Honor Bound By Apples

After defeating the shinobi and assisting Yurushi in obtaining an ounce of honor, Prey was ready to proceed further down into the abyss of Chrysalis’ caverns. He made sure his katana and wakizashi were to his side, his kanabo to his back, and Oni’s mask tied to his waist. His armor was still intact and applied to himself like glue, making sure it stayed on there to provide himself a layer of protection.

He then proceeded down the stairs. Walking down the shovel dug makeshift stairs. He only heard his footsteps and the small giggles of fire from the torches down the stairs.

At last he reached the bottom of the stairs into a large room similar to the previous rooms. There he spotted the ultimate enemy, Chrysalis. She was sitting on another throne. Prey saw her sitting pose disgusting, her leg on top another with a knuckle resting the side of her head.

To the left of her was Prey’s biggest reason he came down here. Applejack was tied up with her hands and feet bound together with cocoon leather along with some cocoon leather on her mouth to silence her. This whole image, in lack of proper etiquette, was pissing off Prey.

“Chrysalis, it is over. Surrender now.” Prey demanded, clenching a fist.

“I do not think so Prey, or do you prefer Mantis? It is not over yet.” She said with a trifling tone.

“You Lie. You are here alone, you have no more shinobi. And I know you have no magic based on your smoke bomb disappearance. ”

She maliciously chuckled, but it soon turn into a sinister laugh. “You’re not wrong when you say I’m out of shinobi. No matter, they were useless to me.” Chrysalis said, further igniting Prey’s inner rage. “However, I have one more trick up my sleeve.” She took her hand and knocked on the back surface. “Come out my pet.” She said slithering her snake tongue.

Prey felt a stomp rumbling from where Chrysalis was sitting. He reached for his kanabo and got it ready for whatever was making the stomping sound.

What emerged from Chrysalis’ throne was surprisingly shocking to Prey. From Chrysalis’ throne, he saw a changeling fully dressed in samurai armor and attire. The chestplate, the helmet, even the armored skirt were all signature armor characteristics of a samurai. However, this suit was unfamiliar to him.

All of the suits of samurai armor ever created lied within the caverns of the samurai back at the changeling kingdom, with a few exceptions being inside his room at Twilight’s castle.

His armor had blood red plates with golden yellow laces and threads securing his armor. But something was off, the changeling had no menpo, no armored mask. The changeling appeared in the light where his face was revealed, showing a changeling, succumbed to time and age. His skin was dark grey and wrinkled, like old paint. His teeth were a yellow brown color, like rotten fruit. But his eyes, his eyes were a foggy grey, almost as if he was dead.

“What is this Chrysalis? Some sort of trick?”

“No trick, just magic and luck.” She stood up and pointed at the changeling. “Prey, if you can defeat half blooded samurai, then I wonder what a full blooded samurai do. Oni? If you may.”

Oni!? Nanda!? Prey thought to himself as he saw Oni quickly charging at him, like a lion running towards its prey.

He quickly leaped out of the way, avoiding Oni’s charge as he ran straight into the wall, creating a large crater in the wall.

Oni turned around and faced Prey. He hissed with a sandy growl, showing the age in his voice. He was very old, but was very strong. He then charged at Prey once more.

Prey took his kanabo and held it in front of him. Oni made contact with Prey, slamming his chest against Prey’s kanabo. Prey held his kanabo against Oni as he held off Oni’s strength, being pushed back all the way to the wall, until they slowly came to a stop like a train stopping on its tracks.

Oni, unimpressed by Prey’s weak defense, made an aggressive but simple attack on Prey. He clapped his hands with both of Prey’s ears in between. As the clap funneled through Prey’s ears, it caused him to become slightly deaf and disoriented. He then clenched a fist and hammered it down on top of Prey’s helmet, causing him to fall to the ground, dizzy from Oni’s brutal strike to his cranium. He lost his grip to his kanabo and released it.

Oni took his open opportunity to take the kanabo, his kanabo. He then took his free hand to grab Prey’s leg and threw him across the room to a wall, leaving an implant of his body in the wall.

Applejack gave a muffling scream through her gag, she suffered at the sight of Prey’s pain.

“Kussoo….Itteeeee…..” (Shhhiit….owww…..) Prey slowly got up from the ground, recovering from Oni’s brutal attack. “Nanda Oni-san? Why do you serve her?” Prey asked reaching for his sword as Oni stood silent, no emotion would present itself from his face.

Chrysalis laughed more. “He doesn’t answer to you or anyone else. He is my samurai, and he follows all of my commands.”

“Then how is Oni here? I thought he died hundreds of years ago!”

“Oh he did. And I found him in this very cave he was buried. Perfectly preserved, all things considered to his chitin. Mummified and wrapped in cocoon leather along with his armor, but his weapon. But you did that for me, thank you very much.” She said with a cocky tone.

“Then why is he alive? He couldn’t have just woken up.”

“Well you’re too stupid to understand Prey. I used magic to revive the samurai.” Chrysalis said making Prey cross his eyes.

“That is why you used smoke to cover your escape. You used up all of your magic to create the shinobi and resurrect Oni...” Prey realized.

Chrysalis scoffed and grew sour at Prey. “Perhaps you’re not so stupid as I thought.”

Oni lifted up a foot and stomped down on the ground, shaking the cave around them. He began to charge towards Prey again with his kanabo raised up in the air. Upon reach Prey, he began to smash his kanabo down on top of him, like a hammer against a nail.

But Prey was quick on his feet and moved to the side, dodging Oni’s attack. He took this opportunity to counter attack by thrusting his katana into Oni’s stomach. He made sure to apply as much strength as possible to penetrate through his armor and into his skin, hoping to kill him.

However, something was wrong. Oni didn’t react to his wound, he didn’t even show any pain or struggle from his “wound”. Oni took a free hand and grasped Prey’s neck with a tight grip. He was even squeezing through Prey’s armored neck guard, bending the scales into his neck. Toying with him, he decided to slam Prey against the dirt. This broke off pieces of his scaled armor. His pauldrons, helmet, and mask all broke off, leaving him less armored than desired.

The pain was intense for Prey as he started to feel his bones cracking and his muscles bruising. He was then thrown across the room, in the direction of Chrysalis with his body grinding and siding against the dirt like sandpaper. More scales of his armor started to peel off, like a wilting flower losing its petals.

Prey couldn’t believe it, him fighting another samurai. He had never fought shinobi before, and he had handled them with some ease. But a legendary samurai was something different. His strength was far beyond his own, and his tactics were brutal and deadly.

“Now Prey, I will give you one final chance.” Chrysalis said standing up and slowly walking to the downed Prey. “Join me. I can give you back true honor, greater than what the ponies could give you.”

Prey grunted, struggling to speak through the pain. “Rgg...Or….what?”

His answer was given when Oni had placed his kanabo next to Applejack’s face. She could smell dirt and old blood fuming from the iron club.

Prey felt fear, picturing the sight of Applejack perishing under Chrysalis or Oni. He was feeling defeat and felt ashamed of it. His samurai code was conflicting his own morals, he wanted to save Applejack, but couldn’t risk dishonoring himself for his own well being. He promised Spike he’d save them all...at all costs.

“Gomennasai….Applejack.” Prey said to Applejack who could only watch in disbelief as to what Prey was about to do.

Prey slowly got up as he began to sit in a respectful kneeling position. “I….Will….Follow. Chrysalis...sama.” Prey said with a bow.

Chrysalis began to laugh wickedly while Applejack was violently fussing around, trying to break free. She was crying and screaming through his cocoon gag, she couldn’t believe what Prey was doing.

“Good, very good my little samurai.” Chrysalis reached behind her dress and pulled out a scroll. “To make sure you behave.” Chrysalis said tossing the scroll to Prey. He unraveled it to reveal that it contained Japonese writing, the writing of a blood contract. He noticed that Chrysalis’ bloody handprint was already signed on the contract, along with another handprint.

“Who is this?” Prey asked pointing to the second handprint.

“Oni’s, making sure he behaves like the samurai he should be.”

Sighing, Prey levitated the blade of his sword and positioned the sharp side of it against his palm. He slowly slid the blade across his palm, cutting through his chitin to draw blood. He squeezed his fist, making sure blood was spread across his hand.

He then placed his bloody handprint on the scroll, sealing his fate and fulfilling his role as a samurai, as must as he didn’t want to. He rolled the scroll back up and presented it to his now master Chrysalis. She took the contract and held it tight.

“Good.” She said with a sadistic smile. She walked towards Applejack, standing over her, mocking her. “Do you see little pony? Your Prey did leave you. He left you for his true master.” She cruelly said mocking Applejack.

As much as Prey wanted to become enraged, he couldn’t. He had lost his honor from Applejack, and broke his promise to himself and his pony masters. And the worst part was that he had joined Chrysalis.

But that was what he had wanted all along. Prey paid close attention at how Chrysalis had her back turned against Prey. He looked to see Oni behind Applejack, and saw that he was beginning to loosen his intimidating position against Applejack.

This was his only chance. He quickly grabbed his sword and with all of his speed and strength, he rushed towards Chrysalis and thrusted the sword through her back and out of her stomach.

She spat out blood, feeling a mix of pain, shock, and rage. She looked down to see the end of Prey’s blade pierced out of her stomach. She gritted her teeth in pain, trying not to show weakness as she coughed out blood.

Oni had seen this and rushed to Chrysalis, swinging his kanabo behind her to hit Prey, sending him flying back to the wall.

Chrysalis slumped to her knees, clutching her stomach wound to stop the bleeding. She turned around to Prey with fire in her eyes and blood leaking from her mouth. “You...little….shit!”

Oni started to walk towards Prey, with his kanabo gripped tight and his feet creating little craters in the ground.

Prey had committed the most heinous crime for any samurai to make, harming or betraying a master. The punishment for this crime was a slow and painful death from the inside caused by magic from the blood contract’s connection between the samurai and the master.

However, Prey had already known this. He had planned for this. However his strike on the changeling queen wasn’t completely fatal, as Chrysalis had not died yet.

He slowly and meekly stood up, holding his katana. His hands were quivering, feeling his energy slowly drain and his strength leaving him. He, couldn’t even hold his katana straight.

He saw Oni charge towards him with his kanabo behind him, ready to crash into him like an iron bull. Prey couldn’t move, he had no energy to make any sudden or quick moments. All he could do was hold his sword up and meekly block Oni’s attack.

However his attempt of suppressing Oni’s attack was fruitless as Oni crashed his kanabo on Prey, knocking him to the ground. The pain from the kanabo was intense, he could feel some bones break and muscles spraining. On the ground with his back to the dirt, he looked up as he saw Oni towering above him.

“Oni!” The undead samurai turned around to face his master Chrysalis. “Finish him.”

Prey took this opportunity while Oni was distracted. He reached behind him and pulled out his mask. Not just a samurai mask, but the mask of a demon, Oni’s mask. It was his last ditch effort and the one promise he made to Applejack personally. He had to break that promise.

He placed the mask on top of him, feeling it latch onto him like a spider. The cords of the mask didn’t even wrap around his head. The mask just simply stuck.

Soon he could feel the rush of power flow through is body. The mask’s energy had replaced the energy Prey had lost, in fact he felt it overflowing throughout his body.

Oni saw this as an ultimate threat and began to slam his kanabo down at Prey’s head, initiating a finishing blow.

However Prey refused to meet his end her and raised his hand, catching the kanabo with his bare hand. Then, like a piston, he shot a foot at Oni’s chest, sending him off to the other end of the room. Prey sprung up from the ground, took his katana in hand, and got into a position ready for one last battle.

Oni charged at him, taking his typical offensive strategy.

Prey wanted to alter his little game, he charged towards him with his katana held behind him. Upon reaching each other, the two clashed their weapons with a spark igniting from the clash as a the room echoed with ringing metal and thundering earthquakes.

Oni quickly swept his kanabo across Prey’s feet, making his fall to the ground. Prey looked up to see that Oni was about to smash his kanabo on top of him. He quickly rolled out of the way of Oni’s indented smashing route, dodging the blow.

Prey jumped to his feet and slash his katana against Oni’s hip, making a cut on his armor.

Oni retaliated by swinging his kanabo around like a raging whirlwind. He spun like a top creating a barrier of attacks separating himself and Prey. Prey used his leg strength and jumped up and on top of the spiraling samurai, riding on his shoulders. Even though he spun along with Oni while riding on top of him, he was too concentrated to feel disorientated or dizzy. All he focused on was his enemy.

He took the pommel of his sword and jabbed it continuously at Oni’s face, hoping to poorly render his eyesight. He then grabbed hold of Oni’s helmet with his free hand and ripped it off of him. He proceeded to forcefully rip off other parts of his armor such as his pauldrons and neck guard, leaving him exposed much like Prey.

Oni had enough. He took a hand and grabbed Prey by the leg. He threw him like a baseball, overhead and thrown with full power.

While he was thrown, Prey found that he was upside down. He quickly pushed his free palm against the surface of the ground and pushed himself upward, pulling off a one handed recovering cartwheel which brought him back to his feet.

The two samurai clashed again with the two’s weapons embracing each other’s strength. Prey swiped his weapon across Oni’s neck. But oni blocked it with his kanabo and headbutted Prey in the face with his steel like forehead.

Prey, unphased by Oni’s headbutt, continued his assault and quickly thrusted his katana into Oni’s chest, piercing through his chestplate and out of his back. He twisted the sword around, drilling in his chest and quickly pulled it out.

Oni grabbed Prey by the throat and slammed him to the ground. He then raised a foot and brought it down to stomp on Prey.

Prey quickly caught the oncoming meteor that is Oni’s foot with both of his hands, catching the bottom of the foot and pushing upwards, counter balancing it. Using a lot of his synthetic strength, he was able to push against Oni’s foot so hard, he managed to launch him into the ceiling.

Oni crashed into the ceiling and managed to temporarily stick to it like dead fly. Prey quickly made his move by returning his katana to his sheath, quickly jumping up to the ceiling, latch himself onto Oni by the chest, and pulled himself and Oni downward. Prey made sure that Oni would be the first to hit the ground as he placed him in front, using him as a shield against the hard surface of the ground floor.

They both crashed down, creating a crater bigger than the ones Oni created as more rumbling began to resonate in the caves.

Prey, quickly got off of Oni and backed up giving himself distance after making such a dangerous move.

He observed Oni, who didn’t move a muscle. He was sure he was dead. He hoped for it.

He could still feel a lot of pain even though he had not suffered any injuries from his moves. He looked at his hand to find that his chitin was wrinkly, almost shrinking. It was his dishonor. It was killing him from the inside even though he felt immense power from the mask.

He took a deep breath, and slowly lowered his guard. He look over Oni to find Chrysalis still clutching her wound from earlier, she was still alive.

Prey began to walk over to his “master” with his katana in hand, wanting to finished what he needed to achieve. As soon as he walk past Oni, he heard an anomaly. He heard the sounds of pebbles and dirt being scraped behind him.

He turned around to see Oni was getting up, still unphased by Prey’s barrage of attacks. He was picking up his kanabo once again, ready to fight.

Prey was tired of this. He couldn’t waste his precious time fighting a zombie samurai forever. He needed to take immediate action the quickest and cleanest way he knew how, and that was to strike at his life energy at its source.

He charged at Oni, taking his katana with one hand and keeping it behind him while his other hand was in front of him in with an open palm.

Oni once again brought his kanabo up and brought it downwards, slamming on Prey.

However Prey used his enhanced strength to use his open palm and catch the kanabo with his bare hand. He could feel the kanabo’s iron spike stake through his hand, with blood pouring from the palm of his hand. He pushed his hand against the kanabo to counterbalance the force of Oni’s strength.

“Hnn?” Oni grunted, baffled from Prey’s ability to hold back his strength.

Prey took immediate action and took his katana and swung it upwards. He made sure to slash just under Oni’s right arm, right where his armpit would be. With enough force, he cut through his chitin, sliced through his tender muscles, and cut off his entire arm, effectively giving the samurai a fatal handicap.

Cutting off his arm resulted in Oni dropping his kanabo, leaving him defenseless.

Prey then took his injured hand to grab and hold Oni by the neck. He took his other hand, the one wielding his katana, quickly pointed it at Oni’s chest, and thrusted it through his armor. He made sure to skewer through his chitin, organs, and more importantly his stomach. In samurai legends, the stomach was the source of all that is evil, and for Oni, that evil was Chrysalis’ necromancy magic.

Oni gasped at the pain, slowly feeling his second life and strength fading.

Prey looked at Oni in the eyes. He slowly whispered to the already dead samurai, with words of pity. “Gomenasai Oni. I only wish that you rest forever.”

Oni who was groaning, breathing his last breath slowly took his hand and grabbed Prey’s katana by the blade. “Arigato…..Gozai…..masu….” Oni slowly said, speaking through his husk like lungs as he took Prey’s blade and pulled it inwards, stabbing himself whole through his stomach.

Prey widened his eyes in surprised. The samurai that had been dead for ages had given him grace at the face of his own demise. Prey pulled his katana out and watched as Oni slowly fell to the ground, giving one final breath of air.

Prey slowly slid his katana back into his sheath, and gave a long and painful sigh. It was painful because he could feel liquid dripping into his lungs along with bruising and soreness. The damn mask and his dishonor was draining all he had left.

He turned around, finding Chrysalis who was still holding her wound from earlier, had a look of shock and worry on her face.

Prey gave her a look of grimace and began to walk towards her.

She began to hyperventilate, she couldn’t do anything. Started to scoot backwards, cowardly trying to gain distance away from the samurai, but it was futile.

“You are defeated Chrysalis. Your magic drained from dark acts of necromancy and taboo. Your blood draining the last of your strength. And your life slowly rotting as well as mine.”

“No! It’s not over! It can’t! I AM THE TRUE RULER OF THE CHANGELINGS! I-”

She was interrupted with a swift kick to the face, chipping some teeth and breaking a nose. She fell back, coughing up blood from her earlier wound.

Prey then stood over her, leaned down, and grabbed her by the top of her webbed hair. He hung her up like a twisted doll and reached for his wakizashi.

He pulled out his short blade and pointed it directly at her gut, with the tip of the blade touching her chitin skin. “Do you have any last words.” Prey said with a few grunting coughs.

Chrysalis snarled, and spat blood at Prey’s face. She had nothing to say.

With that action, Prey gripped his blade tight and drove it through her stomach, making her cough out more blood all over Prey’s armor. He twisted the blade around her guts like a key, locking her fate.

A few seconds later, he closely observed as her breathing slowly stopped, her posture loosening, and her eyes slowly becoming foggy. He finally confirmed his kill when he noticed when she closed her eyes. It was over, the queen was finally dead. He pulled his blade out of the queen’s corpse and dropped her corpse like rotten fruit.

He turned his head, seeing Applejack with widened eyes. She watched everything, from Prey’s brutal beating, to Chrysalis’ death. Tears had inked down her cheeks, she had been crying for a while.

He walked over to Applejack and used his wakizashi to cut her bindings and slowly peeled off her cocoon gag. With her free, she just stared at him with her mouth open. She looked shocked and most likely disappointed.

Prey knelt down to the ground and placed his hands on Applejack’s shoulders. He gripped them softly, not wanting to hurt her but to also show some sorrow towards his marefriend. “Applejack...I’m...I’m so-”

He was interrupted when Applejack leaped from her spot and wrapped herself around Prey. She squeezed hard, desperately not wanting to let him go. She buried her face in Prey’s shoulder, let her tears flow down the cloth and chains from his armor. Finally she let out her cries, her cries of worry and sadness from watching him suffer and risking his life for her’s. “You….and your dumb….code.” She said choking from tears.

Prey sighed, smiled, and slowly and gently wrapped his arms around Applejack. Letting her insult him while patting her on the back. “Gomenasai Applejack….I truly am sorry.”

Applejack quickly released her hugged and leaned in for a passionate kiss with Prey’s lips. She could taste the bitter blood in his mouth, but she didn’t care. She let go, and planted her head on Prey’s chest, calming down from her breakdown. She was just happy he was alive.

“Senseii!” A voice echoed from the staircase. Prey recognized that voice, it was Razor. He turned his head to the stairway where he had came from to see his pupil Razor rushing down the stairs. He still had some of his armor on him and looked tired, based on his sweaty appearance. He looked to have rush here after securing all of his other ex-masters’ safety. “Are you okay!?”

Prey looked at his hand once more. He saw the withering state he was in. “No.” He said truthfully.

“What's wrong Prey.”

“I am dying Applejack.” He stated bluntly.

Applejack widened her eyes. Tears began to form again and she slapped him on the face. “NO! Don’t say that!”

Prey placed his hands on her cheeks, her gentle and soft smooth cheeks. He faced her with a sad expression. “It is true Applejack. I dishonored you, your friends, and Chrysalis, even going as far as killing her. This gives me the title of Ronin….which is itself a death sentence.”

Razor looked past Prey to see the limp Chrysalis. He was shocked to see her corpse, so lifeless, so powerless.

“When I betrayed Chrysalis, I had betrayed my master. Leaving me only dishonor, which in turn kills me from the inside. No master, means no honor. No honor means…..I die.”

Applejack was panicking. She didn’t want this to happen, it wasn’t supposed to happen. “Then...Then let me be your master again! We can make another blood contract like before. We can-”

Prey placed a finger on her lips. “I am sorry Applejack. There are no more parcels or scrolls left here. We cannot make one...as much as I would love to.”

“No…” The tears were flooding out, as well as her emotional distress. “No...please.” She sunk down onto his chest. She cried, not wanting to believe it. All Prey could do was gently pet her head, to try and ease a bit of the pain on her heart.

He placed a hand under her chin and brought her face up to his. “Allow me to give you one last favor.” He leaned in as the two shared one final passionate kiss. As they kissed, Prey used his magic as his horn began to glow. Soon Applejack let go of their kiss as she fell into Prey’s arms with her eyes closed.

Her breathing was steady with Prey sighing. He had used his magic to knock her out, giving her some peace of what was about to happen next. He gently laid her down on the ground and stood up to face Razor, who was shocked the entire time.

“Razor-san.”

He stood attentive, ready for what Prey could say to him. “Haisensei?”

Prey reached for his katana, he slowly took the sword with the blade still in its sheath and presented it towards Razor.

Razor was shocked. His teacher and master was giving him his sword, his soul. He took the sword, feeling a wave of mixed emotions flow into his mind.

“I want you to help me with one last task.” Prey stated as he knelt to the ground and reached for his wakizashi. “Please be my, Kaishakunin...my suicide assistant.”

Razor’s jaw dropped. He geban shaking his head, he couldn’t do it. “Sensei I-”

“Razor-san. You are a samurai….I am your master. As samurai you must do what you are asked to do.”

“But…”

“I know this is hard for you to do Razor. But I am already dying… With this, I can at least die the way I want. The way of a true samurai.”

Razor’s hands were shaking. Tears were forming in his eyes. “Will…..will this hurt you sensei?”

“If you strike hard enough, it was be quick and painless. Putting me at peace.”

Razor took a deep breath and unsheathed Prey’s katana. “Alright sensei. I’ll do it.”

Prey took out his wakizashi and held it upside down, making sure it was pointing directly at his own stomach. Razor got into his position and stood next to Prey with his katana in the air, looking directly at his neck.

“Before I go Razor-san, can I ask of you a few things?”

“Anything sensei…. Whatever you need…I will accomplish it.”

“Find your own path. Your own master or masters. They can be mine or Thorax’s or even Celestia or Luna’s. Find your own master and spread the message of what it truly means to be a samurai.

“I will sensei…”

“And one more thing….please…..watch over my family….”

“........Hai.”

Prey took a deep breath and raised his wakizashi in the air. He gave one last look at Applejack. He saw how safe and sound she slept, and relaxed she looked. He hoped it would stay like that forever.

“Ai shiteru…” (I love you) He whispered.

He then frowned, ready to go out the way he wanted. He thrusted his wakizashi down, as his blade went through his armor, through his chitin, and right into his stomach. The pain he was feeling was unbearable. He slowly began to carve his blade across his stomach, making sure there was no way to return.

Razor held his breath. He gripped the katana tight and brought it up higher. He took all of his strength and brought his blade down aiming for his master’s neck.