Of Samurais and Ponies

The small crunching of leafs and breathing was the only thing that could be heard this deep into the forest, the smell of death now lingered in the air around Jack. Jack couldn't tell if he had left an impression on the ponies he traveled with or not, they did not bother say a word to him in the entire time they walked away from the scene. Jack took a deep breath as he turned to each side to get an idea of what the ponies next to him were experiencing at the moment, to his uneasy surprise they looked unaltered by the events that had only perspired moments before. Jack knew that they had never experienced a killing like that before.

"Tell me miss Twilight, have you or your friends ever done something like this?" Jack asked with worry for his companions.

"Well, the only other time my friends and I have ever done something like this was back when I first arrived in Ponyville. Back when Nightmare Moon was around."

"Nightmare Moon? Who was this villain?" Jack asked with his brow raised.

"She was an evil spirit that controlled Celestia's sister, Luna. It happened thousands of years ago when everyone seemed to ignore the night and praised the sun. She grew more and more jealous of the attention the sun got when everyone slept through the night. During that time, and evil spirit seemed to grow in her, her jealousy taking on a more powerful state and consuming her very body." Jack heard those words, lightly disgusted but not completely disturbed by the usage of evil. Jack decided it would be best to just remain quiet after that small talk, satisfied with the answer.

Twilight looked at him with wonder, she had never thought of the fact that she had never asked Jack about his previous adventures. She only knew about how he had ever gotten into his adventures, but never going into specific detail about it. Her interest was piqued "So Jack, you never told us about your adventures from where you came from, why don't you tell me more about your travels?"

Jack was quick to turn to the mare, his stern expression turning into a scowl "I am not one to talk of such things."

"Why though? I see no problem with sharing some of your stories with us" Twilight said in an effort to convince Jack.

"Yeah Jack! Did you see how you got that mad stallion back there! I can only think of the other awesome stuff you do!" Rainbow said, now curious of Jacks adventures as well.

Jack gave a heavy sigh "If that is what you wish." Jack then thought of several things from his travels, all coming at him all at once. He never knew how long he was really on a revenge quest to catch Aku and finally end his reign, but with the over-abundance of memories, he could tell that it had been a while since he last stepped on his own planet. Along with those thought came rage, pity, and worry that always consumed him in the several situations that he had ever been in.

Jack quickly started to talk of his time in other worlds, from the time he had meet other being like him, to beings that resembled only folk lore and such. Most of his journeys consisted of several life or death situations that involved him, fellow travelers, even entire villages. Jack had almost lost count of the amount of times that Aku had put him in this very situation, having to meet new people (or ponies in this case), having them show him around, and the ending up in another planet completely. Jack even chuckled at some of the thoughts of the thing he had seen, Aku might have been an evil sorcerer, but he somehow always seemed to make a fool of himself none the less. Jack may have always had a tendency to know who to meet with and who to distrust, it was an innate skill that could be learned with several years on his quest.

In all the time Jack had talked about his journey, he had never realized how much he had actually had gained from his quest, he always only had one thing in mind. 'To defeat Aku one and for all' But now that he actually had time to think about it, and be able to talk with another sentient being about it for this length of time, little over an hour had passed since Jack had started reminiscing on his past.

"Wow! You actually got to see a real life robot?" Pinkie asked in surprise.

"Yes, they make very formidable foes. But with this gauntlet given to me by the very man that made the machines, I was able to prevail." Jack said as he pointed at the silver gauntlet that he wore on his left arm.

The four listened carefully to Jacks stories, they had never seen such heroism performed by one man alone, from what they heard of humans from ancient folk lore is that they were sometimes savage and evil beings that only sought after power or vengeance. While Jack also followed the path of revenge, they only need know that Jack was not one of the savage being they have read about in other tales. From what they could tell, Jack was actually a very peaceful person, only using violence when he saw fit, and with the tales he spoke to the mares, they could tell that he would never be reduced to the evil that they read of in old lore.

Suddenly, a quite yawn emerged from the mare on Jacks left shoulder. Fluttershy had started to tiredly rub her eyes as she yawned again. She then started to slightly panic as she felt movement under her, but Jack was quick to put her on the ground where she quickly started to look around with a quick pace, trying to get a better understanding of her surroundings.

"It's okay Fluttershy, Jack here carried you away from the other stallion that tried to... Well... yeah. Are you alright?" Twilight said in an attempt to console the startled mare.

"W-wa-where did that stallion go?" Fluttershy asked as she shook in position.

"Don't worry about him, he is gone." Twilight said as she placed a hoof on Fluttershy's back. Fluttershy let out a heavy and relieving sigh.

Fluttershy looked up at Jack, who was still walking along with his stone expression staying intact. "Thank you Mister Jack for carrying me all this way." Fluttershy cooed at Jack as she flew up next to him.

"Girls look! Light!" Pinkie said as she pointed at the light that penetrated the tree line. The whole group sighed in relief as they knew that they had finally found their way out of the dark forest that seemed to go on forever. All of them except Jack ran for the exit, finally looking on at the moon that had eluded them for so long.

"Oh light, how I missed you!" Applejack said as she placed her face on the grassy field. They all basked in the light that they had craved for ever since they had entered the forest. All except Jack who looked on at a small crater that was imprinted into the dirt close-by to their location. His brow was arched at the familiar sight that consisted of a few baskets that sat on the dirt. He slowly dropped his head as he quickly placed Rarity on the dirt next to him, his other hand quickly making its way toward the handle of his sword. The mares had stopped frolicking in the new found light as they looked on at Jack, he was now suddenly in a very intimidating fighting stance, his eyes already growing very concentrated at the sight before him.

"Hey Jack, what are those things?" Twilight asked in a shaky voice as a mechanical whirring could be heard from the baskets that sat on the dirt nearby.

Jack paid no mind to Twilight question,  the only words that slipped from his lips were "Quickly! Make a force field around you and the rest!" Jack yelled as he rolled to the side, quickly dodging any and all projectiles that flew toward him, the rest hit a purple aura that surrounded the mares behind him.

...

Authors note: Sorry for not only a short chapter, but chapter delay, but I ran out of Idea's for this story till now. The next chapters should be coming quicker than this from now on.