Jak: Adventures in Equestria

Chapters

I Hate Metal Heads So Much
You Know, On Second Thought...
Damn Kids
No More Games
Maybe I Was Wrong...

I Hate Metal Heads So Much

Darkness. That was all that he could see. Pure, black, inky darkness. And the air, oh sweet Precursors the air was so thick with Metal Head fumes. He couldn’t see, he could barely breathe, and one of the last Metal Head hordes was beginning to close in on him. Won’t be long now before they rear their ugly heads, the hero of Haven City thought to himself as he continued his struggle for breath. Ugh, how did this happen? One minute I’m clearing through a tunnel in the Wasteland with Dax in the Sand Shark, and the next thing I know I’m down here. Well, at least I found the nest. This should keep Torn off my case for a bit when I get back to Haven. . . . Okay, IF I get back to Haven. Hope Daxter made it out okay. Ha, who am I kidding? He’s probably already squirreled his way back to the tunnel entrance. How does he always manage to get through these things unscathed? Guess I’m just bad luck.

Jak’s internal monologue was interrupted by the sound of claws scratching against the tunnel walls behind him.

Blaster raised, he turned around and was met with the sight of three golden lights bobbing in the darkness further down the tunnel. From the shadows emerged three creatures, bipedal yet skulking forward in a manner akin to that of a chimpanzee (knuckle-walking). Their bodies were covered in a golden alloy that served as their armour, and atop their carnivorous heads sat a gleaming yellow jewel. Huh, only a couple Grunts? This is gonna be easier than I thoug…Oh sweet merciful Precursors this is bad. Closely following the Grunts was the sound of buzzing and soon at least twenty more small golden lights came into view. Creatures that looked like over-sized hornets came bobbing into view, stingers poised to attack. Jackets. I HATE Metal Jackets. As the swarm of Metal Heads neared him, Jak weighed his options and took in everything around him. He was stuck in the middle of a tunnel, the way forward was blocked by more than twenty Metal Heads, and the air behind him smelt even worse than the air where he was. This meant the path behind him led further into the depths of this nest, and most likely towards bigger and meaner beasties. The opening in the ceiling above him could take him back to the surface; he just needed a way to reach it. Flying’s out. I don’t have enough white eco stored to make such a long flight up. Besides, I need what little I have to keep myself alive down here. This left Jak with one clear way out: forward.

23 against 1. I’ve fought against worse odds, but never in this kind of darkness. My healing will only keep me going for so long. If these Metal Heads don’t kill me, the fumes will. Those gems on their heads are pretty convenient targets, but the Jackets are too fast for me to rely on them alone for sight. I’m way too close range for a Supernova blast. Not enough dark eco to blast them that way.

All in all, things weren’t looking up for the Wasteland Hero. He couldn’t help but laugh a bit. He’d fought against legions of Lurkers, Metal Heads, KG Robots, and destroyed TWO giant Precursor Robots. He beat the Metal Head leader, stopped an alien invasion, and saved this sorry dirtball of a planet more times than he cared to count. He’d won the Kras City Grand Championship and outraced every pro combat racer on the circuit. He’d even finally gotten together with Keira (they even had a date this weekend). Now he was here. Alone, in a stinking tunnel surrounded by Metal Heads and suffocating from the gases their stinking eggs make…

Wait…Stinking eggs?

Jak focused some of his remaining light eco into his hand. He created just enough to illuminate his surroundings a little better. Sure enough, just as he suspected, the wall to his left was literally covered in Metal Head eggs. Jak relinquished his focus and the light dissipated. A plan forming rapidly in his mind, he darted to the right side of the tunnel and as far away from the egg-covered wall as possible.

This is suicide. If I blast the wall I could bring the whole tunnel down on top of me.

Does it matter? Alone in the darkness with next to no eco remaining I’m as good as dead anyways. Besides, I’d rather go out with a bang than as a meal for some starving Metal Heads.

The Metal Heads had finally caught his scent. The Grunts lunged forward into the tunnel, and while Jak couldn’t see them, he could mentally picture their slobbering maws filled with razor-sharp teeth rapidly approaching. Jak swapped his Blaster mod for the Peace Maker. He began charging the weapon, sweat beads forming on his brow as the little golden lights moved closer and closer to him.

Come on, come on! Yes!

The ball of pure energy was now fully formed on the end of his weapon. The light it cast revealed the Grunts and Jackets closing fast.

It’s now or never. Time for some Hero Hell.

He fired his charged Peace Maker missile at the Metal Head egg-covered wall across from him. Time seemed to slow to a crawl (having slowed time to a crawl on numerous occasions before, Jak knew the feeling quite well) as the missile flew at the Eggs. Any second now the Grunts were going to be on top of him, and with no time to change mods he’d be a sitting duck. The Peace Maker met the egg-coated well with a bang. Chaos soon reigned in the dark tunnel as the wall exploded. Debris, gooey bits of Metal Head Egg, and the formerly advancing Metal Heads flew across the tunnel. Jak used his final reserves of light eco to create a shield encasing his form before a rather large piece of rock made him into a Flap-Jak.

Slowly, Jak made his way back to his feet, holding his head while waiting for the black world around him to stop spinning. Ugh, how can the world be spinning if I can’t even see anything?! He stooped over and picked up a glistening gem from the rubble around him. A skull gem, all that remained of one of the Metal Heads that thought they found themselves an easy meal. Jak looked towards the former tunnel wall and saw that, by destroying the eggs, he revealed a new passage. Funny how Metal Head eggs always seem to be covering up a tunnel or something. It wasn’t the fact that there was a new exit route opened up for him that intrigued Jak, but rather that there was a familiar purple glow coming from down the tunnel. Glow meant eco crystals. Purple glow in particular meant dark eco crystals. Dark eco crystals meant he could refuel his dark eco stores in case he was to run into something big…

It was just as he realized this that a head-splitting roar erupted from further down the tunnel.

Well, speak of the devil. Talk about stirring up the hornet’s nest.

Coughing and gasping for clean air, Jak made a break for the new passage. With the last of his light eco used up shielding himself, he could no longer keep himself from dying from the incredibly poisonous air around him. Momentarily stopping to drain a couple eco crystals of their power, Jak upped his pace as fast as his legs and lungs would allow down the passage. The good news, this passage seemed to be heading up to the surface. The bad news, whatever Jak pissed off was really pissed off. The tunnel behind him collapsed as something waaaaay too big for it barrelled after whatever woke it up from its nap (an important note about Metal Heads: they get really cranky if some unlucky fellow interrupts their sleep).

Great. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. There’s no way I can outrun this thing forever. If I can just get back to the Sand Shark I can outdrive whatever this is.

He was close. So close and yet so far. He could almost taste the fresh air from the Wasteland surface. The only problem: he didn’t know which way to go. After what felt like hours of running, Jak was faced with a T-section in the tunnel. And what was worse: the poisonous air had yet to completely leave his system, leaving him gasping for breath and his vision blurry. And what was even worse: whatever was chasing was just about caught up. And boy was it pissed.

“I’m getting too old for this. I think it’s time to retire to combat racing. Anything’s better than this,” Jak said to himself.

He had just about given up entirely when he heard a familiar annoying voice call his name.

“JAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Daxter?!” Eyes wide, adrenaline pumping once more, Jak strained his ears to listen for the ottsel’s voice.

“JAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

That way.

Jak ducked down the right, moving with renewed vigor and the familiar thrill of the chase beginning to settle in again. Who was he kidding? The day he stopped “adventuring” as Samos would call it would be the day he died. And today was not that day. For once, he had too much to live for.

Finally, he saw the end of this stupidly long tunnel. Blinking, stepping into the light of day he had to wait a moment for his eyes to adjust. Soon enough, the blurry outline of his Sand Shark came into view at the mouth of a sickeningly familiar looking tunnel. And standing on the rim of his Sand Shark was a familiar orange fuzzy shape. Daxter was okay! And he was…panicking? What could possibly be so bad as to make him freak out so much?

It was at this moment that a ridiculously big and terrifying Metal-Pede burst out of the tunnel entrance, sending the Sand Shark and Daxter with it, flying across the dessert. The enlarged centapede-based creature erupted onto the Wasteland scene, pincers snapping and metal-covered hide glinting in the sunlight.

Oh. That.

The Sand Shark landed a little ways away with a crunch. The car’s automatic balancing system almost immediately righted the vehicle so it was right-side-up again. A dazed but unharmed Daxter crawled to the top by the machine guns mounted on the Shark.

The Metal-Pede charged the Sand Shark and ottsel in it. Jak needed to act fast. Pulling out his morph gun, he attached his Vulcan Fury mod and let loose a barrage of bullets against the colossal monster rampaging across the dessert. Most of the bullets harmlessly bounced off of the Metal Head’s armour-like hide, but Jak got its attention.

Knowing well that his weapons wouldn’t even phase the Metal-Pede, Jak holstered his weapon and took out his Hover Board. He still couldn’t outrun a raging Metal-Pede, but it would keep him alive for a bit longer, hopefully long enough for Daxter to start shooting at it with the Sand Shark’s guns. Metal-Pede armour was strong, but the Sand Shark’s weapons were designed with a mind to specifically tear through that armour.

Gliding across the dessert on his Hover Board, Jak led the Metal-Pede into the sights of the Sand Sharks weapons. All Daxter had to do was shoot.

“Daxter! Shoot this thing before it kills us!”

Jak was beginning to panic as he neared the Sand Shark and Daxter had yet to open fire.

“What’s taking so long?! Shoot her! Shoot her!”

“The guns are jammed Jak! I can’t get them working!” was Daxter’s panicked reply.

“THEN FIRE A MISSILE AT IT! IT’S STILL FULLY EQUIPED FROM THE KRAS CITY TOURNAMENT!”

“Oh yeah…”

“OH GOD DAMN IT DAXTER!” Jak screamed as he swerved out of the way and avoided crashing headlong into the Sand Shark, but the angle he turned at made him lose his balance and Jak was soon met with a mouthful of sand. Meanwhile Daxter readied the missile and had it aimed right for the maw of the Metal-Pede.

“Alright, you big ugly bug, when you get to Hell and see all your creepy-crawly Metal Head buddies, tell them ‘Orange Lightning’ says hello!”

With that, Daxter sent the missile flying.

And with that, everything exploded.

The missile collided with the charging Metal-Pede head-on. The resounding explosion knocked Jak off his feet and his face made acquaintance with the desert floor. Dazed, beaten, and dirty, Jak slowly got back to his feet wiping the sand from his eyes. The wasteland around him had become the scarred remains of the all too familiar battlefields he had seen time and time again. The Metal-Pede lay in pieces around him, charred pieces of metal head hide smoldering on the unforgiving desert landscape. Its body had already begun to decompose into the Dark Eco that was responsible for its existence. Jak himself was in pretty good condition, all things considered. His blue tunic had been burnt and torn after his exposé into the Metal Head nest, his Dark Eco levels were fully restored, ammo levels were in good supply, and he wasn’t too badly injured. The Sand Shark lay upside-down a little ways away, most likely due to its close proximity to the explosion. Hopefully his communicator was still intact so he could report into Torn and Ashelin back at Haven. All that was missing was a certain orange annoying fur ball, who also happened to be Jak’s best friend… Knowing Daxter’s luck, he probably ended up stuck in a sand dune somewhere.

Meanwhile in a sand dune nearby, Daxter found himself surrounded by darkness with a rather immensely huge migraine. Was it because he once again found himself shouldered with the responsibilities of killing the swarm of 10 rampaging Metal-Pedes chasing after his helpless best buddy Jak and saving Haven City for the umpteenth time? Maybe. Was is because, like all great heroes, he waited until the very last minute to heroically launch a volley a missiles at the army of 100, snarling beasts with chrome head-plates gleaning in the sunset? Very possibly. Was it because after annihilating the 1,000 monstrous Metal Heads the explosion launched him through the sky (in the most heroic way possible) into a sand dune several yards away? Most likely. Was is because after finding himself alone at the mouth of a Metal Head nest, chased by a Metal-Pede, and almost killed he screamed himself into a self-induced migraine and may have soiled his favourite pair of pants? Absolutely not. No way. Definitely one of those other things he said.

…

What? You don’t believe me? That’s totally what happened. There’s no way a hero of such caliber as ‘Orange Lightning’ would be caught dead screaming in fear without his friend Jak to hide behind.

…

Anyways, after some struggling against the desert sand, Daxter finally pulled his head free from his sandy prison, but not without a mouthful of sand. Sometimes the universe just hates you.

“PLUH, PEW, BLUH!” he shouted as he rid his mouth of the offensive sandy material.

“Bleeaaaugh, what I wouldn’t give for a drink at the Naughty Ottsel right about now. Well now that that’s taken care of, courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood hero, let’s blow this popsicle stand. Right Jak?” he finished with his hands on his hips, striking a valiant pose (or as valiant as you can be as a two-foot tall furry rodent wearing a possibly soiled pair of pants in the middle of the desert).

Silence was all he got in response.

“I said, RIGHT JAK?” he said again in annoyance.

“Oh come on! Don’t tell me you’ve gone all mute on me again…” he started before realising that he had no idea whatsoever of where Jak was. Or, for that matter, where he was. Daxter spun around in a rising panic, looking for any landmark or anything familiar so he could find his way back to civilization.

He saw nothing of the sort.

He did however happen to notice a group of ominous clouds approaching rapidly in the distance.

“Okay, calm down Daxter. No reason to panic. Keep it cool. You’re just stuck in the middle of the desert…alone…with no way of getting back to the city…and there’s a sandstorm coming. What was it Kleiver said about Wasteland sandstorms? Something about ripping the flesh off your bones? Okay, only one thing left to do…PANIC!!!!!”

One thing was for certain as Jak wandered through the Wasteland in search of his friend, he was dead meat if he didn’t get to some shelter. A sandstorm fast approaching, Jak would be considered lucky if enough of his body was left over for them to give him a proper burial. Pieces of Metal-Pede littered the desert floor, and he was able to (with some difficulty) right the Sand Shark to run a system’s diagnostic. So far, everything looked to be in working order. The engine was more-or-less clear of sand, weapons systems were fully operational, and his communicator was fully functional.

Still, something seemed off. Jak was never this lucky. Mental recap of today’s events: successfully blew up the Metal Head nest in the southern section of the Wasteland? Check. Made it out of an encounter with a particularly nasty Metal-Pede with hardly a scratch on me? Check. Sand Shark still in piece? Check. Now all I need to do is find Daxter…

His internal monologue was interrupted by a familiar panicked scream for help and plea for survival.

Scratch that, I found Daxter.

And yet, Jak couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to go incredibly wrong. It wasn’t the incoming sandstorm; Jak had dealt with those in the past. This was…different. He felt with certainty that something bad was about to happen, and he had no idea what it was or how he could stop it.

It’s probably nothing, just a little jittery after my spelunking escapade and near-death experience.

Jak honed in on the source of the frantic screaming (seriously, how can Daxter manage to scream that long and THAT LOUD without straining something?).

“Daxter! There you are! Come on, let’s get out of here before that storm hits us.”

After a quick and mumbled praise to the Precursors, Daxter took his familiar spot atop Jak’s shoulder and the two made their way back to the Sand Shark. Both hopped in and with the flick of a switch the engine hummed back to life. The wind had already started to pick up, blowing sand in all directions and obscuring vision to the extent that anything more than a few feet away became a dark brown sandy silhouette. Jak placed his goggles over his eyes and drew up his kerchief to protect his face from the harsh desert winds.

The Sand Shark took off and tore through the desert at breakneck speeds. With next to no sight, Jak and Daxter were forced to rely on their map and familiarity with the Wasteland region to navigate as safely as possible through the wastes.

After a couple minutes of driving, Jak turned on the communicator.

“This is Jak and Daxter calling Haven, Haven do you copy?”

The storm had already begun and created a great deal of interference with the communication systems. Through the crackle of static, Jak could just make out the gruff tone of his “commander’s” voice.

“Jak…this is Torn…incoming storm…ass back to the city…Metal Head nest destroyed?”

“Torn, I can barely hear you, the storm’s creating too much interference. The mission’s accomplished though, Daxter and I made sure those monsters won’t be bugging us again anytime soon,” Jak finished with a smug grin on his face and shared fist-bump with Daxter.

“Jak!...This is Ashelin…sensors indicate…eco fluctuations…going to explode…get out of there!”

“Umm, Jak? Did she just say something about exploding eco?” Daxter asked, his panic levels quickly returning to their fevered pitch.

“Boy I hope not. Ashelin? This is Jak, I didn’t read you there. Did you say eco fluctuations?”

The only response Jak got was the crackle of static over the communicator.

“Hello? Ashelin, come in. Ashelin!? Torn, do you read me? Anybody!?” Each attempt was only met with the crackle of static. And with each crackle of static, Jak’s sense of dread only grew.

Before he or Daxter could react, a huge tremor shook the valley they were currently driving through.

“JAAAAAAK!!! WHAT’S GOING ON??!!?!?!?” Daxter screamed hanging onto the rails of the Sand Shark for dear life.

“Hang on Dax!” Jak shouted in response as he struggled to keep the vehicle under control.

The tremors continue to grow both in magnitude and in number, and soon Jak found himself narrowly evading boulders and pieces of the valley wall coming down around them. Daxter frantically attempted to reach their friends in Haven City, but to no avail.

After another agonizingly long minute of dodging rocks and trying to keep the Sand Shark stable, the ground before Jak exploded and began to crumble away. Jak swerved to the right in a last-ditch attempt to avoid the spreading hole in the ground. The Sand Shark came to an abrupt stop as the tremors began to slow. Jak could only watch as the ground before him had broken away to reveal a large, purple glowing portal set in the very middle of the valley path.

Before he could ponder the meaning of this portal, a wicked purple bolt of lightning sent both Jak and Daxter reeling and launched them both from their vehicle. Jak landed with a resounding thud against the valley floor while Daxter was sent flying into the rocky outcrop of the valley wall. Senses on full alert, Jak scrambled to his feet and drew his morph gun, still set on his trusty Blaster mod. All went silent for a moment as the sky darkened and a black ethereal tentacle reached out and wrapped itself around Jak’s ankle and with a sharp yank pulled him into the swirling purple void before him.

Despite his struggles, Jak could only stall his advance into the portal before he felt himself with a familiar tingling sensation that came from traveling through warp portals.

Its victim claimed, the portal disappeared and the land re-sealed itself as quickly as it had broken apart, leaving a smoldering Sand Shark, an unconscious Daxter, and a world now lacking its greatest hero.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot…

The Grand Galloping Gala was in full swing! The central ballroom of the Canterlot palace was filled to the brim with guests, all in their finest suits and gowns, for an evening of fun and enjoyment that everypony looked forward to every year.

The ballroom was littered with large gourmet buffet tables full of delicious foods of all shapes and sizes. A rather popular new addition this year came from Ponyville’s own Sweet Apple Acres, and guests could be seen all around the ballroom gorging themselves on the Apples’ delicious baked goods.

Amongst these guests were 6 mares and best friends, better known as the Elements of Harmony. After the previous year’s horrible experience at the Gala, the six mares decided to enjoy the party together, and so far things were looking good and the mares were having one of the most enjoyable nights of their lives. Twilight Sparkle had taken to the dance floor with Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Rarity and Fluttershy were having a chat over tea by one of the windows, and Rainbow Dash had decided to partake in some of the famous pastries made by the palace’s top chefs and bakers.

Princess Celestia and her younger sister, Princess Luna, along with their special guests from the Crystal Empire Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, surveyed the party while conversing amongst themselves from one of the many balconies overlooking the main ballroom. Despite her wishes for events at the Gala to be made more interesting and lively last year (by inviting the Elements of Harmony to the party, because everypony knows its not a party until Pinkie gets involved), Celestia found herself content with how things were turning out this year and was looking forward to a night of peace. If not for herself, then at least for Luna. Something had been bothering the younger alicorn, but Luna had been reluctant to sharing anything with her sister, always finding some way to change the topic without revealing anything. Nonetheless, Luna appeared to be enjoying herself, and that fact alone made Celestias heart glow. Adjusting to modern-day Equestria had certainly been a challenge for Luna, and she was still faced with several difficulties in fitting in and making some friends (not counting the several thousand changes made to the laws and practices of Equestrian court).

Or, at least, she was looking forward to a peaceful night in the company of her sister, niece, nephew-in-law, faithful student, and her friends. That is, until a large purple vortex opened up on the ceiling of the ballroom and deposited a single figure into the middle of the room before promptly vanishing in a puff of magic.

Ponies had already begun to panic, and her guards had already begun to create a perimeter around the mystery figure that had crashed into the central banquet table. From the wreckage of the table what was easily the strangest creature Celestia had ever seen slowly made its way to its feet. It was not very tall, even though it stood on two legs. The only fur on it was seen on the top of its head where a golden-yellow mane fell haphazardly behind it as well as what looked like a small green goatee growing on its chin. It was donned in bronze armour covering its legs, fore-hooves (arms in this case I suppose), chest, and shoulders. Underneath the bronze-plated armour it wore a tattered blue garment of some sort and a brown piece of cloth around its waist. It had long pointed ears and was carrying a strange weapon of some sort. On its back was an equally strange bronze disc of some sort. Perched on its forehead was a strange set of goggles and it had a red kerchief covering the lower half of its face. However, the most striking feature about this creature was its blue eyes. Eyes that showed a soul who had faced combat time and time again. Eyes that showed no mercy. In short, the eyes of a soldier who has killed and watched others die.

This creature was dangerous, that much was certain. Celestia had no choice but to capture this creature. Hopefully it would not try to resist capture…at least not too much.

You Know, On Second Thought...

Frosting. That was all he could see. Pure, colourful, sugary frosting. And the cake, oh sweet Precursors why was there so much cake? Where in the Wasteland had that portal dumped him this time? And more importantly, WHY DID IT DROP HIM ON A GIANT CAKE?

Grumbling and wiping the frosting (and cake) from his eyes, Jak slowly made his way to his feet. He instinctively raised his Blaster, assuming that he probably ticked someone or something off after crashing into the middle of a room randomly. Shaking the stars from his vision, Jak opened his eyes and came face-to-face, or in this case face-to-muzzle, with an incredibly shocked looking cyan-blue pony with a rainbow mane. Both froze when Jak’s blue eyes met the pony’s magenta orbs.

What the pony saw was a very shocked…thing with a blonde mane, a little frosting here and there, looking at her as if she was the alien. Where does this guy get off? He crashes into the middle of the Grand Bucking Galloping Gala, ruins the cake she was about to sample, gets frosting in her best dress (not that she cares about that kind of thing), and looks at her like she’s the freak show in the room? In short, Rainbow Dash was not amused.

What Jak saw was an incredibly shocked miniature horse-thing with a rainbow mane a pair of wings that looked too small to be useful for flight (although he was not one to judge with his eco-bat wings). Wait…Wings?! This was impossible on so many levels. First off, horses died out a long time ago, let alone winged horses. Secondly, Jak was pretty sure that horses did NOT come with rainbow tai-dye style manes. Thirdly, Jak was again pretty damn sure horses did NOT wear dresses. Well, whatever this thing was, it certainly was not happy with Jak. She glared at him, and he glared right back.

Jak jumped back a few feet and surveyed the rest of the ballroom. From what Jak could tell, the room was literally full of these miniature impossibilities. Ponies that came up to about his chest in terms of size of all colours were running (galloping?) around frantically, most likely due to his sudden intrusion on whatever it was they were doing. There were some that had wings, others that had horns, and then there were just average looking ponies.

“Guards! Surround and capture the intruder!”

The regal voice broke Jak from his stupor and brought his attention back to the situation at hand. Here he was, in a strange place, filled with strange creatures, and he had his Morph Gun drawn. He looked to the source of the voice and found that its owner was significantly different from the other ponies around him. This one looked more like a full size horse with a pure white coat, and judging by the voice was female. Unlike the other ponies running around him, she had both a horn and wings, a multi-coloured mane that seemed to be blowing in a non-existent wind, and a golden crown and other royal regalia. Most likely the reigning royalty. Great. Jak had so much great experience with royalty before (like the time he made it his life’s mission to kill the ruler of Haven City, Baron Praxis, and the other time Damas, King of Spargus City [and his father] sent him to the Gladiator’s Ring for mortal combat) that this was assuredly going to end badly.

Next to her were two comparably smaller winged-horned-horses. The one on her left had a midnight blue coat with a dark blue flowing mane and looked almost frightened by Jak’s appearance. The one on her right was pink in colour without a flowing mane. Interesting, Jak thought, wonder if that makes her not as important as the other two? Before he had a chance to contemplate things any further the clinking of armour caught his attention. He realized a number of things at once:

One: he was probably the strange alien creature in this situation.

Two: he literally crashed some kind of party or something.

Three: he still had his weapon drawn.

Four: he probably looked incredibly threatening.

Five: he was slowly being surrounded by what he assumed to be the palace guards.

Six: he was most likely going to have to fight his way out of this.

Seven: the only ways out were a door at the far end of the hall and one of the several windows (hopefully it was not a long way down).

Eight: that rainbow-maned pony was STILL glaring daggers at him. Geez, what’s her problem?

“Seize him!” shouted a male horned-pony with a white coat, blue mane, and donned in ridiculously heavy looking purple plate armour as he descended the stairs.

The guards that had surrounded him charged. A very familiar scene that had haunted Jak’s dreams resurfaced to the forefront of his memory. He was helpless, he was caught off-guard in a strange world, a bunch of strangers donned in red armour with Taser-Guns surrounded him and beat him before dragging him off to a two-year long stay in the Baron’s Fortress. He could almost hear Daxter's voice as he screamed "Don't worry Jak! I'll get you out before you know it!"

No. Not again.

As the first guard, an earth pony, reached him Jak instinctively spun around sticking his right leg out in his signature spin-kick attack. Jak’s armoured shin made direct contact with the side of the pony’s head and sent him flying. Luckily, another table broke his fall. A pair of armoured pegasi attacked, one from the air and the other close to the ground. Jak dashed forward, fist extended, and punched the first pegasi guard square in the jaw. Using the momentum from his charge attack, Jak jumped up to uppercut the pegasus’ airborne companion. In a matter of seconds three of the royal guards lay in unconscious heaps across the ballroom floor. As several other guards began to close in around him Jak raised his Blaster and shot at the ground around their hooves. The guards halted their advance in fear of the strange weapon being held by the even stranger creature.

Jak held his Blaster high, ready to fire at the next guard to attack. Neither the guards, the ponies in the room, nor Jak dared to move a muscle. The silence and tension in the room reached an almost unbearable level until a blast of magic streaked across the room and knocked Jak’s weapon out of his hands. His Blaster skated across the ballroom floor, far out of Jak’s reach. He turned and found that the source of the magical blast came from the same white-coated pony in purple plate armour. Jak looked with wide eyes as the horn on the pony’s head glowed in a mulberry hue. So the ones with horns can fire bolts of energy huh? Things are about to get exciting around here.

“Captain! What shall we do with this creature?” a guard to the armoured pony’s left asks.

“Hold positions lieutenant,” the pony captain replies. He turns once again to face Jak, “Surrender yourself,” the armoured white unicorn says calmly, “we have you surrounded and you are unarmed. Make things easier for yourself and give up. Do so and no harm shall come to you,” he explains in a slow, almost demeaning way.

So the little pony captain thinks he’s won already? Plus, he thinks I’m just some wild animal. Boy is he going to be in for one hell of a surprise, Jak mused to himself.

“Like bucking hell! This…this THING crashes the party, ruins my awesome dress, not to mention the whole Gala, and you’re just going to let him get away with it?! No way! This thing’s gonna pay or my name isn’t Rainbow Dash!” the rainbow-maned pony shouted as she turned to face the captain of the guards.

“Rainbow Dash, as one of Twily’s friends I’m going to ask you this one time to stand down and let the Royal Guard deal with this situation. Otherwise I’m afraid some of the troops will have no choice but to escort you out,” Shining replied, never taking his eyes off of the armoured figure. “Now stand aside so we can bring this creature in.”

As the scene played out before her, Princess Luna could only watch in shock and in fear as the strange creature deposited into the ballroom stared down her sister’s elite guards and Prince Shining Armor.

This is…this is impossible. That mane, the armour, and those eyes. It’s the same creature from my nightmares. Why is he here? What manner of sorcery is this? Why has this demon been brought into our peaceful world?

Luna involuntarily shivered as the nightmares that had plagued her dreams of late bubbled to the surface, and instinctively took a step back away from the creature that she knew could easily bring doom to all of Equestria. She had seen in her nightmares what this creature was capable. She had seen what dark powers of destruction and death it possessed, and she knew that if it desired too, it could make short work of her sister’s guards and possibly Shining Armor as well.

She thought that after a year of her liberation from the control of Nightmare Moon, she would be free of the darkness that once invaded her sleep. However, despite her restoration to her true self by the Elements of Harmony Luna still found that her sleep was constantly invaded by the familiar presence of Nightmare Moon. She knew that she ought to tell her sister, but every time she attempted to bring up the subject she stopped herself out of fear.

What if Celestia finds within me a remnant of Nightmare Moon? If the Elements of Harmony could not fully purify my soul, then what choice will Celestia have? What is to become of me if the darkness that still haunts my soul is discovered?

And now, before her, another figure that had recently been added to her nightmares had found its way into Equestria, into the ballroom where Luna was currently sitting and, until recently, enjoying the Grand Galloping Gala with her sister and new friends. Something was different about him though. In her dreams, this creature had always morphed into a demon with pale white skin and eyes as black as the midnight sea. In her dreams, this creature was ruthless. Now though, it appeared to be acting in self-defence. Regardless, she knew this thing was a threat. She knew of the dark powers it possessed. And she knew it must either be captured or destroyed. Yet she could not bring herself to move out of the fear her nightmares had over her. Her blood had turned to ice and her legs and wings felt like lead. All she could do was watch with horrid fascination the events that were about to unfold.

‘Rainbow Dash’…well that’s…fitting I guess. Without turning his head, Jak looked around the room to appraise the escalated situation. Four guards, plus their captain, plus a certain aggravated rainbow-maned winged-pony were still staring him down and slowly advancing on him. He spotted his Morph Gun towards the far left end of the room. The doors leading out of ballroom hall were apparently sealed at some point during his little scrimmage with the guards.

I could always go Dark Jak…I have more than enough eco to level this ballroom and all of the guards in it. No. Too many of these bystanders would be killed in the process. Besides, I guess there’s no real point in making things even worse by killing these guys. I’ve caused enough trouble as-is. His eyes turned to one of the many windows covering the wall. Hope it’s not a long way down. Time to bail.

“I’m going to ask you one last time, creature. Stand down, surrender yourself, and I swear no harm will come to you.”

“Sorry, ponyboy, but you’ll have to catch me first,” Jak spoke with an evil grin. All of the guards and ponies around him froze for a moment, surprised by his sudden capabilities of speech.

Just as Shining Armor regained his wits and charged his horn for a freezing spell, Jak sprung to the right and started running across the ballroom. Shining and the two other unicorn guards loosed their spells, only for Jak to dodge the first two in a forward roll and the other by using the momentum from the roll to vault forwards into the air.

Jak’s blood was pumping in his ears as he narrowly dodged the magical blasts. Years of combat experience kept him focused, his senses keen as he took in every detail of the intensifying battle around him. Jak, in his roll-jump, leaped over another horned-pony (unicorn?) with an alabaster mane and styled purple mane with a look of fear plastered over her face.

Jak landed in a kneeling position just behind said unicorn, and immediately rolled to the side to evade another mulberry bolt. As Jak got back to his feet to continue his sprint to the window, he noticed that the latest magical bolt came from a different unicorn. This one, unlike the guards and captain he’d dealt with so far, had a lavender coat and navy-blue mane and tail with a bright pink highlight going through both. She galloped ahead towards Jak with another orange plain-pony with an orange coat, blonde mane, and…is that a cowboy hat? The two were followed closely by another wingless, hornless pony with a bubblegum pink coat and curly pink mane and tail who was for whatever reason smiling like she just won the lottery.

A look to the right confirmed that the Royal Guard (with one still angry sky-blue pony) had mobilized to try and cut Jak off from the only obvious exit in the room. Little did they know that Jak had absolutely no intention of walking out the front door.

Magical blasts erupted around him as Jak rolled forward and picked up his Morph Gun, still with the Blaster mod attached. One of the winged-pony guards had caught up to him. As the pony descended on Jak, he spun around and kicked the pony out of the air and into another incoming unicorn guard. Using the force from his spin-kick, Jak took aim and unleashed a volley of bullets at the chains holding several of the hanging chandeliers in the ballroom. Three formerly-intricately designed gem-encrusted chandeliers came crashing to the floor, halting the advance of the charging ponies.

Jak heard a small whimper from behind him and turned his head momentarily to see a butterscotch-yellow winged-pony with a bright pink mane attempting to hide behind a set of curtains. Jak paused in confusion at the frightened pony. It looks…so frightened. It’s scared for its life. It’s moments like these that make me hate my job.

The clacking of hooves on the marbled floor snapped him back to reality. The guards, the captain, and the four other advancing ponies (they look female, I guess that would make them mares?) had surrounded him with his back to a window.

Jak removed the Blaster mod from his Morph Gun and it became his original Scatter Gun. A short-range burst weapon, the Scatter Gun would not normally be ideal for a situation such as this, but for what Jak had in mind, it would be all he’d need.

Shining Armor regarded the creature before him once more and sighed with an air that rivaled boredom. “So now we’re back to square one. We have you surrounded, you have your weapon, and unless you can fly it looks like you’re sunk. You realize that you’re just making things worse for yourself, don’t you? Now why don’t you stop before somepony here gets hurt?”

He does have a point, Jak thought to himself as he stared the stallion down, I don’t have nearly enough white eco to fly away. I shouldn’t need to though.

…

Man I really, really hope this ballroom isn’t too far up.

“Not likely pal.” With each word, Jak took another step backwards until he was almost literally pressed up against the window. Light of the full moon flooding in through the window, Jak turned and fired.

The window shattered almost instantaneously. Ponies, princesses, and guards alike looked onwards slack-jawed as the strange creature destroyed a window and proceeded to leap out into the night sky.

“Oh no you don’t you…whatever you are!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she took to the sky and pursued the creature responsible for ruining her night with her friends that she had been looking forward to all year!

As Shining Armor was about to order a pursuit team of his own, he was halted by the voice of aunt-in-law, Princess Celestia.

The Princess of the Sun calmly approached the window where the stranger had escaped and regarded it and the night sky with cool contemplation.

“Shining Armor,” Celestia began, never taking her eyes off of the horizon, “I believe the best course of action would be to cast your shielding spell immediately. Whatever or whoever this stranger is, we know that he is dangerous, a capable fighter, and very slippery. We must not allow him to leave Canterlot.”

“Princess!” the same purple unicorn mare shouted as she finished the distance to the window to stand next to her beloved mentor, “What should we do about this…stranger?”

“Calm yourself, my faithful student. Your brother will cast the same shielding spell used when Canterlot was under threat of a Changeling invasion. Nopony will get in, and nopony will get out until this new threat is apprehended,” Celestia explained evenly.

“Should we gather the Elements of Harmony? And what about Rainbow Dash? She just took off after that thing! She could get hurt, or worse!” With every question and statement, Twilight’s panic levels continued to rise to an almost fevered pitch.

“I am confident that Rainbow Dash will return from this unscathed. If this creature wanted to hurt anypony seriously, then he would have done so already. I see no reason for him to harm Rainbow Dash. But, as a precaution, I want every pegasi guard to take to the skies and search for both this creature and Rainbow Dash. Is that understood lieutenant?”

“Yes, ma’am!” The pegasus lieutenant saluted and took off, barking orders to mobilize the Equestrian Air Force and Wonderbolts to scour the city.

Shining Armor centered his focus and concentrated on building up the power necessary for a city-wide barrier spell. Eyes shut in determination, his wife, Princess Cadance, approached from behind to wrap a comforting wing around her husband’s back. Feeling the familiar warmth around him, Shining smiled as he released his spell, sending a pink beam of magic into Canterlot airspace. Once it reached sufficient height, the beam expanded to create a large magical dome around the entire capital city of Canterlot.

There, Shining thought, exhaustion spreading throughout his body as the spell took its toll, let’s see him get out of this one.

Damn, the ballroom was a little higher up than I hoped it would be, was the first thought that crossed Jak’s mind as he plummeted towards the cobbled streets of the city below him. The ballroom was situated up in some kind of palace, constructed a fair deal above the rest of the city. And now, Jak was freefalling and about to be well acquainted with the alien ground (sooo tempted to use the “FlapJak” pun again here, but I won’t, because I’m a good person).

The next thing Jak noticed was a rainbow blur out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, surprised to find that the same winged-pony had decided to chase after him.

“No way are you getting away from me freak-show!” She shouted as she narrowed the gap between the two.

Wow, she really doesn’t let things go very easily now does she?

“Alright then! Want to play? Then let’s go!” Jak shouted as he sheathed his Morph Gun and dislodged the bronze disk strapped to his back. With the flick of his wrist, Jak threw the disk down towards the ground.

Rainbow Dash watched wide-eyed as the disk began to expand to twice its previous size and hum as it came to life. A strange, blue energy began to glow along lines in the strange device, and what looked like a metallic fan began to spin on the disk’s bottom side.

As his Hover Board took its full form, Jak somersaulted in midair before landing on his favourite mode of travel (aside from his Sand Shark, which, as you remember, was left behind in a smoldering wreck by a certain unconscious ottsel). Adjusting his weight, Jak angled the Hover Board so that it was aligned with the angled cliff wall behind him.

Instead of freefalling, Jak was now riding down the side of the Canterlot mountain slope into the city below, his speed increasing with every passing second. As Jak neared the city below, he noticed a bridge connecting the palace to the rest of the city with large cables used for support that looked perfect to help him ditch this persistent pony.

“Hah! That all you got? You’re gonna have to do better if you want to ditch the fastest pegasus in Equestria!”

Oh, so the winged ones are called pegasuses? Or would it be pegasi? Whatever. Why didn’t I think of that?

“You want a race there? Alright pegasus, you’re on!” Jak shouted behind him as he veered to the right towards the bridge. Feet firmly planted on his Hover Board, Jak jumped onto one of the cables and grinded down the last stretch to the city. As he neared the end of the line, he jumped, spun his Hover Board beneath him, and landed with an even bigger speed boost.

I’ve got a hunch that this pegasus likes to show off. If that’s the case I don’t see the harm in showing her what I can do.

Jak veered through the city streets of Canterlot with Rainbow Dash never too far behind. Luckily for them, it was the middle of the night and most ponies were asleep in their beds, leaving the streets empty and leaving lots of room for Jak to attempt to out-maneuver the pursuing pegasus. Jak performed a number of tricks, jumps, and spins as he zig-zagged through the empty streets, backtracking, and getting increasingly lost as he tried to ditch Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash, of course, would have none of that, and kept up with the weird creature with the even weirder (albeit awesome) floating gizmo.

Eventually, Jak saw what he guessed was the edge of the city.

Time to get the hell out of dodge.

He made a beeline for the city perimeter, only to gawk as a mulberry-pink beam of energy shot into the night sky and formed into a similarly coloured dome that covered the entire city.

Well that’s just prime. Now what? Jak scanned the area around him and noticed a manhole cover (ponywhole cover?) down an alleyway. Perfect. Why do I always end up running around the sewers no matter where I go like some kind of rat?

Jak made a sharp turn and zoomed down the alley towards the sewer entrance. As he crossed over the ponywhole cover, he hit a switch on his Hover Board emitting a small shockwave that knocked the cover loose.

Rainbow Dash failed to notice this from the air as she continued her relentless pursuit. When Jak reached the end of the alley way, he made one last sharp turn to the left before kicking his Hover Board up where it compacted to its original shape. Jak caught it in midair before concentrating on making himself invisible, literally. He felt the dark energy course through his veins as the dark eco in his body did its work and Jak became invisible.

Can’t keep this up for long, gotta move fast.

Rainbow Dash, bewildered by the sudden disappearance of her quarry, failed to neither see nor hear a ponywhole cover behind her in the alleyway slide closed.

As he descended into the dark, murky, stinking sewer system of Canterlot, Jak released his invisibility (although in this darkness it made little difference). After a few hours of aimless wandering through the complex sewer labyrinth, Jak happened upon the entrance to a series of crystal caves buried deep underneath Canterlot. The crystals emitted some sort of light, not unlike the eco crystals of Jak’s homeworld.

Well, this is better than nothing and definitely better than that sewer.

Jak slumped against the cave wall exhausted, beaten, and very homesick.

“Okay, so far I’ve succeeded in getting shot at, blown up, chased by a giant Metal-Pede, ravaged in a sandstorm, sucked into a strange portal into an even stranger world, pissing off the local population, falling out of a palace built into the side of a mountain, chased through the city streets, trapped, and now stuck in some crystal cave connected to the city sewers.”

…

“And this time I don’t even have Dax with me…”

Jak had never felt so alone, so marginalized. Before, no matter how bad the situation was, he at least always had Daxter by his side. Despite his constant wining and stupid bravado, Daxter was Jak’s best friend. And now here Jak was, in a strange world with no way out, and now he was truly alone.

This was Jak’s last thought as an uneasy sleep finally took him into its bittersweet embrace.

Damn Kids

As Celestia’s sun ascended over the peaks of the Canterlot mountains, a single sunbeam was able to penetrate the one gap of the curtains of a room high up in the Canterlot palace. The sunbeam managed to fall onto the eyes of the current occupant of said room. With a moan of protest, Twilight Sparkle rolled to the side to try and remain in the peaceful bliss that was sleep. It was an attempt in vain, as the light and required movement had succeeded in rousing the lavender unicorn from her slumber.

Deciding to be productive now that she was awake instead of lie in bed uselessly, Twilight hopped out of bed and stretched. After a few satisfying cracks from her back, she moved to open the curtains fully. Celestia had been kind enough to keep Twilight’s old tower in pristine condition and was more than happy to allow her to return to her former residence and the palace with her friends from Ponyville.

As Twilight looked out the window at the glory of Canterlot in the morning sunrise, she couldn’t help but think of that strange creature that appeared in the middle of the Grand Galloping Gala just last night.

Her eyes filled with concern she looked down at the city below and the only thing keeping that thing from escaping into the rest of Equestria: her brother’s shield spell.

It can’t be easy for Shining to maintain that spell. Maybe I should ask him to teach it to me so he can take a break and recharge. We don’t want a repeat of the Changeling invasion, and I’m sure Celestia and Luna would agree with me.

As she ruminated, Twilight moved herself away from the view to her bedside mirror to go about the rest of her morning routine. For the past twelve years, she woke, brushed her mane exactly 120 times, woke Spike, and proceeded to eat a healthy breakfast. Today was Tuesday, that meant oats and honey for breakfast.

Rainbow said the creature just disappeared from sight while she was chasing it. It’s unlikely that it managed to out-race her, she is Rainbow Dash after all, and while she may be a bit arrogant, she can certainly back it up, Twilight thought, harkening back to the Best Young Flier Competition in Cloudsdale just the year prior.

So that means it either tricked her somehow…or performed some kind of spell that either teleported it or made it invisible. Invisibility is a complex spell only the most accomplished unicorns can cast, and even then only for a few minutes before we go into magical fatigue… This thing was dangerous enough before with that weird weapon…but if it can use magic of that calibre it could be major trouble…

Twilight was interrupted from her inner monologue when she heard a rapid knocking on her door. Before she could even say ‘come in’ her door was thrown open and a prismatic blur zipped into the room.

“Uhh…good morning, Rainbow Dash? Anything I can help you with?” Twilight asked, still in the midst of taming her mane and confused by her friend’s dramatic appearance.

“Huh? Oh, mornin’ Twi.” Rainbow grumbled as she paced her friend’s room, wings twitching in agitation and brow furrowed.

“You’re not still upset about last night, are you? You couldn’t have possibly known what kinds of tricks that thing had up its sleeves when you chased after it. It’s not your fault that it got away. In fact, I’d say that it’s a miracle nopony got hurt,” Twilight explained, doing her best to console her ego-bruised friend.

“No, no, no! That’s not it! Ugh, you don’t get it! I lost, Twi! That thing was able to outmaneuver me! Nopony’s ever been able to do that! Okay, maybe Lightning Dust was on par with me, but she was never any better than me. Rainbow Dash does not lose! How can I be the Element of Loyalty if I can’t even help catch a stupid elf-thing?” she said miserably as she slumped to her haunches.

Twilight stopped her brushing to move over to her friend. She sat down next to Rainbow and put a leg over her shoulder to pull her into a hug.

“Come on now, don’t say things like that. Whatever that creature was, it kind of made foals out of all of us. How do you think the Royal Guard feels, being bested when they had it outnumbered ten to one? It got the drop on us, took us by surprise. Don’t worry, we’ll catch it. With Shining’s forcefield up it still has to be somewhere in the city. You’ll get another chance at catching him, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks Twi, I needed that,” Rainbow said as she returned the hug.

“Right, so any other reason why you decided to burst into my room this early in the morning?” Twilight asked, giggling as she pulled away from the hug.

“What? Oh! Right, sorry I forgot,” Rainbow smiled sheepishly, “Princess Celestia said she wants to meet with us, your brother, Princess Cadance, and Princess Luna in the courtyard after we’ve all had breakfast. Something about plans for tracking down that thing running around Canterlot and what we do when we catch it.”

“In that case we’d better get going and get some breakfast. I’m starving and I don’t want to keep the Princesses waiting longer than necessary,” Twilight said walking to the door, Rainbow Dash following behind.

Jak was roused from his restless slumber by a rumbling noise. Opening his eyes slowly, Jak waited for his eyes to fully adjust to the soft glowing of the many crystals that littered the walls, ceiling, and floor of the cave he was currently occupying. Scanning the room for the source of the grumbling that woke him, another rumble informed him that it came from his own stomach.

Well that’s a little embarrassing. Good thing it’s just me down here, Dax would give me a hard time about this for weeks.

Dax…I hope he’s okay. Hopefully by now he either found some way back to Haven or Ashelin sent out a scouting party to look for us. Maybe Samos or Keira will be able to figure out a way to open up another portal so I can get home. But how would they know where I am? I have to find some way to get a message to them, at least to let them know that I’m okay…

Another grumble from his complaining, empty stomach.

But first thing’s first, I need to find some food and water. I haven’t had anything to eat since I left Haven City for that last mission…meaning I’ve gone almost two days without food. I know I passed a bazaar when trying to lose that flying rainbow-pony. What was her name, Rainbow Crash? Colour Dash? Rainbow Dash? Yeah, that was it, Rainbow Dash.

Jak stood and stretched his sore back. As it turns out, sleeping on the rocky, bumpy floor of a cold stone cave doesn’t exactly do wonders for you in the morning.

He unbuckled his bracers, shin guards, and breast plate, placing the bronze pieces of armour on the cave floor, next to a particularly brightly glowing crystal. Next to them he placed his Morph Gun.

If I’m going to be running around a city on high-alert, I’m going to need to be quick and quiet. This stuff would only weigh me down and make me easier to spot. Not sure how much it will help considering I stick out like a sore thumb in a city full of ponies. I can outfight most of these ponies anyways, and besides, I have plenty of Dark Eco to spare if I really get in a pinch.

Opting to only keep his shoulder-guards and bracers on with his Hover Board still strapped to his back in case a quick escape was needed, Jak stretched once more, now relieved of much of the weight he was carrying before. As he did, he heard the trickle of what sounded like a stream nearby.

Following the sound to its source, Jak discovered a small stream flowing from one of the cave walls and welling up into a small spring. Cupping his hands, Jak took several long drinks of the cool water. Strange, this water is actually really good. Like, really good. It must be the minerals that the water picked up while flowing through the caves. Who knows what these crystal caves are made of, Jak thought to himself.

Splashing some water on his face, Jak began to plot out his next move. 1) He needed to find a way out of these caves, 2) he needed to find a way to navigate the city without getting caught, 3) he needed to find some food, badly, and 4) he needed to figure out what’s creating the forcefield so he can take it out and get out of the city.

Once I get out of the city, I can hide out in the wilderness. If I can survive underground mines, ancient Precursor Temples, the desert, and the sewers of Haven City, how bad can the forest be? But I’m getting ahead of myself. How the hell do I get out of this damn cave? These crystals are really starting to weird me out. Back home, when crystals were glowing, it meant that they were concentrated forms of eco that could be harnessed. Does eco even exist here?

Jak spotted a glowing white crystal just off to his left by the spring. Studying the crystal, eventually Jak’s curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to touch the crystal.

If these things are powered by eco, then I might be able to harness them.

Jak grabbed the crystal, and nothing happened. Disappointed, Jak tried again, this time focusing on extracting any eco-energy from within the depths of the crystalline object before him. As he did, his hand began to glow in a familiar icy-blue, almost white, aura. He absorbed the energy from the crystal until it was spent, the crystal now a lifeless gray colour.

Light Eco…so there is eco here. That’s…convenient.

A dark smile plastered across his face, Jak rose to his full height, with both his Dark Eco and Light Eco reserves completely replenished. Holding his hand in front of his face, Jak watched as the lingering aura of the Light Eco flowed around him and into him, rejuvenating his body and mind. A beam of sunlight fell onto his outstretched hand, and Jak turned to see an exit to the cave far above him. He looked upwards to see the exit platform separated from the rest of the upper levels of the cave by a chasm that led down to where he was standing. Broken mine cart tracks led further into the cave.

So this used to be a mine, huh? Some things never change. By the look of things, it looks like the ponies here abandoned this mine a long time ago. This place should serve as a good hiding spot from the guards, at least for now. Unless they’re total idiots, they will probably send a search party down here sooner or later. Whatever, time to get something to eat.

Jak focused the light energy now flowing through his body, and his entire form took on the same icy-blue glow from before, blurring his figure and turning his eyes a ghostly white. Concentrating more, the white eco focused and began to take physical form as a pair of large, angel-like wings on his back.

“Light Jak,” as this form was known to his friends, gave a powerful flap of his wings and took to the air. Within a few seconds he reached the upper levels of the cave. Upon landing he quickly dispelled the powers of the white eco. His wings, along with the aura surrounding his body, blinked out of existence, leaving only a few sparks floating in the air before they too disappeared.

“Phew,” Jak mumbled to himself, “I keep on forgetting how much flight takes out of me. I’m going to have to be more careful in how often I use it while here.”

A faint breeze blowing through the entrance to the cave, Jak steeled himself for a full day of creeping through city streets, avoiding guards at every turn, and finding a way back into the palace. If there was one place that would give him some answers, it would be there.

This is probably suicide. Sneaking into the palace the day after I put the city on red-alert? Just like Haven City all over again. Let’s see if these guards are any brighter than the Krimson Guard.

Smirking, Jak walked into the light of day, and with it, began the latest, and possibly most challenging, of his adventures.

Twilight and her closest friends, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, all sat around a table in the dining hall of the Royal Canterlot Palace. Still finishing up their breakfasts, the group busied themselves with talking about the strange creature that invaded the palace and effectively ruined the Grand Galloping Gala.

“So Rainbow, what do ya make of this creature?” asked Applejack as she prodded her apple fritter.

“Why are you asking me?” Rainbow responded through a mouthful of pancakes.

“Please Rainbow, we are dining at the Royal Canterlot Palace! Mind your manners for once while we stay here and swallow before you speak! It’s incredibly rude not to!” snapped Rarity as she sipped her morning tea.

Rainbow only rolled her eyes at the fashionista before swallowing and turning back to Applejack. “It’s not like I know the guy or anything.”

“True, but you do have the most experience with the varmint out of any of us,” the cowpony retorted.

“I dunno! I was chasing after him, it’s not like I had time to stop and ask him ‘Oh hi, I’m Rainbow Dash, what’s your name and why in the name of Tartarus did you just fall out of the sky and beat the living ponyfeathers out of Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard?’” Rainbow exclaimed, throwing her hooves up into the air.

“Hmph!” snorted Rarity, “I don’t see the point in discussing this any further. Whatever it was, it was a scoundrel and a ruffian that absolutely spoiled the entire night.”

Fluttershy looked up from her bowl of cereal and squeaked out “Maybe he isn’t so bad.”

“WHAT!?” Rainbow exclaimed, giving her shy friend an accusatory glare from across the table.

Fluttershy eeped and hid behind her pink mane. “W-well, I only mean that he must have been really frightened. I know I would have been if I was ended up somewhere different. A-and it’s not like he really hurt anypony…” Fluttershy explained in a barely audible voice.

“Yeah! Maybe we all just scared him, like a surprise that was an itsy-bitsy little-wittle bit too surprise-y!” Pinkie said excitedly bouncing while speaking. *GASP* “What if he doesn’t have any friends?! That would be just abso-tutely-lutely the worst possible thing! When we find him, we could throw him a party!”

“Pinkie, I don’t think he’s the partying type, or the type for friends sugarcube,” Applejack deadpanned, “he seemed awful dangerous to me. The way he just took out all those guards without breaking a sweat and that strange contraption he used…he just creeps me out. What do you think, Twi?”

Twilight paused her eating, not that she had eaten very much anyways, and put a hoof to her chin in thought. She closed her eyes, speaking slowly, “Well…the portal brought him here was a type of magic I’ve never seen before. While it’s possible to teleport, creating a magical portal, especially one that big, should be impossible.”

“Excuse me, Twilight darling, but what does this have to do with the creature?” Rarity interjected.

“I was getting to that,” Twilight said, opening her eyes to give Rarity a look that told her to shut up.

“Ha! Now who’s forgotten their manners Rarity?” Rainbow sneered, pointing an accusatory hoof at her alabaster friend.

Twilight turned her glare to Rainbow, and her prismatic friend promptly sat back down with an apologetic smile.

“Now, as I was trying to explain, the very fact that a portal opened up and deposited our new friend here in Equestria suggests that he may not even come from our world.”

“You mean it’s an ALIEN?!” Pinkie shouted, her smile growing bigger with each passing second.

“Err, yes, theoretically speaking. We’d have to catch him and ask it to be sure, but that seems to me to be the most plausible explanation. And until we do catch it, its goals and objectives are unknown, and it is a threat if left unchecked. Luckily, with my brother’s forcefield up, it won’t be leaving the city anytime soon. Can you imagine what kind of havoc it could cause if it ever got out into the rest of Equestria? But I can’t deny that I’m really curious about this creature. There are so many questions I want to ask it! Where does it come from, how did it get here, does it have a name!”

“Woah there Twilight, let’s just focus on catching the varmint first before we play 20 Questions,” Applejack said, putting a calming hoof on her lavender friend’s shoulder.

“Oh, of course,” Twilight said with a sheepish smile on her face, “ahem, we should probably go out to the courtyard and see what the Princesses wanted to talk to us about.”

Jak prowled through the alleys of Canterlot, a bag of recently obtained apples in hand. It had been easy enough, he used his Dark Eco to once again make himself invisible, and when the pony at the apple stand wasn’t looking, Jak “liberated” a small sack of good from his cart before ducking into another alley.

Enjoying the spoils of his efforts, Jak found that the apples here were, well, delicious. Finishing his third apple, he tossed the core into a nearby dumpster, all the while making sure he stayed in the shadows and out of sight.

As he cautiously wandered through the bustling city, he noticed that the forcefield that prevented his escape yesterday was still standing strong. The one thing that kept him from his freedom, and he had no idea how he was going to take it out. He shifted his gaze to the palace, easily seen from any corner of the city.

It was truly a splendor of architectural achievement, especially by ponies that have no hands to manipulate tools with. It looked to be made of white marble, with various towers and turrets reaching high into the sky, each adorned with brilliantly shining gold and purple designs.

If anything, these Princesses have style.

Jak heard movement coming from a connecting alley to his left, and immediately ducked behind a dumpster, quietly watching and waiting for whoever it was to pass by so he could resume his journey back into the palace. What he saw surprised him. A small pony that had the same colourings of a pinto horse came running down the alley. He looked scared, eyes wide and darting back and forth as if looking for some way to escape from something.

A kid? What’s he doing alone in these alleys? And what’s he running from?

“Aww, somepony lost?” came a sneering voice from further down the alley, cutting the young foal off from his only escape route.

The pinto-patterned foal stopped in his tracks, trembling and backing up into the alley wall as the figure came into light.

What the hell is that?

The creature that stepped into the light looked like part of a lion crossed with part of an eagle. She had razor sharp talons and a beak to match. Easily larger than most ponies, Jak could see how a little kid would be scared stiff of this “griffon.”

“What’s the matter kid, lose your mommy?” the griffon leered, “Oh don’t worry, I won’t hurt you, just as long as you give me what I want.”

“W-w-w-what do you w-w-want?” the foal asked, on the verge of tears.

“I saw you walking down the street with that cross-eyed pegasus freak from that loser town Ponyville and her dumb kid. I also happened to notice that they gave you a bag full of bits. Seems to me that a kid like you doesn’t need that much cash, I think it would be a much better idea if you gave me the money instead, don’t you?” the griffon threatened, examining her talons.

“W-w-w-what?”

“Geez, kid, how thick are you?! Fork over everything you have, and you just might find your friends again in one piece!” the griffon threatened, moving closer to the crying foal with every word.

Oh great, Jak thought. It would be easy to let the griffon have her way with kid and slip away unnoticed. But then again…

Just as the griffon was about to reach the young pony, talons extended, Jak sprung from his hiding place behind the dumpster and delivered a powerful punch to the griffon’s side. The griffon sprawled out on the ground away from the foal, but quickly got to her feet, head steaming from the pure anger of somepony interfering.

“OKAY! WHO’S GOT THE NERVE TO SUCKER PUNCH ME LIKE THAT?! NOPONY HITS ME LIKE THAT AND LIVES TO TELL THE TALE!!!” the griffon roared.

Jak stepped fully into the light, revealing himself fully to the enraged griffon and frightened foal before him. The griffon stepped back in surprise and the foal attempted to push himself further into the wall, hoping that this strange creature wouldn’t turn its attention to him.

“So, you like to push kids around, huh?” Jak asked, his eyes cold as ice and they bored into the griffon’s own.

He took a step forward, cracking his knuckles, “I have a problem with bullies. If you want to pick on someone, try me on for size. That is, if you’re not a chicken you feathered-freak.”

“You! You’re the one they’re looking for! You’re the reason I can’t get out of this lame city! Ohohhohh I’m going to enjoy sending you to the guard in pieces. Who knows, the princesses will probably knight me for my superior service. Sir Gilda, I like the sound of that,” the griffon taunted, lowering herself into a crouch, ready to pounce at the first sign of movement.

Jak smirked, and with a crackle of Dark Eco, blinked out of existence. Stunned and slack-jawed, Gilda searched the alleyway for her foe. Jak reappeared right in front of her and delivered a spin kick to the side of her head, sending her flying into the alley wall. Not giving her a chance to recover, Jak lunged forward and punched her right in the gut, winding the griffon, and transitioned into a quick uppercut punch that left her dazed and slumped against the Wasteland Hero.

Jak grabbed her by the throat and held her up against the alley wall. Holding her in place, Jak growled “If I ever see you threatening this kid again, I will personally pluck every feather from your useless hide and fry you for dinner.”

With that Jak tossed her into the dumpster that he was only moments before hiding behind and slammed the lid shut. Brushing his hands off on his tunic, Jak turned to the foal only to see him still cowering against the alley wall.

Oh good, now I’ve traumatized a kid. This day just keeps on getting better and better.

Jak sighed, “Get out of here, kid. Go find your friends and don’t go wandering off alone, you never know who you might run into in these alleys.”

Jak walked past the frightened foal and back into the alleyway, making his way to the palace.

The pinto-patterned pony finally shook himself out of his fear-coma and chased after the strange creature that had just saved him from that horrible griffon.

“Wait! Wait, mister!” he called out after his bipedal saviour.

Jak stopped, a little shocked by the sudden outburst from the formerly silent child. He turned sideways to properly face the pony.

“I, umm, just wanted to say thank you for saving me from that griffon,” he said, pawing a hoof at the ground and not quite meeting Jak’s eyes.

“I was really scared after I got lost from my friend Dinky and her mom. I only turned away for a moment and somehow I got separated from them in a crowd and ended up down here where that griffon started to chase me.”

Jak wasn’t quite used to this kind of praise from people, err, ponies. A little stunned, Jak recovered enough to respond to the foal. “Uhh, yeah sure, no problem. Seriously though, you should probably get out of here and wait for you friends to find you. There’s a nice apple stand just out of this alley over there,” Jak pointed behind the foal to the market. He turned to leave again.

“Wait! What’s your name? My name’s Pipsqueak, but my friends just call me Pip!”

“Nice to have met you Pip. My name’s Jak, now get out of here kid. I mean it.”

Pipsqueak nodded, but before he left used his mouth to stuff a red bandana into Jak’s hand.

“Okay, but take this bandana as thanks! It’s one of my favourites! I wore it on Nightmare Night last year when Princess Luna came to Ponyville!” Pip explained before happily running back out of the alley.

Momentarily stunned, Jak tied his new bandana to the strap of his shoulder-guard before once again setting off for the palace.

No more distractions, time to get some answers.

No More Games

Jak woke in an expansive white space. Never ending nothingness stretched out in all directions as he hung in a kind of limbo, unaware of which way was up or down, left or right, forward or backward.

“Where...where the hell am I?” he asked out loud, more to himself than anyone else.

It came to his great surprise when a voice answered his question. “You are in the realm of dreams, creature. Your physical body is resting wherever you have hidden yourself, and your mind and spirit have entered into my domain.”

Jak whirled around, or at least he thought he did. It was impossible to discern any actual movement in this...wherever this was. “Who are you?! Show yourself!” He shouted back. If there was one thing Jak hated, it was being toyed with. “And what do you mean the ‘realm of dreams’? What’s going on here?!”

“Calm yourself, creature.” The entire plane of existence rumbled as the voice seemed to be coming everywhere yet nowhere at the same time, only serving to increase Jak’s disorientation. “I mean you no harm, at least not here. As I told you, this is the realm of dreams. Nothing here is real, so even if I attempted to assault you, you would simply wake up unscathed. The most I can do here is speak with you, which I assure you is my only intention.”

Jak snarled to himself, still searching around for the owner of the voice. It sounded feminine, but carried with it a strong sense of authority and power. It was both ancient and young at the same time. The way in which it spoke reminded Jak of Baron Praxis and of Damas. In other words, the voice of a ruler.

Jak had bad experiences with rulers in the past.

“Fine!” he spat, “If this is all a dream, then why the hell is everything just this...emptiness? And you still haven’t answered my question, who the hell are you and why did you bring me here?”

The entire space around him seemed to shake as the voice let out a deep sigh that reverberated around him before explaining in an even, measured tone. “I did not bring you anywhere, creature. This is your dream, I am the one visiting you. I came to you to talk face-to-face...in a manner of speaking. It appears as a void because you have not yet chosen how the plane should manifest itself. To answer your second question...I would think it easier if you could set a landscape so we may talk.”

Jak huffed and crossed his arms across his chest, or at least he thought he did. “And how do you suggest I do that? Snap my fingers and whisk us off to Haven Forest for a little picnic?”

“Yes,” the voice answered simply, “this is your dream after all, creature. You have the power to shape it to whatever form you desire by simply willing it to be so. Calm yourself and focus.”

Jak growled but held his tongue. Arguing with this...voice wasn’t going to get him anything except a headache. Was that even possible in a dream? Ugh, even thinking about it was starting to make his head throb. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming his nerves but maintaining his guard, reaching out with his senses to pick up any movement. He focused and tried to think of someplace familiar...someplace peaceful...

Without opening his eyes, Jak could feel the fabric of the ‘dream’ around him begin to shift and take shape, morphing into the setting in his mind’s eye. He felt his feet alight on solid ground, or at least what he perceived as solid ground. He could feel the rays of the sun falling gently on his face and a small breeze grace his skin. He smelt the ocean and, despite himself, smiled earnestly for what felt like the first time in an age.

He didn’t need to open his eyes to know where he was.

But he needed to see it for himself. Opening his eyes, he was met with the site of the sun slowly setting over the sea. Strange marble monuments dotted the shoreline stretching out over the sea as if reaching out to some long forgotten deity. A small village could be seen in the distance, quiet in the serene glow of twilight. A single windmill turned in the breeze on the largest hut in the village. Jak himself stood on a green hill in the shadow of a cliff given life by the flow of green eco beneath his feet. Jak could feel the life-giving energy pulse around him. He had almost forgotten how much life this place once had.

Jak was home.

For what felt like an eternity Jak just stood there, taking in every inch of Sentinel Beach, remembering the times he and Daxter would come up here when they were young to play and their adventures here in search of power cells. He was lost in the moment, gazing with a look of remorse at his former home, his former life. Only five years had passed since he was taken from here, or maybe it was six? He honestly couldn’t remember, somehow he had just stopped keeping track ever since he was thrown into the future...his real home.

Though everything here was just like he remembered it, it seemed a little too perfect. That’s when Jak remembered. “This is a dream...” He muttered to himself, casting his gaze downward at the grass solemnly.

“This is a beautiful place you have chosen, creature,” the same voice from earlier declared from just a few feet to his right.

Snapping his head up, Jak saw that the owner of the voice was one of the ponies with both wings and a horn. She had a deep blue coat and ethereal mane that resembled the night, flowing gracefully in some unseen wind. Jak recognized this one from the night before and the castle.

“You!” He said, taking a step back and crouching into a defensive stance. “You’re that pony from the castle!”

The aforementioned pony raised her hoof silently. “Please calm yourself. I have no intentions of harming you in this place. I simply came here to talk, to negotiate a truce between yourself and the rest of Equestria.”

Jak snorted. “And why do I find that hard to believe? No offense, but you ponies haven’t exactly been the friendliest bunch that I’ve had the pleasure to meet. Last I checked, I was a wanted man, and you either want me dead or in a prison somewhere. Let me tell you right now that I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”

Luna sighed, “Yes, you’ve made that perfectly clear creature. Our guards-”

“And will you stop calling me that!” Jak interrupted, a snarl snugly fitted onto his face.

“...pardon?” asked a very confused alicorn.

“Stop calling me ‘creature.’ As far as I’m concerned, it’s you talking magic ponies that are the freaks.”

Jak could tell that she was restraining her anger. She was sent here to try and work out some diplomatic solution. Based on his experiences, Jak saw little chance of that happening.

“...I see your point,” the alicorn relented. “Very well, what shall I refer to you as then?”

Jak considered her for a moment. On the one hand, he could lie or say nothing at all. A name was a powerful thing, after all, and denying them that may prove useful in the long run. On the other hand, if there was any chance of some kind of peace being worked out, he would need to gain her trust in some form. Giving her his name would be a start.

“My name’s Jak,” he answered simply, arms folded across his chest and standing his tallest. He stood just above eye-level with the alicorn.

The alicorn’s mouth was drawn in a thin line, though her eyes betrayed her surprise at Jak’s cooperation. “Alright then...Jak. I am Princess Luna, Ruler of the Night and co-regent of the nation of Equestria alongside my sister, Princess Celestia. As dreams fall under my domain, I have the power to visit and enter the dreams of others to provide guidance in a moment of need...or to talk in this case.”

“Okay, Princess Luna, you’re here. You have my attention, and you know my name, now what exactly did you want to talk about?” Jak said coldly, cutting straight to the chase.

“Very well, we shall get straight down to business.” Luna answered, folding her wings to her sides. “As I said, I wish to organize a truce of sorts between Equestria and yourself. Clearly you are a skilled combatant, having bested several of our Royal Guard, out-maneuvering arguably the fastest pegasus in the country, and defeating the former Captain of the Royal Guard himself. But know this, you cannot outrun us forever. As long as the forcefield is surrounding Canterlot, there is no chance for you to escape. A truce would save both of us a great deal of trouble.”

Jak couldn’t help but admire how this Princess Luna dealt with the situation. She was practiced in negotiation, as one would expect from the leader of a country, and hid any emotion behind a mask of neutrality.

“And if I refuse?”

“Then we shall hunt you down and capture you by force. We know more of your capabilities now, and it is only a matter of time before we find where you are hiding.”

“Please, you don’t know the first thing about me. You have no idea what I’m capable of,” Jak scoffed. “I’ve taken down entire armies, killed monsters that would leave you scared senseless, and faced death more than once.” Jak took a few steps closer to the princess, standing a few inches from her. “What makes you think that you have a ghost of a chance? You ponies don’t scare me. Hell, what’s to stop me from blasting my way out?”

“That is precisely what I was about to ask you.”

“What?”

“What exactly is stopping you from blasting your way out? Earlier today you defeated the Prince of the Crystal Empire and former Captain of the Royal Guard himself in single combat, while my sister, his wife and sister, as well as myself were unable to prevent it.” Luna spread her wings wide and continued on in a demanding but inquisitive tone. “You had the perfect opportunity to remove the one pony that was keeping you confined to this city. We would have been powerless to stop you. You could have destroyed the forcefield and escaped the city by now had you killed Shining Armor when you had the chance. My question to you, then, is why didn’t you? What stopped you from finishing him then and there?”

The question caught Jak off guard. He took a step back and stared blankly at Luna, eyes unfocused as he considered her question.

A moment of silence passed between the two, then another, and another. Luna waited patiently for his answer, though even her patience was being tested. Jak was lost in thought, the scene of his battle against Shining Armor playing on repeat in his mind. He saw the look of defeat on the stallion’s face, Jak raising his clawed arm to deal the finishing blow. He heard the cries of despair coming from above, and then...he jumped. He couldn’t bring himself to kill the unicorn.

“Well? Answer my question, Jak. What stopped you?”

The alicorn’s voice shook Jak from his reverie and he looked the princess in the eyes. Jak’s cold blue stare met with Luna’s own guarded azure eyes. Jak broke away from her stare and turned to face the horizon and watched the sea, feeling a calming peace wash over him like the coming tide. The princess followed his gaze slowly, waiting for him to speak.

Jak inhaled deeply and relaxed his arms, letting them fall loosely to his side. “Tell me, Princess, have you ever seen war?”

Luna tensed, her face unreadable. “...Yes, I suppose I have...”

“Have you ever seen your city torn down in flames as monsters gutted innocent people in the streets? Have you ever been forced to watch, helpless to save everyone save for those around you?” Jak paused, letting his words hang heavily in the air. “Have you ever stared into the eyes of death, battered and bloody and wanting nothing more than to just lay down and die, but had to keep going because you were the only chance for your friends...for your world, to survive?”

Luna gazed at the ocean, her gaze introspective. “No...I have not, nor do I ever wish to.”

“I have. I’ve seen war. Hell, I’ve fought in more wars that anybody should have any right to. More importantly, I’ve seen what war can do to people...” Jak trailed off as his brow furrowed and his scowl deepened. “If you don’t die fighting then you get to deal with the hell that follows. What’s worse is what happens to families. Kids lose their parents and grow up on the streets, wives lose their husbands, husbands lose their wives or a they lose their home...war tears families apart. It destroys them. I’ve seen enough to know that. And I won’t be the monster that rips a husband from his wife and sister.”

The alicorn princess was stunned by such a confession. “How...considerate of you. I did not expect such sentiment from a being of your sort.”

Jak smirked. “Contrary to popular belief, I’m not a monster. Or at least I don’t try to be. Look, the thing is, I’ve lost my family and I’ve seen my friends lose family. It isn’t something I would wish on anyone.”

Luna smiled to herself. Perhaps there was some light in this being of darkness after all. “Perhaps I was mistaken...” she mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” Luna blurted out a little too quickly. She was still rusty when it came to democratic discussions, though this one seemed to be going well. Clearing her throat, she regained her composure, “Jak, considering what you just told me, then I must implore you to consider a truce between yourself and Canterlot.”

“Are you still on about that? Look, you haven’t exactly been the most welcome group I’ve ever stumbled into. How am I supposed to know your guards won’t blast me the moment I let my guard down?”

“You do not trust us?”

Jak gaped at the alicorn, flabbergasted by the question. “You’re kidding, right? The first thing your guards did when they saw me was try to capture me. No offense, but you haven’t exactly given me any reason to trust you.”

“And you have been the epitome of trust since you arrived here? You have not given us any reason to put our faith in you.”

“Then why bother?”

Luna raised her head high and her horn hummed with energy. “Because that is our way. I cannot say how you treat your kind where you come from, cr-, err, Jak, but in Equestria, we believe in the power of friendship. And it is because of our nature that we wish to extend our hoof in friendship and hope that you accept it.” She spoke stiffly, her words coming across practiced and hollow, though they held some semblance of honesty.

“Then why don’t I believe you?”

Luna opened her mouth to respond, growing tired of this verbal back-and-forth but was interrupted by the landscape shaking as if hit by an earthquake. A white nothingness began to inch along the horizon, eating away the scenery and absorbing it into it’s void. “It appears that your dream is ending. I would debate the logistics of our desire for friendship and peace with you longer, but it would seem that we are pressed for time.”

“What a shame.” Jak quipped.

Luna either ignored him or didn’t hear him as she continued without skipping a beat. “Listen to me carefully Jak. Accept our offer of a truce and end this futile game of cat-and-mouse. I beg you to reconsider.”

Stubborn as ever, Jak would not relent. “Not until you give me a good reason for giving myself up.”

“You said that you refrained from injuring our former Captain because you didn’t wish to separate him from his family, yes?” Jak raised an eyebrow, curious as to where she was going with this, but remained silent, instead settling for an affirming nod. “Then think of it this way, if you continue to run then there will be more fighting between you and our guards. You may be able to overpower them, outmaneuver them, even outsmart them, but sooner or later somepony will get hurt. Can you live with that weighing down on your conscience? Before this meeting, I was not sure, but now I am confident that you will make the right choice.”

Jak gaped at her, mouth opening and closing, his throat bobbing but no words came. As much as he hated it, she was right. His arms hung limply at his side, his gaze downcast as the true impact of their words made their mark.

Spreading her wings, Luna took off into the sky with a powerful flap. “We shall give you time to consider our offer.” She ascended higher and higher into the whiteness that continued to spread and soon enough her own figure began to fade. “If you choose to accept a truce and end this little game, then come to Canterlot town square by the market place, just look for the marble fountain of my sister and I. It should not prove difficult to find. You have twenty-four hours before we resume our search.” She hovered in the sky, half of her body already vanished. “Goodbye, Jak.”

“...What was his name?” Jak asked slowly, lifting his head skyward as the last of his dream vanished and could feel a pull at the back of his mind dragging him back to reality. “The former Captain that I fought, what’s his name?”

Before she disappeared entirely, Luna smiled at the wasteland hero. “His name is Shining Armor, and before you ask, he’s expected to make a full recovery.”

Luna’s eyes opened slowly, the mystical glow fading and her pale blue irises returning. She stood, stretching out her legs and wings after having remained still in her trance and was rewarded with a series of satisfying clicks. She groaned in relaxation, a content smile upon her face.

Visiting the dreams of others has always been one of Luna’s favourite duties as Princess of the Night. It gave her a way to connect with the ponies of Equestria, to help them in ways that her sister could not. In the realm of dreams, Luna could visit any of her little ponies, guide them, or simply chat with them about their day. Though, this last night had been trying for her. Never before had she been forced to use this privilege to persuade a strange creature from a strange land to accept a truce. Touching a mind that was so foreign, so alien, from anything she had seen disturbed her. She was an unwelcome visitor in the mind of an unwelcome stranger. She pushed the feeling to the back of her mind and shook herself back to attention.

“I take it you were successful in infiltrating the dreams of the creature?” Came the regal voice of Celestia as she strolled onto Luna’s astronomy balcony, tray of tea and biscuits hovering beside her in a golden aura.

Luna accepted the tea gratefully, taking a long sip and bite of a particularly tasty looking biscuit. “Indeed, I found the creature’s dream and confronted him. We talked for some time, and I learned much.” She gulped down the rest of her tea, completely enervated from her nighttime activities.

“Oh?” Celestia asked, refilling Luna’s cup as her younger sister munched down another biscuit. “What kind of things did you learn about our visitor?”

Luna swallowed the tasty treat, licking her lips of the crumbs spread around them. “To begin with, I learned that his name is Jak, and he does not come from any land known to Equestria. I believe that he may have come from another world entirely.”

“I feared as much.” Celestia levitated her own cup to her lips. “A species of his kind has not ever been seen in Equestria, nor any region in all of Equis to my knowledge. How his species operates, and what drives them is completely foreign to us. He has already demonstrated remarkable combat capabilities, which makes him all the more dangerous.”

“I do not believe he wishes us any harm. When we spoke, he expressed remorse from having hospitalized Shining Armor and wished to avoid harming innocent ponies.”

“Hmm,” Celestia hummed, swirling her tea cup slowly in her levitation, “do you think he will accept a truce? Would a soldier of his calibre willingly surrender himself?”

Luna rested her cup on her saucer with a small clink. “I was about to ask you the same question, sister. The creature, Jak, has fought in war, is clever, strong, and resourceful to have avoided capture for this long, not to mention he is stubborn to no end. He does not seem to be the type to give up.” Luna chuckled to herself. “In that regard he is much like our Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash. And yet…” She trailed off, staring at the dregs of her tea.

“And yet?”

“His drive to keep up the fight is matched by his desire to prevent anypony from being hurt.” Luna sighed, pushing the tray of biscuits away. “I don’t know what to believe, ‘Tia We’ve seen his power firsthoof. We have seen what he is capable of, and I sense that there is more to see. But, he does not seem entirely evil. There is a light within him that shines through the darkness.”

“I wish I could help you, dear sister, but you know more of this ‘Jak’ than I. I trust your judgement, and if what you have told me is true, then I am confident that he will surrender himself and accept our offer of peace.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I am not.” Celestia stood to her hooves, beckoning for her sister to join her as she cantered back into the palace. “I can only hope that he will see reason and end this game. If he truly does care about preserving the lives of the innocent, then he will give himself up.” Luna fell in line with her sister as they were accompanied by their troop of royal guards. “Come now, if he does decide to accept a truce, then he will be going to Canterlot City Square. Guards, make sure the square is cleared of any civilians for the next twenty-four hours and prepare a royal escort.”

“At once, your majesty!” The guards around the pair sounded off, taking off to make the preparations.

“I hope that he will make the right decision, ‘Tia.”

“So do I, Lulu, so do I.”

Jak lay on his back on the cold stone floor of the cave he called home. His body ached and his wounds were still fresh from his fight with Shining Armor. The unicorn was tougher than Jak had thought, but not strong enough to beat him.

“And I didn’t even have my Morph Gun on me.” He laughed to himself in the dim light given off by the strange crystals littered about the cave and winced as his chest spasmed in pain. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself, head lolling to the side and his gaze landing on his armor and weapon he neglected to bring with him yesterday.

Princess Luna’s words bounced around in his head, the battle and their discussion playing on repeat in his mind’s eye. “Shining Armor, his wife Cadence and his little sister Twilight Sparkle…” He listed off, picturing each as he remembered them from his brief encounters with the ponies. Jak huffed and scowled, forcing himself into a sitting position using the cave wall as support. “Dammit…why’d it have to be ponies of all things?”

And then there was her proposal… Jak had never been the type to surrender, no matter the situation. He’d faced worse enemies than a group of magical, talking pastel coloured ponies, in comparison to the Metal Heads, KG robots, and Kras City thugs, this was nothing. But on the other hand he had no idea where he was or how to get home. Finding his way back to Haven City was not going to be easy on his own, and the way things were going now he was not going to find any help with the entire Royal Guard on his tail.

“Talk about stirring up the hornet’s nest…” Jak reached into the front of his tunic, his hand settling over the seal he wore around his neck. A small bronze circle divided up into two semi-circular shapes, like a yin and yang symbol, and the only keepsake of his father that he had. “I need a plan. As long as that forcefield is up there’s no chance of me escaping this city, and it’s only a matter of time before they figure out where I’m hiding.” His fingers traced idly over the shapes engraved in the trinket. “I could stay on the run, scavenging what I need from the market. But then I’ll never figure out how to get out of here… I guess there’s always Plan B. I blast my way out, using everything I have against the forcefield and making a run for it.” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “Even if that does work I would run low on ammo and risk destroying the whole city, myself included. That isn’t going to work… That leaves one option.”

Clutching his side, Jak stumbled to his feet, his other hand resting against the rocky support, and inched himself towards the nearest white crystal. He reached out, draining the crystal of its power, and immediately putting it to use to restore his body. A pale white glow engulfed his form as tendrils of raw energy snaked down his body, mending his cracked ribs and sealing up his wounds.

Jak stretched his still sore limbs and tested to make sure everything was in working order. Determination blazing in his eyes, he donned his Wasteland armour and picked up his Morph Gun from the cave floor. He attached the Blaster Mod and cocked the weapon, comfortably gripping it in his hands. He took one last look around the cave he took shelter in, making sure he didn’t miss any of his gear. Satisfied, he began the slow march to the streets of Canterlot and the City Square where the royal sisters awaited him.

“Alright, Princess Luna, this ends today. One way or another, I’m done running around like a rat in the sewers, it’s time for both of us to face the music.”

At the Canterlot City Square, Princesses Celestia and Luna patiently waited. Three long hours had passed since their arrival, and neither had made the slightest movement since. Had they not been breathing, it was possible that a passerby would mistake them for statues of the princesses.

As Celestia requested, the entire square had been emptied of civilians until only the two princesses and a dozen of their guards remained. A deathly silence had fallen over the square, the guards and their princesses standing stoic and still. Any ponies nearby watched out from between their curtains or through cracks in their shutters tentatively, desperately waiting for something, anything, to happen.

“Lieutenant, has there been any sighting of the creature Jak?” The sun alicorn asked, her voice steady and controlled and her gaze unwavering from the city streets.

The pegasus guard nearest bowed low and shook her head. “Not yet, your majesties. We have guards posted on every rooftop and pegasi patrolling the skies, we’ll be sure to see him coming.”

Celestia nodded curtly. “Very good, lieutenant, inform us immediately if one of your guards spots him.”

The pegasi lieutenant saluted sharply. “Ma’am yes ma’am!”

“Sister,” Luna whispered, careful so that the guards would not overhear her, “we have seen that this creature is capable of some type of invisibility spell unknown to us. Is it not possible that he could simply walk past all of our guards without alerting any of them?”

“Yes, Lulu, that is entirely possible. But, if he comes searching for peace then we can hope that he will be direct with us. The guards are only a precaution and to help keep civilians out of harm’s way, should worse come to worse.”

“And should worse come to worse?” Luna asked, fearing the answer.

Celestia bowed her head and spoke in a small voice. “Should this creature, Jak, choose to not accept our peace and instead attack us while we are exposed, then we will take matters into our own hooves. He has caught us off guard before, but this time we are prepared. He cannot hope to triumph against the both of us.”

“Your highnesses!” The lieutenant called, flapping his wings manically as if he had just seen a ghost. He landed into a canter, bowing before the princesses breathing heavily. “The creature has been spotted! It is headed towards this location with its weapon drawn. Your orders?”

Celestia and Luna exchanged a hopeful glance. “Stand down lieutenant. Tell all guards in the area to let the creature known as Jak pass unhindered and unharmed to the City Square to speak with us.”

“But your highness-”

Celestia interrupted him with a stern glare. “Lieutenant, I value your loyalty and your determination to protect my sister and I, but this is meant to be a peaceful meeting. If you show any hostility then he will react with the same.”

He opened his mouth as if to protest but stopped after seeing the glares from both princesses that bolstered no argument. “…As you wish, your highness. I shall order the Royal Guard to stand down but stay alert.”

“Thank you, lieutenant. Dismissed.”

“Ma’am!” The guard saluted once more and took off to deliver his orders.

The square grew still and quiet once more. Though, unlike before, this time the air was tense as the strange creature slowly approached the royal sisters, his bronze armour gleaming in the sun and his alien weapon drawn and resting in his hands. Neither the guards nor any onlooking citizens dared to breathe, waiting for something to happen. The only sound in the square was the crunch of the pavement underneath the creature’s boots and the occasional clink of a guard’s armour.

The guards lined the street and square, all poised to attack at a moment’s notice. Jak paid them no mind, focusing his attention on the two Princesses patiently waiting at the center of the city square. He stopped his approach a few dozen feet from the alicorns, both waiting for the other to begin.

Jak tightened his grip on his weapon, his gaze searching both of the princesses’ faces for any sign of emotion. Both wore masks of neutrality, letting none of their feelings or thoughts show. The staredown continued for a few more minutes, growing more tense with every passing second. The guards began to get anxious, impatiently waiting for something, anything to happen.

Jak forcibly made his body relax, letting his arms and weapon drop to his sides. “Alright, I’m here. Now what?”

Celestia could see that the creature was trying to keep a level head, which meant that he was at least trying to attempt peace. She smiled inwardly at the prospect. “That decision rests with you, Jak. You have two options before you: you may either surrender yourself and end this senseless fighting or you could attempt to attack us. I promise you if you try to assault myself, Princess Luna, or any of the guards or citizens I will exact a swift retribution.”

Jak’s eyes narrowed and his hand tightened once more around the grip of his weapon. The guards saw him tense and began to ready themselves to strike.

“Your sister didn’t mention anything about me having to ‘surrender’ myself, Princess.” Jak growled, voice growing venomous on the last word. “There’s no way I’m letting you lock me up in some dungeon to rot.”

Luna tentatively took a few steps forward to stand by her sister. “That was not our intention.”

“Your guards suggest otherwise.”

“Regardless of our intentions, you have assaulted guards, evaded arrest, destroyed public property, and hospitalized the Prince of the Crystal Empire.” Celestia listed off, voice growing in volume until the entire square could hear her clearly. “Until we can be certain of your motivations in Canterlot and Equestria, I am afraid that we must ask that you be arrested. I promise you that no harm shall come to you under our care and that you will be fed adequately.”

Luna inclined her head to Jak, her voice hopeful. “Please, Jak. If you truly wish to make peace with Canterlot then you must willingly surrender and let yourself be taken to the dungeons. It will only be temporary.”

Jak looked away from the alicorn princesses, eyes shifting back and forth as he thought about what they said. Celestia hoped that he would make the right decision, but if she had to, she would strike down the creature before he could make any attempt on anypony’s life.

“...Alright,” Jak said, turning back to face Celestia and Luna, determination burning in his eyes, “I’ve made my decision.”

“And?” Celestia asked, head held high and wings spread wide.

Jak raised his weapon, aimed directly at the Sun Princess’s chest. He glared at the princess, and she glared back, daring him to fire. Just as she was about to incapacitate him, Jak smirked, tossing his Morph Gun to the hooves of the princesses.

Visibly shocked, Celestia looked back and forth from the dangerous weapon lying before her to the equally dangerous creature smirking victoriously a few feet away. Luna beside her was dumbstruck, her jaw slack and her eyes wide.

“You win.” Jak sighed, raising his hands submissively. “I surrender. I’m tired of these games, I’m tired of fighting these pointless fights. If this is what you want, then fine, I'll go quietly this time.”

Celestia shook herself and donned her royal mask of neutrality once more. She nodded gratefully and her horn was surrounded in a golden aura. A pair of manacles materialized around Jak’s wrists, effectively handcuffing him as her guards began to escort him to the Canterlot dungeons.

As he was led past the princesses, his eyes met with both Celestia’s and Luna’s.

“Thank you, Jak.”

Maybe I Was Wrong...

“Luna, are you going to tell me what’s been troubling you, or will I have to ask again when the Elements and our niece and nephew-in-law arrive?” Celestia asked innocently as she and Luna took their morning tea on one of the Castle terraces.

It was almost noon, Celestia’s sun high in the sky, and the two sat alone in one of the higher terraces. All was quiet except for the talk between the two and the chirping of a few birds as the flitted about the garden. If one were to walk to the edge of the terrace, the entirety of Canterlot could be seen in all of its majestic glory. A stream flowed through the terrace and cascaded down in a miniature waterfall to the water reservoir far below.

Taken aback by her sister’s forwardness, Luna sputtered as she struggled to keep the tea she was drinking in her mouth and refrained from spraying it all over her scone.

Recovering, Luna stuttered out “I-I am not sure what you are asking me, sister.” By the stars in my night sky I am a horrid liar.

“Luna,” Celestia said condescendingly, like a mother scolding a child, “you cannot hide these things from me. I know you have been troubled as of late. I hear you scream as your nightmares wake you, and with the arrival of this strange creature in Equestria your condition has only worsened. You are jumpy and as skittish as young Fluttershy.”

“If you noticed my…troubled dreams, then why did you not voice your concerns earlier?” Luna asked, not meeting Celestia’s eyes as she tried to drag this out for as long as possible in hopes that the others would arrive soon and this entire subject would be dropped.

Sighing, Celestia set down her tea, “I had hoped that you would have come to me on your own. I wanted you to be able to trust me enough to confide in me. I worry for you, and I do not want you to become distant. We both remember what happened the last time you withdrew from the world, from me.”

Silence hung between the two alicorns. A few birds flitted by, tweeting merrily as the sisters waited for each other to say something to the other.

“You are…right,” Luna admitted, looking down in embarrassment and shame, “I should have trusted you more to come to you with this, Tia. I am truly sorry, can you forgive me?”

Celestia smiled warmly as she met her sister’s eyes, “Of course I can Lulu. I promise not to judge or tell anypony about what has been troubling you. Now, will you please tell me what has been disturbing your dreams and what is has to do with our guest?”

It was Luna’s turn to sigh as she closed her eyes and began to collect her thoughts. Slowly, she began to explain, “My nightmares returned a couple weeks ago. In them, I am surrounded by absolute darkness, and for a few nights, that’s all there was. Darkness. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t breathe. But I could feel another presence. I could not see it nor hear it at first, but it was there, like a shadow pressing at the back of your mind.”

Celestia listened carefully, taking in every word as she tried to discern meaning from these dreams. Luna may be the Princess of the Night and dreams may fall under her domain, but Celestia ruled both night and day long enough to have picked up on a few things.

“Then, one night, the dream changed. It became a nightmare, Tia, my Nightmare. I heard laughter, malicious and cold, and when I turned to find the source I came face to face with me…as Nightmare Moon. She told me that darkness and eternal night would return to Equestria, and that there was nothing that I could do to stop it,” Luna continued, eyes still closed and her voice dropping to just above a whisper.

She was frightened. “But Luna, surely these were just bad dreams?” Celestia asked hopefully, knowing well what the answer would be.

“That is what I told myself as well. But every night she returned and haunted me with promises of her return and the destruction of you and the Elements of Harmony. With each night the dreams became longer, more vivid, until just a few days ago a new figure entered my dreams.”

Celestia’s ears perked up at this. “Who?”

“It…it looked almost exactly like the creature that invaded the Gala the other night, sister,” Luna explained, eyes opening and shining with fear and anger, “the clothing, the armour, it was all the same. Except the demon that I saw in my dreams had pale white skin, like that of the Full Moon, and eyes as black as the night sky. He looked into my eyes and pierced my soul.”

Celestia looked away from Luna as she mulled over what her sister just revealed to her. The description of the creature that I saw and that Luna has seen in her dreams is striking accurate. Except for the skin and eyes…those are different. What could this all mean?

“What did this demon do in your dreams Luna?”

“Nothing…but I could sense from it immense power. It stood across from me on one side, claws raised and some black energy crackling around it, and the Nightmare opposite it. Both seemed to be staring me down, and then they charge at me from both sides. I am powerless to move or defend myself, and just as the demon creature reaches me I wake,” Luna finished.

“Luna…”

“What do I do, Tia? The nightmares scared me, but at the time that’s all they were, nightmares. I of all ponies know the power dreams can have, but they are not real. I could have been haunted for months, or years, but they would have no real impact on the fate of Equestria. But now, the demon from my nightmares has arrived in Equestria, in Canterlot no less. It escaped from our most skilled guards and from Shining Armor himself. It was able to out-race and evade Rainbow Dash, whom we both know to be the fastest flier in Equestria. It has the power to decimate and destroy. And if it is real, then what of Nightmare Moon? I do not, and will not, fall to that darkness again, not after losing you for a thousand years.”

“And you will not. I promise, Luna, that we will find this creature and we will stop it from doing any damage to Equestria. And I will not allow the darkness of Nightmare Moon to return and take you away from me again.”

Sniffling, Luna looked to Celestia before wiping her eyes on her napkin, “Thank you, dear sister. But I am afraid we will have to continue this later, I see that the Elements along with Cadance and Shining Armor have arrived.”

Celestia nodded and turned to address the others approaching them from the palace, “Greeting my friends. We have much to discuss regarding this creature.”

Jak sighed as he gazed upon the fortified gates of the Royal Palace from his hiding spot by the corner of the bridge.

Great, I got this far, now I just need to find a way in, and then figure out what to do when I’m actually in.

Guards patrolled the bridge, and it looked as if the security had been recently doubled. Pegasi guards flew above in the sky and earth pony and unicorn guards maintained a constant watch on both ends of the bridge.

I could go invisible and walk right by them, but that would probably drain too much Dark Eco. It doesn’t take much to use it, but its timing is limited and multiple uses can be draining.

He looked beneath him, and saw several bars jutting out from the bottom of the bridge. If he timed it right, he could probably jump from bar to bar, using some areas of the underside as platforms to rest on. Probably.

Smiling to himself, Jak charged his Dark Eco and the familiar sense of fading overtook him as he vanished from sight. Moving quickly and quietly, Jak reached the edge of the bridge and leaped off, grabbing the first bar as he plummeted. Using the motion from the fall, Jak began to spin while holding onto the bar like a pendulum. He waited for the right moment before releasing his grip on the bar, momentum propelling him forward. Somersaulting in midair, Jak extended his arms and grabbed onto the next bar, repeating the process until he reached the first platform on the underside of the bridge.

Confident he would not be seen, Jak’s invisibility began to fade (oxymoron?) and he stopped for a moment.

Well, at least this is easier than trying to sneak into the Baron’s palace back in Haven. This palace doesn’t have automated turrets covering the most inaccessible places. And…it looks like there’s a way for me to scale the palace from the side from here. Perfect, I’ll just climb my way up and get in from the top. There should be fewer guards up there since they’d probably expect me to enter from closer to the ground. The trick will be to not get caught by those flying ponies and to figure out where I can get some information.

Back on his feet, Jak leaped to the next bar, grabbing it with practiced ease, and continued the jumping process until he reached the other side of the bridge. Making one last leap, he grabbed onto a thin ledge on the underside of the bridge. Arms groaning in protest of the prolonged abuse, Jak managed to shimmy his way down the ledge and pull himself up by the base of the palace.

Rubbing his sore arms, Jak took a quick breather and plotted out how he was going to scale the massive palace. The main building of the palace seemed fairly straightforward. One main gate, several ramparts and towers jutting out, reaching into the sky, and what looked like a few terraces at the highest levels.

Steeling himself for the long climb to come, Jak moved from his hidden location and began the arduous work of scaling the palace walls, all while trying to stay away from the searching eyes of the Royal Guards that literally littered the place.

The climb itself took around an hour or so. Jak moved as fast as he dared, and at one point was forced to stop and press himself against the palace wall as he heard a couple pegasi guards talking right above his head.

“Alright, Silver Shield, I’m here to relieve you from duty.”

“Thanks, I tell ya, I’m not sure what we’re supposed to be looking for here. I mean, I wasn’t there when this thing attacked the Gala, and the guards that I talked to who were there weren’t very helpful.”

Great, I almost stumbled right into a guard’s barracks.

“Doesn’t matter, the thing we’re supposed to be looking for doesn’t look like anything anypony’s ever seen before. It should stick out like a sore hoof.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, where’s Captain Armor at anyways? Shouldn’t he be leading the search for this thing after last night?”

“He’s meeting with the princesses and the Elements of Harmony right now to talk about it at the garden terrace up there.”

“What’s there to talk about? We find it, catch it, detain it, and figure out where to go from there.”

“You idiot, whatever this thing is it was able to escape from the middle of the bucking Gala and elude all of the guards on duty! We have no idea what it’s really capable of and charging in without a plan will probably end badly for everypony involved!”

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, I’ve been on duty all night now, and I’m not thinking straight. Think I’ll go home and get some sleep.”

“That’s probably for the best.”

Jak smirked as he heard the two pegasi guards take off, one heading home and the other heading out to patrol the city.

Well that was some very useful info. The garden terrace, huh?

Jak strained his neck as he looked up at the rest of the palace. He had climbed a long way up, and the aforementioned terrace wasn’t too far away. He should be able to reach it no problem. Then, he’d just need to spy on this meeting of those princesses, that unicorn guard captain, and whatever these ‘Elements of Harmony’ were. What could possibly go wrong?

He resumed his climbing once he was confident that the pegasi guards were gone. After a few near-death experiences from losing his footing or slipping on the way up (he was used to them by now), Jak was met with the smell of lilacs in bloom.

I must be close, time for stealth mode.

Once more, Jak felt the eco course through his veins as he became invisible. Silently, he flipped himself up to the terrace and saw a group of familiar ponies talking in a circle by the central edge of the garden overlooking the entire city. Jak had to admit, this city looked a hell of a lot better than Haven City.

He moved quietly and ducked behind a tree just far away enough from the circle of ponies so that he could hear them clearly but not close enough as to be captured on sight instantly. He had enough breathing room to slip away if need be. He looked at the group, and saw the three winged ponies with horns from the other night and the unicorn captain of the guard (Shining Armor?) at the front. Then he noticed the six other slightly smaller ponies. The lavender unicorn and plain orange Stetson-wearing pony that stared him down the other night along with the frightened yellow pegasus, a bouncing pink plain pony, a white unicorn with a styled purple mane, and the pegasus that chased him through the city stood across from them.

It looked like they had been talking for a while now, and were just finishing up their little meeting.

Well, at least I should hear something of use before they’re done…

“We’ve spent some time discussing this creature, let us summarize what we know about it thus far,” Celestia stated to the group around her.

“Whatever it is, it’s fast and really tricky. No way anything just gets away from me that easily!” Rainbow exclaimed, hovering above the group.

“It has some strange weapon that functions much like a unicorn’s magic with the capabilities to launch small projectiles at high speeds that no doubt would have been fatal had it directed its attack to the guards directly. The weapon also appears to have shape-shifting qualities, where each ‘mode’ has a different function or ability,” Shining Armor summarized.

“It’s also smart,” Princess Cadance added from beside her husband, “it was able to calculate exactly how to escape from the palace and elude our guards.”

“We know it has the capability of speech. This would suggest it has rational thought, so maybe we can reason with it?” Twilight said, scratching her chin with a hoof.

“Ah don’t know about that, Twi’. Looks to me like we were real lucky that nopony got hurt. You saw its eyes, didn’t ya? On top of its armour and weapons, it has to be a killer,” Applejack retorted.

“Its deep voice suggests to us that it is most likely male. And he is indeed a soldier of some kind,” Luna added.

“W-well…maybe he isn’t all bad,” Fluttershy squeaked out, nervous talking in front of such a large group of ponies, four of them royalty no less.

“What ever could you mean darling? He looked to be a scoundrel and ruffian to me, and he, or it, must be caught immediately!” Rarity interjected, still fuming over the loss of the Grand Galloping Gala.

“Uhm, it didn’t exactly hurt anypony when it escaped. You said it could have really hurt somepony easily when it got away, but it didn’t. In fact, it looked like it was trying to not hurt any of the guards more than it had to. I’ve seen this in my animals before when they were threatened. He was defending himself,” Fluttershy explained.

The others stopped their discussion as they considered this.

“How can you be so sure he’s a good guy, ‘Shy?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh…uhm, I’m not saying he’s ‘good,’ just that when he saw me hiding by the window where he escaped, he looked me in the eyes and then turned away. If he wanted to hurt anypony, why didn’t he grab me?” Fluttershy continued.

“I…I hadn’t thought of that,” Twilight admitted, looking down, “what if he was just as surprised as we were and just reacted out of panic?”

“Whether he is a threat or just a stranger caught in a strange place has yet to be determined, my faithful student,” Celestia spoke up, “and we will not be able to discern this until we find him and bring him back to the palace. He will most likely resist arrest and attempt to flee again if we do find him. This means some amount of force will be needed to bring him in. If he is a threat,” Celestia paused and looked to Luna, who gave a determined nod in response, “then Luna and I shall deal with him accordingly.”

“Then there’s just the matter of catching him,” Rarity stated.

“As long as Shining Armor maintains his forcefield around the city, then there is no chance of our new guest escaping from Canterlot,” Cadance spoke confidently, looking warmly at her husband who puffed out his chest at the praise.

“Captain Shining Armor, I recognize your magical abilities, but until this situation is resolved I must request that you keep an escort of guards with you at all times. Should anything happen to you, then the magical barrier encasing the city will fall and the creature will escape into the rest of Equestria,” Celestia ordered with a tone of finality that suggested no argument.

“I agree,” Luna said, “until we find this creature you are in constant danger, and we must take every precaution. He could be hiding behind any street corner.”

“Or maybe he’s closer than you think.”

Just a few seconds prior…

So, it’s that unicorn, Shining Armor, who’s responsible for this forcefield, huh? Looks like if I want out of this city I have to take him out.

Jak’s grip on the tree tightened as he planned out his next move.

One thing’s clear. I can’t trust these ‘ponies.’ Those two big ones seem pretty firmly set in thinking that I want to harm them. Well, I guess in the case of Shining there it’s true. But not because I want to, but because I have to if I want to see my friends again.

He thought of his friends back home in Haven and in Spargus. He thought of Ashelin and Torn at the mission’s briefing table in the palace at Haven City. He thought of Tess running Daxter’s bar. He thought of Samos meditating in the forest. He thought of Sig sitting on Spargus’ throne, managing the city after Jak declined taking his father’s place as King. He thought of Keira in the garage, working on her newest version of the Hover Board.

That’s it. No more games.

Willing all of his remaining Light Eco into the palms of his hands, Jak took on an icy-blue aura as he stepped out from behind the tree he was hiding behind.

“I agree,” the tall midnight-blue pony said, “until we find this creature you are in constant danger, and we must take every precaution. He could be hiding behind any street corner.”

“Or maybe he’s closer than you think,” Jak said as walked into clear sight, pulsating with Light Eco.

The group snapped to attention and jumped into battle-ready positions. The ones with horns began charging power, the one he recognized as Rainbow Dash looked ready to pounce, the yellow pegasus (Fluttershy?) ducked behind her friends, and the two plain ponies pawed the ground as they readied to charge.

Jak never gave them the chance. With all of his remaining Light Eco charged into the palms of his hands, he brought them together with a resounding boom. The very air around them began to ripple and take on a pale blue shade as time began to slow.

At a snail’s pace, looks of recognition and confusion formed on the pony’s faces as they moved as if the air had become molasses.

Unaffected by the change in the flow of time, Jak charged at the unicorn Shining Armor.

I don’t have much time…

Jak tackled Shining, causing the two to launch off of the terrace and plummet to the unforgiving ground below. The moment he made contact with the unicorn, Jak’s concentration broke and his power faded, causing his blue aura to dissipate and time to begin to return to normal.

Winded, Shining Armor could not muster the energy or will to teleport himself out of the free-fall as the creature wrestled with him in midair. As they fell, they exchanged a series of blows to each other, hands and hooves swinging in all directions. This creature appeared determined to take Shining down, and Shining was determined not to go down without a fight.

The two collided with a slanted rooftop of one of the many palace turrets and rolled off of the side, disoriented and dazed. The tower that they had crashed into connected to another tower by a narrow bridge. Obviously this area of the palace was constructed with only the use of pegasi in mind.

Jak landed square on his back on the narrow bridge. Shining Armor, however, wasn’t as lucky as his side smacked into the bridge before he slipped off and began to fall once more.

Instinctively, Jak reached out and saved the falling unicorn’s life by catching hold of one of his forehooves. The strain in his arm almost unbearable, Jak nearly let the pony slip from his grasp as the pain from what he was sure was a broken rib tore through his body. Rolling onto his front, Jak regarded the unicorn whose life was literally in Jak’s hands as he dangled from the bridge.

The unicorn, Shining Armor, was confused and…was that fear in his eyes? Jak thought for a moment, then, narrowing his eyes, swung his arm like a pendulum before throwing the captain of the guard onto the other side of the bridge.

He landed with a thud and caught his breath before standing up on his four hooves. Groaning, Jak did the same as he clutched his injured arm.

The two stared each other down from opposite ends of the bridge, waterfall cascading down between them into the reservoir below. Summoning the last of his white eco reserves, Jak’s body glowed a faint white hue as the damage to his ribs and arms were repaired. Fully restored, Jak stood to his full height and took a fighting stance, arms raised and fists clenched.

“Why did you do that?” Shining Armor demanded more confused than ever, “Why did you stop me from falling? I wouldn’t have survived, the forcefield would have shattered, you could have escaped!”

“You ponies are a grateful bunch, aren’t you?” Jak said sarcastically, “but if you really wanna know, you slipped. I’m no assassin. I’m no murderer. So I’m giving you once chance right now to willingly take down the forcefield and let me.”

“And if I refuse?” Shining asked, knowing well the ultimatum.

“Then you give me no other choice than to kill you.”

“You knew that I wouldn’t put down the shield. You’re a soldier too, you would have done the same. So again, why didn’t you let me fall?!” Shining shouted.

“Honestly? If I’m going to take someone out, I prefer to do it the old-fashioned way,” Jak said with a wave of his hand, “Brutally!”

“You don’t have your weapon, and you’re missing most of your armour. What makes you think you can beat me without them?”

“I wanted to make this a fair fight,” Jak lied, “Now, no more games. Let’s end this.”

The two charged each other, knowing that only one would walk away alive.

Meanwhile, above at the terrace, time had been fully restored and the remaining nine ponies looked in horror at the plummeting figures of Shining Armor and the creature.

“Shining!” Cadance cried.

“Big brother!” Twilight cried.

“Quickly, we must go to Shining Armor’s aid!” Celestia shouted to the others, “Luna, Cadance, Rainbow Dash, come with me now! The rest of you alert the guards! We must not let this creature escape a second time!”

“Rainbow, take me with you!” Twilight said frantically to Rainbow as she prepared to take off.

“What?!”

“Rainbow, please. He’s my big brother! You can’t expect me to wait here while he could be fighting for his life!”

“…okay. Hop on, Twi.’”

“Thank you,” Twilight said as she climbed onto Rainbow’s back.

“Hold on tight, ‘cause here we go!” Rainbow shouted as she took off behind the already airborne Luna, Celestia, and Cadance.

The fliers descended, and were stunned to see both the creature and Shining Armor dueling on a bridge between two towers. The battled from across the bridge, the creature trying to close the distance between the two while Shining launched spell after spell, keeping the creature at bay for as long as possible. The creature proved too nimble, however, and was slowly beginning to hone in on Shining.

“We must act quickly.”

On the bridge Jak had quickly become frustrated with the unicorn’s ability to keep on pushing him back. The grim realization dawned on Jak that he wouldn’t be able to win this fight before reinforcements arrived for the captain of the guard. At least, not normally…

Distracted by his thoughts Jak failed to dodge a magical bolt that struck him square on his left should, narrowly missing the bandana given to him by Pipsqueak. Shoulder and clothes burnt, Jak took a knee as pain lanced through his body.

“Damn…”

“Do you surrender, creature?” Shining asked, making the mistake once more in thinking that he had won.

Gritting his teeth, Jak growled, “Not now, and not ever!”

With a roar, Jak raised his head to reveal that his normally blue eyes had turned a solid black. Purple lightning danced across his body as his skin and blonde hair turned a ghostly white. His fingernails extended into sets of claws as strong as steel and as sharp as an obsidian edge.

Shining stared as the creature that he dueled transformed into some sort of…demon.

“What are you?”

“I’m your worst nightmare, pony boy, and now it’s my turn to have some fun!” Dark Jak shouted as he charged Shining Armor with renewed vigor and enhanced speed.

Luna gaped as the demon that had haunted her nightmares stood on the bridge, ready to engage Shining Armor.

“Celestia!” She shouted out in horror.

“I know, Luna!” was Celestia’s stunned response. She was only more shocked to see a streak of blue followed by a pink blur dart by her.

“Cadance, Rainbow Dash, Twilight! Wait!”

Shining immediately launched another volley of magical blasts, determined to not let this thing get within an inch of him. He was shocked to watch as the creature dodged blast after blast or simply ignored the magic bolts as they collided with his body.

About halfway across the bridge, Jak launched a Dark Eco-fueled blast of his own directly at Shining Armor. He barely had enough time to cast a shielding spell before the impact of the blast forced him back a step. His eyes shut in concentration, Shining didn’t see the creature again until it was mere meters from him.

Jak brought his claws down on the captain’s shield. The impact caused the shield to shimmer and blink out of existence momentarily before reforming. Again and again, Jak relentlessly landed blow after blow on the shield. With each hit, the unicorn underneath felt his grip on the spell slip little by little, until with one last devastating attack, the shield shattered like a sheet of glass.

Stunned from the sheer power the creature possessed, Shining could only watch as its arm came around and slashed him across the chest. The attack sent him sprawling, and left four clear cut slash marks on his chest, dripping with blood. He was helpless. There was no way for Shining to escape.

Shining watched as the creature stood over him, black eyes piercing mercilessly into his own. The creature’s arm rose for the final blow, when a shout from above caught both of their attentions.

“NOOOOOO!!!!”

Jak stopped, his arm still raised, as the scream broke through the fog of war that he had lost himself in so many times when he was forced to change to this form. He looked skywards and saw Rainbow Dash carrying the lavender unicorn that had called Shining Armor ‘brother.’ Flying next to them was the pink winged pony with a horn.

His…family? What…

Jak looked back down at the prone Captain of the Royal Guard. He was looking up at his sister and his…wife? A deep sadness could easily be seen in the unicorn’s eyes as he looked upon his family for what was most likely the last time.

What am I doing? Am I really going to kill this unicorn? He’s just protecting his city and his loved ones, the same as I would do. Can I really take him from his family? From his wife? From his sister? Am I that much of a monster?

“No…”

Jak stumbled backwards, away from Shining Armor, and put his face in his hands as he began to revert back to his normal appearance. Skin and hair colour returning, Jak gasped as the flow of Dark Eco halted within him. His mind cleared, he locked eyes with the unicorn still collapsed on the bridge, confusion marking his features.

“I’m sorry,” Jak mumbled. He took another step back, “I’m sorry,” he spoke louder, enough for Shining and the closing in Rainbow Dash and Princess Cadance to hear.

The wounds from battle suddenly made their appearance known to Jak, who nearly fell as his body began to breakdown from the wear and tear it had experienced all in one day. Jak turned to the waterfall flowing off of the cliff and leaped off of the bridge and descended to the reservoir below.

“Shining!” Cadance shouted as she landed and embraced her husband. Rainbow landed right behind her and Twilight was instantly off of her back and running to her wounded brother.

Crying, Cadance was only able to repeat “You’re okay, you’re alive.”

Celestia and Luna joined them on the bridge and turned their attention to the waterfall and reservoir that the creature had escaped to.

“We must alert the guard at once. We cannot let him slip from our hooves again,” Celestia said as she looked to her sister.

“No…” Shining Armor said between in the midst of a coughing fit.

“Take it easy, Shiny,” Twilight said quickly, placing a hoof on her brother’s shoulder, “don’t strain yourself. You’re lucky to be alive!”

“No, I’m fine Twily. See?” Shining grunted as he slowly, and clumsily, stood up, “leave him for the time being. We’re all okay, the forcefield is still up, and that creature’s taken some damage. He won’t be back for a while, so let’s just go home and all get some rest. Please Princess.”

Celestia thought for some time before slowly starting, “Very well. We shall leave the hunt for this creature until tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you.”

Gasping and panting, Jak crawled out of the reservoir drainage system onto the sewer ledge.

That could have gone better… Jak thought bitterly.

It took twice as long as normal, but eventually Jak was able to reach his temporary home in the crystal cave. Body spent, Jak finally collapsed into a lump by his armour and weapon. He reached out to a nearby glowing white crystal and focused on absorbing all of the energy that it had to offer. He immediately put that energy to use to heal his injuries, and within a few minutes, Jak showed no signs of having engaged a skilled unicorn in battle or falling off of a palace several dozen feet in the air into a (luckily) deep water pool below.

Darkness consumed him once more as he asked himself,

What the hell do I do now?