XII: Jack's New Quest
Jack looked ahead. He was in front of the Everfree Forest, ready to once again make his journey. His destiny once again being unknown. Despite the ponies' warnings earlier, this forest looked no different than any other forest he has wandered through, his world or otherwise.
He took a quick look back at Ponyville and the castle that stood above it all. After looking back for only a minute, he turns to face the Everfree Forest, and strolls forward inside of it. His intention clear, nothing was going to stop him now.
****
The samurai's gaze was kept forward with each step he took, his sandals rustling the grass and leaves that lie plainly underneath his feet.
He looked at the map. On it were red markings that led him to the temple. It seemed to be just beyond the forest. Luckily, it shouldn't take too long. But, he knew he was in what was likely dangerous territory, so he firmly gripped his hand to his sheath just in case something were to go awry. However, so far nothing happened.
'I do not know why the girls were so hesitant in having me walk through here.' he thought as he looked to the sky through the trees, 'It seems rather serene. Perhaps, like the first few stops I made, there is some hidden danger. But it shouldn't be too troublesome.'
Jack marched forward, keeping an eye on his surroundings just in case his theory was correct. The samurai's hand further tightened around his sword's hilt as he heard various noises. The trees continued to cover the sky as he got deeper in, making him unable to see the blue sky that was once above.
The human sighed, and he noticed that more rustling came from afar. He remained aware of his surroundings, and that feeling only continued with each passing second. He stepped over a log and climbed over it, landing on a pile of leaves in the process, making a loud noise. He flinched upon hearing the sound of the leaves rustle and crumble underneath his sandals.
'I should remain silent,’ the samurai thought, 'The last thing I wish to do is attract attention onto myself.'
Jack inhaled, hearing more leaves rustling. But as he stood still, he heard the soft sounds of someone walking from behind him. He had a suspicious feeling that now he was no longer alone out here.
‘Someone is here with me.' he realized.
Ready for anything, his hand once more tightened around the hilt of his sword as the noise got louder. At last, he drew his blade, pointing it at a zebra, who remained unfazed upon his action. The samurai gave the stranger a confused glance as he lowered his weapon upon realizing she was defenseless.
"I apologize. I do not intend to harm you." Jack apologized with a small bow.
The zebra smiled, folding her hooves and bowed in response. "I am sorry for startling you. But upon hearing the sounds, I realized that you are new." she explained. "I came here to take a peek, for a name is all I seek."
Jack lowered his blade and placed it in his sheathe, seeing how sincere the zebra was. "They call me Jack. And you are?"
"Zecora is my name, Jack. Do you wish to come to my hut for a snack?" Zecora offered.
Jack waved a hand, "That is very kind of you, Zecora. But, I do not need any refreshments. I am merely on my way to retrieve the first piece of a legendary artifact. It should be just beyond this forest. Do you know if a temple truly lies beyond here?"
Zecora nodded, "The legends of the Chronos Compass are true and sound. But it would be difficult alone to have them found."
"What do you mean?" the samurai asked with a raised brow.
The zebra continued, "In Ponyville are eight friends. Together, they can ensure you do not meet your end."
"I may know of who you speak of. Princess Twilight and her friends?" at Zecora's nod, the samurai spoke. "I have my reasons, but I do not wish for them to get involved. There is more at stake here, and I wish to leave little impact."
With a sigh, Zecora lowered her gaze, "If you insist, warrior. The temple lies beyond the forest's barrier. A simple walk is all it will take. For trials lie in the temple's wake."
Jack bowed once more and turned his back, "Thank you, Zecora. I shall find a way to repay you." and with that Jack ran off, continuing his quest to reach the temple.
As the samurai disappeared, Zecora was shaking her head, wondering why someone like him would dare face the challenges of the temple on his own.
‘In time, I may find an answer,’ she thought, ‘But for now, I am only a guesser.’
****
The samurai ran through the Everfree Forest. He hopped over logs, ducked under branches, and even had to cut apart a few vines. As he did this, he thought back to him leaving Twilight's castle, and why he did so.
‘I have always wandered the world alone,’ he remembered, ‘I know I can take care of myself, but yet, the girls and their dragon friend would have made great company.’
But as he thought about it, he knew was running out of options, with Aku constantly getting in his way each time. Remembering that, he recalled why he pushed the ponies away.
'Aku would merely make them targets in the event he should find I am here. I cannot have him destroy this world like he has done to mine. To know there is a place free of his wrath... I will never forgive myself if I ruin that,' Jack closed his eyes at the thought, choosing to ignore all doubts for now.
A burst of sunlight shined down on the samurai’s face, blinding him a little. It didn’t take long for his eyes to once again adjust to sunlight. When he was able to see, he found that he had reached the end of the forest. He also found something that would lead to exactly what he was looking for.
Out in a lush meadow away from the trees, he saw a large temple. It looked like one he would see back on his world, and even similar to the one where he got the crystal that sent him to Equestria. The samurai looked at his map and smiled upon realizing he was at the temple where the first part of the Chronos Compass was contained. He was here.
****
But he was not the only one in the forest looking for a temple and compass piece...
"You said you saw him, Zecora?" asked Twilight.
It was his new friends from Ponyville. They had followed Jack into the Everfree Forest, worried that he would be in danger should the temple be as dangerous as they predicted.
Twilight, Rainbow, Spike, Pinkie, Rarity, and Starlight, with the addition of Fluttershy and Applejack (whom the others filled in on the matter), went to the first zebra they could trust: Zecora. They were hoping she saw him pass.
"He has passed here," the zebra answered, and pointed a hoof in the direction she saw him go, "By now for him, the temple should be near."
Applejack put a hoof to her chin, "This Jack guy's gotta be nuts ta think he could do somethin' this ridiculous."
"He seemed really hesitant in letting us go with him, too." Starlight recalled.
Pinkie shrugged, "Maybe he's hiding something about his past. He did say that he was on a quest and was trying to defeat a bad guy."
"Yeah, things I don't wanna miss out on,” Rainbow added. "We gotta see this temple and compass for ourselves! No way I'm letting some guy wearing pajamas take all the credit!"
"I'm more concerned about the fact that the pieces of the Chronos Compass lie past harsh trials. In the book we've read, the first was said to be a trial of reflection. We need to make sure he's fine." Twilight reminded the pegasus.
Fluttershy gulped, "A-Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean... Are the pieces really worth the risk?"
"According to Jack, yeah." Rainbow answered. "Not sure why, but he sounds like he really needs these pieces for something. Can't really say for what though."
"Well, if it's called the Chronos Compass, then obviously it's fer time travel." Applejack replied. "Sounds like such a weird thing. He says he’s from another world, yet he comes only to find a way to time travel."
Spike scratched his head, "It's gotta be important though. Least we won't have to worry about most of the trials. That sword looks like it could do a whole lot. Man, I wanna see it in action."
Starlight shook her head, "We're not gonna get answers just standing here, though. Where did you say the temple was at, Zecora?" she wondered,
"Past the forest's end. A helping hoof for Jack you may lend." Zecora rhymed. "Best of luck my friends."
"Thanks, Zecora!" Pinkie cheered.
Upon hearing that, the girls set out to follow the samurai, hoping they weren't too late in whatever he was doing.
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I bet, I imagine we don't see here in the show much anymore because none of the writers want to deal with writing her dialogue lol. Heck most writers on this site who do use her almost immediately do away with the rhyming.
She's hard to write. Sucks to be those people who take on a Zecora episode.
Just read the new chapter and it was really good. I want to write an MLP story too but I know writing Zecora is going to be hard because I'm not that good at rhyming. Also I can't blame Jack for what he thought since Aku would bring destruction to Equestria and harm even the children. Also Apple Jack is a bit of hypocrite since she has done some stupid things too because of her pride and stubbornness.
I hope Rainbow Dash will realize this isn't a game and I wonder what kind of trial will Jack face when he enters the temple? Plus Spike better not get any ideas about wanting to try the sword, it is not a toy.
Hope to see the next update soon.
Good Luck MetalJrock2299.
Ya know, I'm not the kind of guy that would tend to read adventure stories on this site that often. However, since this is about Samurai Jack, something that I grew up with and just watching the latest season of it, I have to say that I'm intrigued in where you're going with this. I'll be keeping an eye on this from now on.
8131546
This!
Unfortunately, there's little that can be done to force some inane rhyming out of the dialogue they have on that show.
At least when they need someone to come up with some weirdass horseshit song, in a pinch they can always hire Rush for a day or so. Neil Peart to write the lyrics, Alex Lifeson for the music, and Geddy Lee to teach them how to sing it.
...in fact, considering some of the cringe-worthy songs the show's done in the past, they really need to hire Rush to make their music!
I must say this is fun so far.
I'm really glad a crossover of Samurai Jack and MLP made it to the featured box enough times to get some noticeable attention, it deserves it. Your dialogue style with Jack is great, he's been totally in-character thus far so it's been really fun to see him interact with Equestria.
As I'm sure others have brought up, there are grammar errors riddled throughout chapters - typically simple typos, misplaced commas and wording that's just slightly off. I won't grammar nazi you with a wall of grammar fixes, but just as a few examples of what I mean by 'wording':
'at a slow pace', since you're using the past-tense 'walked' in the same sentence.
'stayed' not 'stays' would better here, same reasoning.
In general you have a decently sized vocabulary and are good at describing things.
I just recommend you grab an editor, if you need any help with going over grammar, tense use, wording, etc.
These ponies have no freaking idea what Jack has been through, so there was really no need to worry about him
Jacks sword verses Timberwolves. Would it just slice through their binding magic, allowing them to reform and give the chance to run away and change behaviour, or just go through everything, slicing th wood also, killing them?
Zecoras rhyming is difficult because you have to work three ways at the same time. The overall meaning, the end rhyming word and the sentence leading up to it. Maybe the Big Book of Limericks would be helpful? You get plenty of those in run down inns next to the docks in old port towns full of grizzled sailors.
Yus, Samurai Jack fic! the new season has me so hyped its amazing. Although, I find it funny that Jack is going through all this trouble to get this Time Travel McGuffin that he never got to learn about how Starlight has a Time Travel spell. I do hope it comes up once Team Pony catches up. I doubt she has the Mojo to send Jack back far enough to matter, but it is something to note.
And even if this quest ends in standard Samurai Jack manner, I hope he learns the value of companionship enough to find his own... maybe seven convenient orphans found in a crazy Aku worshiping cult that mysteriously gets their asses kicked offscreen. Cause dammit i really like the idea of this AU Fanart.
So Twilight, are you really going to follow the greatest hero in western animation?
8131546
8131625 That's probably why I'll write her in if the plot calls for it. If I'm writing a character, I want them to be consistent with the source material. And rhyming is not my forte.
8131803 The trial will be interesting to say the least.
8131841 Thanks!
8131968 My Little Pony starring Aerosmith and Metallica! We need more random bands in cartoons, like how Scooby-Doo had Simple Plan.
8132103 Thanks for pointing those out. I'll do my best to avoid such mistakes.
8132171 If they saw his world... They'd be in for a surprise for sure.
8132360 I may look into that! And honestly, I'm not sure how Jack's sword would against Timberwolves, but I do recall writing a scene early on where he fought one. By I assumed that they regenerate.
8133932 That AU is adorable. We'll see how this tale ends soon enough. And Starlight's time spell will be brought up and energy won't be the reason. She travelled back to the Rainboom like five times in a short amount of time after all.
8134266 Heck yeah!
From what I gather aku will get to equestria and jack will use the compass to go back to the time when he had the choice to go to equestria and decline it.