Chapter 09 - The Porcelain Doll (Edited by: Moonriseoversunset)
"Today is the day."
"I'm gonna do it."
"I can feel it."
"Here goes!"
These were the thoughts going through Aiko's head as she played her violin with the Rainbooms. After, all the hard work she was put through for the past nine days was finally going to pay off.
"I'LL GET TO FLY AGAIN!!!" Aiko screamed inside her head as she put everything she had into the piece she was supposed to play for the song. She'd been trying to pony up for days, and with Sunset's encouragement, saying the magic was inside her. Aiko knew for sure it was going to work now.
And as she thought this, a faint glow appeared from her. She was slowly lifted off the ground as she felt a familiar appendage appear on her back.
"Yes! Yes! It's working!"
"Aiko, you are pony-upping," Twilight said as she watched with the rest of the girls. The glow faded as Aiko finished her solo, leaving her in the air, flapping her new pair of wings.
"Yatta yo! (I did it)!" Aiko shouted in delight. "Watashi wAhhhh!" And screamed as she fell back on the ground with the magic fading. "Ugh…"
"Oohh, that must've hurt," Rainbow said as Rarity poked her with her elbow.
"Awww… I just got it," Aiko said in sadness.
"Don't worry, Aiko. You just pony upped. It's not going to be long before you can pony-up for longer," Twilight said as she helped Aiko stand up.
"She's right. You came a long way in just a few days," Sunset said.
"I just really want to fly again," Aiko said. "Maybe you're right. I'm just being impatient. I should give it some time."
Twilight nodded while making a sound of agreement.
"So uh… are you all going to come to the sleepover?" Aiko asked unsurely.
"Of course," Rainbow said, putting her guitar away.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Applejack said munch on an apple.
"Of course, darling," Rarity said as she opened her sketchbook.
"Why would I ever want to miss a party?!" Pinkie asked as she practically vibrated in place.
"Yeah, don't worry, Aiko. We'll be there," Sunset said.
"Heh… I'm just a little nervous. I've never hosted a sleepover before. Never been to one before either, so all this new," Aiko said, rubbing her neck.
"Don't worry, I've only been to one sleepover," Sunset said as she grinned to comfort Aiko.
"Now that you mention it, we haven't had one since the battle of the band," Rarity said as she placed her pencil to her lip.
"And with the forum, we could really use a break," Sunset said.
"Okay then. Kaasan (mom) and obaasan (Grandma) are all excited to meet you."
"See? Don't worry. You get used to these kinds of things when you have Pinkie as a friend," Sunset said.
The rest of the girls quickly gathered their instruments and placed them back in their cases. They all gathered their bags before they started to get ready to leave the school. Once the other girls left for their homes, leaving Sunset, Fluttershy, Aiko, and Twilight standing out in the courtyard.
"You waiting for someone?" Sunset asked Twilight.
"Oh yeah. Shining is still a little skeptical about letting me go home alone since the burglar. He's just being overprotective," Twilight said.
"I see."
"Are you two going together?" Aiko asked, pointing at Sunset and Fluttershy.
"Oh yeah, Mom said she'll give her a ride."
"Thanks again for that, Sunset," Fluttershy said.
"No problem."
"I can't wait for the sleepover today," Twilight said. "I didn't have a chance for many sleepovers."
"Me too, Twi, me too. Hopefully - *ping* aaand I jinxed it," Sunset said as she heard the notification sound of her phone. Sunset fished out her phone and opened up the forum to the latest post. But instead of reading the post, she quickly went to the settings of the forum.
"What are you doing?" Fluttershy asked as she looked at the phone with Aiko.
"Come on, come on, block block block," Sunset muttered as she tried to block the forum. "Phew, hopefully, no one saw the post," Sunset said as she blocked the forum.
"Why did you do that?" Aiko asked.
"Because today, yes, Today, we are all going to be together at the sleepover," Sunset said.
"Oh… right," Aiko said, looking sad.
"Hey, it's okay. We can still have fun. We'll just need to be careful with the rumor if it targets one of us. And I really hope it does instead of anyone else because now we can stop it easily when we are all together."
"Yeah, maybe you are right."
"So, what does it say?" Fluttershy asked.
"Let's see."
Scarlet Rose –
Hey guys. This is a rumor I heard a while back when I was on a camping trip with one of my cousins. It was one of their local rumors.
The rumor goes like this. There was an old abandoned pottery shop in the town. It was once owned by a man that had a lot of anger issues. He easily got angry and often did irrational things. One day, he had an argument with one of his customers, a woman, and when he tried to hit her in anger, she slipped and hit her head on the ledge, killing her. The man panicked, and while thinking of a way to dispose of the body, he planned to use the kiln and burn the body. So he dropped the body in the kiln, along with some pottery, one of which was a stacking doll. However, little did the man know, the woman was still alive and burned her alive.
"Okay, so that's just messed up," Sunset said while the others nodded.
The next day, the man left the pottery to cool and went about the day like normal. However, when he went to store the pottery, he saw that the stacking doll was missing. But he didn't think about it that much. Little did he know that it was going to be the end of him. Later that night, his house went up in flames, and the cause of the fire was never found. It is believed that the spirit of the woman was trapped inside the doll, and she burned the man alive, just like he did to her. It is said that if you are hiding something big from your loved ones, the doll appears in front of you late at night. And if you don't reveal the secret before the night ends. The doll does the same to you as it did to the old man.
"Th-that's really s-scary," Fluttershy said, hugging Sunset.
"Anyone heard of this before?" Sunset asked as she patted Fluttershy's head. The others shook their heads. "Great. So… I guess we'll be looking for that today. Don't worry about it, Aiko. You just get ready for the sleepover."
"But what if-"
"We'll look into it, I promise. But right now, we could really use some rest after everything, and it's your first sleepover," Twilight said as she placed her hand on Aiko's shoulder.
"O-okay," Aiko said when they heard a car horn.
"Oh, Shining is here. Come on, Aiko," Twilight said as she got on the car with Aiko.
"I guess they are going together too," Sunset smirked as she watched the leaving girls.
After returning home, Sunset spent the rest of the day looking into the rumor. She contacted the person who posted the rumor and contacted her cousin, the person Scarlet Rose heard it from. After talking with him for a while and looking into the rumor more, she wanted to throw her computer out the window. Sunset sighed as she tried to calm down. There was nothing. At least nothing worth anything of significance. She couldn't even find the name of the woman. Groaning from the research block, Sunset looked at the clock and decided to get ready for the sleepover. It wasn't long until Sunset found herself in front of Aiko's home. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer. Before long, the door opened up to an elderly woman.
"Oh… Konbanwa (good evening)… you must be Sunset," Aiko's Grandma said.
"Hai, Hajimemashite," Sunset greeted with a slight bow.
"Oh, come in, come in," Grandma said, letting Sunset in. "Aiko's in the kitchen."
"Thanks," Sunset said as she slipped her boots off and walked into the kitchen, where she saw Fluttershy and Aiko working on snacks.
"Hey Aiko, Fluttershy."
"Ah, Sunset, you are here," Aiko said. "Come on, I'll take these to my room," She said as she took Sunsets bag and took it to her room.
"So, did you found anything?" Fluttershy asked.
"I did a little. I was able to talk with the cousin of the girl that posted the video."
"Really, that's great. What did you find?"
"Let's wait till the rest of the girls," Sunset said.
It didn't take long for the rest of the girls to visit, and the sleepover officially began. The girls were in Aiko's room, having fun, playing games, painting nails. Rainbow and Sunset were playing a co-op game, with the objective being to protect 3 supply crates from waves of enemies.
"Rainbow the top crate!" Sunset shouted.
"On it!" Rainbow shouted as she climbed the platforms to get to the top crate and began to defuse the bomb on it. But a pistol man aimed at Rainbow, trying to stop her.
"Oh no, you don't!" Sunset shouted as she shot her revolver at the pistol man just in time for Rainbow to defuse the bomb, ending the wave.
"Phew, that was close," Rainbow said as she paused the game to take a breather. "This is hard. I can't imagine how you play this without a second player."
"Oh, trust me, it's hard," Aiko said.
"Anyway, since we are having a break from all the fighting, why don't I tell you what I found out about the rumor?" Sunset asked.
"Oh yeah, I got a notification, but the forum is blocked," Rarity said.
"Yeah, I blocked it so no one else can see it. I asked Luna to keep an eye on it so it wouldn't unblock," Sunset said. "Anyway, I was able to talk with Rose's cousin. He didn't say anything more than what the post said, but he did confirm the incident was real, and it happened a long time ago. He doesn't know if the ghost of the woman killed him or not, but he did die in a fire. They were using a little lighthearted version of it as a bedtime story to keep their kids in line to not hide any big secrets."
"So, did you find a way to stop it?" Twilight asked.
"I just talked with him before I left the house; maybe if we think about it a little bit, we can all find a solution together. Or we can just blast it with a rainbow laser."
Just then, they heard Aiko's mom calling them from downstairs for dinner.
"Oh, dinners ready, Kaasan (mom) and obaasan (grandma) told me they'd make some Japanese dishes for us," Aiko said.
"Oh yeah," Rainbow said.
"Oh-oh, Japanese food, I've never had any. This is going to be great," Pinkie jumped in place as the girls got up to leave the room.
"Pinkie, you do know that I'm working in a Japanese restaurant, right?"
"Oh yeah, maybe we all should go there one day."
"Of course, why not?" Applejack said.
The girls all went downstairs and took a seat at the table. Once everyone was seated, they started the dinner with a light conversation going on throughout the dinner.
"So, how is our little girl? She's the newest member of your band, Rainbooms, right?" Aiko's dad asked.
"Yeah, she's really great. She caught on our style really quick," Sunset said.
"Her skills are really remarkable," Twilight said. While the girl in question blushed in the complements.
"Y-you are great too," Aiko whispered.
The dinner went by normally, with the girls and Whiskers family talking about each other. Once the dinner was over, Sunset and Applejack offered to help Mrs. Whiskers to help with the dishes, to which she declined the offer telling them to enjoy their night. As such, the girls got together in Aiko's room once more and decided to watch a movie together before calling it a night. They decided to watch an action film called The Good, The Bad and the Weird. After watching the movie and listening to Rainbow ranting about how cool Do-won is, the girls decided to call it a night.
Late that night, Aiko found herself unable to sleep again. But unlike the previous night, it wasn't because of paranoia or the rumor. But because she couldn't believe she was having a sleepover with friends. It's not that she didn't have any friends in her previous school. It's just that they weren't close like the girls. She couldn't believe how moving towns could be the best thing that had ever happened to her. After a while, Aiko decided to get some water to calm herself down and left the room. Entering the kitchen, Aiko picked up a glass, filled it with some water, and drank it. Once done, she turned around to place the glass back in the cabinet, but that's when she froze and dropped the glass on the floor, shattering it to pieces.
"Ahhh!" Aiko yelled before sidestepping and looking back at what caused her to freeze.
"AIKO! What happened?" She heard her dad calling as he rushed towards her from the kitchen entrance.
"D-d-did you buy that?" She asked her dad, pointing at what appeared to be a porcelain doll on the kitchen table.
"What? No, what happened?"
"You didn't? Oh no…"
"Aiko, what's the matter?"
"Aiko?" They heard Sunset calling them. "Did something-" She stopped herself when she saw the doll on the table. "Oh no."
"What's going on here?" Mr. Whiskers asked, getting annoyed.
"Mr. Whiskers, we'll explain everything to you later, but we don't have much time. Aiko, can you call the girls for me?" Sunset asked to which Aiko nodded and ran upstairs to call the girls. During the commotion, Aiko's mom also joined the girls.
"So what now?" Aiko asked as she whispered with the group of girls. Her parents looked on in worry and anger at being left out of the hushed but panicked conversation.
"Blast it with a rainbow laser?" Rainbow asked.
"Maybe, but first, let's see if we can solve this," Twilight said. "What does the rumor say again?"
"A poor woman is trapped inside it; she's out to burn people if they hide something big?" Pinkie said.
"Um… did you… hide anything from them?" Twilight asked Aiko. "It did come after you, so."
"W-well… I didn't tell them… that…" Aiko said.
"Oh…"
"Um… what's going on, honey? A woman trapped? What are you talking about?" Aiko's mom asked.
"um… well…" Aiko said uncertainly, looking at Sunset. Sunset nodded in approval. "Well… there's something-"
"Why don't you open it?" Grandma said, interrupting startling everyone but Sunset as she quietly joined the rest in the kitchen.
"What?" Rarity asked.
"If a spirit is trapped in that doll, you should open it and set it free. No one likes to be trapped."
"Do you think that would work?" Aiko asked, looking back at Sunset.
"...Maybe. It's worth a shot," Sunset said as she began thinking of the ramifications of releasing a potentially vengeful spirit. Aiko nodded and went to grab the doll. "No, wait, let me do it."
"What? But it came to me."
"I don't think it matters as long as we free it. And I'm a pyromancer, remember? I'm the best chance we have if things get messy, if nothing else. I can stop the fire or destroy the spirit before it does too much damage," Sunset said, grabbing the doll.
"You sure?"
"Yes… now stand back," Sunset said. Once everyone backed up, Sunset took a deep breath to calm herself down. Everyone watched in bated breath, in Aiko's parent's case in confusion and Grandma knowingly, as most elderly people do. After a while, Sunset twisted the doll and creating a small fissure while searched for any volatile reactions. A blue flame erupted from inside the doll, and the cracks widened as Sunset swiftly removed the top half. There was a flash of blue light before it vanished instantly. Sunset slowly searched the room for any wayward magic or fire but found none.
"Did it work?" Rainbow asked.
"I think-"
"Thank… you..."
…
…
…
"eyup… it worked," Sunset said, breaking the silence.
"Can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Mr. Whiskers asked.
"Oh right… Aiko, do you want me to tell it, or do you want to?"
"No, that's alright… I'll do it," Aiko said. Looking at her parents, Aiko took a deep breath to calm herself. "So… I… kind of hiding something from you… about the school."
“Nani o itte iru, Aiko? (What are you saying, Aiko?)” Aiko’s mom asked.
"Um… I… um… I've been… helping my friends… to stop evil magic?" Aiko said uncertainly.
"Eh? Nani?" Aiko's parents said in unison.
"Well… um… Sunset here… is a… unicorn from another world," Aiko said, looking down.
"What are you-" Mr. Whiskers stopped himself when Sunset was covered in bright light and pony-upped.
"She's telling the truth," Sunset said as she lifted her hand up, and a ball of flame ignited in her outstretched hand. To show it wasn't just an illusion, she flicked her hand. The fire followed before it imploded and washed over everyone. Aiko's parents were startled and started patting themselves to extinguish the none existent fire as all the candles in the kitchen lit themselves.
"Since when can you transform on command?! And fire too. I swear this is so unfair. When do we get our powers!" Rainbow complained.
"Oh, it's been a while, didn't I tell you?" Sunset asked as all the girls shook their heads. "Oh."
"Okay… you… what…" Aiko's dad stammered while Aiko's mom stared in shock.
"I should have told you to sit down first. Should have begun with that," Aiko muttered to herself.
Once everyone took a seat in the living room, Aiko and the girls told the elders everything. Sunset's homeworld, their magic in the human world, pony-up forms, and the forum. After everything was said, they fell into an uncomfortable silence as the girls waited for Aiko's parent's answers.
"Oh… this is a lot to take in," Mr. Whiskers said.
"Aiko, why didn't you say anything to us?" Aiko's mom asked.
"I-I didn't want to worry you."
"Well, you did. And you even nearly got yourself ki-" Mr. Whiskers stopped without continuing that sentence. "Do you realize how dangerous this is?"
"Yes, I do. And if it's not me, then someone else would have gotten hurt. Someone who knows nothing about this. I can't let that happen," Aiko protested.
"Mr. Whiskers, I know my word means anything to you since we just met, but I promise you, as a princess of Equestria, that no harm will come to anyone while I'm here. They will have to go through me first," Sunset said.
"Then why weren't you there when Aiko was attacked?" He asked with a slight edge to his voice.
"I-"
"It's not her fault. It's mine. I ignored her advice and didn't call her when I had the feeling that something was wrong."
"Aiko-"
"Enough!" Aiko's Grandma said for the first time since the incident.
“Okaasan?” Aiko’s mom said.
"I know Aiko did something wrong by hiding this from us, but to blame her isn't going to solve anything. It's in the past, and nothing can be changed about that. She will continue doing what she feels is right. No matter how much we may disagree," She spoke sternly before looking at Mr. Whiskers. "She is your daughter, after all."
"Mom but-"
"No, she's not doing anything bad. This is a noble cause. And as such, we should support her. Just look around you. She finally has some real friends. And I know that Sunset will fulfill her promise. A person's eyes say a lot about them. And I can see what's behind those eyes and how the others trust themselves with her. Do you really want to take all that away from Aiko?"
"I…"
"It's late. Everyone should go back to sleep. We can talk more about this later." Aiko's Grandma said as she stood up and guided Aiko upstairs.
The next morning, when Sunset woke up, she saw that Aiko was already awake. Getting out of the sleeping bag, Sunset carefully made her way out of the room as not to wake anyone up. She made her way downstairs when she heard someone calling her.
"Ah, Sunset-san ohayo (good morning)," Aiko's Grandma said from the living room.
“Ohayo Gozaimasu,” Sunset said bowing.
"Oh ho… can I talk with you a bit?"
"Oh… y-yeah," Sunset said before taking a seat in front of her.
"Loosen up; I'm not going to shout at you."
"O-oh… y-yeah, sorry."
"It's quite alright. So Sunset… I actually wanted to talk with you about earlier."
"W-what about it?"
"Oh, nothing much, it's just… you have been through a lot, haven't you?"
"I… okay, what's up with you old people. You all can read us like open books. My Grandma did that too."
"Haha, it just comes with age."
"Um… is it true? What you said last night? About the girls are trusting me?"
"Everything. You girls have a strong bond. A bond that will be hard to break. You've made some mistakes in the past, but I know that you will help them and everyone else around you, to not make the same mistakes. You will be a great leader one day. Being royalty suits you."
"Thanks," Sunset said. "But I never actually wanted to be a princess just to rule over people. It's a completely different reason and a little silly."
"Really? May I ask why?"
"Well… I thought being a princess would give me a mom…"
"Mom?"
"Yeah… I don't know my biological parents. Principal Celestia adopted me a few months ago," Sunset said. "So um… where's Aiko?"
"Oh, she's talking with her parents. Don't worry, she's not in trouble."
"Oh… okay then."
"Anyway, from what I understand, your magic has a spiritual side. Care to learn something that might help?" Grandma asked, smiling.
"Yeah, why not?"
CHS Newspaper Club
We are the newspaper club. We investigated the rumor, and the incident described in the post actually happened.
When the man burned the woman, her spirit was trapped inside the porcelain doll. So the spirit wanted to take revenge on the man and killed him by burning down his house. However, the spirit is still trapped inside the doll. So if the doll appeared in front of you, all you gotta do is open the doll and set the spirit free and end her suffering.
"Aand post," Twilight said, hitting the post button.
"Great, that's one more mystery down," Applejack said as she stretched her arms high above her head.
"I'm really glad your parents were cool with you still hanging out with us," Rainbow said.
"Yeah, I was so scared that they are going to make you stop being friends with us," Pinkie said.
"Yeah, me too. But they said it's okay, so long as I'll keep them in the loop," Aiko said.
"That's a relief," Twilight said.
"So, what are we going to do today?" Sunset asked.
"Why don't we start by going to the mall? We can visit that Japanese restaurant for lunch," Pinkie suggested.
"Yeah, why not?" Applejack agreed with the rest of the girls.
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Great job with the chapter!
11003547
.
Thanks for the idea
11003551
No problem!
Another great chapter (and picture) as always. As for the game, I try looking it up, is it a game called Insurgency
Give it time, you'll get it eventually... at camp. (Though that means Sunset will have pyromancy and telepathy/mind reading)
11004094
Yeah, though pyromancy is her special talent that earned her cutie mark. I first thought to give her an offensive power because she doesn't even have a defensive power. What are you supposed to with mind powers when a fight began. At least they are not like professor x's powers.
11003928
Thanks.
But no, it's an indie game I think. From a company called klei entertainment. The game is called shank. More specifically, the co-op mode from shank 2.
11004245
Yeah, the problem is, unless the geode powers evolve, Sunset's usually needs contact to work (aside from that short where RD overloaded the geode powers), so even if, let's say, she wanted to know her opponent's next move, she would need to get close and touch them.
11004257
Which is easier said than done. She's as vulnerable as the civilians.
She's doing it!!!!
Ouch, that's something she'll need to practice when using those wings when she ponies up again in the future.
Dang, time has sure flied by since then.
Wow, just wow. That's just f'd up.
And so am I for once fluttershy. 😰
That actually does sound interesting ngl.
Uh oh! It can't be!😱
Phew, glad that's over with, those kind of dolls can be creepy at times.
Now there's a way to prove she wasn't faking it.
I think I like aiko's grandmother more now.
It's still weird that how every time they see a post on something spooky they encounter it, I find it very odd.
Same here.
11004243
4. But, aren’t ninjas known to avoid conflict?
11004342
1. -
2. -
3. -
4.
5. Good
6. The game? It really is. It's called shank.
7. Eeyup
8. Yeah. It's always a doll.
9. It's moonrisecs idea. To demonstrate her fire bending.
10. Glad you do. I was hoping to make her a likable character.
11. Let's just say, since they are the first to see the posts, and their similarities or their activities sometimes match the rumor, it try to target them. Like fluttershy's similarity with the girl in the photo, or Aiko hiding secrets.
12. -
11004367
It's more of a way to say that aiko is brave and never back off from a challenge. Not beign detected is a challenge too. Have you never played stealth games. Not to mention in modern tv shows and especially anime ninja are not that stealthy anyway. They are more super soldiers who can go one on one against samurai lords but in reality, they are hit and run and cannot fight against a samurai lord and win easily.
11004412
Ohh. Ok, so when he calls her a kunoichi he means the ones you see in anime?
11004482
It's just a nickname
11004491
I know, but was he talking about those types of ninjas?
11004591
Yeah they are the most commonly known version. original kunoichi's dress beautiful cloths with make ups and act as spies or assassisns by charming enemies to gain intel or kill them.