Balance
The stallion's brain screamed at him to take a break, to rest the muscles that had become a burning source of pain, but Jack hardly paid them any mind as he clawed up the side of the mountain. All of his focus, his intensity and his strength went into reaching the top as quickly as he could, before his nightmare arrived in Equestria. Below, Applejack tried to keep up with him as best as she could, but she knew full well that Jack was too far driven to allow her to catch up.
"JACK! Will you just calm down fer a minute and talk?!" She screamed up at the samurai as cold winds rippled past the both of them, but if Jack heard her he gave no indication since he continued to pull himself up the mountain. AJ grumbled under her breath as she placed a shaky hoof on the next, icy step, pulling herself a little higher before shivering a bit. She then glanced back up at Jack, who hardly seemed slowed by the snow or cold.
"I cannot wait! I must keep pushing forward," Jack seethed with agony when he heard Applejack call out to him again, forcing himself to ignore both her and the searing pain that coursed through his muscles as he forced himself higher and higher. Occasionally he glanced back at the landscape far beneath him, every time expecting to see it either on fire or in the clutches of the dark evil himself.
Jack then turned his gaze towards the top of the mountain once more, eyes narrowing as he spied what looked to be a ruined pillar near the top. The thought of finally reaching the summit fueled his fatigued body, allowing him to climb with renewed strength...at least until he finally placed a hoof at the peak. With the last drop of his strength he dragged himself onto the top, before collapsing into a pile of pony that panted heavily.
"No time...to rest. Must...find...Libra," he gasped as he forced himself back to his shaky hooves, half-dragging his body forward. Multiple ruined pillars decorated the land around him, and as he stared at the ground he found ancient stone that had once made a floor for what must have been a temple. His suspicions were confirmed when he lifted his head once more and found a massive throne resting amidst the wind and snow, its gargantuan size indicating that it had been constructed for a being of great proportions.
"This must be the place. LIBRA! If you are truly here, then reveal yourself!" Jack roared into the wind and snow, glancing around with building fear and anger at the silence that replied. He was just about to scream out the name once more before a blinding flash of light went off, causing the samurai to shield his eyes for a moment as the light died down. When he could see again, he felt his eyes widen at the creature that rested before him on the throne.
While similar to the image that Luna had shown him, the deity Libra was slightly different than he had been led to believe. This Libra did indeed have arms, but in each had rested half of a scale. Libra's body also seemed to be transparent, since Jack could see the back of the throne clear through the deity's body. Yet, the face was what Jack was drawn to the most, because Libra's face seemed to be molded from solid gold and wore a permanent expression of interest upon his features. That expression then glanced down at Jack, who found himself too stunned for words despite his rage a few moments before.
"Greetings, the one they call 'Jack'. It seems that you are indeed just as surprising as Luna described you," Libra began, bowing slightly to the samurai, who bowed in reply as Luna's words of caution flashed across his mind. "There is no need to answer. I know why you have sought me out. You require something that only I can grant. You require a way to return to your past."
"Yes...yes I do!" Jack smiled with hope, hope that he would finally return to his time and slay the evil that was Aku. "Please, you have already been informed of my quest and why I must get back. So I humbly ask that you please cast this magic soon, before Aku has the chance to do to this land what he has done to mine. Please, I beg of you."
Jack hurled himself onto the ground in the deepest bow he could perform, leaving Libra's face unchanged but a small chuckle could be heard coming from the deity. Raising an arm with a crystal scale within its grasp, Libra's eyes glowed slightly as he constructed a portal. A portal that, when Jack raised his head, made his eyes tear up when he saw what was within it.
"Mother. Father," he whispered as tears streaked down his cheeks, while his watering eyes gazed upon his family. His parents glowed with health and happiness, the kind of happiness that he had only remembered seeing in them before Aku attacked. The samurai slowly rose to his hooves and staggered towards the portal, reaching out for it with a hoof before Libra lifted the portal. "What are you doing?! Please, allow me to return to my time!"
"If you can balance the scales," Libra said in a voice that was as emotionless as his golden face, making Jack raise an eyebrow in confusion as Libra moved forward the other scale. "What I am doing requires a great amount of magic. In return for this, I require a magic that is able to equal the power that I am giving up. Place an item like that on the scale and you shall return to your home."
"But...but I do not possess an item with that kind of magical ability," Jack stammered out as he started to look through his kimono, but after a moment Libra allowed light to shine from his eyes and rest upon an item that hung at Jack's waist. "My sword?" Jack asked in a whisper as he glanced down with horror at the blade. "But my sword is all in this or any other land that can slay Aku for good! Without it, my quest into the past would be pointless!"
"That may be samurai, but it is the only item that you possess that can balance the scales," Libra informed him before his eyes flashed once more and the portal into Jack's past began to shrink. Jack's eyes widened in horror before he drew his blade in desperation and glared up at the deity. "Do not bother, samurai. With a thought I could be gone and then Aku will take this land. So sheath your sword and let us continue."
With pained fury Jack withdrew his blade, glaring up at Libra while the portal continued to shrink. Libra then once more moved the empty scale down in front of the samurai, who gazed down at it with conflict as he pondered what other way he could return without sacrificing his sword.
"Ugh....whew, nothing like...climbing a mountain to really...see how much exercise ya really need. Oh mah stars." Both Jack and Libra turned around to see Applejack finally reach the mountaintop, collapsing much like Jack did as she panted heavily. After a moment of respite she managed to push herself back up, where she spied Jack and pulled herself over to him with an annoyed expression. "Thanks fer waiting up partner, ah nearly fell off the mountain back there. But did ya care? No, it's all-"
"Applejack, I understand that you are angry, but now is not the time for rage," Jack said to stem her rage. "Libra requires a magical item from me that-"
"Yes. She will do." AJ and Jack stopped fighting and both glanced up at the deity, who had extended the scale towards Jack once more. "This pony, Applejack is it not? She posses the magic within her that can balance the scales. She can be used in place of your sword."
"Wait a moment, what's going on here?" Applejack asked with a confused expression, which turned into an expression of internal conflict when Jack explained what the deity was asking. "So...if ah trade away mah magic...mah Element...then Jack will be able to return to the past?"
"No, that is not what I'm asking. I am asking for your life." This time it was Jack who became furious while AJ gazed up at Libra with disbelief. "The magic within you is indeed a perfect balance, but to take it from you would also come at the cost of your life. But if you do not find that satisfactory, then we can always go back to my original idea. The sword."
"Never!" Jack roared without a moment's thought, drawing forth his blade once more as he leapt in-between Applejack and Libra. His eyes thundered with fury that only one other being garnered from him, a look that made the gold on Libra's face darken as he drew back the scale. "I will slay you before I allow you to have her life! I will find something else!"
"And what else could you possibly find?" Libra asked with his tone still emotionless, but Jack could feel the faintest traces of anger within his words. "You do not have time to go back down the mountain and find another source of magic. You have already wasted enough of my time and I am already pondering what you will have to give me to balance the waste."
"And I say that you will feel the sting of my sword before you lay a hand on her! I'd rather face all of Aku's army than sacrifice Applejack to you!" Jack roared in reply as his sword flashed, but to the surprise of both the samurai and the mare, Libra looked past them at the land below.
"Careful what you wish for." The moment the words escaped the mouth of Libra, the air tore open and a black fissure spread across the sky. Jack and Applejack watched in horror as the fissure blotted out the sun, causing darkness to spread across the land. Then, by the thousands, the black insects like the one Jack had slain earlier began to rain from the sky, spreading across all of the land as they scattered by land and sky.
As the black armies began to spread across the land, fires began to erupt wherever they went. From the mountaintop the pair of ponies were able to watch as the army of insects consumed a village nearest to the fissure, turning what was a happy and peaceful town into a burning pile of rubble within a matter of minutes.
"So what say you now samurai?" Libra asked Jack once more, who had to force himself to tear his gaze away from the land below to look back up at the face of Libra. "Aku's forces have begun to invade. Already lives have been lost to him. And to undo what has already begun, you only have two options. Give me your sword...or give me the mare's life."
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...give him the sage that sent you into Equestria. Or slay Aku in Equestria, seeing how he will chase you to there, and then trade Aku for it.
I think Jack choose neither one, and leave Libra
Libra really is a total douche.
wow... Libra is a grade-A asshole.
Deity or not. Playing with the lives of innocent like that is never right and only a true monster would do such things.
Also... can't Jack just demand balance? I mean Libra was literally the cause of so many deaths and innocent lives, all containing powerful magic each. Balance would demand, she owed Jack and Equestria a HUGE favor.
Ah... temporal theory. I hate time travel. If you go into the past and undo the future, then the future never happened and you never would've become who you are today! But if you didn't then you never did. But since you did, then you never do. Aaaarghh...
i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/imqalmhsaxu4zssrjheg.gif
6731697 Unless it's Multiverse Theory, then Jack would've just created two timelines.
6731697 the 2 major theorys about it explain that 1- you cant change the future, only contribute for it to happen, and 2-you can change the future but it will become a different future of your own, it wont affect you existence.
Welp, time to find Cancer (if you know what i mean)
Maybe Jack should wait up a few seconds, and see if someone can throw a little Heart, Sun, and Orbital Bombardment into the mix. Followed by Partying and Fishsticks.
I dunno, compared to the rest of this story, the progression in this chapter felt incredibly rushed and surreal... I think Libra's testing Jack, telling and showing him things that will force him to make a choice that will measure his determination, morality, and the strength of the friendships he's formed.
Kinda makes me think of the Forlorn Hope.
Personally I'm of the mindset Libra is the cause for all this, since if you think about it...that thing only cares about balance not morality or the like. Ergo say...oh a place is too full of good then obviously to balance it out you need to toss some evil in there. See where I'm going with this?
I could be wrong, but things that care only for balance make me nervous in general when you think about it deep enough.
Aw man...I thought Aku was gonna come through the fissure at first, but this is just as bad.
Libra truly is a deity to just play with a mortal like this and not give a damn.
and cue nightmare end...
NOW.
author's face-
i.imgur.com/VZJkD8M.gif
Well, another sword is in the past. He could give Libra his current sword and just use the other one to kill Aku.
6732730 Same for both answers really, but it's a moral choice... Jack just sucks at figuring things out..
6731758 eh, aku isn't really that powerful. actually he's a pretty big pushover if you think about it. there are probably quite a few warriors who could face him on even footing, but the thing is that there is no way to wound aku, except for jack's sword. that's really the only reason why he's so dangerous. pretty sure beings like libra or maybe even discord could defeat him if they really tried.
hmmmm ...
Sacrifice the sword to Libra and make him pull Past Aku to Equestria and lock the door shut. (this will fix Jack's word's future) then Rainbow his ass into submission with the Elements and the help of a few Alicorn Goddesses.
This way Jacks world gets saved (past and future). Aku gets his stool pushed in for him.
and ...
Jack gets to stay in equestria when its all done!
Win! Win!
6733027 maybe, but aku has never really been shown to have any significant powers beside shape shifting and super strength.
You compared him to cell,right, and how he was holding back? Well, aku has never really had a reason to do so, and even if he was for some reason, shouldn’t he have at least stopped playing around when jack was about to kill him in the first episode?
No, aku's real strength is his invulnerability. You are right, the people who trained jack surely would have opposed aku and trained others to fight along them, but the thing is they would be fighting a hopeless battle. I mean, what were the supposed to do? The only weapon in the entire universe that can hurt aku is jack's sword and he took it with him on his little trip through time.
Without the sword, even if there had been someone facing aku, he would have ultimately lost, even if he was stronger, simply because he couldn’t have harmed aku.
Even a mouse can defeat a lion, if only one of them takes damage. sure it would take a while, but sooner or later the lion would die from exhaustion and the summ of all the small wounds leaving the mouse victorious.
Same goes for aku. He doesn't need to be the strongest, though i'm not saying he's weak by any means, but all aku has to do to win is to outlast his enemies, and that’s incredible easy if you don't get hurt by anything your opponent can throw at you.
... fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu- I hate you and your super awesome stories that are incomplete... but I live you and your awesome stories... but I hate you, yet I admire you(no emo e_e) but I hate you, but u are in rainbow's words awesome! Dang it! Your stories are so good but the incomplete ones, the ones that I cant stop myself from reading over and over(not like I havent done with the last ones). they all have bucking cliffhangers so big that Luna's and Celestia's flanks cant compare in size, in other words, they eclipse the sun and moon. I CANT WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTERS! AGH!
P.S. Really... someone knows where can I get a cryopod? Cause those awesome stories that are being made are killing me before anything else xD
Where is the guardian?
Why he couldnt be here?
He was badass...
Though that dragon kinda have his essence
6733151 "tore open a portal in time"
Forgot that ability and that was when he was about to be killed.
Well that escalated quickly.
Balance in all things... balance is ever key...
Balance... That's why Anakin had to become corrupted enough to be capable of killing younglings: because there had been too much good for too long. It was time for darkness to rise for awhile. At least, that's what I think that Jedi prophecy meant by "bring balance to the force."
7009540
Yeah I never understood why the Jedi where so shocked that the balance of the force reduced the number of Jedi to two. The light side of the force was clearly the overwhelming majority, if something was going to balance it it would have to be for the dark side. Destroying the dark side is the opposite of balance
wait a minute...if Jack simply gave up the sword to go to past, which was shown by Libra to be the time before Aku invaded his home, then he could just get the sword that existed in that time period, thus still allowing him to attain the power to destroy Aku. THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO REPERCUSSIONS WHATSOEVER IN GIVING HIM THE SWORD!!!
7599962 not if he went to just after he was sent back
Oh I guess Libra really doesn't have to care. Wonder what's he doing in his dimension besides pondering on life. Dividing a number by 0?
Perfectly balanced, as all things should be