Little Ninja

by DanishDash

Chapter 2: The Expedition

Celestia's sun was setting in the west. It looked like the warm orange colored shape was slowly sinking into the ocean. The sky above was turning from red and orange, into deep blue and black, the first few stars already showing. A soft breeze came in from the horizon, bringing with it the distinct smell of ocean with it.

Hasty Notes would miss sights such as this once he was back in Equestria. Not that the sunsets back home weren't beautiful, but seeing them in a faraway land such as Nippone, well, it somehow made the sight even more beautiful. Sadly that time was coming to an end, and six weeks of an incredible journey was over.

It had been worth it though, Hasty Notes got to see incredible sights, and help bring artifacts back to further study back to Equestria. Sadly his mentor, professor Papyrus, had sent him ahead to prepare everything back at the museum. That meant going with the cargo ship that would transport all the artifacts back to Equestria.

One whole week crossing the sea, something Hasty dreaded. He hated to sail, knowing how rough the sea could be. Meanwhile his mentor would be gliding through the air with an airship, spending less than half the time he would be crossing the sea.

Still, no use complaining. He had seven days on board a ship, yes, but that meant he could study, and work in peace for seven uninterrupted days. Before everything had been loaded into crates, Hasty had selected some items that he could study safely in the comfort of his cabin. More delicate objects would have to wait for the museum to be studied more closely.

For now though, his thoughts were brought back to the present by the soft hum of the ship's engine starting up. Slowly but surely, he could feel the faint vibrations moving through the large ship. Taking a last look at the town, the port, and the landscape, Hasty Notes returned inside to begin his studies.

Hasty had one whole cabin for himself, the crew shared their cabins, but he had one all to himself. It wasn't big, but Hasty didn't need a big room for himself, this would do the trick quite nicely. He had a bed, and a desk, and that was really all he needed. At the end of the cabin was a large trunk, it was where Hasty had stored the artifacts he wanted to study on the trip.

There was plenty to do, and too little time. Hasty loved his job, it was utterly fascinating to study the past, and when he got back to the museum, he would have to share everything, and fight for time for artifacts. While he hated the sea with a passion, he was excited to have a whole week to himself and these fascinating relics from the past.

Trotting over to the trunk, he had it unlocked, and gently opened it, as if he did it too fast, it would break something. Inside were some old scrolls, stones, two beautifully carved wooden containers, and so much else besides. However it was the two wooden containers that held his interest the most.

They were masterfully carved, showing figures, and symbols all around. Red strings had been tied around them, with paper seals attached to them. They had been discovered in the center of an ancient underground tomb, beneath the ruins of an old palace. The history of the area was immense, and local legends said the palace was home to a feared warlord named Nobunaga, or the Demon King, as the ponies of the province called him.

The stories varied somewhat, but they generally agreed he was killed in battle. Some stories say he was killed by a vengeful spirit of a village he destroyed. Other stories said he was killed by a rival, or an assassin. The details of Nobunaga's final hours were a bit foggy, and likely it was just stories that had been inflamed over time.

However it wasn't in doubt that Nobunaga had lived, and he had been a powerful warlord in his time. He was feared, cruel, and ruled with an iron hoof. Some legends say he summoned demons to empower his most loyal warriors and himself, but that was absurd. Hasty Notes would figure this out in time, and fortunately he had a week to go through this entire trunk of artifacts.

He took up one of the wooden containers. It was small, like a burial urn, it was old, but the wood was still in fine condition. He had seen burial urns before. They had been made of clay, stone, and yes, sometimes even wood. However these two were the most interesting he had come across.

These ones seemed very unique. They had not seemed to have been buried in honor, but more like they had been placed there for safe keeping. If Nobunaga was such a feared lord in his time, then perhaps it made sense for the locals to keep his angry spirit sealed away. Not that Hasty believed in ghosts, magic, of course, but not ghosts. If anything lingered, it would be a spell, not anything else.

Of course they had examined all items for magic, spells, and curses. Any such items would be under lock and key until they could be more closely examined back at the museum. Luckily not many of such items were present in the tomb, which was why Hasty felt so comfortable examining these items in his cabin.

He put the first urn on his desk, and reached into the trunk to get the other. The second one was a little bigger, and had more of those red strings around it. Hasty figured this had something to do with the so-called Demon King himself. Hasty chuckled to himself, and brought it up to the desk.

"Right, let's see..."

He mumbled, getting out his notebook, and started to examine the urns. Hasty hummed a little to himself as he went over everything, he knew he had already examined them once, and the professor had too. However he hoped he could learn something new. They were special, he knew that much, he just needed to be sure that he could not learn anything new.

As Hasty Notes worked in his little cabin, he never considered how much time passed. He was like that, absorbed by his work. It was always satisfying if he could get such dedication to pay off, sadly, no matter how much he studied the urns, read the reports, scrolls, and local legends, he just couldn't seem to learn anything specific.

Then suddenly, as the clock was approaching midnight, a thought entered his mind. If he couldn't learn anything by studying them on the outside, perhaps he should take a look inside. Chances were that he would not find anything other than ash, but...

But what if there was something else inside..?

Of course, chances of that would be low...

Then again, maybe if there was something new inside, the professor would surely reward him for the risk he took.

But, if it really just were ash, then he would have ruined the seals and the old strings for nothing...

Those could be repaired, he'd repaired lots of works before. He could even blame them on the sailors' carelessness.

"Yes, well, perhaps..."

It would be so easy, you just need to reach out for it.

"So easy to repair, so easy to hide..."

Reach out, nopony would know...

Hasty Note looked at the biggest of the two urns, pulled it closer. His mind was heavy with thoughts of the pros and cons, but he had to chance it. If he did this, then he might be able to move up in the world, maybe even leading the next expedition.

"Yes..."

He smiled as he carefully loosened the strings, broke the seals, and opened the lid of the urn. It wasn't much, barely crack, but that act alone seemed to suck all the light out of the cabin. The air grew cold, the shadows grew, and Hasty Notes froze in place. He could not move, he was stuck in his current position as a shadow seeped out of the urn.

His heart beat faster and faster, as he noticed the shadow slider down to his hooves. He could feel it, it was ice cold. Hasty tried to call out, but he couldn't even make a croak. The shadow moved up his hooves, up his front leg, and then, everything went dark.

Hasty Notes's body went limp, he fell out of the chair and landed on the floor of his cabin...

It would be several hours later before the stallion would wake up once again, when he did, there would be no memory of what had just happened, just a bad feeling that something was not as it should be...

Comments

[Fluffy-Boi]

You...had to do it huh Hasty..

[Shadowshame]

Well he definitely deserves the name Hasty

[Cheshirek4t]

Hasty Notes, Number 1 student from The Mummy school of opening ancient and probably cursed artifacts

[LiterallyAL]

Oops...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cphNpqKpKc4
https://youtu.be/cphNpqKpKc4