The Hunted

 “So, you’re sure about doing this? Interacting with ponies will get you caught.” Itachi asked his host, leaving his concern out of his voice. Cade thought quietly as he climbed a mountain wall as Rainbow Dash flew above him, with a look of annoyance apparent on her face.

        “Yeah I’m sure, I want to try to return this world to the timeline without the humans. So Rainbow Dash needs to help daring do, and I'll fill the role of her friends.”

        “Hmm… very well then. I have no choice but to follow you, but just know interacting with them will just get you killed.”

 They had slowly been moving towards the Frozen North, avoiding every sign of civilization they saw. Cade was somewhat exhausted from the ordeal of constantly moving; his body may have been stronger, but trying to keep the ponies off his tail was harder than it looked. Rainbow Dash however was getting tired of him dragging his feet.

“Can’t you move any faster? We’ll never get to… Wherever we’re going, if you keep moving at a snails pace like that.” Dash said in an annoyed tone as she flew circles around the human.

        Cade looked back at the cyan Pegasus somewhat losing his patience for her constant complaining. “I'm sorry, I just climbed over a mountain range, and unfortunately I can’t just fly over them like you can.” Cade said trying to sound far more calm than he was feeling. He watched the Pegasus shoot quickly into the sky for a few seconds and then quickly fly back to ground level next to Cade.

        “It looks like we’re pretty close to Unicorn Range… is that where we are going?” Dash asked hopefully, only to be disappointed when Cade shook his head. “Sorry we are going north of that…” Cade said letting his voice trail off as he came to an open space with a small river just a few feet in front of him. Cade walked to the river and took a drink from it, thinking of all the wildlife that probably pissed in it upstream.

        Rainbow, growing tired of all his secrets, landed in front of him with her wings flared in annoyance. “Cade… how far are we talking about?” She said trying to sound far less annoyed than she was feeling. Cade sat down in return and leaned back, thinking of where exactly the cabin would be. “Uhh… I think its in a wooded area North of here…” That caused Dash to momentarily freak out. “WHAT! That would take you days to get to!”

        Cade smiled wryly trying to figure out how he could speed up his pace so that they could make it in time to help Daring Do, but Dash however preempted his thoughts with one of her own. “... How about I give you a ride on my back and we’ll fly there together?” She said somewhat uneasily, as she considered the fact that she would be carrying the most hated species in Equestria.

        Cade’s mouth morphed into a huge shit-eating grin, hearing one of his favorite ponies offering to give him a ride. He of course tried to play it off like it was no big deal, despite his obvious grin. “Are you sure Dash? Wouldn't you get in trouble for helping me like that?” She sat down, almost as if she was going to think about it for a bit, but the chance to meet Daring Do override any negative thoughts on the matter.

 “Yeah I’m sure, now shut up and hop on my back so we can get going.” She spoke out loudly, turning her body to the human to allow him access to her back. Cade tried his best to not squeal like a fangirl as he mounted one of his waifu’s, in a non-sexual way of course. “Ready?” Dash said spreading her wings preparing for liftoff.

 “Hell YEAH!” Cade said excitedly as she took to the skies.

        A group of sun guards Pegasi scanned the ground for the element of loyalty. Unfortunately for them, they were far too slow to keep up with the Pegasus and lost track of her at the start of their journey. One of the younger guards looked at their captain with a worried expression. “Should we report back to Celestia and tell her we lost the Element of Loyalty…” The Captain turned back to his subordinate and nodded. “That would be probably for the best, check in at Ponyville and make sure shes not there first. Then ask Princess Twilight what to do after that.” the captain said in a commanding tone. The soldier saluted and banked right to fall out of formation and headed back to Ponyville.

        Rainbow Dash and Cade flew over the area that Cade thought Daring Do lived, both of them scanned the ground for a small wooden cabin out in the middle of nowhere. “You sure its here?” She yelled back at Cade as they flew through the air. Cade had activated the Sharringan to increase his attention to detail, looking for tracks that could lead them to their destination. “I’m pretty sure… Lets turn back towards the direction of the city, if someone lived out here they would need a way to get supplies.”

        Dash banked slowly so as to not throw off her human passenger as she changed direction. As she scanned the forest floor she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Looking closer she saw four ponies run from a small house, shortly followed by a brownish yellow mare who happened to be limping.

 “SHES THERE!” Dash yelled excitedly as she quickly turned and dove towards the mare. Cade hugged Rainbows neck as he held on for dear life; Rainbow Dash was too excited to see the mare she had idolized for so long to care about Cade. She flew low to the ground and pretty much stopped on a dime in front of the mare sending Cade flying into a nearby tree. “A...K… Yearling?” Dash asked pushing her cheeks together causing her to squee.

        Daring Do ignored her and instead focused on the injured human rolling on the floor. “A Human is here too?” She quickly took to the air and stuck her leg out, aiming to kick the man. Cade looked up in time to see the incoming pony and quickly rolled out of the path of his attacker. “Woh there Daring Do, I’m not an enemy!”

        Hearing her name only made her more suspicious of him. “How do you know my name?” The Pegasus asked as she took a combative stance towards the human. Cade however wasn't able to think of an answer fast enough, as Daring Do leapt at him again; this time Cade was ready for her, he grabbed her injured front hoof and spun her around mid-air forcing her body to land hard on her back. Rainbow Dash, seeing her hero get flipped, prepared to get involved before Cade’s hand started to glow green as he held it to Daring Do’s injured foreleg, “What are you doing?” Daring Do said as she struggled against the human. Cade pinned her other front foreleg under his knee as he finally locked her under his body. “I’m trying to heal you if you would stop struggling!” He said finally getting a good grip on the injured leg. The adventure pony seeing she was completely at his mercy finally stopped and lamented. “Daring Do doesn't need help.” She said weakly under the human.

        Rainbow Dash quickly flew in front of the two entangled beings, “Wait, your DARING DO!” Dash exclaimed, completely beside herself. The adventure pony just sighed as she knew she was in for a long day.

        Celestia and Luna sat in the throne room and went about the usual routine. Dealing with whiny nobles and mayors. Just as the last meeting was adjourned a soldier sprinted into the room and approached Celestia. “Your highness, I have dire news.” Celestia looked down at the soldier with a patient look and nodded. “Proceed”.

The soldier cringed from the words that were about to come from his mouth. “Princess Celestia… It seems that the Pegasi squad that was guarding the element of loyalty… has lost track of her…”

Celestia nodded and lowered her head slightly as she heard Luna giggle quietly beside her. “Sister, I told you they couldn't keep up with her.” Luna said with a grin. Celestia turned to her younger sister and nodded. “It appears you were right… but were the hunters able to keep up with her?”

Luna looked up at a dark corner in the ceiling where a shadowy figure rested. “I haven't received a report yet… either way… we will just have to wait and see.”

        Two fucking hours, Rainbow nerdgasmed nonstop about the adventures of Daring Do. As they walked, Cade kept his distance behind the two mares to drown out Dash’s voice hoping for some relief. “She never stops talking does she?” Itachi asked, his patience with the whole situation running thin.

“Apparently she doesn't… I mean it was kind of cute at first, but this is ridiculous.” Cade thought as he rubbed his temple. “I have to admit, that other pony seems to have completely tuned her out… that's pretty impressive.”

        Cade looked over at Daring Do who had a blank expression on her face. Her ears twitched slightly whenever Rainbow made a loud high pitch sound, its obvious her and Cade were done with Rainbow Dashes behavior so Cade decided to speak up.

        “Ohdoyourememberthatonetimeinthetemplewhenyou-”

“DASH!” Cade yelled interrupting her constant geek out, causing both of the ponies to turn towards him. “Can you shut-up for 5 minutes? I'm sure someone who both wrote the books and experienced it first hand. Remembers her own damn adventures.”

        Rainbow recoiled a bit and landed with her head down. “Oh… was I being annoying?” Cade walked up to dash and looked down at her pouting form. “Yeah. Seriously Dash, its cool to be excited and all but she's a pony too, flesh and blood same as you. Wouldn't you rather stand beside her as an Element of Harmony with your head up high, than be ‘that fan’ who doesn't know when to stop talking?”

        Rainbow bit her lower lip and turned away from Cade. “I’m sorry… Shes my hero… I guess I got lost in the moment…” Cade stuck his hand out and flicked her forehead causing her to whine a little. “You know, back home I had the opportunity to work with a few celebrities. They respect you more if you treat them normally, rather than putting them up on a pedestal.”

        Dash lowered her head and nodded. “Alright, I get it. I’ll stop talking now.” Cade turned away, feeling more than a little guilty about raising his voice at Rainbow. As he turned he noticed a small smile on the adventurer pony they were following, as she quickly turned back to tracking those who stole the golden ring.

        Half an hour later the sun began to set, just as Daring Do had finally tracked down the four stallions who ran off. She held up a hoof to her mouth signaling for both of her followers to be quiet. Daring Do pulled open a bush revealing them eating a hay dinner at a campsite. “Looks like they decided to have an early dinner before making their way back down the hill to the market place in town.” Dash said as she turned to see what Daring Do was planning. The brownish colored pegasus’ eyebrows furrowed and she turned to a nearby mud hole, in which she stuck her hooves and then began applying some to her face.

        Rainbow Dash watched curiously until her eyes opened wide in realization. “Oh, I see. You're gonna ambush them like in book four at the Haravian Caves! Or maybe, that neat trick you did in book three, where you swoop in and knock three guys down with one swing! Or maybe-”

“HEY ASSHOLES!” Both of the ponies heads quickly turned as they watched Cade walk from their hiding place over to the stallions. “You like picking on mares four-v-one?”

        The stallions heads whipped around and their faces paled when the human came into their view. They all quickly got up and began running in separate directions, running for their lives. Cade eyes glowed red as he disappeared from view. He appeared in front of a white stallion with shades and smashed his fist into the unsuspecting stallions face, knocking the him out in one blow. Cades body disappeared in a black flash and appeared in front of the light brown stallion with a hat that tried to stop, before running into the human. Cade hopped into the air and spun landing a round house kick to the stallions head before teleporting again in front of a blackish stallion with orangish hair. While still in the air he turned his body and landed a hail mary punch to the stallions jaw and within five seconds, three of the stallions thugs were all knocked unconsciousness. Cade teleported in front of Dr. Caballeron and smiled as the pony stopped with the golden ring in his mouth.

        Cade walked slowly up to the stallion with a shit eating grin. “So… Still think this was a good idea?” The good doctor quickly shook his head in fear slowly backing up from the human. “I see… you should've thought about the consequences…” Caballeron quickly turned and dropped the ring as he ran as fast as he could. Too bad for him Cade can teleport. In a black flash Cade appeared next to him and kicked his stomach, causing all the air to leave his lunges. Then as Caballeron tried to catch his breath, Cade bitch slapped the stallion with enough force to knock him out.

        Cade walked back to where the gold ring laid and picked it up, examining it to see if it had any damages or cool markings like the “One Ring” did in the Lord of the Rings. To his disappointment though, it just seemed like an ordinary gold ring. Cade looked up to see two very stunned mares. Before he could come up with some badass line, he heard rustling in the trees behind him. Cade knew who it was and slowly turned to face him

        Cade could see through the trees a monkey like creature with a hand on its tail smash through a few trees before appearing before him and his comrades. “Caballeron!” He roared before noticing that  a human stood before him, with the ring in his hand. “Give me the ring human!”

        Thats when Cade thought of the stupidest plan of all time… he chuckled under his breath and tossed the ring to him. “Yeah sure, here ya go.” Cade said in a nonchalantly voice. Needless to say Ahuizotl was stunned. Daring Do however was not. She quickly leapt into the air and kicked at Cade trying to catch him off guard. Cade however knew the attack would come and side stepped to the left and pinned Daring Do on the ground by her neck with his right hand. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened at his betrayal and she charged him with a look of pure hatred on her face. “CCCAADDDEEE!!!” she screamed as he teleported to the side along with Daring Do, and pinned her down the same way, only this time with his left hand.

        Both ponies struggled under Cades grip as he focused on keeping them pinned without actually hurting them. Cade looked up with his Sharringan activated at Ahuizotl. The villain looked down at his nemesis and smiled widely. “Well… This is truly unexpected,” he said in an amused tone. “I’m assuming you will want some sort of payment for giving me both the ring as well as Daring Do?” He asked cautiously. Cade nodded and kept a stern face, ignoring the insults and the whining of the captured mares.

        “In the matter of fact yes, but it will be a lot cheaper than the deal you had originally planned.” Cade said in a matter of fact tone. Ahuizotl stroked his chin for a minute, then he asked. “So what do you want in return for both of these … Gifts…”. Cade smiled evilly and had the Sharringan spin for dramatic effect. “I only want Camping gear, which includes tents, a winter cloak, and cooking utensils. As well as some food and water.”

Ahuizotl looked at him in shock. “That can’t be all? This is such a one sided deal! The ring and Daring Do are worth much more than that.” Cade kept his grin and nodded. “I have to live on the move, no reason to carry anything more than I need to.” Ahuizotl nodded in understanding. “Very well… I don’t have such items on me, but I do at my fortress, do you mind following me?” Cade shook his head. “Not at all. You wouldn't happen to have a way to tie these two up do you? I doubt they are going to come willingly.”

Ahuizotl snapped his fingers and a bunch of different types of cats popped out from behind him. They quickly ran over to Cade and tied up the two ponies. Cade couldn't help but be a little stunned, how the hell did cats tie a knot?

The world may never know...

“So why are you bringing that other pony? She is no use to me.” Ahuizotl said in a matter of fact tone as his kitty minions took away Daring Do. Cade looked up and smiled, before spanking Rainbow Dashes flank, causing her to whimper. “Well… Shes my type of mare...” He said in as creepy tone as he could think of. Ahuizotl recoiled a little at the humans response. “Very twisted my friend… but very well… Come! We head to my fortress!”

Cade picked up Rainbow Dash in both arms as she looked at him with both a look of disgust and fear. “Please don't do this Cade…” She said in a quiet pleading tone which made Cades heart sink. Cade activated a genjutsu on Rainbow Dash. In the vision his eyes returned to his normal color, and he smiled apologetically towards her. he raised a finger finger over his lips signaling her to be quiet and whispered to her. “I got a plan. Follow my lead”. She looked at him curiously and nodded as the vision ended. Revealing his red eyes and his cocky grin.

Cade followed Ahuizotl with a very quiet Rainbow Dash in tow, wondering if this human was actually going to hurt her, or not.

A few hours later they finally arrived at the Fortress of Talicon. Ahuizotl excused himself as he went to put daring do in the overly elaborate execution chamber. A random stallion guard showed Cade to a bedroom which contained the supplies he asked for and a bed. Ahuizotl obviously knows how to be a good host.

Cade walked up to the bed and gently tossed Rainbow Dash on it. She looked up at him with the saddest eyes Cade has ever seen. “So Cade… You’re going to let me go right?” She asked pleadingly as her body trembled in fear. “Aww she just looks so cute and pitiful!” Cade joked in his mind as he crawled on the bed slowly, enjoying teasing the Pegasus.

She shifted nervously backwards trying to put a little distance between Cade and herself. “Comon Cade. This isn't funny!” She said in angry but worried tone. “Oh I know.” Cade said as he finally got close to reach behind her. “But I finally got you back for tackling me, and throwing me off you when we were flying.”

Dash felt the ropes around her loosen and fell to the side of her as Cade looked at her with a smug look. She quickly hopped up and hit Cade in the face with a hoof. “JERK! That's what you get for spanking my flank!”

Cade hopped off the bed where Rainbow stood, her wings flared in irritation. “Ow… I guess I deserved that one.” Cade said dryly as he rubbed his cheek. He looked back in time to see the fur hoof coming at his face again in time to counter. “This is for teasing mmEEEEE!” Dash squealed as Cade grabbed her foreleg and flipped her back onto the bed.

Dash looked up and saw a hand head towards her belly, she tried to move but a hand was pinning her by her chest. She looked at his face and saw an evil grin “Time for a little pay back.” That's when Cade began his ultimate tickle attack on Rainbows Belly.

        A few minutes later, Dash laid exhausted on the bed with tears in her eyes from laughing so much. “So are you going to behave from now on?” Cade asked in an amused tone. “Yeah… Yeah I’ll be good… just no more tickling…” She panted as she slowly got up. “Ok good… now go save Daring Do. shes probably somewhere below in some overly complicated death trap.”

        Rainbow nodded and started to trot over to the door. Just as she was about to open it she weakly turned back to him. “What are you going to do?” She asked cautiously. Cade smiled and grabbed his new camping gear. “You’ll see”

        Ahuizotl stood in the main chamber where a golden square rod stood in an elevated platform. Two stallions prepared the last ring as Ahuizotl wiggled his fingers under the sun for some reason, Cade entered the room and all eyes quickly turned to him. “Ah, just in time my friend. Come to see the start of 800 years of UNRELENTING HEAT!?!”

        Cade looked up at him trying to best to conceal his amusement “... You're talking about mares in heat right?” That drew blank looks from everyone in the room. Ahuizotl didn't even know how to respond to that as he looked at the human dumbstruck. Cade however took the opportunity to catch them all off guard. He used the body flicker to go across the room in a flash next to the two stallions carrying the ring. With two swift punches he knocked them both out sliding across the room. Ahuizotl was stunned in place as he looked down on the human in shock, but Cade wasn't going to give him time to react. Cade grabbed the falling ring before it fell into place and used it to smash Ahuizotls skull.

        Then Ahuizotl legs buckled as his vision filled with stars, he quickly recovered, realizing the human was a threat and started swinging his great fists at him. Cade though decided to save him for last and did a couple backflips back to the center of the room, the golden ring still in hand. Eight stallions stared at him, spears ready as the human landed for the final time, extending both hands out and taunting both sides to attack at once.

        They charged simultaneously as Cade began dodging speers like a mad man. At the same time Rainbow Dash and Daring Do walked into the room and their jaws quickly dropped as they watched the man do crazy flips and moves as he dodged spears like a champion. Daring do turned quickly to Rainbow Dash and spoke with urgency. “We need to go get those rings off, if we do then the fortress will collapse!” And with that the two ponies flew over to the elevated platform and began lifting the golden rings while watching the human dance around the eight stallions plus Ahuizotl himself.

        “Are you going to fight back?” Itachi asked while Cade ducked as a spear flew over his head. “Just a little bit longer...” Cade thought as he hopped over two spears that came from the left and right of him. “I still don’t understand the purpose of your “Plan”, you could have easily taken all of them down by now, and destroyed this place with your bare hands.” Cade arched his back backwards as he dodged a fist from ahuizotl by millimeters. “Oh I know, but that would have been too easy, this makes it a much better story.” Cade flipped backwards as four ponies charged him simultaneously forcing him to run on the wall and standing there as they watched dumbstruck as this human stood on a wall and seemed to defy gravity. “Better story?...” Itachi asked as Cade looked at the progress of the two mares and smiled as the started to lift the last ring. “Yeah, Daring Do story, Anyway time to counterattack.”

        The fortress started to rumble which caused Ahuizotl and his stallion crew to look around for the source, Ahuizotl quickly spotted the two ponies lifting the last of the golden rings and quickly commanded his troops. “STOP HER!!!” As the stallions turned to attack they were met by a speeding human quickly landing between all of them. All they had time to do was look at the human as he landed on his hands and quickly turned his body, his legs split to the side as he began a whirlwind kick, hitting every stallion in the vicinity. Ahuizotl lifted both of his hands and tried to smash both of his fists down on the human, Cade teleported in a black flash directly above Ahuizotl his legs still in the air as he came down head first on the primate creature, smashing his fist to Ahuizotls face in the process. Much to Ahuizotl’s credit, he didn't fall, instead he stumbled back a couple steps back before roaring in anger as Daring Do and Rainbow Dash just lifted the last ring above the pillar. “Cade run! This place is going down!” Dash yelled as they exited through the opening in the ceiling.

        Cade and Ahuizotl put distance between each other as they stared each other down. Cade checked his bag and made sure everything was still in order, once Cade was satisfied he turned back to Ahuizotl who had no words for the human traitor. Cade threw on a cocky grin as the roof started to come down on the both of them. “Well… its been fun. Later Owie-zotl.” Then in a black flash he disappeared from the fortress.

As the fortress crumbled two Pegasi flew over the wreckage. “Do you think he made it out?” Rainbow Dash asked with a worried tone. “I’m sure he did.” Daring Do said with confidence. Rainbow Dash looked at her with raised eyebrows. “How are you so sure?”

Daring smirked a little. “ I knew he had a plan this entire time. That's why he captured us in the first place.” Rainbow Dash recoiled a little. “Wait you knew about that?!?” Daring Do nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I was trying to figure out a way into the fortress myself, but I guess he beat me to the punch.” Rainbow looked back at the rubble and flew around it trying to find traces of her human friend.

Daring watched her fellow Pegasi fly around the collapsed fortress, a small smile on her lips. “Eh, hes probably already gone.” Rainbow hesitantly flew back to Daring Do. “If you say so… I hope hes ok.” Daring Do smiled and caught Rainbow Dashes attention. “Hey, I could never have done this without you, Rainbow Dash. Now then, I’ve got a book to finish!” Daring do said as she flew away.

        “Hey Anvie, Still got eyes on the human?”

        A batpony with a little browner coat then Fluttershy quickly snapped her head in annoyance. “Of course SIR, hes running along the trench of the fortress as we speak.”

        “Good, I’ll go report to princess Luna, Follow him and don't engage until given the order.”

        The mare batpony saluted as a stallion batpony with a black rifle and futuristic pink crystal rifle, as he disappeared in a black flash.