The Hunted

  Celestia waited patiently for her highest military officers to join her in the war room in the Canterlot Castle. In the past the room had little real use since there was very few wars in Equestria, but as of late because of the human arrivals the room seemed to be used more and more.

The topic for the meeting will be a sensitive one for her, a human escaped both her and Luna’s grasp. While a human landing in Equestria might not normally be a huge deal, The crystal Megalith that the human obtained was too dangerous not to alert the entire military force of Equestria. New Reports of what transpired the night before were copied for every individual who would be present at the meeting.

Finally the door slowly opened and several individuals slowly made their way into the war room. Shining armor and Lightning Strike lead the way, with a few Sun Guard officials and one Hunter followed suit. as they approached Celestia’s chair in the center they bowed and presented themselves formally. “Captain Shining Armor of the Sun guard and Prince of the Crystal Empire… Reporting for duty.”

“Princess Luna’s Personal Unit, Head Huntress Lighting Strike reporting for duty”

Celestia nodded at Equestria’s military leaders and asked them to take a seat around the war room table. Celestia waited till all the officers were comfortable in their seats to drop the dire news to them.

“Thank you all for coming to this meeting with such short notice. I normally would not ask this of you unless it was of great importance… As some of you may know another human came to Equestria last night in the Everfree Castle. Where he was met by Princess Twilight Sparkle”

Upon hearing that his sister may be in trouble Captain Shining Armor quickly stood up catching the attention of everyone at the meeting. “Princess! Is my sister alright?” He asked Celestia fearing the worst.

Celestia nodded and smiled slightly “Do not fear Captain. She is alright as well as the rest of the Elements of Harmony. In Twilights report he came to this world due to an accident with her Castle Teleporter. The human “Cade” was initially harmless and was friendly to them.”

Shining Armor physically relaxed back into his chair in relief. “Thank you princess, that is good news.”

        Celestia let her tone darken as she continued Twilights report “That wasn't all though, on the same day the human appeared the changelings attacked the castle with the Elements of Harmony all present. They held off the army at the Castle entrance but the Changeling Queen Chrysalis escaped into the castle to look for her objective.

        At that moment an old Unicorn Sun guard stood up “Princess I may assume considering these new reports on the human, that her objective was the crystal Megalith?”

Celestia Nodded and continued “Yes, The crystal stone both me and my sister thought was long forgotten. Not only did she know that it existed, but knew exactly how to break the magical defenses that lead into the chamber where Megalith hid. Though somehow the human was able to follow her into the chamber and acquire the crystal himself.”

        This time a Sun Guard Pegasus spoke out “How did this human follow her? I would expect a human would be under constant supervision due to the fact how dangerous their species is.

        Celestia sighed and continued “Well he was under the supervision of the Element of Kindness, but he was able to trick her into letting him leave her side with the excuse “He went to talk to Twilight” for a reason Fluttershy doesn't remember, But that isn't important. The reason I invited you all here is to develop a plan to deal with this new human before he comes a threat.”

        Shining Armor stood up gaining the attention of his peers. “Isn’t the Hunters responsible for combating the human threat? That is the reason they were created isn't it?”

Lighting Strike slowly rose and stared at the Sun Guard Captain “As of right now the Hunters are searching an area that spans from Everfree forest to Canterlot looking for traces of the human. Since we don't know where and how he escaped from Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, its hard to pinpoint a precise location on where he could be. The hunters don't have the pony power to cover such a vast area. The Hunters need support from the Sun Guards, for us to catch this human we will need several squadrons of Pegasus scouts as well as company of Unicorn troops trained in sensory magic.”

Shining Armor shook his head “I’m sorry, that won't be possible. My forces are stretched thin trying to defeat the military power of the changelings once and for all. Our Pegasus scouts are scouring the mountains and the forests trying to find what is left of the changeling force that escaped our grasp, and our unicorn sensory division is being deployed to our borders to prevent them from escaping…”

 Captain Shining Armor looked over at Celestia who seemed dissatisfied. He slowly turned back and sighed heavily in defeat  “... But we will report anything we find to you, Lightning Strike. I will inform our scouts to start looking for human tracks as well as changelings…”

Celestia nodded at her Sun Guard Captain and the meeting continued as they went into details on how to deal with the new human.

Cade unconsciously ran north, his only real sense of direction was Canterlot Castle in the distance which stood on a mountain visible from any point in the land if you were high enough. So naturally the instinct was to run away from that direction. During the short time he traveled with Trixie she took him into the area of White Tail Woods, as she traveled to Los Pegasus for her next Event.

Cade ran north for days through a woodlands region with small mountains that appeared sporadically in the region, As he continued he ran into one little problem. The food and water that Trixie gave him was running out and it was getting to the point where he was going to have to fend off the land again to get his nutrition.

He jogged north while looking at his bag, one last piece of bread that Trixie gave him several days ago. Cade sighed as he grabbed his last piece of guaranteed food and began to eat. Carbs from the bread wasn’t very filling or long lasting. Cade knew he had to get another source of food soon or he would be in trouble.

“Yo Itachi, Got any Idea’s of what we should eat” Cade asked his mind hoping for a response. To Cades surprise Itachi actually responded “If you actually listen to the area surrounding you, you would be able to hear a vast amount of wildlife that could be used as a nutritional source.” Cade stopped his movement and listened to what was going on around him. Yeah he could hear bunnies, deer, bears, and other wildlife creatures around him. “Well besides the wildlife, Fluttershy would get upset if I killed them.” Itachi stayed completely quiet for a moment. This being that he is forced to be attached to, refused to kill the animals around him… because it would upset a pony… A pony that could be hunting him considering how the princesses of the land are probably now searching for him. The logic was beyond him.

        “Cade you can't be serious. You need food or you will die. Surely you can't avoid the wildlife just because one pony would get upset at you if you harmed them” Cade sat and thought about it for a second. It was truly stupid to not eat the surrounding creatures because it would upset Fluttershy. Though when he focused several hundred feet away and spotted a few bunnies playing and enjoying themselves, noticing that they are far more intelligent than the ones on earth, he knew he was making the right decision.

        “Sorry Itachi I can't bring myself to kill them. I’ve never been a hunter. I don't kill for sport or in this case for food. Lets try and find another source of food, with your skill I'm sure you can make it happen.” Itachi was then quiet for a moment. Even in this desperate situation this human he was attached to stuck to his ways. Not willing to adapt and kill for the sake of self survival. Cade couldn't see inside his consciousness but in there stood Itachi Uchiha, Smiling at his host. Somewhat amused by his determination not to fall from his beliefs.

        “Very well then, create a clone and il go look for a source of food that doesn't require killing the wildlife around here.” Cade smiled and quickly made the hand sign for a shadow clone and let the magic inside him take care of the rest. In an instant another Cade clone appeared before him and his expression switched to the one of Itachi’s. “I'll be right back, i'll go search around for something to eat” the Itachi clone said simply as he quickly disappeared into the forest. Cade figured he might as well stay put and relaxed under a tree waiting for a meal that would probably be coming. He looked up at the sky and saw several Sun guard Pegasus scouts looking at the ground below. Cade couldn't help but smile as several waves few above him. unbeknownst to them that the most wanted enemy of Equestria was directly below them.

 Rainbow Dash sat impatiently at Ponyville waiting for her escort guard to arrive. She volunteered to help search for the human Cade and since she is close to the level of a wonderbolt in flying skills it was hard to turn her down.

        “Are they here yet?” Rainbow whined to Twilight. Twilight shifted nervously, Obviously scared for her friend to go look for the human. “I dont think so Rainbow, They are coming from Canterlot and left this morning. They should be arriving soon.”

        “Well they better hurry up or i'm going to leave without them.” Dash said coolly as she hovered above the ground, doing spins in the air to keep her busy as she waited for her escorts. Twilight shook her head and felt this was a terrible idea. If Celestia hadn't called her to a meeting in Canterlot she would have gone with her friend. “Rainbow are you sure about this? He might be very dangerous. You could get hurt!” Twilight pleaded to her friend, which to Dash ignored as always.

        “Nah i’ll be fine. I can take him if it comes to it. Don't worry so much Twilight. I’ve always come through havent I?” Twilight was going to keep protesting but a small group of Sunguard pegasi landed and bowed to Princess Twilight. One of the guards stepped forward and announced the group to the Princess “23rd Pegasus Aerial Recon Team. Reporting for Duty” Twilight nodded and motioned the guards to relax. “At ease, This pony here is Rainbow Dash. I requested you all to escort her as she searches for the human, Cade Adams.”

        The Ponies nodded, having already been briefed on protecting the Element of Loyalty. Rainbow finally seeing the escort that Twilight provided her had finally arrived was Itching to go. She flew in front of the Colts and caught their attention “Alright lets not waste anymore time! The humans not going to catch himself ya know!” and with that she quickly flew off in a random direction before her guards even got off the ground.

        Twilight lowered her head and sighed as the guard scrambled and slowly took to the air and flew towards the direction of the  light blue Pegasus. “I knew this was a bad idea.” Twilight looked up and saw the group of guards disappear into the horizon. “Please be ok Rainbow…”

        A few hours Later Itachi finally returned with some various sorts of fruit and veggies… He probably stole them from small pony food carts that traveled the roads that were scattered throughout the forest, but how can Cade judge? It filled his belly.

        Itachi Also brought back a newspaper which had a Discouraging Cover Story and told Cade to read it since it was important, then disbursed himself as his knowledge of his trip confirmed that he did indeed steal from pony food carts without them knowing.

The newspaper headline read as such “New Human Threat in Equestria” Cade sat on a rock and read the article curious to see what they had to say about him. To sum it up, Cade was played out to be as much of a villain as much as Chrysalis was. Apparently the equestrian media were not fans of mankind. most of the things in the article were false, that he antagonized the princesses into attacking him and he used cheap tricks to escape them to make fools of the princesses. That he made Fluttershy cry. Cade couldn't help but chuckle at their pathetic attempt to get under his skin, but quickly he realized the damage that the article does to his reputation. He will be seen as guilty by the population of Equestria. Maybe the main six and Trixie might believe him. since they have had the chance to talk to him. For Everyone else though, Hes screwed.

        Cade rubbed his head in frustration knowing there is little hope for him in this world. he continued to scan down the page and saw something curious on the bottom of the page, just a small article that stated that the next Daring Do book was delayed by two more months. Cade quickly remembered the season 4 episode of Daring Dont and smiled knowing how cute Rainbow Dash was in that episode.

        As if on que a rainbow streak came down from the sky and Rainbow Dash quickly flew into the human. Sending them both tumbling backwards and she attempted to wrestle him into submission. They cartoonishly rolled back several feet until she gained control and pinned Cade under her. Her hooves pinned his shoulders back, and her rump on his hips. She glared down at him and scowled. “You going to come quietly? or do we have to do this the hard way?”

        Cade finally got his bearings and looked up at the threatening rosy eyes of Rainbow Dash and tried his best not to smile. “Oh hey Dash, I was just thinking about you.” Cade said trying to play off the situation. He looked down and saw how they were situated and and couldnt help but giggle. “Oh I like where this is going.”

        Dash looked at him curiously and looked down to see that his front part of his body was exposed and she was sitting on his lower end. “AAAHHHH” She screamed as she hopped off him shivering in disgust. “You pervert!” she shouted as she landed a few feet away and got into an aggressive stance.

        Cade slowly got up and dusted himself off with a shit grin on his face. “What? your the one who tackled  me into such an embarrassing position. I didn't even knew what hit me.”

        Dash glared at him, not believing a word he says. “Shut up, you are coming with me back to Canterlot so the princesses can help you. Otherwise I will forced to be a little rough on you.” she finish that last sentence trying to sound as threatening as possible.

        Cade looked at her curiously “Help me?” he asked honestly confused considering their goal was to kill him. Quickly in his mind Itachi spoke up “Cade Don't. She won't believe the truth even if you tell her.” Cade bit his lip and stared at his favorite light blue Pegasus. He wanted to tell her the whole truth, but Itachi was correct, there was no way that she was going to believe him over Celestia. Cade sighed and instead decided to word it like a question. “What if the only way to help me… Is to kill me… Dash, would you still take me in knowing I would die?”

        Rainbow Dash recoiled his response. “What? No! I doubt Celestia would do that to you! If you come back now you can still be saved from that crystal! You have to get it removed before it takes you over!”

        Cade smiled wryly and stared into her eyes knowing there is only one way to prove it to her its too late for that work. He took off his cloak and turned around and pointed at the large Gem wedged into his back. “Come here and look at it Dash… Do you think that this could be simply removed. That Crystal has fused into my body. Knowing how big it is, I know my Spine and other valuable organs are gone. This thing is keeping me alive.”

        Rainbow looked at his back, and hesitantly walked up to him. Cade sat down so it would be easier for her to look into it. As she got closer she noticed how the crystal flexed just like his skin, she curiously put a hoof on it and felt the crystal texture give just like any organic tissue. Dash thought about what he said and realized that it could be true. Maybe there is no way for it to get removed. She started to doubt that bringing him in would save the human. Maybe Celestia does want him dead… Maybe

        Cade slowly turned around and saw Rainbow Dash looking depressed and conflicted. He smiled slowly and put an arm on her shoulder “Hey its ok… How about a deal then?” he said trying to be as soothing as possible.

        She looked up at him with pity and waited to see what he said. Cade resisted the urge to bring her into a hug as he now had some control of the situation. He got up and grabbed the newspaper that Itachi brought him and brought it over to her and pointed at the bottom column. She curiously read it and sighed. “More bad news, Today is a bad day.” she said somewhat depressingly as she rubbed a hoof on her temple. Cade smiled and ruffled her mane.

        “Well heres what im thinking. I’ll prove to you that I can handle the Crystal. So if you follow me north of here we might run into… a little trouble that the writer of daring do is having.” Dash looked at him curiously “What is that supposed to mean” she asked.

        Cade smiled wide knowing that he will get to see her firsthand her adorable fangasming. “Well heres the deal. If you follow me and we fix the problem that the writer is having, you let me go. If nothing is wrong or I dont prove to you that I can handle this power… Then i'll go back to Celestia and face whatever is coming to me. Deal?”

        Dash looked at him curiously, wondering how he would know anything about this worlds current events, but at the same time it had to do with daring do, and she was REALLY curious about what he might be implying. She finally lowered her head and exhaled and nodded in agreement “Fine… Its a deal… But if you're lying to me. Im going to make you regret it!”

        Cade grinned and nodded. “Its a deal… Now which way is north?”