Another Like Me

Steady Twilight just a few more inches... The violet unicorn thought to herself, her mind working overtime as she was fully concentrated on the daunting task in front of her. She had recently been going over a book that she had borrowed from Zecora, the local zebra who lived in the Everfree forest. The book itself was full of useful recipes about many medicinal herbs and their different uses, and being the curious unicorn that she was, she decided to experiment around a little with what she had learned. Right now she was just about to finish what she hypothesized would turn out to be a healing potion...at least she hoped, otherwise she might have to head to the bunker based on what happened to her last time.

"TWILIGHT!" A voice pulled her out of her thoughts, causing the solution she had put the herbs into to fly out of her magical grasp and into another chemical nearby. The resulting mixture turned out to be quite the chemical reaction, as it suddenly exploded, throwing the studious mare into a nearby stool.

"Yes?" She called out a bit shakily, still dazed from being sent flying away. The owner of the voice was revealed to be none other than Rainbow Dash, bursting into the room with Pinkie Pie in tow. The latter was twitching and shaking violently, signaling to Twilight that she had entered a state that the three of them recalled all too well.

"Uh...do we need to ready the bunker again?" Rainbow asked as she surveyed the room, which had been thrown into disarray from the volatile chemical reaction that she had unwittingly caused moments ago.

"No!" Twilight replied with a glare, slightly annoyed that her friends had interrupted her experiment, and also a little peeved that the bunker kept being brought up whenever she endeavored to make any strides in the scientific field. However, her annoyance quickly subsided as she glanced at Pinkie. "Uh, is Pinkie..."

"It's what I came to tell you about." The cyan mare explained, "I was just taking a break from the weather patrol this morning, and decided to head to Sugarcube Corner for a bite to eat. Just as I ordered my food and was about to get it from Pinkie, her Pinkie sense got set off and now she's like this!"

"O-Oh boy-y-y t-this is gon-n-na be a doo-oo-oozy-y-y-y!" The pink pony exclaimed, the worry clearly evident in her voice.

"Pinkie!" Twilight said, trying to garner her attention, "Do you have any idea what might have set it off?"

"N-Nope!"

"Hm..." Twilight put a hoof to her chin, "then we have to first assess the situation and then gather the rest of the girls before we try to face whatever it is we're dealing with here!" With that, she ran up the stairs back into the main section of the library. Rainbow Dash huffed as she dragged Pinkie up the stairs as they attempted to catch up to the violet unicorn.

As Twilight had entered the main section of the library she found none other than Spike lounging around and munching on a particularly polished peridot as he read through Daring Do and the Wyvern's Den, one of the middle books of a series that Rainbow Dash had surprisingly become quite fond of. As she entered the room in a frenzy, the dragon looked up, startled by the sudden appearance of his caretaker and sisterly-figure. He quickly composed himself once he saw the look of panic begin to form on the mare's face.

"Twilight what's-" He started to ask, but quickly noticed Rainbow Dash and Pinkie coming up after his friend. Immediately upon locking eyes with the element of laughter he knew what was going on. "I need to ready the bunker don't I?" Twilight's heated glare was all the response he needed as he sheepishly shrugged in apology.

"Spike, I need you to take a letter and write to the Princess!" She ordered. The dragon nodded as he took out a quill and parchment in preparation for the message that he was about to jot down.

"What should I write?"

"I need you to tell her that we might need the Elements of Harmony for a matter of the utmost importance!"

"Um...mind telling me what for?" He asked skeptically. He was never sure really sure when Twilight was simply overreacting to something minute, or if something was actually in dire peril. Heck, she usually had twenty backup plans in reserve if bi-weekly re-shelving day had to be cancelled!

"Pinkie sense!"

"Oh come on I'm sure it's just-"

"CODE LEVEL PINK!"

"Oooooh..." At last the dragon finally understood that she was serious. Code level pink was only reserved for situations that had a chance of being extremely disastrous, or if Pinkie was visiting them on short notice. Scrawling down the letter at a feverish pace, he took a deep breath and blew a jet of emerald green flames that completely encased the paper. Once he had stopped exhaling the fire, he signaled to Twilight that he was done, and she sighed in relief that at least she had the elements reserved in case things went awry.

"Alright, Spike you stay and wait for the Princess's reply while Pinkie, Rainbow, and I go and get the other girls!"

"Alrighty!"

"Come on girls we need to move if we want to get to whatever Pinkie is sensing in time!"

"Right behind you Twilight!"

"O-oki doki l-loki!" With that, the three mares galloped out of the Golden Oaks Library as fast as they could to gather the other elements of harmony. Shortly after they had left, Spike sat back down on the chair he had been occupying before he had been interrupted by his lifelong friend.

Wonder what could be going on? He thought to himself, before shrugging it off and slowly getting back into the Daring Do novel he was reading through. Before that however, one last thought occurred to him, why do I feel like I've been completely ignored up until now?

~~Another Like Me~~

Applejack was having a rough day today. It was not because anything bad had happened to her, in fact today seemed like any other day that she sold her famous Sweet Apple Acres apples. However, unlike any other day that she had manned the stall with one of her siblings, she didn't feel like she was focused on the tasks at hand. This was because her mind kept drifting back to one stallion, or in this case human, though nopony actually knew what he truly was aside from her friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

This musing did not go unnoticed by her younger sister, as the little filly knew without a doubt that something was plaguing her mind, and had a relatively good idea of what.

"Uh sis?" The smaller pony began.

"Huh?" Applejack shook her head as her sibling's voice pulled her back to reality. "Oh, what's on yer' mind Applebloom?"

"That's what I'm trying to ask you!" The filly responded with an incredulous look. "Ever since this mornin' you've been actin' funny!" Applejack sighed at the last part, she had hoped that she had done a good enough job of hiding the fact that she was distracted, but it seems that her little sister was able to read her quite well, as to be expected.

"Listen Applebloom I'm tellin' you that I'm just fine!"

"Well ok..." The older mare was relieved at this, thinking that she'd successfully made her sister lose interest in the conversation. "So uh...just outta' curiosity...what do ya' think of mister Shingo?" The filly said with a sly grin.

The youngest apple could tell she had hit the jackpot as her sister's face suddenly decided that it wanted to change to the same color of fur as her brother's. At this she knew she had her sister verbally cornered and began to chatter on and hop excitedly as a flurry of questions came out. "Ooo ooo are ya' gonna ask him to be a special somepony? Can I get a cutie-mark in matchmaking? Is he gonna be my new big brother? Ooo maybe the girls and I can be 'Cutie Mark Crusader weddin' planners!' Maybe-"

"Applebloom!" Her sister yelled, startling the filly enough into making her freeze in place. Of course, the damage was already done as her sister's face had gone past Big Mac's usual shade of crimson and just went straight for the dark red skin of their red delicious apples.

"What?" The filly inquired innocently. "I was just askin'!"

"Just keep an eye on the stall..." Her sister sighed as she walked away in order to escape from her sister's interrogation. She didn't stray too far of course, she was sitting on a bench close enough to keep a watchful eye on her sibling, but far enough so that it'd be too much of a hassle for Applebloom to continue her questioning.

However, thinking back on the questions that her sister did get to ask, there was no denying that she was at least attracted to the newcomer. She wasn't exactly sure why though. Maybe it was a combination of things? Maybe it was because she gained a respect for the amount of strength he had shown in their initial encounter, or maybe she admired him for the bond he had formed with Scootaloo in such a short amount of time. Of course, it didn't hurt that she found him to be quite handsome as a stallion.

Come on AJ! She thought to herself. Ya'll gotta stop thinkin' like this! Sides, it'd never work out anyway, he's a *human** and you're a pony, and he has too much to go back to where he's from...* She gained a look of disappointment at this, and realized that maybe she should just let it go for now, since dwelling on it would probably only make things worse. Maybe it will all work out some day... She thought with a hint of hope as she got up and began walking back towards the apple stall, where her sister was currently doing her best to sell some apples in a concise and professional manner...Basically meaning that she made a cute face and pleaded with the customer and tugged at their heartstrings.

"Oh you aren't you just the cutest thing?" An all too familiar voice squealed giddily. Looking up, Applejack saw that her guess was correct, and that it was indeed none other than Rarity who had spoken. Surprisingly enough, Fluttershy seemed to also be accompanying the alabaster unicorn. "Oh Applejack! I thought you might be around here as well!" Her friend greeted her with a cheery smile.

"Hello Applejack! It's nice to see you again!" The shy pegasus greeted her warmly, as she did with most of her close friends, who she had gotten used to being around and was as such not as shy around them.

"Howdy ya'll! Good to see you as well!" The apple bucker returned the sentiment with a smile of her own. Though her expression quickly changed from happy to confused. "Wait, Rarity you already bought apples this week. Comin' back for more already?"

"Oh no no!" The mare replied. "Fluttershy and I have just finished our weekly spa-meetup just a few minutes ago, and she said that she needed to buy some things at the market today afterwards. So I decided to accompany her on her little shopping trip!"

"Ah I see now."

"Indeed, and we couldn't help but notice that your adorable little sales pony was working quite hard!" The unicorn explained, giggling as she patted the beaming yellow filly on her mane. "So we decided to purchase some apples."

"Well thank you kindly for the business then ya'll! I reall-"

"Applejack! Rarity! Fluttershy!" Twilight called out to the trio as she galloped over to them, panting from all the exercise she had just gotten. "Gotta...tell...you...oh sweet Celestia I need to run more!"

"Easy there Twi. What's got ya'll all riled up in such a tizzy like that?" Applejack asked, worried that her friend may have overexerted herself getting to them. Suddenly, a look of fear flashed across the mare's face. "We don't need to ready the bunker do we?"

"NO WE DON'T NEED TO READY THE BUNKER!" Twilight yelled out, already sick of hearing that phrase being uttered so frequently today. Honestly, they couldn't just forget that incident and just leave it be?

"Oh my..." Fluttershy squeaked as she fearfully hid behind Applebloom due to the terror she had experienced when her friend had yelled out in frustration.

"Darling please get a hold of yourself!" Rarity reprimanded her fellow unicorn. "Please just relax for a minute and calmly explain to us what the matter is." Twilight sighed and realized that her friend was right, she needed to calm down if she wanted to explain the situation in an orderly and tact fashi-

"Heads up girls we got another Pinkie Sense Doozy incoming!" Rainbow Dash yelled out to her friends as she and the aforementioned pink mare finally caught up to Twilight and the rest of the gang. The purple unicorn in question simply growled in annoyance since she was going to explain that in about two seconds.

"Oh dear!" Rarity said with a worried look, "then this has become rather serious then hasn't it?"

"Yup!" Pinkie replied, but then got a surprised look on her face. "Hey wait the doozy signal finally stopped!"

"HUH?" The group cried out simultaneously.

"Yeah it's weird but I think I sense that somepony new just arrived in town..." The pink mare said with a pensive look. Her statement however made her friends give a glance of confusion amongst themselves. Usually if that was the case, then the mare would've wasted no time in beginning to prepare a party for the newcomer, but this time she seemed hesitant in what she should do...

"Pinkie don't you usually start to run off to throw a party for whoever it is right about now though?" Rainbow Dash asked the earth pony, who was simply scanning the horizon for something, or somepony.

"That's just it..." She replied, her face not giving any signs of her usual happiness, "I usually do feel like that...but this time it's...different for some reason."

"What do you mea-"

"Hey isn't that Mr. Shingo comin' from over there?" Applebloom asked, recognizing the figure in the distance who was slowly walking towards the town. The group of mares turned and saw that indeed a figure who looked quite similar to Shingo was making his way towards them.

"Applebloom run on home now." Applejack suddenly commanded.

"But why?" The filly asked, confused as to why her sister had issued that order so suddenly. There didn't seem to be any danger around right now, so why was her sister suddenly sounding like she was on edge? Wait a minute... She thought, the realization finally dawning on her. That can't be Mr. Shingo! I saw him just a second ago as a stallion with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle! But if it ain't him...then who is *that?***

"Applebloom go!" Her sister said, ushering her with a few pushes with her muzzle. The filly complied, and began to head to her house at Sweet Apple Acres, an unknown feeling of dread welling up in the pit of her stomach as she took one final glance back to her sister and her friends and the unknown stranger who was heading directly towards them.

Back with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, they were all giving mixed reactions to the new human heading walking towards them. Fluttershy was already intimidated by his appearance and opted to stay hidden behind the others. Twilight was eyeing him with curiosity, wondering if he was related to Shingo in any way given their similar appearances. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were tensed up and had already guessed that whatever he was here for, it couldn't have been anything good. Pinkie Pie was debating on whether or not to ask what he was up to, or whether he preferred chocolate or vanilla. Rarity could tell from the looks of his clothes that he definitely seemed more rough and rugged than Shingo.

The man was sizing up the ponies that had been gathered up in the market. Not even one of them seemed like they would pose any threat to him, though he felt all of their eyes had been glued to him the moment he had arrived. Heh, this is gonna be a cakewalk. He thought cockily as he grinned, opting to simply walk up to a group of six mares who were watching him intently.

"Pretty hot day out today am I right?" He asked as nonchalantly as he could. The mares were obviously not expecting this question as they seemed taken aback by the mundane quality of it.

"Uh, I suppose." The white horned one replied nervously as she looked back to her the other five for some help.

"I could do with a bit of colder weather myself." The purple one said with a shrug. The man chuckled as heard this, which seemed to only make the mares more nervous.

"That's too bad..." He said with mock sadness, "I heard that things were going to get rather...heated today." He chuckled darkly at the pun that only he understood.

"W-What makes ya' say that?" Applejack asked with a nervous gulp.

"Oh nothing..." he said with a shrug, before he ignited a flame in the palm of his hand, surprising the mares and making them take a few steps back from him. He smiled sadistically as he made the flame grow stronger and brighter with each passing moment before it finally was wide enough to reach his fingertips. "...just a feeling!" He shouted as he threw a wall of fire at them.

Luckily, Twilight managed to see this coming and managed to shield all of her friends from the raging inferno as the townspeople scattered, raising a mass panic at the hostile nature of the new comer who was able to somehow manipulate flames. The attack that the man had sent passed over the shield and had gone on to hit some of the stalls in the market, leaving nothing as the flames licked at the vegetables, fruit, and other flammable goods without mercy, leaving only piles of ashes to signify that something had once been there.

"Heh looks like things really went up in flames for you ponies eh?" He asked, laughing at his own twisted joke.

What *is** he?* Twilight thought with a mixture of fear and awe. In all her years of advanced magical studies she had never heard of anypony or anything short of a dragon that had been able to actually produce flames like this human was doing right now. However, she had to force her curious nature aside and figure out a plan quickly. The attack he launched at them had hit her shield harder than anything she had felt before, and had drained a lot of her magical reserves. Unless they came up with a plan fast, all of Ponyville was going to succumb to a blaze of fire, and unlike the parasprite attack that they had experience a while back, this time they wouldn't have anything left to rebuild.

"Twilight? What do we do?" Fluttershy squeaked in fear, the poor mare looking about ready to faint as she witnessed the powerful flame attack that the human had launched.

"Twilight!" A voice that made the unicorn experience  a great sense of relief reached her ears. The group turned around to find Spike had finally found them, holding an all too welcome box in his claws. As he arrived, his jaw dropped at the sheer amount of destruction that was present. "Whoa...looks like the library when I eat a bad-"

"Spike!"

"Oh right!" The dragon chastised himself for getting off track and opened the box and tossed each of the bearers their respective elements.

The human had been eyeing the box curiously, not knowing what it had contained. He was expecting some sort of weapon or tool that could deal a heavy amount of damage or that was resistant to flames, but...JEWELRY? This was too much for him as he burst out laughing, the mares not sharing in on his mood as they donned the necklaces and one tiara.

"Oh man this is hilarious!" He said as he wiped away a tear from laughing so hard. "What are you gonna do, make me have a heart attack from the price tags on those things?" He taunted, which only made the six mares and dragon glare at him heatedly.

"Oh ya'll are in for a real treat then!" Applejack smirked.

"What she said!" Rainbow Dash agreed with her friend. "We eat chumps like you for breakfast!"

"W-We do?" Fluttershy asked nervously. Seeing the looks of the other mares she straightened up and stood as tall as she was could. "I-I mean yes we do!"

"Pft! Now this I have to see!" Their adversary scoffed and folded his arms and watched intently as they began to slowly but surely rise in the air. His mocking look turned to one of curiosity as he saw the six begin to glow with an ethereal white light, their eyes matching the color of their aura as a ball of light began to form in the middle of the group. Suddenly, the light was transferred to Twilight's tiara and shot out of her horn in the blink of an eye. "Wha-" The man was left with no time to dodge as the beam struck him and enveloped him in a blinding pillar of light, a cloud of dust being raised from the sheer power of the elements being used.

On his end, the man was able to stand his ground surprisingly enough, since the blast hadn't pushed him as forcefully as he thought it would have. He felt a tingling sensation begin to develop on his arm. He brought the limb up in front of his face and examined it curiously. His eyes widened as he discovered that his entire arm was beginning to become encased inside a layer of stone. What the hell? He thought to himself. He had expected the blast to incinerate him or do some damage to him, but turning him into a statue? Well, he supposed he'd seen weirder things.

Twilight and her friends floated down to the ground, a bit tired from the use of their respective elements. However, they all had smiles on their faces as they had successfully vanquished the threat. Either they had encased the assailant in stone, or they had given him a form where he could do no harm as they had done with Luna. Who knows, this human may have been corrupted by the same darkness that had plagued the Princess of the night and had just needed their help to get back to normal. They were about to pack up, head home and inform Celestia through a letter about what had happened before Fluttershy happened to take one last glance behind her.

She gasped, which got the attention of the rest of the bearers of harmony, at the sight that met her eyes. The human was still standing, and worse, even though he had begun to turn to stone, he still wore the same smirk as he had before, and this made the six mares very uneasy as he began to chuckle.

"Gotta admit," he called out to them, "I wasn't exactly expecting those trinkets to make me the next centerpiece of a garden." He then produced a flame in the arm that was encased in stone. At first, this appeared to have no affect, but after a few seconds everyone could easily see that the flame was somehow repelling the stone and causing it to crack and break off of his arm, eventually giving him back the ability to move his arm freely.

"B-but how are you able to do this? The Elements of Harmony should have at least incapacitated you!" Twilight stammered out nervously. Well this kind of negates plans 20-43 now doesn't it?

"Well it probably should have," he answered with a shrug, "but based on the fact that your power was used to seal things away, and my flames are used for the same kind of purpose, well I think you can see that your power kind of recognized it as similar to itself in a way."

"Um Twilight?" Pinkie asked, shuffling nervously as she noticed that Celestia's student hadn't even budged an inch. "What now?"

"I don't know Pinkie, I'm trying to think of something!" The purple mare told her as she feverishly tried to work up some kind of plan to subdue their adversary, who was now very dangerous and apparently immune to their ace in the hole against threats.

"Guess we gotta do this the ol' fashioned way then?" Applejack asked grimly as she tensed up for the fight she knew was about to happen. "Back me up RD?"

"I'm with you AJ!" The rainbow maned pegasus replied, giving her friend a hoof bump as they faced the adversary in front of them.

"Oh! Looks like I finally get to have some fun today!" He said happily as he took a stance of his own.

"Fastball special?" The cowpony whispered to the weather team captain as the latter nodded in confirmation. The human raised an eyebrow, wondering at what they could be planning. Without warning, the stetson-wearing mare picked up the cyan one, and launched her towards him with a mighty buck. The pegasus seemed to be unharmed by this maneuver and used the momentum to fly towards him at a blinding speed, fully intending to hit him square in the chest.

It probably would've broken a few ribs and taken out a good chunk of his energy too, had he not stuck out his elbow and struck the mare square in the stomach, easily knocking the wind out of her and bringing her charge to a halt. Following it up, he gripped her neck tightly, making her claw furiously at his hand in a feeble attempt to break free of the hold he had on her as he raised her up in the air. She had a look of terror on her face as she locked eyes with him and saw that he fully intended to kill her without hesitation, or at least leave her in a state so horrible she wished she were dead.

"You know being a manifestation of magic, I'm not exactly one to go and actually indulge in meals," he said thoughtfully, "and you definitely aren't a chicken, but you know what?" He grinned menacingly as he added the next part, "I could go for a couple of roasted wings for dinner tonight." With that he began to pour power into his hand, and instantly Rainbow felt the palm of his hand rise in temperature immensely, the mere touch already singing her fur and beginning to scald the skin underneath.

Applejack rushed over to free her comrade, but had to dive to the side as the human used his free hand to launch a fireball that traveled towards her on the ground. She managed to dodge it, and got back up to continue, but saw in horror that a red tint of aura was already forming around his hand, no doubt the work of the flames he was able to summon. Looking back, she desperately hoped that at least one of her friends would be able to save Rainbow, but Fluttershy was trembling in fear, Rarity was standing stock still in horror, Twilight had pretty much exhausted all of her magical energy from the shield and from using the elements. That left only Pinkie, and the premier party pony was nowhere to be found currently.

The man was sporting quite the malicious grin on his face as he saw the look of pain etched on the mare's face. "Looks like this is the end of th-"

"SHINGO KICK-UU!" A voice interrupted, shocking everyone as a familiar blue stallion leaped in and caught the man by surprise with a full on back hoof to the face, launching him backwards and making him let go of Rainbow Dash, who began to gasp and cough as she was finally free of his grip.

"S-Shingo?" She said hoarsely, her throat still working on getting back to normal after having its air supply cut back immensely.

"Rainbow Dash! Geez I got here just in time!" He said, relieved that she hadn't sustained too many injuries.

"Y-Yeah, we tried to use the Elements of Harmony on him but he shrugged it off like it was nothing!" She explained. "Then me and AJ tried to take him out together, but he kind of got a hold on me..."

"I can see that..." He replied, a feeling of guilt washing over him due to the fact that he hadn't gotten there in time to save her from getting hurt. As they regrouped with the rest of the girls, Pinkie popped up behind him once again.

"Pinkie, where in the hay were ya'!" Applejack cried out in anger, remembering that her friend had left when Rainbow was being attacked. "If Shingo hadn't come along when he did-"

"Actually Applejack she came and found me and told me where you girls were at!" He explained, the pink mare giving him a grateful look as he vouched for her, "if she hadn't found me when she did I wouldn't have made it in time!"

"Oh, I just assumed-"

"It's alright Applejack, no harm done!" Pinkie said, patting the mare's stetson as a sign of forgiveness.

"Hey Pinkie you did get Scoots and Sweetie to a safe place right?" Shingo asked her.

"Yuppers!" She replied cheerfully, "They're already back at Sweet Apple Acres with Granny Smith and Big Mcintosh!"

"Good. Twilight how're you holding up?" He asked the violet unicorn, who was still in shock both due to the strain she had placed on herself and at the fact that the elements of harmony had failed. At his question she finally broke out of her stupor.

"Not too well, this all got out of hand so fast..." She replied, still unable to process what had occurred  in the last few minutes.

This isn't looking too great... The stallion thought to himself. The marketplace is burned to the ground and Rainbow is injured pretty badly. Aw man what would Mr. Kusanagi do?!? He thought desperately. He had never been in a situation this dire without any aid. Usually his master or one of his friends would be leading and keeping everyone calm and orderly. Looks like I'm gonna have to be the one to step up then... He thought grimly as he turned toward the mares, deciding to wing it as best as he could.

"Twilight, listen to me." Shingo commanded. "We need to focus on the task at hand. You need to warn everypony here to start getting ready to put out any fires that could start, and then keep as much water and other flame retardant things on hand just in case.." At this, Twilight seemed to calm down at least slightly now that a plan was in order.

"Right...warn everypony and gather anti-fire measures...got it!" She recited to herself before picking up Spike and placing him on her back.

"Hey Twilight who is that guy?" Spike asked her as she galloped away.

"Tell you later," was the reply that came back. Shingo checked off that order of business in his mind, knowing that Twilight was a sensible mare and could probably think of ways to fire-proof the town in ways he probably couldn't think of.

"Rarity, Fluttershy, think you could make sure Dash gets to the hospital pretty quickly?" He asked the unicorn and pegasus.

"Of course darling, but do be careful, that human is certainly stronger than he looks at a first glance." The refined mare told him as she and Fluttershy gathered their reckless friend and supported her as they headed towards Ponyville general.

"Pinkie, I need you to go around town and get anypony still out on the streets into their homes and keep them calm!"

"Oki doki loki!" With that, the pink mare gave a salute and dashed off as fast as she possibly could. A few pieces of confetti lingered after she had disappeared. Shingo blinked a couple of times before turning to the only mare that was left. He knew that out of all of them, she was probably going to be the most stubborn and adamant about her position on the situation.

"Applejack-" He started to turn towards the mare to tell her to take care of the fillies back at Sweet Apple Acres, but before he could say anything, she cut him off.

"I know what yer' gonna say, and I'm telling you that it ain't happening." She said firmly, catching the stallion off guard.

"Applejack," he sighed as he tried to reason with her, "I can't risk anypony out here getting hurt because of this guy."

"And I'm tellin' you ya' ain't takin' him on alone!" She fired back.

"Listen, I'm the only one here who knows everything he's capable of..." This statement got her to stop for a second as a question formed in her mind.

"Wait, you know him?" She asked, a hint of anger evident in her voice. She didn't think it was possible that Shingo was actually friends with the human, but of course, if he had known him from somewhere it could have been possible that he was out for revenge.

"Well not him per-say," Shingo said as he took a glance at the man, who was slowly getting up to his feet. "But my master used to use a lot of the same fighting techniques that he did." This managed to set Applejack at ease somewhat, but the matter of her refusal to leave still remained.

"Well well well." The man said, chuckling as he wiped away a bit of blood from his mouth that had gathered as a result of the hit he had taken. "Didn't expect your little boyfriend to be able to hit that hard." Shingo tensed up and stood in front of Applejack protectively, though a slight blush had formed on his face at the previous words that were spoken.

"Why don't you try picking on someone who's on your skill level?" He challenged, before turning to Applejack. "No offense Applejack." He said sheepishly.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said with a deadpan expression.

I'm going to regret that one later aren't I? He asked himself fearfully.

Heck yeah you are!

Not the time for it brain!

"So the little pony thinks he's a tough guy eh?" The man mocked. "Well if it's a fight you want then I'll be happy to oblige! So long as we do this one on one. Wouldn't want your girl over there to get hurt eh?" He jabbed a thumb towards Applejack, who recoiled instinctively at the gesture while gritting her teeth. She knew it was a risk to stay here and fight, but she couldn't just leave a friend she cared about to handle it alone could she?

"Huh, I didn't think your type would actually care about something like that." Shingo replied, blinking in surprise.

"Well I like my fights to be fair at the very least, and besides, I'm not a complete monster, so I'll cut you a deal! You win the fight, and I leave for good." Shingo liked the sound of that part. "If you lose though..." he paused, before throwing a flame at a nearby building, which instantly caught flame and began burning, turning back to the two ponies, he added, "that one's just the beginning of what I'm gonna do here."

That second part of that deal sounds quite horrific... Shingo thought as he turned to Applejack. "What do you think make of it? Think he's trying to pull something?" He figured that if anyone could see through a lie or a fake deal, it would be Applejack. After all, she is the element of Honesty.

"Hate to say it, but I think he's serious about it." She whispered to him. "I still don't like leaving you without any help though..."

"I know, but it's the only shot we have to prevent him from lighting up the entire town." He put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "You should probably try and find Twilight, maybe you two can think of something while I keep him busy."

"...Alright, I guess if you say so, then all I can do is trust you." She said begrudgingly, her face contorted in to a grimace at the fact that she had to leave. Before she left however, she embraced him while whispering in his ear, "be careful sugar cube."

"Don't worry AJ, I'll kick this guy's butt halfway across Ponyville!" He said with a grin. He tried to do a thumbs up, but remembered that he had hooves, and so he settled for a pat on the back. They exchanged a friendly smile before Applejack galloped off, leaving him to face the human alone.

"Isn't that just the sweetest thing?" The man asked with a snicker. Shingo didn't reply as he wordlessly took his fighting stance. The man saw this and observed the stallion closely for the first time. Strangely enough, this pony seemed...familiar to him somehow, but he couldn't quite place a finger on why this was. Shrugging inwardly, he settled into a stance of his own before asking his opponent a final question. "So what's your name little pony?"

"I don't see why that matters." Shingo fired back with an unusually cold tone of voice. This didn't faze the man as he chuckled in response to the icy reply.

"Hey now I just figured I'd get the name of an opponent. Besides, it'd be pretty stupid to ask you that after you've been burnt up now wouldn't it?"

On Shingo's end, he was doing his best to keep up a calm face, and so far it seemed to be working. On the inside though, he was actually quite nervous, and to be honest, a little terrified. He had never been the best fighter out there, considering that everyone in the King of Fighters was either a master of their fighting style, gifted with extraordinary powers, or both. Him though? He was just a plain old guy fresh out of high school who had a knack for optimism and getting into situations that went way over his head. It didn't help that this guy fought almost exactly like his master, Kyo Kusanagi, who he had never even managed to come close to defeating. He knew that this kind of thinking would only make him lose focus and end up getting him killed though, and so he took a deep breath. Alright, stay cool Shingo, Mr. Kusanagi may not be here to help you out, but that doesn't mean we've lost yet.

"My name is Shingo Yabuki," he said, a surge of confidence evident in his voice, "student of Kyo Kusanagi."

The man raised an eyebrow at the introduction. So he's been taught by my other self eh? ...This oughta' make things interesting then... He thought to himself, before grinning darkly. "The name's Kusanagi, but I'm sure that isn't too big of a surprise to you huh?"

"Not really, considering that you look a lot like my master."

"Well then I guess that's that then." Kusanagi said as he ignited a flame in his palm. "Let's dance!" The two fighters then charged at each other, each of them giving a battle cry as they went to clash, one with the intent to protect Ponyville, and the other with the intent to burn it to the ground. The fight had finally begun.