"Who dares to challenge The King of Iron Fist?!"

Chapters

Prologue*
Stage 1
Stage 2

Prologue*

Among the towering spires of Canterlot Castle – is the medical wing. As the title suggests it is home to all the medical facilities Canterlot Castle has and needs to make sure that all who come, go and work and live at the castle get the best medical help they can to get them back to perfect condition.

Hundreds of patients have come and gone through this facility and regained their health completely and whilst there have been a few strange cases for the doctors and nurses here. Their latest case, however, has been one to open eyes wide.

When this latest patient came about it began as rumour. You see, about a month ago, a mysterious entity collided itself with the side of the mountain. It shook the foundations of Canterlot and left every pony perplexed and panicked at what could possibly shake the foundations of the nations’ capital?

The culprits of the collision, somehow, managed to leave a giant dent in the side of the mountain. When it first appeared, the nation was shocked and rumours ran rampant across the land.

Some speculated to be an attack from a neighbouring nation, but there was no evidence to suggest otherwise. Many assumed it was another evil from the past that had, once again, come back to bite the Princess of the Sun in the flank. However, the Princess deemed it not to be and even had the support from the Elements of Harmony to deem it mute.

At the end of the day it was left a mystery to all but as time went on all the ponies lives returned to normal only they had live with a giant dent in the mountain that the nation could see if they placed themselves in the right spot. Indeed so, it has become quite the tourist attraction.

When the guard tried to investigate the cause of the crash however, no evidence was found at the site except an imprint of bipedal body that left its mark on the mountain. At the same time, a strange bipedal creature was found unconscious the garden of Canterlot Castle. The Princesses were the first ones to find the body due to them having a sisterly picnic in the garden. When they found the body, they ordered all members of the Guard to keep a tight lid on the situation and were not to breathe a word to anyone outside of the castle.

Not even their ‘beloved’ nephew or any of the nobles were told about the situation and all of their attempts to find out more were rendered a waste of their time and life moved on for the ponies.

All except for the doctor assigned to look after the bipedal figure until it awoke from its coma – Doctor Goodwill. Who has just entered the patients private room.

Doctor Goodwill was tall unicorn with a brown coat and blonde short tail and mane with emerald eyes. With his doctor’s coat, that covered his body down to his tail, and patient clipboard in tow, with his magic, he stood in front of the bed of the patient, who was sleeping peacefully and breathing normally, and let out a frustrated sigh that wasn’t the first. As he came to the side of the bed he began to inspect the patient’s condition. He remembered the day this creature came into the room and to this day it still surprises him on the sheer size of the creature. The height of him alone matched that of Princess Celestia. The doctor came to the conclusion he was a male, after he stripped the creature of his clothing.

To say it perplexed him was an understatement, the creature had no fur to cover its natural beige skin, was well toned a very muscular but had a large ‘x’ like scar across its strong chest. What was also strange was it only had hair on its face. The hair in question was white and covered the area above of and the both sides of its mouth and beneath its nose, just like the moustaches of every other creature the Doctor has seen with one. The same white hair went for the creatures eyebrows and for the hair that seemed be in place around the sides of its head. The most perplexing feature was the hair on the sides seemed to stretch outward and upward by its head and reached a few centimetres until it stopped to a certain point but went round the back of it's head and left the rest of it bare for every pony to see it's bald skin. Was it a similar style that it had with the rest of his kind?

He wasn’t sure but it had to wait as he heard the door open behind him and knew the only other ponies that are allowed to see this creature were the princesses of Equestria themselves – Celestia and Luna.

“Good afternoon, Doctor,” Celestia addressed in a formal and welcome tone. “How is our mystery guest today?”

“No change, your Highness,” Goodwill replied calmly, his voice spoke with maturity and experience but with a hint of exhaustion. “No change since the day you brought him here.”

As all three looked upon the sleeping one, Goodwill turned his attention from the bed to the window with a stoic look. “At least the weather is looking lovely,” he commented calmly.

Luna took a step closer to the left of the bed and stood by where the creatures head lay, her face displaying a hint of annoyance.

“Still can’t get in, sister?” Celestia asked Luna plainly, cutting straight to the point of her sister’s frustration, to which her sister responded with a slow nod.

“No matter how hard I try,” Luna began, venting her vexing mood. “It’s as if he has built a strong mental barrier around his mind, one that has taken years to accomplish,” she looked over his facial features. “And assuming he is old from the wrinkles on his face, it must have not been an easy feat to do.”

Celestia then stood in awe of something whilst her sister rambled on, unbeknownst to Luna, one of the ends of the creatures’ left hand just twitched.

Luna looked to the ceiling as she continued. “Who’s to say that this being has spent years of his life fighting, by his condition,” she turned to looked at her sister and then straight to the doctor who was paying attention to her. “He is a battle hardened soul.”

Celestia kept silent as she saw the creatures hand move slightly.

“But,” Luna went on. “When we found him he seemed practically beaten, if the electricity coursing off of him was a given indication of what he endured,” Luna failed to notice a single spark of blue electricity flying off the hand right next to her as she kept going. “He must have lost to a severely powerful opponent that must have bested him with ease.”

A single masculine grunt broke through the speech and all attention was turned to the creature as all three ponies were shocked at the reaction of the creature as it seemed to respond to Luna’s words.

They all looked between each other as they realised that it seemed to react to words to do with fighting. A thought then clicked in Luna’s brain, a good thought, a really good thought.

“You’re a loser!” Luna insulted the creature with gusto, to which it clutched its hand tightly.

“Are you sure about this?” Celestia asked with worry.

“It seems to respond to it well, if we goad him – he might wake up!” Luna exclaimed with glee.

“Loser!” Luna continued insulting the creature

The creature clenched his hand harder.

“You’re a failure!” Celestia and Goodwill took a step back.

It raised its clenched fist up slightly,

“You’re weak!” Luna kept going, adding force into the insult.

Electricity began to spark around the hand and frustrated growl was heard from its mouth.

“You’re a pitiful excuse for a fighter!!” Luna roared with her Canterlot voice.

“I am no weakling!” the creature yelled out as he shot upright, his face looking toward the bed as he gasped for air.

The doctor’s instincts kicked in as he approached the creature. “Sir, calm down and take a deep breath, ok?” He spoke professionally to the patient to which the patient responded by doing as he instructed.

“Who was the one called me ‘weak’!?!” the patient called out with annoyance, his voice deep dripping with power behind the rumbles but sounded refined like his muscles.

“I apologise,” Luna spoke calmly after the relief of seeing their mystery guest awake. “But it was the only way that seemed to get a reaction out of you.”

“What are you talking about?” he spoke once more with no change in his mood, finally opening his eyes. He turned to look at Luna. “I expect more from a–“ he stopped as he looked at Luna with brown eyes.

As he stared at her, his mouth slowly began to hang more and more. He tried to speak as he looked around the room, but failed to get a word out of his mouth, as he looked at Celestia who stood at the end of his bed and the doctor who stood at his right.

“More from a - what?” Luna urged him to finish his sentence as he snapped his attention back to her, then to Celestia, then to Goodwill and then back Luna.

After a few more moments he let out a panicked cry as he shifted back up the bed and tried to stand on the bed as his back was pressed against the wall. As he stood, he didn’t realise that the quilt cover fell from him and left him exposed.

“Who are you?!” he pointed at them with panic. “What are you!?” he demanded whilst pointing his right index finger between the three of them back and forth of them. After a moment, like a gong, a more important fact left him to turn red with embarrassment as grabbed the quilt cover and shielded his lower half from the ponies and asked the only question in his mind. “Why am I NAKED!?!”

After a good ten minutes was spent trying to calm him down, he now sat on the end of the bed with his legs crossed and arms folded, the quilt cover still shielding his lower half. His face displayed a being that was frustrated at their current situation and demanded answers, which he was going to get.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” Celestia began with a formal and motherly tone. “I am Princess Celestia, an alicorn, soul controller of the sun and co-ruler of Equestria,” she took her right hoof and directed her guests attention to her sister who stood stoically to her right. “This is my sister, Princess Luna, who rules the land with me and controls the moon.” Their guest only raised an eyebrow to her opening statement, Celestia continued by motioning the doctor who stood to her left. “And this is Doctor Goodwill, he has been taking care of you for the last month you have been asleep for.”

“Hold on,” the patient said. “Did you say ‘a month’?” he spoke with disbelief, to which Celestia replied with a curt nod. The guest then pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and released an aggravated sigh. ‘So not only am I in a land with a bunch of talking horses,’ his thoughts began with annoyance. ‘I have been left in their care for a month!?! The Zaibatsu will no doubt be in someone else’s hands by now! And I am in their debt of all things... Nonsense!’

Releasing the grip, he began to speak. “I suppose I must introduce myself;” he looked upon the ponies in front of him before speaking proudly. “I am Heihachi Mishima. A human from Japan, Creator and Owner of the Mishima Zaibatsu and King of the Iron Fist.” He proclaimed as he took his right hand to before his chest, clenched it and thrusted it forward in Celestia’s direction, a spark of the blue electricity, from before, wrapping around his hand and disappearing in a couple of seconds.

“A human? Japan?” Celestia questioned his words. “I apologise, Heihachi, but I have never heard either of these titles before in my many years,” she saw Heihachi’s eyebrows furrow at her statement. “I do not mean to call your words false, it’s just over the thousands of years of ruling I have not heard of these humans or Japan even once.”

“’Thousands of years’, you say?” Heihachi asked, bringing his right hand to his chin. “You claim to be immortal?” he asked with scepticism.

“All alicorns, whether born or transformed, are given the immortal life span. The rest of our ponies – unicorns, earth and pegasi – do not have this trait in their blood.” Luna stated as Heihachi looked upon her with interest to which she raised an eyebrow at.

‘Alicorn Genes, huh? Interesting.’ he thought with great curiosity.

“Very well,” Heihachi began, returning his arms to a folding position. “I suppose that means I am stuck in your world, your Highness,” he spoke with disinterest. “That being the case, May I have clothing back?”

“Ah,” Goodwill spoke up. “You mean these?” his horn lit up in a yellow aura as a set of black clothing popped out from under the bed and came to his side.

“Yes, that’s the one.” Heihachi stated bluntly with his right palm out extended to Goodwill, expecting to be placed in his hand to which the doctor raised an eyebrow at his behaviour.

As he used his magic to carry the clothes over, Heihachi looked quickly to the window and then sharply dived to the left side of the bed and ducked.

Before any of the ponies reacted the wall exploded in their faces and blew them all back a few feet, filling the room with a cloud of dust.

As it settled the Princess looked outside of the hole to see what happened only to be shocked what was going on.

Heihachi rose from behind the bed, which was on its side as the blast occurred, and joined the Princesses only to stare in wonder at the scene that beheld before them all.

Changelings, hundreds if not thousands, were swarming the city from above. They seemed to be coming from the south of Canterlot and were quickly setting the city of Canterlot ablaze!

The three of the spectators could hear the cries and screams of the ponies from the city as well as the explosions from every direction and the ground shaking from the destruction.

“If this keeps up the city will be wiped clean!” Luna stated her fears of the possibility.

“Remain strong, sister,” Celestia stated strongly. “It is no doubt the work of Chyrsalis, no other could lead this many Changelings hear with a co-ordinated attack, I will find her,” Celestia spread her wings wide, preparing for flight. “You do what you can to help the ponies of Canterlot.” With resolve beneath her feet she flew off with haste and was quickly out of sight.

“Right!” Luna exclaimed as she took off quickly and headed toward the city below, leaving Heihachi bewildered but excited.

Cracking his fists together, a sadistic grin grew from his lips.‘Perfect,’ he thought. ‘This will be the perfect chance to make up for a month’s rest and to pay them back.’

Turning his attention to the mess behind, he saw the doctor who regaining his posture looked at Heihachi with wonder. “How did you anticipate that?” he asked with wonder.

“Never mind that,” Heihachi bluntly said. “Hand me my clothes, so I can fight!”

“Fight?” Goodwill asked, shocked. “You can’t be serious!”

“I am!” Heihachi proclaimed with pride. “My clothes, Doctor!”

The demand made him jump as he looked around for them, only to find a small piece of black cloth and a piece of red cloth, using his magic he brought them both in front of him. “They must have got torn up in the blast,” he stated as looked upon the remains of the room.

Heihachi gritted his teeth in fury as electricity coursed around his body from head to toe. Clenching his fist tightly he looked to the hole to the battle outside and narrowed his eyes with anger.

But before that he had to improvise. Grabbing the torn bed quilt, he wrapped it around his waist and the end result left him covered from his waist to above his knees. “It will have to make do,” Heihachi spat.

Looking upon the battle once more, he stood a fair distance from the hole. “Doctor”, Heihachi called out to Goodwill behind him. “You do what you can to help your allies,” he clenched fists tightly and sparks were wrapping around them once more. “I’m going to make these fools regret the day they chose to mess with the likes of me!” He roared as he began to charge toward the hole and then took a strong leap from the edge toward the city below.

Before Goodwill could say anything he was already gone, bewildered at Heihachi’s actions, he screamed out the only words on his mind. “Who the heck are you!?!”

Author's Note

I honestly couldn't resist making this story about Heihachi. He is an all time favourite character of mine.

Please, tell me what you think, all comments are welcome.

Take care.

Stage 1

Author's Note

When you come to a section of text highlighted in GREEN, right click on that text and then click 'Open in a new tab'. There a two songs that play in this chapter. Close the tab to the first one before you start the second one to get the fullest enjoyment of this chapter.

Hope you enjoy and take care :)

Stage 1

Ponies ran away in fear, in the streets of Canterlot, from the oncoming swarm of Changelings that came from above. A group of Royal Guard stood strong in anticipation of the attack as the citizens galloped past them with haste for their own safety.

A group of twenty Changelings dived in from the massive swarm to attack the group.

Holding their ground, they were outnumbered by ten; the unicorn guard lit their horns to prepare their shield as they stood side by side with their pegasi comrades.

As they dived with high speed, seeing their targets, the changeling group lit their own horns quickly and fired a volley of emerald energy at the guards.

With quick thinking the guard were able to put a strong and large yellow magical shield that covered the entire group and endured the entire attack.

The group of Changelings chose to split their numbers as half of them landed behind the guard and the other half landed in front of them.

The guard quickly changed their stance and formed a circle to face their horns and spears at the enemy, whilst transforming the shield into a circular that covered the guard from head to hoof.

As the Changelings surrounded them, a quick glance was given shot to each one of them and simultaneously began to charge their horns in their kinds emerald hue and bared their fangs to the Royal guard soldiers.

One of the pegasi members suddenly shot out from the shield and into the sky. Only suddenly dive down, spear in tow, at one of the Changelings that landed behind the group. Said Changeling just managed to dodge the attack by an inch as the spear impaled into the ground where the Changeling was.

The pegasi used the chance to follow up by swinging his body round and trying buck his target with both of his back legs, he could tell they were going miss but he wanted to use the moment to get his weapon, grabbing his spear with his front legs, he pulled it out and gave one large circular swing to try and graze the other Changelings that were next to him.

The ones that were next to him adeptly dodged the great swing. The pegasi’s attacks seemed to catch the attention of the rest of the group for a moment, which was their mistake as the guard members released the shield and unleashed their force on the invaders.

The unicorn members struck various members with their blasts of yellow magic whilst the pegasi followed their comrades’ attack by closing in on them.

The ones who weren’t struck by magic quickly came to aid of their injured allies and began to fend off their enemies with some swift attacks with their front legs. Some of them that aided their allies managed deal hard felt blows to the faces of the ponies that recoiled from the blow as they tried to attack with their own hoof swing to their enemies but to no avail.

The first pegasi that engaged the Changeling was having a tough time trying to deal with two Changelings that were surrounding him from both sides as well as his original target in front of him.

“Come at me!” he roared at the invaders with a gravelly and proud voice.

The Changeling to his right snarled in response as it leapt toward him.

‘Mistake’, the soldier thought as he used his wing to adjust the angle of the spear to hit the Changeling’s chin with the end of the spear, the soldier followed up by getting underneath his target and giving it a strong buck to the chest cavity. The Changeling gasped for air as the pain rung through its body and was sent flying back a few feet.

As he landed his back feet on the ground, the soldier kept his eyes on the Changeling in front of that was originally to his left with a hardened glare. Only too then see it get shot in the side by a large unicorn blast and was also sent flying toward a street bench and crashed into it.

The unicorn and the Pegasus exchanged quick nods before turning to glare at the first one the Pegasus tried to take down, only to grunt in frustration at what they saw.

The Changeling had used the moment of distraction to call in reinforcements. Fifteen more of the invaders had showed and were hovering behind their ally with sadistic grins plastered on their faces.

The two guard members glanced over their shoulders quickly to see that their comrades were being backed into a corner. Some were not as fortunate as others as a couple of the guard members were lying unconscious on the street and another was being tied up.

Turning to the attention to the armada in front of them, they readied their defensive stances for what was about to happen to them from what they could see.

The entire group of Changelings were charging their horns for what seemed to be a powerful attack for the pair of guard.

Suddenly from behind the armada a large crash was heard and brought up a huge cloud of smoke that shielded the cause of the cloud.

After a few moments, all eyes were settled on the cloud, as a silhouette of a large bipedal creature coming out of the smoke.

As the cloud dissipated, all members present could see that the creature was indeed Heihachi Mishima, wearing nothing but a torn quilt around his waist that went down to the top of his knees.

With a serious and furious look plastered all over his face, his eyes looked upon the large amount of Changelings floating in front of him.

“So,” Heihachi began. “You’re all the ones who had nothing better to do with your lives, huh?” Heihachi called out rhetorically before letting out a boastful laugh. “Ha! Nothing but a pathetic army of delinquents! I will gladly put you all-“

He was suddenly cut off by one of the Changelings firing an energy blast that made a direct hit with his face. Another cloud of smoke erupted from the direct hit and the hearty laughter of the Changelings filled the air.

It didn’t last long as they realised that Heihachi was still standing tall and silence fell among them as they waited for the cloud to fade away.

As it did, they could see that he barely even had a bruise from the attack but his face showed signs that he was even more upset at their actions. “Hasn’t anyone told you it’s rude to interrupt someone when they are speaking to you!?!” He roared at them as his body began spark with his trademark blue electricity from his waist to the ends of his body. “It’s high time someone taught you all some proper manners!”

One of the Changelings snarled at him from above and dived down diagonally at him at high speed, its body covered in emerald energy. Heihachi seeing it quickly approaching, swiftly pulled his left arm back and then brought his left hand up to catch the Changeling by the throat, just before it came to into contact with him.

Squeezing tightly on its neck and glaring at his attacker with fury, he then proceeded to twist his waist to the right, pulling the Changeling back in his left and his body fully turned to the right he tossed the Changeling in that direction with a powerful swing that sent Changeling flying faster than anyone else could see into a building wall and through it.

The rest of the armada could do nothing but watch in shock at their comrades’ swift defeat at the hand of this bipedal creature that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

“Get ready, you pests!” Heihachi called out to them, gaining their attention as he now stood with his left foot forward and his right foot facing to the right making his stance that of an ‘L’ shape. He also had his right hand clenched by his waist and his left palm extending out toward them. He was now in his signature Mishima fighting style stance. “I will be quick with your deaths!”

Two Changelings, one after the other, then charged at him from the group baring their fangs as they attempted to strike at him. Heihachi responded by leaping in the air toward them and aimed a swift left foot strike at the first Changelings face and made direct contact, the impact sent the receiver of the attack flying. Heihachi used the air momentum to turn his body all the way round with rapid pace and connected a strong right foot strike to the second Changelings face, sending it spiralling to the street below in pain.

Landing in the middle of the armada, Heihachi came into close contact with another Changeling who reacted by quickly rearing up and attempting to strike Heihachi in the chest with one of its back legs. Heihachi easily dodged the attack but caught the Changelings body in midair by wrapping his large left arm around it and halting it. The Changeling was left perplexed at what happened as Heihachi rested the body of his victim on his left knee and brought his right hand up behind his hand. As he did, electricity appeared around the hand as focused intently on his attack. The Changeling barely saw it before it happened. Heihachi brought his right hand down with great force and chopped at its neck, knocking his victim out cold as the body rolled off of his knee and onto the street pavement.

Turning his attention to the rest of the armada, Heihachi took up a new stance where his legs were spread apart and his fists were clenched to his side. He let out a grunt as began to focus his energy into his hands, shown by the electricity flowing from his shoulders down to his tightly clenched fists. Another pair of Changelings tried to attack him directly with the same tactic the first Changeling that tried to attack Heihachi used. As they came into proximity, Heihachi stepped forward with his left and struck with overwhelming force in his left punch that broke through the Changelings magic and crushed into its’ face. He then followed up by pulling the left fist back, stepping forward with right and then swinging his right fist over his head and bringing down on top of the second Changelings head, breaking through the magic and sending it crashing into pavement within a blink of an eye.

Within an instant, another Changeling tried to attack him from the right but Heihachi parried by pushing the Changeling past him. As it turned around to try and retaliate, Heihachi was already on him by thrusting both of his palms that were adjacent of each other, one facing up and the other facing down connected to each other, at the Changelings exposed chest leaving it to gasp for air as it went careening to the ground with loss of breath and physical pain.

Hearing one buzzing toward him rapidly from his left, Heihachi turned to the attacker and slammed his large bald head into the Changeling, sending it bouncing off the pavement and flying into a city shop window with a thunderous crash.

Wasting no time for another counter attack, Heihachi dashed forward to another Changeling that tried to fire an emerald blast at him. It shot at Heihachi with great speed but he swiftly ducked under the attack and when he came close enough to the Changeling, who’s face spoke fear all over it, he leaped upward and landed a powerful rising left uppercut against its’ chin. The strength of the connection sent the helpless Changeling soaring into the sky.

As he landed back on his feet, he turned to the rest of the armada and saw that his efforts have thinned their numbers quickly. From what he saw, there were only six left of the group, to which he responded by letting a large snort for them to hear, insulting their allies’ performance at the same time.

Heihachi, once more, took to his primary fighting stance, waiting for the chance to finish off the rest of them. He got what he asked for as four of the six charged at him simultaneously on foot. As all of them let out a battle cry as they got closer, Heihachi gave one in return as he rushed toward them and then began to balance his body on left foot and somehow managed to spin around, using right leg to sweep around the ground clockwise and hit two of the four with simultaneous spinning kicks that struck the both of them in their sides and sending them rolling in pain. As the third one came close, he saw that it suddenly stopped. Heihachi responded by planting his left foot on the ground and swung his right foot into the third Changelings chest, sending it back into the fourth one, and then brought his right heel down on top of them both crushing them both with the force of the attack.

Suddenly, the fifth Changeling struck Heihachi in the face with a strong kick but it barely moved him an inch. Taking advantage of the Changelings hesitation, Heihachi wrapped both arms around its waist from underneath it and placed his head with at the end of its feet. With a sadistic smirk, Heihachi let out a proud battle cry as he jumped high into the air and left his feet spread apart firmly flat as the two of them came plummeting back down with great force. Heihachi forcibly pushed the body of the Changeling down with the back of its head being the first part of its body that would come into contact with the ground. The two of them crashed into the pavement with the Changelings body taking the full force of the impact as it landed on top of the other pair of Changelings as Heihachi planted his feet in the ground.

After releasing his grip and stepping over the bodies, he stood within of the few feet of the final Changeling. The last one was sweating bullets at this point at the carnage it saw.

“Hmph!” Heihachi scoffed. “Pathetic!” He stomped his right foot forward, clenched his fists tightly and then spread his arms wide. “Stay out of my way!” He roared as he charged at Changeling faster than it could track and delivered a strong right elbow to its face, then lifted it up into the air with a right backhand and then forced it to fly high with a powerful left upper thrust. The Changeling was numb with pain as it helplessly soared high and then came down like an anvil. Heihachi, at the same time was charging focusing his energy into his right fist as numerous sparks of electricity formed around his fist. “This is now OVER!” He called out as he delivered the charged right into the abdomen of the Changeling. He left it hanging on his first for a couple of seconds before chucking it off his fist by pushing it to the right, as it fell Heihachi turned his body all the way round and thrusted one last kick into the unconscious Changeling, sending it rolling like a log across the pavement before it came to a halt and like the rest of its allies' was knocked out.

Looking upon the rest of his handiwork, he scoffed. ‘Not even worth my breath.’ He thought with disappointment.

Heihachi then turned his attention to the Royal Guard members who tending to their comrades. From the sight of it, it seems the rest of the Changelings fled the scene. ‘Hmm, they might have gone to warn this ‘Chrysalis’. Perhaps I should thin out her armies numbers a bit more. That being said...’ He cut the thought short as he approached the Pegasus that seemed to be the healthiest of the bunch that was tending to his allies.

“Hey!” Heihachi called out to the Pegasus as he came closer. The Pegasus then grabbed its spear and pointed in Heihachi’s face.

“Back away!” The soldier warned him with venom laced in his exhausted voice.

“Put that down,” Heihachi bluntly told the Pegasus. “I am here on your side, where did Princess Luna go?”

“Why should I trust you?” The soldier barked at Heihachi.

“If I was here as your enemy,” Heihachi began with a small hint of pride in his tone. “You wouldn't be talking right now.”

The Pegasus glared at Heihachi for a few moments, gazing at his eyes, waiting for any indication that he would be lying to him.

Nothing came to tell him he was.

The Pegasus slowly lowered the spear. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Ha!” Heihachi scoffed. “You should be thanking me.”

The solider was taken aback by the sudden change in his demeanour but shrugged it off. “Thank you.” Although some part of him loathed to even say the words to Heihachi.

“Good.” Heihachi smiled at the gesture, even when he knew it wasn't entirely genuine. “Now, where is Princess Luna?”

The Pegasus motioned his spear to his left. “I saw her head toward the Canterlot Park,” he began. “That’s where Chrysalis has sent her largest of forces to attack from.”

“Right then,” Heihachi said with conviction. “Tend to your allies and help any way you can. I’m off.” With those words Heihachi sprinted off down the street and after a few moments was out of the Pegasi’s sight.

The soldier looked to his comrades and then to the rising towers of smoke coming from the Castle above and then looked around to the onslaught that Heihachi left in his rage.

“May the Gods help us...”

To Be Continued

Stage 2

Author's Note

GET READY FOR THE NEXT BATTLE!

Stage 2

Hoity Toity was enjoying himself this morning. It was one of those rare occasions where he could enjoy time to himself and only himself.

Having spent the majority of his hours in the day pampering himself up and spoiling himself, more so than usual, he had a delightful spring in his step and couldn't care less what was going on outside.

He felt quite the shake in his home earlier but shrugged it off to be another problem that the element bearers were handling in the city that meant to bearing on his situation.

Taking another bite out of one of his specially made chocolates, which he received as a present from one of his fashion shows that he advertised, he took deliberate long bites out of it to get a good taste of the chocolate goodness.

“Mmmm....” Hoity Toity moaned in delight, “I say, I cannot enjoy this more.”

He took a moment to turn to the bed but had a second to take a think about things, completely ignoring the streaks of green and yellow beams shooting in multiple directions outside his bedroom window.

“I do say,” Hoity began happily, “Nothing can spoil this day for me.” Hoity turned to the window and began to walk toward it, eyes closed, lips smiling brightly, “Not even if the entirety of Canterlot were overrun by...” Hoity paused as he opened his eyes to see a predator, baring it’s fangs at him from the other side of the window.

“CHANGELINGS!!” Hoity screeched in fear as he fell on his rump.

The shock and reality of the situation gripped Hoity’s existence as he sat there petrified as the Changeling smiled in pleasure at the joys of an easy capture.

As it hovered closer to the window, it slowly began to envelop its horn with its magic, ready to bust the window apart, taking sadistic joy as its prey was going to wet itself in fear. However, it wouldn't be able to relish in this moment for much longer.

A roaring yell fast approached the Changeling from the left and as it turned to powerful war cry; it found its vision blackened as a powerful right foot had made full contact with its face.

Hoity witnessed it happen from his spot and couldn't believe his eyes. A large muscular bipedal creature had easily dispatched his attacker with its right foot. Time had seemed to have stopped as Hoity marvelled at the creature. The refined muscles, the scar on its chest, the unique hair shape, the warrior born face, the torn cloth around his waist covering his privacy, it was something out of an action movie.

When reality started moving again and the creature had vanished from his window view, he took a few moments for him to properly digest the scene that had just played out. He was awestruck, inspired, disturbed and afraid at the same time. He had the urge to know about more the creature that saved him, use it as a new claim to fame.

“Chocolate, first,” Hoity began nonchalantly, “Claim to fame, later.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shopping district of Canterlot has always been a busy place. Many a day the citizens would go to and fro between the shops buying whatever they pleased. Chocolates, clothes, accessories and all the things a pony could ask for. Except for today, where the district is filled with nothing but chaos and war.

The shops were, unfortunately, used for other purposes than for purchasing gifts. They were used for bodily damage for those were on the receiving end of attacks that tossed them into the direction of the windows. The Changeling that was launched directly into the window of a clothes shop, with great force, is a case in point.

With no shortage of energy, Heihachi landed on the street feet first, rolled forward, got to his feet and when the next Changeling, who suddenly realised that it’s comrades assaulter was heading straight for it, turned to face him, Heihachi stood on his right toes that were facing to his right and brought his left leg, which was bent, across from his right to smack the hovering Changelings face with his foot.

The Changeling was spun around from the impact but quickly, with fury, tried to turn around to attack Heihachi but as it did Heihachi used his left foot, which was still hanging from the first attack, to bring up higher and then press the sole of it into the back of the angry Changelings head and then forcing the foot down and smashing his targets face into the ground. The Changeling was knocked out on impact.

Heihachi gave a proud snort at his small victory. He looked up from the defeated Changeling to the battle ahead of him. Royal Guard members, four of them to be exact, were brawling with a pack of eight Changelings that were constantly switching between their comrades to try and keep them strong whilst the guard members stuck together to try and push them back with barrier magic.

In the air above, them a couple of pegasi guard where clashing with a couple of Changelings. Both pairs were exchanging blows in a constant back and forth battle to maintain air superiority. In the distance, down the district street; pair of unicorn guard was locked in a beam war with a swift pair of Changelings that were dashing all over the place, firing green energy beams every chance they got.

As he watched, Heihachi smirked confidently as he stepped off the unconscious Changeling and clicked his neck muscles. ‘Perfect,’ Heihachi thought proudly, ‘Squashing these numbers will definitely prove worth of my abilities,’ he looked at the guard members briefly, ‘Perhaps...’

With that thought, he clenched his fists and his electricity flared around them. Heihachi planted a firm foot forward and began to charge full force at the closest group. As he got closer, one of the Changelings launched itself from the group, headlong, at Heihachi.

Heihachi, seeing this, forced himself to stop and allow the Changeling to strike him. The Changeling, with great ferocity and speed, bashed his skull square into Heihachi’s chest. The impact didn’t even make Heihachi flinch. The Changeling felt his whole body shake from recoil. It staggered back, hovering, trying to regain its senses.

Heihachi snorted, “Is that all you have?” Heihachi asked rhetorically as he grabbed the unaware Changeling by its head with both hands and held it up, forcing him to look at Heihachi and his powerful gaze. “This is how you do it!” Heihachi yelled as he held the Changeling with his left hand, reared his hand and head back, lifted his leg up and then lunged it forward as he collided his bald skull into the Changelings face. Releasing the grip on its skull, just before contact, the Changeling was sent crashing across the street floor, knocked out, and skidded up to the group of Changelings that were harassing the Royal Guard members.

A couple of the Changelings turned to see their fallen ally and snarled at Heihachi. As they cried their rage at the intruder, the other Changelings and turned to see Heihachi smiling proudly at them as they shared their comrade’s anger.

“Let’s see how long you bunch of bugs last before you all snap like twigs!” Heihachi called at them as concentrated his being into his fighting stance.

The guard members stood perplexed at the sight of their new, unexpected, ally. The one at the forefront a white coated unicorn mare with crimson eyes, Ebony Kuch, caught the gaze of Heihachi for a brief moment as he was looking past the Changelings and directly at her. She only just saw it but he gave her a quick nod, just as six of the seven remaining Changelings fired a volley of green energy directed at Heihachi. The seventh charged at Heihachi when the blasts made contact and created a cloud of smoke.

Ebony looked at her allies and each of them shared a determined glance, knowing full well what they were going to do.

A dominant roar bellowed from within the cloud and with it the seventh Changeling came out soaring, against its own will, as it flew straight at the Royal Guard members.

“Now!” Ebony commanded, her raucous and powerful voice ringing in the ears of her three allies. At the sound of her voice, all four Guard members lit the shield up and pushed it outward in every direction by several feet causing all the Changelings around it to be forced back several feet. The seventh Changeling ricocheted off the shield burst and was sent shooting back toward the cloud.

Heihachi wasn’t ready for that as the Changeling was sent spiralling into his chest back first. Frustrated at the unexpected return, Heihachi harshly hoisted the already unconscious Changeling by his back with his right hand above his head and adamantly drove its body into the street, leaving a cracked imprint around it.

The cloud dissipated and Heihachi released his grip and cast his furious sight onto the closet Changeling. Ebony was dealing with two of the remaining six and was faring well as she rolled under one Changeling and stopped before the second Changeling as it was about to strike her and gave it a powerful orange magic blast at point blank, sending it straight into the door of an abandoned building with a mighty crash.

The ally of the defeated Changeling attempted to strike Ebony from behind with a growing energy blast but before it could release it, it saw its other enemy, Heihachi already within a few feet of it and without a second to react, felt the full force of Heihachi’s left foot striking at its waist and rolling sideways to the ground, screeching in pain.

Ebony turned to her new, unexpected but powerful, ally. But, before she could speak, Heihachi held his left hand up toward her and spoke, “Save the sentiment.” Heihachi began, looking toward the rest of the battles happening down the street, “You will help me dispatch these weaklings, rally your forces and get to Princess Luna.” Heihachi said with authority.

Ebony was stunted at the tone of his voice but could sense that there was something that was to be revered about her new ally but she also wanted to know something from this creature, “Are you here to help the Princesses?” Ebony replied with conviction. If, he were an enemy, skilled and strong as he shown, then for her own piece of mind, she needed to know, immediately.

“Obviously!” Heihachi called back with pride shining through his tone, “I will crush all of these ‘Changelings’ and their ‘Queen’, with these Iron Fists!” Heihachi proclaimed vigorously as electricity sparked around his now clenched hands.

Ebony could hear the conviction and determination behind those words and that was she needed to hear. “Then, we will aid you, new ally.”

Heihachi harrumphed at the title she gave him. With that, the two of them rushed to Ebony’s allies.

Before they came close to the group, Heihachi saw that the battle in the air was favouring toward the enemy as the numbers doubled on the Guard. “Send me up there!” Heihachi commanded aloud. Ebony looked quickly at her swarmed airborne allies and swiftly used her magic to create an orange incorporeal ball.

“Jump on it!” Ebony called to Heihachi to which Heihachi leaped onto the ball and as it took his weight, Ebony gave a battle cry as she upped her magical power to send Heihachi shooting into the sky toward the four Changelings that were about to claim air victory over the Guard.

Quickly, Heihachi concentrated his strength, shown by the electricity forming, into his left fist and buried into one of the Changelings chins. The recipient was soaring even higher into the sky.

Heihachi used the upward momentum and to roll his body forward and deliver and strong right heel into the back of the closest, unexpected, Changeling that was hovering to his right. As it cried in pain, Heihachi pressed both his feet onto the back of the Changeling and using it as a temporary platform, leaped past the two pegasi guard members and grabbed the faces of the other two Changelings by surprise and with a tightening grip began to drop downward with a warrior bellow that could be heard by all below.

As the Changelings in his grip couldn’t make out what was going on, Heihachi went shooting down to the street of the shopping district and within ten inches of reaching the concrete, Heihachi thrusted the heads of the caught Changelings, with a great roar, into the solid earth of Canterlot, rendering their bodies limp from impact.

Letting his victims go and gracefully landing his feet on the street, Heihachi turned around to see how his assets were doing.

The mare that called him ‘ally’ before was gaining the upper hand and was beginning to apprehend the Changelings from before, leaving only the ones that were firing beams between each other. The battle was becoming more of a back and forth battle as it went on.

Heihachi focused his attention toward the Changelings of the battle. Before he could make a step toward them, however, a great rumble was shaking beneath his feet and was travelling toward the group ahead of him.

Only for the rumbling to stop short of the ensuing battle and a plume of dirt and dust shot out from the street that was followed with a harrowing and penetrating roar. Heihachi became quite curious to the new development and folded his arms.

As the dust settled, a pair of sharp clawed hooves reached out of the hole and gripped the street. The owner of the claws pulled itself up and brought its front and back legs to the street, with it, revealing its full being it was a Changeling but a whole lot different. It was two thirds larger than its Changeling brethren and quite more muscular than them too. It bore no horn nor wings but its fangs were sharper, its gaze was menacing and its tongue slithered from its mouth as it rasped and exhaled heavily. This larger Changeling stared its predator like gaze at Heihachi and didn’t even blink.

“You...” Heihachi began, his voice laced with disgust as he unfolded his arms and took a few steps toward the large Changeling, “What manner of fiend are you?”

Heihachi stopped and was rebuked with a screeching roar, dripping with bloodlust, directed at him. Heihachi didn’t even flinch.

“So, you have don’t have the ability to speak,” Heihachi shrugged at the thought, “No matter,” He clenched his fists, slammed his left foot forward and spread his arms wide, “I’ll send you to the depths from where you came!”

The large Changeling roared at Heihachi as it lunged at the human with its large left hoof, the claws pointing directly at Heihachi’s head. Heihachi responded by ducking under his opponents left arm, concentrating his power into his right fist and just as he reached the Changelings head, Heihachi threw a powerful uppercut at its chest area. The connection made the Changeling gasp for air and be lifted up several feet.

The Changeling regained its focus on Heihachi underneath it and, brandishing its claws, swung both of its large front hooves at its enemy.

Heihachi aimed his open hands at his opponent’s hooves and halted them with a forceful thrust. As they connected, Heihachi quickly grabbed onto them with fury, took his left and began to swivel his body in the opposite direction, all the while shouting a powerful battle cry, and he took the suspended Changeling and chucked him relentlessly down the street like a piece of meat.

The large Changeling bounced off the concrete a couple of times, passing its defeated brethren along the way before regaining its momentum, digging its clawed hooves into the solid earth and stopping itself from going further. After taking a second to catch its breath, the large Changeling roared with rage, swinging his head to and fro, flailing its front arms, before turning its attention back onto Heihachi. Its target was standing confidently in its fighting stance waiting for it with an arrogant grin. But, the Changeling had other plans.

It dug its claws deep into the and slowly exhaled. Heihachi chuckled at the sight. ‘This one seems smarter than it looks.’ He thought with confidence. But, confidence quickly turned to curiosity as the Changeling aimed its head toward the sky and took in a long deep breath.

After a few moments, it stopped, reared its head back and flung it forward and when it dropped down to its opponent’s level, it released a great ball of fire that shot at great speed toward Heihachi.

“What!?!” Heihachi exclaimed, shocked.

With a last second decision, Heihachi leaned his head forward and covered his face with his forearms to protect himself.

The ball of fire exploded on contact, covering the street in a thick blanket of smoke with a strong gust in every direction. Embers of the fire began to set a couple of the shops on fire.

Ebony seeing the devastation of the attack from within the shield her allies set up was shocked at the sight of it. As the smoke slowly began to clear she could see the flames beginning to expand in the shops.

“Team, search and evacuate the shops, immediately!” Ebony ordered with haste.

“What about our ally!?” One of the stallion unicorn guards replied, still shocked from the sudden situation change.

“Don’t worry,” Ebony replied with a surprisingly calm tone, “I think it only succeeded in making our ally angry.” The comment made Ebony smile.

As the remains of the smoke cleared, Heihachi was frowning deeply but he couldn’t help feel excited. In the distance he could see the large Changeling stunned to see Heihachi still in one piece.

The electricity formed around his legs and carried around his body to his fists where spreaded them wide with fury, sending what remained of the smoke cloud away.

“You think an attack like that would even scratch me!?!” Heihachi bellowed at the Changeling who replied with a screeching bellow of its own before it began to charge at Heihachi who responded in kind.

The Changeling leaped into the air and connected its hooves together to slam them down at the approaching target. But, Heihachi sidestepped to the left at the last moment and the hooves slammed into the concrete. Not wasting any more time, Heihachi used his momentum to lunge forward foot as he swung his right arm back and drove his fist into the Changelings kidney, forcing the Changeling to step back cushion the blow. But then, relentlessly, Heihachi lunged forward once more with his left foot and buried his left palm into the Changelings face. The strength of the blow sent the Changeling back a few feet, crying in pain.

Heihachi didn’t stop as he was already in front of the weakened Changeling and when it looked at its enemy it began to feel every blow that connected after that moment. A right punch followed with a left and then another right with a third being swung around and connecting as a strong backhand with the Changelings face, that followed up with a left lunge kick at its head, forcing it back but came forward as it tried to regain its senses, that was then continued with a right splits kick that struck the back of the head and the same leg was then used to strike its back leg forcing the Changeling to stagger which was then Heihachi landed a left jab to the gut then a quick right uppercut to the chest forcing the Changeling to become breathless and then finished off with Heihachi crouching toward the Changelings head that was leaning inward and delivering a dominating dragon uppercut to the face, launching both of them upward.

The final blow sent the Changeling rolling across the air several feet and landing flat on its chest defeated with little energy left.

Heihachi landed gracefully on the street but after catching his breath walked quickly over to the lying body. He stopped just before its head, leaned down and clenched its head with his right hand and forced the barely conscious Changeling to look at him as he shouted, “Come back when you’re ready to fight!” Before slamming its head into the concrete, forcing shards of it to bounce out of the ground, and began walking away in contempt from the knocked out opponent.

‘Now then,’ Heihachi thought as he began to walk toward where he last the Royal Guard members.

He stopped as he saw Ebony and a couple of other unicorns and four pegasi approaching him. He folded his arms as they stopped a few feet before him. Heihachi saw expressions of fear and awe on the faces of the unicorns and pegasi but with Ebony he saw that she was confident to stand in front of him.

Heihachi looked at her for a moment then asked with a commanding tone, “Are you in charge of this team?”

“Yes!” Ebony replied with authority.

“What of the Changelings?”

“Some of have been detained, a couple escaped and the rest are unconscious.”

“Alright,” Heihachi looked behind him, “I’m going to Canterlot Park to help Princess Luna cripple the Changeling forces,” Heihachi stated, loud enough for the ponies to hear, he then turned his confident gaze to the group, “Either follow me or help the innocent.”

With his intentions clear, the group looked toward Ebony for their answer to which she said, “We will follow you, new ally.” Ebony smiled with a proud salute. The others followed suit.

Heihachi chuckled proudly, “Good and for the record, I am Heihachi Mishima,” he unfolded his arms and held his right fist up, flexing his muscles; he proudly proclaimed his title, “The King of Iron Fist!”

“Sir!” The group replied with vigor.

“Now, any quick questions?” Heihachi asked the group. A pegasus above Ebony raised a hoof. “Yes?”

“Um, sir, what about your cloth?” The pegasus asked, his voice deep and rough.

“My cloth?” Heihachi replied, flabbergasted at the sudden unimportant question, “What do you... mean...” As Heihachi looked down, he could see how the previous question became important; because it wasn’t there.

To which Heihachi yelled at the heavens, “NOT AGAIN!!!”

To Be Continued