The Hunted

In front of Everfree Castle Celestia and Luna arrived at the front of the castle with a large white flash. Both immediately took in their surroundings, scanning for battle. The area was empty, so they both approached the castle entrance with haste, but something stopped Celestia dead in her tracks. The old princess saw the form of a human, bare and completely exposed. That didn’t bother her though. On his back was Megalith. An old artifact that had caused her so much pain in the past.

She instinctively grabbed the elements of harmony out of her bag and began to charge their power. Luna wondered for a second what caused Celestia to act so hastily, but then she saw the crystal stone too. She hopped next to her sister and allowed the power to flow through them both and with a loud hum and a flash of rainbowed color light realised by it. At that moment Celestia lost her cool and let her emotions cloud her judgment, causing her to yell out angrily. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” In a bright flash of light the show was over. Megalith has been stopped once more.

They both approached the captured human slowly, to their surprise Twilight Sparkle and her good friends were at the top of the stairs of the entrance. All of them were completely stunned and her friend Fluttershy was on the verge of tears. Twilight was the first one to come too, and walked down the stairs to her mentor, the rest follow suit, except for Fluttershy and Rarity. Fluttershy was crying in the fetal position on the floor and Rarity was trying her best to comfort one of her best friends.

Twilight finally stood before the two princesses next to the newly formed human statue and bowed. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna…” Celestia looked at her student softly but wondered why she was hesitant to speak; it wasn’t like her to not speak her mind. “No need for that now Princess Twilight. I’m very glad to see your all safe.” Twilight looked up to her mentor but was still hesitant to speak. She bit her lip and looked at the human. She didn’t know how to ask why the elements of harmony were used on him. Celestia caught on to Twilight’s body language and decided to answer her question before it was asked. “I got your report that a human landed in Equestria. I assume this being here is him?”

Twilight nodded slowly, taking caution in her movements. “Yes princess. He saved me and my friends from the changelings.” Celestia and Luna looked around them at the piles and piles of hurt changelings. “All of these?” Luna asked in a rather surprised manner.

Twilight shook her head from side to side. “No he defeated about fifty of them if I had to guess. The rest were beaten by Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Myself.”

Luna nodded before flying up to Fluttershy and Rarity to help calm Fluttershy down as Twilight continued to explain. “Fluttershy was with the human, Cade, or so we thought.” She sat back on her haunches from exhaustion and continued the story. “Chrysalis showed up with her army, and said she was looking for something… An artifact that birthed the Alicorn Amulet… Do you know what she was talking about Princess?”

Celestia thought for a second, wondering how much she should reveal to them, but eventually figured that since Twilight spoke so highly about the human, and the fact that he saved them from attack meant she should explain why he was now imprisoned in stone. “Yes, what this human here now possesses is what she sought. Megalith, it’s a magical artifact that grants the user incredible magical power, but at the cost of driving them mad. Just like the Alicorn Amulet, it corrupts the user and changes their personality.” Celestia lowered her head slightly and closed her eyes for this next part. “Many of the greatest heroes Equestria has ever had have tried to use its power for good, but all of them were corrupted, my sister and I forced to slay them”

Twilight spoke up to question her mentor. “But Celestia, he just saved us. He didn’t show any signs of corruption! I know he’s a human and all but still, he was a good being!” Celestia nodded. “I’m sure he was Twilight, which is why we imprisoned him in stone.” This is when Applejack spoke up. “What is that supposed to mean? If he’s good then shouldn’t he be free?” Celestia slightly chuckled and shook her head. “Sorry I should have clarified. Since he was still good when he was frozen, the corruption can’t take place. The corruption happens after the first battle Megalith is used. So he would have been corrupted where he stood and attacked you all, but now that he is frozen he can be taken back to the castle and Luna and I will try our best to remove Megalith from his body.”

That’s when Fluttershy stopped crying and perked up. “Really! He will be set free!” Celestia nodded. “Yes, since you all seemed so fond of him we will try our best to save him. No matter how long it takes.” Fluttershy flew in the air and did some little twirls of happiness “Yay…” Luna stood there silently not saying a word.

In a black flash eleven cloaked figures were behind Luna. Luna turned to face the cloaked figures and stood there majestically. “Report” Luna stated simply as she stared at the figures. The closest pony removed the hood of her cloak, pulling it up and showing herself to Luna. It was a mare bat pony with the standard grey look of a regular bat pony guard but with a dull yellow mane as well as a sword on her back with a green aura emitting from it. “Hunters reporting for duty” She said in a calming tone bowing to the princess. 10 other larger figures bowed as well, each removing their hood in the process. Some of them had masks or unique helmets as well as having their own weapons ranging from staffs and swords to one black futuristic rifle. Luna looked upon them and nodded. “Good, the human is a non-threat as you can see, but I want you to work with the Sun Guard in capturing the rest of the changelings as well as their queen.”

The mare nodded and turned to Celestia who was down the stairs “Princess Celestia, since this is a Joint operation, who would you like in command?” Celestia slowly turned to the mare bat pony. “Since Captain Shining Armor won’t be here, you will be in command, Head Huntress Lighting Strike” The mare nodded and turned to a stallion bat pony which was equipped with the rifle. “Go alert all the Officers of the Royal Guard, Queen Chrysalis will not be engaged until at least two hunters or myself are with them. They should use Pegasus scouts to scan the forest for her as well as her lesser changelings.” The young stallion nodded to her before speaking up. “Ma’am what would you like them to do for regular changings?” The mare quietly thought for a second. “Tell them to use their best judgment and to set up checkpoints around the Everfree forest with changeling ward spells casted by unicorns.” The stallion nodded again and disappeared with a black flash. Then the mare turned back to Princess Luna. “Anything else Princess?” Luna shook her head “No, happy hunting” In a flash the 10 bat ponies were gone.

The main six wondered what the hell just happened as they turned back to Celestia. She smiled at them softly as they gathered around her. “Elements of harmony don’t worry about the changelings as our guards have the situation under control, and as for the human. Luna and I will try our best to save him. I don’t know how long it will take but I do know it will be dangerous. So you won’t be allowed to visit him during this period.” Fluttershy nodded sadly as Celestia continued. “Now, Luna and I will take this human back to Canterlot to start the process of trying to free him.”

At that time a few royal guards arrived and bowed next to Celestia. “Princess Celestia what is your command?” Celestia looked over at them. “Please transport this human to Canterlot and put him in Princess Luna’s Quarters.  Then come back here and report to Huntress Lightning Strike” The stallion saluted and worked with his unicorn guards to begin transporting the statue. Celestia turned back to address the elements of harmony. “Thank you girls for protecting this castle from the changelings, I’m sure it took great courage to face their army alone. On behalf of all my little ponies I would like to thank you all for your service in keeping Equestria safe” The girls smiled warmly and stood there proud as Celestia turned and walked out of the castle with Luna in tow

Once Princess Luna and Princess Celestia left the castle and began their journey home on a chariot, Twilight turned to her friends and saw they were all just as exhausted as she was. She smiled weakly and spoke breaking the silence that had hung in the air sense the princesses and guard left. “Well I think it’s safe to turn in for the night. You girls are welcome to use my spare bedrooms so you don’t have to go through the Everfree Forest at night as well as to avoid the Equestrian military…”

The girls nodded in unison as Twilight started to lead the way to the living quarters where her friends would stay in for the remainder of the night, leaving a tired Fluttershy behind. Once Fluttershy realized the others had left she began heading back to the room where she would have taken care of Cade for the night, her face sad yet showing signs of deep thought. She spotted something weird though. A strange puddle was halfway down the hallway. She looked up for a leak and didn’t see a hole in the ceiling, scratching her head she decided she was too tired to care, and turned to her door, ignoring the strange puddle.

She opened up the door to her room and walked in, leaving the confines of the empty hallway behind her; she looked around and saw the changelings that had been in her room were gone. The room was still a mess but that didn’t matter, the bed was still in good condition and that’s where she was heading. She trotted up to the bed and laid down, turning and shifting, trying her best to find a comfortable position. Eventually she was staring right at the nightstand where she had put the human’s device, an IPod as he called it, and sighed silently. A few moments later she grabbed it and held it to her chest, taking comfort in the thought that one day soon, she would be able to return the item to him. The thought comforting her as she fell asleep.

Celestia was completely quiet during the trip home. She stared forward in her majestic stance lost in thought, not muttering a single word. Luna though was very curious about her actions back at the old castle. She finally asked her big sister what was on her mind. “Sister… why did you lie to the Elements of Harmony?” Celestia didn't flinch at the question and kept her gaze forward, unmoving as it had been the entire time. “You know why Luna, they wouldn’t fully understand what we have to do with the human. They are young and don’t fully understand that not everything can be saved.” She finally turned to gaze at the chariot flying next to them where the human statue was. “It’s a shame the first human willing to cooperate with us ended up fused with Megalith, the one artifact that he can’t be saved from.” Luna nodded and agreed. It was most likely that the Elements of Harmony would never hear of the fate of the human…

The chariots pulled up to Canterlot Castle as they hovered near Luna’s balcony, waiting as Celestia grabbed the human and brought him into her sisters room. Luna dismissed her guards and walked behind her sister into her room as Celestia set the human statue down and looked back to her. “Ready, Luna?”  Luna nodded and approached the human, a solemn and sad look coursing over her face. “I know this is unfair for you, but we can’t risk a user of Megalith running around Equestria… our only choice is to kill you. I promise you I’ll make it quick and painless… farewell.”

Luna stepped back before lowering her stance as her horn glowed, Celestia’s horn glowing as well as the stone spell was removed from the body. As soon as his head was exposed Luna casted her magic beam, its light was very thin but had a high density of pure magic, allowing it to shoot clean through the human’s skull. Both princesses watched as the life left the humans eyes with a sad expression. They knew it had to be done but it was still saddening for them to execute an innocent being...

But their eyes grew wide as the body dispersed into water. Both of the princesses jaws dropped as the water hit the ground, quickly forming into a small puddle. Celestia quickly ran up to it and scanned it with her magic, looking for signs of the human. Luna casted a large sensory spell and scanned for dark magic throughout the entire castle. “How?… When?… Were we deceived?” Celestia couldn’t sense a trace of him. “Luna have you found him?” The dark blue princess shook her head. “No Tia… I don’t sense him anywhere around the castle.” She turned her head to the recently created puddle. “What do you think that was?”

Celestia was visibly livid “I don’t know what that was, but I do know that he needs to be found immediately “She turned and stomped out the door “Curse you Megalith. I swear I will find you” Luna couldn’t help but smile, it’s been a long time since she saw her sister that angry. She turned to the puddle of water with an amused grin “Another human that needs to be hunted… I hope he makes this fun”

An arm stretched out of the puddle next to Fluttershy’s door at the old castle. Cade had hid himself in the puddle so that his main body would have time to heal, and, to Itachi’s recommendation he created a clone that Itachi himself would control. Itachi could fight through the pain his body was going through, Cade couldn’t, so Itachi went to fight off the changelings and Cade stayed back to heal in a safe location. He pulled the rest of his body out of the tiny puddle as the information came in from the ‘killed’ clone… “So… The princesses want me dead”

“So it seems…” Was Itachi’s response.

Cade moved over to the door and sat down, putting an ear to the door to see if Fluttershy was okay. With his improved hearing he could hear the quiet snoring that came from the yellow Pegasus, which brought a smile to his face. “So what do you plan on doing now? You can’t say here, it’s certain death…”

Cade sat quietly and tried to think to himself, what was there for him in this world? He had nothing. No clothes, no home, no real friends, no family… He looked up to the ceiling as he came to terms with the situation he was in. Celestia wanted him dead. If that’s true then the entire pony population would be after him in short notice. Who were those Bat Ponies? Why did Celestia have the Elements of Harmony still?  And most importantly to Cade, why was Luna not using the royal WE?

Cade felt exhausted and wanted to just go in the room behind him, cuddle that cute, sleeping mare, go to sleep and just face death in the morning… But he knew he needed to get going… He stood up and searched for a way to escape and saw a window at the end of the hallway. “Well Itachi. I guess it’s time to run for our lives” He crouched down and took off in a dead sprint towards freedom.