Chapters Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness
Settling in During an Eclipse
In the town of Ponyville, it seemed like it would be a normal day. Everypony was going about their business in the town square. Some were talking about current events, the new outfits that Rarity was coming out with, and other various topics. Others were just taking a walk and enjoying the beautiful day. However, the peaceful, but somewhat boring air went away when a mare with a blonde mane and cluster of bubbles for a cutie mark got everypony’s attention.
“Hey, isn’t that Rainbow Dash?”
The crowd looked up to see a familiar cyan blur with a rainbow trail coming towards them. A brown maned stallion with an hour glass cutie mark looked in the same direction that she was and confirmed what the mare was seeing, but also noticed something else.
“You’re right Derpy, that is Rainbow Dash, but what’s that trailing her?”
The crowd looked to the right a bit and saw a whitish blue blur trailing her. Whatever it was, they all knew that the two blurs where coming right for them. The crowd then spread out into a large circle for the two figures to land. Rainbow Dash was first, slamming her hooves into the ground as she slid and kicked up a small dust cloud. She then started to pant while smiling at what was coming up behind her.
What happened next would most likely be remembered for generations. The second figure landed with a loud bang and caused a medium sized dust cloud. After it cleared, the figure was revealed to be a winged bipedal being with a thin, glowing, white aura, blue skin, and whitish blue hair. It was crouched on one knee with its fist partially in the ground and its huge wings unfolded. It then got up to its full height, looking to be about as tall as the princesses. Unlike Rainbow Dash, this one didn’t seem winded. It then stepped out of a shallow crater that the crowd just then noticed.
The creature then stretched its wings for a bit and walked over to Rainbow Dash afterwards. The crowd was too stunned. Nopony knew how to react. This creature looked amazing with its sapphire skin and white glow, but it also radiated so much power that it unnerved them to no end. The creature finally got to Rainbow and knelt down.
“Hey, you ok there Sage Wannabe?” Light said in jest.
Rainbow glared back at him as she panted, “I’m…’GASP’…fine, just a bit tired is all. I still beat you though.” she said, giving him a weak smile at the last part.
Light shrugged as he got back up, “True, but then again, I really just wanted a work out. I barely used my new set of wings before now and I really needed to get used to them. Thanks for the test run.” he said, giving her a thumbs up.
Rainbow turned around to get a better look at him and was shocked that he wasn’t as tired as her “Wait a second! How come you aren’t as winded as me!? Horse apples! You look like you didn’t even break a sweat!”
Light shrugged, “What can I say? My wings are clearly bigger and more powerful, making it easier for me to fly, but I guess that really didn’t matter since you still beat me anyway. So, I don’t think you should worry too much about that, Eco Addict.” He said with a grin.
Rainbow growled again in response, but then looked up and noticed the carriage that her friends and his brother were riding in, “Hey, let’s go flag down the carriage. It’ll be easier than looking for them once they’ve already landed.”
“Good idea. This place is as good as any, since it looks like no one’s around anymore.” said Light.
Rainbow was confused until she looked around. Apparently, the crowd had decided to act fearfully since the only evidence of others being there were hundreds of hoof prints.
“Uh…yeah, sounds like a plan. Let’s go” with that, they were off to meet the carriage in the air. After flagging them down to the square, the guards pulling it waited for everyone to get off. After that was done, the guards went back to Canterlot.
“So, did you two have a nice flight?” asked Twilight.
Light smiled, “It was good. Best use of my wings that I’ve gotten in a long time.” he said while stretching his wings again. He then decided to get right down to business of living arrangements, “So…where are me and Dark going to stay?”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, since Dark seems like he listens to Fluttershy, he can stay with her. You on the other hoof, need to be as far away from him as possible. I don’t think you would be living up to your promise too well if you started another fight.”
Light nodded, “Makes sense. So where does that leave me?” he said while pointing to himself.
“I’d like you to stay with me. Not only is my place a good distance away, but I’d like to study this eco that you and your brother both have. Actually, just yours. I’d rather not risk poisoning myself with your brother’s type of energy.”
Light folded his arms and grinned, “Is it really just for research? Or have you taken a liking to getting hit with eco bolts? Twilight, I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing.” by the end of his teasing, Light had bent down to look Twilight in the eyes with his half-lidded and his hands on his hips.
“Uuuuuuh…” Twilight reared her head back with wide eyes. She didn’t like where this was going. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who said anything about being into something!? I’m pretty sure I don’t have any fetishes and he’s being way too forward!” thought Twilight nervously.
“HAHAHAHA!!!”
Suddenly, Light stood up straight and laughed to the sky with a hand on his forehead. Looking back down, he noticed that Twilight was looking at him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, obviously confused about what just happened.
“Come now, Twilight. Didn’t Celestia teach you how to have a sense of humor?” Twilight’s bewildered look turned into one of annoyance, “I guess not.”
After Twilight was done with her annoyed glare, she looked up at the sun and saw that it was well past noon. Deciding not to dwell on Light’s joke, she decided to part ways with her friends for the day, “Ugh, whatever, let’s just get you two settled into your new homes.
Light nodded his agreement to her and then turned to his brother, “See ya later you five…and Dark.” With that, they left the square. Light walking with Twilight and Spike, and Dark walking with Fluttershy to her cottage.
After a few minutes, Light looked at Spike, who was riding on Twilight’s back, and decided to start a conversation, “So, what’s your name little guy?”
Spike looked up to Light and put on a proud face, “My name is Spike and I’m Twilight’s number one assistant!” he said while pointing his thumb to himself.
“I didn’t know that students got their own personal secretaries.” he said to Twilight with a raised eye brow. He then looked back to Spike and made an observation, “You remind me of the leaper lizards back on my home world.”
Spike looked confused. “What the hay is a leaper lizard?” he said while scratching his head.
Light decided to give a brief description, “They’re basically bipedal reptiles that are used as transportation. You can pretty much guess by the name that they can jump really high.”
“Hmph, well I’m a dragon, and nopony’s ever riding me.” said Spike with a scoff.
At this point Twilight decided to cut in, “Uh, guys. I don’t mean to be rude, but ponies are staring at us. I think we should hurry along.” Both the dragon and human looked around and saw that she was right. Some of the ponies were, in fact, staring at them. Light had an idea, but he needed some info from Twilight.
“Quick. Give me a description of where we’re going. I have an idea.”
“It’s the big tree in the center of the town with a sign that says ‘Golden Oaks Library’, but why would you…” Twilight never got to finish as Light clapped his hands. From Twilight’s point of view, everything transformed into a blur of color as she and Spike were carried by an almost unseen force. In Light’s point of view, he grabbed Twilight and Spike in each arm after the blue tint settled over everything. He then flew into the air to try and spot the library. It wasn’t that hard, as the tree stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the smaller houses. Soaring through the air, Light landed in front of the library, put down his two passengers, and with another clap of his hands, the flash freeze ended.
Twilight and Spike stumbled around trying to get their bearings. After a few more seconds, they both stopped wobbling and Spike was staring at Light with widened eyes and a huge smile, “That was amazing! You got us here in less than a second! How did you do it!?”
Light scratched his head sheepishly, “Eh…actually I slowed down time.” Both Twilight and Spike’s jaws dropped as he stopped scratching his head, “While channeling light eco through my hands, I can slow down time for everything around me by clapping them together.”
Twilight shook her head to get rid of her awe struck expression. She then came to a surprising conclusion, “Wait. Do you mean to tell me that’s how you made those images of yourself?”
Spike was confused by the term and turned a questioning gaze to her, “What are you talking about, Twilight?”
“Turn around and you’ll find out.”
At Light’s request, Spike turned and was surprised to see not one, but five Lights with their arms folded.
“This is one of the many benefits of being able to slow down time. To you and everyone else, time is flowing normally, but in actuality, I’ve slowed down time for everything else besides myself. So much so that I can make afterimages of myself since even sunlight is slowed down. The effects don’t last forever though and it takes a significant amount of eco to do so, so I have to make the most of my time, so to speak. I call it my Flash Freeze technique.”
After he canceled the Flash Freeze, Twilight galloped up to him, “This is incredible! I had no idea that such an ability could exist! Then again, I don’t exactly know how eco works. I can’t wait to start studying the effects of light eco!”
Light started towards the library, “That’s great and all, but how about we all go inside. It wouldn’t do to freak out even more of the citizens, right Twilight?”
“Right, let’s go.”
After they got in, Spike decided to ask a question, “Is ‘Light’ really your name? If that’s the case, it must be really hard for people to tell the difference between your name and actual light.”
Twilight turned to face her assistant with an incredulous look, “Spike! How can you be so rude?” she then turned to Light, “I’m so sorry! He sometimes forgets his manners.”
Twilight frowned a bit, “I guess not. Though, it still sounds kind of sad that you’ve never been given an actual name. I couldn’t imagine life without one.”
“Eh…it’s not so bad. Although, now that I have my own body, I suppose I should have my own name too.” said Light.
“Sounds like a good idea. Would you like us to help in naming you? I have just the book for it.” Twilight said with a smile. She then levitated a book from the ‘N’ section of the library and showed it to Light and Spike.
“Names From Across Equestria and Beyond? That’s convenient.” said Spike.
“Yep, it’s amazing what you can find in a library. So let’s get to work on finding a new name for you.”
“I hope it won’t take too long.”
10 minutes later
Looking through the book and throwing ideas back and forth between herself and Light, Twilight pointed out another name, “What do you think of, ‘Azure Shine’?” she said with a hopeful look.
Light returned her hopeful look with a deadpan, “Really? No offence, but sounds like it just describes my skin.”
Spike spoke his agreement as it was kind of an obvious name, “Yeah, Twilight, think outside the box. Besides, I have a better idea, ‘Isamu’!”
Twilight arched a brow, “Wait, Isamu? Doesn’t that mean ‘Bravery’ in Neighponese?”
“Yep, and I also came up with a name for his brother, ‘Ikari’!” said Spike.
“Rage? Spike where did you learn these words?"
Spike smiled as he was about to explain, “Well Twilight, you know how I like comic books, right?”
“Yes?”
“Well, I also like the Neighponese equivalent known as manga and one of my favorites is ‘One Bit’. Right now, they’ve only translated up to volume 35 of the series to Equestrian. Since I didn’t want to wait for them to translate the rest, I decided to start learning how to read Neighponese. I’m not fluent, but I’m getting there.
“Wait, so you’ve taken the initiative to learn something new by yourself?”
“Uh…yeah?” questioned Spike.
A huge smile formed on her face, “Oooh, Spike!” Galloping over, Twilight gave Spike a bear hug, “I’m so proud of you! You’re showing a desire to learn!”
Spike was thankful for the compliment, but the overwhelming hug was a bit much from what Light observed, “Uh…Twilight? I don’t think Spike can breathe with you smothering him like that.”
“Huh?” Twilight stopped hugging her number one assistant long enough to see that he was right, “Oops, sorry.” she said with a sheepish grin. After releasing Spike, Twilight turned back to the angelic human, “So, what do you think of Spike’s suggestion, Light?”
“I think you should stop calling me that. It isn’t my real name anymore after all.” said Light while grinning.
Spike returned the being’s grin, “So does that mean..?”
“That’s right! For now and forever, you two and everyone else will refer to me as ‘Isamu’!” he said with an even bigger grin and striking a heroic pose.
“That’s great! So, should we go over to Fluttershy’s and ask Dark if he wants to be known as Ikari?” asked Twilight.
Isamu nodded, “Yeah, let’s go. Hopefully Fluttershy is keeping that moron under control.” With another clap of his hands, they were off.
Meanwhile
Fluttershy was walking with Dark through town and it wasn’t going as well as she hoped. Most of the ponies fled in terror at the sight of him. The ones who stayed were too petrified with fear to move. Dark all the while, had a scowl on his face during the whole trek and Fluttershy was worried about what would happen if they didn’t get to her cottage soon.
“Ummm…Mr. Dark?” said Fluttershy timidly.
“Huh?” he grunted as he turned to her.
Fluttershy steeled herself as she asked her next question, “Well, I was wondering if maybe we should find a quicker way to my house. The ponies around here seem a little scared and I’m afraid that they might start to panic if we don’t get there soon.”
Dark rolled his eyes and knelt down while indicating his back, “Grrr.”
“You want to give me a piggy-back ride? I’m not sure how that would…”
“Rrrrrr.” interrupted Dark.
“W…well if you insist.” She got onto his back and held on to his shoulders with her forelegs while he held onto her hind legs to give her extra support. Dark then started to charge up his legs, making purple energy arc off of them.
“Eeep!” Fluttershy knew what was coming next and held on tighter. “I…it’s the cottage by the Everfree Forest with a bunch of animals playing near. You can’t miss it.” She then hid her face in Dark’s hair in preparation for what was about to happen.
With a chuckle, Dark took off with Fluttershy in tow at high speeds. Everypony’s manes were blown back by the wind that Dark’s take off made as he seemed to almost disappear with Fluttershy, leaving an electrified trail of eco.
After five seconds, Dark finally put on the breaks and accidently dug up a significantly long trench in front of their destination. “SHURAH.” he grunted.
Fluttershy lifted her head slowly and looked around, “Oh, good. We’re here.” she said while smiling. Her eyes suddenly turned upward as she fainted. This would’ve resulted in her falling off and hitting her head if Dark hadn’t leaned forward and gotten onto all fours. He then leaned his back to the left to let her gently slide off. After that was done, Dark started poking her with one of his claws, but no matter how many times he did this, Fluttershy would not wake up. Seeing how useless this activity was, he picked Fluttershy up and carried her over his shoulder to the nearby cottage.
As Dark drew near, hundreds of scents assaulted his nose at once and caused him to stagger a bit, but not drop Fluttershy. It wasn’t that they were bad smells, it was just that there were so many that they overloaded his senses for a second. After getting his footing, Dark continued his trek to the house, wondering how anyone could stand to live with so many smells wafting about.
“RRRRRRAAAAAH”
That shut them all up. After seeing that none of them were going to make another sound, Dark started gesturing for them to move away from the couch. He first pointed at them with his left index finger and then whipped it to his left. However, the second he did so, his claw did something unexpected.
‘SHING’
‘THUNK’
Looking to his left to find out where that sound came from, Dark stared with a confused expression at his hyper extended claw stuck in the wall. Focusing on it, the claw quickly retracted to its original length. He looked at his claws for a few seconds in wonder over the new ability. After that was done, it was back to business. Dark gestured once again for the animals to move and was careful not to accidentally extend his claw again. All the animals complied accept one. The white thing instead hopped up to one of the arm rests. Dark ignored the creature since he was unhindered by it. After sitting her down and carefully putting her head on the right armrest, he sat himself down next to her. Looking to his left, he spotted the creature glaring at him with its arms folded. It then made an “I’m watching you” gesture and continued to glare.
Dark glared right back. This thing was really getting on his nerves. A minute of staring later, Fluttershy began to stir. Neither staring contestant noticed until she spoke.
“Oh! I see you’ve met Angel Bunny.” she said with a smile. However, the smile quickly became strained as she noticed that they both glared at each other a few seconds longer before turning to her.
“Well…I guess I should formally introduce you two. Angel, this is Dark. He will be staying with us for a while so try to get along with him, ok?” she then looked to Dark, “Dark, this is Angel Bunny, my pet rabbit. The same goes for you too. Do not cause any trouble with Angel and everything will be ok. Understand?”
Dark started to growl until she narrowed her eyes. Realizing that she was serious and not wanting to blow his one and only chance at freedom, he reluctantly nodded his head, but still kept his scowl.
Getting Fluttershy’s attention, Angel made a bunch of gestures that said, “This guy is bad news, get rid of him!”
“Well Angel, if you don’t trust Dark, then maybe you can help me keep an eye on him.” Angel didn’t like where this was going; his widened eyes and huge frown expressing such. “If I’m busy with something in another part of the house, I’m trusting you, Angel, to stay with him and tell me if he’s causing trouble, understand?”
Hearing this, Angel furiously shook his head and made an X with both paws, expressing how bad of an idea he thought this was. Dark, meanwhile, was bearing his teeth and giving a thumbs down. The rabbit was really annoying to him and he really didn’t want to spend the rest of his time there with a pest.
“Great! I’m counting on you Angel, and remember Dark, behave yourself.” She then turned and went into the kitchen, ignoring Dark and Angel’s various sounds and gestures of protest. She knew that they wouldn’t like the idea, but she figured that this would be a great way for them to bond and maybe become friends.
Both of them let their heads hang in defeat as they realized that she wouldn’t change her mind no matter what they did. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Dark got up to see who it was while Angel hopped onto his shoulder guard.
“GRRRR!”
This reminded him too much of another aggravating rodent. However, he relented, as killing the little nuisance would probably make Fluttershy mad and put him right back into his stony prison. As he opened the door, he saw Twilight talking to Isamu.
“You know, you wouldn’t have had to use so much eco if you had asked me where her cottage was in the first place.”
“Well excuse me for not wanting to waste time.”
“How is a short description of the location of her house wasting time?”
Isamu raised a finger and opened his mouth to make a comeback, but stopped, “You have a point.” They then looked to Dark who was tapping his foot and had his arms crossed and Angel who was doing the same. Both of them had annoyed looks on their faces.
“Well, well, well…look who’s found their very own sidekick.” said Isamu with a chuckle. Dark rolled his eyes and pointed at him and Twilight, then at the ground with a questioning look. “I’m guessing you’re wondering why we’re here?” Dark nodded. “Well…” It was at this point that Fluttershy came to the door.
“Oh! Hello Twilight, Spike, and Light. What brings you to my house?”
“I’m sorry Fluttershy, but who is this ‘Light’ of which you speak? My name is Isamu.” he said, pretending not to know who she was talking about.
“What? I don’t understand.”
Twilight rolled her eyes at his joke, “How about we all go inside and I’ll explain everything. Ok?”
“That would be great, thank you.” Both Fluttershy and Dark moved aside to let the new guests in. Dark sat down on the couch with Angel still on his shoulder and Isamu, Twilight and Spike sat on some nearby chairs. Fluttershy, meanwhile, had gone into the kitchen again. A few minutes later, she returned with a plate of cucumber sandwiches and tea on a tray and set it on the coffee table in the middle of the group. “I figured everyone could use a snack.” she said with a smile.
“Thank you, Fluttershy. That was very gracious of you.” Twilight thanked. After the first bite of her sandwich, Twilight explained what had happened after they had left the square. She was just about to tell her how Spike came up with both Light and Dark’s new names, until Spike himself cut in to do it for her.
“So then I tell both of them my idea. It was easy to come up with one that is not only appropriate, but also sounds cool. I thought of the name after remembering all the new words I’ve been learning while studying Neighponese. Isamu means bravery or warrior. I figured that Ikari would be best since it means rage and Dark looks like he’s always mad.” At this everyone turned to Dark who had a scowl on his face.
“Grrrrrrr!”
“See what I mean?”
As soon as Spike was finished, Isamu turned to Dark, “So, what do you think?”
Dark folded his arms and somehow managed a combination of a scowl and thinking face while looking off to the side. After a minute he turned back to the group and gave a nod with the scowl still on his face.
Twilight smiled despite the angry look he was giving everyone in the room, “Wonderful!” she then turned back to Isamu, “Now that both you and your brother have names to go with your own bodies, the two of you can forge your own identities among Equestrian society! Isn’t that great!?”
Isamu shrugged, “Sounds good to me.”
The six of them, except for Ikari and Angel, talked until Isamu noticed how close to sunset it was. He was surprised, at first, until he remembered that it was already a good few hours past noon when they had arrived in Ponyville. Turning to Twilight, Isamu informed her of the time “Well, I think it’s about time we left, right Twilight?”
Twilight looked to the window and saw how late it was getting, “You’re right, Isamu.” She then turned to their timid host, “It was great talking to you, Fluttershy; also, it’s good that you accepted your new name, Ikari, but we really should be going since it’s almost sunset. We’ll see you tomorrow during Nightmare Night.” At this point, Twilight, Spike, and Isamu were walking towards the door. At the mention of Nightmare Night, Isamu wondered what it was.
“What’s Nightmare Night?”
Twilight and her group continued to walk out the door, “I’ll ‘yawn’ tell you about it tomorrow. Right now I just want to get home and sleep.”
“Would you like me to fly both of you back?”
“That would be great, thanks.” said Twilight with a tired smile.
After arriving at their destination, they began to settle in for the night. Isamu slept on top of a sleeping bag that Twilight had pulled out from her closet while she and Spike slept in their own beds across the room from him.
The Next Day: in the main part of the Library
Twilight started to explain Nightmare Night, but had to stop when Isamu questioned who Nightmare Moon was. After an in depth explanation from her, he then summed everything up to make sure that he got it right.
“So let me get this straight. Luna transformed into a completely different mare as a result of jealousy and wanted to cause the sun to never rise over this country and the moon to stay in one spot. Is that about right?” asked Isamu
“Yes.”
“That is so stupid.”
“Excuse me?” said Twilight.
“She wanted to rule over a kingdom in eternal night. That might have been a good plan if it didn’t result in there being no one to appreciate her night. Seriously, the sun would’ve stayed on one side of the planet and fried it and would’ve left the other side to freeze. Everyone would’ve died.” Isamu was astonished that someone who has lived a lot longer than him would miss something like that. What was she thinking?
Twilight’s ears drooped as she frowned, “True, and then there’s the fact that there were all sorts of things that she could’ve done to get the citizens to appreciate her nights in a less aggressive way.” Her expression brightened a bit as she reminded Isamu of another part of her story. “At least the Elements of Harmony were able to turn her back to normal and she has been doing everything she can to make amends for what she tried to do. Plus, ponies are starting to appreciate nighttime with activities such as star gazing, watching meteor showers, and even using it to participate in astronomy.”
“Good point, but enough about that, you were explaining what Nightmare Night is?”
“Oh, right. Well Nightmare Night is basically a celebration in which everypony dresses up in a usually scary costume and fillies and colts go from door to door to get candy. There’s also a party held in the square where nightmare themed games are played and a costume contest is held. Also there is a lot of food to eat.”
“This sounds like an interesting holiday.” Suddenly, a sense of déjà vu came over him, “It just occurred to me, is this around harvest time for Equestria?”
“Yes, why do you ask?” Twilight asked. Wondering where Isamu was going with this.
“It’s just that when I think about it, this holiday reminds me a lot of the harvest festival that was held in Sandover Village, Jak’s home town.” he said while scratching the back of his head.
The mention of this Jak person brought a thought to the forefront of Twilight’s mind. Neither she nor the girls knew much about Isamu’s past other than being a part of somepony else. He hadn’t said much about what his host was like or how his host used him and his brother.
“That reminds me, what was it like being a part of somepony else? What was Jak like? You haven’t said anything about him.” Twilight was very interested to hear about this since such a phenomenon was never heard of before.
Isamu shrugged, “I haven’t really seen a reason to bring it up, but if you really want to hear it, ask me again later when we’re together with all of your friends. I’d rather not have to repeat myself.”
Twilight nodded, understanding where he was coming from, “Alright then.”
“Also, you said that everyone is usually dressed up in something scary right?” questioned Isamu.
“Yes, but not all of them are scary. Some of them are just meant to look impressive. That’s why the costumes in the contest aren’t judged solely on how scary they are.”
“In that case, I’m going to stay here until the festivities are underway. If I’m going to officially reveal myself, I’m going to do it with style!” he said while posing in various ways.
“Tee hee, well alright then.” she said, giggling at his antics. She then turned and started walking towards the door, “I need to do some errands. Don’t cause Spike too much trouble while I’m out.” she said jokingly.
Isamu waved her off, “Don’t worry about it. You just have fun doing what you’re doing. If it helps, I think I’ll just read a book.”
“Ok, I’ll see you when I get back.” she said while going out the door.
“Bye.”
After seeing her off, Isamu went around the library, looking for something to read. Finally, he found one in the fiction section called Dracolta. Pulling it from the shelf, he then sat in a nearby chair and began reading.
With Ikari and Fluttershy
At Fluttershy's house
Last night wasn’t too bad. He slept on the couch and was fed eggs and toast with a glass of orange juice in the morning. Things got awkward when he used his fork to take the first bite.
‘CRUNCH’
The sound made Angel and Fluttershy jump and look at Ikari. He had a perplexed look on his face, as he didn’t remember eggs being that crunchy. He was about to stick his fork into the eggs again, until Fluttershy pointed out something wrong with the fork.
“My goodness! You beheaded it!”
“Hrnnng?” Looking to the utensil, Ikari realized what she was talking about. The entire business end of the fork was gone and he knew where it went if the texture of his eggs was any indication.
“Ummm…let me get you another one.”
“Een-eh” Ikari shook his head. Extending his index and middle claws, he stabbed the rest of his eggs and continued eating.
“Good thinking Ikari.” Fluttershy said with a smile. After finishing breakfast, Fluttershy told Ikari what they were going to do next, “Ok, today I need to run some errands and I need you to come with me, Ikari. I know that you haven’t done anything wrong, but I’m not entirely convinced that I can leave you to your own devices without you causing trouble.”
Ikari simply nodded, “Mm-hm.” Though he didn’t show it, he was very glad to get away from Angel. The little brat was starting to put him in an even worse mood than usual.
So they set out to do these errands. The first thing on the list was buying groceries. After walking for about 10 minutes, they arrived at the market area which was eerily quiet. Ponies were still at their stands, ready to sell their wares, but something about them was really off.
The first stand that they came to was being run by a green maned mare with three carrots as a cutie mark who was selling, predictably, carrots. She had widened eyes and appeared to be frozen to the spot at the sight of Fluttershy walking towards her stand with a light purple demon next to her that looked like it could tear anypony to shreds.
“Good morning Carrot Top. How are you today?”
Though she waved at her, Carrot Top was not able to direct her eyes to Fluttershy and instead kept her watch on the horned terror next to the pegasus. Said terror was looking at her with narrowed eyes and a frown.
“He…hello Fluttershy. I-I’m guessing that you came here to buy some carrots?”
“Yes, I would like ten please.” she said with a smile, trying to release some of the tension in the air. Carrot Top quickly set the carrots on the counter and sank below it out of fear, but only enough so that just her eyes were peaking over.
“That will be one bit each.”
“Ikari, while I’m getting the correct amount of bits out, could you please put the carrots into one of my bags?” Ikari nodded, but instead of grabbing them like Carrot Top thought, he did something that was a lot more terrifying.
‘SHING’
‘THUNK’
Right before her eyes, Carrot Top witnessed all ten of the carrots impaled on the demon’s claws. As he retracted them, the impaled carrots followed. Once they were retracted an appropriate length, Ikari held his claws over Fluttershy’s other bag and shook until all the carrots slid off.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, had finally fished out the sack of bits and placed the correct amount on the counter. With a shaky hoof, the scared produce vendor collected the bits into a nearby box and disappeared under the counter.
Ikari rolled his eyes at the display of cowardice while Fluttershy sadly looked to the ground. She then looked up to Ikari who had his arms folded while looking at the stand. She smiled at him when he finally looked down to her, “Let’s go get the rest of the shopping done, ok Ikari?” Ikari nodded and they walked to each stand, gathering food and receiving similar reactions.
It was then that Twilight came walking by, “Good morning Fluttershy, Ikari; how are both of you doing today?”
“Oh…well, it could be better.”
“What do you mean?”
“The townsponies around here are too scared to make any sudden moves because of Ikari.”
“Oh, you have to be kidding me.” Twilight face hoofed and turned to the ponies who were running the stands and noticed that there were some extras who might’ve been customers, hiding with them. They were all shivering in fear and all of them had the collective feeling that either the mares who were standing near the demon, or they themselves were going to die.
Twilight was not going to stand for this, “I can’t believe you ponies! Are you honestly judging somepony by looks like you all did with Zecora!?”
Roseluck poked her head from around a corner, “But…she only looked mysterious, that thing looks dangerous!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “Roseluck, Spike can be dangerous. He has claws that can leave grooves in stone, teeth that can cut through diamond, and can breathe fire. How is that not dangerous?”
Some of the townsponies started to come out of hiding, but still held timid looks as they went about their business. Either slowly walking by or running from stand to stand to get their shopping done and high tail it out of their before the monster got them.
Twilight and Fluttershy shook their heads in disappointment while Ikari couldn’t care less. If these ponies wanted to fear him, then good; it shows that they know not to mess with him
Twilight looked back to her friend and Ikari and decided to change the subject, “So, what are you going to be dressed as for Nightmare Night, Fluttershy?” she said with a smile.
“Hnnnn?” grunted Ikari.
Twilight looked directly at him, “Well, it’s basically a nighttime event for playing games, eating food, and just generally having a good time. There’s also the costumes that everypony wears and the contest to see who has the best one.”
None of that really interested him. It just sounded like a gathering of individuals who would annoy him. The only thing that was making him want to go was that it was another chance to get away from Angel. Unlike them, that rodent actively gets on his nerves. At least the ponies would try to be friendly to him even though they would most likely fail.
“So, Fluttershy, will you be participating in the celebration? It would mean a lot to me and the girls if you did.” Twilight asked again. Ikari looked down to Fluttershy to listen to her answer.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, but I’d rather not go. The costumes usually scare me a bit.” she said, turning away. Her mane hid her face as she did so. Ikari and Twilight looked at each other, then gave Fluttershy a deadpan as she looked back at them.
“What?”
“Fluttershy, you have a horned bipedal creature with razor sharp claws and teeth living with you.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as something Twilight said reminded her of something, “Oh, that reminds me. Earlier, Ikari bit the whole head of a fork off and ate it. Do you think we should get him to the hospital, or at least a dentist?”
“What!?” Twilight said incredulously. She turned to see the mentioned eco being picking at his teeth. After a few seconds, he extracted a prong that was apparently stuck there for a while. He flicked it to the ground and gave both mares a shrug. Twilight turned back to Fluttershy and gestured a hoof to Ikari, “That just proves my point. His teeth can cut through metal like it was butter. Fluttershy, as far as I can tell, Ikari is the scariest thing in Ponyville.”
Fluttershy looked down in thought. Twilight was right, Ikari did have some pretty scary traits. Certainly a lot scarier than anything she had seen in previous Nightmare Nights. Another thing to remember was that Ikari would be with her the whole time and most likely scare off anything that tried to scare her. With all of this in mind, Fluttershy changed her mind.
“You know Twilight, you’re right. I think I will come to the festival tonight. Maybe I’ll dress as a cat.” she said with a smile, thinking about how she’ll look in it.
“Great! I’ll see you and Ikari then. Hopefully, the rest of your day goes well.”
“Hopefully.” They then parted to do the rest of their errands, Fluttershy and Ikari going one way and Twilight going the other. Tonight was going to be one that they would most likely never forget.
8:00 pm, Golden Oaks Library
“So, Spike, what do you think Twilight will be dressing up as? It can’t be any more redundant than your costume.” When Spike had first told him that he was going as a dragon, Isamu gave an ‘Are you kidding me’ look.
“Yeah, well…what are you going as, huh?” Spike said in a challenging tone.
“No way am I dressing up. This is going to be my reveal to the public and I’m going to show them the real me. Can’t do that while I’m behind a mask now can I?”
“You do know that not all costumes require masks right?” Spike asked with a deadpan look.
“Semantics, point is, I’m not wearing a costume and that’s final.” Isamu said while pretending to pout with his arms folded and head turned. He then turned back to the dragon with a smile, “Besides, I have a better plan. You do remember your cue for introducing me, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, when you shoot a few sparks of eco into the air, but why are you doing this?”
“Like I told Twilight, If I’m going to officially reveal myself, I’m going to do it with style.” He said with a smile.
“Well, whatever. Let’s wait for Twilight to get ready.”
20 minutes later
It was taking so long that both Spike and Isamu were getting really impatient. Spike was pacing back and forth with his arms crossed and Isamu was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed and his head resting on one hand.
“Uuugh come on, Twilight! We’re going to be late for the Nightmare Night festival!” said Spike
“Yeah, not gonna lie, Spike’s right on this one.”
“See, even Isamu agrees with me. So, come on and…let’s…go?” Spike’s sentence ended questioningly as he got a load of Twilight’s costume. She had on a wizard’s cloak with bells and a big bushy fake beard tied around her neck. It left Spike in confusion and Isamu wondering who she reminded him of.
Spike tried to guess who she was supposed to be, but failed miserably, “Are you, that creepy grandpa from that old pony retirement home?”
Twilight turned back to Spike, looking a tad annoyed, “I’m Starswirl the Bearded.” Spike blinked in confusion, “Father of the Amniomorphic Spell?” Spike blinked in confusion, “Did you even read that book on obscure unicorn history that I gave you!?”
Something in Isamu’s mind finally clicked, “Wait a sec, was this pony known for creating 300 spells and regarded as a genius?”
“Well actually, it was 200 spells and yes, he was regarded as a genius among his peers…hold on, how do you know about him?”
Isamu got up from his seated position. “I heard about some of the great magical feats that he did and even saw him during the few times he visited the statue garden. It was a real shame when he died, especially considering that he tried his best to keep himself alive with magic, but it looks like one simply can’t learn immortality. Clover was the most heartbroken over it, being his student and all. It made me feel bad that I couldn’t do anything to comfort her.”
He looked over at Twilight and saw her sad look over his tear jerking story, “Oh...uh…but enough about that. This is a time to have fun, so you two go out the front door and I’m going to take off of the balcony and hide my flight using Flash Freeze. I’ll meet you two at the stage in front of town hall. See ya then, and remember your cue, Spike.” he said while running upstairs.
“I had it the first couple of times.” Spike grumbled.
Twilight looked down to her assistant “What is Isamu’s plan anyway? I know that he wants his official reveal to be with style, but how exactly is he going to do it?” she figured it was going to be very grandiose and flashy with how he was posing earlier that day.
“He wants it to be a surprise so he told me not to tell anypony.” Spike said, rolling his eyes.
“Well then, let’s go to the festival and see what he has planned.” Twilight said while walking towards the door.”
“Right behind you!”
Right when she opened the door, Twilight was greeted by three children in costumes and Granny Smith. The kids gave the Nightmare Night greeting while she handed them one treat each, “Great costumes, happy Night…” Something about Granny Smith was off. She was looking this way and that; as though there was something stalking her group and she was trying to spot it.
“Uh…Granny Smith, are you alright? You look like you’re waiting for something to jump out.”
“I’m just lookin for that no good demon that I heard was in the market today. If I’m staying up way past my bedtime to look after these kids, I’m at least going to get these kids out of here in case he shows up. That’s why I’m keeping a look out.”
Twilight was just about to explain why the elderly mare didn’t need to worry, when a small colt in a pirate costume pushed his way through, “Don’t worry, Mrs. Smith! With me trusty sword and quick wits, I’ll send that scallywag runnin with his tail between his legs!”
Giggling at the cute colt’s naïve bravery, Twilight patted him on the head, “Don’t worry Pipsqueak. Even if he does show up, I’m sure he won’t do anything bad.”
“How do you know?” he asked with narrowed eyes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Twilight knew something they didn’t.
“Call it a hunch.” she answered while sweating a bit.
Pipsqueak and the other children seemed to accept this as they smiled and held out their candy bags. However, Pinkie Pie, who was dressed in a chicken suit, came out of nowhere, “Finally! That talk about Dark was getting stale! Less talk, more candy!”
“Pinkie aren’t you too old for this?”
“Too old for free candy!? ‘BCKAW!’ Never!”
Twilight rolled her eyes as she gave Pinkie and the rest of the kids a piece of candy each. Pinkie then noticed what Twilight was wearing, “Ooooo…nice old clown costume Twilight!” she then pecked at a few more of the treats in the candy bowl and ran off with the kids and Granny Smith following.
“Seriously, a clown?”
“Come on, Twilight. We’re going to be late.” Spike said as he passed by.
‘Sigh.’ she growled while following him.
10 minutes later
Twilight and Spike arrived at where the festival was taking place. Everypony was dressed as something and having a good time. There were knights, ninjas, ghosts and all sorts of interesting and unique costumes. Twilight was just getting done talking about Starswirl saving a village from a group of manticores when she stopped abruptly to take notice of the fact that they had arrived. This caused Spike to bump into her and drop his candy.
“Twilight, could you warn me next time you stop like that?”
“Sorry Spike. I was just wondering what we should do first.”
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie and the kids of her group came running up to them, “Twilight, Twilight! Look at our hold! Ah! Can you believe it!? ” Pinkie said while showing Twilight her candy. She then proceeded to eat it like what she was dressed as. She then went on to tell her friend about how her group got so much candy.
Overhead, Rainbow Dash, who was clothed in a Shadowbolts costume, pushed a dark cloud into position and was just about to give her friends a big scare when suddenly, Ikari’s upper half popped up from the bottom, claws and all.
“SHZAAAAAAAAAAA!”
“AAAAAAAAA!!!” Rainbow screamed. Once again, she jumped a few feet off of her perch from the shock and fell, except this time, Fluttershy, who was in a pink cat costume, caught her.
Ikari came down a second later and landed in a crouch. Getting up from the position, he then crossed his arms and chuckled while giving a wicked grin.
“Heh, heh, heh”
Rainbow got out of Fluttershy’s grasp and flew straight up to the purple demon’s face, “What’s the big idea, jerk!?”
Ikari, not liking the invasion of his personal space, shoved the pegasus to the ground and walked over to Fluttershy.
“Hey, get back here!” she got back up and hovered after him.
Ikari finally got fed up with her and extended his claws while turning around. This stopped Rainbow Dash in her ‘tracks’ so to speak, and caused her to hover backwards for a bit in fear. Suddenly, Fluttershy pulled on Ikari’s arms to make him turn around.
“Ikari, calm down; you don’t want to ruin your one and only chance, now do you?” she said with a serious look.
Ikari looked at his cat suited, pegasus parole officer for a bit before calming down and re-sheathing his claws. He had to admit that she was right. He remembered what the ruler said, if any of the citizens were harmed because of him, he would be imprisoned again.
At this point, Twilight, Spike, Pinkie, and the kids had been watching since they heard Rainbow Dash’s scream and walked closer after Ikari had calmed down. Twilight and Pinkie were impressed with how well Fluttershy handled that while the kids stared at Ikari with fear, or in Pipsqueak’s case, fascination. Pipsqueak shook his head to get his focus back and walked up to the supposed evil monster.
“Avast ye scurvy bilge rat! Ye won’t be takin the lives of me friends. Taste the sting of me cutlass!” he then began swinging around his very dull toy sword. Ikari just looked down at the colt; then at the three mares while cocking his head to the side, wondering what to do.
Twilight was about to say something until Fluttershy used one of her wings to shush her up. Twilight looked to her friend with incredulity. To which Fluttershy responded with a shake of the head, “Let’s watch what happens. If it looks like it’ll get out of hand, then we can act.”
Ikari turned back to the colt who continued to swing wildly. The kid obviously didn’t know what he was doing and was just expressing naïve bravado. No truly malicious intent or ridicule, just childish ignorance. The only negative emotion that the little guy was causing him was annoyance and decided to end it there before the emotion grew into anger. Crouching down, he blocked one of Pipsqueak’s swings with the flat side of his index claw. This had the desired effect of getting the child to open his eyes and stare Ikari in the face. He then shook his head and pointed back to the colt’s friends with his other hand. Pipsqueak, now looking at the demon and seeing how much bigger he was and the razor sharp claws he had, decided to put his toy sword away.
“Eh, heh, heh…sorry. Um, happy Nightmare Night.” he said while backing away. He then turned and quickly walked back to his friends.
“What the hay was I thinking? There’s no way something like that would be scared of me.” thought a slightly embarrassed Pipsqueak.
Twilight and Pinkie had their mouths opened slightly at what had just taken place. Twilight turned her head to Fluttershy, “How did you know that Ikari wouldn’t tear Pipsqueak apart!?” she asked incredulously.
“Yeah! Last time somepony made him mad, we saw Light get his faced carved up like a birthday cake!” said Pinkie.
“Well, girls, I think I’ve figured Ikari out.”
“Details, Fluttershy, details.” Twilight demanded.
“Oh…um, well Ikari, from what I’ve seen, is not a mindless mass of anger. He may be irritable, but he isn’t absolutely heartless. He can tell when something isn’t meaning him any harm or is actively trying to get on his nerves, like in the case of Pipsqueak. He might’ve been very annoyed, but I think he can tell the difference between an actual enemy and a kid just being silly. He also isn’t stupid. He knows that if he does anything like what he used to do, he will be punished by Princess Celestia; so he’s holding himself back to avoid that circumstance. I can tell he was doing that with Angel by the look in his eyes.”
“I think that maybe, just maybe; spending time around me and others while keeping his anger under control will help him out in the long run.”
Twilight and Pinkie were surprised by how Fluttershy was able to deduce all of that; as could be seen by their dropped jaws. Fluttershy noticed their expressions.
“What? I’m good with animals and Ikari acts a bit like an animal, so it’s not really that hard to figure him out.”
Twilight shook her head to clear it of the shock, “Well, still, it’s good to hear that you’re figuring out your new houseguest.” she said with a smile. The costumed unicorn then noticed that most of the attendees of the festival were gathering near the stage, “Looks like the first event is starting. Come on, let’s hurry and get some good seats.” Pinkie, Fluttershy, Ikari, and Spike followed her and got there just in time for the mayor’s announcement.
“Attention everypony. It is time for the costume contest. Each pony who has submitted an entry form will be called on stage and be seen by you all and the selected judges.” She gestured to the table that was set up which had seated at it, Mrs. Cake, Time Turner, Thunderlane, and Cheerilee. “Whoever has the best costume wins!”
After the announcement, contestants were called to the stage one by one. First was Roseluck who had a costume that looked to be made of vines and leaves. She also had a rose in her hair. She did a few poses while the judges held up cards. Roseluck got two 9’s and two 7’s. After she got off, an earth pony wearing a metal skeleton suit with glowing, obviously enchanted, red contacts came on stage and got into various poses that looked like they should be in action movies. He got two 7’s, an 8 and a 9.5. This continued for a while until the last costumed pony was called. Mayor Mare, in her clown costume, came back on stage with an envelope, “And the winner is…” Suddenly, a white ball of energy exploded with color overhead.
Taking his cue, Spike got up on stage and took the microphone from its stand, “Fillies and gentlecolts! For the first time anywhere. I present to you, the amazing Isamu!!!”
Out from behind the roof of town hall, an angelic being flew high into the sky until he reached a position where the full moon would be behind him. He flared all of his limbs, including his wings, and released a ring of energy that had a slightly blue tint to it. He then folded his wings half way and took a nose dive while leaving more of the exploding orbs behind, which detonated in several masses of color for all to see. As he dived, an aura formed around his main body that glowed so brightly that he looked like a comet with wings.
At only a few meters from hitting the stage, the majestic creature flared his wings once again to slow his descent and made the aura explode in thousands of white sparks, revealing what the citizens could now see was a bipedal creature about as tall as Princess Celestia. Touching down, he bowed for a few seconds and then stood up straight while putting his hands on his hips in a heroic pose.
The audience of ponies were astonished by this display. They were all struck speechless and were only able to show there awe through their widened eyes and dropped jaws. The mayor was the first to shake off the feeling enough for her to speak, “Just who are you and why are you here?”
“Guh!” said Isamu while face faulting. He got up and shook his head to clear it then looked back to the politician, “Are you serious? The baby dragon over there just introduced me. The name is Isamu. To answer your second question…” he clapped his hands, disappeared, and reappeared giving Twilight a friendly noogie, “I’m staying with this sweet little thing and my brother is staying with Fluttershy as per Celestia’s orders.” he said with a grin. “Don’t worry about the purple horned dork. As long as you don’t get him angry, he won’t hurt anyone. Right, Ikari?” he finally stopped giving Twilight a noogie.
Everypony looked at the now identified Ikari who had his arms crossed. In response to his brother, Ikari made a one fingered gesture that nobody accept Isamu knew what it meant. Even so, the ponies could clearly see that the creature next to the shy pegasus proved Isamu’s statement true by not doing anything more than the rude gesture.
“Told ya! Now come on, Twilight! It’s time to play games, eat candy, and make a general ruckus!”
“Ok, just let me get off the staaAAAAAAGE!!!”
“WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!” shouted Isamu as he took off with Twilight in his grasp. As he flew over the crowd and out of sight, he left behind a blue sparkling trail. At this point, the crowd got their senses back and was giving the winged human applause.
In an area of the festival where there was barely anypony around, Isamu landed and placed Twilight on the ground. After she was done looking around to get a bead on where she was, the unicorn turned around to glare at the rambunctious human, “Why the hay did you pick me up and drag me out so far!?”
“Well excuuuse me for wanting to make a spectacular exit.”
“But why drag me into it!?”
“Come on, Sparky. Where’s your sense of humor. It was all in good fun. Besides, I figured that making you part of the performance would be a nice thank you gift for vouching for me in front of Celestia.”
“Well that was very nice of you, but now our friends are wondering where we are.”
“Don’t worry about it. Get on my back and I’ll fly us there.” he said while kneeling down.
Twilight got on and they were off. A few minutes later, they arrived back at the main area of the festival and touched down near where Spike was at the stage. The crowd had thinned out by the time they got back.
“So, Twilight, what did you think of Isamu’s surprise?” asked Spike.
“It was certainly flashy.” Looking to her left, she saw Isamu was right in her face.
“But was it stylish?” he said with a grin.
Suddenly, Pinkie’s voice cut in, “I’ll say! The whole crowd gave an applause!” All three turned to see the pink mare bouncing up to them. Isamu turned with the grin still on his face.
“Heh, heh, awesome; I was hoping they would enjoy it.”
“So, Isamu, besides wanting to be stylish, what other reason did you have to make such a huge performance out of your introduction? Was it to make a good first impression?” asked Twilight. Truthfully, she couldn’t think of anything else for why he did what he did. She figured that it probably wasn’t to inflate his own ego since he didn’t seem like the kind of guy that would put himself above others like a certain other unicorn she knew.
“Partly for that, but mostly just to add some fun into the mix. Honestly, at a time of the year where ponies are supposed to make themselves stand out, Just simply introducing myself to ponies as they walked by would’ve been too boring. My reveal to the public had to be dazzling, amazing, and most importantly, fun for the crowd to watch.”
Spike rolled his eyes, “Isamu, you have glowing blue skin, wings that are bigger than the princess’, and walk on two legs. I think you already stand out.”
“Semantics!” he yelled while giving Spike ‘the hand’, “The point is, the performance was a thrilling experience for me and the crowd enjoyed it which means mission accomplished!” he said while smiling and giving a thumbs up.
Twilight smiled while rolling her eyes. She had to admit, Isamu really knew how to make an entrance. He also seemed to care about the citizens’ enjoyment of his performance almost as much as Pinkie cares about making others smile at her parties. She then decided to move things along.
“Hey, how about we go and do what you said we would.”
“You mean make a general ruckus?” Isamu replied, giving a cheeky grin.
“No. I mean play games and eat candy.” this time she rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“Well, alright then. Let’s go!” said Isamu. He took only a few steps away from the stage before Twilight stopped him for a bit.
“Wait! I think another event is going to be starting at 9:00, so let’s get back here around that time, ok?”
“You got it.” with that said Isamu ran off to enjoy the party while Twilight and Spike followed. Isamu won against Twilight at a game in which one pops the balloon on top of a clowns head with a water gun, Twilight tried her luck at throwing darts, and Spike gorged himself on more candy. Coming back from the pumpkin toss game, Twilight and her group came across Ikari and Fluttershy who was holding a huge stuffed bat.
“Look what Ikari won for me in the spider toss.” she said while showing off the black plush toy. It had big red eyes and a small fanged smile.
“That was very nice of you Ikari.” said a smiling Twilight.
Ikari turned his head and ‘hmphed’. Who cared if it was a nice gesture to win it for her? He certainly didn’t. She may have some of his respect for standing up to him, but he wasn’t about to get sentimental around her or anyone else. Nor would he ever learn to be friends with these annoying ponies. It couldn’t possibly happen, could it?
“Um…Twilight? Would you like to join us for some caramel apples?”
“That would be great. What do you think, Isamu?” she said, expecting an answer, but didn’t get one immediately. When she looked at him, she saw Isamu and Ikari glaring at each other. “Well, guys? How about it?” Instead of responding to her directly, they turned their backs to each other with their arms folded.
“Hmph, I’ll let him join us; as long as he doesn’t force me to hurt him.” said Isamu.
“SuuRA.” Ikari replied while nodding. It probably meant something like “Ditto”.
Even though they still hated each other, at least they were able to bear each other’s presence for the time being; something that Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike were grateful for. After going to the caramel apple stand, the group found a table and sat down. Twilight and Fluttershy talked about how much fun they were having, Spike listened, and the eco brothers continued to glare at each other with narrowed eyes. The scene would’ve looked serious if both humans weren’t holding apple treats in their hands. They occasionally took a bite out of the candy coated apples while still glaring, further making the tense situation look silly.
Everyone finished up their snack and conversations just as the other participants were gathering around the stage once again. The mayor stepped up to the podium to announce the next event, “I hope everyone has been having a fantastic Nightmare Night!” the crowd cheered, “Great! Now, for all the little ponies that have been out collecting sweets, should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of Nightmare Moooooooon! Muhahahaha!”
“The spooky voice would work better without the clown suit.” whispered Spike to Twilight.
Twilight giggled, then looked up to Isamu who had on a confused look and his arms folded, “What’s wrong, Isamu?”
Isamu looked down to her, “Nothing, I just don’t understand. What sort of legend could she be talking about? I was there when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and she barely stayed long enough to do anything more than get defeated by her sister.”
Suddenly, a plume of green smoke began to spread over the stage and what looked to Isamu to be a black and white striped pony walked into view. She had a lot of gold jewelry on and a black dress with a gold spider attached to the collar. She also had fake spiders in her hair.
“Follow me, and very soon, you shall hear the tale of Nightmare Moon.” All the kids, Twilight’s group, and Pinkie followed her to a clearing in the Everfree Forrest where a statue of Nightmare Moon was waiting. “Listen close my little dears, I’ll tell you where you got your fears.” she said while gesturing to the statue. The statue was rearing up on its hind legs with its wings flared and a look of anger on its face. After all these years, Isamu was still not impressed by how Luna looked in that form. Looking back down to the zebra, he decided to listen to what this so called legend said about the night princess.
“Of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary…” taking out some green powder, Zecora blew it into the air. The sparkling cloud formed into a green version of Nightmare Moon a split second later and dove at the children. Zecora meanwhile continued the story, “of Nightmare Moon who makes you wary.” When it hit the ground near the children, it burst into smoke.
Even though the mare of darkness’ form wasn’t impressive to him, Isamu did like Zecora’s way of telling a story, “Now that’s how you tell a story with style. Bravo Zecora.” he thought.
As some of the green smoke thinned, two menacingly narrowed eyes could be seen, “Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her searching eyes.” As she said this, a mouth with sharp looking teeth appeared in the cloud and grinned at Pipsqueak and a pink filly in a lady bug costume. When they both noticed the scary face, they screamed and ran in opposite directions with Pip going towards the statue. Suddenly, Zecora jumped through and dispelled the cloud.
“But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing…” Pipsqueak reached the statue and smacked face first into it, then looked up into the now viciously ginning statue. He backed away from it as Zecora continued.
Isamu, meanwhile, was growing concerned about the direction that this story was going. The more he listened to this story, the more it made Luna sound like…
“to gobble up ponies in one…quick…swing!”
A cannibalistic monster. “Whaaaaaaat!? Are you kidding me!?” Isamu yelled in his mind. On the outside his eyes widened and his mouth dropped so low, it was a miracle that it didn’t get unhinged.
More of the magic powder was flung into the air and turned into another green Nightmare Moon, “Hungry, she soars the sky, if she sees no pony, she passes by.” during this, the illusion looked as though it was searching for ponies even though they were right in front of it, “So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe for another year!” Right as Zecora finished the Nightmare clone flew up and burst into green sparks in front of the moon.
Isamu was greatly disturbed by this, “She can’t be serious. I saw when Luna had become Nightmare Moon and this sort of thing never happened. This is slander of the highest caliber.”
Pipsqueak tugged on Zecora’s dress, “Umm…Ms. Zecora? If we wear costumes to hide from Nightmare Moon so that she doesn’t gobble us up, how come we still need to give her some of our candy?” everyone else walked up behind him, wanting to hear the reason.
“A perfect question, my little friend.” She leaned in closer and narrowed her eyes while putting on a smile, “For Nightmare Moon, you must not offend.” She blew more of the stuff into the air and another Nightmare clone stalked towards Pip and his friends while he backed up. “Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won’t return to come eat you!!!” the clone pounced on the kids and Pinkie and dissolved into another green cloud.
Isamu was downright furious at this whole thing, “I can’t believe that someone made up this sort of story about her. I’m glad that pony isn’t here or else I would be put back in stone for the things I would do to him or her.”
The kids and Pinkie were now very scared and rushed to the statue to dump all of their candy at the base. Suddenly, the wind picked up and clouds started to gather near the moon. In a flash, a chariot, pulled by ponies with bat wings came rocketing towards the ground and flew over everyone’s heads. As it came to a stop in mid-air, the rider of the chariot was revealed to be Luna, but her face was concealed by a hooded cloak.
At the sight of the dark alicorn, Pinkie’s fear got the best of her, “AAAA, it’s Nightmare Moon! RUN!!!” this got everyone, except Twilight and Isamu, panicking and running back to Ponyville. The chariot rose back into the air and followed them back.
Isamu was first in voicing both of their thoughts, “This can’t end well.”
Twilight started running back to town, “No kidding! Let’s go, Isamu!”
“Right behind you, Twilight” he said as he followed her in the sky.
Meanwhile with Fluttershy and Ikari
Both the demon and the shy pegasus were sitting at a table and listening to the music. Well…Fluttershy was at least. Ikari was covering his ears with an annoyed expression. Fluttershy finally noticed his discomfort, “Do you really dislike music that much?” Ikari sighed and shook his head. He then pointed to the band that was playing on stage. “Oooh, you just dislike their music?” Ikari nodded. “Well maybe we could talk to get your mind off of it?” Ikari gave Fluttershy a deadpan stare. He then pointed at himself, made a talking gesture, and pointed his thumb down all with his left hand.
“Oh, that’s right, you can’t talk…wait a second. I heard you say something when you were fighting your brother yesterday. Why were you able to say something then, but not now?” Ikari shrugged. Even though it was his mind and body, he was unable to figure out the cause for his ability to speak in that one moment. It was baffling, to say the least.
“Well, anyway…don’t worry about any complex conversations. I just wanted to know you better. Even though you can’t talk, I can sort of understand you. In fact, part of my special talent is understanding animals and other creatures that can’t speak. So, if I ask you some simple questions, you just do your best to answer them…i-if that’s alright with you.” she hid her face behind her mane at the last part. The fact that she was wearing a cat costume made it look extremely cute to most, but to Ikari, he couldn’t care less. He was more focused on the fact that she was looking away from him and wouldn’t see him nod.
‘SNAP, SNAP, SNAP’
“Huh?” Fluttershy turned her head towards the sound and saw Ikari’s right hand near her face, in a position to make the sound again if need be. Seeing that he got her to face him, the purple human retracted his hand from across the table and nodded.
“Oh, that’s good. So…what do you think of Ponyville?” she said with a hopeful look. Ikari made a so-so gesture. “Good. Ummm…what do you think of the ponies he…” suddenly, screaming was heard coming from the direction of the Everfree Forest. Ikari and Fluttershy got up from their seats and turned towards the noise to see Pinkie leading a panicking group of children into the main festival area. Behind and above them trailed Luna’s chariot which stopped in the air right over the middle of the crowd. At the same time, Twilight and Isamu arrived on the scene just in time to see the dark alicorn jump from her ride, cloak billowing in the wind. After landing, she through off the hood and revealed her smiling face with furrowed brows.
“It’s a nice entrance and all, but I think the ponies are scared of her.” he whispered to Twilight. Everypony in the area was bowing to Luna with fearful faces.
Seeing what he was talking about, Twilight grew concerned, “Maybe I can talk to her before she does something to make it worse.”
“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!” bellowed Luna, “WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE WITH OUR PRESENCE SO THAT YOU MAY BEHOLD THE REAL PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!”
Twilight shouldn’t have tempted fate. Now the townsponies were downright terrified and both she and Isamu couldn’t think of anything to calm the citizens down.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy was cowering behind Ikari with her eyes closed. “I-i-it’s Nightmare Moon! Oh no! This is absolutely dreadful! What do we do, Ikari?...Ikari?” Fluttershy opened her eyes to see the horned beast stomping towards the princess with shaking fists.
During Luna’s very loud proclamation, Ikari had gotten angrier and angrier with each passing second. The volume and tone of her voice was grating on his sensitive ears and her face looked so damn smug to him that he felt like tearing it off. He knew that violence would only get him turned to stone, but he needed to stop that incessant noise. Two words kept repeating in his head as he drew closer to Luna, two words that would hopefully end this annoying racket. Energy started to build around his throat as he prepared to unleash them.
“THE NIGHTMARE MOON OF OLD HAUNTS YOU NO LONGER FOR…” she stopped as she noticed Ikari stomping over with purple electricity arcing around his throat. “SO, FOUL BEAST, YOU TOO ARE ATTENDING THIS GATHERING! WE MUST WARN YOU, CREATURE, IF YOU TRY ANYTHING WITH US, WE WILL…” The energy around Ikari’s throat grew more violent as he finally let loose the two words that were repeating in his mind.
“SHUUUUUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!”
Recovering from the sonic assault, the princess of the night retaliated, “HOW DARE YOU? YOU DISPICABLE, LOWLY Mmph!” Looking down from the demon, Luna saw a blue hand covering her mouth and followed the arm’s length to see Isamu looking at her.
“Whoooa now, Luna. I feel for ya, If you need to, I’ll let you finish, but I think my violent and angry brother has a point for once in his life.”
Luna swatted his hand away and turned to give a death glare, “EXPLAIN THIS INSTANT, YOU INSOLENT CUR!!!” she yelled, though not as loudly.
“Sorry to say, Luna, but you’ve scared everypony here. They’re cowering in fear of you.” he gestured towards the crowd. They were all indeed cowering in fear of her. Some of them hid their faces under their hooves, others were able to look up, but still had fear plastered on their faces.
“Nonsense!” Luna scoffed, “These humble citizens are just bowing to us in respect! Observe as I greet the mayor of this town who will no doubt show her admiration!” She walked over to the mayor and tried to greet her, “Madam Mayor! Your princess of the night has arrived!” she stuck her hoof out presumably for the mayor to shake, but instead the mayor herself shook in fear. She tried again with a random costumed citizen and was met with the same reaction. A few more times lead to the same results and Isamu was face palming at how long it was taking for her to get it. After the fourth time, Luna came to the saddening conclusion that the angelic human was right. “This can’t be!” she said in horrified realization. “F-fine, if that’s how it is then we are leaving!” She turned around and started walking, “You all won’t even have the pleasure of us giving you a royal farewell!”
Isamu and Twilight walked up to each other with Isamu shaking his head in disappointment, “Well that could’ve gone better.”
“I’m going to go talk to her.” said Twilight in concern. She turned to follow the princess, but was stopped when Spike tugged on her wizard cloak.
“You can’t talk to her! She’s Nightmare Moon!”
“No she’s not. I saw the elements of harmony change her back to good. It seems that she’s having trouble adjusting after being banished to the moon for a thousand years.”
“She’s right. I remember what Luna was like before she turned into Nightmare Moon. She may be harsh at times, but she cares about the citizens almost as much as her sister.” Isamu interjected. He then looked up as he reminisced about his time in stone.
1,225 years ago
Luna was in the statue garden, feeling down and having one of the servants there to talk to. “We can’t believe what the scouts found there, Dusty; hundreds of emaciated ponies in chains with scars most likely caused by whips.”
“My gosh!” said the servant.
“It gets worse.” she said with growing ire, “there were children there, Dusty, children! Some of them looked like they were beaten!”
“ ‘GASP’ W-What are we going to do?” said a shocked Dusty.
“We and Celestia are sending troops with evidence to the Griffin Republic. Hopefully their grand council will see that the evidence was not forged and will give Equestria the go ahead for a raid on that despicable Diamond Dog camp; We have asked our dear sister if we could lead it.”
“What did she say?”
“We are allowed to lead the raid. We are thankful for this as we will teach them to fear the princess of the night for their transgressions. They will pay!”
The Present
Isamu looked back down to Twilight and Spike, “Scratch that, even more than Celestia; the point is, she’s not a horrible monster like you were lead to believe; trust me.” He then looked to Twilight, “Alright, Twilight, let’s go.”
“Wait, why are you coming with me?” she asked.
“Well, besides the fact that you are pretty much one of my parole officers; I figured Luna could use two sources of emotional support instead of just one. She probably needs it after what just happened.” he said while looking at the citizens. They still looked a little spooked even after the princess left.
Twilight smiled as Isamu continued to prove that he wasn’t as selfish as he was all those years ago. “Thank you for offering your help, Isamu. That’s very kind of you.”
He waved her off, “No problem. Now, let’s hurry and catch up to Luna.” he said while running towards the Everfree Forest.
“Do you even know where she is?” she said as she caught up with him.
“I have a hunch.” and with that, they were off to comfort a very sad princess.
10 minutes later
Twilight and Isamu arrived at the site of the Nightmare Moon statue to see Luna moping in front of the effigy of her former self. Isamu bent over to whisper to Twilight before they got too close.
“Alright, Twilight; since you’re one of her subjects, I say you go in first and talk to her. I’ll come in later when you give me the signal.
“Wait, what’s the signal?” she whispered back.
“It can be anything. Trust me; I’ll know when to come out. Now go!” said Isamu while pushing the unicorn out into the open.
After getting over the fact that she was just pushed, Twilight decided to get closer to the Princess of the Night, jingling the bells on her costume. Normally, this would’ve caught anyone’s attention in an area where there was little sound, but Luna was so depressed that she didn’t notice until Twilight spoke up.
“Princess Luna?” said princess turned to her, “Hi, my name is…”
“Starswirl the Bearded. Commendable costume; you even got the bells right.” interrupted Luna.
“Yes, finally; somepony else who gets my costume!” noticing that Luna was frowning with impatience Twilight quickly composed herself, “Uh, anyway, I’ve come to welcome you to our celebration. My actual name is…”
“Twilight Sparkle.” interrupted Luna once again. The Princess then began hovering in the air as the wind started to pick up, “IT WAS YOU WHO UNLEASHED THE POWER OF HARMONY AND TOOK AWAY OUR DARK POWERS!” By the end of her very loud statement, dark clouds had rolled in and obscured most of the sky and the wind had gotten powerful enough to cause Twilight to take a few steps back to keep her footing.
“And that was a good thing, right?” she asked once the wind died down.
“But of course! We could not be happier! Is that not clear!?” Luna yelled.
“Well, it kinda sounds like you’re shouting at me. To me, it makes it sound like you’re less than thrilled.”
“But this is the traditional Canterlot voice, it is tradition to use the royal ‘We’, AND TO USE THIS MUCH VOLUME WHEN ADDRESSING OUR SUBJECTS! ” the force of her voice blew Twilight’s hat and fake beard askew.
After fixing both costume pieces, Twilight voiced her thoughts, “You know, thaaat might be why your appearance was met with less than favorable reactions; especially from Ikari.”
“Who is this Ikari of which you speak!? I’ve never heard of any…wait…ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE DEMON THAT WAS ENTRUSTED TO YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS!!?? RRRRR, HE IS LUCKY THAT HE BROKE OUT IN THIS ERA!!! ONE THOUSAND YEARS AGO, SUCH A TRANSGRESSION WOULD’VE BEEN MET WITH INCARCERATION IN THE DUNGEON FOR 5 YEARS!!! IT IS ONLY BECAUSE OF OUR SISTER THAT SUCH A PENALTY FOR THAT ACTION IS NO LONGER PART OF THE LAW! ALSO, WE THOUGHT HIS NAME WAS DARK!” By the end of her rant, she was gritting her teeth and snorting like a bull.
Once again, Twilight was blown back a few feet and once again, had to fix the two costume pieces on her head. After doing this a second time, she explained the name change, “It was actually Isamu’s idea, Light’s new name by the way, to change their names. He told me that he wanted a new name to go with his new body. Spike came up with his name and also a name for his brother”
After the explanation, Luna calmed herself down a bit, but not much, “Both names are appropriate, we suppose! Bravery and Rage for Light and Dark respectively! Even though we do not like Isamu, we must commend him for his brave act of protecting you and the bearers!”
“Yes, it was very brave of him, but I think what we should be focusing on is how the ponies view you; and I think with our help, you will be met with a warmer reception.”
Luna was puzzled for a second by the use of the word ‘our’, “Wait, ‘our’ as in…” suddenly a blue, lightly glowing arm draped itself over her neck. Looking to her right, she was met with Isamu’s smiling face.
“Hey there beautiful; miss me?”
Luna decided to keep her cool so as not to give the angelic human the possible amusement of seeing her flustered, “So, you have decided to help us. Tell us, what do you have to gain from this!?”
Isamu took his arm off of her, “You mean besides possibly making a new friend?” he took a big gasp of air as if he was going to yell his answer, but did something totally unexpected.
“Nothing at all.” he said in a normal voice.
“WHAT?” said Luna in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“It’s true, princess. He really isn’t doing this for anything other than for your benefit.” said Twilight helpfully.
“So what do you say, Luna?” he extended his hand, “Ready to bury the hatchet and let me help you?” he said with a smile.
Luna wasn’t sure she could trust him. She barely knew him and their first meeting wasn’t exactly pleasant. However, she really didn’t have much of a choice in this case. Almost everypony believed her to still be Nightmare Moon and her entrance only served to increase their fear of her. With not one, but two helpers, her chances of getting the citizens to not be afraid of her and accept her as a benevolent ruler would be a lot higher. After a few more seconds, she gave her answer.
“VERY WELL, HUMAN. WE WILL PUT OUR TRUST IN YOU. DO NOT MAKE US REGRET DOING SO. ARE WE CLEAR!?”
Isamu had one hand over an ear and gave the ok gesture with the other, “Crystal.” After getting over the battering of his eardrums, he clapped his hands and pointed to her with his hands still clasped together, “Alright, so…I have an idea of how to start things off, but I need to know if you can create illusions with your magic”
Realizing what he was getting at, Twilight spoke up, “Isamu, you can’t solve everything with a stylish entrance. We should focus more on her social interactions with the citizens.”
“Party pooper.” said Isamu.
Rolling her eyes and smiling at his response, she decided to throw him a bone, “If we have time afterwards, then maybe you could choreograph a stylish entrance for her.”
“Heh, heh, I was hoping for that. You can almost never go wrong when you throw style into the mix.” he said with a cheeky grin.
Looking back to Luna, Twilight started things off by addressing the first social faux pa that came to mind, “Anyway, I think the first thing we should work on is your voice.”
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR VOICE?” she said while facing the purple unicorn.
“It’s way too loud.” said Isamu, “Seriously, do you talk to your sister in that voice?” he said as he walked into Luna’s view.
“Well no, but…!”
“THEN DON”T TALK LIKE THAT TO OTHER PONIES!!!” he yelled while cupping his hands near his mouth.
“Grrrrr!!!” she growled. How dare this human yell at her, this was the second time it happened and she was getting sick of such disrespect.
“Enough, Isamu; she gets it!” Twilight reprimanded.
“What? I’m just showing her how it sounds.” he responded; the cheeky grin back in place.
“It was unnecessary.” she retorted, with an unamused look, “Please apologize to her.”
“Alright, alright.” he said as he waved her off. He then looked back to Luna, “Sorry for yelling at you, but you have to admit that my method of showing you how inappropriate your volume is was very effective.”
“I suppose so, but it was still rude!” she said with narrowed eyes. She then focused her attention back to Twilight. “We are not sure if we can learn to talk at an appropriate volume to our subjects; we have been locked away for a thousand years after all!”
Suddenly, Twilight got an idea. She looked at Isamu with a smile and he looked back at her, returning it, “Isamu, are you thinking what I’m thinking.”
“Is it yellow with a pink mane?”
“Uh-huh.”
“What are you two talking about!?” said Luna. She did not like being kept in the dark.
They turned to her. “Fluttershy!” both of them responded.
At that very moment in Ponyville
“ACHOO!” for some unexplainable reason, Fluttershy sneezed. Ikari raised an eye brow. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m not coming down with anything.” she assured. They had been walking for a while, looking at all the decorations, playing games at Fluttershy’s request, and periodically getting a snack or drink. Currently, Ikari had a handful of various Nightmare themed chocolates and Fluttershy had a soda clasped in a wing.
However, not all was well. Almost every citizen that Fluttershy tried to talk to were either too timid to do so, or kept their conversations with her short. She suspected that the citizens were not used to Ikari yet. This was understandable as he was a very scary thing to behold. It was unfortunate that they didn’t realize that they wouldn’t be hurt as long as they didn’t make him angry. Ikari, on the other claw, wasn’t bothered by this in the slightest. The only pony he could really stand to be around was Fluttershy anyway. Although, he still found it strange that she wasn’t afraid of him. She never showed any aggressive or bossy behavior towards him, but she certainly wasn’t timid around him. It was a very puzzling conundrum.
“Footcherrrrsih?” he tried and failed miserably at saying Fluttershy’s name, but it got her attention as shown when she stopped and turned to face him.
“Yes, Ikari? What is it?” she said with her head tilted and a questioning look.
He then started to mime his question. He first pointed to himself and then put both hands up in a clawing motion. Next, he pointed to her, then the surrounding area, and hunched over while putting on a scared face. Finally he pointed to her, then himself, and gave a thumbs up.
“Crrrrrih?” he grunted, returning her questioning look.
“You’re wondering why I’m not scared of a monster like you when I’m terrified of a lot of other things?” Ikari nodded in response. “Well, that’s because I don’t see you as a monster.”
“Hrmmm?” Ikari questioned.
“I see you as someone who feels angry most of the time, but is not unable to feel something else. Earlier you laughed when you pranked Rainbow Dash and yesterday you laughed alongside Pinkie Pie when Isamu pranked her.” Ikari turned his head away and scratched at it in what Fluttershy assumed was sheepishness. “Even right now, you aren’t angry, are you?” Ikari shook his head “See? It’s moments like these that give me hope that you can learn to control your anger and maybe make friends.” At the mention of friends, Ikari folded his arms and narrowed his eyes in disgust. “Oh, please don’t be like that.” she said with a frown, “Friends are wonderful to have.” Ikari gave her a thumbs down.
“Sigh”
They walked for a little while longer before they ran into Twilight, Isamu, and Luna. At the sight of Luna, Fluttershy hid behind Ikari, shaking like a leaf.
“Hi Fluttershy. Listen we need help with something and we think you are the best mare for the job.” said Twilight.
Poking her head out from behind the demonic shield, Fluttershy looked to the three with a very scared look, “W-what would you l-like m-me to do?” she said in a terrified voice.
Twilight knew her friend would be scared of Luna, but she also knew that Fluttershy was the best pony for this task, “We need you to help Princess Luna with finding an appropriate speaking voice. Will you help us?”
At the thought of helping the alicorn that she feared, Fluttershy ducked her head back behind Ikari with an “EEP!” she then began giving excuses to not help, “O-oh, no I can’t because…I just remembered that I forgot to feed Angel! Oh, and Ikari is feeling very tired so I think we’ll just be going home now. Come along, Ikari.” she said in a hurried tone. She then galloped away while looking over her shoulder. Ikari rolled his eyes and ran after her. A few seconds later, Fluttershy was seen being carried over his shoulder and banging her hooves on his back.
“Noooo! I want to live! I want to live!” she screamed. She gave up when she realized that trying to get out of the human’s hold was useless. When Ikari put her down, Fluttershy was revealed to be keeping her eyes shut tight. When she finally opened them, she was looking at a black moon necklace. Looking up she stared into the eyes of what the pegasus perceived to be a horrible monster.
After staring at the quivering pegasus for a few seconds, Luna looked back to Twilight, “ARE YOU SURE SHE WILL BE ABLE TO HELP US? SHE LOOKS TOO SCARED TO DO ANYTHING!” her confidence in her subject’s plan was starting to wane.
“Trust me, Princess. Fluttershy has one of the sweetest voices around, she can help you.”
Luna turned to face Fluttershy once again, “SO, YOUNG PEGASUS. DO YOU TRULY KNOW WHAT WAY WE SHOULD SPEAK TO OUR CITIZENS? IF SO, ENLIGHTEN US.”
Oh…well…um…”
“IS THIS A GOOD LEVEL OF VOLUME?”
“Uh…” Fluttershy said in a quiet voice.
“SHOULD WE MIMIC YOUR VOICE?”
“Ok.” she said, while becoming even more scared.
“HOW IS THIS?”
“Great, lesson over!” she said with a fake smile. She then tried to run away again, but this time she didn’t even get more than five feet away. Looking back, Fluttershy saw that Ikari had her by the tail. Twilight and Isamu looked at each other.
“Should you tell her, or should I?” asked Isamu.
“I’ll do it. She would most likely listen to me more than you. I am one of her subjects after all.”
“Sounds good. May I help as I see fit?”
“Sure.”
Twilight walked over to Luna and tapped her on the shoulder; gaining the night princess’ attention, “I think it should be a bit quieter, princess.”
“HOW IS this!?” she said, sounding unsure of herself.
Isamu took this moment to chime in, “Ok, but you need to make it just a little bit quieter. You still sound a little bit like you’re yelling.” he said, gaining her attention.
Luna thought about what Isamu said and tried again, “How…about…now!?” she said in a slightly quieter voice.
“Better.” complimented Twilight.
“And how about now?” she finally said in a normal voice.
“Perfect.” said Isamu while giving her a thumbs up. He then gave her a pat on the back, “Congratulations, Luna, you’ve completed step number one.”
Feeling overjoyed towards this new development, Luna expressed her appreciation of Fluttershy’s help. She used her telekinesis to grab the pegasus, whom was trying to sneak away at the time, and proceeded to give her a bear hug with her forelegs, “OH, THANK YOU DEAR FLUTTERSHY! OUR NORMAL SPEAKING VOICE WILL SURELY…HUH!?” Suddenly, Isamu got between them, holding Fluttershy under his left arm and pushing the princess back a couple of feet with his right hand, he then used the same hand to put up a half sphere shield, it would be needed considering the stunt he just pulled.
“YOU DARE SEPARATE US FROM OUR SUBJECT WHILE WE ARE SHOWING OUR APRECIATION!?” The now irate princess of the night slammed her fore-hooves on the shield with enough force to crack solid stone. However, Isamu’s shield was so strong that her assault only caused ripples to spread over it.
Isamu was a bit annoyed for a different reason, “Luna. You just got done learning the correct volume of which to speak to your citizens and now, not only did you painfully squeeze one of them, but you also yelled in her face; in front of more of your citizens no less.” They were in an area where there weren’t as many ponies, but it didn’t matter, as they were scared of the princess’ display all the same.
“Twilight! Isamu! You gotta hide us Nightmare Moon is here and…BKCAW!” It was at this moment, that Isamu thought that he had the worst luck. Pinkie, along with the colts and fillies that were with her before, came upon the scene and saw Luna’s forehooves still resting on his shield.
“Oh my gosh! Nightmare Moon is attacking Isamu! If she beats him, she’ll come after us next! RUN!” and with that she lead the children away screaming.
This worried the princess as she tried to call them back. “NO, CHILDREN! WAIT ! I mean; no, children! Wait!” but it was no use as Pinkie and the children were too far away and too scared to hear her. To make matters worse, the townsponies that were still in the area continued to act frightened of her as a result of what happened. She couldn’t believe how quickly the situation went downhill, but she had an idea of who was really to blame; at least, that was how she saw it.
“Now look at what you’ve done!” Luna said as she turned to Isamu.
“Well excuuuuuuuse me, princess, but I wasn’t the one who was invading another pony’s personal space and yelling at them in their face.” he said with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed in a glare. It was unknown when he had put Fluttershy down.
“Please! Everything would’ve been fine if you hadn’t interfered!”
“Are you kidding!? You were squeezing the life out of Fluttershy and yelling! What sort of pony would find that pleasant to watch!?”
“They would’ve seen that I was just showing how thankful I was; idiot!”
“Retard!”
“Ass!”
“Old mare!”
“Quiet!” yelled Twilight from a few feet behind Isamu. Both the human and the alicorn looked at the costumed unicorn, “Fighting won’t solve the issue of Princess Luna being liked by the citizens of Ponyville.”
“Alright, Twilight Sparkle, what will solve it?” asked Luna.
“Plan B.”
A few minutes later found Twilight, Isamu, and Luna coming back to the main area of the festival with Isamu on the right, Luna on the left, and Twilight in between them. Fluttershy had decided to go home for the night and took Ikari with her. As the three of them walked by some of the citizens, they noticed that all of the ponies were either cowering in fear of Luna or turning around and running the other way at the sight of her. This hurt the princess greatly, but surprisingly, it made Isamu quite angry, however, Luna didn’t notice this.
“It is no use, Twilight Sparkle. They have never liked us, and they never will.”
“Oh, come on, Luna.” said Isamu while throwing up his hands in frustration, “You’re already giving up before even trying plan B?” He then realized that he was missing an important piece of information, “By the way, Twilight. What exactly is plan B?” he said when he looked at the purple unicorn.
“Plan B is Applejack. A lot of ponies like her; so maybe she has some ideas on how to get the other ponies to like Princess Luna.” she said with a smile.
“That’s better than my plan.”
“Let me guess; a dazzling entrance for the princess?” Twilight said with a deadpan.
“How did you know!?” said Isamu in mock surprise. He then put his hands to his cheeks and dropped his jaw, furthering the charade of fake shock.
Twilight rolled her eyes as they continued to walk, “Lucky guess.” Isamu wiped off the fake surprised look on his face and replaced it with a grin.
Applejack, who was in a scarecrow costume, was over by the bobbing for apples game saving Pipsqueak from falling in. The second she turned around, what greeted her was the sight of Princess Luna only a few feet in front of her. The shock of suddenly seeing the feared princess caused her to jump a couple feet into the air and then bow down in fright.
Isamu decided to do something different to move things along. He pushed Luna back a bit, stood in her place, and put his hands on his hips, “APPLEJACK!” he yelled. The orange farm mare jumped to her hooves and looked up at the angelic human’s face. “DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A DEPENDABLE PONY!?” he yelled again, this time sounding like a drill sergeant.
The mentioning of being dependable combined with how he sounded caused Applejack to snap to attention; complete with a salute. “YES SIR!”
“ARE YOU GOING TO LET FEAR KEEP YOU FROM HELPING SOMEPONY IN NEED!?”
“NO SIR!”
“AND ARE YOU…GOING TO HELP PRINCESS LUNA FIT IN AROUND HERE!?” he said, leaning down and getting right up in Applejack’s face; having a stern expression on his own.
“YES SI…Wait, what?” Applejack did a mental double take as her stoic, soldier like expression turned into confusion.
Isamu’s angry drill sergeant face disappeared and was replaced by a smile that was so goofy that it would make Pinkie Pie proud. Getting out of the mare’s face and standing up straight, he then drew attention to the night princess with a grand sweeping gesture, “That’s right, my southern friend.” Walking over to the ruler, Isamu once again draped an arm over her, “Poor ol’ Luna here needs help in socializing with her citizens. So we thought that the most likeable pony in Ponyville would be able to give her that help.” He then walked back over to Applejack, “So what do you say?” he said with a smile.
“Well shoot, I’d be happy to help. Why didn’t ya just say that in the first place, sugarcube?” She really did want to know what was up with the over the top way of asking her for a favor.
“Where’s the fun in just saying it in the first place?”
The orange mare shrugged slightly, “I guess.” She then looked at Luna and walked over to her, “Don’t worry, Princess; it’s easy. All you have to do is have the right attitude. Loosen up a bit, be positive, play some games, and have some fun.” she said as she zipped towards her from different directions. Isamu, meanwhile, was wondering how she was doing that.
“Alright then, what sort of games does one play at a celebration such as this in the modern era?”
Applejack looked around and spotted a nearby game, “Well, Princess, we have right here the spider toss. All ya have to do is use your hooves to throw the spiders at the net. The closer ya are to the middle, the more points ya get.” she explained with a smile. “Why don’t ya give it a try?”
Luna walked up to the bowl of fake plastic spiders and scooped one up in her hoof. She threw it, but the toy fell way too short of the net. She looked back at the group behind her.
“Come on, Princess! You can do it!” cheered Twilight.
The Night Princess tried one more time and succeeded in getting one of the spiders to stick. “Ah! Your Princess enjoys this game!” she said with glee.
Isamu walked up to her with a big grin, “Alright, Luna! Fist bump!” he said while raising one up. The princess wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do in response, so she guessed. Luna raised one of her fore-hooves and clashed it with the human’s fist with an extreme amount of force. A deafening bang came from the meeting of their respective appendages. It’s a good thing that Isamu was using the same amount of force, or else his hand would’ve been crushed.
Isamu looked at the fist and hoof that were still touching with wide eyes, then at Luna with a growing smile that showed his pure white teeth. “Now that’s what I call an epic fist bump!” he complimented while nodding in approval.
Luna returned the smile with a smaller one and put her hoof down, “Thank you.” She then turned to Twilight and Applejack, “Tell us, what other games are there to play?”
And so, Luna, Isamu, and Twilight tried out a few games. The pumpkin catapult, the water balloon clown game, and the ring toss were just a few of them. While they were enjoying these games, some of the adults started to warm up to the princess that they had feared, though most of them kept their distance. The ones who did warm up to her even joined in on the games and also made small talk with her.
They were walking by the bobbing for apples game when Pipsqueak fell in. Luna rushed over to rescue him with her teeth while Isamu looked around as he was sure this would look bad to those who would come upon this scene. Right as he had this thought, Pinkie walked into the area with the group of children, but had not noticed the sort of awkward scene.
“Un, uh, not this time, Pinkie.” The glowing blue human ran towards and a little off to the side of them so that when he got her attention, Pinkie and the children would be looking away from Luna. “Hey Pinkie!” said mare and children looked to him, “Watch this!” He then unfurled his wings as he shot a large eco bolt straight up into the air. It went high before he closed his hand and caused it to explode into hundreds of shining white sparks that rained down on the group before him. Since it was light eco that was raining down, the mare and kids weren’t harmed by it.
The whole group was greatly entertained by this, but none more so than Pinkie, “Wow, Isamu! You’re really on a roll tonight when it comes to performing!”
“Why thank you, my enthusiastic friend.” he said with a bow. Looking up, he saw that Luna had put Pip down and he was now running to join up with the rest of the kids, “If you would excuse me, I need to be getting back to my other friends.” He stood back up, “Farewell for now!” Isamu said as he flew back to his original spot next to Twilight.
Twilight looked up to him as he landed, “Where were you just now?”
“I was preventing Pinkie from starting another panic. I don’t think it would’ve been good for the most easily excitable pony in Equestria to see the princess holding a colt between her teeth.”
Luna walked back up to them with her head hanging down and a sad look on her face, “It would not matter, human.”
“What?” he said to her with a surprised face.
“Most of the citizens are still afraid of me. I tried playing games with them and making small talk, but a majority of the ponies I try to talk to end up being to scared to look directly at me. It’s nice that some of them are willing to give me a chance, but the feeling is ruined when I see a good number of them running away.” she said with a very saddened voice.
“I see that you’re not referring to yourself as we and us anymore.” said Isamu.
She looked up at him with a frown, “Yes, I figured out that since the tradition of talking loudly to my subjects was inappropriate, using the royal “we” when referring to myself might also be socially incorrect; but that isn’t the point. The point is that most of my citizens are still scared of me and I don’t see how I don’t know what more I can do to get more of them to give me a chance.” she said with in a sad tone. Isamu got a little worried and looked to Twilight for a possible solution.
“Sorry Isamu, but if I had known one of the princesses was coming, I would’ve been a lot more prepared for this. I’m just as stumped as you are.” she said with a sad look and flattened ears.
“Dang it, there must be something we can do. Luna is leaving and it’s looking like all of our hard work is going to be for nothing.” he said as he watched said princess walk away. The idea of Luna going home in misery did not sit well with him. Suddenly, a very ominous sound came from seemingly nowhere.
“AWWOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“What was that?” said Twilight with widened eyes, though she did have an idea of what it was.
“I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling about this.”
Right as he said that, a black pegasus with a blue mane came flying up to them, “Twilight, uuuh…”
“Isamu.” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“Right.” the pegasus then turned back to Twilight, “We’ve got biiiiig trouble!”
“What’s wrong, Thunderlane?”
“We have a huge pack of Timberwolves heading this way from the outskirts of town!”
“Wait, what are timberwolves?” asked Isamu.
Twilight turned to explain her now confirmed fears, “Timberwolves are wolves made out of mostly wood and can reform if you shatter them. They live mostly in the Everfree Forest. The only way to get rid of them is by incineration or scaring them off by proving that you’re too big of a threat or loud noises.”
That answered one question, but there was still one thing that was missing, “Do you know why they would come here?”
“Well, they’re usually attracted by the smell of prey, somepony entering their territory, or…” Twilight then looked at the human with widened eyes as she came to a very unfortunate conclusion, “…bright lights.”
Isamu’s eyes widened as he knew exactly what she was getting at, “You have got to be kidding me.”
“I really wish I was.”
Isamu then put on a thinking face, “You said that they can be driven off if I beat them up a bit?”
“Yes.”
He then looked towards Luna, who was now quite a distance away, and smiled, “I think I have an idea of how to kill two birds with one stone.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, “What do you mean?” instead of answering her, Isamu flew over to Luna.
Luna, meanwhile, was still feeling down about the night. Nothing that she, Twilight, or Isamu did was having much of an effect on the citizens’ opinion of her. Though she did have to give Isamu some credit, despite first impressions saying otherwise, the human was showing a genuine interest in helping others. Just as she was about to turn a corner, said human landed right in front of her.
“Luna, Ponyville is in danger!”
“What is this danger?” she said, sounding worried.
“A huge pack of timberwolves is coming this way and we’re probably the only ones with good enough combat experience to hold them off.”
Luna’s eyes widened at this sudden news, but then narrowed and her brows furrowed. She knew how dangerous timberwolves could be and she would not let a single one get near her subjects, regardless of how they viewed her.
Isamu grinned maniacally at the face Luna was making. It told him exactly what he wanted to hear, “Alright! Let’s go make some firewood!”
They flew off towards the Everfree Forest since that was the direction the timberwolves were coming from and intercepted them right as the pack entered the park. Isamu was not impressed; he expected animals that looked like they were carved from wood and only had gaps near the joints so that they could move, not random pieces of foliage put together to resemble an animal. To him they looked positively flimsy.
“These rickety things pose a threat to you guys?”
“Don’t underestimate them. They can be very formidable foes.” said Luna, never taking her eyes off the pack of ravenous pack of wolves. Said pack was a sizeable one, one that was large enough to completely block the duo’s view of the forest beyond.
Taking a page from Jak’s book, Isamu started things off in a similar way that said human would, “HA, HA, HA! Take this!” he cackled. He then thrust a hand out at the part of the pack that was directly in front of him and shot out a medium size eco beam that blew apart all that it touched into millions of pieces. “Ha! Told you they were rickety!” he said while looking at Luna. She then pointed a hoof back at where he shot the eco and Isamu saw that the wolves that he blew apart were coming back together, “Riiiight…I forgot they could do that.” he said sheepishly.
“Enough talk, let’s fight!” Luna bellowed.
“You got it!” with that, they rushed into the horde of wooden wolves, delivering countless blows to each of the vicious animals. Bark breaking punches and cedar shattering kicks flew from both powerhouses as they made their way through the pack. Meeting back up in the middle, they saw that a lot of the wolves had reformed their bodies and were advancing from all angles. Not liking the idea of being surrounded Isamu quickly thought of an idea to clear some of them out.
“Luna, give me your hooves!” said Isamu.
“Why!?”
“Just do it!”
Deciding not to question it further, the princess did as requested and found herself swung around in a full circle just as eight of the timberwolves lunged at them. As her hind hooves met each of their faces, the wolves either found their heads smacked clean off or their whole bodies being kicked into the tree line. After two more times of being swung around like a bat, Isamu let Luna’s hind hooves touch the ground. Not missing a beat, she planted said hooves firmly on the ground and started swinging the human around as he did her. They kept alternating until Isamu spoke up.
“On the count of three, I’m going to let go so that I can be flung off! Keep swinging me in a circle when I start counting!” he said as they continued to alternate every three or four swings.
Luna wondered why he wanted to do this, but didn’t question it as she was also curious to see what would happen.
“One!”
Luna started swinging Isamu.
“Two!”
She got ready to stop herself from spinning once he let go.
“THREE!”
Isamu let go and Luna caught herself before she could fall from the excessive spinning. Looking in the direction that he was thrown, she saw that the human was flying at the beasts like a shuriken. Right before he reached their foes, Isamu formed a shield around himself and plowed through them like a train through paper. After he stopped, Isamu flew back to the princess of the night and surveyed the amount of damage his and Luna’s joint attack did.
“Heh, wimps.” he said as he watched a sizeable chunk of them retreat after reforming.
“Fool! There are still the rest of them to deal with!” Luna yelled. Indeed, even though a lot of them left, most of them were still there and looked angrier than before.
Isamu noticed the situation they were in, but still grinned at the princess, “Well then…” he held up a hand that had a ball of light eco in it, “…let’s kick it up a notch!” he said as he threw it at the approaching wolves. It exploded when it came in contact and took out ten of them. There was only enough foliage left to make five of them this time.
Seeing that the two unusual beings were upping their ante, the timberwolf pack decided to up theirs as well by charging at them from all sides at once. This forced the human and alicorn to fly into the air and begin firing at them with eco bolts and magic shots respectively.
Luna had not fought in over a millennium, but her ability to use her magic had not decreased in the slightest as more and more timberwolves were either broken apart or incinerated by her magical might. After firing a few more magic shots at the grounded wolves, Luna charged up her horn and unleashed a continuous beam that destroyed a large portion of the pack as it swept across her field of vision.
Meanwhile, Isamu was having some fun blasting away at the timberwolves below him as he made several passes over the horde. He then created a shield in midair that caused him to drop as he was going forward. The momentum carried him towards a group of timberwolves that were in a strangely triangular pattern and ran them all over, shattering each one. “Strike!” he said as his shield dissipated. Facing his right palm towards the remains, he incinerated most of it with a charged up eco bolt. Both continued with the obliteration of the pack until most of them were either destroyed or ran away. By the time they let up, only a sixth of the timberwolves were left.
Isamu smirked, “So it’s just down to you guys? This should be…”
“AWOOOOOO” howled the one in the lead.
Suddenly, they began to disassemble themselves and the parts floated and converged at the center of the group; starting to form carriage sized feet.
“Uh, Luna, what are they doing?” asked Isamu.
“They’re forming an Oak Wolf!” yelled Luna as she flew up.
Isamu looked up at her as she hovered high in the air, “What’s an Oak Wolf!?” he yelled up to her. He then sniffed the air as the scent of pine wafted to his nose. Looking down to the source, Isamu got a load of the giant head of what he presumed to be what Luna was talking about.
“Oooooooh, so that’s an Oak Wolf.” he said in realization.
“RRRAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR!!!” the giant wolf roared. It then tried to chomp down on him, but the glowing human clapped his hands and vanished from sight just as its humongous jaws bit into his original spot, receiving nothing but a mouthful of dirt for his trouble.
Isamu reappeared next to Luna and smiled, “Ready to take this thing down?”
“Do you even need to ask?” Luna quipped.
They flew down towards the monster wolf and dodged the claws coming their way as it tried to swat them out of the air. Luna fired magic shots at its face while Isamu landed near one of its front paws. He then punched with enough force to shatter two of its tows. “RRRRAAAAAAH!!!” the oak wolf roared in pain. It backed up and tried to reassemble its injured foot, but Luna flew up and bucked it in the cheek. The power in her kick caused the monster to fall over. Seeing a chance to get on top of it to do some damage, Isamu sprinted at it.
(epic music skip to 0:50 and open in new tab by right clicking)
‘CRUNCH’
Suddenly, Luna came down and chopped the paw off by forcefully landing on it. “Thanks for the weapon.” said Isamu as he held the giant severed limb. He then flew up to its face and used the paw to slap it a few times. Luna helped by ramming into its side after Isamu was done. The oak wolf once again fell down. Only this time, more of its body was severely damaged. Its front midsection was shattered, it was missing a paw, and huge pieces of its face were gone. However, the wolf wasn’t done yet. The pieces that lay scattered around the park glowed and floated towards the main body. As it repaired itself, the wolf started to limp over to the two hovering individuals in an effort to continue the fight.
“Damn. This thing just won’t quit.” said Isamu incredulously.
“Indeed.” Luna replied. She had an idea, but needed to be sure of something. Looking beyond where the wolf was she saw that the Everfree Forest was behind it; meaning that they were facing away from Ponyville.
Looking to Isamu she told him her plan, “Human.”
“It’s Isamu.”
“Whatever. Listen, I have a very destructive spell that will obliterate the Oak Wolf, but it needs a few seconds to be properly cast.”
“Ooooh I get it. Don’t say another word. I’m on it.”
“Just be sure to keep it in front of me. I don’t want to risk the citizens’ lives.”
“Got it!” Isamu said as he flew off. With that, Luna began manipulating her magic into the correct form for casting the spell. Meanwhile, Isamu distracted the wolf, but was careful to keep it in that particular area of the park.
‘BOOM’
“Whoops!”
‘BAM’
“Missed me!”
‘BANG’
“You probably suck at whack-a-metal head!”
Isamu was using a weaker version of his flash freeze to have just enough speed to keep ahead of the Oak Wolf’s now repaired paws which were trying to smash the glowing human like a firefly. Each failed attempt got the wolf angrier and angrier. This also resulted in it getting sloppier with its stomping.
After a few more moments of dodging, Isamu spotted something that put a smile on his face, “Oh, this is just too perfect.” he then looked at Luna and guessed that the princess was close to completing the spell as evidenced by the star-like glow that was emanating from her horn. He sprinted over to her and started making the same light he used for his regeneration power, shine down on Luna.
“What are you doing!? I thought I told you to distract it!?” she yelled.
“I’m just giving you some extra energy in case this takes a lot out of you. Besides, aren’t you almost done with charging up your spell?”
“Yes, but now the wolf is coming right at us. You’re lucky that I’m ready now. Stand back!” Isamu did as requested, but still kept the ray of light on her. The moment she cast the spell, multiple large portals opened up and what could be seen from the oak wolf’s side were hundreds of white pinpoints of light. The beast only had a second to wonder what was going to come out of the portals before it was pelted with an almost immeasurable amount of shooting stars. Each one punched a baseball sized hole in its body and burned the area around it. In seconds, the Oak Wolf and two miles of the Everfree Forest were reduced to ash.
Letting go of her magic, Luna took a deep breath and surveyed the destruction she caused. She smiled when she saw that the oak wolf was too damaged to reform itself and looked to her left when she saw Isamu walking up to her with a huge smile on his face while clapping, “Now that is what I call stylish.” he said after he stopped. “A+” he then gave a thumbs up.
Luna raised an eyebrow and gave a smirk, “I didn’t know I was being graded on my performance. Also, thank you for giving me some of your energy with that light.”
“Oh, you mean that glorified spotlight? That didn’t do anything besides illuminate you and the area around you.” he said with a cheeky grin.
Now Luna was confused, “But then, what was it for?” she said while lowering the raised brow.
“So that THEY could focus mostly on you!” he said while pointing behind her. She looked and beheld most of the citizens of Ponyville were standing at the edge of the park with mouths once again agape at the display they had just witnessed and once again they stomped the ground in applause. A large portion of them ran up to them and gave her various compliments.
“We saw the whole fight with the oak wolf!” a pony said.
“You and Isamu were amazing!” another said.
“Our hero!” still another said.
Every adult was there giving her praise and the princess was feeling more and more joy over this change in their view. After a minute or so of seeing and talking to their new hero, the ponies elected to go back to the area in front of town hall to continue the festival. As Luna, Isamu, and Twilight followed the crowd back, Luna felt that she needed to ask something.
“Hu…I mean, Isamu?” she asked.
“Yeah?”
“Why did you make sure that the ponies of Ponyville knew that it was I that vanquished the oak wolf?”
“Because my whole reason for even getting you to help me was so that I could make you look like a hero.”
“What?” she wasn’t sure if she heard him right.
“Yep, see I really didn’t want to fail at helping to get the ponies to like you. So, when I heard that the town was going to be attacked, I used it as a way of making you look like a hero so that your citizens would at least give you a chance. Now all you have to do is use your new social skills to build a relationship with them.”
“Thank you, very much, Isamu. I greatly appreciate your effort.” she said with a smile. They then walked in silence for a bit until Luna had another question, “One last thing, Isamu. Why did you put so much effort into getting my subjects to like me?”
Isamu stopped and so did Luna and Twilight after a few paces. They then turned around and looked to see that he was thinking about his response. He thought about it for a moment before looking back at Luna, “Well…I guess it’s because your situation reminds me a little bit of the one that Jak was in.”
“Really, what happened?” Luna said, feeling sorry for this person that Isamu used to be a part of.
“Like I told Twilight, I’d rather not have to repeat myself. The next time Twilight and her friends are together, I’ll tell them and Twilight can tell you and Celestia about it. Unless you want to come to the next get together they have.”
Luna shook her head, “No, that’s ok. I’ll most likely be too busy for that. This is probably one of the few times I can take some time off.” She then remembered what they were talking about, “But back to the matter at hoof, you put so much effort in to this because you didn’t want something similar to happen to me as it did with Jak?”
“Exactly; I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if one of my friends went through the same rejection that Jak did.” he said with a smile.
“You consider me your friend!?” Luna said in surprise.
“Luna, you care deeply for your citizens, are willing to protect them no matter what cost, despite what some of them think of you, made an effort to learn how to act around them; and you’re pretty fun to hang out with if the time spent playing games with you is any indication. Bottom line, you’re a good mare, Luna. There isn’t any reason why I wouldn’t want to be your friend.
Luna teared up at this. She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t expecting anypony tonight, besides maybe Twilight Sparkle, to want to be her friend, much less point out reasons why they would want to. What made this situation even more surprising, but also heartwarming, was that he wanted to be friends with her despite her showing of disdain for his him and initial unwillingness to let him help. He still wanted to be her friend; and now the idea of him being one didn’t seem that farfetched.
“And you have me as a friend too, princess. I already knew you were a changed mare who just wanted her citizens to like her. Well, now you have that and two knew personal friends.” said Twilight as she walked up next to Isamu.
Luna looked at the human and unicorn that stayed by her side from the beginning and was unable to hold her emotions in any longer. She rushed up and nearly knocked Isamu and Twilight down when she hugged them the tightest she’d ever hugged anypony before. They were stunned for a second, but smiled and returned the hug with just as much pressure.
After a moment, Isamu spoke up, “Come now, Luna. If you don’t stop hugging us, ponies will start to talk.” He said with an amused grin.
Luna continued to hug him, despite what he said, “You two are my first friends in this new era, be quiet and let me hug you.”
Twilight’s smile grew as they continued the embrace. It looked like their plan to get the citizens of Ponyville to like the princess was a huge success. Better still, Luna had gained a new friend. It seemed like nothing could possibly go wrong.
Once again, somepony had tempted fate as a particularly pink mare came on the scene right when Luna was still hugging Isamu. Seeing this, Pinkie once again caused a panic. Except this time, it was just among the kids that she was with.
“Oh no! Nightmare Moon is attacking Isamu again and this time she’s attacking Twilight as well! Run away before we’re caught in the crossfire!” she yelled.
Both she and the children once again ran away. At this point, the three had ended their hug and Isamu was getting sick of Pinkie stirring up a panic over nothing. He turned to Luna to see that she was confused over Pinkie and the children’s reaction to her. He then turned to Twilight who nodded, telling him that she was thinking the exact same thing.
“Luna, as your new friends, let us deal with this matter.”
“Thank you. Come find me when you’re finished.”
Both Isamu and Twilight nodded to her and ran in the direction that Pinkie Pie went. After some time passed, Twilight looked up to Isamu while he was looking around for the pink mare, “Why don’t we split up and signal each other when one of us has found her?”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll go this way…” he said while pointing in one direction, “…and you go that way.” He said when he pointed in the opposite one.
With their actions planned out, they proceeded to do just that. Isamu flew around so that he could have a bird’s eye view, and Twilight used her horn to light up the darker areas. However, all this effort was not needed as a mare in a chicken suit wasn’t that hard to spot. Both of them saw her walking near one of the more open areas of the residential part of town and signaled each other at the same time. Twilight shot a large column of purple light into the air and Isamu fired an exploding eco shot in the same direction.
Pinkie, meanwhile, was enjoying herself. She just got another huge load of candy from several houses and was making her way back to the festival area to play some more games. Suddenly, from a nearby alley, Twilight walked out with a stern expression on her face, but Pinkie didn’t seem to notice.
“Hi, Twilight! How goes Nightmare Night?” Pinkie said with her usual humongous smile.
Twilight wasn’t as chipper in her response, “Pinkie Pie, we need to talk.”
“What about?” Pinkie asked jubilantly, still oblivious to Twilight’s current mood. She then heard a soft thud behind her and turned to see Isamu standing there with his arms folded and the same stern expression on his face.
Before she could say anything, Isamu answered the question that was directed at Twilight, “We want to talk to you about what just happened back there when Luna was hugging me.”
Pinkie finally understood that there was something wrong as her smile turned into a small frown of worry. However, she didn’t know exactly what was wrong. “I don’t get it.” she said.
Twilight walked up to the party pony’s side, “Why are you still acting scared around Princess Luna even after she risked her wellbeing to save the town?”
“And why are you causing the kids to be scared of her just as much as you are?” asked Isamu with narrowed eyes and a frown. To any lesser pony, narrowed pure white, glowing eyes would be intimidating, but Pinkie being the element of laughter meant she could shrug stuff like that off. So the glare didn’t faze her. However, it did let her know that the blue biped was not in a happy mood.
Looking between them, Pinkie told them straight out what was up, “That’s part of the fun of Nightmare Night!” she said with her smile back on.
Twilight took a few steps to be next to Isamu. Both of them then asked rather eloquently, “What?”
To their further confusion, Pinkie Pie began giggling before elaborating, “Oh, you two! Don’t you see? Part of the fun of Nightmare Night is to be scared.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would it be fun to be scared?” asked Twilight. To most, it probably wouldn’t make much sense. Fear is usually thought of as an emotion that is used for knowing when something is dangerous and is unpleasant to feel and usually avoided when possible. What her friend just said went against that entirely and threw Twilight for a loop.
After some thought, however, Isamu was the one to figure it out first, “It’s for thrills, isn’t it?” he said while unfolding his arms.
“Wait, what?” Twilight was confused by what he said.
Isamu turned to her to explain, “Twilight, do some pegasi like to do death defying stunts? Stuff that could get them hurt or killed if they mess up?”
“Well the Wonderbolts are a team of stunt fliers and I suppose they like their job of performing said stunts.” she replied.
“Why do you think they like doing what they do?”
After a second of thought, Twilight finally understood, “Oooooh, I get it! Yes. A racing heart, the high of adrenaline, and endorphins pumping through the brain; all of those things combined can result in a very fun experience.”
Pinkie’s huge smile returned when she saw that Twilight had figured it out. Though it was a bit more scientific sounding than what she was thinking, “Yep, you got it! That’s exactly why it’s fun to be scared sometimes!”
“Well, I don’t like it.” said Isamu, gaining the attention of the two mares, “I don’t like that your thrill seeking was at someone else’s expense. It would’ve been better if Luna was in on it, but the fact still stands; you and everypony else were doing something that would’ve gotten one arrested for treason on my world i.e. slandering a ruler and intentionally causing a panic because of it.”
“Come on, Isamu. Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh?” said Twilight.
“No, I’m not. I’m going to tell Luna about this and see if she’ll stop this nonsense.” He turned to walk back to where Luna was, but stopped when Pinkie popped up in front of him with big puppy dog eyes and a quivering lower lip.
“Please don’t do it, Isamu! Think of all the children’s fun you’ll be ruining! Please don’t get Nightmare Night cancelled!” Pinkie said with the saddest voice she could muster.
Isamu looked at that sad face and tried to retort, “Yeah but…you…d’oooh fine; you win!” he relented, “I won’t convince her to get rid of Nightmare Night, but I am going to mention the reason why you and the kids are acting scared. Whatever she decides will be final. I’m not going to go against my new friend’s wishes. Got it?”
Pinkie’s extremely sad face returned to its original super-sized smile in half a second. She then hopped away happily, “Thanks, Isamu!”
The winged human was not amused, ‘Sigh’ “You ponies and your cuteness.” he said while shaking his head and face palming.
His exasperation was amusing to one certain unicorn, however, “Tee-he-he-he, come on let’s go clear things up with the princess.” she said while walking past him.
“Right behind you.” he replied as he followed.
A few minutes of walking found the two of them back in the main festival area where they saw Luna sitting at a table while eating some cotton candy and listening to the band on stage. She seemed to be enjoying herself despite the fact that she was sitting by herself. However, she might have been happy by the fact that occasionally, citizens would greet her with a friendly wave instead of running away or bowing out of fear for their lives. Turning her head in their direction, she spotted and waved them over. Isamu sat down towards Luna’s left and Twilight sat more towards Luna’s right.
“So, tell me why they were acting that way.” she asked as they sat down with her..
“It turns out that it’s part of the fun of Nightmare Night.” answered Twilight.
“Excuse me?”
“Let me explain.” said Isamu. He then explained how they found it fun to get scared because of the thrill and rush of adrenaline they got with it.
After he was done explaining, Luna was not entirely surprised since she remembered that the adventurers in days of old would sometimes do dangerous things for a similar rush. She did find it strange that ponies got that rush from things such as jump scares or running away from something that was scary. However, after some further thought, she then attributed this to another change that came with living in a new period of time.
“Well, if they don’t truly fear me, as one would a ferocious lion that escaped its cage, then I suppose me “scaring” them is okay. It is all in good fun, correct?” said Luna.
“Exactly, princess! Thank you for understanding.” said Twilight, happy that the princess wasn’t mad at this news.
Isamu, on the other hand, was genuinely surprised. He thought for sure that Luna would want nothing more than to cancel Nightmare Night forever; or at the very least, find someone else that was willing to be the new symbol of fear for this holiday. He looked to his right while crossing his arms and furrowing his brows in thought. He contemplated reevaluating his personality profile of Luna. He was sure that he had figured her out, but apparently Luna was capable of lightening up when it came to matters such as these.
Luna noticed his look and felt that maybe she could do something that would help him get into the spirit of things. Remembering what Twilight said to him before, Luna turned to the purple unicorn, “You know, Twilight, if I’m going to scare ponies during this holiday, I’m going to need a very scary and stylish entrance for whenever I visit. Oh, and I’ll need to be extra scary and stylish for when I see your pink friend and the children again.” she said with a wink.
Twilight realized exactly what the princess was doing and played along, “Oh, yes, Princess; I agree. Do you know anypony who could help Princess Luna with that, Isamu?”
They both looked to where he was sitting to find that the hammy human was gone. A few feet away from their table, a spotlight from seemingly the sky itself appeared and from above, said human floated down with his arms folded. When he landed, he gave a grand flourish and spin and stopped with an over the top pose.
“Did somepony say ‘stylish’!?” he said with his own rendition of the Royal Canterlot Voice. The major difference was that instead of it sounding harsh, it had a more larger than life tone to it.
Some time later
Pinkie and the kids were walking along, enjoying their time collecting more candy, when suddenly, Twilight came running up to them.
“Pinkie, come quick! Isamu and Princess Luna are fighting in the Everfree Forrest!” she pleaded.
Pinkie raised an eyebrow to this, “Ummm…Twilight? We ran away last time the Princess attacked our friend. Why would we want to go anywhere near another one? We could get hurt.” The kids with her all nodded in agreement, some of them voicing such. Even though she knew that the princess wasn’t evil, she still wanted to pretend to be scared in the spirit of this holiday.
“Because, I have reason to believe that if he has a group of ponies cheering him on, he’ll win!” Twilight said with urgency in her voice.
“Oh my gosh, really!? Why didn’t you say so!?” Pinkie, being the mare she was, jumped at the idea of helping someone by cheering them on. Even if to most it would seem a little fishy that a group of ponies cheering someone on guarantees a victory. Regardless, Pinkie was too hyped up at the prospect of assisting someone through raising their spirits to notice how fallible this logic was. She then turned to the children behind her.
“Come on, kids! Let’s go cheer for Isamu!” she yelled excitedly. Pinkie then took off running in the direction of the forest.
“YEEAAAAAH!” cheered the kids as they followed; all except for Pipsqueak who had some suspicions. Little did Twilight or anypony else know, the young colt could be smart for his age at times. However, he decided to follow anyway since his suspicion lead to curiosity on how things would play out.
Minutes later, near the Nightmare Moon statue, Pinkie, Twilight, and the kids came upon a scene that was both amazing and scary. Princess Luna, looking like how she did as Nightmare Moon, was firing magic shots at Isamu while he returned a volley of his eco bolts. Seeming to not notice the ponies’ arrival, both continued to shoot at each other until the supposed Nightmare Moon sent Isamu to the ground with a lucky shot.
Getting up from the ground, Isamu turned just as the evil mare landed and pointed at her while flaring his wings out. “You shall not win, Nightmare Moon! I will save the citizens of Ponyville by defeating you!” he said overdramatically.
“HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!!!” cackled Nightmare Moon, “You really think so!? Try this spell on for size blue colt!” she took aim and fired a greenish blue beam from her horn. Isamu put up a shield just in time as the dangerous looking laser hit.
Meanwhile, from the sidelines, Pinkie, Twilight and the kids were watching the fight with anticipation, until Pinkie got there attention. “Come on, kids! Let’s cheer him on!”
“YOU CAN DO IT, ISAMU!” they cheered together, all except for Twilight. Pipsqueak found this strange, but continued to watch the fight after a second of pondering.
Their cheering, unfortunately, had no effect. Five seconds after they cheered, their winged hero’s shield collapsed and the spell hit him square in the chest, sending him back to the ground on his back.
‘GASP’
The group was shocked by this turn of events. They hoped that the one that could take on nearly a whole pack of timberwolves and an oakwolf would be able to handle the terror of the night.
“Splendid!!!” Nightmare Moon said with a maniacal smile.
“W-w-what did you do to him!?” said a fearful filly in an alien costume.
Turning to the now terrified children and Pinkie, Nightmare’s grin showed her razor sharp teeth and eyes which appeared to be glowing for some inexplicable reason. Said eyes widened and a slight amount of drool began leaking from between her teeth at the sight of the children and one pink mare. Twilight was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, how wonderful! The snacks have arrived! Well, my tasty little morsel, I’ve taken control of your weak friend. So, he is now my mindless slave!” she said with a wicked grin. “To my side, minion!” she ordered in a sort of cheesy evil voice.
Isamu raised himself up using only his feet. When he was completely standing up, he hunched over and looked over to the ponies with unfocused and half-lidded eyes and a jaw that gapped as thought it had become unhinged. His eyes, instead of the usual white, shined the same shade of green as the spell, further proving that it was the spell that was making him look this way.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuh” he moaned as he slowly walked over to them, the sway in his step showing that he was clearly out of it.
Pinkie and the kids took a few steps back in fear. Noticing this, Nightmare continued her monologue.
“He will be gathering you all up for my feast in case you run as I’m sure you will no doubt do.” She said while licking her lips, “Since there are more of you than there are of him, I think he will need a little help!” She then stomped a fore hoof. Suddenly, a few dozen hooves broke the surface of the ground behind her and the children became even more scared when a large group of zombie ponies climbed out; each moaning in the same way Isamu was.
“Get them!” she yelled. The zombies began running at the group who screamed and ran away, except for Pip, who was already hiding in a bush after Isamu’s mind control was revealed. He ducked his head back in and shook with fright as the moaning grew louder and the children’s screams grew softer as they got further and further away. Then, for no seemingly explainable reason, the zombies’ moaning stopped except for Isamu’s which stopped only after Twilight’s voice cut in.
“They’re gone, Isamu. You can stop with the undead act.”
This confused the young colt, so he decided to poke his head out to see what was happening and discovered that the so called, ‘mindless slave’ was no longer acting mindless at all and his eyes were back to the same white that they were supposed to be. Princess Luna had also changed back to her regular form; looking more regal than evil. She also had a slightly worried look on her face. Pipsqueak was wondering to himself why this was until Isamu started talking again.
“Aawwwww, but I wanted to practice some more for my big break on…what was that street in Manehattan called; the one where all the famous theaters are located?” he said.
“Broadmare.” the unicorn answered in a deadpan voice.
“Yeah, Broadmare. Don’t crush my dream of making it big on Broadmare, Twilight! My poor, eco powered heart wouldn’t be able to take it!” he said overdramatically while putting a hand up to his head as though he were about to faint. He was obviously joking as the human had never shown any interest in becoming a famous stage performer and the way he was acting would’ve made even Rarity call him a drama queen.
“I’m sure it will heal with time.” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes at his silly behavior.
“More importantly,” Luna cut in, “I hope you were right when you said that they enjoyed being scared. I can’t help feeling that we may have over done it.” she said with worry. Luna then looked in the direction the kids had run off with concern on her face.
“Oh, I’m sure they will be alright. Once they realize that it was all just an act, the kids will thank you for making this the best Nightmare Night ever.” Isamu assured.
“I’ll say!” Pipsqueak spoke up. Up until now he had gone unnoticed, but now that he knew it was all pretend, he decided to show himself. Running over to the three adults, the pirate costumed colt bowed to the princess in respect for a few seconds before speaking to her, “That was a truly scary performance, Princess! You really had me going there for a minute. Thank you for making this a great first Nightmare Night for me, Princess Luna! I hope you come back to scare us next year too!” he turned to run back to his friends and tell them about the whole thing, but not before giving her a hug and saying “Bye!” he then ran back to town.
Princess Luna’s heart warmed at the young colt’s reaction to hers and Isamu’s performance. She was also thankful that what she was told earlier had proved to be true. Looking over to Isamu, she saw a smug grin plastered on his face.
“I told you something good would come from this.” his arms folded, “Somepony has a fan~” he said in a sing-song voice.
The princess smiled at him, but then turned to Twilight Sparkle when she remembered something her sister told her earlier that day, “Twilight, wouldn’t this night make for a great friendship report to my sister?”
“Friendship report?” questioned Isamu.
“You’re right, Princess. Thank you for reminding me.” Twilight said, seemingly not hearing her glowing friend.
“Wait a second, why would Celestia want you to send her a report on friendship?” asked Isamu.
“Well, that is the reason why I’m currently living in Ponyville. I am to give a weekly report on anything that I learn about friendship while living here.” Twilight explained.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa…you didn’t know anything about making and maintaining friendships before coming to Ponyville!?” he asked in shock.
“Y-yes.” Twilight said embarrassedly.
Isamu face palmed, “Oh, Celestia.” he said in exasperation. He was astounded that for all the knowledge that she was taught, his new friend hadn’t learned a thing about basic social interaction over the years that she was the princess’ student. How could Celestia neglect something so necessary for a young filly to learn? One thing was for sure, his respect for the solar ruler took a slight hit.
Shaking his head, he then looked back at his two friends, “Well, anyway, let’s go back and enjoy the rest of the festival.”
“Yes, let’s.” replied Luna.
After walking back into Ponyville, they did just that. They had pleasant conversations with various ponies, replayed some of the games, and Luna jumped out at a few of the citizens who, after the initial shock, realized that it was a harmless prank and laughed along with her. It was a very fantastic end to a very scary night. As things began winding down, Luna got into her chariot and bid her new friends farewell. They waved to her as she left, then turned to go back to the library. However, they first had to find Spike. What they saw made Twilight sigh in exasperation and Isamu chuckle and shake his head in amusement. Spike was passed out on top of a pile of candy wrappers with a distended belly.
“Heh, heh, kids and their sweet tooth, right?” he said.
Twilight rolled her eyes at him, “Yes, well…” she looked back to the baby dragon, “He’s definitely eating something healthy tomorrow. All of that candy can’t be good for him.” She said as Spike was lifted onto her back in her telekinetic grip. They then began walking back to their home.
“What are you, his mom?” Isamu joked. Twilight gave him a glare, to which Isamu responded with a cheshire grin. After a moment of grinning, he changed the subject as they continued their walk, “Soooo…what are you going to write to the princess?”
“Hmmmm…” Twilight said while thinking about what had happened that night.
Later, back at the Library
Dear, Princess Celestia
When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn’t learn anything about friendship. Tonight, I met somepony who was having the same problem; your sister, Princess Luna. She taught me that one of the best things that you can do with friendship is to give it to someone else, the ponies of Ponyville learned that even if a someone seems intimidating or scary, when offering your friendship you can find a whole new pony underneath. Light, or Isamu as he wants to be called for now on, can attest to this.
He helped the princess gain Ponyville’s approval and didn’t ask for anything like money or a favor in return. The only thing he was hoping for was for her to consider him a friend. Later, after being questioned why he put so much effort into helping her, Isamu explained to the Princess that he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he let one of his friends go through the same rejection that his original host, Jak, did. I had about as much surprise as the princess did. He already considered her a friend regardless of how she treated him before. He then told her all of the traits that he observed from her that made him want to be her friend. Princess Luna became so overjoyed that she gave him a hug to signify her returning of his friendship. By offering his friendship, Isamu discovered a mare that was easy to be friends with.
It was easily the best part of the night.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
After she finished writing her letter, Twilight looked over to the couch that Isamu was currently sleeping on. He was lying on his stomach so that he wouldn’t sleep on his huge wings at an odd angle and half of his legs were dangling over the side because of his height. Twilight went to get a spare blanket. She then draped it over him with her magic.
“Good night, Isamu. Thank you for all you’ve done tonight.” she said with a smile. Going up to her room, Twilight passed by spike, who was sleeping in his basket and picked a random book off the shelf to read before going to bed. When she read the title, she paused for a moment, the title and picture of a wolf’s head reminded her of something, “Memories of Cane L?” As she continued to look at the picture, it finally hit her.
“I hope none of those timberwolves went near Fluttershy’s cottage when they retreated into the Everfree Forest. She does live close to there after all.”
Meanwhile, at the edge of the Everfree Forest
Three of the timberwolves that managed to get away had happened upon a small cottage with many animals’ homes around it. The one in front lead them into the home, thinking that they could find an easy meal inside. Displaying surprising dexterity with his mouth, the lead wolf opened the door and let his two comrades in first. After nosing the door shut, the living room they were in turned from slightly darkened to almost pitch black with very little moon light coming from the windows.
“Heh, heh, heh!”
They were still able to see pretty well in the dark, being wolves and all, but did not see were the sudden scary chuckling came from. That was until a white smile with razor sharp teeth revealed itself from the shadows. The leader and his fellow wolves didn’t like the looks of this.
Outside, at that very moment, a sea-foam green unicorn with a harp cutie mark on her flank was walking by when she heard the sounds of pained yowls and the crunching of wood coming from inside the house. A second later, the front door flew open and a timberwolf with half of its body burned away tried to drag itself away. Suddenly, from the darkness within, five sword-like claws shot as fast as lightning into the victim’s torso, skewering it and pulling it back in. The last thing the unicorn heard before it was engulfed by the darkness was the wolf howling out what sounded like “Help me!”
After it was engulfed, more of the crunching sound was heard and wood chips started flying out of the opening. It wasn’t until the wind blew the door shut that the stream of wooden shrapnel stopped. The unicorn stared wide eyed at what she had just seen for a while until she decided to turn and continue walking back home, wanting to forget the horrific sight she had just witnessed.
Author's Note
I am soooooooooooooooooooo sorry for taking so long. There was college stuff to deal with, I'm looking for a job, and most distracting of all...SKYRIM. Definitely the Skyrim.
A challenge to all of you. Catch the references.
Also, remember to leave a comment.
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Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness
Ponies React; Today's episode...Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
The next few days were both interesting and boring. Interesting some days and boring other days with Thursday being the former. On that day, Twilight planned a picnic with the rest of her friends. Since Isamu was not allowed to be by himself, he had to come too, not that he was complaining. He felt like he needed to get out of the library anyway.
As it turns out, none of the books were written in characters that Isamu could read. When told about this the next day after Nightmare Night, Twilight was quite puzzled since even though the human was speaking their language, he couldn’t read it. Isamu demonstrated how his people wrote and the unicorn became even more stumped as the characters didn’t look in any way similar to the equish language. After studying the alien alphabet Isamu had written down, Twilight decided to later teach him how to read and write in equish. In return, he would teach her how to read and write in his language. To her, knowledge was worth more than gold.
Presently, however, they, along with Spike were walking up a small grassy hill in a field near Rainbow Dash’s house. Spike was behind his older friends, carrying the picnic basket filled with various types of sandwiches and covered with a blanket.
Isamu looked over his shoulder, “You remembered to make something that I could eat, right?”
Spike nodded, “Mm-hm, sandwiches with no flowers or hay. I still find it strange that you can eat lettuce and tomatoes, and oats, but not flowers or hay.”
“Don’t ask me, I’m no biologist.” Isamu said while shrugging. He then turned his head forward as they continued to walk. A moment later, they found the rest of Twilight’s friends and Ikari waiting for them at the top of the hill.
“Hi, girls; Hi, Ikari!” said Twilight exuberantly.
“Hi, Twilight!” the rest of the mane 6 said in unison. They were happy to see her by the smiles on their faces, except Ikari who just nodded his greeting with a neutral look.
Once the blanket was unfolded and the food was unpacked, they began setting things down in proper places. Fluttershy had brought daisy sandwiches for the girls and some fish sandwiches for Isamu and Ikari. “I thought both of you would like something different than vegetables since you’re both omnivores.” Fluttershy explained with a smile.
“Thanks, Fluttershy.” Isamu said as they all sat in a circle on the larger than normal picnic blanket. Isamu sat down with Twilight on his right and Pinkie Pie on his left; clockwise from her sat Rarity, Fluttershy, Ikari, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash; with Spike sitting near Rarity for obvious reasons.
As the group began eating and having small talk, a few of the mane six noticed the eco brothers were refusing to look at each other and would occasionally shoot the other angry glares while they weren’t looking.
Wanting to break the tension, Twilight got to the main reason she set up this get together, “So, Isamu, would you like to tell us more about yourself and your brother?”
“Sure, what do you want to know?” he replied while picking up a lettuce and tomato sandwich.
Fluttershy raised a hoof to get his attention, “What sort of animals live on your world?” she said before flinching self-consciously as she put her hoof down, “That is, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Isamu swallowed the bite of his sandwich he had taken before answering, “Well, I’m no expert on this, but from what I’ve seen in Jak’s memories, we have parachimps, tigorrillas, yakcows, various fish that I don’t know the names of, leaper lizards, huge human size birds called Flut-fluts, and lightning moles. There’s obviously more, but I can’t remember the other ones off the top of my head.” He then remembered one other type. “Oh, there’s also a tribe of beings called Lurkers.” he said while taking another bite.
“Lurkers, what kind of stupid name is that?” Rainbow Dash mocked.
Isamu turned to her with a raised eyebrow and an unamused look, “You wouldn’t be saying that if you met one of them. They can be a very violent race and gave Jak a tough time during his first adventure. One of the most common are the grunts who look like what you would call a gorilla, accept they have burgundy fur, an under-bite with tusks, and yellow eyes. Then there are the bone soldiers. They have blue fur, are taller, and wear the bones of various animals as armor.”
All six ponies plus one dragon grimaced at that last part. None of them had ever heard of anypony, or being for that matter, using the internal body parts of animals as a way of protecting themselves. Not even the minotaurs and griffins with their love for fighting would think to do something so disgusting.
Looking at all of them, Isamu nodded with a small frown. “That’s what I thought. Never underestimate a lurker, especially those of the shark variety. One almost tore Jak’s leg off when he went swimming once.” he said right before taking a sip from a carton of applejuice. He mentally noted that Fluttershy’s face became somewhat pale at the mention of someone’s leg almost getting torn off. He didn’t like scaring them, but he also didn’t like anyone making light of things that Jak had to go through. If it wasn’t for his host’s fighting skills, he wouldn’t be here right now.
Ikari, meanwhile, smiled smugly at Rainbow Dash, who was staring wide eyed at what Isamu said. He was happy that the annoyingly arrogant mare had that smug look wiped off of her. He bet she wouldn’t be saying anymore smart remarks after that. He then tore into a fish sandwich while smiling devilishly at her.
Isamu tried to remember something from Jak’s memories to calm his new friends down; then it hit him, “Oh, I forgot to mention this. Apparently Jak’s younger self had a crocodog puppy as a pet. Funny thing is, the little guy decided to let his older self, keep it in the future while he went to the past. How Jak forgot about giving his older self his own pet, I’ll never know.”
The story of Jak’s pet seemed to calm them down, but it also caused various forms of shock and confusion to form on their faces. It was Applejack who voiced what was on their minds.
“Care to repeat that, sugarcube?” she said while looking at him sideways.
Rarity concurred with her friend, “Yes, darling, please do. I am fairly certain none of use heard you right.”
“I’ll tell you more about it later. There are still some questions to be asked that would make you better able to understand once I share with you mine, my brother’s and Jak’s history. The ponies reluctantly settled for this.
Rainbow Dash decided to ask her question next, “What kind of sports do you play on your planet?”
Isamu smirked at the predictable question, but also because he knew what her reaction would be to his answer, “Personally, I’m not that into sports. Jak, on the other hand, loved to race and usually won.”
Rainbow Dash wore a huge smile at this while flaring her wings, causing Isamu to mentally chuckle. “This Jak guy sounds awesome!” she said excitedly. “I really wish I could meet him so I could challenge him to a race!”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, Polychrome, but you wouldn’t like the kind of races he’s into.”
“Why the hay not!?” her smile was replaced by a frown and her wings folded slightly.
“Because he races in vehicles.” he said after taking another sip of apple juice.
“What!?” she asked incredulously. Her wings were now completely folded and her frown grew.
Isamu put his juice down before speaking, “Yep, none of the races he participates in are on foot, or in your case, on wings. He races in two types of vehicles. Flying machines called zoomers that can also hover, and cars, which are basically carriages that can move under their own power.”
This sparked Twilight’s interest. “What sort of magic was used to create such things!? They sound incredible!” she said with excitement.
Isamu could’ve sworn that her eyes went starry, but disregarded it as a trick of the light. “Actually, no; they’re purely technologically based and run on eco.”
“Weren’t you and your brother made from eco?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, but there are more than two types of eco that can be used for various things.” he then noticed Pinkie Pie waving both fore hooves all over the place in an effort to gain his attention. “I’ll tell you more about it later, right now, one of your friends seems like she’s dying to ask her question.” He then turned to the pink mare with a smile, anticipating a very simple question asked with an over-abundance of enthusiasm, “Yes, Pinkie? What is your question?”
“What kind of food do you have on your planet!? Do you have cake!? Ice cream!? What about chocolate milk!?” she said quickly in one breath.
Despite this, Isamu was able to catch it all and was greatly amused by it. “Heh, heh, I knew you would ask something like that.”
‘SQUEE’ a smile formed on her face.
“Well, to answer your question, quite a bit of what you have here is similar to what was on my planet. We have cakes, ice cream, and various other desserts. We also eat various types of fruits and vegetables that taste a lot like yours. Though there are some differences. I have yet to see anything that looks like goliath cucerries or squashkins.”
Applejack’s eyes widened and her head reared back at how crazy the names of some of his people’s agricultural products sounded. “That’…some mighty peculiar farmin ya have there.” Her face then became a little calmer, “I was going to ask about what sort of crops you grow, but I think that was pretty much answered. Hmmm.” She looked down with a thinking face and put a hoof to her chin. After a few seconds of pondering, she asked her question, “What sort o’ places are there to visit?”
“Well, there WAS Sandover Village, where Jak grew up. It was a coastal place located next to an area called The Forbidden Jungle. Then there was Rock Village which WAS partially built over water and had located next to it the Lost Precursor City and Boggy Swamp. Then there WAS…”
“Wait, wait, wait…why are ya puttin’ so much emphasis on the word ‘was’? Applejack interrupted.
“Because those places don’t exist anymore.” he replied.
“Care to tell us why you bothered mentioning them, darling?” asked Rarity. It seemed very strange to mention places that no longer exist since you could never visit them.
“That is for when I tell you Jak’s story. Now, I believe you have a question about my world?”
“Well…what sort of clothing do your people have besides what you are wearing?” she asked with a look of intrigue.
“Hmmm…a shirt, pair of pants, and shoes are standard for both men and women, or to use your terms, stallions and mares, and we sometimes have accessories such as the shoulder pad on my left and the fingerless gloves I’m wearing and…what are you doing?”
Rarity had walked over to him and started scrutinizing every inch of his form with squinted eyes. Suddenly, she straightened back to her full height with a smile, “I have a most fabulous idea!”
Isamu raised an eyebrow to this, “Ummm…you’re welcome for the inspiration?” he said, unsure of what just happened.
Rainbow Dash decided to cut in. “Alright, enough talk about the small things! Let’s hear about this Jak dude that we keep getting hints of.” she said, more or less demanding that he tell them his backstory.
“Alright then; it all started with a simple act of disobedience…” He then went on to tell about Jak’s first adventure with his best friend, Daxter. He told of how they went to Misty Island against Samos the green sage’s instructions. He then explained that a sage was pretty much a master of a particular color of eco, essentially a scientist. This got Twilight excited as she planned to ask more about eco later. After the short explanation, came the part where Jak and Daxter had overheard two humans’ plan to attack Sandover. The winged human described them as having skin similarly colored to Ikari’s, the ability to hover, and various forms of precursor metal as part of their attire. One was a man and the other was a woman, and the man had a distorted voice.
He then told of how they found a massive pool of liquid dark eco. While looking around the pool, Daxter tripped over an artifact left by an ancient race called the Precursors, who were said to have created many worlds, including mine. The ponies’ and dragon’s jaws dropped at this. A race of beings that could make planets!? Not even the most powerful unicorns or the princesses could even hope to do something like that. Such power was unheard of. Part of Twilight’s mind was raging over the fact that anything could be more powerful than her beloved mentor, but that was only a very small portion. The rest of it was blown away by this revelation and she started to wish that she had some of these artifacts to study.
After giving them a few seconds to get over their shock, Isamu continued on to the next part, Jak caught the device after Daxter threw it over his shoulder and it glowed the second it touched his hands. Daxter became amazed at this and asked how he did it. Jak, for some strange reason, was unable to speak, so he only shook his head while saying “uuuuhhh”; pretty much saying that he didn’t know how he did it either. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a bone soldier came to kill them both. Daxter hid behind Jak while he used the artifact in his hands as a weapon which was revealed to be a bomb as it exploded. The shock wave killed the lurker, but sent Jak flying back and hit Daxter with enough force to send him into the pool of eco.
Twilight and friends gasped at this, thinking that that was the end of Jak’s friend. “That’s horrible!” said Fluttershy as she put both fore hooves to the side of her head, her face having a horrified expression.
“Yeah, what a way to go.” said Rainbow Dash with widened eyes. The rest of the ponies showed how sorry they felt for Jak for losing his best friend. Applejack took off her hat and looked down with a solemn expression, Pinkie Pie’s hair managed to somehow deflate and tears began to flow down her cheeks, Rarity mentioned how this was probably the worst possible thing to occur and had a very sad look on her face, and Twilight simply looked at the ground with a huge frown and ears drooped.
Spike walked up to Isamu and got his attention by tapping him on his right shoulder, “I wish Jak was here so that I could offer my condolences.” he said with a frown.
Isamu smiled back at him and patted him on the back, “That’s nice of you Spike, but Daxter didn’t die.”
Two things happened at that moment. Spike backed up a step in shock while the ponies looked at the human with similar expressions of incredulity and yelled in unison “WHAT!?” Ikari was greatly amused by this, but kept his enjoyment of their reactions to himself while biting into an apple.
Isamu grinned, pleased that the little twist in his story managed to surprise them. He then told of how instead of it killing him, the dark eco spat Daxter right back out as a small furry creature called an ottsel.
“What does an ottsel look like?” asked Fluttershy.
Isamu then crossed his arms while putting a hand to his chin and looked up at the sky for a moment with a thinking face on. “Hmmm…” he said as he thought. He then looked back down to the yellow pegasus and snapped his fingers with a smile as the way to describe it came to him. “Think of a cross between your world’s otter and weasel and replace the brown fur with mostly orange and some yellow.”
“That sounds adorable!” she said, almost squealing.
“Heh, Tess certainly thought so.” At her questioning look, he explained, “One of Jak’s human friends.” He then went on to talk about Jak and Daxter’s meeting with Samos who told them that he wouldn’t be able to turn Daxter back but that a human named Gol Aceron could help since he was the sage of dark eco. However, the journey north to the scientist’s citadel would be treacherous since the only way in that direction from Sandover was through Fire Canyon which was filled with lava.
That’s where Kiera, Samos’ daughter and Jak’s crush, came in saying that the zoomer she invented would be able to get them through it, but only if the heat shield had enough power. All she needed where enough power cells. Another questioning glance from his friends earned them another answer, though he begrudgingly gave it since he once again had to stop his story.
“It’s another precursor artifact. It does exactly what it sounds like, powers machinery. Now, where was I? Oh yeah...”
Continuing, Isamu regaled them with, what were in his opinion, the most interesting moments of Jak and Daxter’s quest to get power cells. He got even more of Rarity and Fluttershy’s attention when the part about the sculptor’s muse came up. Rarity’s opinion of Jak went up a little when she heard that the teen was willing to go back to Misty Island to retrieve the muse so that the artist could continue his most likely fabulous work. Fluttershy was more interested in hearing whether or not Jak succeeded in getting the animal home safely and was relieved to hear that he did.
He then told of their exploits in the Forbidden Jungle which, to the ponies, sounded a lot like the Everfree Forest. The part where Jak had to fight the man eating dark eco plant was terrifying for Fluttershy, however, it caused a different reaction from Applejack who gave a sideways glance to her left at a smirking Ikari.
At the sight of the mischievous look she turned her head fully to face him with an annoyed look. “Don’ even think about going near mah apple trees.” she said in an equally annoyed tone. Ikari then picked up another apple and charged it with his eco. After the purple static electricity settled, the red fruit turned black and purple with crystalized thorns and short disgusting vines coming out. He then took a bite out of it while looking very smug as Applejack squinted her eyes in irritation. To further annoy the mare, he cut off a piece with an index claw and tried to hand it to her.
“Heeeh…eh, eh?” he said as he thrust the slice of mutated fruit at her, doing this with a mischievous grin. His frequent teasing did as the demon hoped. Applejack’s frown grew in irritation.
“Noooo thank youuu.” The orange mare said as she pushed his hand away from her face. Ikari took the dark apple slice back and ate it noisily. After he was done, Ikari surveyed the rest of the group who was now looking at him in annoyance. Deciding to be even more cheeky, he shrugged with feigned innocence whilst wearing a devilish smile.
Isamu shook his head in exasperation, “Aaanywaaay…” He continued on with his story to talk about Jak and Daxter’s exploits on Sentinel Beach, and more craziness on Misty Island. After that came the demolition duo’s perilous trek across fire canyon. The next section of his story featured the many tasks done in Rock Village and the surrounding areas for more power cells that would be used to power a blue eco levitation device that was predictably invented by the blue sage who had mysteriously vanished before they got there. They needed it to move a rock that was obstructing their way north which was placed there by a giant lurker with rock making abilities.
Fluttershy liked the part with the lightning moles. Despite him doing it for a power cell, the pegasus still thought it nice of Jak to help the animals back into their home. She also found it heartwarming that he reunited a man with his pet in Boggy Swamp but felt sad that he had to kill a lot of rats to do it. “The poor things.” she said in a glum tone.
The mentioning of a lost underwater city from this other world’s history sparked more of Twilight’s interest as not only did she like studying magic but all kinds of areas of academia, including history and frowned that there wasn’t much history revealed during Jak’s sojourn into the depths of the historic site.
The battle with the giant boulder throwing lurker, to the ponies, sounded amazing. Rainbow Dash, being a mare of action and adventure, was the most excited. Especially since the monster not only shot boulders from its hands, but could also swim in lava. Twilight was also interested since Jak used blue eco to magnetically summon platforms to get closer to the giant and the use of yellow eco to shoot fireballs to make it drop a boulder on its head several times.
This reminded her of the other times Isamu mentioned Jak using eco in his adventure. In the Forbidden Jungle, he used eco to activate bridges and platforms and open doors. On Misty Island, red eco was used to enhance strength. Finally, in Boggy Swamp, yellow eco was used to get rid of the rats. Even though he said he’d tell her about it later, the angelic human was inadvertently giving her valuable information and the more she heard about eco, the more she wanted to experiment with it.
By the end of Isamu’s recount of the battle Rainbow Dash had her hooves to the sides her face in excitement “So…awesome!” she squealed. Isamu smiled at this. Despite his apparent love for teasing the cyan mare on her color scheme, he still felt happy that she was entertained just like the rest of his new friends.
“If you think that was amazing, just wait until I tell you the end of Jak’s first adventure.” he said with a grin directed at Rainbow.
“It gets better!?” she said before gaping in astonished delight.
“Careful, you could catch flies with your mouth hanging open like that.” He jokingly admonished.
After the technicolor pegasus closed her mouth, Isamu continued to where Jak, Daxter, Kiera, and Samos got to the red sage’s lab. They had discovered that this lab was even more messed up than the one before. The second Kiera mentioned that there must have been a struggle, the same two humans from Misty Island floated down from the ceiling. The man laughed darkly at the prospect of there having been a struggle and asked if his sister thought of what happened as such. She disagreed and mockingly complained that the red sage was no fun to take on as he hadn’t put up much of a fight. Samos, at last, recognized them, “Gol!? Is that you!?” said Samos
“Wait, so Gol and his sister were the ones who were going to attack Jak’s village?” asked Fluttershy.
Isamu nodded, “That’s right. The same man whom the sage said would help in curing Daxter was the one who was capturing the other sages, but that isn’t the worst part. He and his sister planned on using a precursor robot to open the dark eco silos and flood the world with their contents.”
Twilight raised a brow at the mention of another artifact that was apparently made by the god-like Precursors. “What’s a precursor robot?”
Isamu turned to answer, anticipating a reaction of wonder and amazement from his purple friend. “If you think of a giant human who is made of metal and has all sorts of gadgetry hidden within it, then you have the basic idea of a precursor robot.”
The blue man was not disappointed as the studious unicorn’s eyes widened in excitement as she pictured such a machine. “Amazing!”
“You wish there was one on this planet so you could study it, right?” Isamu said with a teasing smile and tone.
Undaunted by his behavior, Twilight responded with just as much excitement as before. “Of course! Do you know how much Equestria, nay, this entire world could benefit from the study of such a device!?”
“Heh, heh, I can imagine.” he said before starting on a salad that he found quite tasty. As he continued with his story, Isamu’s pony audience continued to have various reactions to what he was telling of his strange world. His description of the area that the red sage lived in sounded quite inhospitable. Who in their right mind would want to live over what was essentially an active volcano? Apparently, anyone studying red eco, as it was one of the best places to harness it and was near incredibly big sources of heat and various types of metal. Though, what was not strange or surprising was that Jak and Daxter had to collect even more power cells. They were for the zoomer so that they could get through a nearby lava tube. As such they needed to explore the surrounding areas for more of the powerful artifacts.
Spider Caves seemed to be the creepiest and downright scariest sounding place that Isamu’s friends have heard of so far. According to their bipedal friend, this place was not only filled to the brim with lethally venomous spiders as the name would suggest, but also huge pools of dark eco, lurkers who were mining out a precursor robot, and a completely pitch black area that could only be illuminated by hitting special crystals that glowed green. To Spike, the glowing green crystals sounded intriguing and he wondered how they would taste. However, the mention of crystals made out of pure dark eco knocked him out of his culinary fantasy.
“I never thought that one of my favorite foods could be made out of something so evil.” said Spike. Ikari raised an unamused eyebrow at him, to which the dragon returned a sheepish grin, “Uuuh not that you’re evil per say.” He then looked away while whistling innocently.
Ikari decided that it wasn’t worth it and just rolled his eyes. Really, what point would there be to killing the little guy? All it would get him would be another stony sentence. Besides, he wasn’t all bad. He certainly didn’t try to annoy him, so that was a plus. Though, one thing that the kid needed to do was man up. The baby dragon kept being such a pushover and easily manipulated by the white drama queen. He had seen him do various tasks for her with a dumb love struck expression on his face and it made him sick. If the little Casanova wanted to get anyone’s respect, he needed to show that he had some respect for himself and not let others control him so easily.
While Ikari was having these thoughts about the young drake, Isamu was looking at the kid curiously for his peculiar statement. “You eat crystals?”
“Yeah, all dragons do.” Spike responded with a smile. He then began listing the types of gem stones they ate, all of them. “We also eat rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, garnets, jade, turquoise, topazes…”
Isamu held up a hand, “Okay, okay, you don’t need to go down the whole entire list of decorative minerals.” He then put his hand down, “So, basically what you’re saying is that a dragon’s favorite food is what can be found in a treasure chest, right?”
Only slightly put off by his interruption, Spike answered calmly. “Yes.”
“Well that explains why he was slightly drooling at the sight of Rarity’s jewel encrusted sun hat yesterday.” He then responded to Spike’s confirmation. “Well I guess I now know how to train a dragon. Give him an emerald when he behaves!” Isamu said with a chuckle.
Everypony else joined in with various volumes of laughter, with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash being the loudest. Even Ikari was chuckling a bit. Fortunately, no one heard his dark mirth over Pinkie and Rainbow’s laughing or else the amusement they were all feeling would’ve been killed on the spot.
Spike wasn’t amused, but quickly got over it. After the laughter died down, Isamu continued his story. Jak and Daxter made it through the dangerous lava tube and activated the portal at the yellow sage’s lab, only for Kiera to hop out by herself; her father not in sight. It turned out that Gol and Mia managed to kidnap him and brought him to their citadel. When they entered, they saw that Samos was in a cage. He told them that the dark siblings were draining him and his fellow sages of their eco to power the precursor robot that they had constructed. Samos then instructed Jak to free him and the other sages so that they could disrupt the force field and work on destroying the robot it surrounded.
The two friends wasted no time in getting to the other sages and freeing them. The first part of the path to the red sage intrigued Twilight since, from how Isamu described it, it sounded like a color puzzle. The path to the blue sage seemed pretty dangerous with its turning cubes, small platforms, lasers, and bottomless pit, but the yellow sage’s path was the most terrifying of them all. It involved using blue eco on precursor launchers and landing on others that were moving over a bottomless pit. The launchers, by the way, shot Jak and Daxter nearly a hundred feet into the air each time so they had to aim where they landed; otherwise, death would await them.
Strangely enough, instead of Rainbow being the one who got excited over this part, it was Pinkie Pie who voiced her enthusiasm. “Wowie! That sounds like fun! I could never jump that high with my regular trampolines! I bet everyone would have fun on those!” Everyone looked at her like the pink mare was nuts, but she didn’t seem to care.
Isamu continued to the part where Jak and Daxter climbed the platforms to free Samos. After that was done the sage disrupted the force field around the robot and told them to destroy it before convincing Gol to help Daxter. However, it was too late. The dark siblings informed the heroes that they had enough power and it was foolish to even try to stop them. Rainbow Dash seemed to get agitated with how smug this Gol sounded.
“Please tell me that Jak lays the smack down on those two!” she said with a perturbed look.
“Oh, most definitely.” He said with an uncharacteristically devilish grin.
Rainbow Dash returned his grin with another one looking just as devilish.
Isamu couldn’t wait for hers and the rest’s reaction to the fight and started telling them about it with much exuberance. This was what went on during the battle, according to him.
“And now for the epic final battle to save the world!” he said in a hammy voice.
(Battle Music: open in new tab)
Jak used blue eco to ride a platform to the dark eco silo. As he got there, he noticed two things; the giant robot, which was floating next to the silo and opening it with an eco beam from its right eye, and four clusters of yellow eco on top of the area. Quickly grabbing a cluster and aiming with his goggles, Jak blew up the eye with a few well-placed shots. Even though the robot was made of metal, and by all rights was not alive, it still whipped its head back and roared in pain as smoke billowed from the now un-occupied socket.
(stop music and close extra tab)
Twilight felt completely dumbfounded at this. “How is that possible!? It’s a nonliving device! It doesn’t have a nervous system or a brain of its own. How can it feel pain!?” This complete disregard for the rules of biology angered her.
“Don’t ask me, even I don’t know.” he said while shrugging.
“But…it doesn’t make any sense!!”
Isamu turned to look directly at her, “Sorry, Twilight, but I really don’t know.”
Twilight sighed in defeat, realizing that she wouldn’t get anything more of an explanation of the strange phenomenon out of him. After Twilight showed that she was willing to let it go for now, Isamu continued his retelling of the epic battle.
(Battle music with extra instruments: Open in new tab like before. Restart video if it ends before you’re done reading the battle section)
A weirdly shaped appendage came out of the robot’s back and shot out a strange circular device which began hovering over the silo. Both Jak and Daxter looked at it strangely for a second before it started flashing and letting out very loud alarm sounds that were steadily getting faster. They looked at each other with widened eyes as they knew immediately what it was, a bomb.
Maia exposited in an amused tone that eco wouldn’t protect them from the blast. She thought for sure that the heroes were doomed and so did the ponies and one dragon who were listening to this story. They knew that Jak wasn’t since Isamu wouldn’t be here if he was, but the mane 6 and Spike couldn’t see how Jak was able to get out of that one. Isamu then proceeded to fill them with disbelief of how incredibly lucky the human was by telling them exactly what he did to avoid getting blown to pieces.
A blue eco vent had miraculously opened up on top of the silo and Jak also noticed a nearby precursor launcher. Thinking quickly, the brave teen ran over to the vent, charged himself up with eco, and used the launcher to jump a hundred feet into the air just as the bomb exploded. What was surprising to the mares present was that he didn’t break all the bones in his body upon landing back on the giant container. However, he wasn’t out of the woods yet. The top of the silo had partially opened up and the two heroes were able to see that there was enough dark eco inside to almost reach the top. Jak also realized something very unfortunate. They were a few hundred feet up in the air and their only place to stand was on top of the cylindrical silo.
If it kept opening, the ground they could stand on would keep decreasing until both him and his friend were sitting ducks on the outer ring and would be forced to either jump off or sink to their mutating death in the eco. So, with a new sense of urgency, Jak set to work destroying the robot piece by piece. The green eco it produced from its beak went into the dark eco and created spikey mutants which Jak destroyed with eco created fire balls. When it ran out of green eco, the robot used its right arm to shoot mini red eco bombs. Jak destroyed this too and launched into the air to avoid another bomb.
After the destruction of the giant yellow eco gun on its left arm, Gol and Maia deployed the robot’s bomb thrower for one last chance at getting rid of the would be heroes when suddenly, each of the other four types of eco came out in streams from the four pillars attached to the silo and converged above it, creating, for the first time, light eco. Gol was stunned. He thought that light eco was a myth and was incredulous to find that it wasn’t and voiced his disbelief. Maia on the other hand was more scared than stunned and voiced how they mustn’t let them get it, lest their plans be foiled.
As soon as Daxter realized what it was, he told Jak that it might be exactly what the doctor ordered. However, they would need all of it in order to destroy the robot. He thought it over for a few seconds before ultimately deciding to let Jak use the eco to save the world. It wasn’t really like he had much of a choice in the matter, him being the one riding on Jak’s shoulder.
With that out of the way, Jak got a piece that broke off from the main cluster and destroyed the robot with a mighty blast. The only piece surviving being the robot’s head which landed in the dark eco before it closed. Gol shouting, “NOOOOOOO!!!” as it sank into the hazardous material. To say, the ponies were amazed would be an understatement. Sure, they had already taken down two beings that were likely more powerful than a robot, but neither battle showcased any sort of real combat prowess.
Rainbow Dash suddenly remembered what Isamu said about light eco, “Wait, so the energy that you were made from is a combination of the other four types of eco?” she said, wanting to know if she heard right.
Isamu was about to reply with a simple confirmation, but a new idea popped into his head which caused him to grin before speaking. “Yes, all four types of eco came together to form the very energy that I was originally made out of and keeps me alive to this very day. You could say they’re working in perfect harmony.” he said while looking sly and putting emphasis on the last word.
“PffffftAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” laughed Pinkie as she spat out her cherry soda. Fortunately she hadn’t turned to her sides and the drink didn’t reach across the blanket. While her laughter was going on, Twilight became intrigued, thinking that if she found a way to defuse the eco like actual light, she’d be able to experiment with the four types of eco in their purest form. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike were in awe for various reasons.
Rarity was speechless over the fact that four forces of his world’s nature came together and made something extraordinary in much the same way the elements of harmony combined to did something extraordinary. Though there were differences between the two events. One of the major things that were different was that instead of just creating something that expunged anything harmful, it also created a single being as the embodiment of that very substance. This thought caused her to wonder if the Elements of Harmony could produce somepony that embodied all of their elements. She felt that the sight of such a being would be glorious.
“Oh…my” thought Fluttershy with widened eyes. To think, Isamu was literally made from nature itself. If his description of eco being the life energy of his world was to be believed, then the eco-created human could very well have a stronger connection to animals than even her. Spike, on the other hand, just thought it was cool since he could probably do all of the things that he said eco could achieve.
Rainbow Dash was both impressed and excited. If what he said was true, then the pegasus needed to ask him something very important. Without another thought, she flew and hovered in front of him and grabbed his shoulders while putting her face near his, “Please, oh please let me have some of your eco!” she said in a strangely desperate tone.
Isamu, to his credit, didn’t appear disturbed by their sudden closeness and calmly pushed her a few feet away. “Before you decide to invade my personal space again, may I ask why?”
Not missing a beat, Rainbow responded, “Are you kidding!? Part of you is made out of what is essentially the essence of speed and I’m all about speed! So, can I please have some of your eco!?” She then got closer to him on her back knees and clasped her front hooves together, “Pretty please with awesomeness on top!?” she said in a begging tone.
Isamu once again used his hands, except this time he used them to form a placating gesture to calm her down, “Whoooa there, speed demon. I don’t even know if you ponies can even handle a sudden surge of eco. If I give you too much, there’s no telling what could happen.” he said before putting his hands down on his knees. “The worst thing that can happen is that you suffer eco overload. That’s where you die because your body can’t handle so much power. You also have to have a natural talent for channeling it in order to use it to its full potential. Even if you’re able to withstand a considerable amount of it, you might only get a small speed boost instead of say, twice your normal speed which I would think would be more preferable.”
Rainbow Dash hovered back to her seat with a very disappointed look, but Isamu decided to try to stop her depressed mood in its tracks, “Aww, now don’t be so blue.”
Rainbow turned a deadpan look to him, “You’re blue, you dork.”
Isamu shrugged, “Eh, whatever. The point is you shouldn’t be so quick to give up, there is a bright side.”
“Like what?”
“Liiiiike testing you to see if you actually are able to effectively channel eco and maybe see if you have an affinity for a certain type.” He said with a grin before continuing. “That is, if Twilight ever figures out how to defuse my eco into the other four types.” he said while holding up four fingers and giving a friendly wink. Unbeknownst to the winged man, that was exactly what she was thinking as he said it. At that moment, Celestia’s star pupil was staring at him wide eyed, wondering if he was telepathic.“Sooo…anyway…” Isamu finished up the story with what happened right after the battle.
As Jak and Daxter rode the platform back to the top of the citadel, they did their own victory dance and were greeted by all four sages, and Kiera as they arrived. Samos complimented them, saying that they did have what it takes to be heroes which was surprising since they knew the man for mostly lectures and reprimands. The blue sage complimented Jak on his talent for channeling eco and mentioned that Samos was right about him. This caused Jak to give Samos a smug grin as what was said implied that Samos was saying good things about him all along. Jak wasn’t the only one to receive praise. The red sage complimented Kiera on her ingenuity and stated that none of this would’ve been possible without her. He then mentioned that they may have found a new sage since Gol and Maia were lost.
Samos wasn’t too sure, saying that the dark eco only ‘might’ have been enough to destroy them. Daxter wasn’t worried at all, saying that it would be no problem for himself and Jak to take them on again and asked for confirmation from his friend, but was puzzled when he didn’t receive any. He turned around and spotted his best friend and Kiera leaning towards each other for a kiss. However, before their lips could touch; the orange rodent ran up and jumped in between them, bracing himself on both of their chests and told Jak to “put it on ice.” Jak was understandably unamused.
Neither were Rarity or Twilight. Everyone else was either mildly entertained, or in Pinkie and Rainbow’s case, laughing their flanks off at how unbelievable the ottsel’s actions were. Ikari couldn’t care less. Twilight just widened her eyes at how incredibly rude it was for Jak’s supposedly best friend to interrupt an intimate moment with his special somepony. Rarity, on the other hoof, had a more emotional and vocal reaction to the display of social ineptitude.
“How…how UNCOUTH! Here, Jak has just finished dealing with two twisted scoundrels, who most likely had poor fashion sense, and wants to have a moment with his special somepony. Then his so called ‘best friend’ literally jumps in between them and ruins the whole thing! I don’t care if they were still near the battle field! Jak deserved to have a moment with his marefriend anytime he wanted.” She then put her fore hooves close together and imagined the ottsel’s neck between them. “Why, if I got my hooves on that little orange rat, I would…OOOOOO!!!” The angry fashionista threw her fore-legs forward and then crossed them over her chest. After a moment, she looked back up and saw that the rest of them were staring at her with widened eyes.
Pinkie tapped her friend on the shoulder, “Wow, Rarity. We didn’t know you were so…ummm.”
“Emotionally invested?” supplied Twilight.
“Yeah, what she said!”
Rarity turned to respond, “Well, why wouldn’t I be, Pinkie, my dear? Jak valiantly braved a most likely parasite infested jungle, two volcanic passages that could burn one’s mane off, an icky swamp, and two villains’ stronghold. Not only that, but he also faced down and soldiers with fashion sense straight out of a horror novel and their evil employers. He did it all so his best friend could be cured and what does he do in return!? Doesn’t even allow the hero the reward of expressing his affection to the mare of his dreams! I’m sorry for my unladylike behavior, but really, who wouldn’t be filled with rage over somepony doing something like that?”
“Um…well Ikari seems to like your wrath.” said Fluttershy. Rarity turned to her left to see what the shy pegasus was talking about, only to blanch. Ikari was giving her a grin that was somehow scary and goofy at the same time.
“Heh, heh” he chuckled while nodding and giving a thumbs up; which was bigger than usual because of the partially extended claw.
“‘GULP’ yes, well…” the unicorn said as she composed herself, unconsciously pushing back part of her mane. “I’m sorry to say, darling, but I don’t usually make it a habit of acting out with such fury and I’m not planning to.” said Rarity as she addressed Ikari. She then gave the eco demon a placating, yet obviously fake smile, “I hope that isn’t too disappointing for you.”
“Eh…” he said with a shrug and tilt of the head. Not everyone could appreciate rage like he could. Though, unbeknownst to him, a crueler voice with a silky tone expressed itself in the back of his mind.
“Heh…the animal shaped marshmallow could do well with a thicker skin and not cry over every problem. Hmmmm…I wonder if she bleeds what she appears to be made out of. Heh…heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!!!” It said, unheard by anybody including the one in whose mind it resided in.
After the tense exchange between the fabulously dramatic mare and the anger loving beast, Isamu finished up the story of Jak’s first adventure with the opening of the giant precursor door and what lay beyond.
Author's Note
Well, it took less time than the last chapter at least. Just in time for Halloween though. This and the next two chapters are going to be part of a three parter.
Tell me what you liked and as always, I'll see YOU guys in the next chapter. Bye bye!!!
(points for anybody knows where that's from)
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Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness
Ponies React Today's Episode...Jak II: pt. 1
Isamu finished up the story of Jak’s first adventure with the reveal of what was on the other side of the precursor door. As Jak put in the last power cell in the final slot, the door opened and from it a light momentarily blinded them before receding and revealing a massive ring with a pure white light coming from it.
“And that was the story of Jak and Daxter’s first adventure. So…what did you think?” Isamu said with a hopeful smile.
It was a few seconds before all the mares and Spike gave him applause, clapping their hooves or, in Spike’s case, claws together in appreciation. After it died down, various compliments were thrown about.
“Woohoo!!!” cheered Pinkie. “He beat the bad guys and won a prize! That was a great way to end a quest!”
“Don’t forget all the awesome battles that Jak had before and the dangerous places he explored! Boy do I wish I could meet him! He’s so freakin’ awesome!!!” added Rainbow Dash.
“I agree, darling. His acts of bravery and sacrifice of his own personal safety for the sake of a friend, all the while enjoying the adventure are traits of a most desirable quality.” she said as she stared off into space with a dreamy look on, imagining Jak as a blonde haired, green coated stallion with just enough muscle to make him look in shape, but not so much to make him look like a body builder. “Oh, if only he were single and a pony. Who cares if his coat would be green, that resolve to do what’s right no matter the cost combined with such gallantry would make any mare swoon.” she thought.
“Don’t forget, that by stopping them, Jak also saved all the animals of his world and the environment in general.” said Fluttershy with a smile. She then frowned as a more disturbing thought came to mind. “I couldn’t bear to dwell on what that terrible substance would’ve done to the lightning moles, the baby flut-flut, and their homes.” she said as an image of said animals in agony as they mutated in the middle of a dark eco saturated wasteland caused her to shudder.
She then felt something pat her on the back and looked to her left to see that Applejack had moved in between her and Ikari to give the shy pegasus some emotional support. “There, there, sugarcube. Ya don’t need ta worry none. Ya said it ya’self, them Aceron varmints were dealt with by Jak, so those critters prob’bly lived the rest of their lives in non-eco tainted homes happily eva after.” Applejack’s comforting words seemed to do the trick as Fluttershy leaned into her friend, turning the friendly pat on the back into a one legged hug; with a joyful smile and closed eyes.
“Thank you, Applejack.” The butter yellow pegasus said as she sat up. She then gave her orange friend a smile before continuing. “You really put me at ease with what you said. I guess I was just being silly, fretting over what might’ve happened.”
Said earth pony gave another friendly pat, “Don’t mention it, I’m always happy to help mah friends, Shy.” she said as she rose back up, walking back to her seat on the left side of Ikari.
Twilight, on the other hand was a bit puzzled. There seemed to be something missing from that story; then it hit her. “Wait a second, Isamu. When did you and Ikari come into the picture? We didn’t hear any mention of yourselves, much less how you were both created.”
“Yeah, when did Jak get the ability to grow wings or claws and do all the cool stuff that you guys do?” Rainbow Dash added.
Isamu grinned at them as he answered. “I was getting to that. Be forewarned, things will be getting a bit darker now.” Isamu was happy that not only did the story entertain his new friends, but was also so good that they wanted more. He then became intrigued to know how they would react to the darker subject matters in the story of Jak’s second adventure. With these thoughts in mind, he introduced the next tale.
"Now, Jak's next adventure deals with his separation from his friends, a corrupt ruler, how Ikari was born, and..." at this point, he positioned his hands in a way that made them look like claws, "...monsters that eat eco!" he said as he moved his fingers in a creepy way with a matching voice. He then put his hands down. "'Jak and Daxter: Terror of the Metal Heads'!"
The next epic story of Jak and Daxter started off pretty mundane for what the ponies and dragon were expecting. After the reveal of the giant ring, Kiera suggested that Jak and Daxter find something to help move it back to the village. However, Samos suggested that before they do that, they should search the rest of the citadel. Apparently, he had a feeling that there was another item of interest that they would need. Jak, Daxter, and Kiera looked at him weird for a second, but decided not to question it. They did find something just like the sage said, some sort of wheeless vehicle with nothing but a thruster on the back. After finding something to lift the heavy machinery, the three friends moved both the rift ring and the vehicle back to the village where Kiera studied both devices until night fall.
“They might not question it, but ah am. How did Samos know that there was somethin there that they needed for the ring. Sounds mighty suspicious if ya ask me.” said Applejack with suspicion in her voice.
“This Kiera has all the fun.” thought Twilight with a bit of jealousy. She felt that that human girl was sooo lucky that she was able to study a new piece of technology. All Twilight could do was hear about it.
After a few days of studying both devices, the sage’s daughter told both heroes that they would be able to test the device soon; she just needed a little more time studying the vehicle and for them to build her a long ramp and place the precursor ring at the end of it. Not questioning the mechanic of their group, Jak and Daxter set to work doing what was asked and were done by sunset. Pleased with their handy work, Kiera gave them the good news that she should be done analyzing enough of the strange mode of transportation by tomorrow morning and went to tell her dad the same.
Early the next morning, everyone got ready to use the recently discovered machine, though Daxter seemed to have not gotten enough sleep the night before if his taking a snooze on the hood of the vehicle was any indication and Kiera was looking over the dashboard of the vehicle, checking the dials and switches to see if they were on the right settings. Jak, meanwhile, was gazing out at the ring and daydreaming about the kind of excitement that was to be had with the test run of the newly discovered ride.
Samos broke his fantasies of adventure when he said the obvious statement of it being the “big day”, but then said in a, to Jak, strangely sad tone that he hoped the teen was prepared for whatever would happen by the end of this experiment; as though he knew.
“Wait, wait, wait!” said Pinkie with her hooves in the stop gesture. Isamu looked to her with a questioning eye brow in response. She then explained the reason for the interruption. “Something big is going to happen right?” Isamu nodded. “Well this story is probably going to be really long, but still very exciting. We’re almost out of food and some of us might get hungry while listening…” she then turned to her friends “and I’m pretty sure none of us want to miss a second of this, right girls?”
“Right!” everyone besides Ikari replied.
Turning back to the blue angel, she continued. “So, I’m thinking that maybe you could wait just a little bit for me to go back to Sugar Cube Corner to get some extra snacks.”
“I think I’ll contribute some more food from my place too.” said Applejack, joining in on the idea.
“By the by, I myself am in need of a visit to the little filly’s room. I’m sure your story is going to be picking up soon, darling, but you know, ‘nature calls’ as it were.” said Rarity with a sheepish grin.
Putting up his hands and patting the air in a placating gesture, Isamu gave permission. “Alright, alright; snack runs and bathroom breaks for everyone who needs them. But hurry back to hear the rest of the exciting tale.” he said as he made another gesture for them to go. Pinkie Pie did as said and went home to grab snacks and Applejack did the same at her home; Pinkie getting various sweets and Applejack packing not only apples and apple products, but also some salad and various other veggies. The taste of the red fruit was great and all, but not everypony appreciated its sweet splendor as much as her. She also packed a few more bottles of apple cider and various flavors of soda.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash left for the unicorn’s aforementioned reason and returned shortly. That left Pinkie and Applejack as the last two mares to return. About twenty minutes later, both of them returned to find everypony else waiting patiently. Except for Isamu who was lying down with his hands behind his head and one leg crossed over the other. When he heard them set down the extra food, he sat up and looked from his left to his right to make sure all members of his audience were accounted for.
“Ok, is everybody done going to the bathroom or going on snack runs?” he said to them. When they nodded in unison, he smiled. “Good! Now where was I…?” he said while looking up and putting a hand to his chin. He then flipped an index finger towards the air in realization, “Oh, yeah!”
The blue man picked up where he left off and told them how Kiera had figured out most of the machine and that it interacts with the precursor ring in some way.
“Well that’s certainly vague.” said Twilight with a deadpan.
Isamu shrugged, “What can I say? She only had a few days of studying it before the experiment.”
Getting back into the story, Isamu told of how after Samos reprimanded Daxter for touching a button without knowing what it did and Kiera calming down her father, the sage told the three friends that he had experience with similar technology and was confident that Jak could make it work. Hesitantly, Jak pressed the heart shaped ruby button and the small orange dome next to it popped open and metal balls began moving in an organized pattern within. Kiera found it interesting since it appeared to be reading out coordinates, but to where neither the three friends nor Isamu’s audience knew at the moment.
Suddenly, the dome snapped shut and lightning like bolts of eco shot out and seemed to activate the ring, causing it to slightly hover a bit above the ramp. The ponies and dragon felt tension rising within as the description of what was happening around the ring was recounted to them. The sky rapidly switched from day to night repeatedly and the soft glow of the ring turned from a peaceful white to a chaotic vortex of blue and purple. Fluttershy sunk a little lower into her position on the ground in fear because of the ominous nature of her mental image of the scene.
Said scene got even scarier with the telling of a deep booming growl of a voice coming from the ring saying that the “Past Rift Gate” had finally been opened, and from the now to be revealed rift, hundreds of ugly metal bug like things started flying out and swarming overhead. A few seconds later, a monster’s upper torso burst through the light and roared at the humans and one animal and pointed at Jak while exclaiming that the green/blonde teen couldn’t hide from him while glaring at the boy with four yellow eyes.
“Ha! It wears glasses!? That’s not so scary!” laughed Rainbow Dash.
Isamu smirked before responding. “Nooooo…I mean he literally had four yellow eyes.” This caused Rainbow’s smile to disappear and her eyes to widen. “That’s not all.” he continued, “This thing, from what Jak could tell, was as tall as a three story building. Its skin was covered in blue scales with metal armor covering parts of its body including most of its face which had a mouth full of razor sharp teeth with each one being about the length of a sword.” The description got his audience to have various expressions of fright as they pictured the traits of this beast while he went on. “What’s more, it had these thick fleshy fins around its head that were arranged in a way that made it look like a manticore’s mane.”
By the end of the description, everypony was shaking in their seats from the terrifying mental image that all of these traits conjured up. Fluttershy was the most frightened and was debating whether or not this creature was scarier than dragons. Even so, fear wasn’t the only emotion most of them were feeling. Some, namely Rainbow Dash, was on the edge of her seat to find out what happened next. Where did this monster come from and how did Jak deal with this encounter?
After looking around at his audience’s faces for a moment, Isamu told them of how equally terrified Kiera was when she insisted that Jak do something about it. Jak, unfortunately, was panicking just as much as she was, trying to think of anything to do to make the monster go away. In his fear addled haze, he pressed the red ruby button again via punching it. He really shouldn’t have done that, as the very second he did so, the vehicle shot right towards the portal and the monster. Just as it looked like they were going to crash into the metal beast’s mouth, the vehicle slid right under him and into the vortex.
Even though the inside of the portal made it impossible to tell up from down, the passengers still felt as though the vehicle was going down a slope at high speeds. Daxter couldn’t take any more and rhetorically asked to get off the crazy thing. Suddenly, as though the chaos around them was listening, granted the rhetorical request with a lightning bolt from a random direction striking and destroying the vehicle. The explosion sending Samos and Kiera off to the sides, while Jak and Daxter both went forward. Just before both heroes reached a light at the end of the glowing tunnel, Samos yelled for Jak to find himself.
The audience of this tale that took a very early and frightening turn now looked at their angelic story teller in slight confusion. Twilight was the first to voice her friends’ collective perplexed feelings. “Umm…why did he say that? I mean, it sounds very deep, but why did he say something like that then?” she then formed a small smile. “I highly doubt that careening through the vast expanse of a portal is the time or place for saying something philosophical.” she said with a chuckle.
Isamu wagged a finger at the inquisitive unicorn while grinning. “Ah, ah, ah! No spoilers!” he said with a fake scolding tone.
“Yeah, Twilight! Don’t make him spoil it for the rest of us! If you want to eat spoiled story, that’s fine by me, but the rest of us want a fresh narrative!” said Pinkie in an overly serious tone. Coming from the pink mare, it was hard for her friends to tell if that stern voice was real or not. Regardless of the sincerity of her tone, the other ponies started to have similar sentiments as they looked at each other, then at Twilight. None of them expressed what they were feeling about this situation; except for Rainbow Dash who was sitting up with her fore legs crossed over her chest and shaking her head with an annoyed frown.
Nervously, Twilight tried to give an excuse. “But I…!” however, as she looked at Pinkie’s scowl and Rainbow’s disapproving look, Twilight gave up. “Uuuugh…fine! Continue.” she said as she gestured for the blue man to do so.
With another smile, Isamu turned his pure, white, glowing eyes to the rest of his audience as he did just that, telling them of what happened when Jak and Daxter finally exited the portal. Jak and Daxter were coated in a mixture of dark and light eco as they descended from what felt like the sky. The light that they saw at the end of the portal’s tunnel had blinded them and they were unable to see where they were landing, but as soon as they got up from their long fall, the two friends were amazed to discover that they were in a huge city. Not just any city, but a city that was made entirely out of metal!
Neither of them had seen anything like it. Most towns that they had explored had buildings that were made of mostly wood and stone. The only exception being Gol and Maia’s citadel and even then, it was really just a repurposed Precursor installation that was made of the similarly named metal. This piece of civilization, however, was clearly made out of man-made metal. Not as strange, but still noteworthy, were the zoomers that were flying high off the ground and seemed to not need propellers.
Before Jak and Daxter could gawk further at the technological marvels of the city, they heard footsteps coming from further up the road. What they saw was very intimidating. Humans in red armor and holding staff-like weapons were walking towards them and were led by an orange haired man in a yellow uniform who was holding a small metal object in his hand like the armored humans held their weapons. They all seemed to be in that part of the city for the two heroes as they marched towards and stopped right in front of them.
Hearing this reminded Twilight of the royal guard. The orange haired man sounded like he might be the captain if the fact that he was leading them was any indication. “I wonder why that city’s police force would be greeting newcomers. I certainly hope he isn’t in trouble. Maybe they think that he entered the city illegally? If that’s the case, then they had better have at least told Jak what he’s being accused of before trying anything.” she thought with concern. She knew that these events had already happened, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t feel worry about who she was hearing of.
What she and the rest heard next was simply shocking. One of the men in red told Jak to step away from Daxter, who ran with a scream. The orange haired man got a little annoyed with the guard who was focusing on the fleeing rodent and told him and the rest to forget him since someone called “The Baron” was only interested in the teen. Apparently they were waiting for him. Suddenly, one of the red men smashed the bottom end of his staff like weapon into the scared teen’s face and he was out like a light. As he lost consciousness, the blonde could only tell that he hit the ground by the loud thump that was heard. He also heard Daxter saying that he would rescue him soon.
When Isamu’s audience heard this, their jaws looked like they could become unhinged by how far they dropped and their pupils had substantially shrunk, making their eyes look all the larger. All of them had the same kinds of thoughts running through their heads. What sort of ruler sends out guards to greet newcomers? Why would said ruler want someone who just came to the city arrested without provocation? And what sort of corrupt justice system would allow such a thing?
Rainbow Dash was the first to get over her shock. She shook her head vigorously to get rid of her gawking expression and replaced it with a look of outrage. “What the hay!? How in the name of Celestia could anypony be arrested for just visiting!? He didn’t do anything!” she said while flailing her forelegs in protest to this travesty. By this time, her friends were looking at her; some with equally angry looks and nodding in agreement. “It’s horrible, unfair, and just plain not cool!!!” she said as a closing to her rant. She then crossed her forelegs over her chest to signify that she would not change her views of the situation no matter what anybody told her.
Isamu at this point was also frowning. The frown only growing deeper as he gave the cyan pegasus more bad news “Oh, it gets worse; a lot worse.” He said in a dark tone. Ikari also frowned, knowing what was coming next.
What was regaled next was horrible, awful, and just generally made the ponies and one dragon feel dreadfully sorry for the hero whom they had come to like. Jak, the one who stopped two mad scientists from flooding the world with dark eco, was thrown into a prison and subjected to getting that very substance pumped into his body as part of some twisted experiment. Each day this would happen, and each time the pain grew and grew. To add insult to injury, or in this case, injury to injury, the men in red, who he later found out were called Krimzon Guards would frequently kick him around to get him moving from his cell to the operating table and would throw him back into his meager living quarters hard enough for his face to slam up against the back wall and knock him out.
Surprisingly, all of this pain didn’t break his will. He may have been sad the first few days, but after that, the anguish brought forth an anger that could rival the fiercest of predators. How dare these people treat him this way and how dare the ruler of this place orchestrate such a thing!? He hated Baron Praxis and the orange haired man named Erol with all his soul.
Along with the anger came hallucinations. Jak attributed this partially to the dark eco that was most likely messing with his brain. Some of the figments would be of people he met and toys from his childhood. Then would come the scarier ones of the various monsters he had to face, and some that he was sure his mind was making up. Along with these mental amalgamations of consciousness, a voice was conceived in his mind that, at the moment, did not have an image to associate with. So, it appeared to be disembodied. A voice that sounded like his, but slightly deeper and more menacing.
On the first day after this figment’s conception, Jak noticed that this voice mirrored his angry feelings. No, that wasn’t quite right. It sounded more like its fury was of a more amplified form, judging from how much it yelled things such as, “They are hurting us! You must kill them!” or “The same with their guards! They’re following that bastard ruler and they all need to be slaughtered!” and sometimes, “I am the only one you can trust! That orange rat ran away from you and never looked back!” For the most part, the teen agreed with the voice, accept for anything involving Daxter. He still held out hope that his friend turned rodent would come to his rescue or at least had been trying to all this time.
For two years, Jak endured the torturous experiments and for two years, his anger grew. During that time, the other hallucinations faded away, leaving only the angry voice behind to grow more prominent within the womb that was his mind. One day, after another dark eco injection, the computer told Praxis, who was nearby, that nothing about the young adult’s physique had changed. Over these two years, Jak had learned the reason behind this torture. Creatures called “Metal Heads” had been at war with the city and the baron wanted a new weapon to fight against them. It was a horrible excuse for doing this to him against his will and it made him all the angrier.
After yelling at Erol about how he would not be remembered as the one who let the city fall to the metal heads, he told him to move forward with some sort of plan and to kill Jak later. It seemed like all was lost, until he heard a voice. A voice he hadn’t heard in a long time.
“Ding, ding, third floor! Body chains, roach food, torture devices!”
Jak suddenly felt a weight on his chest and heard the voice ask if he had seen any other heroes around. It then told him that it was Daxter. Opening his eyes to see if it was true, Jak closed them back up as soon as he confirmed who it was. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with any talking after being injected for the umpteenth time. Plus, he was still feeling too angry to focus on much.
After a bit more rambling, the orange rodent begged his friend to say something to him for once in his life. Unbeknownst to him, not only did Jak hear his plea, but also the voice that was conceived in his mind heard it too. It became angry with how grating Daxter’s voice was and added this fury to Jak’s own. The voice then decided to make Jak say something just to shut the rat up.
For this part, Isamu tried his best to mimic how Ikari sounded on that day. “I’M GOING TO KILL PRAXIS!” he roared in a deeper and more gravelly voice. The voice had the effect of making his audience’s eyes widen once again. Each of them shocked at what Jak’s first words were and the sort of voice he said them with. Isamu continued the story after he got a good look at their reactions.
“While Daxter was figuring out how to unlock the restraints that were holding his friend down, Jak’s anger at those that had hurt him continued to grow.” he said looking at his audience, mentally noting the looks of anticipation. Even they knew something was going to happen. “Until finally, with a roar, Ikari was born; ripping the metal cuffs off his hands!” he said while pointing at Ikari dramatically.
The ponies and baby dragon looked at Isamu and then slowly looked at Ikari, who was scowling. It was obvious that the whole tale of how he was born brought up bad memories. After staring at him for a moment, Rainbow Dash finally spoke up.
“So, that’s why he’s so angry all the time?” she asked Isamu.
“Yep, my brother was born from pain and suffering. Not only that, but everyone saw him as a monster. Personally, I see him as more of an irritable idiot that needs to be beaten down every once in a while to stop his tantrums.” the angelic being said with nonchalance.
Everypony turned to Ikari, feeling sorry for him. Not only was this angry soul born in such a horrid way, but almost everybody in his world immediately hated him; including his brother apparently. Ikari raised an eyebrow while still scowling at them. He then felt a hoof on his right shoulder and turned to see Fluttershy with tears in her eyes. “Uuuh…?” he questioned before Fluttershy nearly knocked him over with a hug, sobbing into his chest.
“Th-th-that’s so horr-rr-ible! I, I couldn’t imagine anypony being born in such a way! It’s too awful to consider!” she said as she continued to sob.
Ikari looked down at the yellow pegasus for a while before looking around at the ponies in confusion at this sudden embrace. Not knowing what else to do, the purple man awkwardly started patting Fluttershy’s back while looking at her confusedly. After a moment of this, he unwrapped her forelegs from around his torso and surprisingly pushed her off with very little force. The pegasus stopped her sobbing and looked up at him to see that he was giving her a side glance mixed with a scowl for a second before he shrugged and turned his gaze to the rest of the group.
“I guess it isn’t worth staying sad over, but I really wish I could help him in some way. It must be so awful to be born with so much pain, have everypony’s hatred added on to that, and bottling it up for so long. No wonder he’s so angry all the time.” she thought as she used an offered hanky from Rarity.
Isamu raised an eyebrow at the display. He, like Ikari, didn’t get why she would care about his monster of a brother’s feelings. He then shrugged his shoulders as he mentally chalked it up to her not knowing the full extent of the sort of influence his existence had on Jak’s mind. “Soooo...yeah. After that, both Jak and Ikari were about to kill Daxter, but before they did it, Jak recognized his best friend and stopped his body from delivering a killing blow. After Daxter got over the shock and told Jak to remind him not to get him angry again, Daxter instructed our green/blonde hero to put on the new clothes that he had brought for him.” he said as he pointed to the clothes he was wearing. “After getting the clothes on, Daxter jumped on to his designated position on Jak’s shoulder and their escape commenced.”
Isamu then went on to talk about what Jak had to do in order to get through the prison. According to him, Jak killed every krimzon guard he came across. He did so in various ways. Ranging from flinging them off of ledges, to sneaking up behind them and snapping their necks, to even pulling off their helmets so that he could shove their own shock rods down their throats and watch as they spasm to death. He took great pleasure in killing the guards who worked there; while Ikari applauded him within his subconscious.
The ponies could certainly understand that Jak was angry at the guards for what they had a hoof in doing and knew that if they had suffered like he did, they would want those who did it to answer for their crimes. Even so, their sympathy for the tortured man’s situation didn’t stop them from grimacing at the sheer brutality of his revenge against these unscrupulous thugs. Rainbow was surprisingly the first to express their discomfort. It was surprising because everypony thought Rarity would be the first to comment on what would obviously be considered barbaric by the prim and proper mare.
“Whoa! I know I’m sometimes the first to jump to violence when angry, but even I have to admit that what he was doing was a bit severe.” the rainbow mare said with widened eyes and a disturbed frown. Looking around, she saw that all of her other friends had similar feelings. Though, Fluttershy’s reaction was the most pronounced as she was hiding under her hooves and shaking in both fear of how brutal Jak was being and sadness for all of the guards that died in such a painful way.
To Fluttershy, it didn’t matter that they were working for a mad man. Those men didn’t all deserve to die. Isamu guessed that this was what her thoughts most likely were and didn’t blame her for them. She wasn’t there. The timid pegasus did not understand how Jak was feeling because she never went through such torture. She couldn’t have possibly experienced the torment of being oppressed in such a way.
Isamu sighed, regretting giving such a detailed description of how his host had dealt with his oppressors. In the first story, his audience was able to stomach the death that Jak had brought upon most of the enemies he encountered, such as lurkers, because they sounded more like monsters than actual sapient beings. Though Fluttershy still felt sorry for them because of how much she cares for all living things, but that’s beside the point. The point was, unlike lurkers, these krimzon guards were Jak’s own species and he was killing them with extreme prejudice. Isamu knew that even this world wasn’t perfect as he had heard of murders and other crimes happening in various cities all across Equestria during his imprisonment and also knew that if any of these mares kept up with current events, they too would not be astonished at the notion of murder; which was why Isamu was not surprised that most of their reactions didn’t get any more expressive than “significantly disturbed”.
After considering these things, Isamu finally responded to Rainbow Dash’s comment. “Well, Rainbow, even the most cheerful of people can become ruthless killers in the right circumstances.” he said with a deadly serious tone.
Rainbow Dash looked down with a frown, reluctantly agreeing with his logic, unable to find a coherent way to dispute it. She then looked back up, “Still, it’s disturbing that anypony could find it fun to kill somepony else.” Isamu nodded in agreement. Despite it being something one had to accept as real, death would never be a comfortable subject to most people.
Continuing on, Isamu told of how when Jak had gotten hurt during his escape, he found krimzon guard boxes filled with packages of green and dark eco. He was thankful for the green, but was hesitant when he looked at the dark. Ikari subtly influenced his mind by making him desire some dark eco. It only took Jak pointing his hand at it for the dark eco to break out of its packaging, fly up to the appendage, and be absorbed into his body. Surprisingly, there was no pain from it. The only thing that happened on the outside was a few sparks of the purplish eco jumping out of his hands for a second before receding. Inside, Jak could feel himself get slightly stronger.
The two friends continued on before they eventually got outside, where Daxter assured him that they would get Baron Praxis for what he did to him. After walking a short distance, an old man in blue robes, who introduced himself as Kor, stopped Jak and offered him help. However, Jak got angry at the man for randomly stopping him and decided to make the old codger useful by getting information from him. The furious man aggressively walked closer, causing Kor to back up, while Jak rudely asked for information on where exactly he was. Meanwhile, Daxter noticed a small green haired kid standing nearby, whom was looking a little scared at Jak’s sudden hostility. He decided to calm the kid, who seemed to be with Kor, down by apologizing and giving him the alibi that Jak was a novice when it came to conversing.
After the apology, Kor told Jak that the angry man was a “guest” of “his majesty” Baron Praxis, the ruler of Haven City. The only part of what the old man said that was new to Jak was the name of the city. He now had a name to go with this crappy place. Jak then told him that he had recently been a “guest” in the baron’s prison, spitting the word guest out like it was a piece of rotten meat. Kor melodramatically responded with the notion that it didn’t matter if one was imprisoned or free to roam the city, everyone was the Praxis’ prisoners.
Isamu’s audience was starting to dislike this baron more and more. If torturing Jak wasn’t enough, now they’re hearing that this Baron Praxis was a tyrant to his own citizens. Before the ponies and dragon could revel in their mutual dislike of this horrible ruler, Isamu continued his story with the encounter of patrolling guards confronting and threatening to kill Jak’s group just for being in that part of the city. Kor then told Jak that if he protected them, he would introduce him and his friend to somebody that could help them.
So, Jak did just that. The first one that ran up to him tried to smack Jak with his shock rod, but Jak ducked under it and punched the guard hard enough to dent his armor and double him over. Two guards came up and aimed their weapons at him to shoot a shock round, but Jak was too quick. One spin kick knocked the weapons out of both guards hands and before they could react, Jak grabbed the one on his left by the shoulders and threw him into the one on the opposite side, both of them flying into a wall. The guard with the dented armor had just gotten back up when Jak’s hands planted themselves on both sides of his head and forced him to take a knee to the face, cracking the front of the helmet. Jak then did a leg sweep and caught the guard by the head. He then proceeded to smash the man’s face into the ground.
The two guards that were thrown to the wall got back up and tried to rush him, but Jak heard their footsteps and jump tackled them from his crouched position. He then beat them senseless and after a few punches, grabbed their weapons and shocked them into unconsciousness. Throwing the weapon away, the violent hero turned to see a Krimzon dropship delivering more guards. Before Jak could act, Ikari’s voice rang through his head and caused a massive headache.
“Alright, you had your fun. NOW IT’S MY TURN!!!” Ikari yelled excitedly from inside Jak’s mind. He couldn’t wait to finally have his chance to tear these guards a new one.
In a split second, Jak transformed into his darker half for the second time, only this time, he let out a great roar as he did so, “RRAAAAAAAH!!!” It was a loud roar with an echo that could be heard over the nearby traffic and rattled the armor of the guards that had just departed from their transport.
“Ooo-hoohoo~! It’s flank kicking time!” Rainbow Dash said while grinning ear to ear after Isamu was done describing the roar.
And right she was, for the next scene that Isamu told was certainly violent. Though “flank kicking” was an understatement. It was more like a flank shredding. Jak, with Ikari partially in control, bounded from guard to guard, slicing through armor, skin, and bone. On the last downward strike of his claw swipe combo, the guard that would’ve received a chest slash to match his comrades tried to dodge the attack, but was too slow. Instead of receiving a wound to the torso, his right hand was cut off. The guard fell to the ground, clutching his bloody stump. Ikari decided that he could save that particular guard for after he checked to see if there were any survivors of his onslaught.
It turned out that there were. Two of the guards had wounds that were shallow enough to not be fatal by themselves, but the dark eco that was in their bodies would finish them off soon enough if they didn’t get some green eco soon. Unfortunately for them, the closest hospital was on the other side of the district and the closest eco demon was now five feet away. Both guards tried to raise their weapons, but the combination of a few bones being sliced through and the dark eco eating away at their insides made it nearly impossible to aim, much less lift their shock rods.
Ikari smiled at their futile attempt at a last stand and tackled both of them claws first, each dagger-like nail going into their necks. As he stared down at them, he angled their heads to stare directly at him while they choked to death on their own blood.
By the end of his telling of that massacre, Rainbow Dash’s smile had gone from excited, to strained, to a small frown. She thought that since Jak no longer had the element of surprise and that there were bigger numbers, the angry hero would have to settle for simply sending them packing with a beating instead of killing them. Like she said, she too would’ve gotten violent with those who would treat her so poorly, but killing struck her as too harsh. What Isamu described was even harsher than the prison break part. Hearing about how violently Ikari had dispatched with these krimzon guards made Rainbow feel conflicted. These krimzon guards needed to be taught a lesson, but she felt they didn’t really need to be killed. She wasn’t sure if she liked the fact that Jak was acting as judge, jury, and executioner with Ikari’s help.
Not noticing his pegasus friend’s expression, Isamu continued on. After the last two guards died, the dropship finally left. Just as he got up Ikari put his head in his hands in pain as he turned back into Jak, signaling him forcibly taking back control of his body. Daxter, seemingly not concerned that his friend had a head ache, opted to instead focus on how cool the previous event was and told him to do it again. Jak ignored his friend’s rudeness and voiced his thoughts on what just happened. That something “he” did had something to do with it and he was unable to control it. Ikari, at that time, was inside Jak’s subconscious with his arms crossed and feeling smug that not even this host of his would always be able to keep him bottled up. If Ikari wanted to be out, he would be out whether Jak wanted him to or not as long as his host was angry enough.
After that was done, Kor thanked them and told them that he needed to get the kid to safety. Before he could go, Daxter stopped him and asked what they should do. Kor told them about the rebel group called “The Underground” and their leader, “The Shadow”, where to find them, and to ask for Torn. After they parted ways, Jak immediately ran in the direction he was told and later found a parked zoomer which he then proceeded to steal for the sake of fast travel.
“HE DID WHAT!? HOW COULD HE DO THAT!?” yelled Twilight.
“What, you mean taking the zoomer?” asked Isamu. “What’s wrong with that?”
“What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG!?” yelled Twilight again. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong! He stole somepony else’s zoomer! Granted, he killed some guards, but that was in self-defense. Here, he just up and stole a zoomer! He didn’t even ask the citizen that might’ve owned it.”
Isamu looked at Twilight and thought up an excuse. “Well, he needed to get there quick and without krimzon guards seeing him. He didn’t have a disguise so what better way to go around the city than being on a vehicle that would make you too fast to be readily recognized?” It wasn’t much of an excuse, but it was just about good enough for the outraged mare.
Twilight turned away reluctantly with a sour look, “Fine, I guess it wouldn’t do to be recognized and risk getting thrown back in prison.”
“That’s the spirit.” the angel said while ruffling her mane. Twilight straightened it, feeling annoyed at his actions but stayed calm nonetheless. Though she was mad that Jak would just steal, she still wanted to know what would become of the blonde hero by the end of this new adventure.
After she calmed down, Isamu continued. After avoiding guards patrolling the upper hover zones, Jak and Daxter finally found the area that was described to them; a dead end near the city wall. There were two people there a brunette man and a blonde woman. When he asked the woman where he could find Torn, said man approached with a sneer. After a rather rude introduction, Torn told him that if he and Daxter wanted in at the Underground, they needed to go and steal the Baron’s banner from a tower in a place called “Dead Town”
Fluttershy shivered in slight fear at the mention the name. “W-what kind of place is that?”
“Oh…it’s not much.” Isamu said sarcastically. “Just a destroyed part of Haven City filled with ruined buildings, toxic water, and two types of animals that would rather eat you than become your friends.” he finished as he leaned towards her. This didn’t do anything to quell her fears, but it didn’t build them up either. The place didn’t sound any worse than the Everfree Forest, minus the toxic water. Though as far as dangerous animals, the Everfree was ten times worse since it had more than two types. It also reminded Fluttershy and her friends of a larger version of the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters.
After his description, the tale of Jak’s first mission in this adventure began. The trail to the tower of which the banner sat upon was not much of a challenge. Like Isamu said, there were only two types of dangerous animals there. Frizards which, from their description, sounded like a hybrid of a frog and a lizard if the name hadn’t given it away, and blue-tongued skrats, whose tounge could launch out and sting anyone who got within ten feet with poison. To the ponies, these animals were small potatoes compared to the manticore they faced a few months ago. Even Fluttershy wasn’t that scared especially since she had a pet boa constrictor named Constrandra.
Jak’s path continued to be easy, killing a few frizards and skrats that tried to take a bite out of him. That was, until he got to a bridge leading to the tower, which fell apart from the middle outward the moment he set foot on it, forcing him to leap the rest of the way over. If there was one thing about those experiments that he liked, it was that it gave him a little extra boost in strength when not transformed. After jumping off of platforms that crumbled at the slightest touch, and swinging off of poles in ways that would make an Olympic gymnast jealous, both friends finally reached the top.
Rainbow Dash had a huge smile on her face to express how much she liked this part. She was an athlete and really in to danger, so hearing about death defying acrobatics was always fun for her to hear. The next part got her even more excited as Jak, not realizing how fragile the platform he was on might have been, slammed the pole of the banner down after wrenching it out of where it was stuck. This caused the entire area to crumble, sending the two heroes down into the murky water, a tarp saving them by launching them into the air and onto a rope that they grinded on right to a waiting Torn who watched in awe as the whole tower collapsed. After getting over his awe, Torn told them that they were in and all three went back to the hide out.
“Before you continue, how did that part of the city get destroyed?” asked Rarity as she took out an apple to snack on.
“You’ll see my little fashionista. All in due time.” said Isamu with a cheeky grin.
Isamu then told of the next mission they were sent on. Apparently, the Baron shut off the water to the slums just to kill Underground members and Jak needed to go to the pumping station and turn it back on. Isamu’s audience was understandable disgusted. How could anybody be so cruel? There were citizens in poverty living in the slums, but the Baron didn’t care. All he cared about was killing the Underground, despicable. While Jak was on this mission, he encountered, for the first time, metal heads. According to Isamu, these creatures were quadrupedal, scaly like reptiles, had very sharp teeth and claws, armor plating attached to their skin, and most prominent of all, had yellow glowing gems embedded in their skulls. There weren’t that many on the beach, where the entrance to the pumping station was located, nor were there many near the end of the trail. It was mostly the dangerous animals from Dead Town. Finally, they got to the valve to turn the water back on. Daxter tried to turn the crank, but it wouldn’t budge. Jak, meanwhile, was amused at his friend’s efforts to show him that he was strong. After Daxter’s second tug on the crank, Jak had enough and hit the pipe that it was connected to. This somehow opened the pipe above them and caused the crank to spin and launch the rodent into the metal tube. Isamu’s equine audience had the same surprised expression that Jak had had at that moment as Daxter was sent on a painful trip back to the entrance area, hitting each corner face first.
This was met with various winces and other expressions of empathetic pain. None more so than Rainbow Dash since she had had plenty of face plants in the past. However, those winces turned into amused smiles and giggling when it was told how Daxter got out. Jak had turned the valve at the end and as the pressure built up, Daxter came out bit by bit. First was his head, then his arms. He was then shot out of the pipe and laid on his back. Before Jak could say anything, Daxter told him to be quiet and that next time he would be turning the valve. He promptly fell back unconscious.
“Hahahaha!” Rainbow laughed. “He must’ve felt so stupid!”
“Shucks, Rainbow Dash. Are ya tellin us that ya haven’t done anythin’ just as foolish? Need I remind you of the dragon ya kicked in the face?” Applejack said in a smug tone.
“Ummm…uh, well.” Rainbow’s pride seemed to be too strong to let her admit that she had her stupid moments, so she grumbled incoherently.
“You’ll have to tell me about that some time, Miss Dash.” the angel said with a raised eyebrow and mischievous smirk.
After the rest of the mane 6 and Spike had a good laugh, they all continued to listen to the story. Before Jak was able to get back to the hideout, he felt a tug at the back of his mind. It lead him to some shack in the water slums, however, this was no ordinary house. It contained a precursor oracle who told him that the dark eco inside him would destroy his body and that only it could help him to control his powers, but only if he collected a certain amount of skull gems from his enemies, the metal heads.
“How revolting! That statue is asking for body parts in exchange for power! I don’t care what that oracle gave me, I would never do something so disgusting.” said Rarity.
“Why not, Rarity? I thought you liked gems.” said Pinkie while giving her an elbow nudge.
“Yes, but unlike skull gems, the gems that I adore come from the ground, not a living thing’s head. Could you imagine it? That would be like somepony coming and cutting off my horn!” This caused Twilight to involuntarily cringe and put her hooves over her own horn. For unicorns, their horns were not only what made them what they were but were also very sensitive to any sort of damage. Pain from an injury to one’s horn had the potential of knocking the unicorn out.
Isamu caught sight of Twilight covering her horn and made a funny connection. “Wait, a unicorn’s horn is pointy, sensitive, and hard as b…” when it clicked in his mind, a big toothy grin came over his face. “Oh my God. That’s…” he thought with amusement. “Pffffffftehehehehe!” he chortled. Twilight put her hooves down and stared at him inquisitively.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing, nothing. Nothing at all!” Isamu said, waving her off.
“Getting off the subject of dismembered horns, Jak’s next mission before he could see the shadow was to blow up a stockpile of explosives.”
According to him, Torn told Jak that there were “lots of Krimzon Guards and constant patrols” They expected Jak to have to sneak past guards that were…well, guarding the entrance in order to get in. However, not only were there no guards at the entrance, but the sliding doors opened up for him. To say that his audience was stunned would be an understatement. How stupid do you have to be not to lock the door on something important? Apparently you have to be as stupid as the Baron to do that. However, their forming opinions of the Baron being an idiot were dashed when they heard what was waiting for him in the first room.
“A freakin’ tank!?” Rainbow Dash said with her mouth agape. “Are you kidding me!? How the heck did Jak get out of that!?”
“Well, if you would let me tell the story, you would find out.” said Isamu with a deadpan.
Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly and blushed in embarrassment. To which Isamu rolled his eyes before continuing.
The second Jak went through the opening on his left, the computer, which Isamu explained was basically like an artificial brain, said over the speakers that the blonde hero’s use of the door was unauthorized and that the tank would be activated. Jak ran for his life as any sane person would do. This was made harder, by having to jump over bottomless pits and dodge turret fire in addition to the tank’s fire that he had to dodge. Then, when it seemed to the ponies like it couldn’t get any worse for him, Isamu added that Jak had to break electrical tubing on raised platforms in order lower an electric fence and escape the war machine. All the while, the tank kept shooting at him.
Suffice it to say, Isamu’s audience was amazed that not only did Jak escape, but he did it without a single scratch.
Later on in the story, after Jak had beaten up all the guards that were unlucky enough to get in his way, he and Daxter finally reached the ammo storage area which also contained barrels of liquid eco. However, that didn’t seem important to him at that moment. For luck was on his side when he picked up a strange rectangular device that Daxter happily informed him was a security pass that would allow access to other parts of the city. This fortunate event, sadly, wasn’t meant to be cherished as a sound directed them over to a nearby grate which, when peered through, showed them guards giving metal heads eco as part of some sort of deal that Baron Praxis had made. Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up at this, the situation sounding pretty shady to them.
Jak too was interested, but had no time to contemplate what the scene he had just witnessed could mean as the nearby tank suddenly activated and gave chase. Fortunately, the computer that was controlling it was too stupid to not shoot the cooling system to the giant explosive in the center whenever Jak hid behind one. As such, once the last pipe of coolant was blasted apart, the computer informed everyone in the building that the temperature of the weapons was reaching what it called “critical overload” and advised everyone to evacuate. Coincidentally there was a door to the outside that just opened up. The demolition duo jumped out right as the room behind turned into an inferno, launching both heroes forward into a three story drop that both Jak and Daxter managed to survive without a single injury. How? Not even Isamu was sure, but that was beside the point. What really grabbed everyone’s attention was Pinkie Pie’s laughter.
“Pinkie, what’s so funny?” asked Fluttershy in her quiet voice. Despite the low volume, the pink party pony still heard and turned to her yellow friend with a giggle.
“He, he, he, oh Fluttershy! Don’t you get it? That meanie, Baron Praxis, was so silly in planning how to store his ammo that he authorized a tank to be operated just to get rid of one guy! HAHAHAHAHA!!!” she said with hysterical laughter.
Everyone else looked at each other for a second then joined in. She was right! That was pretty stupid of the baron to do. What an idiot. After the laughter died down, Ikari wiped a fake tear from his eye. “Heh, heh, heh.” He chuckled as he calmed down. Fluttershy noticed how Ikari had joined in and smiled up at him. Proud that he was showing signs of being somewhat more social. Ikari saw her look and tried to cover it up.
“‘cough, cough’ ahemm” he said into his hand.
The shy pegasus decided not to push the matter and settled for giving a sideways smirk to show that she saw through his horrible acting.
The story picked up again with the recount of Jak’s delivery mission to Krew. It was hard for Jak to get to the bar known as the “Hip Hog Heaven Saloon” with all of the guards chasing him. Despite this, he got the package to the bar and was stunned and disgusted to find that the bar owner that he was looking for was the fattest tub of lard he had ever seen. To the nausea of his audience, Isamu went into detail.
“Oh, God was this guy fat! Seriously, he had rolls upon rolls of fat rolling off of him. He needed a hover chair in order to move and could barely move his arms. The man had sweat and grease on his face. The only things skinny about him were somehow his legs, and those looked like fleshy twigs next to his girth! Don’t even get me started on what his arms looked like!”
“I…ugh ‘gulp’…think we get the idea.” said Rarity as she threw up in her mouth a little.
“Yeah, partner. That was…kinda disgustin.” said Applejack, looking more green than orange.
Pinkie seemed to be one of the few who wasn’t outright feeling queasy and instead just had widened eyes. “WOWIE! I’m glad I have a hyper metabolism! I wouldn’t be able to throw parties and have fun if I was that fat.” she said in thankfulness to her body’s ability to break down fat so quickly.
“Heh, yeah. Especially with how many cupcakes I’ve seen you eat this day alone.” said Isamu. He eyed the huge basket that was nearby which Pinkie had brought as an extra for herself after the break. It used to be full of the mini sweets, now a fourth of them were gone. Not the least bit ashamed of her eating habits, Pinkie showed how much she didn’t care by stuffing another cupcake in her mouth.
“So, now that his description is out of the way, how about I tell you what happened next?”
So, Jak, having found the guy who was said to have the info, demanded the information on the deal that the baron made with the metal heads, but Krew used one of his hired guns, Sig, a very tall dark skinned man in metal head themed armor, to distract the angry hero from the question by presenting him with a shiny new weapon called the Scatter Gun. This weapon shot red eco as wide angled waves at short distances.
At hearing what this weapon did, Twilight immediately added the item to the mental list of things that she wished she could study. A weapon that could shoot energy as an attack sounded a lot like the combat spells that unicorns had developed over the years.
After Jak got back from training with his new gun, Krew sent him to back up Sig at the pumping station while the tall warrior killed large metal heads with an impressive looking weapon called the Peace Maker. Krew apparently wanted Sig to kill metal heads and mount their…heads on the walls as trophies. One would think that this news would make the ponies and possibly only nonviolent dragon a little nauseous or just plain disturbed, but they weren’t. It really wasn’t surprising. They were just told about a man who was cruel enough to torture somepony for two years and runs his city as a tyrant, monsters that eat energy, and most recently, learned about a mystical device that asked for a specific body part from said monsters as payment for lessons in the hero’s newly acquired dark powers. Mounting the heads of vicious monsters in a bar to attract customers was pretty tame, all things considered.
During the tale of this mission, the light eco freak’s audience marveled at the power of the Peace Maker. For Rainbow Dash, the electrical orbs that the gun launched sounded very familiar to the lightning she could kick out of a storm cloud; except this had a lot better range and could be directed anywhere. Hearing about this weapon really struck a chord with her if her declaration of “Amazing!” was any indication.
After the mission, Jak realized that he had enough skull gems, so he visited the oracle, who shot dark eco into him. This somehow gave him a new power which Ikari at that time was very happy for. Though he had wished that the increase in power would also give him more power over the body, but he was happy with the next best thing. Anyway, the new power was the ability to perform a move called Dark Bomb, in which Jak in his dark form could punch the ground to send out a wave of dark eco.
Getting back to the Hip Hog, Jak received his next mission, which the ponies, Rarity especially, were repulsed by, for it was a mission to take out gun turrets in the sewers. Rarity, being the prim and proper pony that she was, summoned her fainting couch as the image of the heroic biped covered in sewage entered her mind while she dramatically fainted. The others didn’t fare much better. Except Applejack who was only mildly disgusted. Working on a farm wasn’t exactly a clean job. However, they did laugh at the fat jokes about Krew they were told that Daxter made.
Isamu continued, telling them that Jak gave an ultimatum. Unless Krew gave him info on why Baron Praxis was trading with the metal heads, he wouldn’t do this job for him. What Krew begrudgingly told the blonde/green hero induced anger in Rainbow and Applejack and shock in the others. The baron had cut a deal with the metal head leader. If he supplied them with eco, they would regularly attack the city just enough for the people to feel that they needed to rely on him for their continued safety. Applejack mumbled to herself about how much of a “dirty low down snake” this baron was and Rainbow gestured about as she described what she would like to do to somepony who could even think of such a messed up method of garnering loyalty.
The sewers sounded just like what the ponies and dragon thought, dark, dirty, and full of bodily waste. As Jak trekked, he came across the same creatures he saw in Dead Town and dodged the shots of the first turret before destroying it with one shot of his scatter gun. Continuing forward and turning on a light revealed three quadrupedal metal heads called grunts that turned and attacked, but they too fell to the might of the red eco powered weapon. After the second turret, the two friends tried to walk on a metal cat walk, but it immediately crumbled beneath their feet and they were forced to walk in the darkness below.
Finding and turning on another light switch revealed that the room they were in was full of Metal Heads. Fluttershy lowered her head in fear of what she might hear happened, but such worries were unwarranted. Jak immediately put away his gun and turned into Ikari who performed a Dark Bomb at point blank range of the first creature that got to him. The closest ones were either torn apart or vaporized by the initial blast and the furthest ones were slammed into the wall, dying do to the force of the attack and the overdose of dark eco they were given.
“Hoooo weee! Ah’d hate to get hit by one of those!” said Applejack, thankful that Fluttershy was the one providing the demon with a place to stay.
Jak later destroyed the last turret, got out of the sewers and headed back to the gun course to pick up the gun upgrade that he was promised. He then went back to Torn and received a mission to save the foreman of the Baron’s mining operations from the metal heads because said foreman was one of the underground’s best infromants. The place was crawling with metal heads. Not only were there the four legged grunts, but there were also small scorpion metal heads and insect like ones that Isamu called “Metal Jackets” because of their dark eco shooting stingers. When the two friends got to where the foreman, Vin, was hiding, Jak and Daxter nearly got their heads shot off when they opened the door. The human on the other side was freaking out and constantly shooting, thinking that the blonde human and rodent were enemies. When he was finally convinced, they all went through the portal back to the city.
After they got back, Vin told them about the metal head eggs that were draining the shield wall of its power. The paranoid foreman told Jak where the eggs were and how to warp there with the warp gate. In this mission, Jak destroyed a lot of eggs with turret fire. Fluttershy was a little saddened at hearing about what was essentially infanticide, even though these were baby monsters. The fact that she was an animal caretaker and the element of kindness caused her to feel at least a little bit of sorrow for all creatures who died, even the scariest of them. Also on this mission, Jak encountered spinning bladed metal heads, flying metal heads with guns for legs, and metal heads with arm mounted guns and shields. It was a harrowing task, but he accomplished it.
When he received the mission to go to the racing garage and sign up for this one woman’s racing team, Isamu mentioned a few things on the contract that Krew signed for them and Pinkie yelled out “GAME RIGHTS!?” just like Daxter had, causing everypony to look at her like she was weird, but then shrug it off as Pinkie being Pinkie. After meeting the racing client and trying the jetboard, which Rainbow Dash wished she had, Jak asked about getting into the palace to see the Baron, which the woman behind the curtain angrily told them how to get up there in exchange for leaving her alone. Needless to say, Isamu’s audience didn’t like how she was treating the hero after only just meeting him.
The next two missions were pretty interesting. The first had the two friends meet and protect Ashelin, a friend of Torn’s, which led to the next one in which they met a blind fortune teller named Onin, who had an interpreter named Pecker, whose name Pinkie laughed at, for obvious reasons. The purpose of meeting Onin was to ask about the Seal of the House of Mar and the tomb that was connected to it, which Isamu drew an illustration of in the dirt.
“Hey, wait a second, I know that symbol!” said Twilight pointing at the picture.
The rest of the group looked at her with questioning faces before Rainbow Dash spoke up. “What are you talking about, Twilight?
Twilight gestured to the dirt drawing before putting her hoof down. “I’ve seen that symbol before in books about eastern pony philosophies. That symbol represents balance in Maoism whose followers believe that there is a duality of opposites in nearly everything of the universe and it’s this balance of these dualities that create…harmony.” Twilight looked with widened eyes at both Ikari then Isamu’s equally surprised faces.
“That’s just weird.” said Isamu.
Shaking her head to clear it, Twilight continued. “Anyway, in official illustrations, the symbol, known as Yin and Yang has a white side with a black spot and a black side with a white spot and is shaped just like the picture Isamu drew.”
Fluttershy tilted her head at this. “But…how can that be? This ‘House of Mar’ is from another planet. How could the symbol for that family be the same as the symbol for one of our planet’s philosophies?”
Twilight put on a determined look before responding. “I don’t know, Fluttershy, but I bet with some extensive research into Equestria’s past, we can find out exactly why.” Her face softened a bit and formed a small smile as she looked back at their angelic story teller. “But for now, I think we’d all like to hear more of your story Isamu.”
Returning the smile, Isamu turned to the rest of his audience to continue.
Pecker interpreted Onin’s sign language. Apparently, in order to get answers about the seal and the tomb of Mar, Jak had to go to the precursor mountain temple and get three artifacts from it. So that’s what Jak and Daxter did. However, what Pecker didn’t say was what obstacles were barricading each artifact.
The first, a blue eco crystal fixed to what looked like a torch made of precursor metal, was guarded by, surprisingly, metal heads; which confused the mane 6 since, as they recalled, the oracle said that the metal heads were the sworn enemies of the precursors. So they being the ones who guarded the temple seemed strange. Interestingly enough, the description of two of the bigger metal heads that guarded them reminded Twilight of rhinos. What also stalled Jak’s progress was a block puzzle that Jak had to solve while being mere inches above a pool of dark eco. In order to solve it, Jak had to punch the blocks and with each hit, part of the blocks unfolded as they rotated in the direction of which they were hit. Rainbow especially liked this part of the story since even though it involved a lame puzzle, it was made cooler with the added danger of it hovering over dark eco and Jak solved it with his fists.
The next artifact was the Precursor Lens, which was guarded not only by another rhino metal head, but also a new type of metal head called a centurion. This metal head had both a shield and a dark eco gun for an arm. Twilight was fascinated by this since it seemed that metal heads could use eco to do similar things to unicorn spells.
After killing a couple more of the shield metal heads, Jak and Daxter passed over this natural bridge with pieces of precursor metal stuck in them. The second they passed over, the pieces of metal revealed themselves to be floating platforms as they destroyed the bridge when they broke free. Using them to get to the next area, Jak killed another group of metal head grunts and another one with a shield, the demolition duo finally got to the lens. However, Jak couldn’t figure out how to get it down from the light it was affixed to. Daxter walked into the center and immediately smelled something cooking. When he noticed the smoke, Daxter looked behind himself to find that the tip of his tail was on fire and promptly freaked out by running all everywhere except for the pool of water that was just five yards away.
Some of the mares were shocked at what happened and felt a little sorry for Daxter’s predicament. Especially Fluttershy, who had her hooves covering her mouth and eyes widened to dinner plate size. Rainbow, on the other hoof, was biting her lower lip, trying not to laugh. While the situation of one’s tail being burnt sounded painful and shouldn’t be laughed at, she couldn’t deny that the image of a small rodent freaking out and running around had some slapstick value to it. Besides, there was a body of water nearby. So it wasn’t like he was in any danger of his tail being completely burned off.
And she was proven right; for after a few seconds of Daxter running, he accidentally hit a switch that caused the lens to descend from the light above. Shortly after Jak caught it, the blonde hero looked down to see Daxter collapsed at his feet, sighing in relief that his tail had finally been put out. Though the hero wasn’t exactly sure how since Daxter didn’t look wet like he had jumped into the water. How the orange rodent’s tail was put out would remain a mystery.
The third and final artifact was the precursor gear which was guarded by, you guessed it, more metal heads. However, just like the other two artifacts, this one had an obstacle that made the challenge of getting it unique. This artifact’s obstacle was an avalanche of rocks that seemed to be never ending. Jak had to climb up the steep passage all while avoiding the falling rocks. Strangely enough, throughout this whole mission, there were krimzon guard crates scattered all over the place that provided him ammo and green eco and it was no different here as every now and then, Jak found a crate with a case of green eco. This was just what the doctor ordered as earlier in the climb, the blonde hero wasn’t fast enough to get behind cover; and as a result, took a hard blow to his right hand and fore arm that shattered the hand and gave his forearm a compound fracture. Thankfully, Jak was somewhat skilled in channeling eco and was able to heal his arm up in seconds, though it was still pretty sore. It didn’t matter in the slightest to him. Once a person goes through getting massive amounts of dark eco pumped into them, all other pain feels like a paper cut.
When they eventually got to the top, it was only a few hops across floating platforms before Jak and Daxter reached the resting place of the final artifact. It floated near the bottom of a mysterious and very complex looking contraption. Daxter, figuring that it wouldn’t hurt anything, walked over and swiped the gear from its spot in the machine. As he walked away, Daxter remarked that no one would know they were there…as the machine fell apart as a result of the gear being taken. Jak was about to tell him off for how wrong his friend was, but stopped and just let it go when he saw a large piece roll by.
Twilight face hoofed at Daxter’s foolishness. “Of course he would do that.” She then looked to Isamu. “Nothing catastrophic happened when the machine fell apart, right?”
“No, not really. Nothing besides a huge mess of precursor metal. As far as I can tell, it might’ve just been a piece of precursor art. It seemed to have as much practical use as one.”
Rarity’s attention was immediately drawn to this. “Hmmm. That would be interesting if your theory was proven true, quite interesting indeed. Over the course of this whole story, I was lead to believe that the precursors were mostly about practicality and barely had any interest in aesthetics. It would certainly add depth to the creators of your world.”
Isamu shrugged. “Well, unfortunately, that’s all we have to go on since all the other precursor made machines that Jak encountered had apparent practical purposes. Unlike that machine that which was seemingly just there to be looked at.”
Rarity in a ‘rare’ moment of not being overly dramatic, didn’t appear very distraught. In fact, she returned Isamu’s shrug with one of her own. “Ah, well. I suppose it’s not worth being too bent out of shape over. Besides, the fact that the precursors could make worlds with their amazing machines already gives them a monumental amount of intrigue. That, and it must have taken some level of creativity to make a whole planet, so I’m not entirely disappointed.”
Isamu nodded at her good way of looking at the situation then continued the story.
After returning to Onin with the artifacts, Jak decided to try to get into the palace. The first step for getting into the palace was to get the elevator for one of the support towers moving. For that, they talked to Vin who, after some reverse psychology, started rambling about how he would get the elevator running while doing exactly that. To Isamu the funniest thing about this part of his story telling was not Vin’s rambling, but the fact that Twilight asked the blue angel if he could repeat all of the scientific jargon that Vin had uttered. She even took out her note pad and quill to jot them down. She was disappointed to learn that since Jak couldn’t keep up with what Vin was saying, Isamu couldn’t either and thus couldn’t relay what the foreman said.
“Yet another scientific mystery about his world that will be really hard to solve without something tangible to study.” the bookworm thought bitterly.
After turning on the power boxes, Jak got up to the palace, which was a perilous climb with lots of traps, and eavesdropped on a conversation that Praxis and Errol were having with the metal head leader via hologram chat. This form of communication reminded Twilight of a new spell she heard about that unicorn scientists were working on. After the hologram disappeared with a threat to the city being made, Errol urged Praxis to let him lead an assault on the metal head nest. To which the Baron called it a foolish plan and went over what he immediately wanted done.
During these orders, Jak and Daxter learned that Ashelin was the baron’s daughter and that the true heir to the throne was a child. If Isamu didn’t have his audience’s attention before, he sure did now. The news of Ashelin being the Baron’s daughter was shocking to say the least. The very tyrant who the underground was fighting against didn’t even have the complete loyalty of his daughter, Rarity having the more outspoken reaction amongst her wide eyed friends.
“Oh-hoho, oh my!” she giggled while closing her eyes in mirth. She opened them before continuing. “Now that is certainly embarrassing. Not only does Baron Praxis fail as a ruler, but also as a father, if Ashelin’s cooperation with his enemies is any indication.” by the end, she looked to be on the verge of laughing hysterically. Her friends just looked at her with dropped jaws for a moment before Rainbow spoke up.
“Wow, Rarity. That’s harsh.” she said, stunned by how mean the passive aggressive unicorn sounded.
Rarity turned to her polychromatic friend with a glare. “Well excuse me for not having sympathy for a horrible monster who would torture such a great stallion…er, man?” Isamu nodded “...yes man, a great man like Jak.”
Isamu rushed to put out the flames of what appeared to be a growing argument. “Whoa, Rarity. No one’s faulting you for feeling angry at Praxis. Right, Rainbow?” he said, turning to the mare with a pointed look.
“Uh, right.” she said, scratching the back of her head.
Hearing this, he smiled. “Good, now let’s get to an epic fight!”
The battle that he told certainly was epic. A few steps away from the window of which they eavesdropped, Jak and Daxter were confronted by the baron who was piloting a giant jet propelled octopus mech. He shot red eco bullets at the two heroes, but they were able to dodge. Jak pulled out his blaster weapon and fired at the shield around the machine, weakening it slightly. After it was done shooting, Praxis flew it over to a recharge station to restore his defenses. Isamu then explained that this was due to the major design flaw of the mech’s weapons system draining power directly from the shields, a flaw that made Twilight Sparkle wonder how dumb the baron’s scientists were to think that a machine with such a glaring design flaw was combat ready.
After this thought, Twilight refocused her attention on Isamu’s story. Currently, Isamu was telling them how Jak dodged the bullets and was able to shoot the mech enough times to cause it to spin out of control and break down the electro-fence as it flew to the next area. In that next area, Praxis switched up his strategy and used missiles, which Isamu explained were like fireworks, but they were so slow that Jak could easily dodge them. What’s more, they weren’t even homing missiles, which Isamu explained were basically like fireworks that could follow you.
‘Exactly how was this guy a threat?’ thought Twilight before facehoofing. When she heard about the mini fire tornadoes however, her attitude changed. ‘Never mind’ she thought with widened eyes. The baron’s third attack sounded exactly like one of the advanced pyromancy spells she had read about.
Back to the story, Jak had ran out of yellow ammo and turned into Ikari. With one dark bomb, Baron Praxis was forced to hit the eject button before the rest of the mech exploded. Before flying away the baron was telling Jak that the dark powers he was given wouldn’t protect him forever. He also said-
“Since he made him he could destroy him, right? Then he said that they would meet again soon, right?” said Spike, somehow guessing exactly what Isamu was about to tell them.
Staring at his young dragon friend with widened eyes, Isamu responded. “How did you know that?”
Spike rolled his eyes while smirking before answering. “Oh, please! Do you know how many times I’ve read that kind of line in a Marevel or Investigator comic? Mane-iac, Dr. Tundra, the Green Gargoyle, and many more villains give that same silly defeat speech about how they’ll get the heroes next time. They’re always so sure of themselves and then the heroes show how full of it the villains are by beating them again. The funny thing is, they say that stuff no matter how many times they’re beaten.” Spike chuckled before continuing. “Trust me, a lot of villains in comics give the post-defeat speech. In fact, what the baron said reminds me of that one fight between Saddle Rager and The Emperor, one of the villains from her solo-comic. He claimed that he gave Saddle Rager her powers too.”
The radii of Isamu’s eyes had gotten bigger by the time Spike was done. It was astounding how similar the scenario he was talking about was to the young drake’s comic books. He then looked at the rest of his audience. “Huh…I learn something new every day I’m out of the literal stony lonesome.” After he shrugged, the story went on.
Author's Note
This is just something to tide you guys over until I'm finished with the rest. Sorry for the super long wait. I had college stuff to do and I've recently thought up a new crossover fic. No, it won't be a displaced story. I want to get the first chapter out before the idea goes away. Here's a hint on the premise.
Chrysalis and her forces shall route when they hear his shout, the black bug's lies will be silenced forever and then....true love will be free to flourish!
Tell me what you guys think of this chapter and the crossover that I plan on writing please.
Keep your eyes on the look out for my next crossover and also an idea I came up with for an original character that, surprisingly, was inspired by a project I was doing for my digital sculpting class. Stay tuned for that too.
Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness
5 days later
As Light spent another day in the statue garden in his perpetual meditative position, he felt a little annoyed, “She could’ve told me that I would still be conscious and able to see and hear while I’m in stone. Although, I’m wondering if she’s anything like Praxis. Will she come here at some point to gloat? I haven’t seen her since I was taken here by those guards of hers ” thought Light. As his mind was wondering, he didn’t notice when Celestia came into his, Dark’s and the mismatched mutant’s area of the statue garden. That was one of the first things that he noticed when he was placed here. His first thought was, “Either some madman decided to get drunk while performing animal surgery, or that’s the product of several generations of mixed up mating seasons.”
Light continued looking back on that event of his first day in this world until Celestia spoke, finally getting his attention; not that she could tell.
“I don’t know if you can hear me, but just in case you can, I’d like to say a few things to you.” said Celestia with an emotionless stare.
“Oh, here we go. ” thought an exasperated Light.
Celestia, keeping her stoic look, continued, “You brought this on yourself. If you had at least tried to help with my fight or helped both me and my sister with tending to the survivors I would’ve shown some mercy towards you. You would’ve still had to help me with you and your brother’s mess, and even then I would’ve had you on probation for a while with a few guards always near you, but at least you would be free to move around.”
“But no, you had to act the way you did right up until the Elements were used. You messed up, and for that you lost any chance of freedom. Who knows, if you acted well during your probation, I might’ve given you total freedom. Truthfully, it is a shame that you had not acted better five days ago. I might have eventually become your friend, but that is a very big might. Well, I’m off to negotiate a treaty between Equestria and the Griffin Republic, hopefully everything will go smoothly. See you whenever.” and with that, she turned and walked away, off to see to her royal duties.
“Well that was unexpected. Definitely not the gloating I was expecting. The whole possible ‘friend’ thing is intriguing though. I do wonder what it would be like to have a friend as literally bright as I am. Heh, heh. ” thought Light with a chuckle.
25 years later.
“Another day gone, another day wasted in this petrified state. I’m really starting to think that I should’ve acted differently back then. Thank the Precursors that being encased in stone seems to stop the aging process. On the bright side, at least, Celestia’s walks through here are pretty entertaining” thought Light.
Indeed, Celestia’s walks through the statue garden were entertaining as she sometimes thought out loud about her royal duties. Sometimes she would invite Luna or one of the senators of the territories spread throughout Equestria. Today, Light got to listen to how Celestia dealt with certain unfavorable groups.
“Princess, what are we going to do about these Diamond Dog camps that have sprouted up near Equestria? The reports of kidnappings on the outskirts of our kingdom have grown more numerous. I just know those Diamond Dogs are behind it, most likely using the citizens as slaves in their mines. Oooooh, if only I had suggested a raid on one of the camps in this month’s meeting, we could stop these atrocities once and for all!” said the regretful senator.
Celestia shook her head ruefully and replied, “I understand Senator Parliament, but we can’t simply go in swords flailing without proof. The Griffin Republic has trade agreements with the Diamond Dog camps. A good portion of their economy relies on them trading goods for jewels. If we conduct a raid on the pretense of saving civilians without showing any proof to the Griffin Prime Minister, we could accidently ignite a war between us, the Griffin Republic, and any other nation they are allied with. We do not need to send our soldiers out to fight and die for a mistake on our part. Do you understand?”
Senator Parliament, feeling ashamed for his lack of forethought, bowed low and apologized, “I understand entirely your highness. Forgive me for my ill-conceived plan. It was ludicrous to think that such a thing could work.”
Celestia smiled while looking down at the senator, “It is all right Senator Parliament. You were only acting out of concern for the citizens. You care about them as much as I do and for that I am thankful that you are on the senate. What’s more, you admitted that you were wrong and were not afraid to admit it. There is no room for arrogance in my senate and thankfully you haven’t shown to have much of that. Now rise and keep doing your job well.”
At this, the senator rose and saluted her, “Yes ma’am!” He quickly turned and trotted off to finish off his business in the nation’s capital and get ready to head back to the capital of his territory. Celestia, meanwhile, decided to take a short cut to her bedroom by flying up to its balcony.
Light was once again alone with his thoughts of how the conversation went and, to put it bluntly, he was impressed, “Keeping your emotions in check, thinking ahead before acting, and deconstructing a misguided senator’s plans of a raid while complimenting him so that he doesn’t feel bad? Once again Celestia, you have proven to be a most capable ruler and a very kind one at that.” thought Light. This wasn’t the first time he had witnessed her impressive leadership skills. Over the years, Light had witnessed many moments where someone on the senate would discuss the day’s events, and more often than not, they would praise Celestia for her wisdom in ruling a kingdom. There were the occasional criticizers, but then again, no one could please everybody.
Light noticed the sun going down and decided to go to sleep. However, he then remembered that he couldn’t go to sleep, “Why do I sometimes forget that I can’t do that anymore? Seriously, my eyes were open when I was petrified. That’s another thing, why can I see through supposedly solid stone? I guess it’s enchanted with this so called magic to make it possible, but for what end? Eh…who cares? At least the view for the past, however long, has been nice. ” With that, Light continued to view the statue garden in front of him, waiting for the next day and hoping to listen in on some more conversations from visitors.
125 years later
At noon, Light was fortunate enough to have the birds of a nest in a nearby tree start singing. The music was nice in his opinion, very soothing. He was also very thankful that the birds in this garden didn’t do to him what most birds did to statues. In fact, the birds and all the other animals in the garden acted as though they knew he was alive and were even friendly towards him; often staring at him in admiration or laying down on his crossed legs to take a nap. It seemed that his appearance and position gave off more of a peaceful feeling than he had thought; or maybe the animals’ instincts just told them that he was just a very nice guy. Their instincts also told them that Dark was very dangerous as all of them stayed away from his monstrous form.
At that very moment, a squirrel climbed up to his shoulder and started affectionately rubbing his head against Light’s cheek.
“I really hope you don’t start wise-cracking and whining about pants. ” thought Light jokingly. The squirrel just kept showing its affection for a few more seconds and then just sat there looking at the flowers that were recently planted near Light’s pedestal.
“Well what do you know, I now have a rodent as a friend just like Jak; and the best part is that he doesn’t talk. ” thought Light with a chuckle at his own joke.
As they both continued to stare, Light noticed a couple of visiting dignitaries from the Griffin Republic walk into the area, causing the squirrel on his shoulder to scurry off into another part of the garden. Light, only slightly annoyed at this turn of events, decided to listen in and see if he would be lucky enough to hear another interesting conversation.
The white feathered griffin on the left spoke first, “Did you hear about what happened to that dictator of the Crystal Empire, Sombra?”
The one on the right, with mostly brown feathers, replied, “Yes, I heard that Celestia finally dethroned that dastardly tyrant. It’s about time she grew a spine. Seriously, if one of our allies was suffering I would not hesitate to send our armies to destroy the fool who dared to mess with an ally of the Griffin Republic!”
The white one nodded, “Agreed. By the way, what do you think of this very well sculpted statue?” It was at this point that both dignitaries were standing in front of Light and giving their critique of him.
“Hmmmm…well it is well sculpted like you said, but it would never be popular back home. Look at its meditative position. Way too peaceful for our culture.” said the brown one.
The white one then noticed the huge wings, “True, but look at those impressive wings, they’re huge!”
The brown one, also noticing the huge unfolded wings, smirked, “I’ll say. If he was real, I don’t think it would matter that he wasn’t a griffin, the ladies wouldn’t be able to keep their talons off of him with wings that big.” he said with a chuckle.
The white one nodded while laughing, “Indeed! Good thing he isn’t real, or else we’d have to hide our wives and our daughters from him! Heh, heh, heh!”
“Hahahaha! Ain’t that the truth!” said the brown one, joining in on the laughter. He then noticed the position of the sun and turned back to his friend, “We should really be heading back to the meeting, Celestia called for only a short recess.”
“You’re right, let’s take the quickest route back.” said the white one. They both took off, leaving Light alone to contemplate what just happened.
“Well that was certainly different. Who knew some species found the size of one’s wings attractive? I don’t think I would ever have a griffin girlfriend though. Sorry ladies, but you have to be this humanoid to get with me! ” Light thought jokingly. He then thought about the news he heard about the Crystal Empire.
“You know, Celestia? You’ve really impressed me over the years. Handling your subordinates with care and only being firm when you need to, caring for the citizens to the point that you yourself would fight for them against a huge threat, thinking in advance of what consequences certain decisions you make will bring when dealing with international relations, and most recently, personally taking down the tormentor of your allies instead of simply sending soldiers in. "
"Praxis had little to none of these qualities. When compared to him, I can honestly say that you are the better ruler; and not only that, but you can show your enemies that you are not to be trifled with, with amazing fighting prowess. For all of these things, you have my respect and I really do wish to be your friend. Just don’t expect me to bow to you. At least, not without putting some style into it. Gotta preserve some of my ego, right? ” thought Light, ending his inner-monologue.
100 years later
After spending a century listening to more conversations from important members of various species, Light was startled one night by an explosion happening in the castle. When he somehow managed to catch a glimpse of what happened. What he saw was Luna with a pure black coat instead of the dark blue one, a more wispy form of her star dotted mane, and dark blue battle armor, chasing Celestia while shooting magic beams. Light, out of habit, made a joke to himself.
“Sorry Luna, but Dark is a lot scarier than you right now, and he isn’t even moving. ” He then got serious in his thinking as he observed the battle in the skies around the castle. “Seriously though, Celestia; what did you do to get Luna that mad? ” After seeing Celestia fall into a hole in the castle ceiling, Light then witnessed a sight that caused him to hope she wasn’t doing what he thought she was doing.
What he saw was Celestia slowly rising from the hole with six familiar crystals floating around her.
“Come now, Celestia, don’t you think that petrifying your own sister with the Elements of Harmony is a little harsh? Especially when you’re both so high up. ” thought Light in concern.
What came next left Light unable to monologue to himself for a while because of how shocking it was. Luna and Celestia got into a beam struggle, with Celestia’s Element powered beam quickly over taking Luna’s normal one. As the beam engulfed and apparently absorbed Luna’s body, it redirected itself to the moon and shot towards it. When the beam finally hit the moon, a rainbow colored shock wave spread from it while at the same time, forming a silhouette of the Alicorn Princess on its surface. A few seconds later, Celestia drifted down towards Light’s area and wept.
“I had no choice sister!” cried Celestia.
Light, to put it mildly, was flabbergasted. “What do you mean, you had no choice? If I ever get out of this stone prison, you have some explaining to do young lady. Hoooolyy Yakcow…getting banished to the moon? That’s a lot worse than what happened to me or Dark. Seriously though, I better be back in the loop if I ever get out Celestia and you are going to bring me back into it, count on…wait a sec. what is this feeling I have? More importantly, why do I have any feeling at all? I’m trapped in stone. ”
It was at this point that Light had noticed the familiar feel of the magical energy he and Dark had absorbed as they landed in Equestria. During his time of imprisonment, Light had hypothesized that the magical energy was what caused his wings to change form and become even more powerful and the increase in upper and lower body strength. With this in mind, he was intrigued to see what sort of effects prolonged absorption of magic would have on his body. He really hoped he would get out at some point to see what would happen to his body; as the stone prison was now quickly becoming a cocoon.
990 years later
It had been exactly that amount of time since the incident with Princess Luna, and a few interesting things involving Light had happened during that time.
The first few weeks involved moving most of everything to Canterlot, where Celestia would be building a new castle as her new home; the reason being that she didn’t want to have to look at two reminders of what happened to her beloved sister. Among these things to be moved were all of the statues, including Light, Dark, and Discord. Once they were situated in what would obviously be the future statue garden, Celestia decided to do something in order to get her mind off of what had happened a few weeks prior. She decided to make plaques for both Light and Dark that told all visitors what they represented; which was peace of mind and rage respectively.
“I was hoping that you would go with something more creative, Celestia, but then again, what else could I represent with how I look right now? ” thought Light.
After she placed the plaques down, Celestia smiled at Light, “Now you and your brother are just like every other statue in the garden; what you represent will now be known to the public.” said Celestia. She then turned around and left.
Currently, things seemed to be quite normal, well, as normal as being encased in stone could be. It was noon when Celestia came to visit his shared area, except this time, she was not alone.
Walking in with her was a small purple filly with a dark purple mane. She seemed to be extremely happy if the big smile on her face was any indication; and Light couldn’t blame her. What child wouldn’t be happy to be walking with such a powerful and benevolent ruler? The sight of her smile was just too precious to Light, whom now had a soft spot for children because of all the tours that ponies were now allowed to take on the palace grounds.
When they stood in front of him, the filly was too captivated by the unique body type and majestic wings to notice the plaque and asked an obvious question.
“What does this statue represent, Princess?” the filly said in a cute voice while pointing a hoof at Light.
Celestia turned her head and looked down at the filly with a smile, “Look down, my faithful student, and you will know” she said with an almost motherly tone.
The filly looked down and read the plaque, “Peace of Mind? I guess that’s a good description, but he also looks powerful. Don’t you think he would look like a great leader if he was standing up with his arms folded?”
Light, understandably, felt his ego swell a little bit at this.
“Oh stop. You’re embarrassing me you flatterer. ” said Light happily. He then remembered something that Celestia mentioned. “Wait…did I hear right? You’re taking in a child as your personal student? Celestia, if you manage to balance both your royal responsibilities and this new one; and still turn this filly into a well-educated mare, then you will have outdone yourself. If this happens, then a grand flourish simply won’t be enough when bowing to you. Hmmmm…I’ll have to think really hard on this one. "
The filly then started walking in the direction of Dark while not paying attention to where she was going. When she bumped her head on his pedestal, the filly rubbed her head and slowly looked up into the face of Dark, looking as menacing as ever, looking as though he was roaring at the poor filly. Her reaction was predictable.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” shrieked the filly. She then looked back up to Celestia, “W…wha…what does this one represent?” asked the terrified filly.
Celestia, not bothering to make her look back in the general direction of the monster, responded; “That, my dear Twilight Sparkle, represents rage, a most destructive emotion that can ruin the lives of many.”
Twilight, still not over her terror of Dark, hid her face in her hooves, “I want to go back to my room...please!?”
Celestia nodded, “Come, my faithful student, you will be returned to your room and I will even carry you.” said Celestia in a comforting tone.
“Yes, please!” Twilight responded quickly.
After they both left, Light was feeling sorry for the little filly, “Poor kid, I hope for her sake that she doesn’t come back here to this area, she’s probably already going to have nightmares for weeks. ”
10 years later
On one cloudless late morning, Light saw an elementary class on a field trip, walking toward his, Dark’s, and Discord’s section of the statue garden. After showing the class the victory statue, the maroon colored teacher walked up to Discord, stood in front of his plaque and asked the class what his statue meant. Three fillies, an earth, pegasus, and unicorn, shouted their answers and started fighting over who was right. If Light could roll his eyes, he would. Instead, he settled on thinking to himself “Kids will be kids ”. As they were fighting, Light noticed a very faint purple pulse come from Discord, “I have a bad feeling about this. ”
The teacher finally stopped the fighting by saying, “Actually, you’re all right.” The fillies stopped and looked at their teacher, who then explained the statue, “This statue represents discord, which means ‘A lack of harmony between ponies’ which you will be writing about since you three seem to demonstrate it perfectly.” The kids laughed at the three fillies’ expense.
“You three really should’ve seen that coming. ” thought Light. After the kids were done laughing, the teacher directed them over to his pedestal and repeated the process of asking the class what he represented and covered up the answer to see if they could guess right. A random colt popped up with his answer of ‘Power’ and a filly who answered with ‘Respect’. The teacher shook her head and told them the right answer.
“I’m sorry to say, but no. This statue actually represents peace of mind. Notice its position. To most bipedal creatures, this is known as a position of meditation. Meditation is used to clear the mind of all thoughts not pertaining to what must be focused on and sometimes used to simply calm oneself down.” The teacher finished explaining.
“Now we will be looking at a statue that is the exact opposite of peace of mind.” She said as she directed them over to Dark. “So, what words would you use to describe this one?”
The teacher then noticed as she turned back to her class that the kids were cowering at the sight of Dark’s angry face and his attack stance, making her regret her decision to show them this.
“D-d-d-d-death.” one filly said from under her hooves.
“D…destruction.” said a colt partially frozen in fear.
The teacher gave a very sad frown at how this was affecting her students and told them the answer while rushing them all out of that section of the garden, “The specific word I was looking for was rage, but that’s not important right now. Come on, let’s find a nice, happy, non-threatening place to have lunch, doesn’t that sound great?” she said in a hurry.
“You just had to be in that pose when you were encased in stone, didn’t you? ” thought Light disgustedly.
A few minutes later, cracks began to form over Discord’s statue while a dark chuckle emanated from it. “Oh, that’s no good ” thought Light.
Suddenly, the statue exploded in stone shrapnel and from the small dust cloud floated a colored version of the Discord statue which was now revealed to be a fellow prisoner who just escaped.
“Finally, I thought I was never going to get out of there!” said Discord
“Well…aren’t you just the luckiest mutant in the world right now? ” thought Light rhetorically. What happened next was surprising, even for him; and he used to live in a world populated by elves and hybridized animals.
Discord floated over to Light and got up in his face while looking annoyed and actually replied to him, “Excuse me, but I’m an ultra-powerful draconequus; and I demand to be addressed with respect.”
“Whoa, hold on…you actually heard that? Better question is, can you hear me right now? ” thought Light incredulously.
Discord smirked, “Of course, Discord, Spirit of Chaos, at your service!” he said with a very grandiose bow.
Light, trying to see if this guy was his ‘get out of jail free’ card, decided to be polite before asking if he could get him out, “It is an honor to meet you, Discord, the great and powerful god of chaos. If I may be so bold, would you please un-petrify me? It has been so long since I’ve been able to walk about. ”
Discord rose back up to his full height and wagged his finger at him, “No need, my big-winged bipedal friend. I can sense that you and your demonic brother over there both have almost enough magical energy to break out yourselves. You, luckily, are closer to having enough to get out, so you will be the first to stretch your legs. Ta-ta for now!”
“No wait!” but it was too late. Discord had already flown off. “Drat, there goes a quick escape. On the bright side, at least I’ll be getting out soon. I wonder how long it will be? ” said Light.
A few hours later, after witnessing the craziness that Discord had done be cleared away, cracks began to form over Light’s body, white light coming out of each crack. With a final pulse, Light burst from his prison and got down from his pedestal. He immediately started stretching.
“Wooooooow my body is sore.” he said while using his muscles for the first time in over a millennia. He then noticed the grass, and flowers glowing and growing rapidly around him and some of them growing vines.
“Well that’s new. Looks like absorbing all that magic gave me a huge boost in eco. Better start learning to keep it under control before I accidently turn Celestia’s garden into a jungle.”
He then closed his eyes and focused on reabsorbing the light eco that was apparently leaking off of him. When he opened his eyes again, plants that were closest to him were dead and some of the ones further away were dying.
“Whoops, looks like that was a bit too much.” He then put his hands close together and generated a ball of eco between them. Dropping it on the ground caused it to disperse into the surrounding area and rejuvenate all the plants and make some of them look even healthier than they had ever been.
“That’s better.” said Light with a smile. A noise to the left caught his attention, making him turn in that direction and say “Uh, oh.”
Dark was finally breaking out and Light knew that he would go on a rampage the second he saw one of the ponies who lived in the city. Thinking quickly, Light hatched a plan to lure Dark away into that Everfree Forest that he heard so much about over the years.
The cracks that appeared on Dark's form let out purple electricity and with an even bigger explosion of stone shrapnel, he was free.
“Hey loser!” shouted Light.
Looking over to Light, Dark grunted questioningly, “Uuuuwaaa ?”
“I got out first, so eat it!” said Light, hoping this would work.
At first it did work, Dark was now focused on him, but then Light’s plan started to work a little too well, “HuuurrrrrrrRRRRRAAAAAAAA” Dark started to get angrier than he was before he was turned to stone and that anger started to have an effect on his body. More of the purple electricity started to arc off of his body as it became noticeably more muscular. His horns started to elongate and curve to the back of his head slightly; transforming to look slightly draconic with the tips pointing up. The final things to change were his claws, which grew to be a few inches longer, even when sheathed.
“I really should’ve seen something like this coming. Ok Dark, race you to the Everfree Forest. If you beat me there, I’ll let you have the first hit.” said Light as he was taking off at a high speed. Dark, taking the bait, leaped off of the ground, almost flying through the air; choosing this as his mode of transportation.
Unbeknownst to them, a guard who stood there with his jaw dropped, turned and ran back to the palace to warn the princess.
Meanwhile
Twilight and her friends had just gotten back from defeating Discord and Celestia wanted to congratulate them in a formal ceremony.
“We are gathered here today to congratulate the bearers of the Elements of Harmony for defeating Discord and returning peace to our fair la…” suddenly a guard burst in to the throne room, destroying the happy atmosphere with his terrible news.
“Your highness, Element bearers, I have grave news!” said the guard.
“What is the matter, guard?” Celestia asked, but had a hunch on what the news was and was desperately hoping that she was wrong.
“Two more statues have been revealed to be stone prisoners and have escaped!” said the guard.
“Ooooooooh, boy. Heeeeeeere we go again!!!” said Rainbow Dash; crossing her hooves in front of her chest.
Celestia, already knowing the answer, asked about their appearance anyway for the bearers’ benefit. “What did they look like and what happened before you got here? Also, please stay calm.”
The guard quickly composed himself, “They are both bipedal and about your height Princess. One has horns and claws, with pale purple skin and pure black eyes. The other has wings even larger than yours, with bluish white skin and glowing white eyes. The winged one broke out and the magical energy that it was giving off felt strange. Its effects were like nothing I had ever seen before. The magic made all the plants that were closest to the creature grow at an extraordinary rate.”
“It seemed to know you since it made a remark about not wanting to turn your garden into a jungle. It closed its eyes and before eye could blink, the plants that were growing closest to him died instantly.”
‘Gasp’ “That’s horrible! How could he do that to that beautiful ga…” said Fluttershy, but was interrupted by Applejack.
“Calm down sugarcube. Let the stallion finish. I’m sure it isn’t as bad as it seems.” she turned back to the guard, “You were sayin?”
The guard, not letting the interruption get to him, continued, “Right, as I was saying, the glowing winged creature seemed to realize what it had done as it then proceeded to form a glowing white ball of its energy in between its hands and dropped it on the ground; where it began to disperse and bring all the plants he had accidentally killed, back to life.”
“See I told you it wasn’t how it seemed!” Applejack said to Fluttershy. She then looked back at the guard, “Sorry, continue.”
The guard once again continued, “Quite, anyway, the second bipedal creature broke out of his petrified state with purple lightning arcing off its body and he was angry and didn’t appear to be able to talk. The reason I say this is because when the winged one got its attention by calling it a loser, it answered with a strange grunt rather than words.
The winged one then proceeded to taunt it and the anger that was building caused the dark one’s muscles to get bigger and his horns to curve slightly backwards with the tips pointing up. The winged one then challenged it to a race to see who could get to the Everfree Forest first; the winner being able to get the first hit. He then took off at an astounding rate and the horned one propelled itself into the air with a huge leap. Your highness, I believe that there is going to be a fight in the Everfree Forest and if the amount of power that Discord wielded is any indication, I would hate to see what kind of destruction a fight like this could produce.” the guard finally finished.
“Thank you, that will be all.” Celestia dismissed the guard.
The Element bearers looked to each other, feeling apprehensive at this new development, but Twilight finally decided to take charge. She then turned to her mentor, “Princess, besides what we’ve been told what can you tell us of these two creatures. They seem to know you and you did have them in your statue garden, so any information will be helpful to us in bringing in these new threats.”
Celestia closed her eyes. She thought about what she wanted to tell them. Celestia knew that if she disclosed too much, the Elements might go into this with too much fear. With her mind made up, Celestia opened her eyes and gave them the information she had chosen.
“These beings are humans, or more accurately, they are masses of energy that were given human bodies. They came to our land long ago and fought. Even though they are brothers, they appear to hate each other as they were seemingly fighting to the death. I and Luna bore witness to their abilities. They can both perform magic like techniques using a form of energy called eco. The effects of the, for lack of a better term, light eco the glowing one used were just now made clear to us, however, the dark one’s eco is of a decidedly more sinister nature.” Celestia then looked to Luna who nodded and continued for her.
“The dark one’s powers were revealed the second we got there. We found the corpse of a citizen who died of mutation. The dark eco that the purple one uses caused the poor pony to rapidly grow crystals all over its skin, their eyes to turn black, and what was most likely a liquid form of dark eco to come out of his mouth. We also noticed puncture wounds on the pony’s chest, meaning that if you find this one first, whatever you do, do not let its claws cut you.” said Luna
After she was done, Twilight and her friends were very concerned over this news. The only poisonous enemy that they had ever encountered before was a manticore, and it didn’t even use its tail to inject its venom. It was at this point that a quivering Fluttershy reluctantly asked a question that she thought was important.
“The other townsponies survived, right?” she asked with a shaky voice.
Celestia looked down in sadness, “I wish I could say that all of them survived.” Fluttershy braced herself for the news she was about to hear. “It was a slaughter in the town square. The light one saved us from getting hit by the dark one’s attack, but after we got back to the site of the battle, the dark one killed so many ponies just to spite us for leaving before the battle was over.
According to the light one, his brother is anger incarnate. The dark one’s level of fury is so high that he is on the level of insane. The light one, on the other hand, said that he himself is the embodiment of calmness and peace of mind.” The peace of mind part sounded familiar to Twilight, but she couldn’t figure out where she remembers those words from. Celestia continued, “The light one is not without fault either, for he endangered the lives of the citizens with his family squabble and didn’t bat an eye. He claimed that it was better to lose a few citizens in a town than to lose a whole country’s worth. He also said that the only reason that he protected I and Luna was because he didn’t want to be blamed for two royal figures getting killed.”
The Element Bearers all gasped at this, but it was Rarity who spoke first, “What are the names of this selfish brute and his murderous animal of a brother?!”
Twilight joined in, “Your highness, I too would like to know the names of who we will be bringing down!” she said, gritting her teeth at the last part.
Celestia gave her answer, “According to the light one, their original host never gave them names. He just called them Light and Dark.”
Twilight and the others were confused, “What do you mean by host, Princess?”
“According to Light, he and his brother used to live inside another being’s mind and represented two parts of his personality. Dark representing anger, and Light representing calmness.” explained Celestia.
Twilight was curious about this and thought maybe she could ask this ‘Light’ some questions. She quickly shook these thoughts from her head and regained her focus on the mission.
“Princess, we will not fail you. We will stop and capture Light and Dark before they can kill more innocents! You can count on us!” said Twilight, standing firm.
Celestia gave them one more piece of advice before they left, “If you find Dark first, run away and try to find Light. He is more reasonable and will most likely help you if you can convince him, though I highly doubt he will come quietly after he’s done so you will most likely have to fight him to. Fear not, for he is less brutal than Dark and will most likely not kill you.”
Twilight smiled before leaving, “Thank you for the advice Princess. Come on girls, we have more prisoners to round up! Also, let's take the Elements just in case. If they have as much power as we've heard, we might need them.”
“Let’s pound these jerks into the ground!” shouted Rainbow Dash.
“Let’s see how they stand up against my party cannon when it’s at full power!” said Pinkie Pie with determination.
Author's Note
How will this battle play out? Will Twilight remember Light? Will Light be able to prove that he has changed over the past 1,250 years. Tune in next time for the next episode of Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness!
Remember to comment so that I can know what you liked and disliked about the chapter. I'd also like to see suggestions. If I like them I will put them in.
Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness
Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness
With Light and Dark
“Ok. I got an overcharged eco demon on my tail that can jump about as high as I can fly, he’s madder than ever, and I need to get to the Everfree Forest before he grabs me so that there aren’t more lives lost during round two. This would be easier if I could just get some more distance between me and… ”
“Yikes!”
At that point, Light’s thoughts were interrupted by Dark’s claws scraping the bottom of his shoes as he soared above the streets of Canterlot. “That was too close. ” thought Light as he continued to fly.
Some of the ponies on the ground were amazed when they saw Light. To them, he looked like a giant glowing bird and they were staring in awe at how majestic he looked. Others suddenly became terrified whenever Dark landed. As groups of ponies either walked or stopped to stare at Light, they would be startled by the loud thud of Dark’s landings; each one forming cracks.
As Light and Dark were nearing the edge of the cliff, of which Canterlot was built on, Light started to think of a way to get Dark into the forest even quicker.
“I got it!” said Light. He then abruptly turned around and waited for Dark to get close. On his next leap, Dark roared in triumph, thinking that he had finally caught his brother. Light hovered in place with a smug smirk and waited with his arms crossed. “Just a bit closer Dark.” he said.
When Dark was close enough, Light clapped his hands and slowed down time to an almost frozen state. Dark was only 5 yards in front of him and was drifting forward at a snail’s pace. Light hovered over to one of Dark’s arms and grabbed it. He then proceeded to spin him around and while making sure to time his release so that his brother landed in the forest.
After a few more seconds of gathering momentum, Light threw him with all of his might. The effects of the Flash Freeze making his flight look very slow. With another clap, he ended the time technique early and watched as Dark roared while rocketing towards their next battle ground.
“RRRRRRAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” roared Dark. His voice fading as he drew further away from Light and closer to the Everfree Forest.
“Alright, looks like that’s taken care of. Now I just have to find him and knock him out.” said Light. He then took off with amazing speed; setting off on his new mission of finding his brother before resuming the other one of taking him down.
Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends were walking through the Everfree Forest, looking this way and that trying to find one of the eco brothers. After another minute of walking, Applejack spoke up.
“Hey Twi, you got a spell that can give us a heads up if that Dark varmint is near?”
Twilight looked to her right at AJ and shook her head, “Sorry, but it wouldn’t be that effective. The most I can do is cast a spell that shows when a large animal is near, but it wouldn’t be specific enough to pinpoint where Dark is or identify him. I would need a sample of this dark eco that he supposedly has in order to track him well enough to give us enough time to react. Remember what Princess Celestia said, dark eco mutates and kills, so we would need to be a few steps ahead of him in order to avoid getting cut by his claws.”
Rarity shuttered at the memory of Luna’s description, “I certainly hope we don’t get cut by one of that brute’s claws! Crystals are meant to be a part of some of my dresses, not my skin! I would barely be able to wear anything without those purple crystals clashing!”
Rainbow Dash, hovering nearby, rolled her eyes, “Uh, Rarity? I think the point is that you would be dead.”
Rarity gave a sheepish grin, “Oh, right.”
Suddenly, a loud thud and the sound of trees breaking came from just up ahead. After about a minute of running to the impact sight, they saw it and quickly ran behind a tree. They all poked their heads out from behind to get a better look at it. Thankfully, the creature got up and was facing the other way and subsequently, hadn’t noticed them. The guard’s description of Dark’s body seemed to match, but he left out a few things.
For one thing, the creature was furless, except for its long slicked back mane, which was a gray, almost silver, color. It was also wearing strange clothing. It consisted of a blue shirt with matching gauntlets on his hands, a thick, brown strap going over its chest while keeping a single grey shoulder guard in place, beige pants that were tucked into boots, and a weird set of goggles that had disproportionate lenses.
Rarity, not being able to suppress her fashionista instincts, commented on Dark’s attire, “For a brute, he does have a moderately good fashion sense, although, it could use a bit more pizazz.”
Everyone shushed her, but it was too late, Dark had heard her and spun around with a snarl. The mane 6 got out from their hiding place and most of them kept their fear off of their faces. The only one who couldn’t accomplish this was Fluttershy, as she was hiding her face under her hooves.
Twilight whispered to her friends her plan of getting around him, “Ok girls, here’s the plan. Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, you two will distract Dark while the rest of us go around him. After we’re far enough away, I’ll teleport both of you to our location so we can find Light.”
“Not this time Dark!”
Suddenly, Light came in from the right with his identical clothes and a flying kick to Dark’s face. Light decided to give his entrance some more flare by shouting a weird phrase while delivering his kick.
“AAAANGELIC ENTRY!!!”
Dark flew through the air and collapsed a few more trees as he landed. Getting back up, Dark roared out his challenge, “RRRRAAAAAAAAAAH”
“You aren’t killing today Dark. I’ll do what I can to bring you down, so bring it!” Light said in a determined voice. He then flew at full speed at Dark, trying to tackle him. Dark, at the last second, ducked below his brother and uppercut him in the stomach. He then grabbed one of his legs and threw him back a few yards. Light got up and clapped his hands to initiate another flash freeze. However, he figured that he wouldn’t need to slow down time by too much, so he put less power into it, effectively making it so that everyone else would be able to actually see him, but he would still look as though he was going at super speed.
As Dark ran up to Light, trying to deliver some more damage, Light met him half way with speed that left Rainbow Dash stunned since he seemed to be slightly faster than her. Light then started up a devastating combo. Five super fast punches to the stomach, a speedy, but powerful right hook to the face, a side kick to the chest that pushed Dark back, another kick to the face, and a powerful underhanded punch to the stomach that had enough force to send him back a yard. Light was delivering a super-fast spinning kick to knock him down, but his foot was caught only six inches from Dark’s head.
“What the…” Light was at first confused as to how Dark could’ve caught his foot, but a look to his arms and legs told him why. Dark’s limbs had the glow of dark eco radiating off of them at the joints and muscles.
Dark grinned at his brother, “Fast…as…YOU!” with that, he threw him to the ground and jumped on the stunned eco being’s chest, trapping Light between his legs. He then proceeded to scratch his face up with several claw swipes. After that, Dark got off of him and grabbed Light with both hands by the shirt and threw him so that he was parallel with the ground. Light was then assaulted by Dark’s feet as he jumped on him and rode Light like a snowboard. Jumping off, Dark cackled to the sky.
“AAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Light rolled onto his hands and feet and got back up, revealing his shredded face. Twilight and friends were understandably shocked. Blood was dripping all over the ground in front of him and part of the skin and muscles on his cheeks were torn away. His face looked like it was the victim of a wood chipper. Focusing his eco, even though the pain was excruciating, Light lifted himself into the air where a ray of light shined down on him. His wounds miraculously healed themselves before the mane 6’s eyes with Twilight being the most surprised.
“He can heal himself that quickly!? Not even the most advanced of medical spells can repair living tissue that fast! Only the princesses are supposed to have that kind of power.”
“Uh, Twilight? I don’t think tissues are alive.” interjected Pinkie.
Applejack rolled her eyes, “Pinkie, Twi’s not talking about the kind to blow your nose with. She’s talking about muscles and skin. She’s saying that not even the best unicorn doctors can heal wounds that severe that fast. It must be that light eco that the princesses were talkin about.” Twilight looked to AJ as the idea had just now dawned on her.
“You’re right, Applejack. The guard did say that the energy coming from him was able to cause rapid growth in plants, so maybe it has a healing effect on all living things.”
Suddenly, Dark skidded in front of them with his back turned. Getting his bearings, he sprinted back to Light who was still using his flash freeze ability to look like he had super-speed. When they were close enough to each other, their arms and legs became a flurry of flying limbs. The limbs became so fast that they were blurs. The only things that looked even remotely solid were the main bodies of the two eco beings. During all of this Rainbow Dash was looking at them starry eyed.
“THIS…IS…AWESOME!”
Right after she said that, Dark blocked a left hook and Light blocked a claw swipe at his abdomen. Both held a grip on the other’s arms, making it look as though they were at an impasse This was true for all of two seconds before Light used an attack that no one was expecting, to break the deadlock.
‘VVVZZZIIIINNNNG’
An eco beam was fired from his mouth, once again burning Dark’s face, except this time, all of the skin on it was burned off. He then pushed Dark away with a kick and walked back over to unleash a vicious combo while Dark was clutching his face.
‘CRACK’
A bone breaking punch to the ribs, not only fracturing it, but also causing Dark to remove his hands from his destroyed face.
“CRUNCH’
A crushing stomp to the foot; making Dark look down.
‘THWACK’
A dizzying elbow to the face, causing Dark to look up.
‘SNAP’
Finally, a hit to the shin, breaking it.
To get some distance, Light pushed Dark a few yards back; just in case he decided to take a claw swipe at him. Dark was on all fours now, unable to stand and in a lot of pain.
“Had enough?” said Light while folding his arms.
Dark just growled as he snapped his broken leg back in place. Dark energy crackled at each point of impact and his face, restoring the bones and skin to their former condition.
“So you’ve gained more abilities as well, hm? Let’s see if you can handle this.”
He then sprinted at Dark who tried to do a leg sweep, but Light hopped over it and kicked Dark in the face. Dark used the momentum from getting kicked to go into a backwards tumble and hand sprung back to his feet. He then crouched and lunged to get in close and delivered a powerful uppercut that sent Light flying ten feet into the air. Before he could fall though, Dark jumped up and used his claws to get a good grip on Light’s legs. He was then slammed down so fast that he landed wrong on a wing and broke it. Aiming himself so that his body was pointed straight down, Dark readied his claws to impale his brother.
Just before he hit his mark, Light rolled out of the way, letting Dark get his claws stuck in the ground. He tried to get them out quickly, but they were so deep that he had to tug on them for a bit. After quickly healing himself, Light saw an opportunity and kicked Dark in the stomach. This not only sent him flying for a few feet, but also broke him off of his own claws. Light thought that his brother was disarmed now, but that thought went away when he saw him use his new healing ability to grow replacement claws instantly. Light, having enough, decided to K.O Dark with one last eco charged attack, “Let’s see if you’re conscious after this.”
Putting his hands across from each other, Light generated more light eco between them. This time however, it didn’t look like a soft ball of the life giving substance, instead it was a big shining orb that appeared to have a rainbow-like outline. He was going to use this to stop Dark, once and for all, but Dark had different plans.
Dark charged up a quick strike and aimed it at the Mane 6. It fired from Dark’s hands at close range and the ponies were too scared to do anything but brace themselves for their deaths.
However, death never came. There was no pain or even slight discomfort. They opened their eyes and were surprised to see a blue barrier around them and Light in front of them. The ground around the protective bubble was completely bare of grass. In fact, it appeared that they were in a shallow crater. Light was looking angry as his balled up fists were shaking and his slightly unfolded wings twitched in agitation. The mares also noticed that the white glow that was around him flared a bit.
“That’s it, Dark. Our fight didn’t involve them. You were going to kill them just to get me angry. Well, now I am, and you know what? You are too good for simply being knocked out, you are going to be put down permanently dear brother. Light spat the last part out as though it were a piece of rotten meat.
Light let the shield down and gave a cold glare while sprinting at Dark, who was now grinning and getting into a fighting stance, preparing for one final round.
“STOOOOOOOOP”
That yell is what halted both of them a couple of yards away from each other. They looked up as Fluttershy came hovering down into view with her Stare turned on full blast. She looked very angry.
“I’ve been watching this fight and I’m disappointed in both of you!” Hovering over to Dark at eye level and turning the full power of her stare on him, she chewed him out.
“I’m disgusted with you, Dark. You broke out of your prison and what’s the first thing you do!? You try and kill your brother over literally nothing except an insult! You then tried to kill us for nothing except looking at you! You tore up your own brother’s face for Celestia’s sake! It doesn’t matter that he can heal quickly, you still shed your own brother’s blood over nothing! It doesn’t matter if he insulted you! You had no excuse for doing what you did. Now apologize!”
Dark, for the first time in his life, felt confused on how to react to this. On one hand, this mare had the nerve to yell at him as though she was his mother. On the other hand, her eyes held no fear, but instead an indomitable spirit that wouldn’t back down no matter what. Dark could respect that since he himself has never backed down from anything. However, the battle of wills ended when his newfound respect for her got the best of him. Sighing, he turned back to normal and grunted out what everybody assumed was an apology.
Fluttershy smiled for a bit, but then frowned as she turned to Light with a stern look that promised nothing but a lecture for him.
“Now for you; your brother may have involved us in your fight, but that is still no excuse for you to kill him.”
“But he slaughtered a large number of innocents when we first arrived in this world.” defended Light.
Fluttershy understood where Light was coming from, but stood her ground, “That may be true, but that massacre was long ago and at some point, misdeeds must be forgiven.” Her face then softened a little, “It was nice of you to save us, we’re very thankful for that, but you need to let it go. Show some mercy towards your brother and give him a chance to redeem himself.”
Light folded his arms to think for a bit. Dark had killed a lot of these ponies whom he had grown fond of and involved even more innocents in a battle that wasn’t even theirs. If he let it go, Dark might just decide to go on a killing spree. Although, if this pony’s idea of letting Dark redeem himself proves to be the correct choice, Dark could become a powerful ally; plus, those eyes of hers were hard to resist. With his mind made up, Light made his decision.
“Alright, I’ll let him off for now, but if he tries anything, I will battle him to the death and you won’t stop me.”
Fluttershy still smiled, even though he was still threatening his brother, “All I can as ask is that you give him a chance.” she then hovered back to her friends and landed. Dark continued to stare at Fluttershy intently.
Twilight then stepped forward and delivered some bad news, “It’s good that this conflict has been settled, but both you and your brother need to come with us. Princess Celestia has ordered us to bring you in.”
When Light looked at her, he had a sudden realization, “Well I’ll be, if it isn’t that filly from a while back.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
Twilight was afraid of this, “If you do not come with us then we will have to take drastic measures.” Out of the mane six’s saddlebags floated five necklaces and a tiara that had familiarly colored gems that were carved into the shape of each pony’s cutie mark. Light figured out immediately what they were and decided that history was not going to repeat itself.
“I have a better idea.” His hands clapped together and it appeared that Light had teleported. Suddenly, the small weight of the Elements disappeared from their bodies, causing them to look down at their necks, except for Twilight who looked up. They gasped as they realized that their Elements were gone and looked back to Lights original position to find him with his arms folded and smiling. Rainbow Dash tried to tackle him.
“What have you done with the Elements of Harmony, you jerk!”
Light simply side stepped and grabbed her hind hooves as she was passing. He then flung her back over to Twilight who caught her in her magic. Light just continued to smile.
“As I was saying, I have a better idea. I challenge you, Twilight Sparkle, to a duel, magic vs eco. If you win, you get your Elements back and I and my brother come quietly. If I win, you have to leave me and my brother alone and you get to find the Elements yourselves.”
Twilight felt curious, “Why do you want to challenge me specifically? Why am I of more interest?”
Light’s grin grew even bigger, “Don’t you remember, Twilight? We’ve already met.”
Everyone, including Twilight, was confused. None of them had seen him before and Twilight had never mentioned such a being.
“What do you mean? I don’t remember meeting you. I think I would’ve remembered meeting a big winged, glowing, bipedal creature with pure white eyes.” said Twilight.
Pinkie stepped up, “I know I’ve never seen you before. I remember all the ponies or creatures that I’ve thrown a party for and I’ve never thrown a party for you!”
Rainbow Dash added in her two bits, “Same here. No way I would see a bipedal flier that can go…eeeh moderately fast and not challenge it to a race.”
Light felt really excited as he was about to reveal a huge twist to Twilight and her friends, “Ah, but you see, I met Twilight when she was just a filly of around 8 years old. You were so adorable back then. You walked up to my pedestal and complimented me by saying that if I was in a different position; I would look like a powerful ruler. I was quite flattered.”
Twilight gasped as realization dawned on her, “You were that statue and you could see and hear me!?” Light gave a slight nod as he continued to grin.
Rarity walked over to her friend, “Twilight, darling, whatever is he talking about?”
Twilight then turned to Rarity and explained, “During the first week of being Princess Celestia’s personal student, we took a tour of the statue garden. I walked up to what I thought was a lifeless statue and gave an amateur critique. I then walked over to what I now realize was his brother and was scared out of my wits.”
Light’s grin faded for a second, “I remember that too. I hoped you wouldn’t come back to that place when I saw how scared you were of Dark. However, that’s beside the point. The real reason I want to duel you is because I heard Celestia call you her ‘faithful student’ on that day. I want to see the results of your training under her. I want to see if she turned that filly I met into a well-educated mare who knows how to really use that horn of hers. Not only that, but I’m going to see if she taught you how to use your head in ways besides spells. Also, no assistance from your friends. It will be an automatic loss if they help; so no cheating. So, come on. Class is in session Twilight, and I’m your exam proctor.” Light’s grin returned as he got into a fighting stance.
Pinkie, being the ball of enthusiasm that she is, cheered Twilight on, “You can do it, Twilight! Show this glow stick what you’re made of!”
Rainbow Dash joined in on the cheering, “Kick his flank, Twilight!”
With the confidence boost gained from her friends’ cheering, Twilight looked back to him with a determined grin, “Alright, Light. I’m ready”
“Excellent, then let’s begin!” With a clap of his hands, what appeared to be ten Lights suddenly appeared around Twilight alongside the original. All of them started running all over the place, causing Twilight’s head to turn this way and that. The Light clones then gathered back around her.
“Think you can hit the real me before I hit you?” eco began charging between their hands.
All of their mouths had moved when they said that, but Twilight was only hearing one voice. She could tell that this wasn’t a true clone spell, or else the clones would’ve had their own voices. That also means that only one of these Lights was about to fire eco at her. She was trying to figure out which one of them was real until she heard faint breathing to her right. She quickly turned to the supposed Light clone and shot him. His charging was interrupted as he was pushed back a bit, the clones fading away.
“Nice work. You figured it out. Before we continue, tell me how I was doing that.” he said as he got back into his fighting stance.
“Those were after-images caused by your super-speed. You already demonstrated it by clapping your hands together during that fight.” Twilight said smugly.
“Wrooooong, but here’s a consolation prize.” He once again clapped his hands and disappeared from sight. A split second later, Twilight was hit from behind with an eco bolt. Her body was splayed on the ground for one second before she got back on her hooves and turned around to face him.
“By the way, you’ll get eco shot at you for any question you get wrong. Now try to break my shield before I hit you with another eco bolt.” The blue shield from before appeared once again and Twilight frantically dodged the eco bolts sent her way from Light’s hands. She fired a magic shot at the shield, but it just dissipated on impact. After a few more moments of dodging Light’s eco and countering with her magic, Twilight got an idea.
Casting a spell on her eyes, Twilight was able to see the layout of Light’s eco shield. She could see exactly how the energy was woven together and could also see that there was a small area in the back of the shield that seemed to be put together more thinly than the rest. After deactivating the spell, she got in close to Light while still dodging and shot a full powered blast at the ground in front of him, creating a big dust cloud.
Light just stood there in the cloud, waiting for Twilight to strike. Finally, Twilight decided to attack.
“Now I have you!”
She shot at the exact spot where the shield was thinnest and hit Light in the back. The magic shot pushed him forward and caused him to be hunched over for a second. After the dust cloud finally settled, Light straightened to his full height and turned around, his arms folded, with a smirk and a raised eyebrow on his face.
Light then asked his next question, “Was that weakness in my defenses a usual part of my shield, or was that intentional; if it was, why?”
“It was intentional. No pony, or in your case, human that has obvious battle experience would leave his back exposed. As for why, you decided to be nice and gave me a chance at hitting you. Thanks for that by the way.” a smile formed on Twilights face as she thanked him.
Light slowly clapped his hands in applause, “Very good.” The clapping stopped, but his grin was still in place, “You exploited a weakness and used logic to determine what my intentions were. I’m very impressed with you Twilight Sparkle. So far, it looks like Celestia has taught you well.”
“Of course she did! Twilight is the biggest book-worm that I know and the Princess is just that awesome! Teaching somepony magic is foal’s play to her!” said Rainbow Dash, boasting on Celestia’s behalf.
Dark’s chuckle came from her left and Rainbow turned in the air to glare at him, “What’s so funny, jerk?” Dark just pointed her back to the two duelists as he continued to chuckle. When she turned back to them, concern came to the forefront of her mind. The soft white glow that radiated from Light’s blue body started to intensify around his hands.
“However, book smarts is not everything. Let’s see if you have the magical brawn to back up that brain.” Light jumped high into the air and used his wings to stay there. He then began firing eco bolts with each thrust of his open hands. Twilight, meanwhile, erected a shield that blocked most of them, but was slowly cracking under the onslaught. Teleporting a few feet forward to get out of the eco hale, she unleashed her own magic volley at him and got a few good hits in. However, that soon changed as he used, what Twilight still thought was super-speed, to seemingly teleport out of the way and appear one foot to her right with a charged eco bolt at the ready.
“Gotcha!”
He fired and sent Twilight flying a few yards. When she landed and got back up, Light was walking over to her, “Good start, but you have to do better than that.” Suddenly a wave of energy emitted from her horn without warning and knocked Light to the ground, “Thaaaat’s better.” he said from the ground. Hopping back to his feet, Light then charged up one final blast of eco, “Let’s see which form of energy is better, shall we?” instead of it being like a laser when he fired, it was a moderately sized orb of light eco.
Twilight complied and fired the biggest magic shot that she had ever charged. The two energies met in the middle, with the eco orb slowly gaining ground on Twilights steady stream of magic. Twilight put her all into her attack, but it wasn’t enough as the eco continued on its course. At the last second, she was pushed away by a blue hand and Light stepped in. The impact of the energy barely made him flinch.
Twilight picked her head up and was met by another glowing blue hand. As she looked up, Twilight saw that Light was smiling while holding his hand out for her to take. She accepted his hand and was hoisted up to her hooves. He then put his hands on his hips and bent over to put his face closer to Twilight’s
“Sorry Miss Sparkle, but you lost. You did pretty well, however, you need to work on your magical power. Duel me again when you’ve increased your strength. Now it’s time for another consolation prize.”
Twilight tightly closed her eyes, preparing for an eco bolt to the face, but it never came. Opening her eyes, Twilight saw him walking to a nearby bush. When he got there, he pulled out the Elements of Harmony. Twilight and the others were surprised that he had hidden them so close by. Twilight’s jaw dropped and eyes widened by what Light did next.
“Here you go.” Light said as he laid the Elements before her. “Now you can take me to Celestia.” Light then held both hands out to her, expecting handcuffs to be put on them.
This was the exact opposite of what Twilight expected. She expected him to run away with his brother, leaving them to find the Elements, just like he said he would, but instead, he gave them back the Elements and was now letting her arrest him. This went against everything he said. Clearing her mind of the surprise of these turn of events, Twilight demanded to know what was happening.
“This makes no sense! Why are you giving me back the Elements!? I’m grateful and all…but why!? I lost! You won!” Twilight didn’t like when things didn’t make sense. If she was told one thing, she expected it to happen. If it didn’t, she needed something to clear things up so that the situation would make sense. At this moment, Light was the one to give that clarity.
Putting his hands back on his hips, he explained his actions, “I told you, didn’t I? I wanted to see if Celestia had taught you well. However, what I didn’t tell you is that I also wanted to see if I could be impressed. You see, I’ve heard how well she’s been running this country, so when I heard that you were her student, I hoped I could once again, be impressed. I wanted to see if she could balance her responsibility as a princess with the responsibility of being a teacher and still turn a naïve filly into a mare who knows her stuff.”
“I’m happy to say that I am not disappointed. You may not have beaten me in a duel, but you did impress me and that’s all I really wanted from you. True, I did say that you would only get your Elements back if you beat me, but I lied about that so that you would try your hardest to beat me, and you did. Your prize for impressing me is the return of your Elements and me and my brother as your prisoners.”
He then offered his hands again to be cuffed, but Rainbow Dash decided to speak up, “Wait a minute! Twilight could’ve withstood that attack easily! She could’ve won, right Twilight!?”
Twilight shook her head at her, “No, Rainbow, I couldn’t have. I was putting my all into that last blast. There was enough magical power behind it to level a house and it still wasn’t enough. I would’ve died because I wasn’t strong enough magically.” by the end of her explanation, her ears had drooped and her mouth was set in a frown.
She then felt a hand on her head and turned to her left to meet Light, who had gotten down on one knee, giving her a reassuring smile, “Hey now, don’t feel too bad, you did your best.”
“But I couldn’t stop your eco-based attack. It took all my strength just to slow it down. You probably didn’t even break a sweat.” said Twilight, ears still drooped and frown still in place.
“Come on, you just said that you were able to slow it down. That means you were strong enough to do that at least.”
“But what good is slowing your attack down if it would still hit me? It still means that I’m magically weak compared to you and probably many other dangerous beings out there.” she was really beating herself up over this, and Light wasn’t going to have any more of it. He then sighed in frustration.
“It’s true that right now you aren’t as strong as me, but then again, were you born with magical strength? Were you able to use levitation and other spells from day one of your life, or did you need to start learning and practicing your magic?”
Twilight’s frown started to fade as she started to figure out what Light was getting at, “I had to practice until my magic was strong enough to cast spells.”
Light, seeing that she was getting it, nodded in approval, “See? That’s all you need to do. Just keep practicing. Maybe come up with new ways of training yourself? Who knows? Maybe one day you could duel me again and actually beat me. If you never give up, I’m sure you will be strong enough to get through anything; especially with friends by your side!” he then gave her a friendly pat on the back as his smile grew.
Twilight returned his smile with a teary eyed one, “Thanks Light, you seem like a really nice pon…I mean, human.” She said while wiping her watery eyes. “Definitely not as bad as Princess Celestia described you.”
Light stood up and folded his arms again, “Oh, did she now? Now I have to see her. Come on, don’t want to keep royalty waiting now do we?”
Both of them rejoined the group, which now included Dark, who had shifted back to normal, with Fluttershy keeping a close eye on him. Dark had an unusually stoic look on his face as he stared back at her and it creeped Light out since being calm was his schtick.
Twilight smiled at her friends, “Alright girls, we have Light and Dark, so let’s get back to the carriage and get out of here before we run into some kind of pony eating creature.”
Rarity agreed, “That sounds like a fantastic plan Twilight. I simply can’t stand another minute of this icky and dirty place.” Rainbow rolled her eyes at this.
About 10 minutes later
The group arrived at the chariot and took off. After a few minutes of flying, Light decided to ask a basic question to the remaining mares, “So, since we will be flying for a bit, how about some introductions? Celestia must have briefed you on us before your capture mission, but I know nothing of you five.”
Fluttershy, who was next to Dark, answered first, “My name is Fluttershy. I take care of a lot of animals and am the Element of Kindness.” she said with a small smile.
Applejack answered next, “Ahm Applejack. I run Sweet Apple Acres, mah family farm, and am also the bearer of the Element o’ Honesty. Don’ ever lie to me and there won’t be any trouble.” She offered her hoof in what Light guessed was their version of a handshake. He guessed right since after grasping her hoof, she shook it just like a human would his hand.
“Ahem. My name is Rarity. I am the owner of the fabulous Carousel Boutique. My slogan is “Every item is chic, unique, and magnifique!” she said with a smile full of pride.
“I assume you’re another Element bearer?” said Light, raising a light blue eye brow.
“Your assumption is correct darling! I bear the Element of Generosity!”
Hearing this, Light decided to see if she actually lived up to her Element, “Any recent acts of generosity that you can think of?”
“Well…I did offer to make dresses for my friends, free of charge, for a formal event called the Grand Galloping Gala. Also, the first day I met Twilight, I insisted on fixing up her hair and giving her a dress that complimented her perfectly.”
Light wasn’t sure if that last one could be considered generous per say. Rarity was an obvious fashionista. So her instincts that came from being such might have just kicked in at that moment and caused her to want to make Twilight look good for the sake of wanting to fix anything she deemed unfabulous.
“Oh, that reminds me. On that same day, I also cut off most of my tail to replace the half of a giant serpent’s mustache that was sliced off. He looked so sad over his loss. I simply couldn’t leave him with nothing. His giving of a dry passage over the river he was in was, as Pinkie would say, icing on the cake. The fact that I was able to raise the serpent’s spirit was reward enough for me.”
That was good enough for Light. It probably took a lot for the seamstress to give up her own tail, especially since she most likely holds her own looks in high regard. Light gave an approving nod.
“Sounds generous to m…” Suddenly, Pinkie’s smiling face popped up from the bottom of his vision. Leaning back a bit so her face wasn’t so close to his, Light greeted her, “Hello?” Light wasn’t sure, but he felt something from this particular mare the moment her face popped up.
“Hi! I’m Pinkamena Diane Pie, but everyone calls me Pinkie! I live and work at the Sugarcube Corner bakery! I love sweets of all kinds, pranks, and parties! Especially parties! I also love to brighten up everypony’s day and see them smile.”
Light smiled back, “Well aren’t you just a pink ball of energy? With how much you want to make others happy, I’m guessing your Element is joy?”
Pinkie shook her head while retaining that megawatt smile of hers, “Nope it’s actually laughter, but you were close!”
At this, Light shrugged, “Oh well. Laughter is part of joy, so I guess I’m half right, but besides that; I like your positive attitude. You seem like my kind of pony.” Somehow, Pinkie’s smile grew even bigger at this.
“YAHOO!!!”
Pinkie showed her appreciation of the compliment by jumping out of her seat and into Light’s lap. She then gave him an almost bone crushing hug which he returned. After the hug was over, Pinkie sat down next to him still smiling.
Light gave her one last smile before looking over the other passengers in the carriage. He then spotted the only pony who had not introduced herself; a cyan blue Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane who was staring angrily off into the distance with a hoof supporting her head.
“So, what’s your name blue?”
Rainbow Dash didn’t answer, she just continued to stare with furrowed eyebrows. Rarity tried her hoof at getting Rainbow’s attention.
“Now Rainbow Dash, you really shouldn’t be rude” admonished Rarity.
Rainbow still didn’t answer, continuing her angry stare into nothingness. Light suddenly got an idea and whispered it to the other mares, “I have a plan to get her attention, but I need two seats on either side of her open. The mares complied and Light went to work. Sitting down in the seat to Rainbow’s right, Light clapped his hands before shouting, “HEY, ECO ADDICT!!!”
Both startled and angry, Rainbow Dash turned to him with a death glare, “What do you want, poser!?”
Light put up his hands in mock surrender, “Whoa, Whoooooa! Chill, ok? I just want to get to know you.” He then pointed over her shoulder, “Although, I think someone else wants your attention even more than me.” Rainbow Dash felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see who it was; though who she saw, she did not expect.
Greeting her was Light’s smiling, deep blue face complete with glowing white eyes.
“Halloooo!!! ”
“GAAAH!!!” Rainbow leaped from her seat in fright and almost fell out of the carriage.
Light quickly reached out and grabbed her before she could fall and pulled her in, “Whoa now, we don’t need you falling and having to change your name to Rainbow Crash, now do we?” he said with a chuckle.
“Why, you!” she tried to deliver a right hook to his face, but it passed right through him, “What the?”
“Over here.”
She turned and found Light waving to her from where he was sitting before. Rainbow crossed her forelegs in front of her chest and growled.
‘GRRRRRR!!!’
At this, Light’s grin grew positively feral and he responded in a way that captured perfectly how much enjoyment he was getting out of teasing her.
“Oh, you are just a treat!”
Meanwhile, everyone else was trying to hold in the laughs that threatened to burst forth. Except Pinkie and Dark who were rolling on the floor of the chariot, laughing, and chuckling with a wicked grin respectively.
Light leaned over to Twilight to whisper, “You have some pretty good friends here, Twilight. Reminds me of the friendship my former host had with his friend.”
Twilight, not doing that good of a job of hiding her mirth, replied somewhat sarcastically, “I’m glad the almighty Light approves.”
Another 10 minutes later
They had finally arrived at Canterlot Castle and the mane 6 were drawing quite a lot of attention with the two new additions to the group. The servants and guards looked at Light’s glowing form with awe and Dark’s opposite form with fright. The group could also hear the comments some of the servants were making about Light and Dark.
“By Celestia’s mane; are you seeing what I’m seeing!? That thing’s wings are huge and its glows brighter than the princess’ coat!” one butler whispered to another in astonishment.
The maid he was talking to turned to him after staring for a while at Dark, “I’m more concerned about the purple creature’s claws. Those things look sharper than some of our best cooking knives!
When they turned back to look at the group, they met Dark’s wickedly grinning face. Their eyes widened not only at the close proximity, but also at his razor sharp teeth. They were so full of fear that they didn’t scream, but that changed after one simple action from Dark.
‘SHING’
“AAAAAAA!!!”
Dark had raised his hand to their eye level to show them his claws. He then extended them for further intimidation. The mane 6 and Light turned to see what was happening. Light was just about to tackle Dark, when Fluttershy intervened.
“No, Dark! Bad! Say you’re sorry this instant!” she angrily said.
Dark turned to her and growled. However, Fluttershy was having none of this and turned on the full power of her stare.
“Don’t take that tone with me, mister! It’s wrong to cause other’s fright for your own amusement! Especially if they think it’s a threat on their lives! Now say you’re sorry!” Dark reluctantly grunted out an apology for the second time that day.
“Sssshurrrraaahyyyy!”
The servants, too full of fear to understand that he was trying to say sorry, promptly fainted. Fluttershy just looked down with closed eyes and sighed. She then looked back up to Dark with a sad smile, “Well, at least you apologized. Let’s get back to the others, ok?” Dark didn’t say anything. Instead, he just turned and walked back to the group alongside Fluttershy; grumbling incoherently the whole way.
When they finally got to the throne room doors, Twilight set her focus on Light and Dark, “Now behave you two. Hopefully Princess Celestia won’t be too harsh, but you must have proper manners.”
Light gave a fake salute, “Yes miss Twilight!” he said. Twilight, not getting that he was planning something, smiled and turned to open the door. Light’s eyes twinkled right before he rushed past her.
“Light, what are you doing!?” said Twilight incredulously. Light, with a grin on his face, put both hands on the door and pushed with monstrous strength.
‘BOOM’
The giant doors slammed so hard into the walls that they almost shattered the windows. The guards that were at attention pointed their spears at the angelic being and both princesses were stunned by Light’s loud entrance.
“Hello Celestia; and Luna too, when did you get back from the moon? Anyway, I’ve got some things to say, but I can’t do it from all the way over here.” he said with a calm voice and a stoic look. He then began walking towards the two thrones as though he were taking a stroll through the gardens.
“Twilight Sparkle! I thought that you would’ve had this escaped convict in chains when you brought him and his brother here!” Celestia said, looking at Twilight angrily. Luna decided to bring her sister’s attention back to the matter at hoof.
“Forget about that dear sister! Guards, seize him! Stop him before he gets any closer!”
To this, Light clapped his hands and prepared for when the first guard would be upon him. A pegasus guard went for a flying tackle, but Light leaned back, letting the guard pass over him. Grabbing the guard by the waist, he slammed the pegasus to the ground and continued walking. A unicorn guard ran up and tried to pierce him through the heart, but Light pivoted the target area out of the way and grabbed the spear’s shaft. Going with the momentum of his pivot, Light disarmed the unicorn guard with both his strength and eco. The guard was slightly surprised at how fast he was, but even more so when Light brought the spear over his knee and broke it in half. He then threw both pieces towards the ground getting them stuck in it.
At this point, Light was already half way to the princesses and they were getting angrier and angrier at Light for humiliating their guards. At the opposite end of the room, the mane 6 were shocked at what Light was doing, but nopony more so than Twilight, “What is he doing!? I specifically told him to behave himself and he’s doing this!? What the heck!?” thought Twilight angrily.
Dark, on the other hand, had his arms folded and was very entertained by the whole thing. Not because Light was humiliating the guards, but because it was getting those two upstarts on the thrones angry. If he wasn’t able to tear them to shreds, at least he could watch them get agitated; serves them right for being so cheap with the Elements all those years ago.
Spike, who was waiting for the better part of a day for Twilight to come back, had his jaw dropped at how easy it was for Light to get through the guards, “Whoa! This guy is good. He’s getting past them like it’s nothing and he does it all with a calm look on his face.”
Meanwhile, Light had started walking again when two spears were thrust towards his head.
‘CLANG’
Light had tilted his head back at the last second, “Whoa now. I think that would’ve been a little too much off the top for my liking.” He then grabbed both spears and threw them into the ceiling so hard, it was as though he was using it as a giant dart board. Light continued walking and finally reached the steps that led up to the thrones, “Ah, this is a lot better than shouting across the room, don’t you think?” he said with a grin.
Celestia stood up and walked half way down the steps, “Ok, you have our attention. Now what do you want?” said Celestia with a cold glare.
“First, a bit of a redo on our first initial meeting.” he then proceeded to bow in a very stylish way by using his wings as extensions to his arms and pulsing his eco, making himself glow like the most precious of sapphires. “It is an honor to make your acquaintance, your majesty.” he said with reverence.
Celestia was shocked by this. The first thing that Discord wanted to do was seek vengeance. The same was true about Luna before she was turned back to normal. This human was acting more like a respectful visitor instead of the seeker of revenge that she expected him to be. To say that his was completely out of left field for her would be an understatement.
“Well this is certainly a surprise. I didn’t think I would be seeing you humble yourself before me and my sister.” she said with raised eye brows.
Light got up from his kneeling position and put a hand to his heart, “You wound me Celestia. Why wouldn’t I give such a fantastic ruler her proper respect?”
“Excuse me, but how would you know how I’ve been running this country?”
A smile appeared on his face as he explained, “Ah yes, you probably didn’t know this, but I could still see and hear everything around me while I was in stone.”
“What!? The whole time!?”
“Indeed; and I heard some interesting things about you, my dear princess. I heard a lot of praise for your leadership during my imprisonment. I also heard about how you went above and beyond in your work; personally overthrowing the tyrant who was terrorizing your ally, the Crystal Empire. Princess, I’ve only respected one other ruler in my life time, and I can say that you and your sister both deserve just as much, if not more respect.”
“W…Well…I” Celestia was stunned speechless. She turned to Luna, but she was just as stunned. Celestia expected many things from Light. Showing a huge amount of respect towards her as a ruler was not one of them.
“If you would allow me, I would like to make up for endangering and possibly indirectly killing those citizens so long ago. I would like to prove that I’m different from what I was before and not be a burden like I was to my former host.” he said, giving a short bow. He then noticed that the others had gathered at the steps as well.
Applejack stepped forward, “Princesses, ah, can honestly say that he’s telling the truth. So far, Light has done nothing but help and trying to get along with us.”
Pinkie was next to speak, “It was amazing! He was all like, “AAANGELIC ENTRYYY!!!”, and Dark got sent flying into the trees by Light’s foot impacting his face; and that was his entrance!”
Rarity decided to cut in, “I have to agree with Pinkie, Light’s entrance certainly was extraordinary, but even more so was his declaration of doing everything he could to stop Dark from killing us. Such valor is to be commended.” She then looked to Rainbow Dash, wondering if she had anything about earlier events.
When Rainbow realized it was her turn, she scratched the back of her head awkwardly for a moment then spoke, “Well…gotta give credit where credit is due. He kept fighting even when his face got shredded. There’s also the fact that he got really angry when Dark tried to involve us in their fight. To me, he was acting as though Dark tried to kill one of his friends. Although, I don’t get why he would act so strongly when Dark almost killed us.”
Light decided to use this to further his case, “Well my prismatic friend, one thing that I forgot to mention is that during that time in stone, you ponies have really grown on me. I watched millions of tourists go by and watched how they acted. You ponies, and some of the other species I’ve seen, have a great capacity for good. Most of you treat each other kindly, watching each other’s backs, etc. The families were my favorite visitors. I liked seeing the parents interact with their children and the children being so happy to be there. It makes me all the more hateful of Dark for what he did so long ago; cutting down so many and leaving children without their parents and some parents grieving over their lost children.” At the last part Light glared at Dark and he glared back. He then looked to Fluttershy with a neutral look.
“It’s only because of Fluttershy that I and Dark aren’t fighting to the death at this moment. She says that I should give Dark a chance to redeem himself. I mean no offence, but I doubt the wisdom of this decision. However, I can promise you that if he even tries to harm a single citizen of Equestria, he won’t live to regret it.”
Celestia looked to Dark and found that he was quite different from the rampaging monster that she had met before. He may have still been giving her an angry glare, but he wasn’t doing anything beyond that. She suspected that it was the work of Fluttershy considering her involvement in stopping the eco brothers from fighting. There was also the fact that she was able to stop a full grown dragon in its tracks. If she could do that, then it wasn’t impossible for her to stop Dark. She then turned to Twilight to see what she had to say.
“And you, Twilight? Do you have anything to say on their behalf?” she said with a neutral look.
Even though she was nervous, Twilight still felt that she needed to vouch for Light, “I believe that Light can be trusted, especially since he not only saved us, but showed that he really does care about the citizens of Equestria considering what Rainbow Dash already said about his anger at Dark for involving us. Dark, on the other hoof, needs to have a close eye on him at all times.”
At this, Fluttershy spoke up, “I can handle that. He seems to listen to me pretty well, if a bit reluctantly, right Dark?” She looked up at Dark, and he looked down at her and gave her a grunt with a shrug. Fluttershy smiled up to him then turned back to the others, “He said, ‘I guess’.”
Celestia closed her eyes to think of what to do about Light. He seemed to have changed from the heartless being that he was before. However, this apparent hatred he has for his brother could result in another fight. However, he did say that he didn’t want to be a burden. With this in mind, Celestia devised a plan and began handing down her final verdict.
“Alright, Light. I’ll give you a chance to prove yourself; and since Fluttershy believes that Dark could change, he’ll get the same. However, I’m going to have the Element bearers keep a close eye on you two. This means that both of you will be staying in Ponyville until further notice. They will report to me any developments that involve you two. Be forewarned, if they send me anything about either of you that warrants my direct intervention, you will answer to me. Understand?”
Light nodded, “Yes ma’am. By the way, one of these days you are going to tell me why you banished your sister to the moon and how she came back. You have a looooot of explaining to do!”
Celestia sighed, “Twilight and her friends can fill you in later. Now go, a royal court session is about to start and I can’t have you or your brother causing a ruckus.”
“Alright, I’m going. Ponyville is probably more fun than here anyway.” Looking over to Rainbow Dash, Light grinned, “Hey, Miss Prism. I haven’t gotten a chance to use my wings for long distances, so how about a race?”
Rainbow Dash grinned back, “Oh, you are so on! Keep an eye on my tail, it’s the only thing you’ll see!” With that, she flew off out of the throne room, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake. Light liked her enthusiasm.
“That’s the spirit!” he too took off and left a trail, except his was a whitish blue.
Twilight looked to the rest of her friends, “Come on, girls. We might be able to catch up to them in a carriage.” With that, they exited the throne room running, leaving Celestia and Luna to their royal duties.
Author's Note
Remember to comment and tell me what you liked and disliked. Do not just say that the whole chapter was good or bad. Tell me the highlights of the chapter.
Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness
Evictions and Horrible First Impressions
Within Jak’s Mind
It was boring inside Jak’s mind. Well, only boring if you are an eco-being who didn’t currently have partial control of the body while the host is awake. You might hear the host’s thoughts from time to time, but it is nothing like being able to use the host’s body to see and experience the outside world. The only other time one can find enjoyment inside Jak’s mind was when he was asleep and dreaming. However, while an eco-being is not in use, he is floating in a mental void of nothingness. It is in this scenario that we find Jak’s dark and light halves being bored out of their minds, bickering, and in Dark Jak’s case, yelling for Jak to let him out so he could slaughter those who made him angry.
“Damn it Jak! Let me out!!! There’s so many people we could be decimating right now! What about those so called Freedom League guards!? You and I both know that most of them are ex-Krimson guards who need to die! Hell, some of them even wish that Praxis was back in power! Are you honestly going to not let me out to slaughter the lot of them!?” After his tirade, Dark started to grumble to himself, not knowing that someone whom he disturbed from meditation was coming to give him a good smack upside the head.
‘THWACK’
“Ow!!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!!!” screamed Dark while holding his head. The angelic Light Jak’s scowl deepened when Dark turned to face him, however the effect of intimidation was lessened somewhat by the fact that his whole form always glows.
“Could you please stop yelling for one second so that I can have some peace of mind? Honestly, you know that he isn’t going to let you out for revenge anytime soon since he’s been over it for a while now, and the fact that I’m here has only helped with his anger issues, so he won’t call on your power for inane things like someone bumping into him.”
Dark turned to Light, narrowing his eyes as he directed his anger towards him. “That’s another thing! Jak was ten times better before you came along! He took nothing from nobody and fought or intimidated anyone who was in his way. Now that only happens if the obstacle is a bodily threat. What happened to commanding respect!? What happened to the guy who even I of all people respected!? I’ll tell you what happened, Dark said, before pointing at Light; “You came along and turned him into a pushover!!!”
Light scoffed before replying, “Oh please. Jak is definitely no pushover. He defends himself when necessary, unlike some idiots who tear off the heads of whoever looks at them wrong.”
“Oh that’s it!!! I’m going to choke the eco out of you!!!” said Dark while stalking over to Light.
“Be forewarned, I will defend myself if you try anything”, said Light getting into a fighting stance.
“Both of you SHUT UP!!!”
That sudden loud voice startled the both of them and completely destroyed the tense situation. They both started to look around.
“Jak, is that you? Please tell me you’re going to let me out to blow off some steam!? Having to deal with this radioactive retard is too much for me!” pleaded Dark.
“Yes, please let the purple pisant out so that I can have some peace and quiet”, came Light’s sarcastic voice. Dark looked back at Light and growled,
“Do you want to start with me again!? Because if you do, I’m going to…” Jak’s booming mental voice came back with even louder.
“Neither of you are getting anything for all of the mental stress you’ve both caused me over the years! Dark, you have been nothing but trouble for my mind since day one and while you’ve helped me in battle, your constant ranting is causing me to go crazy. I literally have hallucinations of you being outside of me sometimes when I wake up in the morning.”
Light started to grin at the prospect of Dark getting chewed out, but stopped when Jak turned his attention to him.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Light! You might have calmed me down and made it so I can act less angrily towards others, but your constant bickering with Dark is adding so much stress to my mind that you are almost as bad as him!”
Outside of his mind and inside a lab, Jak took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was supposed to be spending time with his girlfriend, Kiera, today. Just hanging out, maybe catch a movie. He arrived at her lab to pick her up, but as soon as he walked in the door, his two halves decided to go at it again. It was like this every other day and happened every time he tried to unwind. At the bar, drinking with Torn, at the shooting range competing with Sig for the high score, and most recently, yesterday at 6 o’clock in the morning. Jak was getting really tired of this. Leaning against one of the walls of Kiera’s lab, Jak turned his thoughts back to the two living representatives of his personality.
“Honestly, I have gained more eco powers from my journey to the Brink, and they make pretty good substitutes for your powers and some are even better. You two have worn out your usefulness. I don’t need the mental stress that comes with slowing down time with light eco or blasting away enemies with dark eco when I can just use my blue eco powers to speed myself up to the point where time appears slow, and use my red eco powers to throw huge bombs. I swear, if there is a way to remove you two, I’m going to use it immediately.”
Outside Jak’s mind, his blue/green haired girlfriend, Kiera, walked up to him with a grin. Obviously, it was something involving a new invention, since machinery is one of the things she lives for.
Jak! Guess what! I’ve finally come to the final stages of constructing my eco transfer device! It lets one transfer sources of eco 1000% percent faster than the old Precursor Pipelines and Haven city’s pipelines combined! Plus, it can transfer excess eco a person is channeling so that eco overload can be avoided. Well, I’ll be off. I just need to put on those finishing touches and it’ll be all set to go!
Jak’s eyes widened a bit at the last part and a few seconds after Kiera went off to finish her project, Jak got the biggest and most devilish grin that Dark and Light had ever seen on him before.
“Oooooh no… oh nononononono!!! You are not going to do what I know what you are thinking of doing! You are not throwing us out! I refuse to accept this!” Dark hollored in both anger and panic, while shaking his fist up at the pseudo ceiling of the void that was Jak’s subconscious.
“Uh…Jak? Old friend? Can’t we talk about this like civilized adults? Maybe we could come to some…oh who am I kidding? Fate pretty much served up this option on a silver platter.” said Light in a defeated tone with his head slumped down.
With his devilish grin still in place, Jak enacted his plan. “Oooh Kiera~!”
Strapped to a table with multiple wires stuck to him, all within a chamber, Jak felt slight apprehension, but was otherwise fine and ready to go. However, Kiera was a little nervous considering this was her first test of the machine. “Ok Jak, everything is set up. Are you sure you want to do this. This machine hasn’t been tested yet.”
Jak nodded and gave a determined look. “I’m sure, Kiera. Those two have caused turmoil in my mind for the last time! Fire up the machine, Dark and Light are getting their eviction notice!”
Rolling her eyes at his lame joke, Kiera started typing on her keyboard in order to set the parameters for the machine’s first test. “Alright then, in that case I’ll start setting the transfer program. Since we don’t want to do anything cruel, like have them put into motionless containers or within the pipeline as mindless masses of eco to be used as power sources, I’m going to be taking some green eco from you so that bodies can form for them. This process should be easy since your green eco already has your DNA in it; so they’ll most likely look like you, but in your dark and light forms. It might hurt a little since I am pulling some of your life energy from you, but you should be fine, if a bit winded.”
That was ok with Jak. He was willing to sacrifice some comfort in order to get those two nuisances out of his head. Even so, he would miss those bad ass claws he would get when turning dark and those wings when turning light, but again, those were a small price to pay for peace of mind.
Dark, despite the facade of being just simply angry, was also scared out of his ‘mind’. He also felt betrayed. How could Jak do this to him after all that he did for him. Dark had broken the bonds that were keeping Jak tied down to the table, he had fought off hundreds of Krimzon guards for him, helped him with defeating Metal Kor, and even partially transformed Jak just to intimidate Count Veger. That all apparently didn’t matter to Jak. Dark was about to be thrown away like yesterday’s trash and there was nothing he could do about it.
Light wasn’t faring much better. He felt even more betrayed. Light had helped Jak reach both literal and metaphorical heights. Through both good times and bad, Light had calmed Jak down and subtly improved his personality. However, he realized that he wasn’t without fault here. It seems adding on to the stress his counterpart causes, makes all of those good things he did, lose their meaning. With this in mind, Light calmly accepted his fate, but vowed to get Dark back for this, since it was partially his fault.
After she was done typing, Kiera pressed the start button to initiate the program. She then turned to a microphone to talk to Jak since the chamber he was in fully sealed itself once the procedure started. “So Jak, how are you feeling in there?” she asked concernedly.
Inside the chamber, Jak wasn’t feeling much of anything out of the ordinary just a tingling sensation in his skin as pieces of dark and light eco floated out of his pores. “Not much, just a slight tingling sensation in my skin. What now?”
Kiera, after putting her hand on a green knob, replied, “Now comes the green eco extraction. I might have sugarcoated the truth in how much pain you would be feeling. It’s going to be a bit more painful than what I told you.”
“How much is a bi…YOUCH!!! Damn, that hurts! It felt like a giant needle went into my chest!” said Jak as he lurched up slightly from the table. After the initial pain, Jak laid there, watching the green eco pour out from the center of his chest and contemplated what would happen after this whole thing was done.
After a few more minutes of extraction, the eco was then sucked into the machine itself and then emerged in a second chamber, a few yards from Jak’s, as two floating orbs of green eco, one of them was surrounded by dark eco and the other was surrounded by light eco. To the observer, they both looked like a couple of huge floating cells, ready to multiply and create something even more complex than the types of energy they were composed of. After Jak got out of the chamber, both he and Kiera walked over to the second chamber to see the results of what seemed to be a success, but as we all know with these types of situations, something always goes wrong.
Suddenly, an arc of dark and light eco connected the two masses and then fired a bolt through the walls of the chamber and into the wires of another of Kiera’s inventions, jumpstarting it and sucking in various things that were small enough to be lifted on a breeze.
“Kiera, what is that!?” Jak shouted as the two masses of eco started to get sucked into the other machine.
“Please tell me you know where they went?” Jak asked in a nervous tone.
Kiera turned away from the console with a small frown. “Sorry Jak, there weren’t any set coordinates, so they could be any where, when, or both.” she said, feeling slightly down on herself. However that feeling quickly went away as she remembered one other thing.
“I do, however, have a way of tracking them through the space time continuum. See unlike the rift rings that the Precursors made, my rift ring produces an energy trail from the portal to the destination. It might take a few days to see where they ended up, but we’ll find them.” Kiera’s small frown turned into a smile as Jak complimented her on her solution.
“Great job, Kiera! You always think of everything, don’t you?” Jak commented. Kiera just giggled and then turned back to the console, getting to work on tracking down their two wayward eco freaks.
Equestria: 1,250 years ago. 250 years after Discord’s imprisonment
Almost as high as the clouds and over a medieval village, a portal opened up and deposited the two quickly forming bodies of Dark and Light. During their decent onto the unsuspecting town, something began to happen, or to be more specific, something was being absorbed by the two entities. The ambient energy in the environment was very much like eco and was able to affect the both of them. When they finally crashed down and woke up in the small village, they discovered an immediate effect of absorbing the energy.
“Uuuummm…why are we wearing Jak’s clothes?” said a very confused Light while pulling on the fabric to make sure it was really there.
Dark was already standing and looking at Light with disdain. When he finally spotted Light he went into a rant. “I don’t know and I don’t care! All I know or care about is that this is all YOUR fault!”
“My fault, how is a portal transporting us to another world my fault?” asked an incredulous Light.
Dark just got even angrier and the excess dark eco that he was producing as a result was starting to mutate the surrounding grass; as arcs of the hazardous energy struck random patches of land causing a vapor form of the substance to be created with each strike.
“I don’t know!!! I’m just getting so angry! Something about this place is pissing me off and I can’t taRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!” Dark had finally gone off the deep end; his anger overpowering his mind to the point that he was now an animal, unable to speak any actual words. The first thing he did, which is what any animal would do, was attack the object of his ire.
Dark made a mighty 15 foot leap forward to tackle Light. On the ground, both him and Light were trading blows, with Light making it a point to dodge all of Dark’s claw swipes. After a few more seconds of rolling around on the ground trying to get the other to stop, Light was finally able to use both of his feet to propel Dark off of him. After getting up, Light then noticed a crowd of four legged creatures had surrounded them to watch the spectacle.
“What are those things?” one villager asked while looking scared.
“I don’t know, but they look powerful. Did you see how far the purple one jumped and tackled the bluish white one?” said another one who was more amazed than scared. It was at that point that Light realized that these creatures might actually be the citizens of this town since they talked and wore clothing.
Dark, seeing the gathered villagers, decided to do something just to spite Light. He grabbed one of the villagers by the throat with his right hand and held the claws of his left hand to the villager’s chest.
“Dark, don’t do it.” said a nervous Light. “We don’t need more blood on our hands. That, and you’re only proving my first thoughts of you being nothing more than a vicious animal.”
This only spurred Dark on as he plunged his claws into the poor villager’s chest and threw him into the middle of the circle that the crowd had formed around them. “Hehehehehehe” giggled Dark creepily.
Light just covered his glowing face in shame as the crowd gasped. Various forms of panic could be heard as the victim began to mutate. He started to barf huge amounts of purple fluid as crystal like protrusions began to rapidly grow from his body. His eyes turned pitch black as he fell to the ground and started to writhe in pain. After a few more seconds of agony, the late citizen’s head finally slumped to the ground, his mouth still open and leaking more purple fluid.
The scene was too much for the crowd to take and they started running around in a panic. The sight of mass hysteria caused Dark throw his head back and cackle. “AAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“Oh, you think that’s funny do you? Well try this on for size, you brain dead purple ape.” said Light as he charged a ball of pure light eco. He released it from his hand and the force of impact on the distracted Dark propelled him through the walls of the stone hut behind him, causing the whole structure to collapse. Light sighed in relief, thinking that he at least knocked Dark out. “That should put him out for a wh” an arm with a purple hand and outstretched clawed fingers broke through the surface of the rubble and the rest of Dark followed.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” said a disappointed Light. Getting over the failed attempt at ending the fight, Light dashed over to Dark, preparing to punch him in the stomach. However Dark had other plans in mind.
Cupping his hands together and putting them to one side of his body, while crouching, Dark briefly charged and let fly the two gigantic orbs of his Dark Strike technique. Though Light had his shield up in time, the blast still pushed him back a ways, digging up a trench in the ground and destroying a few market stands.
They were just about to go for another round when a booming female voice, along with a bright light even more radiant than daytime, interrupted their fight. “YOU BOTH SHALL CEASE AND DESIST THIS POINTLESS DESTRUCTION AND SURRENDER THIS INSTANT OR WE WILL USE LETHAL FORCE!”
Looking up to the source of the voice, Dark and Light saw two bigger versions of the creatures they saw before, except they were sporting horns and floating on big feathery wings. The one who spoke was white with a flowing tri-colored mane and royal looking golden regalia. The other one was dark blue with a darker blue and star dotted mane. She also had royal adornments, but they were black.
Dark, not liking the idea of anyone standing in his way of destroying his nuisance of a counterpart, leaped with a roar for the two royal figures who teleported out of the way and were now on the ground. The blue one took aim with her horn and charged it up with a strange energy. “Celestia, let me take care of him!”
Celestia looked down at her fellow horned/winged creature. “Ok, just be careful Luna. We don’t know how powerful these creatures are.” she warned.
“Don’t worry sister, I will!” said Luna with a determined grin. She then proceeded to fire the built up energy. After a few seconds of pouring on the power, Luna finally lets up on her offence, expecting the fight to be over. However, what greeted her instead was a more surprising sight.
Standing there with his arms crossed in defense was Dark looking no more injured than before. Lowering his arms revealed that he was instead, angrier than ever.
“WHAT!!?” yelled a surprised Luna. “You should at least be out cold! Most beings would’ve died from the amount of magical power behind that blast!”
Dark just chuckled in response and charged up another Dark Strike. With enough energy stored, Dark launched the twin orbs of doom at the close by powerful beings.
Seeing that the two female creatures were too close to Dark to dodge and not knowing if they could withstand such an attack, Light decided to save them. Though his decision was a noble one, it was mostly because he didn’t want to be blamed for the death of the two assumed heads of state. With a clap of his hands, Light’s impromptu rescue plan was put into action.
The whole area suddenly had a deep blue tint to it and everything began to slow down. In Celestia, Luna, and Dark’s point of view, everything was normal, but in Light’s case everything was at a snail’s pace. Using the added time he had by slowing it down, Light sprinted towards the two royals. He didn’t run long, however, as Light then decided to use his Light Flight ability to grow a set of wings out of his back. There was one major difference though. Instead of the transparent bat-like wings that usually grew, two big, feathery, and solid-looking wings burst forth from his back. They looked a lot more powerful than his previous set and it showed as Light’s air speed was monumentally faster than normal. Light, seeing the results of his new wings, decided not to question why they were there and continued on with his rescue mission.
When he got to the two authority figures, Light also discovered that he was a lot stronger than he was before. Sure, it still took some effort to carry them to safety, especially in flight, but it was still a lot more strength than the elven-like people he resembled could muster.
After they touched down behind a stone house that was a considerable distance away, Light folded his wings behind his back, Light’s Flash Freeze ability finally wore off and the two royals were astounded at how fast they had gotten so far from the battle field. To them, it was faster than any other being they had encountered before could accomplish.
Celestia was the first to speak. “Thank you for your assistance. Despite the earlier destruction you and that other thing caused. Not to sound rude, but we could’ve just teleported out of the way. You helping us did save us the energy though, so thanks anyway.” she said as calmly as she could.
Light, despite the situation, responded calmly, “You’re welcome and sorry for the damage.”
Luna was a bit more forceful with her response. “Who and exactly what are you, biped!?” In all honesty, Celestia couldn’t blame her for her anger. When they had gotten there, they had just witnessed Light blasting Dark through a building. They also noticed the purple crystal covered corpse of a citizen whom they assumed was the victim of the purple skinned/horned bipedal creature.
Light, not intimidated in the slightest by Luna, answered once again calmly, “I resemble what is known as a human. What I actually am is a living mass of eco, a type of energy, that was given a human body. The same can be said for what I guess can be called my brother. As for who we are, we were never given actual names. Our host, the person in whose mind we resided in, called me Light and the purple demon back over there, Dark.”
Celestia was fascinated by this. She didn’t think it was possible for a mass of energy to have sentience, but here they were, living proof of such a concept being true. Although her curiosity was peaked, Celestia couldn’t ignore the matter at hand.
“This is all very interesting, but as the two princesses of Equestria, we need to take both of you in for questioning and possible imprisonment for the destruction you and your brother have caused.” Celestia said with an authoritative tone and a determined look on her face.
Light’s wings tensed up in preparation for a quick escape if need be. “And if I refuse?” Luna answered just as harshly as before “Then we will drag you both to your waiting cells!”
Light, not liking the sound of that, took flight before they could stop him. “Sorry ma’am, but imprisonment is not for me and is a bad idea to give my brother, trust me.” said Light as he hightailed it out of there and back to the battlefield. Since Dark’s anger was directed at Celestia and Luna now, maybe he could team up with him to fight off the princesses. The only reason why he considered this was because he felt really tired. Light barely had any energy to begin with and using those light powers in quick succession drained most of it away.
Not long after he landed, the two princesses arrived. Dark had torn up the town square even further with more destroyed houses and the corpses of more citizens littering the ground except this time, Dark had apparently decided to just dismember the citizens instead of mutating them. The princesses’ faces were struck with horror.
“MY LITTLE PONIES!!!” Celestia cried out in anguish over the massive carnage that had taken place. She had sworn to rule over and protect the citizens of Equestria and this massacre was the biggest backhand to her face that could possibly exist. Light did something that baffled both of them and made them question if he even cared about life.
“Dark, by the Precursors, what’s wrong with you? Seriously, what is your freaking problem?” he said in surprisingly calm outrage.
Dark just pointed to the Luna and growled. Light, understanding him, turned to Luna, “It looks like he wasn’t too happy about you leaving before the battle could end. He most likely did all of this out of spite.”
Luna was still baffled at how he was acting. “How can you be so calm!? Do you not hold life in as high regard as any moral being would!?” Luna shouted at him.
Light directed his gaze at Luna and gave her a small frown with his arms folded across his chest and his wings flaring out slightly. “Now hold on a minute. I don’t think it’s right of you to judge me like that. I’ve been used to protect the people of my world. The reason why I’m not weeping over your citizens is because I’m more focused on stopping Dark. Think about it like this, better a few citizens out of a whole country than a nationwide genocide.” The royal sisters were shocked at this declaration.
“But, are you not a representation of ‘good’? You said that you came from somepony’s mind. Your brother looks like a demon and commits heinous acts. You on the other hoof look like an angel and even saved us from taking unnecessary damage. So why aren’t you trying to save some of the ponies here like you did us? Why not act like what you represent and try to save others while stopping your brother?” said Luna in an incredulous tone.
“Why does everyone assume that I and Dark represent good and evil?” Light said in an exasperated tone.
“Huh?” asked Luna.
Sighing, Light responded, “We don’t represent good and evil. It’s kind of shallow to partly base your assumptions on looks. Dark is represented our host’s anger. He is pretty much rage incarnate. Although for some reason, now he’s not only angry but insane. He used to be able to talk before we got here.”
“I, on the other hand, used to represent focus, clarity of mind, and pretty much anything related to being calm. I have a ‘go with the flow’ way of looking at things. I’m not amoral, I just simply don’t care about your subjects as much as you do.”
“Then why did you save us?” asked Celestia in a heated tone.
“That was because after this was all over, I didn’t want to have the blame of letting two rulers die on top of this massacre that I will most likely be blamed for.” answered Light. He honestly didn’t care about the lives of these ponies. He just didn’t want to have trouble wherever he went in this new world. He feared what would happen if someone spread a rumor about him trying to kill the princesses.
“So you’re selfish.” Celestia said with disdain.
“If that’s what you think of me, then fine.” said Light with a shrug.
Luna gritted her teeth in fury before responding, “Why you despicable, disgusting, son of a--“
“GRRRRRRRR”
All three looked to Dark who had an annoyed look on his face and was pointing to his wrist as though he was wearing a watch. Dark had been standing there for a while listening to his brother and the rulers talk, and talk, and talk. It was boring and he really wanted to get rid of them, especially Celestia and Luna. They had the nerve to interrupt his battle with his brother and actually think they could stop him with such a weak attack. He despised anyone who looked down on him the most. Those who think that because they’re powerful, that they can treat him however they want. The fact that the princesses were taking their sweet time; made him feel as though he was being dismissed as a pesky house fly that they could squash at any time. Dark would not stand for this. He was going to fight them and he was going to show them not to ignore him.
Light, meanwhile, understood what Dark meant by his gesture and voiced his understanding, “It appears that we are taking too long for Dark’s liking. If you would excuse me, I will be beating my brother senseless before he makes an even bigger mess.” Before he took more than two steps, he was stopped by golden energy that was encasing him. Turning his head back to the royal sisters, it appeared that the glow was coming from Celestia’s horn.
Celestia stomped a hoof. “No! You are not going to continue this fight. We are going to end this before more of our subjects get hurt!”
Light just looked at her in confusion. “And how exactly are you going to end this fast enough for that not to happen? You saw that your sister’s supposedly lethal energy beam was too weak to do anything to him; so what exactly do you have up your sleeves that could possibly settle this in a short amount of time?”
Celestia decided not to answer him. Instead she flared her wings out and aimed her horn at Dark before asking Luna to go and get something called, The Elements. With much releuctance, Luna then flew off to get these so called elements while Celestia turned her attention back to Dark.
“Be glad that we are within a town, demon. It is for that reason that I won’t be using my full power.
Dark grinned with a raised eyebrow. “Heennnnng?” he grunted in question.
Celestia, taking a guess at what he meant, answered “Yes demon, I will be your opponent! Beware! I will not go easy on you!”
Dark’s response to this was predictable. “Heh heh heh” he chuckled in insane excitement. He then proceeded to get into a fighting stance in which he swung both arms to his sides while bringing his claws out.
‘SHING’
Light decided to get to a safer location, “I wish I had popcorn right now.” he said under his breath. He decided on sitting in front of a nearby undamaged house in order to watch the fight.
Finally, the battle had begun. Celestia made the first move by charging at him. Dark got ready to slash Celestia across the face when she got close enough. Celestia had foreseen this and did a maneuver that Light was impressed with.
One foot out of range, Celestia folded up her wings and ducked down while sliding underneath Dark’s overextended claw swing. She then righted herself quickly and bucked him right in the chest as soon as he turned around, and sent him flying straight up into the air. Right before he reached his maximum height of forty feet, Celestia took off to meet him, preparing to give Dark a mighty push towards the ground when he reached his zenith.
“I wonder how Dark’s going to get out of this one.” said Light.
However, Dark had more than just the Dark Strike up his sleeve. When Celestia reached thirty feet, Dark righted himself in the air and pulled an eco-charged fist back. Going too fast, Celestia tried to dodge but that only succeeded in putting her in a new position for when Dark’s fist made contact.
Dark let his charged up fist fly and released his Dark Bomb technique into Celestia’s midsection, creating a purple shockwave in the process. The fact that it was at point blank range made it all the more painful as the force of the devastating attack rocketed her towards the ground, hitting it with enough force to leave cracks.
“Oooooo…that’s gotta hurt.” said Light, wincing.
When she got back up, Celestia shook her head to get it back into focus. After that was done, Celestia put a hoof to her stomach, surprised that not only was Dark fairly resilient to magical attacks, but had enough physical strength to hurt her. Sure, it wasn’t enough to cause any internal injury, but it still knocked the wind out of her. After the pain receded, Celestia formulated another attack strategy. Deciding to get the jump on Dark, Celestia teleported in front him when he landed and gave him a very humiliating beating.
Celestia first held the upper part of Dark’s body in place using her telekinesis. Then she proceeded to give him several slaps across the face with her left fore-hoof. After the fifth one hit, Celestia charged up her horn and delivered a thermal blast at point blank range into Dark’s face. After that was done, she released Dark from her telekinetic grip and let him fall to the ground so that he could clutch his face. “AAAAAAAA!!!” screamed Dark.
Light found himself very impressed with the mare and decided to show his appreciation for her very well executed combo.
“Well, well, well…looks like there’s more to this princess than just ruling a kingdom. Way to go Celestia.” said Light with an intrigued grin.
When Dark finally stood back up, he let go of his face and revealed the extent of his burns. Light was further impressed by how much damage Celestia caused and decided to add a little humor into the situation.
Light leaned back and proclaimed loudly, “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnng!!!”
At his proclamation, both Celestia and Dark looked over at Light with unamused expressions on their faces. “What? You burned his face an awful lot badly. Nice combo by the way.”
Before Celestia could comment, she felt Dark’s claws cut a few slashes across her face. She put a hoof to her it, looking at the blood that was on her hoof, and then looked around trying to find Dark. Suddenly, slash marks started appearing on her sides. One slash mark after another; finally Celestia had enough. She erected a shield around herself and the next hit bounced off, creating a ripple across her shield. Dark faded back into view and leaped, revealing that he was able to turn invisible and was using it to get in close to Celestia without her knowing.
While keeping her shield up, Celestia cast a quick healing spell on herself. The wounds closed up in seconds, however, the blood from the wounds still stained her pure white coat which now had splotches of red in it. Another thing that she noticed was that it took more power than usual to close up the wounds. Looking to Dark’s claws, she figured out why. Every few seconds an arc of dark eco would jump from different parts of his body, including his claws; she was certain that the slashes he made on her were eco infused. Celestia then decided to try a purely magic based attack. To trick him into using a specific attack, she taunted him.
“Let’s see which is better, eco or magic.” Celestia said while charging up her horn. Dark leaped twenty feet back and got into his strike stance and charged his attack up.
After a few more seconds, both Celestia and Dark unleashed their respective attacks. The different energies met in the middle and pushed against each other. The masses of energy couldn’t hold themselves together and exploded, kicking up a huge dust cloud. When it cleared, Dark saw Celestia and charged at her, but before he could take more than a few steps, Celestia held up a hoof in a stop gesture and then pointed with the same hoof at a spot above Dark. Looking confused, Dark looked up and saw a huge ball of energy.
The energy orb suddenly let loose hundreds of magic shots on Dark who grunted with each hit. This magical attack was a lot more powerful than Luna’s. But then again, Luna barely put any effort into her spell against him, so it was understandable that it would hurt if one of the sisters were actually trying during a fight.
Celestia trotted over to the downed Dark and asked him two questions, “Have you had enough? Are you ready to surrender?”
Taking advantage of Celestia’s close proximity, Dark responded with a kick to her face. Celestia staggered back a bit. The kick was more surprising than painful. Celestia swore that that last spell would be enough to knock him out or at least make him realize that he can’t win. Just by looking at him while he got up, she could tell that Dark was getting really tired. He was breathing heavily and was slightly hunched over while gathering his breath. He never had a chance of beating her.
Light’s thoughts were similar, but also different to Celestia’s, “Looks like both Dark and I had very little energy when coming here. This battle was over before it started. Even if he had enough energy to keep going, Celestia would still beat him; if she is to be believed when she said she was limiting herself.”
Luna’s voice broke the silence between the three. “Celestia, I have them!” said Luna as she landed. Noticing the blood stains on her sister’s coat, Luna grew worried. “Sister, what happened to you?” asked Luna in a concerned tone. Celestia shook her head and replied, “Nothing a bath can’t fix.” she said assuring her Luna that she was fine.
Luna, seeming to accept this, got back to the matter at hand, “Anyway, I have the Elements of Harmony with me. Let’s end this pointless fight.”
“Yes, let’s.” agreed Celestia.
From the saddle bags that Luna was wearing, crystals of different colors began to float and spin faster and faster around the two sisters. Magical energy started to build up and a glowing sphere formed around them.
Light suddenly grew fascinated with these new weapons that the princesses were now using, wondering what will happen when Dark is hit with whatever attack would be produced from them. Thinking back, this so called magical energy felt very similar to eco. This only added to his curiosity over what would happen.
Seeing the crystals charge up, Dark swung both of his arms to his sides while unsheathing his claws even further; creating another very distinct “Shing” sound. The sight of this made it appear like he was trying to say "bring it on". He even gave out a deafening roar of challenge to the two sisters.
“RRRAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!”
Before she and her sister fired the stored multi-colored energy, Celestia said with confidence, “The Elements of Harmony will defeat you once and for all, demon! I don’t know what effects they will have on you, but I can assure you that you won’t be hurting anyone for a long time! Farewell!”
Dark roared once again as the sisters fired the rainbow beam, engulfing him entirely. He continued roaring even as the energy from said beam was encasing him in stone. With a final flash, Light stared wide eyed at Dark’s new petrified form.
“I didn’t know magic could do that.” said Light while walking over to them.
“That is the power of the Elements of Harmony. I now must use this power on you for what your family squabble has done to my ponies.” said Celestia. The human might have been nice enough to apologize for the collateral damage, but she would be remiss if she didn’t punish him for his reckless endangerment of her subjects.
Realizing that he had no chance of escaping with the small amount of energy he had left, Light decided to get into an appropriate pose since he was going to be a statue for the foreseeable future.
“If I’m going to be a statue, I might as well look less menacing than my brother. I think it would add a bit of contrast, don’t you think?” said Light in his perpetually calm tone. He then sat on the ground in a meditative position; putting his hands on the knees of his crossed legs and completely unfolding his wings.
Luna, getting angry at this, said, “Don’t try my patience cretin! I just might destroy you in your petrified state when we’re done! Be quiet and take your punishment!” Light taking the hint, relented
“Alright, alright, chill just trying to lighten the mood” he said.
Celestia found his attitude towards the situation, combined with his reaction to the horrific scene she had come upon earlier, to be very disturbing “Incredible. You recklessly endanger my subjects, show little care for the harm others have suffered, and now you are making light of your imprisonment. You disgust me. If I ever see your face un-petrified again, you will learn some respect; count on it. Celestia said, returning Lights small smile with a stern expression.
Light was now regretting that he said anything, ‘Maybe I went a bit too far’ thought Light.
With that last thought, the beam was fired. Light kept the pose in place but instead of a smile, he wore a stoic expression. The feeling of being encased in stone felt strange. It felt like a second hard layer of skin was growing from his pores. As his head was being encased, Light’s final thought was “Don’t worry, we will meet again. I just hope that you have calmed down by then so until that time; see you soon Celestia, see you soon.” As the stone covered his face, his glowing eyes dimmed to nothing, freezing his stoic expression for the foreseeable future.
After the process was done, Luna looked to Celestia. “So what now dear sister?” Luna asked. Celestia, shedding a few tears for the first time since they discovered the massacre, answered her while looking at the scene.
“We will tend to the survivors and bury the dead.” Though her voice sounded collected, and her face was that of a strong leader, her tears showed how she really felt.
“And the two humans? What shall we do with them?” asked Luna, looking back over to the new statues. Celestia, remembering how Light had not taken the situation seriously decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.
“If Light wants to be artistic about his imprisonment, then let’s indulge him. I know the perfect spot in which to put them. Looks like Discord is going to be getting some new cell mates.
Celestia was about to go and comfort the citizens of the small town, when she remembered the word that Light used as a swear, and the term used when describing the energy he and Dark were partly made of. “Luna, remind me later to check the Archive of the Ancients wing of the royal library when we get back home. Those terms Light used, ‘eco’ and ‘Precursors’, they sound very familiar to me.”
Author's Note
Light and Dark will be getting new names from one of the main characters. I'll let you guess what they will be. Hint: it's based off of the fact that their battles are very anime like.
Taming the Light and Calming the Darkness
Alright, so...I haven't updated in a really long time because not only is this chapter the first that directly follows the events of the second season onwards, but I'm also making it up as I go so things keep changing as I encounter problems such as a particular scene not working and I have to either modify it or take it out completely and replace it with something else. Another thing is that since the last chapter didn't establish them getting settled, I had to add that in so the transition from the initial orders that Celestia gave to the episode that this next chapter follows more smoothly.
Here's something that needs to be gotten out of the way so that none of you comment on it in the next chapter.
Luna Eclipsed will be the first episode that the story follows, not Lesson Zero.
The reason being that I have a lot more ideas for Luna Eclipsed than I do the other episode. Plus, I figured that Nightmare Night would be a more interesting way of Dark and Light officially revealing themselves, well mostly Light, but that's for another time. Anyway, Nightmare Night will be when they officially reveal themselves instead of just a few ponies spreading rumors. Essentially, an official introduction to Light and Dark for Ponyville. What better way than Nightmare Night?
I'll see you guys in my next official update, hopefully by this weekend or better yet, on the 4th of July. Remember, even when I have it done, I'll still need to wait for my pre-reader, Dirty Bit, to read it and give me a general rating of whether or not it was good.
If you haven't checked out his user page, do it. He has some awesome crossover stories, there's a reason why I always get him to read it before I publish chapters. I suggest starting with Cuatro as the first of his stories that you read.
This story will continue.
