//------------------------------// // Discovery // Story: Back To The Past // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Flower petals fluttered as the wind gently whipped around two ponies who walked down a dirt path, both of them enamored with the scent that the wafting breeze brought with it. The only source of the smell was the small town that was up ahead, yet from the large amount of lights and laughter it was clear to the two that they had happened upon it at a merry time. "Smells like caramel apples and a whole lot of other sweet treats," AJ said with a long sniff, a smile creeping across her face as she made out more of the sweets. "Seems like there might be a festival or something going on. Must be native to this village, because ah'm fairly certain that Nightmare Night is the last festival before Winter Wrap Up." "That is when you and the other ponies...help create winter for the year, correct?" Jack hesitantly asked her, having found out about how the seasons changed a few days back. To say that it confused him would be an understatement. "Eeyup. Don't ya have something like that back where yer from?" AJ asked Jack before one of her eyebrows rose in a curious way. "Y'know, ya still haven't told me where yer from. Ah mentioned Japony, but that name seemed to amuse you more than anything." "The place that I am from has long since been lost to me. But one day I will find a way to return to it," Jack answered cryptically, getting a huff from AJ before she turned her attention away from Jack's past and to the lights and sounds of the town before them. The two walked into the small town through a pair of large arches that had magical lights flickering all around them, with more of the lights floating above the streets in a rainbow of colors. The lights gave life to the bleak and cloudy sky, while ponies ran around holding sparklers and other items to help illuminate the night. "Well ah'll be, this here is quite the party," Applejack muttered aloud as she tilted her hat back, catching the eye of a pony in an apron who trotted over to the strangers with a smile on her face. "Hello there, strangers, you must have been drawn in by the fun everypony here is having," she said with a slight giggle before reaching into her attire to pull out two leaflets, which she then hoofed to both Jacks. "We always get a few guests that show up for our little Illumination Festival, so we have a few of those on hoof. In them you'll find what activities are going on and where to find them. Hope the two of you have fun!" "Illumination Festival, huh? Can't say ah've ever heard of that one," Applejack shrugged as she flipped open the leaflet and skimmed through the pages before coming to a stop on a page that interested her. "Well now, they have a bobbing for apples contest here? Guess ah've got to show them why ah'm the champion in Ponyville for six years running? What's the matter Jack, they don't have festivals where yer from?" AJ asked when she saw the look on Jack's face as he glanced down at the paper. "No, it is not that. It is just..." His mind faded away back to a time long ago, recalling a young boy as he raced through streets that were filled with paper lanterns. The child's sandals kicked up Sakura petals as he ran, a smile wide on his face while a dragon-shaped kite fluttered behind him. All around him were people laughing, talking or simply enjoying the night as fireworks exploded into patterns in the night sky above him. Jack remembered it all, the joy, the feeling of happiness that he thought would last forever...and how the feelings seemed so dull now. "...it has been a long time since I have been to one," Jack finally finished before placing those memories in a safe place before he glanced down at the leaflet again with interest. "There will be music played from an assortment of instruments. I would like to hear that." "Well, you go on ahead and have fun. Ah have some apples to bob fer," Applejack smirked with confidence, tipping her hat to Jack before walking into the crowd and vanishing. Jack looked down once again to discover the location of the musicians before he too began to move through the crowd, glancing around at all of the smiling faces and excitement that seemed to fill the air around him. He heard the musicians before he saw them, allowing him to use his ears instead of his eyes to navigate to where they were located. He found them surrounded by a crowd in a small plaza, playing a quick and happy tune that seemed to dance through the spectators' hearts as they listened. Jack rested next to a pair of older ponies before closing his eyes and allowing the music to seep into him, feeling the beats and strums of their instruments ease his tension and stress...while also resurfacing memories of when his father's servants used to play music for him. He recalled sitting next to his father at their table as three women played their stringed instruments, creating a calm atmosphere for the boy and his father as they drank tea together. Then, at the young boy's command, they would play a faster and more playful tune, one that got the boy to start dancing around with a large smile on his face. Jack was pulled from the memory when he heard the sound of clapping hooves, and he opened his eyes to see the ponies that had been performing taking a bow. Jack applauded along with the audience before standing up once more and continuing his walk, curious to see what other attractions awaited him. Stands filled with sweets and other delectables greeted him after he turned a corner, while a pony in colorful attire with white makeup on his face juggled several balls for the numerous foals that had crowded around. After passing by the clown, he found that some of the foals had decided to imitate him and were kicking a rubber ball back and forth between one another. A thin smile creased Jack's face as he reached into his kimono, his hoof touching his own ball that he had as a child. When his father had been away on business and his mother had been busy with the home, the ball had been his only friend, helping him to pass the hours of loneliness. He once again left his thoughts when he felt something bounce into his hoof, discovering when he looked down that the children's ball had rolled over to him. He picked it up and looked over at the foals, who had all eyes on him as they waited for him to toss it back. The smile on the samurai's face widened before he tossed the ball above him and bounced it off of his head, sending it sailing back to the foals who caught it with wide eyes. Smiles of their own crossed their faces before one of the four foals tossed the ball up and kicked it to Jack, who leapt up slightly to catch the ball with the back of his elbow and sent it back to them. The foals constantly tried to think of different ways to make Jack drop the ball, and thereby declare themselves the winners, yet to their amazement no trick they tried on the samurai worked. Despite teaming up, using what little magic they could, and even throwing multiple balls into the mix, Jack returned each of balls to the foals without letting any touch the ground. The game came to an end when one of the parents called out for their foal, causing the foals to scramble as they tried to quickly gather their toys together. Jack aided them in collecting their items before bowing to the four, who each bowed in return before they ran into the crowd and vanished. Jack then continued on his way, though he did not refuse a free ice cream that was offered to him. "Have your portrait drawn?" Jack stopped and glanced over at the pony that had spoken to him, while the pony looked at the samurai with a paintbrush held up. Jack then glanced at a blank canvas that rested before the pony with several drawn pictures resting around him. "Want me to do a portrait of you?" "I am sorry, but I do not have any money to pay you for your talent," Jack tried to politely decline, but the pony laughed before moving a seat towards Jack with his magic. "For a pony dressed like you and carrying such a weapon, this one's on me," the pony laughed as Jack sat down, squinting at the samurai before nodding and pulling out a pen. He then began to swipe at the page before him, nodding to himself occasionally before making numerous and rapid pen strokes. Jack sat straight the entire time, not wanting to ruin the pony's work by moving. He recalled a time when he had been forced to sit still for hours when his father and mother wished to have a family portrait drawn. He remembered at the time wanting nothing more for the artist to finish so he could have fun. Now he wished that he had savored that time with his family more. "And it is done!" the pony laughed before spinning the canvas around so Jack could see. The samurai's eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw the impeccable job that the pony had done capturing his jaw and face so well...but when the samurai looked into his drawing's eyes he was surprised by how they looked. "Yeah, interesting bit isn't it? I tried multiple times to do something else, but no matter how hard I looked at you all I could feel was this sadness that emanated from you. Have to admit though, gives your image some character. You want it?" "No...keep it," Jack said with a shake of his head. "Consider it my way of repaying you for your incredible work." The pony nodded as Jack rose, not looking back as he moved on ahead to the next attraction. "Hey pal...I don't know what's bothering you, but you can't spend your entire life sad. You've got to find something that makes you...feel alive." Jack nodded politely before moving on, stifling a small yawn. An explosion roared overhead and Jack looked up to see a flower made of light shining in the sky, before another firework exploded next to it to create a pegasi. Jack had been so focused on the fireworks that he didn't notice the paper animal until it soared by his face, making him jump a bit before he realized that a number of cut out animals were flying around the area. The source of the flying paper beasts was a table off to the side that had six foals sitting around it with one mare, each of the foals cutting out animals from paper before the mare would use her magic to make them fly. A paper tiger landed in his mane and got stuck, getting a giggle from the mare before she waved the samurai over to the table. "I'm so sorry about that, it's hard controlling all of these pieces of paper at once," the pink mare said as she helped remove the tiger from Jack's mane, giving Jack time to glance at the table to see that there was still a large quantity of paper. "Please, there is no need to apologize. It was an accident," Jack said as she got the tiger out of his hair. "I see that you still have numerous amounts of paper left. Would you mind if I try my hand...er, hoof at making something?" "Sure, go right ahead." Jack sat down in one of the free spaces and took a good chunk of paper for himself, yet instead of grabbing one of the animal stencils he began to fold his paper and twist it in certain ways. The foals ignored him at first, but as time went on they began to grow more and more interested in what he was working on. Eventually the samurai let out a sigh as he sat up straight, smiling down at his work. "Wow! That's the coolest paper dragon that I've ever seen!" "How did you make it?" "What even is it?" "It is a style called 'origami'. It was quite popular in my home," Jack said with a smile before he pushed the dragon over towards the foals, who gathered around it with wide eyes so they could examine every inch of it. While they were focused on the dragon, Jack quickly folded more paper into an assortment of different animals. A crane, an owl and other animals quickly appeared next to the dragon, getting both the foals and the mare to gasp in awe at their design. "These are incredible. Would you mind showing me how to make them?" the mare asked Jack after turning over the dragon in her hooves. Jack nodded before showing her how to hold and where to fold the paper, slowly working through each step so that she could keep up. While they focused on the creation, the foals took their new animals and began to race them around the plaza, gaining the attention of other ponies who then began to gather around Jack as he created more. Jack let out a sigh when he finally put his last piece down, since there was no more paper to create more. It was multiple frogs sitting on numerous lily pads while beautiful flowers floated in the air around them. As Jack moved the pieces of art closer to the edge of table, he couldn't help but smile as foals from all over began to grab at his creation, each of them wanting at least one. After a while the crowd began to fade, leaving Jack with the still playing foals and the mare that had written down how he had folded most of his creations. "Thank you for showing me your incredible...origami, it was amazing to see," the mare whispered with a huge smile as she began to corral the little foals, most of whom were having trouble keeping their eyes open. "I'm a teacher here and these techniques of yours will be really popular with the foals. Thank you for showing them to me." "Please, your words are too kind," Jack said with a smile as he bowed, before rising from the table and walking away as the last foal was rounded up. "Have you considered being an arts and crafts teacher?" the mare asked Jack, stopping the samurai before he glanced back at the mare. "You can do incredible things with just a few sheets of paper and you seem to be really popular with foals. You just seem like a pony that should be teaching others. It's just a thought though." Jack bowed to her one last time before walking off into the much thinner crowd, with the full moon directly overhead telling him that most of the foals had most likely been whisked off to bed. He let out a small yawn himself, hoping to find Applejack so that they could prepare for the continuation of their journey the next day. But his thoughts kept going back to his crafting origami animals with the foals, and how immersed they had been with his work. How they had been impressed not with his sword or the way that he had cut down an evil, but that something he had created had been what impressed them. Yet he knew that his duty was still to defeat Aku, to free his world and future of the evil that he had failed to stop. That was his sole mission and reason for living. That as nice as what the mare said about him, it was his sacred duty to slay that great evil. But after Aku was finally defeated and peace had been restored to the world...? "There ya are," AJ said from behind Jack, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Ah've been looking everywhere fer ya. Come on, ah've found us a place to stay fer what remains of the night, so let's get some shut eye before tomorrow." "Very well," Jack said, but Applejack raised an eyebrow when she saw something on Jack's face. "Well that's quite the smile that you've got," AJ pointed out, making Jack look into a pond to see that indeed, a happy smile was upon his face. "Haven't seen one of those on you yet. Something good happen to ya while you were exploring?" "No..." Jack eventually answered as he walked by AJ, the smile still on his face. "Just considering something somepony said about me."