//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Everypony Was Kung-Fu Fighting // Story: A Warrior's Peace // by Ricardo Nixon //------------------------------// A Warrior’s Peace Chapter 6: Everypony Was Kung Fu Fighting By Ricardo Nixon The group of Mares, dragon, and human ran outside, into Fluttershy’s courtyard. “That Must have come from town.” Jack locked eyes with Luna who gave him a nod. Jack turned his gaze to the other six ponies and one dragon, all of them gave Jack a serious nod and the sprinted towards town. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “ Where are the Princesses?!” A Tall humanoid figure clad in shining white armor, followed by two similar, shorter knights, picked up a young orange Pegasus by her neck, as a crowd gathered, awoken by the ruckus. “Let me go y-y-you b-big bully.” The young orange Pegasus flapped her wings in futility. “ Tell me what I want to know or you and your friends die.” He tightened his grip in the filly’s neck, crushing the life out of her. “Let her go! Go Away! Leave us alone!” Shouts from the crowd only served to agitate the armored figure who drew from his back, an axe a big as Big Mac. “Fine.” The man dropped the young filly at his feet. “Let this serve as a lesson to you!” He raised the axe above his head to the gasps of all those in the crowd. SHHHHHHHHHHTIK! The head of the axe embedded itself in the earth as the armored man took in the ghastly expressions of the crowd. Nopony made a noise. “This is what you get for crossing the Wh..aaah?” The Knight looked down to see his blade had met ground, and nothing else. “Good work Rainbow Dash.” Jack stood next to his seven equine companions, Rainbow Dash holding the young shaking filly by the scruff of her neck. The Three Knights focused on the regal alicorn before them, the tallest one spoke. “Princess Luna, mother of the night, what a pleasure it is to see you again.” He replaced his axe on his back. “You have no business here, leave these gentleponies alone and return to your exile.” The lunar mare approached the trio. “Re-re-return to our exile? Have you gone senile in our years away? Do you think we would follow your orders like the good little pawns you made us to be? And this, what is the meaning of this, did you make yourself a human slave? Were all the stallions in Equestria not enough for you? Hahaha.” “Silence! This is your last warning, leave, never return to Equestria, and you may be spared.” Luna opened her wings, showing her ferocity. “I do not believe we will be able to follow up on those orders your highness.” The two shorter Knights drew short maces from their waists. “But we shall show you what else we can offer you.” The guards charged. “Stop!” Jack stepped out of the crowd; the two guards stopped and held their ground. “ If it is battle you seek. You shall find it here.” Jack swept the slack from his cloak into the back of his pants. “What is this?! You must be soft in the head?! Can you not see you are out numbered, out armored and unarmed?” The Lead Knight’s chuckle reverberated in his helmet, as did those of his comrades. “Your move.” Jack awaited the guards charge, trying to ignore the throbbing in the back of his head. “Let’s make an example of him gentlemen. Make it brutal.” The two guards laughed as the resumed their assault. They charged side by side, maces in hand, ready to bash Jack’s skull in. The left guard reached Jack and swung. Jack ducked his swing. “Did you really thin..uaaagh!” The pommel of the guard’s mace met with Jack’s jaw, stunning him. The guard cocked back and smashed the head of his mace into Jack’s stomach. “UAAAGH!” Jack rolled backward to create distance between himself and his attackers. “ Achk!” Jack spit on the ground, which became deep red at the point of contact. “It seems I have underestimated you.” Jack spoke through his cough. “I won’t do it again!” His brain burned like the sun as he was compelled to charge the first Knight. The knight swung at him. Jack duck and parried the Knight’s pommel strike. He saw the second Knight come in for a swing and pulled the first Knight around, to use him as a shield to take his partner’s blow. Jack’s felt a sharp pain shoot down his spine, causing him to stumble back, releasing his captive who promptly reached out and grabbed his friend’s weapon, spinning it around his head and catching Jack in the back of his. Jack’s body went limp before he hit the ground, clutching his head. One of the two spoke. “You really think your attacks will work on us? We’re Knights of Order you twit! You don’t deserve the title of human.” The two Knights stood over Jack and drove their metal boots into him repeatedly. As Jack’s vision grew dark, he heard a distinct laughter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jack woke up in a white room, all white, walls, floor, ceiling, all white. “Good morning, sunshine.” A familiar voice spoke Jack stood up still woozy. “What are you doing, are you trying to get me killed!?” “I thought we had gone over this. Plus I don’t like repeating myself.” Jack turned around to see his doppelganger speaking to him once more. “What do you want?!” Jack yelled at…himself. “What I want, nononononono, it’s what you want. You want to hurt someone, you want to kill someone, it’s in your nature isn’t it?” The clone spoke as he approached Jack. “No! Get out of my mind!” Jack yelled again, still woozy. “Oh my, they must be doing a number on your head. I guess this is my cue.” Jack felt himself lose control of his body “You’ll pay for this...” Jack said as he felt his body being turned over to something else. “Well, a little too melodramatic for my taste, but that’ll do. You just relax, I’ll do the rest.” Jack felt his mind grow dark as his vision returned. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THWAK! THWAK! TH-INK! Jack caught the guard’s foot as it came down on his face. CRAAAAAAAACK! Jack twisted the guard’s foot, shattering his ankle “AAAAH! MY FOOT! HE BROKE IT!” The guard fell to the ground as his partner backed up in surprise. “MUAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Jack laughed as he rolled onto his shoulder and threw himself onto his feet. Jack’s eyes had become wild and red, his irises mismatched in size. He rushed the guard who was on his feet. The guard swung, but Jack ducked it. The guard brought his mace up for a downward struck, Jack dropped to his stomach. The guard threw a kick as jack flopped over it, still on his stomach. “What in Celestia’s name is he doing?” Twilight Sparkle spoke from the crowd. Big Macintosh poked his head out. “I believe that’s the worm.” Jack flopped on his stomach, inexplicably dodging two more of the guard’s kicks. “That’s it!” The guard brought his mace over his head, preparing to smite Jack. Jack put his hands on the ground and lifted his legs up, kicking the guard in the chin before jack reached up with his hands and grabbed the guard’s arms. Jack fell backwards, rolling with the guard and landing on top of him. Jack pulled the guard’s helmet off, revealing the man’s white hair, pale blue skin, and equally blue eyes. Jack’s face curled into a grin as he lifted his fist into the air. THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACKSH! SHKACKSH! SHAKS! SQUACKSH! Jack looked at the red dripping from his fist in delight as his victim’s legs stopped twitching. “ Aaagh!” Jack looked over to see the guard with the broken foot struggling to get up. Jack rushed over and grabbed the guard by the head and drove the front of his forehead into the nosepiece of the guard’s helmet. ERRN! ERRN! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Jack lets go of the guard as blood flowed out of the visor of his now dented helmet. Jack looked at the commander. Clap, clap, clap. “Well done soldier, well done. That’s what we need, someone with pure animal instinct, raw carnage, brute force. Pity you sided with these foals, although, by the looks of it, I don’t think you will be welcome here any longer.” Jack looked around and witnessed the horror on the faces of his friends. Everypony was terrified, with the exception of Luna, who calmly observed the situation. What struck Jack the most was the look on Fluttershy’s face as tear filled he eyes and his. He collapsed to his knees as his vision became white. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Jack yelled at his clone. “You mean, what have we done, I just thought you needed something a bit more… unorthodox.” His clone said with a chuckle. “ GET OUT OF HERE. I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR GAMES!” Jack walked up to his doppelganger’s face. “Or what? What will you do about it.” He stuck his nose in Jack’s face. Jack swung as his hand passed through his target. “You can’t hurt me here you fool, I’m in your head. MUAHAHAHAHAHA!” The clone laughed as Jack felt himself lose control, his mind being gripped by the darkness once more… Then Jack heard a noise… its stared softly, rhythmically, like music, a familiar song, starting softly filling the void in his mind. “HO HOHO HOOOOOOOOOO” Jack listened. His mind grew quite. He felt his heart flutter. Jack heard a flute play a familiar tune in his ear. Doodoodoodoo doodoo doo doo doo. What’s going on here. You cut that out you.” Jack’s doppelganger yelled The flute came back. Doodoodoo doodoodoo doodoodoo doo doo. Jack felt a smile grow on his face as he walked over to his clone. “What are you UAGH!” Jack spun in place and kicked his doppelganger, the back of his heel colliding with its jawbone. “Whaa! You can’t get rid of me forever Jack, You need me!” The voice yelled as it became less and less audible, fading into the recesses of Jack’s mind. Jack felt his heart rate slow and a smile adorn his face as he opened his eyes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jack stayed on his knees and made eye contact with his remaining enemy. “OH, so you are going to fight me.” The Commander drew his axe. “ I’d suggest getting up to do so.” Jack’s face grew serene as he stood up and took off his cloak, revealing the slashes and bruises against his musculature. He approached the Knight and stopped a few feet from him. “SO! What is it!?” The Knight grew impatient. Jack took a bow and made a stand, and started swaying with his hand. The Knight rushed him, brandishing his axe overhead. Jack dodged the axe strike and slapped the Knight’s chest armor. “Ha, your fancy martial arts won’t work against my armor.” The Knight prepared to counter attack horizontally. Jack blocked the Knight’s attack and slammed his palm into the Knight’s shoulder. “ I told you. Your attacks are futile.” The Knight brought his axe over his head and brought it down on Jack. Jack stepped forward and allowed the shaft of the axe to shatter over his head as he struck the Knight’s shoulder, the blade of the axe falling behind him. “What the AAGH!” Jack jabbed him in the throat with his fingers. “What are you trying to pull he..re...WHA?!” CLANK CLANK RINGGG The Commander looked down to see this chestplate and spaulders on the floor. Jack looked at him, right in his eyes and gave him a wink. “Now, we can have a fair fight.” “RAAAAAAGH!” The Knight charged Jack. “ ARRGH!” Jack jabbed him in the throat again. “Stop that!” The Knight swung. Jack caught his arm and slammed his palm into the Knight’s elbow, shattering it. “ ARRRGH!” The Knight swung blindly with his other fist. Jack brought the punch in a wide circle as he turned his body around, placing the Knights elbow over his shoulder. “Please don..ARRGH!” Jack pulled down and heard the familiar “pop” of a ligament being torn. The Knight fell to his back. Jack looked at his opponent, lying still on the ground. Jack turned around to face the crowd. The ponies were silent. “ I’m sorry Everypony.” Jack collapse to his knees. “ I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me, you didn’t have to see that, you don’t deserve to have to see that.” “No!” Jack heard a familiar little voice. “ Fluttershy?” Jack was puzzled as tears streamed down his face “We love you Jack! You kept us safe when only you could! We Know you would never hurt us! We Love You!” The yellow Pegasus flew onto the battlefield and hugged Jack. Jack wrapped his arms around the pink mane pony, his tears darkening her yellow mane. “ T-T-Thank you Flutteshy… thank you everyone, thank you all so mu..” Jack’s ears reverberated. “IT’S NOT OVER YET TRAITOR!” The knight swung his damaged arm with the head of the axe in hand. “This is where you diEE..UGH!” Jack’s right palm made contact with the Knight’s bare chest as his left gently caught the blade. Jack brought his cheek right next to the Knight’s. “ This is why our people died… we gave in to our selfish desires, our desires to win, to conquer, to rule, to destroy. This place is different, these ponies know how to live, with one another. They love each other in a way we could never understand, a way you never will understand.” Jack took in a breath. “You lived without a heart and now you can die without one.” Jack pushed his palm forward, making a hollow noise with the Knight’s chest. The Knight gripped his chest, staggered back, and collapsed as his breath slowed to a stand still. Jack collapsed onto his knees next to Fluttershy as all the other ponies drew in close. Luna parted the crowd and addressed him. “Thank you Jack, I don’t know what we would of done if you hadn’t..” Luna made eye contact with him. “No..” Jack put his cloak back on. “Excuse me?” Luna gave him a confused look. “You don’t thank for this.” Jack gestured to the three partially armored corpses. “Never for this.” “But Jack we need you to..” Luna took a step back. “I said no!” Jack stood up. “I know what you are going to say.” Jack locked eyes with the lunar mare. “ It would be ridiculous to ask me to fight their entire army by myself, you want me to train… ponies to fight. I refuse.” Jack put his hood up. “B-but..” Luna was speechless, he was right. “ Don’t follow me.” Jack ran into the woods. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Next Morning Jack sat in the hollow of the tree that brought him to this time and place. “Take me back. Tack me back. Take me back!” Jack searched for a way to shut the wooden panel of the tree that had fallen off when he first entered Equestria. “DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIT! AAAAAAH!” Jack slammed his fist into the trunk. “I gotta get out of here…” Sweat dropped from the side of his head. “…before I cause any more trouble.” After a while of trying in futility Jack grew silent. AAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Jack heard a familiar howl; his eyes went to the underbrush. From the shrubbery a familiar Timberwolf, five round scars around its neck, approached Jack. Jack smiled and dropped to his knees, he brushed his cloak away from his neck. “ Yes…please…end it.” Jack pleaded with the creature. It came over, growling, saliva dripping from it’s mouth. I charged Jack, pushing him down and mounted his chest. His breath danced over Jack’s forehead and the creature sniffed his next meal. The creature held his breath and stepped off Jack’s chest. “Huh, what? What! Kill me! Do it!” Jack pleaded with the Timberwolf who responded by backing up into the underbrush. “He knows you won’t hurt him.” Jack looked up and saw the yellow Pegasus flutter her wings as she landed next to him. “You should leave, Fluttershy, before you get hurt. Everyone around me seems to get hurt.” Jack turned away from his friend. “Jack, please, come back to town, we need you… Luna..” Fluttershy was cut off. “Tell Luna I’m not helping, I don’t want to pass on the follies of my people, to all of you, you have done nothing to deserve this.” Jack stood up “ I..uagh!” Fluttershy tackled Jack to the ground, her eyes putting him in a trance. “ Now you listen to me mister! Your friends need you, there are bad men trying to hurt us and you’re going a to let them. Is that what you want? Because if it is, then you might as well go back from where you came from!” Her eyes radiated the sincerity in her voice. “ Oh I’m sorry…” The grove fell silent. Tears rolled down Jack’s face. “Ha…haha..hahahahahahah!” Jack stated to laugh, prompting Fluttershy to step off of him. Jack rose to his feet. “Alright Fluttershy, give me a day, tell Luna that tomorrow morning I’ll be ready to start the training. Tell her to take the day to round up any ‘willing’ ponies. Willing ponies only, you heard me? Tell her to meet me with them at the barn tomorrow morning.” Jack put his cloak back on. “If you need me I’ll be at the barn. For now, I have work to do.” Fluttershy’s wing opened. “Thank you so much Jack, I’ll see you tomorrow.” And with that she was off. Jack grabbed the wooden slab from the door and slung it onto his back. He made his way to the barn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Next Morning Luna approached the big red barn door followed by a small battalion of ponies, stallions and mares alike, Big Macintosh and Doctor Hooves at the front. “Jack? Jack, are you there?” Luna knocked cautiously…no response. She pushed the door open. Luna was dazed when she took in the view. The walls of Applejack’s fairly large barn were covered in diagrams of the pony anatomy. They portrayed ponies throwing each other, striking, and dodging. Some showed ponies combating a human target, showing the human’s weak points and how a pony can exploit them. Inside the barn, there was a dozen or so wooden dummies, nail to the ground, simulating a human with arms outstretched. One of the unfortunate dummies was being beaten repeatedly with a sturdy wooden staff, held in Jack’s hands, a pile of shaven wood in the corner of the room as a testament to his craftsmanship. “Aha, good morning everypony.” Jack said with a smile on his face. “Is everypony ready to begin training?” Everypony’s jaws were agape. Luna approached Jack. “ I’m glad you feel better Jack, I’m sorry about how I acted.” Luna bowed her head. “Nonsense. Now I know what must be done, just one thing…” Jack put his head close to Luna’s. “We have to talk later, I feel I will need your help with something.” Jack spun his staff behind his head and walked over to the crowd. The Doctor stepped forward to address him. “ Jack, how do you expect us to be able to combat humans. I have no clue how you were even able to beat those armored behemoths.” The Doctor gave him an inquisitive look. “Jujutsu..” “Pardon me?” The Doctor asked. “My style, it’s called Jujutsu, it means ‘The Gentle Art’” Jack awaited the usual response. “ You call that gentle?! You killed them with your bare hands.” The Doctor cocked his head to the side. “Well it’s gentle for me. Instead of trying to match my opponent’s strength or speed, I use my mind to defeat him.” The Doctor’s ears perked up. “By understanding my opponent’s body and the laws of physics, I can attack his weak points to defeat him, not to mention be able to utilize his own energy and momentum against him. For example I can use a series of Joint-locks to restrain my opponent, or disable one of their limbs to render it useless. Likewise I can apply a strike to an opponent’s weak points to change his balance, make him lean forward or back. From that position I can throw them to the floor where I can control them and do as I please.” “Thank you sir, while that is fascinating, I don’t see how us ponies will be able to use it to the same extent that you can.” The Doctor was on a roll. Jack turned around. “That is true. Jujutsu favors a humans body…” Jack snapped back to the Doctor. “But that doesn’t change the principles. I figured I would have to create a different style for you all… so I did. Taking advantage of your fast and powerful hooves, I integrated the lightning fast strikes of Wing Tsun with the applicable throws of Jujutsu and Judo, I call it Pony-Do, “The Way of the Pony.”” The Doctor was befuddled. “Come here Doctor. Stand on your hind legs.” The Doctor did so. “Now put one hoof behind my head and the other around my arm.” The Doctor obliged. “Now. Turn your body around and pull me over!” The Doctor responded. BLAM! The Doctor smiled as he saw his handiwork, Jack flat on his back. “See. Ugh” Jack coughed as he got up. “So. Who’s ready to get started?” Jack shot the Doctor a look. The Doctor rose up on his hind legs. “ ALLONS-Y!”