Of Samurais and Ponies

Clang! Clang! Is all that can be heard from the mountain top, blood lay over the flat mountain top that held the two heavily breathing warrior's. One was a human, covered in scars and new wounds, his hair dangled down, it was stained in blood. The other was a dark being with only fresh wounds on his sides and chest, they seeped with blood seeming to stain his black skin.

The human warrior lunged at the dark body, only to miss that attack. The dark entity grabbed his blade and threw him down, he held his own sword to the face of the human, with a smirk on his face.

"Well Jack, here we are, you always seem to defy me, even when you know you cannot win, why do you try so hard even when you know it is useless?" a loud cackle bellowed from the dark beast, Jack took the opportunity to send his sword trough the stomach of evil entity.

"Sorry Aku, but your arrogance has just lead to your demise." Jack said as he pulled the blade from the bloody hole in Aku. He fell back in pain, a loud wail came from the dark beast. Aku now learned of the mistake, it was the same mistake that he had made several years ago.

Aku now knew of another thing he did several years ago, he started to move back in anticipation of his old trick. "Don't bother Aku, I remember the look on your face, I can tell what you are going to do. So don't bother trying again." Jack said as he lunged forward at Aku.

Suddenly, a large black and white funnel appeared before Jack, he tried to stop himself, but the momentum was to great for him to stop. He fell into the all to familiar sight, but this time he did not want to lose his adversary. At the last minute, he decided to grab Aku by the horn and pulled him in.

They both started to fall into the flashing funnel. Jack only got memories of the first time he had gone through it, he was scared then, but now he knew what to expect. But he did not know what would be on the other side of the portal. He expected the worst, he knew never to expect the best, for he would be sure to be disappointed.

Aku was shocked, did his trick that bested every single warrior before Jack just fail him? He was enraged. "How could you have bested me, I am supposed to be the deadliest demon that ever lived, how could I be bested by a mere human!" he yelled in disgust, his horn still in Jack's hand.

"Well, that depends on which human you are facing." Jack said as he delivered a kick to Aku's face. Aku went soaring into the tunnel, away from Jack's sight. Jack was already lost a significant amount of blood at this point, that is when he passed out.

...

The mane six were looking at the chaotic entity before them, Discord was still baffled by the sight of the six, he did not expect them to have returned to there original selves as quick as they did. "Oh, this again." Discord said with a sigh. He drank his glass and threw the exploding chocolate milk in a random direction. "That's right, you couldn't stop our friendship for long." said Apple Jack as Discord pulled her and four other mares with her. "Oh Apple Jack, don't lie to me, I'm the one that made you a liar." he said as he looked at the five. "Will you ever learn?"

Twilight then teleported in the middle of the five mares and formed a bubble around them. She then landed on the ground along with her friend's, the ground under them had returned to it's original state. "I'll tell you what we learned Discord, we've learned..." She was interrupted by a heavy wind that seemed to come out of nowhere, then came what looked like a large black and white tube, it seemed to come from the sky. The ponies were unaffected by the sight, they knew that Discord had made some odd thing's happen that day, but when they turned to look at him, even he was baffled by the sight above him.

That worried the six, if Discord had not made the odd sight above them, then what was it? Then came a figure from the odd shaped funnel. It hit the ground with a thud. The ground had formed an elastic like crater under it. All they heard was a gasp come from the crater. Whatever come from the funnel was alive, and angry.

Jack stood up, the ground under him was now starting to flatten again, he felt himself being pushed up slowly. He jumped from the crater, sword drawn, he expected Aku to fall next to him, he checked the crater that had now flattened back to it's original altitude.

Aku had not fallen with him, and he let out a sigh, he then looked around to check his surrounding, only to see a large grey beast before him. His mind tried to tell him it was not the dark beast he looked upon a few moments ago, but his anger said otherwise.

"Aku! How dare you insult my intelligence by switching your form, even in this new world, you cannot fool me!" Jack said as he arced his blade over his head. Discord, along with the mane six, were now confused. What was this creature, and why was he calling Discord "Aku"? They had only a few moments to contemplate this fact. Jack had lunged at Discord, he was yelling his battle cry through the attack.

Discord only had a moment to dodge, and even as he tried to slide left, he still felt the cold steel of Jack's blade hit his side. Discord got an annoyed look on his face, was this creature really trying to attack the god of chaos himself. Jack was in shock ,why had Aku not taken any amount of physical damage?  The mane six were extremely curious at this point, this creature had only been here for a moment and he was already attacking Discord?

"Who is this guy?" Asked Rainbow Dash confused.

"I don't know, but I have never seen anything like it." said Twilight, still unsure of the situation. Even Discord was baffled, he had not expected to be fought head on in such a way, most ponies were to scared by him, and the mane six had decided to just turn him into stone, not confront him in hoof to hoof combat.

Jack was now determined to kill the unfamiliar beast before him, he was still unsure if it was really Aku, but at this point he did not care, only anger drove him to do what he did next. He flipped in the air and planted his feet on the shoulders of Discord, ready to deliver the finishing blow before he was interrupted by another loud crash, not so far away from their own location. Discord took this opportunity to grab Jack by the legs and throw him onto the ground.

"I'm sorry, but this whole place is just getting to violent for me, I should go, have fun fixing you problems mane six." Discord said as he flew into the air and far from sight. Rainbow Dash looked ready to follow him, but she was interrupted by Twilight placing her hoof on her back. "Wait, he may be a problem right now, but we should deal with the closer problem." She said as she pointed to Jack. They looked at him with minor fear in their eyes, what thing would be crazy enough to take on the god of chaos themselves?

Jack got up, but this time he struggled to get to his feet, his injury's were getting to him. He looked in the direction Discord had flew of in, and he grunted. "I cannot believe I let him get away again, how could I have been so unfocused." He said as he placed his face on his palm. As he removed his face from his palm, he could only lay eyes on the purple pony that stood before him.

"Oh, a horse, maybe if I tame it I could catch up to Aku faster." Jack thought out loud with his hand on his chin. "What, i'm no horse!" yelled Twilight, she was minorly irritated by that statement. Jack fell back, was this ... pony taking? He did not even notice the horn on Twilight's head, he then looked over at the ones that had been with her, two pegasi, another unicorn, and two regular ponies. He remained confused till he regained his bearings, he should have expected something like that.

"Now, how about you tell me who you are and why you let Discord get away." she asked sternly. Jack was confused, why was she calling Aku Discord. Maybe he did attack the wrong entity.

"I am sorry, I had thought that he was another, I have been longing to defeat my enemy for so long that I was willing to attack anything that looked like him." he said with his head hung down.

Twilight was also confused, who was he talking about, and why was he here. "Who are you talking about, and why are you here?" She asked looking up at the samurai. Jack tried to think of a good answer, but what could he tell this ... unicorn, even he thought that sounded minorly bizarre.

"I came here from a portal my enemy had summoned, he was on the brink of defeat and decided to send me to another world, this is not the first time he has done this to me. I just wish I could go home." he said as a tear now fell from his face. Jack was so close to his goal, but now he was even farther from his home world, that made him feel emptier than when he saw Aku slay his family.

Twilight saw that he had started to tear up, she did not expect to see such an emotion come from someone who had just tried to kill the god of chaos. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Jack, now I need to find my foe before he causes havoc on your land." he said as he started to walk down the multi-colored path Discord had flown above.

"Wait, what do you mean cause havoc?" she asked worried, they already had Discord to deal with, they did not need to have another enemy to fight. Jack turned to look at the worried mare, he only then got a good look at his surroundings, chunks of land flying around, pink clouds that rained a weird brown liquid, and other ponies that seemed unhappy.

"Is your world supposed to look like this?" Jack said, not expecting a good answer. Twilight only shoke her head. "Was it that beast that did this?" asked Jack still not expecting a good answer, Twilight this time nodded. "Well this is a problem, you seemed ready to fight this "Discord" correct, maybe we could help each other out." He said as he approached the purple mare.

"Well, we may need some help if your guy is also runnin around this place." said Applejack, trying to gain the trust of the creature before him. Jack looked at the rest of the mares, he noticed them before but thought they could not talk like the one before him.

"The others can talk to?" Jack asked them, the six of them all declared yes, minorly annoyed by his ignorance. "Well, were could we start looking for this "Discord" you speak of?" he asked, hoping for a good answer.

"Well, we could start looking in the direction of the rising chaos." said Twilight as she pointed at the multi-colored path. "Wait, how could you think of chasing anything with all those injuries." Fluttershy said, trying to get Jacks attention. Jack turned to look at the yellow mare, why was she offering him medical help, even if she did not know him?

"Well, I guess I could use some help with these cuts." Jack said as he looked at his bloody arm. "Well dear, we can't exactly go to your cottage, it might be suspended in the air like the rest of our homes." Rarity said with a sigh. "Her house is outside of Ponyville, duh." Rainbow Dash said in a mocking tone.

"Well, we should get going quick if we want to catch up with Discord, come on girls and ... Jack." Twilight said as she started to walk along with her friends.

...

Discord was trying to regain his bearings, what was this creature, and why did he call him "Aku", but he had other matters to focus on, what sort of chaos would he try next?

He was sure he had gotten away from those dreaded ponies and that odd creature by now. He could only think of ways he could wreak havoc in Canterlot.

He was an unfocused flyer, so he was not surprised he ran into a very large tree. but as he fell, he noticed something. What was the dark looking thing on the ground under him? He had never seen anything like it, just like the creature that attacked him not to long ago.

He fell atop the dark figure, and it seemed to grunt in pain. Aku awoke with a gasp, he had passed out as well, but he was suspended in the air longer and sent farther due to Jack's kick. Aku tried to get up, but he was weighted by a strange looking animal.

"Get off me you foul beast!" Aku yelled with rage, Discord got up, he did not expect the odd thing under him to talk. "Foul, how could you say that, you might not have looked in the mirror for some time now have you?" asked Discord mockingly.

Aku was already enraged, the last thing he needed was to be insulted by some unfamiliar creature. Aku pulled his blade from his body, it seemed to be apart of him. "You dare insult a demon of my caliber! You shall die at my will!" Aku said as he lunged at Discord, this time Discord dodged completely, he hovered over the head of Aku, he pretended to balance himself with his index finger.

"Well now, your just as violent as the last one." those words struck Aku, was he talking about Jack? "What last one, explain yourself." Aku said, hoping to get the answers he wished to hear.

"You mean that thing on two legs that called me Aku? That nuisance tried to kill me, but his blade, like the ones of the royal guard, are useless." he said as he puffed his chest. Aku was sure it was Jack, he only had thoughts of killing the human, he was enraged at the fact that he had been taken from his new home world, and that he was nearly bested by a human.

"Yes, I mean that nuisance, he took me with him when I intended to seal him in this world, I finally thought of getting rid of him for good." Aku said with a look of malice on his face. "Well, just between Evil, that's you, and Discord, that's me, imagine the chaos we could rain!" he said as he laughed into the air. Aku was curious, what was this creature, and what was it's role in this world?

"You intend to take over the world, well, maybe we could help each other out then. We could rule the inhabitants of this world with an iron fist." Aku said as he clenched his fist in front of his face.

"Take over, I was thinking of just raining chaos, but I like your idea better, and I know just where to start." Discord said as he laughed along with Aku in his arm.

...

Jack took another look at his bandaged arm, and his surroundings, these ponies seemed to live just like he and his family did, it was the most refreshing sight he had layed eyes on since the medical kit Fluttershy had brought to aid him. He was laying on the couch, he had not relaxed this well since the last time he was in his home.

"So when can we throw him a party?" asked Pinkie Pie, she was bouncing in Fluttershy's kitchen, the six were discussing on what to do with the new creature. First, what was it, and worse, what was he chasing? If he could fight Discord without fear, they could only imagine the evil beast that Jack had to face for all this time.

Jack had explained his situation to the six, they still did not want to believe such an awful story, even Discord would not murder a stallions family, and let alone make the already mentally scared stallion face such an awful journey to slay him.

"My, the poor dear shouldn't even be fighting along side us, all the mental anguish he has been through would be enough to drive anypony to madness." Rarity said in her mock distress tone. "And he is also badly hurt, oh I can't stand to see other ponies get hurt." Fluttershy said in her usual motherly tone. "Remember Fluttershy, he is not a pony, he kept calling himself a "Human", what could that mean?" Twilight said as she flipped through a book on mystical creatures.

"Nope, still nothing on this "Human" creature, and this is already the third book I have checked tonight." Twilight said minorly distressed. "Well, why not ask him what he is, it would definitely save some time instead of reading all those useless books, egghead." Rainbow Dash said mockingly.

Twilight looked at her briefly with a glare. "Well, I guess he could explain what he is. But what about that sword of his, I keep getting a large amount of magic coming from the blade. Could he have enchanted his sword?" Twilight thought out loud with her hoof on her

"Well, why don't you go ask him." Rainbow Dash said truly serious this time. "But what if he is the sort of pony to be all defensive of his stuff?" Twilight said still minorly worried. She was contemplating just taking the blade and studying it only to return it when she is finished.

They slowly approached the creature, hoping not to disturbed him. "Do you think he is asleep" Pinkie Pie asked in a whisper. "No, I would think the pain would keep him awake for some time." the six gasped lightly at the sudden sound that came from the creature that lay on the couch.

"Jack, don't scare us like that!" Twilight said in an irritated tone. "Well, what really bothers me is why you wanted for me to drift into my slumber so easily?" Jack asked looking at the six with a shy smile.

"Well, to be honest, I was hoping to study your blade, it sending off a large amount of magic and I would really like to know what enchantment you have placed on your blade." Twilight asked sheepishly. "Sure, go ahead, just don't hurt yourself, how could a pony even hold a sword like mine?" Jack asked truly curious, how could they hold his sword?

"Let me show you." Twilight said as her horn started to glow, Jack was surprised to see his sword enveloped in an odd purple glow, and he grew even more surprised when his sword started to levitate of the cottage floor. His curiosity was completely depleted by the thought of "that's just how things work in this world" rung through his head.

"My, what a lovely trick, so can the others do this, or just the other unicorn?" Twilight was shocked, why did he not react to the magic? She at least expected some sort of response from someone who might have never seen something like this. "Yes, only Rarity and I can use magic. As you might already know Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are the pegasi, which means they can fly." As Twilight said that, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings with her usual look of self satisfaction. "And the other two, Pinkie Pie and Applejack have some sort of connection with nature, from what I read atleast."

"I see, were I originally came from, you girls are nothing but a child's fairy tale, but I still never ruled out seeing such a creature, I actually expected to see something like the six of you on my travels." Jack had said with a yawn. The six were confused, were they really just some child's fairy tale in another's world?

"Well yea, we never even heard of a human here in Equestria." Rainbow Dash snapped back, she did not like the idea of being called a child's fairy tale. "Sorry if I offended you, it is the honest truth after all, and from what you have told me, one of you hold the truth to be very dear, correct." Jack asked, hoping for one of the ponies to respond.

"Well yeah, the truth should be something that all ponies should hold dear." Applejack said in a sage like voice, which did not sound right due to her country accent. "Speaking of honesty, what is the use of the Elements of Harmony, besides defeating the beast Discord." Jack asked, the six had explained to him the nature of Discord and how only the Elements of Harmony could defeat him on the way to Fluttershy's cottage. He still wondered about those transfixing gems adorned onto the jewelry the ponies currently wore.

"What other uses do your people have them for, and what other ability's are attached to them?" Jack asked again, the ponies were unsure, this was only the second time they had used them, they still did not know the true extent of the power's of the gems they currently wore.

"Well, we never had the time to fully examine them, we are only aloud to use them when urgent." Twilight said with her head hung, she did not like the fact that she did not hold certain information on what seemed to be the most powerful weapon she had ever used.

"It is alright, I did not know much about the blade that belonged to my father for the first month or so, but we all learn with time." Jack said in a true sage like voice. Twilight smiled, she did not expect such wisdom from a some pony dumb enough to randomly attack Discord, but she did not bother remind him of his mistake.

"So what is this "Aku" you told us about, I mean, what sort of animal or beast is he?" Twilight asked envisioning several disturbing and horrible creatures that could fit the description Jack had given them before they arrived to Fluttershy's cottage. She was still baffled by what Jack had said Aku has done, she did not know what creature was capable of such atrocities as he was.

"Aku is in the truest definition of a demon, he has not only killed my family, but nearly my whole village. He should not be the type to be trifled with. If he were to meet this "Discord" of yours, he would either try to join him in his rain, or try and attack him. Both of those things would be a problem, if he were to be more enraged than he might already be, he might try to destroy everything in his path, on the other hand, he would use Discord to try and take over all of the land far and wide, until he had control of the world." Jack said with a dejected tone.

The ponies were shocked, what if Aku really did try to take over all of Equestria, what then, they had never fought something like what Jack described, they knew that the Elements of Harmony would not damage him enough to defeat him, for he was more evil than chaos.

"That is why my sword is so important to me, it is the only thing that can defeat Aku, and your Elements of Harmony are the only thing that could defeat Discord,correct, so it would be wise to work together if we are to defeat the two." Jack said as he extended his hand to the six.

He shook hoofs with all six of them in agreement. "Well, we should get some sleep for tonight, Fluttershy, would it be ok if we sleep her tonight, it's not like we could go back to our homes in the sky." Twilight said with a small giggle. Fluttershy only nodded in agreement.

"Wait, when will you let me examine your sword." Twilight said as she stared at the powerful blade before her. "I will demonstrate the true power of my blade tomorrow, I really need to rest now, thank you for allowing me to sleep in your humble cottage." Jack said as he nodded with a small smile on his face.

"Your welcome, I always try to take good care of all my animals." Fluttershy said as she blushed lightly. And the ponies walked upstairs to Fluttershy's guest bed.

...

End Chapter 1