the third ninja remarked casually. “That shock should have killed you. Shall we try again?”
I took a deep breath, trying to focus my magic and rip the whip out of his forehooves grip. Nothing doing. My brain was still too traumatized from the electrocution. Complicated thought was right out.
My attacker knelt down to whisper in my ear. “Before you go,” he said condescendingly. “My master wished you know that making an enemy of him by imprisoning his granddaughter was what led you to your grave.”
“Leave her alone!” Ash bellowed from the hole in the wall.
The ninja chuckled. “Are you serious? The four-time failure thinks she can fight me? You’re barely okay at kickboxing. Be happy we let you quit and live,” he said slowly standing up and menacingly drawing a kusarigama from within his gi.
My vision snapped back to full HD clarity. Whatever had been messing with my eyes was gone now!
I could see that Ash was holding her project, having quickly reassembled it. She held it close, probably trying to protect it.
Keep him distracted, Ash. Maybe I can slip free of the chain and get him from behind with a TK punch. I started to slowly squirm searching for the direction the chain would go slack in.
Ash nodded once, extra sharply. “Yes. I did fail four times to pass your tests. But I wasn’t playing your game, so of course, I failed. Do you want to play mine?” She asked threateningly.
“Ha! Please. We have sixteen ninjas on the grounds right now. This whole place is under lockdown. I can take the time to pick you apart and turn you into your namesake,” the ninja mocked.
Ash held her left foreleg out and slipped the bracelet onto it, the three green gems set in its face blinking once as it slid around her hoof. I swore I also saw it shrink slightly to perfectly fit her, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Okay, you have a warded bracelet. Let me guess, shield charm? Big whoop. Your friend seems to have a portable shield generator too. But all defenses overload. Bring it, bakka!” He laughed, starting to while the ball and chain half of his weapon overhead.
Shield generator? I don’t have one of those. Is that why he thought I survived the shock? Must be all the pegasi DNA I- Wait, I’m all unicorn. How the hay did I-
Ash dropped the small silver capsule into her right hoof, and gave it a squeeze with her frog which made the capsule glow a dull yellow-white. An instant later, she slipped the capsule into the bracelets receptacle. The three gems blazed bright green for a single heartbeat, with the bottom one remaining lit.
“Charger… Engaged!” A synthetic male voice loudly announced from the bracelet as the middle light lit up green.
“You sure about that?” Ash asked, while her voice was iron, I could see worry in her eyes. “You really want to play my game?”
“Looks like I’m going to have to,” the ninja said with a slight bit of worry in his voice.
I could tell he didn’t know what the buck that thing did either, and now that he knew it wasn’t just a shield charm, well…
“Hit me with your best shot!” He said a second later, spreading his legs to take a more defensive posture.
I could feel the chain starting to give! Just another second and I could slip free!
Ash nodded again. I could see the sweat dripping down her forehead. She had been bluffing, and now she had been called out on it. She was completely terrified about activating that device. If I could see it, so could he. He’d attack soon…
Ash knew that. She had to.
Ash gulped, and moved the bracelet into position near her mouth, as if folding her leg across her barrel in salute. “Energize!” She commanded.
A lot of stuff happened at once, and only for the briefest of instants.
The ground below Ash lit up as if she were standing atop a bright green spotlight.
Her body sparked green as it was consumed by a green white-glow.
The air around her erupted in a fireball.
Magical energy cascaded away from her in a freakish maelstrom that even a non-unicorn would have been able to sense.
A visible heat ripple blasted outwards in a shockwave.
When the chaos was over, Ash stood where she had before, only now clad in a streamlined suit of black armor which rested somewhere between ancient and futuristic. Each plate was trimmed in silver, as was the broad slit, mirrored black visor on her helmet. A crimson lined black cape fluttered behind her.
Then the remainder of my bedroom wall exploded as a secondary fireball erupted around her. This time, I saw the arcane singularity which had exploded. Whatever the buck Ash just did was using mind numbing amounts of energy.
“D-did you invent a working super sentai transformation?” The ninja asked hesitantly.
“No, it’s a flashforge set of skill boosting power armor that- Um, yes! Kinda!” Ash boasted, the silver horn around her helmet shining gold as she levitated two swords out from under her cape and swept them up into an offensive guard. “Every single martial arts move performed in your dojo over the last four years was captured on film, motion mapped, and has been wired right into my autonomic nervous system using a mixture of alicorn pilot control spells, and transformation spells I learned in your library!
“I have the strength, speed, stamina, and agility of twenty ponies, and all the skill of your masters at my subconscious disposal. All while in enough power armor to face-tank a light mech! This is me playing MY game. Bring it!”
I stopped squirming out of the chain.
She’d invented an actual can of whoopass! That bucking brilliant, cheating, bastard! Why the buck didn't I just buckle down and make one of those!?
“How about no!” The Ninja said loudly, taking a step back.
His horn pulsed once. A bright flash of white light and a loud boom slapped me across the eyes.
“Aaaa!” I yelped, trying to blink the blinding light away.
When the light finally cleared, the ninja was gone. Looking through the now non-existent wall I could see that his two allies were gone too.
Ash was staggering around, still in her armor, moaning.
“Owww… Development log entry eight oh seven, visor doesn't actually protect against bright light as intended. Revise flashforge program,” she said in a daze.
Then her right pauldron exploded in a flash of bright green sparks, sending her hurtling through the air into the ruined wall with a crunch. Apparently, that impact was all her very cool, but very unstable, prototype could take.
The entire suit disintegrated into green sparks, some blackening the wall next to Ash as she began to shake and jerk in an obvious seizure!
I slipped free of the chain and ran to her side just in time to see her sit bolt upright and scream before falling back over limp and twitching more. The genuinely horrifying scene was only compounded by the way she looked up at me when I got to her, one eye moving, the other not.
“Ambulance… Please…” Ash whimpered, her body twisted in pain. “Also… Take note for… Me. Nervous system… Armor interface… Disconnect… Protocols… Need more work.”
Ash’s eyes closed, and her twitching stopped dead. Thankfully her chest kept moving. She was alive, barely.
I tore the cover off my watch and dialed the emergency number. Thankfully, the dispatchers picked up immediately.
“Civil Services. What’s the emergency?” The dispatcher asked.
“There's been an attempted murder. We need an ambulance and police at Kōmoriakademī right now! I don’t know if they all left,” I said in a panic.
My friend had been hurt! This was not okay! I was there, I should have been able to stop it!
“Stay calm, ma’am,” the dispatcher said gently. “We’re on the way. ETA three minutes.”
I stayed with Ash until the medics and police arrived. The cops wouldn’t let me go to the hospital with her. They needed to take my statement.
The moment I was able to come back home, I was going to make sure that nothing would ever stop me like that again. No one was ever going to make one of my friends hurt themselves or hurt them ever again. Not while I was around to stop it.
████████████████ - 9th of Plantation, 29 AE
███████████ - ████████, Neighpone
“I see what you wanted me to know,” the mysterious mare said as Rojā stopped the footage. “The Flying Horse, or rather Xii himself, declared a blood feud against her. Why didn’t her family intervene?”
“They did. Preemptively,” Rojā explained. “Or rather her uncle did. He installed a small shield generator in her watch. That’s what saved her from the electro-whip. I talked to him after the attack, since he was the pony Sherbert insisted I contact instead of her parents. Other safety protocols were arranged.
“For instance, her room was rebuilt using durasteel and shielded. I sent a personalized warning from Doctor Trigger to Xii as well, and more practically… Remember how I said Ash became a bodyguard? Well, now you know how. After we pried what the hay happened to that poor mare out of Sherbert, Doctor Trigger special delivered a proper power supply. Apparently, the one she had been using was a very good counterfeit. He also helped her fine tune her conjured armor.
“Incidentally, I copied the plans and sent them to you. Did you get them?”
“I did. I thought they were a joke. Because it’s an actual super-sentai transformation device,” the mare stated flatly. “I’m pretty sure I threw them away. I really hope you still have a copy.”
Rojā’s ears drooped in embarrassment. “No… There was a fire. Nothing malicious. Someone just wasn’t careful with a cigarette.”
“Damn,” the mare cursed. “See if Ash will sell the designs to us. I’ll have someone look for my copy. Maybe it’s squirreled away somewhere. Though I doubt it. I remember tossing them into a shredder and thinking someone sent them to me as a racist joke.”
“Well, in any case, measures were taken. And the event which allowed the dojo to be free to attack was a once in a blue moon occurrence. We felt it safe to allow her to remain, especially in light of a certain discovery about Sherbert and trauma. Did you notice, ma’am? It’s very important that you did,” Rojā informed adamantly.
“She experienced PTSD when a friend was gravely injured, but does not experience anything like that if she herself is harmed or in danger. Which means if one of her friends is threatened, she’ll take that threat even more seriously than something threatening her own life,” the mare replied. “I understand the significance of this, Rojā. And trust me, it does make me lean in your favor today.
“While there are some events I would like to see, such as Kazumi and Rin’s reaction to the attack, I am out of time. Is there anything absolutely critical which occurred between these events and the incident in question?”
Rojā paused and nodded. “There are a few things I would like to show you. How pressed for time are we?” He asked. “And what is the issue? Anything one of your spymasters should know about?
The mare paused for a moment, then nodded to herself. “I have an hour and thirty more minutes. The event is to remain quiet, but since your cell operates out of the at risk area… Naval scouts reported a migration of Kaiju off the coast six hundred kilometers south of Neighdo. Unfortunately, scans show several pregnant females, who are… Ready to lay.
“They will be coming ashore if the navy can’t drive them off. An evacuation is currently being planned. It doesn't yet seem necessary, the depth charges should work as usual, but I need to prep for possible takeoff in case things go wrong.”
Rojā stood silent for several long moments, using his mastery of emotional masks to hide his terror.
“It’s too bad they are two years too late,” Rojā joked nervously. “They were almost dramatically appropriate. Hundred year anniversary and all.”
“It will be fine, Rojā. The city has excellent defenses, and I’ll be there with the rest of the Imperial Squadron. Princess Luna is visiting Neighdo at the moment, so her security is there as well. And this is all hypothetical. The Navy drives them away ninety-nine percent of the time.
“Now what did you want to show me?”
“Well, their eventual familial bond is important to my case. I’d like to show you Kaz and Ash bonding, how that led to Sherbert asking if Kaz would like to start a herd with Ash since she can serve as a stallion during estrus season and they both liked her, and the herd ceremony they had a short while after Sherbert and Kazumi got married,” Rojā said simply.
The shadowy mare sat bolt upright. “Sherbert is MARRIED to Kazumi?” She demanded.
“Yes ma’am,” Rojā affirmed. “Has been for two years now. The day of the attack is also their anniversary. That seems to have been planned.”
“And she’s in custody for this despite the Family Protection Act of-”
Rojā shook his head violently. “Ma’am, she’s NOT a Neighponese Citizen. She’s not protected by those laws. She’s under the protections and responsibilities of her student visa. I wouldn’t be here asking for your help if-”
The mare raised a hoof, gesturing Rojā to stop. “Captain, how long is the footage of the attack?”
“About thirty minutes, Ma’am,” he replied.
“And the moment when they profess their love, and the marriage?” she pressed.
Rojā stroked his chin with a hoof for a few moments. “If I skip some smaller moments in the ceremony… We can squeeze that in,” Rojā decided.
“Then do it. A good love story on the eve of battle- WAIT! If they are married, how is Sherbert not legally a Neighponese citizen?” The mare demanded.
“Oh. It was an Equestrian ceremony, Ma’am. So it’s actually Kazumi’s citizenship that changed. And well, Ash’s would have as well. But the obvious circumstances…” Rojā sighed.
The mare closed her eyes for a moment. “She wants to live with Sherbert enough to leave her homeland behind… It’s so romantic, but tragic. If they’d only decided to just file immigration papers when Sherbert was ready to leave… None of this would be a problem.”
Rojā nodded once. “Yes, ma’am. The law is often a double edged sword. That’s why we exist, isn’t it?” he asked.
She nodded in agreement. “That’s exactly why my family will never dissolve your organization. Now, as I was saying, A good love story on the eve of battle is one of the best reminders of what we’re fighting for. Captain Rojā, show me their special day!”
“Yes, my Emperor,” Rojā said with a bow as he cued up the footage.
“I thought you knew better than to refer to me by title over the Dark Web, Captain,” the Emperor reminded.
“Sorry. Just a bit nervous. Any migration that size will have a few Class Fives in it,” Rojā said with an embarrassed blush before hitting play.
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Okay, so.
I know there's a lot to talk about.
But i'll talk only about the end.
Yay ! We finally know who is "the Boss" ! And damn, effectively, if you want help of the legal kind, she's the mare. Like. There's no higher authority in Neighpon, even in the shadow world presumably. GG Roja. Also, you donne goofed Roja. You revealed your boss' secret identity to the reader, you fool ! XD
8386961If he didn't say it, it would remain an annoying mystery XD
8386961 The real mystery is how you or anyone else didn't already figure out who she was. I figured it out by either the first of second chapter, don't remember which.
Interesting chapter I had wondered if Rojas captain wasn't royality from the various vague hints on previous chapters
Really great chapter Meep! Loved the fight scenes!
No Sherb, let her call you Misstress, then you can flaunt her around for a day in Ponyville, the looks on the faces of all those ponies who made thing difficult for you will be PRICELESS!
Annnnnd you go and turn on your teacher, you didn't have one of those student teacher fantasies did you? Cuz that would help right about now.
Welp, ninja attack is a thing, also good on you for taking down two of them for only a second year student, if you had been a full third year or even a fourth year they just might have been all dead.
Hmmmmmm since ash is technically your property, does that mean Sky can rent her for making awesome things, because I think he might want to do that.
Wait....... Serbert got MARRIED! How many squees did she cause from that? Remember she has Rarity AND Pinkie in her family, if they both didn't go nuts I will be very disappointed.
8386979 I personally thought it was the Imperial shadow master, like the Emporiers hoof in the shadow type deal, so I was close.
Also friendly Kiju cyborgs defending Neghponie made possible by Skytech are not a thing because.....?
You made me lose it here, meeps
Overpowered masters are overpower. Good thing you went for the actual training dojo and not money making one, ain't it Sherbet?
I take that somewhat back. Said dojo declaring a blood feud is a rather step price.
So, the references. So many references. Was that a Pat Benatar one?
Why the hell do every indenture feel the need to explain their inventions to their enemies?
Sherbet needs more gadgets. Good think her Butler/maid/slave/bodyguard/husbando (she IS in pony Japan) is a Sky wannabe.
Code Geass, really?
8386979
I thought it was too, but something in the last chapter made me reconsider. Don't remember what, though
Oh c'mon, don't give away that you are offing Ash! Suspense maaaan.
8387449
I don't think she's going to die. They mentioned asking if Ash would sell the design to them in the scene after she used it.
8387499
True that, one can always hope.
Ha! Knew it! I suspected it pretty early. Stating that she's pink sealed it though. I remember Lyra-7%.
8387364
In a previous story (namely, one called Lyra-7%), it comes to light that the leader of Neighpone is always referred to as Emperor no matter the gender. The original founder of Neighpone didn't care for gender specific titles. I wont quote the exact phrase used, as that would be spoilers, but you'll find it in chapter 4 of that fiction if you are interested.
Also, Meep, the references! The references!
Wondering if anyone else noted an interesting detail or lack thereof. Roja's captain didn't know Sherbert and Kazumi were married. This implies it was done in secret (as if that could be kept from Pinkie Pie) or not done in Neighpone. Regardless considering her family there is almost NO way the marriage if public would not be a reasonably sized affair with a number of personages whose movements would be noted
8387327 Renting out Ash would be more along Ash's idea. We already saw Sherbert's idea getting her an internship at least with Uncle Sky also look at how Sherbert handled everything else dealing with Ash.. ash is allowed to complete schooling, own property and keep her bank accounts along with any money she earned
8387327
It will be more pricless when she lets them pick on her one more time, then ninja-poofs behind them in the middle of the night and whispers "Make fun of me again, see what happens." then poofs away :P
The problem here was they had total surprise, and didn't just, you know, shoot her in the head thorugh the window with a gun. It's their own fault they died, they attacked a unicorn with force amplification magic at melee.
You'll see that wedding next chapter, sorry if the narration wasn't clear enough.
Because capturing them alive is a thing that has not yet been done. It's been tried... Never done.
8387330
I think we both know it was.
Students on their first run. Cocky, wantign people to know they did it. You know, Idiots.
Agreed.
Awww, and you didn't get the prior Code Geas reference.
8387449 8387499 If I was going to have a character die, I would actually do everything in my power to make them the most likeable, adorable, sweet thing possible. And I would put them in the story a lot, giving them a lot of page time. That way, when they die, it would have real emotional impact on not just the readers, but the other characters too. I'm also a graduate of the Linkara School of Character Death: Only kill a character if it makes more storytelling opportunities than it closes.
8387649 Good job, Nachtschwalbe! I'm glad a few others knew who she was ^^
8387670
Thanks for pointing to the lore for me ^^
Whenever I write in a good mood, I think my stories are like 60% reference humor XD Good thing I can usually blend it all into a coherent story.
8387694 Good eye, Fennic :D
8387788
Yea, I was about 99.9% sure you weren't a new reader, but there was that remaining .1% that said you might be, so that's why I mentioned the spoilers thing. Its funny, now that I think on it, cuz I know I've seen you comment on the stories before
Capturing kaiju is easy.
Let the pregnant ones on land to lay, then kill them when they're done. Raise the newborns as your own.
8388745 They've tried that. The babies eat you.
8388847
Well yeah, they're gonna try, sure, but that's what the mind manipulation magic and cranial implants are for.
8389925 You assume that you can install those, or cast those, without them eating you. Recall Lyra 7%? there's a window of mere seconds before the babies are hatched and scatter to eat everything and grow all the meters.
8390592
Sounds like a lack of proper containment to me! :D
Okay new chapter (little late but better late than never) and here we go!
Gotta love the snarkyness of being half asleep, lol. Always the best kind of snark.
Sounds like a little slice of paradise to me. Mmmm could really use something like that right now, especially if it had wi-fi nearby as well. (Silly Ling here can't be without her interwebs, *chuckles* )
Well after an awesome skirmish like that I'm not surprised. We totally need you on our side *chuckles* too bad you are so far in the future of my rule as Queen of the changelings.
Mmmmm is our little mare going to to have to form her own harem? *giggles*
Ooooooo dun dun duuuunnnnnn!!!
Sounds like a fun game, similar to YuGiOh *wonders if this is the reference you might have mentioned earlier...*
ooooooo awesome sounding armor! Sounds like Ash is going to get BadA on his flank! *cackles*
Scardy Foals! *snorts* Not standing to fight is a shame, SHAME!
Yikes!
that is not good!
Hah I knew it! Sure not with the other mare, but still knew they would start a herd/harem *chuckles*
And so we partially learn who Roja has been talking to all this time, excellent. *giggles*
Another awesome chapter, excited to see what happens next!
8393677
campsites are 50 bits a night. Cabin rentals range from 150 a night to 300, depending on quality. A room in the resort starts at 500 a night.
Dramatic reverb!
Nope :3
/me sighs.
Mash up this rather bad ass activation phrase - https://youtu.be/zosZSFwJgaY?t=2m16s
With this fucking AWESOME morph and general look and feel - https://youtu.be/u4Y3BO-GxrI?t=58s (Just minus the awesome that is transforming into a mecha and then having another mecha transform into power armor for your mecha form.)
:c Did no one else watch the older Power Rangers series? COme on guys! They have better action scenes than modern movies do! Yeah, it's cheezy, and silly, but if you want to watch a good fight pick any season of Power Ranges from Zeo through SPD. Seriously, this one fight is better than Captain America: Civil War's airport battle. It's less than 9 minutes of pure awesome! https://youtu.be/b0qlRQ3EZLI
Heh, you guys probably just learned where I learned to write an action scene.
8393925
I am so there! *packs her bags and plenty of love juice.* Will be so much fun *cackles*
Was waiting for that.
Yep saw somepony else mention a different one in comments below *already forgets what it was, but knows she hasn't seen them.* Ah well, still cool!
Ooooo that does look pretty cool! Heh if my parents hadn't made us stop watching it, might have known it better. (When my brothers and I were kids, we would act out the fighting scenes and sometimes get hurt. Parents didn't like that so wouldn't let us watch it.
)
But yeah I got to admit they are pretty awesome. Cheesy yes, but better than today's action scenes? Sure! Too much Michael Bay in today's action movies (in other words, too much things getting blown up.)
From old 80's/90's cartoons/live action shows?
Nothing wrong with that. 
HA! I was watching this clip and I remembered this!
8397214 Haha, yeah.
Oh, so Ash is a Power Ranger. Neat.
Well, a work in progress one.
Oooo.