“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?