Chapters 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
*Thank you guys for the support on the last chapter, never expected such a turn out. Never knew that so many Jack fans were fellow bronies.*
"Well now, what was that idea you had, taking over and such?" Discord asked with a glimmer in his eye. He had thought of taking over Equestria before, but he did not know how to go about it, all he could think of is to imprison Celestia, but he alone could never pull of such a feat.
"Well, first of all, we would need to go to that princess "Celestia" you were talking about, and take her castle. My it has been a while since the last time I had to take over another world." Aku said with an irritated tone. He had hoped the last time he would have to take over another world was the last time, he had gotten used to the world and he detested the fact he would have to start over again. He however did like the fact he had found an ally as quickly as he did.
"Well, it is night time, it is the best time as any, we should start to head to the castle in question." Discord said with a smirk.
"Why did you make us wait this long anyway, is this princess you speak of get weaker with moonlight?"
"Oh, something like that, it would just make things a whole lot easier. Quick question, can you fly at all?" Discord asked, he did not like the idea of carrying this large beast every where they went.
"My of course, what respectable demon would not be able to fly." Aku said as he shape-shifted into the form of a dragon. Discord liked the idea of his new ally being able to shape-shift, he had ideas of ponies running scared from the new dragon looking creature before him.
"Wow, what a trick, can you also breath fire?" Discord now started to smile uncontrollably.
"Yes, but lets save that for the right moment." Aku said now smiling as well.
"We should be close already, we could start with the pitiful town ahead. Just think of the possibilities in the department of the sweet, sweet chaos. Then we could focus on the castle on the mountain there." Discord said pointed toward the castle on the mountain side, a bright light seemed to land on one of the towers."Ah, the guest of honor has just arrived to the party, do you see that small light on the tower, that is the princess. She takes control of the sun, if she can't raise the sun in the morning, that will make all the ponies in Equestria cringe with fear."
"Well, you can take the town and ruin it as you please, I would like to take the castle, we cannot have you destroying our new home." Aku said as he grinned even more. "I am sure if what you told me about the royal guard is true, then they should be but another pest to brush away."
They nodded toward each other and flew toward the city of Canterlot. The ponies on the ground below could already see the two flying toward the city as they all started to panic, the sight of Discord and a very large dark dragon next to him terrified the poor ponies, the royal guard stood in attention as they prepared for a fierce fight.
Discord had landed at the town gate, while Aku kept flying toward the castle. The guards were quickly discouraged by the sight of two ghastly looking beasts that were ready to attack the only line of defense between them and royalty, and they could only focus on one at a time, they could only hope that the castle had enough soldiers to hold off a dragon.
Discord held on to the city gate and turned it into an indefinable sludge, he then proceeded to grab the nearest pony and tossed it toward the closest guard. All the guards started to rush the horrid beast, but Discord had now placed his hands on the ground, turning it into a sticky substance that held the guards and any nearby ponies in place.
"Ha ha, your all sticky." Discord said as he flew toward the town square hoping to find some more guards to annoy.
The ponies that lived in Canterlot had lost it, any pony who had not fainted were running in any direction to save themselves. The royal guard who were not stuck to the ground were still rushing toward Discord, unaware of his true power.
Discord needed only to flail his arms at breakneck speeds to cause large amounts of chaos, clouds turned pink, city streets turned to rubber, houses started to float in the air, and the ponies of Canterlot were already feeling a strong sense of sadness from seeing their home town turned to an unrecognizable sight.
Meanwhile, back at the castle...
Aku had morphed back to his original form as he fell through the tinted glass, shattering it. "Well, I guess that could be fixed later on, I have better thing on my mind, like how to defeat every single one you that stands before me." Aku said as he looked at the few soldiers that stood in the royal hall. "My, so much room to become more that I already am. This is just splendid." Aku said as he started to increase in size, the already intimidated guard shrunk, they had never seen such a horrible beast, let alone fight something this ghastly.
The royal guard charged at Aku, until they were scooped up in his extremely large hands, and then he flung them one by one at the other guards who were too shaken by the sight of Aku to attack him.
"My this is just to easy. I might have to give these poor creatures more of a chance." Aku said as he flung the remaining ponies in his hand at the large door before him. He tried to open the door, but it would not budge. "Well now, I do not need a door to my new throne room anyhow." Aku said as he blew a large green flame. The flame turned the door to ash in a matter of moments, only to reveal a handful of shaking soldiers and one large, pure white alicorn.
"What is this, and what are you!?" Celestia demanded.
"Well now, for royalty, you sure are no better that your screaming subjects. You really do not deserve such a large kingdom if you cannot act in a royal manor." Aku said as he extended his arm to grab the only solider that dared to charge him. He decided not to humiliate the soldiers in-front of their princess, so he only threw the poor soldier over his shoulder.
"How dare you attack me in my own home." Celestia said as her horn started to glow a pure white.
Aku was surprised to feel himself being pushed back, but it did not phase him. He simply continued to walk forward at a slower pace. Celestia was shocked, even her magic could stop Discord from moving, but why was this creature able to elude her grasp.
"I see you are able to use a telekinetic force, just like my ally Discord had informed me. My how rude of me, my name is Aku, and I ask you to leave this beautiful castle before I have to do with you like I did you're men." Aku said as he glared into the worried eyes of Celestia.
Celestia was still not ready to give into the demands of the dark beast before her, until a familiar beast a came walking through the empty door frame. She had flown up in hopes to escape the two demonic entity's, before Aku grabbed her leg and pulled her toward him .
"Hey Aku, what happened to not destroying our new castle, and did you grow by any chance?" Discord asked half serious.
"There has been a change of plan, besides, look at the prize I have won." Aku said as he lifted the shaking pony in his hand. Celestia still did not know the true extent of the power Aku held, but all she knew is the feeling of a heavy presence of magic coming from him, and along with Discord, she new she could not win.
"Should we imprison her along with the rest of the soldiers, or should we banish her out of the city altogether?" Discord said as he rubbed his chin. He never had an attempted to mess with the princess before, he reviled in the fact that he had his greatest enemy in his mercy.
Celestia was in shock, was she really defeated by some unrecognizable creature of immense power and her worst enemy. She only then thought of the well being of her kingdom, she worried for the safety of her subjects and worst of all, she worried for the well being of her apprentice and her friends, she knew that they would most likely come to try and defeat these two evil beasts. She knew that they could easily defeat Discord with the Elements of Harmony, but she did not know if they could even think of defeating the dark creature that called himself Aku.
"Imprison her, I would like to see her face as her kingdom molds into my grasp." Aku said as he clenched his fist before his face.
"You seem to like for ponies to suffer before you. I can safely say that could make for some interesting chaos." Discord said as he grabbed Celestia from Aku's hand. "How would you like to be stuck in stone for close to a thousand years, you don't like the idea now do you?" Discord asked Celestia in a mocking tone as he shoke her violently.
Aku looked at his ally, Discord had started to revile in the fun behind more evil intentions, he did not let endless chaos cloud his mind as much as he had before.
"Well now that we have control of the castle, why don't you and I go and imprison all these pests." Discord said as he looked at all incapacitated soldiers. "And especially this high grade cretin." Discord said as he turned to the pure white pony in his hand.
"Why should we bother to do this ourselves, did you not say a while back that you're specialty was mind tricks? Could you not take over the mind's of the soldiers and make them work for us?"
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot I could do that!" Discord said as he picked up one of the soldiers. He looked into the eyes of the shaking pony, until his eyes started to glow a sickly green. The soldier's eyes soon took the same color as Discords. He put the soldier down with confidence. "Now start to bring me more soldiers." Discord said as he started to pick up other soldiers and performing his trick on them as well.
The soldier he had put down was now walking toward other soldiers and pulling them toward his new-found master.
'This could lead to a new army, rather than those troublesome robots I had to make before. But I still can make them at will, so maybe a small amount of help couldn't hurt. ' Aku said as he crossed his arms with a grin.
"So, how do you think we should deal with our most prominent problem, those pitiful element bearers, and that Jack of yours?"
"I would think those soldiers of you'res could do nicely, along with some other surprises I could put in their path, beforehand I must know this, how far away is this Ponyville if we are to stall, if not end them."
"Hand on there Aku, you need to think about this, you talk about Jack as if he is some worm when he almost beat you in a fight, and to be honest, the mane six should not be messed with either, so talk about ending them would have to wait until they are fighting us directly. The best I could do is to mess with the roads leading to Canterlot from the Everfree, they wouldn't take the path from Ponyville, they will discover why in the "Morning" Discord burst out laughing at his last word's.
"Yes, I see, I could disperse some soldiers to delay them, along with another surprise that my friend Jack knows all to well." Aku said as he started to laugh along with Discord.
"Now that we have our plan, we should really think about redecorating, this place is such a boring white, let's make it several colors." Discord started to wave his arms like a mad man with Celestia still in his grasp. The castle walls started to change into several different colors ranging from a light orange to a dark cerulean.
"Shouldn't we put our guest into a cell as soon as possible?"
"Ah yes, you can take care of that, her magic can barely contain a demon the likes of you." Discord said as he tossed Celestia like a bean bag toward Aku.
"Yes, I shall take care of this post hast." Aku said as he walked down the royal hallway with two controlled soldiers leading him to the dungeon.
...
Jack awoke with a gasp, he was still unsure of the events that had transpired the day before, until he looked at the blood blotched wrap that was around his arm, his still free hair, and his torn up robe. He sighed and looked at the small clock that adorned the top of Fluttershy's door. It was early morning. He decided to go outside and meditate like he did most mornings.
As he opened the door, he noticed something very odd, the sun was not out, and there were the six ponies looking up at the sky. 'They must be really transfixed with the stars out tonight, it is very beautiful. ' Jack thought to himself as he walked up to the six only to sit next to Twilight. He sat there for a moment before fixing his hair and thinking of asking another question about the world, was their night time usually this long?
He looked over to Twilight, and he got a look of confusion as he saw the terrified face's of the six ponies that stood beside him. "Might I ask if your night is really this long?" Jack was hopping for a good answer, but he only got a few unsure grunts.
"No, never had the night been so long, the only thing I could think of is if... Oh no." Twilight said with a gasp, she had already known what had happened, but she was still in disbelief of the whole situation.
The other mares still stood there with wide eyes and and jaws extended, they did not think Discord could dethrone the princess alone, so their thoughts all went to the one thing they could think of, the one thing that could make any sense, the creature that Jack had talked about the day before had meet Discord and joined up with him to dethrone the princess. They could only fathom the power of Aku if he could take down Celestia.
"Jack, you mind telling me what sort of creature you're foe Aku is, if he could defeat Celestia, then I could only imagine what a challenge it would be to subdue him"
"He is no natural creature, he is what we call a demon, his most definable trait is that he can shape shift."
"Shape shift, into what exactly?"
"I have yet to see all of his transformations, but he has many."
"Which is the one we should worry about the most?"
"His dragon form."
Those last word struck Twilight, were they really dealing with something as deadly as dragon, along with Discord, who knows how much destruction they have caused as of late.
"Have you been able to defeat him before?"
Jack could only lower his head. Jack had been so close to defeating Aku so many times that he lost count, Aku would always shape sift into another form and escape, Jack does not know why Aku decided to teleport him this time, maybe Aku had grow tired of Jacks constant attempts to defeat him, or maybe he was toying with Jack as he usually did.
"This is bad, girls, we better start heading toward Canterlot if we are to save Celestia." Twilight said with determination.
"But how can we, look." Rainbow Dash said she pointed toward the now completely floating Ponyville, They new that Discord would cause random chaos, but this beyond insanity.
"I guess we could go through the Everfree." Twilight said with a shudder, she knew of all the things that lurked in the Everfree, but she did not know the path from the Everfree to Canterlot so well. She knew that it would be a long walk to Canterlot without even a map to guide them.
"How could a dreaded beast such as Discord posses such power?" Rarity said in disbelief.
"I just hope he doesn't hurt any of the poor animals." Fluttershy was already shaken from the sight of the elongated night, the last thing she wanted to hear was that they needed to go into the Everfree. That feeling was shared with her friends and maybe even Jack, he did not know exactly what resided in the Everfree, but he did not let his minor fear get to him.
"Do you even have a map Twilight dear?"
"No Rarity, but even if we don't have one, we as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were chosen to protect Equestria from any danger that might overcome it, even if we have to deal with this new demon Jack was talking about."
The six turned to Jack, his head still hung down. He could not bear the thought that he might have caused such a catastrophic event as the capture and possible death of these ponies leader.
"We should start heading out, who knows how long it will be before they decide to hurt the princess, Jack will you be able to take care of this Aku thing?" Twilight asked with hope.
Jack only nodded, he grew even more hatred for Aku every moment he resided in this alien planet, he knew that if he did not end Aku's rain this time, that it would cost a planet for another poor race of creatures.
"Right then, we should get going, any ideas on how we should start off?" Twilight was hoping that her ally's would have some sort of knowledge of the Everfree she did not posses, for she only read about it in her several books and had prior knowledge from her last visit to the Everfree in search of The Elements of Harmony. She knew that her friends had gone into the forsaken place more that their fair share of times.
"We could start off by runnin through the Everfree." Applejack said half serious.
"Yeah, yeah, lets just go" Twilight said minorly annoyed.
...
Celestia was still dumbfounded by the events that day, she sit there, in her own cell made to house the worst criminals in Equestria that had been released by Aku to serve as mercenaries for Aku's cause. She did not know the true intent of this dark being, but she could only hope the Elements of Harmony would defeat even the likes of Aku.
"My dear, you do not have to worry, your kingdom is in the hands of a skillful dictator such as myself, you subjects will fall in line and bow to their new master."
Those words reverberated through her head like a wild fire. What did Aku mean by skillful dictator, was he really planing on ruling Equestria with such malice towards her species. Aku had said he loathed pony kind for their attachment to such a horrible leader, he only said that because he was angry for the lack of prisoners in her castle, but it still made Celestia feel all the more terrible for the wrong reasons.
Meanwhile, in the throne room...
"You do realize these guys are the worst and only criminals in current Equestrian history. What do you want to do with these guys?" Discord said as he looked at the five angry and exited ponies before him.
One was the dreaded Pony Slicer, the only known pony killer. The next was Olivia Greed, the first one to try and steal the gems in Castle Canterlot with her two grunts. And the worst of all, the only one to use magic to try and destroy Canterlot Castle, Xavier Dark Beard.
"We can assure them a role in ruling our new kingdom, they can work to distract our little problem." Aku said as he looked at the five.
"We can assure you that our work is top notch, but I can't be sure about these two ruffians." Olivia said in her very elegant manor. She was a white mare with dark streaks in her red mane. Her two lackeys were very large stallions, one had a creamy yellow coat with a light indigo mane, and the other was a pegasi that had a darker red coat with a violet mane, they were intimidating for the regular Canterlot citizen, but to Aku, he thought they were cute.
"Just because they caught me in the act of a murder does not mean I can't work right!" Slicer said in his usual spastic manor, he was not the most elegant equine, and he could not stop his eyes from darting in all directions. His dim orange coat still had blotches from old blood stains, and his cerulean mane was frizzy and long.
"My, you two could not bother trying to comprehend how much time it took to summon all the magic I used to try and destroy this place. You two could never stoop to my level." Xavier said in his usual conceited manor. He had a dark copper colored coat that was only contrasted by his jet black mane, and true to his name, his beard hung freely in-front his body.
"Enough, all of you, you shall not bicker in the presence of your new master!" Aku yelled to get the attention of the arguing ponies before him. "Discord, you know what to do." Aku said as he motioned to Discord to take control of the mind of his new minions.
Discord stood there looking into the eyes of the five, hoping for his trick to work on multiple ponies at once. His eyes started to gleam the all to familiar sickly green glow that took the minds of the soldiers that surrounded them.
Suddenly, the five stood at attention, they did not know what had happened, all they knew is that they were not the ones controlling their own minds, their original selves sat at the back of their minds, screaming and hollering at the dark visage before them, they could see everything that the visage could see, but they could not control their actions.
"Yes, their minds are just as malleable as the rest, how pathetic. I never expected the most notorious criminals in all this land to be just as weak as the rest, at least that works to our benefit, does it not?" Aku said with a smirk.
The five now stood in attention, ready to receive orders from their new master, Aku and Discord could only laugh, they new the fruits of their destruction of Equestria were about to come full circle with these new minions.
"What can we do for you master?" Olivia asked in an emotionless tone.
"Well Discord, you seem to know the land more than I, so I will allow you to give them the orders, just please think strategy, not in the terms of chaos."
Discord could only smirk, he knew that these five criminals were the best of the worst, so all he would have to do is give them the order and they would easily eliminate the trouble at hand. "Olivia, you and your goons go to Manehatten, were our problem will be headed if I have anything to do with it, and I will. Slicer, you head to the outskirts of the Everfree and give our problem a little surprise. As for you Xavier, you can stay here and guard me and Aku, you with you're knowledge of magic could do wonders when they come and attack." Discord pointed to the direction of the castle gate, and the five went on their way.
"You think they can eliminate our little problem, Aku?"
"Oh yes, Jack is still weak from our last bout, and those ponies you told me about have little to no experience in combat, correct? Then yes, Jack and you're pests will be begging for their lives before they even reach Manehatten." Aku could only laugh at the thought of finally getting rid of Jack and having a planet he could finally claim as his own without competition.
...
End chapter 2
The walk through the forest was darker than before, the only light that lingered in the Everfree was the light emanating from the horns of Twilight and Rarity. The six mares shoke lightly at the sounds of the residents of the Everfree, the only one who seemed calm was Jack, he did not ever let fear overcome him, after all his experiences in several fights he had learned how to stay calm in the face of danger. The slightest rustle would send a shock down the ponies spines, they knew of the lingering dangers that resided in the forest, from the very common timberwolf to the very deadly manticore, the only other thing that worried them more than the residents of the forest was their lack of knowledge of the area, that fact made the trip ever more terrifying for the mares.
"This place sure is creepy at this time of night" Fluttershy said with a slight shake in her voice.
"Yeah, well it should be morning." Rainbow Dash said in a joking tone, trying to calm the light gold mare, but it only furthered the fact that Celestia might have been captured, making the six even more unsure if this journey was pointless, how could they even think of taking on a beast that could defeat the most powerful pony in all of Equestria.
They were only reassured by the presence of Jack, he seemed calm, but inside he was enraged by Aku's blatant disregard for the feeling of the poor ponies of this planet, he had fought Aku several times before, and this time he was determined to kill the evil entity, he was sick of the bloodshed Aku had strewn across several worlds, now including these ponies planet, the six had told Jack of the relative peace their planet lived by, but it seemed when there was a bad situation that it would always escalate to almost horrid levels of insanity.
"Yes, I guess so." Fluttershy said halfheartedly.
The seven kept on walking for a while, discussing a plan on how they would save the princess and defeat the two evil entitys that now resided in the castle of their beloved princesses. Princesses... That word described it all.
"Hold on girls, we have completely forgotten about Princess Luna, oh no, we should have thought this through better and remembered about Luna." Twilight said in shock of her ignorance, she and the six stopped for a moment while Jack continued walking without noticing the others.
He was stuck in thought of what type of plan Aku would have this time to evade him, Aku would not be able to try the portal trick again as he would need to regain his magical power to its full strength to try that again.
"Jack, hold on now, we need to think of something real quick!" Applejack called to him.
Jack turned to face Applejack, he was just snapped out of his trance, unknowing of the current situation. He could only walk back toward the group, still confused.
"Now then, what could we think as of now, the moon is still up, so she couldn't have noticed it by now, she does live in another location in the castle, so the only hope is that she is still asleep in her room, far away from any violence." Twilight said unsure.
"Now who could sleep through such a large amount of noise such as her sister being ponynapped!" Rarity said in disbelief.
"You could be surprised, Spike would always sleep through the loudest of study sessions."
Suddenly, a heavy rustling fills the air, the six mares suddenly stop in their tracks, what could it be that is making such a loud noise, it seemed to be coming from several directions, what could make such a noise from several directions?
"Twilight, what is this thing!?" Rarity asked
"I don't know, I haven't even seen it!" Twilight said loudly back.
Out of nowhere, a timberwolf seemed to jump from a nearby bush.
Jack noticed it, was this thing made of... wood? He had no time to ponder, the thing seemed to pounce toward Applejack. Jack took action, he quickly took his blade and slashed the creature right on the side, launching it onto the floor, only a small amount of tree sap seemed to come from the wound.
"No, please don't hurt them, they are only hungry is all!" Fluttershy yelled at Jack.
Now why could Fluttershy try to defend this beast that tried to defend the beast that wanted to make her friend into a tasty snack? Jack could only ponder such an idea, before more timberwolfs seemed to walk calmly out of the nearby foliage and toward the group, they stopped to see their fallen member on the ground, heavily breathing and lightly bleeding their version of blood. The timberwolfs then started to circle the group, looking for the slightest weakness in their formation, which consisted of the six huddled around Jack.
Jack could only stand in his usual fighting stance, waiting for the next of these unfamiliar creatures to pounce and make the mistake their last number had made.
They grew angry and even more vicious at the sight of their fallen number, they could only pounce at the huddled group one by one. Jack was not one to show hesitation, he had slashed three more in the few moments that they were surrounded. The mares that surrounded him were frozen in fear, they had never been caught in the dreaded circle of these horrifying creatures.
"Jack please, stop hurting these poor animals, they are just looking for some food!" Fluttershy yelled. Jack could not help but look at her, why was she so prepared to defend such vicious creatures.
With Fluttershy's yell, the timberwolfs launched themselves at the group, Jack could only jump from the middle of the group of ponies and start to slash as quickly as possible. The six were astounded at how fast he was slashing, they had only seen such speed whenever Rainbow Dash flew.
Jacks precise cuts always hit, never missing a single hit, he was very rarely this focused this much, only when the lives of others were on the line. He finished of the last of the timberwolfs with a sigh, he knew he had upset one of the few mares in the shaking huddle that was stationed around the slurry of timberwolfs carcasses. They were in lighter words shocked, they had never seen such a display of violence before.
The six could only stare at the scene, what sort of pony would just slaughter all of those innocent creatures? They could only ponder that idea before another one struck them, he only protected them, they did not think this beforehand due to such a hasty introduction to such a violent concept.
Jack was covered in tree sap, he was unusually sticky and he loathed the feeling of the sap. He rubbed his blade once on his torn kimono to remove any remaining sap before he sheathed his blade. He turned to the six mares, they were still in shock. "I am sorry you had to see that, I did not want to see any one else hurt." Jack said warmly, he was aware that they had never seen such violence, the mares could only stare as he turned to keep walking.
The six mares could only follow, they were now unsure of Jack, they never took the time to fully analyze his intentions, they were still unsure of what he truly wanted by tracking Aku, did he only chase him to absorb his power and rule with an even harder fist, or did he truly want to liberate the princesses.
"Um, mister Jack, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why did Aku do such a thing to you and your village?"
Jack could only clutch his blade harder than before, he did not ever think of the intentions of his foe, why did Aku do such a thing, did he only do such things for the fact that he had the power, or did he have another goal in mind. "I wish I could tell you, but I have never pondered that, I could never think of a reason for his actions, nor do I wish to talk of it, such things are something that only a madman could think of."
Twilight looked at him in such a confused fashion, why did Aku do such things, she had never encountered such a madman. "Then why do you want to defeat him?"
Jack stomped his foot, why did she ask that, did he not explain in full detail how his village was completely destroyed by that horrid creature. He did not bother answering such a simple question. Twilight saw the stone expression on the man, and backed down from the question.
...
Luna awoke with a comfortable roll, and then she realized something was wrong, where was the usual blinding light that seeped through her window. She started to gaze at the still night sky, why did Celestia shirk her task like this, she was nearly fuming as she walked out her door.
The guards just stood there, staring at her, they were not told to do anything to this princess and they decided to not act on their own accord to not anger their new master.
"Celestia, how dare you leave our poor subjects without the warmth of the sun !" Luna yelled from the top of the stairs leading into the throne room.
"Discord, might I ask who that annoying voice belongs to?" Aku asked in the most annoyed of tones.
Discord only looked at the stairway that lead to the other side of the castle. "Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that Celestia had a sister?" He said as he ran his left hand through his hair, he seemed calm about the whole thing. "She is weaker than her sister, so could you please take care of her, it is my turn on the throne."
Aku looked at him with a glare. "How could you forget something so important as the most powerful entity in the land's sister? You blithering oaf!"
"Who resides in the room that is my sisters?! " Luna no longer held anger for her sister, she now held it for the one familiar voice that come from under her, and the other more menacing voice that she did not recognize. She started to gallop faster with anticipation for a fierce fight.
As Luna walked through the stairway exit, she was meet with a very powerful hand at her neck, she did not feel choked, but she did feel pressure.
"How dare you attack royalty !" Were the only words she could muster before she felt herself be dropped for a moment, before she felt herself being grabbed by the mouth.
"My, you talk so awfully loud for such a small creature." Aku said with an evil cackle, he did not bother with the respect he shown Celestia, he had only gotten up and was ready to throw her in another cell, he was to smart to place the two in the same cell.
All Luna could do was talk some muffled words, she thought to use some magic to prevent Aku from moving, but he seemed to move just fine even within the her grasp, she could only think of one more trick. She started to charge up the very powerful knock out blast, she was not one to use offense magic, but at this point, she had no choice.
Aku quickly saw the magic welling within her horn, he knew the implications of being hit with whatever magic she was preparing, after his encounter with some other royal guard. He went to grab Luna's horn, knowing what to expect.
Luna's magic was immediately canceled. She could only move violently in Aku's grasp in fear of the unfamiliar creature, she was terrified, what would they do to her, what have they done with her sister, was she ever going to even see her again? She did not question the health or well-being of her sister for to long as she saw Celestia trapped in the cell in front of the one she was thrown in "Sister, oh my goodness! Are you alright?!"
Celestia weakly lifted her head, she let out a small cough and a wheeze "Yes Lulu, i'm alright, don't worry about me, are you alright?" Celestia said weakly.
Luna only rubbed her sore neck where Aku had grasped her with all his might "I will live."
"Aww, how touching." Aku said as he turned to walk out of the cell block.
"Wait *cough* who are you *cough* and why are you attacking us." Luna said with one more cough.
"Well, I need somewhere to stay in my time here, and what place is better than a castle that is owned by the rulers of the lands." Aku said in a mocking tone "And you're adversary Discord said it needed to be done, I am the owner of this land now, and we will run it as we please." Aku said with a grin. "As for who I am, it is not important at the moment." Aku said as he walked out.
"So tell me, were they as annoying as I had told you?" Discord said with a snicker as he waited for his companion outside of the cell room.
"Yes, very much so." Aku said with annoyance in his voice.
"So, what are we to do now? We have been here waiting all day. We should go out and cause chaos!" Discord said in a giddy tone.
"You can go ahead, I will stay here and contemplate on what to do with our new land." Aku said as he sat on Celestia's throne.
"Fine then, you can stay here and be boring, have you ever thought about just wreaking havoc for the fun of it, just think of it!" Discord said as he moved closer to Aku with his hands clasped.
"I have other uses for my powers, but you can do as you please." Aku said as he dismissed Discord.
"Whatever buddy." Discord said as he appeared next to Aku and punched him in the shoulder, and quickly teleported to... who knows where? Aku just sat there, thinking of what precious resources and other valuable things that this planet had for the taking.
...
The group kept walking for what seemed like hours, they were tired and scared. After their encounter with the timber wolfs, they had strayed too far from the familiar dirt path that lead to the center of the forest and out the other side, they did back track for some time, but they could not find their path of origin like they had hoped.
"So... what are we even going to do when we get to the castle? I mean, if this "Aku" guy is strong enough to trap Celestia, how are we even going to take this guy on?" Rainbow asked with a heavy heart, ever since she froze in fear from the timber wolfs, she felt terrible for not helping Jack with his fight, she had always help her friends in bad situations, but she did not know why she froze like she did.
"I don't know, I mean, what could Aku have done to them anyway?" Applejack asked with a hoof on her chin.
"Jack, do you have anything to add?" Twilight asked with curiosity. Jack only shoke his head, he was not sure what he could have done, he had only been there for a day and he still didn't know much of this world. "Well, what do you think he did?"
"Imprisonment." Jack said coldly.
"Where could he have imprisoned them?" Twilight asked, she was used to people being locked up in the castle, but what about some... other methods she was not used to. "Moon " That word ran through her head at light speed, she worried that Aku could have sent them to the moon, she was still not aware of Aku's true power. Jack only lowered his head in indifference.
"This is bad, where the heck is a clearing when you need one!" Rainbow yelled in frustration.
"I could show you one." A voice rang through the forest in the very moment Rainbow finished her yell. All the ponies froze, the voice was raspy and raw, it also had a hint of madness that only resided in the worst of ponies.
"Who-o's there?" Rainbow dash weakly called.
"Oh... nobody important." The voice seemed closer than before, and now a heavy breathing filled the air. Twilight intensified the light that emanated from her horn in hopes that she could see the thing in question, but to no avail. "How cute, the ones that use magic are always the most fun to slaughter." A loud forced slurp was suddenly heard.
"H-h-help." A meek voice called from behind the group. They all turned to see a frighting sight of their friend Fluttershy, being held by an unfamiliar earth stallion.
"What did I tell you about talking?" The stallion said as he prodded her flank with his knife. Fluttershy gasped, he had kept the knife at her side for a while, but feeling the cold steel lightly puncture her skin gave her a shock.
"Fluttershy!" The five mares called in horror.
"Ahh, so that's her name, how adorable." The stallion said as he removed the knife from her flank to her neck. "I want to see you all dance for me."
"What?!" Rarity yelled in disgust.
"I said dance... or I will make her into confetti." The stallion said as he placed the flat of his blade onto her cheek. Fluttershy was now lightly sobbing, her nostrils were caked with mucus.
"Twilight do something!" Applejack yelled in worry.
"If you even dare use magic, I will remove your starswirl glands myself... and what is that hairless ape with you? Or has my mind finally snapped worse than before?" The stallion said with a cackle.
"How did you even find us?!" Twilight angrily yelled at the stallion.
"My new friend told me to find you and... well... do I really have to say it?" The stallion said as he twirled the knife in his hoof. "This tall black thing with a goatee, I thought I had gone completely insane all over again when he came to release me from the castle, now my buddy Discord dropped me off here and said to do what I please with the six that trapped him in stone."
Twilight looked at him in shock "A-are you the... Pony Slasher?" Twilight said weakly.
"Does anyone remember my real name anymore? And yes, I am the Pony Slasher." Slasher said as he placed the knife back to Fluttershy's neck. "And are you Celestia's protegee, Twilight Sparkle by any chance?" Twilight only nodded "I remember seeing you as a filly, so small and adorable. The small ones are the most fun to torture you know." Slasher said as he licked his lips.
Jack had enough, he gripped his blade and got into a fighting stance, ready to charge at Slasher. "Hey, tell you're pet to calm down before I have my way with this one." Slicer said as he placed more pressure on Fluttershy's neck.
"Jack, please don't do anything you will regret, he has our friend and the last thing we need is for her to die." Twilight said as a tear ran down her cheek. Jack paid no mind, he just squatted even more, bending his knees. "Jack, please stop!" Twilight yelled as Jack jumped high into the air toward the Slasher.
...
Chapter end
Requiem of a Mad Stallion
Five minutes... it had been a whole five minutes since Jack had jumped out of sight, he had somehow jumped up near the canopy of the dense forest. The six waited in fear, they did not know what Jack was planning or if it would even work to their advantage.
"Alright, this is getting real boring, which one of you will be first to feel my blade, besides her of course, it's no fun when their knocked out like this." Slasher said as he lowered the blade to Fluttershy's stomach. Fluttershy had been in his grasp for more than ten minutes, she had completely lost consciousnesses when she thought Jack would have attacked Slasher. He griped her mane in his other hoof and tossed her aside, he carefully eyed the closest pony that was nearly next to him. He grabbed Rarity's mane with all his might and pulled her toward him with a malicious smile.
"AHH! LET GO OF ME YOU RUFFIAN!
"Now why would I do that." A sudden cackle bellowed from the stallions throat. "Your real pretty, I should take my time with you." Slasher then started to run the blunt side of the knife up her body. Her friends were now looking in horror as they saw one of their best friends in the clutches of this deranged stallion.
They turned to see Fluttershy laying limply on a nearby tree, without knowledge of what had happened in those few minutes they had waited for Jack, they had thought her dead. Now filled with rage and sorrow, they were about to charge at the stallion.
"Oh no, you don't want to do that now do you, why would you waste the life of another one of your friends so quickly? It is a shame that you all could care less about this one." Slasher then placed the point of the blade pointing up toward Rarity's chin. "So stand back and enjoy the show."
Slashers hoof started to wander around Rarity's body, he was heavily breathing and lightly twitching as he let himself fell her soft and well kept coat on his ruff hoof. Rarity started to worriedly twitch, she felt his hoof run across her body, she started to struggle slightly, before she felt a sharp pain rush from her flank. She felt a small amount of cold steel inside her left flank.
"Don't make this harder than it has to..." Suddenly, a rustle could be heard from above the pair of twitching bodies. Slasher looked up with a grin, he dashed backwards in anticipation for the sudden attack.
Jack emerged from the very top of the canopy, he saw that Slasher had dashed backwards, Jack then moved his blade quick enough to just stab the sword into the wet soil next to Rarity, causing her to faint. Jack looked at her, he felt worry, but his face only showed a powerful anger he held for the mad stallion behind him.
"Come on now, do you really think that you are the only one who can be quick?" Slasher said as Jack pulled the blade from the earth. "And do you think that you're the only one that can use steel like a master? My cutie mark is a damn knife!" Slasher said as he flung his knife from his mouth and grabbed it with his hoof. "Being insane is no reason to be utterly stupid right?" Slasher said with a mocking shrug.
Slasher then charged Jack, his knife made contact with Jacks blade, small sparks flew from the two twisting blades. Both looked into each other's eyes, Jack showed his angrily clasped teeth while Slasher only showed a twisted smirk. They both lunged backwards and charged again.
Slasher moved quick enough to dodge Jacks incoming blade, but still got a small gash still got slashed between his ribs while Jack only got a small stab to the leg, causing him to stagger. Slasher took the opportunity to turn and buck Jack into the nearest tree. It took him a moment to notice the shooting pain that suddenly rushed around his body.
"Gah! That sword of your's packs a punch Jackie boy!" Slasher said as he placed his hoof over the wound. He slowly moved the hoof over to his mouth and he licked the blood off it. "Wow, I do taste good don't I? I wish I could make some cupcakes of me, but now is not the time."
Slasher then positioned his knife to point it toward Jack "So why the hell have you not said anything? Pony got your tongue? Well, if your not going to use it, then let me take it off your hands, Okay?" Slasher said as he lunged toward Jack. Jack quickly dodged and lunged toward Slasher. Slasher quickly took the opportunity to buck Jack again, sending him flying upwards. Jack then twirled in mid-air, positioning himself to drive his blade through Slasher's skull. Slasher darted back, still getting a small cut on the end of his nose.
Slasher paid no mind to the cut on his nose, he simply lapped the blood away with his tongue. He then threw his knife up in the air, catching it in his mouth. He then started to walk around Jack, in an attempt to intimidate him. Jack paid no mind to his sudden movement, he simply arced his blade over his head in a fighting stance. Slasher only gave a hollow snicker.
"Come then Jackie boy, do you really think this could go your way? I think not." Slasher then rushed into a nearby bush, startling the others who stood close to the scene.
"Jack... why did you just let him go like that!" Dash yelled at the biped.
Jack did not respond, he completely blocked her voice from his mind, he placed close attention towards the surrounding environment, the smallest leaf crunch could be heard from the longest distance at this point. Jack's eyes suddenly widened. Making the four standing ponies tense up and freeze. Jack quickly turned with his blade in his hand, he quickly slanted the blade in front of his body in anticipation for the attack that would soon fall upon him. Slasher emerged from the bushes with a bloodcurdling scream with his knife still placed between his teeth. Jack quickly blocked the attack and launched the pony in the air. Jack saw Slasher wince in pain as Jack sent a hard kick into the chest of the pony.
With that kick, Jack aimed the blade straight for the very center of Slashers chest. Jack pushed the blade right through the middle of Slashers chest. Slasher let out a pained moan as he felt the cold sharp steel penetrate his body, he looked at Jack as he held the blade that now impaled him. He suddenly let out a bellowing laugh.
"You're good Jackie Boy." Slasher then coughed up some blood "Better than the royal guard even, you should feel proud. It's to bad I couldn't have the pleasure of tasting... whatever you're called. You look so fleshy and tasty..." And with is last breath, Slasher tried to let out one more chuckle to leave his impression on the few who looked on, but it died in infancy. He only slumped there, in the few moments before Jack retrieved his blade from the chest cavity of Slasher, who now lay on the ground, lightly bleeding from his fresh wound.
Jack then shook his blade in an attempt to rid his blade of any blood that ran down it. The four that stood plastered to the ground near the scene looked in awe and horror, they have never seen anypony just die right in front of them, especially after such a brutal battle.
"That was awesome! Like one of those guys in a play or something! How do you move so fast?" Dash started. Jack payed no mind, he simply walked over to the two unconscious bodies of Rarity and Fluttershy, picking them up over each of his shoulders. He then continues to walk down the path that they had originally followed without a word.
The rest looked on, and decided it would be best to just follow the samurai on the same path, he had risked his own life to defend them, something that has never happened. It was usually them that had to save others from situations like this, even all of Equestria that time Nightmare Moon came back.
They stared at Jack in awe, he simply continued to walk as if nothing happened, his stone expression staying firm on his face. He even showed no struggle in carrying the two mares that slumped on his shoulders. Twilight went straight to Jacks side, waiting for the moment that Rarity and Fluttershy would wake up in order to inform them of what has just transpired.
Applejack continued to walk, trying to get the sight of Slasher's dead body out of her head. Rainbow Dash did not bother think to much on the prospect of killing, she rather wanted to learn how to move that fast on her hooves. Twilight wanted to learn how he could move his blade that fast, or how he got so nimble even when he looked minorly buff. And Pinkie Pie, as usual, was blissfully unaware.
"Um, Jack? How did you learn to be so fluent in your fighting style?"
"Practice" Is all Jack replied.
Twilight was about to ask another question, but remembered he did not bother answer many questions. She still had no idea why she expected him to 'eyup' to all of her questions.
...
Discord kept flying, throwing random amounts of chaos magic in every strip of road to confuse the few ponies who would walk down this path in a while. Olivia Greed and her two lackeys sit on Discords waving back. She sat there, motionless, still under Discords spell.
"Well my dear, you sure are quiet, any reason?" Discord asked, trying to start up a conversation.
"Well, I do not bother talk to work partners, it seems to create unwanted relationships at times, and if one of us were to meet an untimely demise, then it would make matters worse."
"Care to elaborate?" Discord asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I do not wish to talk of such useless matters, what happened is in the past, nor do I wish to relive it." Olivia said as she looked away from Discord.
"Well, that is a shame, isn't it?" Discord said as he rubbed his chin, his eyes quickly started to have green rings run around his eyes.
As soon as Olivia looked at Discord, she felt a surge of mind control energy flash around her body. She suddenly felt compelled to tell him now. "Well, these two are not the only companions that I had, I remember when I had another, my third companion." She started to look away. "He was very close to me for a time."
"Colt friend I presume?" Discord said in as he continued to rub his chin.
"You could say that, we did have a sort of relationship, but I do not like to discuss matters of the past. Bad memories and all."
"I guess you can say that, but maybe you should open up a bit, its not good to bottle up your emotions like that."
Olivia was shocked, she never expected to be getting any sort of help from the god of chaos. "Well, I guess I could let you know some things." She let out a heavy sigh, not wanting to give him any sort of information, but forced to do so.
"It all started when I first became part of some mercenary group, that is were I learned were to fight and most of my leadership skills. That is also were I meet him, the stallion of my dreams, he was the one of the leaders of the group, but he did not like the ideals of the group as a whole." Discord already began to snicker. This caught Olivia's attention, her trance broken by the now fully and heartily laughing Discord.
"Well I never! I expected better behavior from the god of chaos." Olivia snapped as she crossed her hoofs.
"Wait, wait, wait. Your serious, let me laugh even harder." Is all Discord said before he started to howl with laughter. Olivia only rolled her eyes at his antics. "Oh, don't be so blue. You don't seem like the type to care about such stupid things like love anyhow."
"Looks can be deceiving, correct? I rest my case." Olivia said as she started to whisper something to one of her lackeys, he slowly nodded.
"Don't think of doing anything hasty, the last thing you need is to fall from this height."
Olivia only stomped her hoof rather hard on Discords back, forgetting where she was for a moment. She suddenly covered her face with her hoofs in fear. Discord twisted his head around to his back, looking down at the mare. "You think that hurt little me? Please, that only tickled me slightly, no need to pee yourself." Olivia looked up at Discord, about to snap at him, but she then remembered what sort of trouble she could get in. "Don't get scared either, I am your friend after all."
Olivia started at him disbelievingly, knowing anything he said could be a trick or some ploy to make her feel even worse about herself. She decided to just stay quite for the rest of the ride.
Two hours later...
"Were here my dear." Discord declared as he dropped Olivia and her lackeys. The surprise fall caused the three to scream at the top of their lungs "Stop whining you babies, it was only something to get you there faster." Discord said as he created a bubble around the three, softening their fall.
Olivia looked up at Discord, who was now flying down toward the ground at high speed. The civilians of the large city of Manehatten looked on in awe and horror. They started to panic, everyone in the city running for their homes or apartments. As Discord landed, several city guard started to gallop in his direction, preparing for a brutal battle.
"Ha, you think you're the only one with soldiers? Please." Discord then snapped his fingers. Several green flames spewed from the ground, reveling several green eyed royal guard. The city guard were not as well trained as the royal guard, leaving them under prepared but not outnumbered. The number of city guard started at Discord, but were attacked by royal guard.
Even Discord and Olivia found themselves in the fight. Olivia and her lackeys were taking on the majority of the city guard, while Discord just floated there, occasionally throwing some sort of projectile. Olivia was a skilled hoof to hoof combat specialist, able to fight several city guard at once, and her lackeys could also take care of a few at a time. The royal guard all took out the city guard in a matter of moments.
The city guard managed to take out a few of the royal guard during the fight, but they were ultimately defeated by the shear force of the combined work of Discord, Olivia, and the controlled royal guard. Discord stopped floating in place and stood on his feet, clearing his throat. "Now then my soldiers, go and position yourself around the city and get ready for our guests. Olivia, you know what to do, correct?"
"Yes Discord, position myself and my associates here in an area in the city, wait for our guest, and eliminate, understood." Olivia said with a bow. She then started down the main road, looking for a position to place herself and her men.
'Well, I guess Aku might miss me already, I should head back, I think Olivia could handle this on her own, she is a well trained mercenary after all. ' Discord thought as he flew up. He got prepared to go back toward Canterlot, he saw the fruits of his creation slowly gaining him control of Equestria. He couldn't help but smile at the thought, he could now consider himself an overlord, he fancied himself some sort of king at this point. With a smile, he quickly flew off into the night sky.
...
End chapter 4
End of the trail of foliage
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.
Jack was quick to roll out of the way again, awaiting the moment when the Ultra-bot that used bullets would run out of ammo. As soon as he heard the satisfying click, he quickly made his way toward the bots, hoping he could get some slashes in before the one that used a gun reloaded. He quickly rammed his blade through the first one, slashing away one of its shuriken turrets with a swift slash. He quickly back flipped away as he dodged another barrage of projectiles that flew toward him at great speed. He tried his best to move out of the way after his back-flip, but one bullet still managed to skim the skin of his arm, a small amount of blood started to slowly trickle out of the wound that Jack tried his best to ignore. As soon as the ultra-bot ran out of ammo once more, Jack this time went for the one that used bullets, quickly trying his best to slash away the gun in its metal appendage. After a quick sprint, Jack jumped in the air with his sword ready to slice the metal appendage. He was quickly interrupted by a clawed hand being shot toward him, forcing Jack to re-position and land next to the ultra-bots, only to be punched by the invisible ultra-bot that made its way toward Jacks landing area. Jack stumbled back as he tried to slash away the metal fist.
"Gah" Jack grunted as he felt the metal pound his stomach. After he stumbled, he quickly had to dodge another barrage of bullets that flew toward him. And to Jacks dismay, a black thread shot from the body of one of the Ultra-bots. The thread landed only a few feet away from Jack, the resulting explosion causing Jack to be launched toward the purple aura that covered the six mares he was trying desperately to protect.
"Come on Jack! Don't let these hunks of metal hurt you, get up!" Rainbow yelled as Jack placed his hands on the dirt, quickly pushing himself upward as quick as he could. Jack heard the click of an empty gun again, quickly thinking of a way he could attack them in the way he preferred. The decision was made for him when a clawed hand was shot out at him. He dodged the claw, swiftly grabbing the chain that the claw was attached to. As the claw retracted, Jack came with it, his blade ready to slash the bot in half, which he did a moment later when the top portion of the bot gracefully fell to the ground. With that, Jack jumped into the air, out of the way from the group of ultra-bots that surrounded him that moment. He made his way toward the gun toting bot again, in hopes of slashing away the arm. Jacks hope was soon crushed as he felt another fist slam into his cheek, launching him onto the ground once more.
"Jack! What's hitting you?!" Twilight yelled in surprise.
"One of them is invisible! I cannot hit it without..." Jack was quickly interrupted by a hard kick to the gut. Jack tried his best to send a kick in the direction of the bot that had kicked him, but he only slammed his foot on the nearly indestructible metal that the bots adorned. Jack paid no mind to the pain, he swiftly used the momentum from the kick to launch himself upward, only to land on his feet. Jack groggily lashed at the last position of the bot, hoping to hear the sound of metal on metal. He only got the sound of a fist erratically passing past the back of his head. Jack hopped again into the air, hoping to dodge any other attack that could have followed. He landed next to the thread shooting bot this time, he was quick to slash at the head off the bot. As Jacks blade slashed off the head of the bot, another flurry of bullets rang out toward Jack. He quickly broke into a sprint, dodging most of the bullets that whizzed toward him. The two bullets that skimmed his skin only ran across his arm, leaving two bloody streaks on his skin.
"Jack! You're hurt!" Twilight and Fluttershy yelped with worry.
"Don't worry, I have handled much worse!" Jack replied as he lunged at the bot that used a gun once more, finally slashing off both of its turrets with a swift slice. Oil spewed in every direction as Jack quickly slashed the bot in half from the head down. As the bot brutally split, another flurry of punches came at him from his left. Jack took advantage of the opportunity this time and swung his blade in the direction of the punches. The sound of metal on metal brought a slight smile on Jacks face as he turned to the last of the bots. The bot stood there, its weapon on the ground as it stood in the middle of his destroyed companions. It stared at Jack, unable to do anything to retaliate against his target. Jack looked down at the bot, his eyes radiated with malice as he looked into the red glowing video cameras that were the bots eyes. He slowly spun his blade so the point of it faced the bot. And with a quick movement, Jack stabbed his sword down into the body of the bot. And to Jacks bewilderment, the bot suddenly turned to a pink dust that flew in the wind along with the other piles of various colored dusts. Jack cocked an eyebrow in shock, then it struck him, how could the ultra-bots have come back from the other planet?
"It's very simple you know." A disembodied voice said as a small mound of dirt rose from the crater where Jack stood. "Simple mind tricks and the like."
"Discord." All six mares said with a hint of anger lingering in most of their voices.
"Oh, ten points for all of you. How good to see you all remember me fondly." The mound of dirt now took form, revealing the shape of Discord. "I take it you enjoyed the little performance... "Jack"? Was it?"
Jack bared his teeth. "So these were of your creation?"
Discord hollowly chuckled. "Why yes, Aku told me of your past encounters and thought it was a good idea to bring back good memories."
Jack clutched the handle of his sword harder now that he knew this was Aku's doing "Tell me where Aku is now demon!"
"There is no need to be so harsh now Jackie boy. Why do you have to be so mean?" Discord said as he falsely wiped away a tear.
"Where are the princesses Discord!" Twilight yelled in anger at Discord.
"I am happy to let you know that they are safely tucked away in the castle dungeon. You know, the one where you can't use magic or your wings?" Discord said as he cackled with joy.
"How dare you!" Twilight said, blasting a magical projectile at the dirt being. The dirt quickly dispersed into the thick night air.
Jack lowered his head, curious as to what he had just witnessed and how many other familiar foes he might encounter during his journey. "Let us go, we are not to waste any time." Jack said he started down the path that started at the crater.
"Oh Jack! Wait up!" Rainbow said as she and her friends tried to catch up with the samurai.
"We must find Aku. Now that I know he is working with this... 'Discord ', we will need to make hast."
"I understand Jack. And I must say, your sword prowess is very outstanding!" Twilight said in awe of his swordsmanship.
"Yes! Your attention to detail of your enemies is very awe inspiring!" Rarity said as her eyes lightly sparked with curiosity.
"Yeah! That one flip you did to get away from the robots was awesome!" Rainbow said as she attempted to spin in the air like Jack did.
"Yes, thank you all for your praise. But shouldn't we focus more on the task at hand?" Jack said, trying to get the mares to focus.
"Right. Sorry." The mares said in almost perfect unison.
...
Royal Matters of the useless kind
Celestia and Luna had slept for the first time since the takeover took place, They could not help but feel anxiety for the rest of the kingdom and for the safety for everything they held dear. Even in their dreams they could not escape their fears of their kingdom would fall. "Awaken rulers of the day and night!" Both Celestia and Luna awoke with a shock, the voice seeming to slip into their dreams. Aku slowly walked into the prison chamber, looking both ways at the princesses that sat on both sides of the hall. A sly smile crept across his face as he prepared to tell them some special news. "I see both of you are awake. Good, then this will be simple." Aku then cleared his throat in anticipation for what he was about to say.
"On with it dark one!" Luna yelled, angered by the very sight of him.
"Now now, no need to be so hasty. I wonder if I should even grace you with such news, knowing you will treat me in such a horrid manner." Aku then turned as he awaited for a beg or even a simple response.
"Wait! Forgive my sisters anger. Please let us know of this news." Celestia choked, she dreaded the fact that she had to be kind to such an evil entity.
"But sister..." Luna said as she was interrupted by her sister shushing her.
One of the corners of Aku's mouth twitched into a smile, he had heard all he had in order to know that he had them in his grasp. "Well, if you must know. My partner Discord and I have found your little group of trouble makers and that Jack they are traveling with."
Celestia raised a brow. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about the bearers of the elements now would you? And who is this 'Jack'?"
"Ah Jack, the man that has chased me for so long that I could no longer remember as to why he is doing so." Aku then let out a hollow chuckle. "Yes, the element bearers are with him, they are on their way here now to be specific." Aku looked at both of the royals, reviewing their reactions.
"This Jack... he is chasing you. Why?"
"Well, let us just say that his world was the first that met my scorn and wrath." Aku then let out a manic laugh that sent shivers down both the sisters spines.
'Maybe we still stand a chance. A single man has eluded his grasp for so long,' Celestia reassured herself.
"He might have eluded my grasp for a while, but he is yet to defeat me, that is for sure." Celestia gasped, did he really just read her mind?
"Yes he has Celestia, I bet he has." Out of the shadows appeared a figure that appeared to look like Discord smeared into the wall. Even if the real Discord was not present, the demented glow still remained in his shadowy eye.
"Discord." Celestia growled. "What have you done with the elements!?"
"Oh nothing really, just sent some hallucinations their way is all. Nothing much right?" Discord then half closed his eyes in a taunting manner. "Hallucinations that can not only drive them insane, but most likely kill them."
"NO! THEY ARE NOT TO BE DEFEATED BY SUCH MENIAL MEANS!" Luna yelled at the way Discord had described their unlikely demise.
"But I must say Aku, that Jack of yours is a formidable opponent. Even those so called indestructible ultra bots were defeated by the samurai."
Aku slapped his forehead. "And you would say this in front of our enemies why?"
Discord suddenly took on an innocent stance. "I wasn't supposed to?"
Aku shook his head in disappointment. "Never mind that now. Let us discuss other matters that could use our attention." Aku said as he started for the door. The shadow of Discord dissipating into thin air.
Celestia and Luna took one look at each other and sighed a sigh of both relief and worry. They did not know Jack personally, but from what they just heard, they could tell that the bearers were temporarily safe. But even with the short amount of relief could only be short lived. They did not know Jack or the extent of his power, and with no way to communicate with her protegee, she would be left with unanswerable questions. But with the knowledge that he somehow has survived any sort of attack from Aku, as to she could not, left her reassured for the moment.
"Sister dear, how are we sure that we are to come out of this. This is by far the worst situation the kingdom has faced by what I had read in the kingdoms archives,"
"I know, but even during the worst of situations, we are to not lose hope. This man the elements are traveling with gives me a brief hope for now."
...
Jack and the elements lumbered on, tired and groggy from their journey. They looked aimlessly forward, their destination seeming to be unreachable at this point. The only thing on their minds now was to rest. "Okay guys, can we stop for a sec. My hooves are killing me!"
"Well Rainbow, what do you suppose we do?" Applejack said, hoping she actually had a plan.
"Twilight, you still have that cloud walking spell right? Can we use that to sleep on them?"
Twilight pondered for a moment. "Well, I guess so. Can you get some clouds for us then?"
"Sure, let me just..." Rainbow then flew into the air, collecting a large could and bringing it down as quick as she could. "Do that."
"Okay then, everyone huddle up!" The group then circled themselves around the purple mare, awaiting the result. Soon, a lavender aura surrounded them for a moment, giving them all small tingling sensation on what they stood on, being it hooves or feet. "Alright then, I guess we can all just lay their for the night. Rainbow can tell you how comfortable a cloud can be Jack, just in case you were wondering."
Jack raised an eyebrow before stepping onto the cloud, along with the rest of the group. He slightly faltered with his first few steps, but he soon found himself able to slowly walk with ease. He slowly turned at the edge of the cloud to see the six mares all sleeping close together. He idly looked around the cloud, looking for a place that could serve for his slumbering purposes that was separated from the mares.
"Its okay Jackie, you can come over here." Pinkie said sleepily as she waved her hoof in their direction.
Jack pondered for a moment, before noticing the lack of extra space. He slowly placed himself between Applejack and Rarity, careful not to disturb them. He lay there, amazed by the fact that he was sleeping on a cloud for the first time, but also wary of the warmth that radiated from the mares that unconsciously snuggled next to him. He tried his best to just ignore it, sleep seeming to much to give up just because they wrapped their hooves around him as a child would a teddy bear. He closed his eyes. resting his weary body to finally succumb to the joy that sleep could bring.
They rested for what seemed like a sufficient amount of time, their bodies and minds rested enough to continue on their trip. Jack slowly opened his eyes, the warmth he felt the night before still warming his body to this very moment. He tried to carefully nudge his way out of the mares grasp, but to no avail. He just lay there, wondering when they would awake themselves. He noticed the distant voices of Twilight and Fluttershy chatting idly, but their voices seemed muffled, and soon he knew why. The smell of distant fruit and vegetables soon permeated his nostrils, his stomach rumbling at the whiff of food.
"Oh my, everyone must have been really tired last night, good thing that squirrel showed us were to find some food. At least when they wake up they won't be hungry." The meek voice of Fluttershy said as a small thud was heard.
"Excuse me, but could you please help me from the grasp of your friends?" Jack said quietly, slightly startling the two mares who got breakfast.
"Oh, sorry about that Jack, they tend to do that for some reason." A magical aura soon surrounded Jack, pulling him upward and away from the mares that clung to him. They now just lay there, their arms outstretched, looking for something to cling too.
Jack soon stepped on the earth again, relived that he finally had stability without having to stumble every two seconds. He slowly made his way over to the two mares, being a little to eager to grab a banana from the ground. "So Jack, is this your first time sleeping on a cloud?"
"Yes, I have never even set foot on a cloud before."
"That must have been scary for you, if it was your first time that is." Fluttershy said, more care in her voice than usual.
"I believe it must take more to frighten him, considering he can defeat the most viscous of beasts, to the most trained of fighters. Such as I." A voice said in the distance. The three went still, wondering where the voice came from.
Suddenly, Jack felt a fist slam into his cheek, sending him flying toward the cloud where he landed on without a scratch. Jack thought for a moment, before he knew exactly what was going on. "Twilight, illuminate your horn."
Twilights horn then let out a bright light, revealing a humanoid figure that wore a dark ninja stealth suit that kept him from sight in the dark night. The figure quickly moved back into the dark. Jack slowly moved over to Twilight, being sure to stay in the middle of the light radius. He looked around, waiting for the figure to enter the light once more to see his foe.
"Jack, who is this?" Fluttershy said, trying to hide inside Jacks kimono.
"The Dark Shinobi."
...