On the Hunt

Sunshine. A cool breeze. And the sounds of the birds filling the morning air. It couldn't be a better day if it tried. I hum a tune filled with mirth to myself as I trot down the streets that I call home, smiling and waving to the ponies that pass me by.

"Morning Bon Bon," an elder pony with a hat says to me as I pass by.

"Good morning," I cheerfully reply, bowing slightly as he tips his hat. My humming starts to mix with the rhythm of my hooves striking the ground, reminding me of a catchy tune that gets stuck in my head. Not getting that one out for a while. Oh well.

I glance around at the houses around me as I trot, knowing that it is too early in the morning for most to be up. But I'm an early riser. It was beaten into me along with the rest of my training. I guess that, while most of my training faded with time, being an early riser never went away. I giggle to myself, remembering that Lyra hates when I get up at the crack of dawn. She tends to throw things at me when I wake her up with me.

A quick glance up at the clocktower shows me that I'm moving at exactly the pace I had set for myself, meaning that I should be turning the corner of this house to find...ah, Sugarcube Corners. A smile crosses my face as I head towards the building, still unable to get over its design despite having lived in this town for nearly five years. Five years of peace...for the most part. Five years without-

I nearly jump out of my coat when I hear a faint roar off in the distance. My past experience kicks in and I immediately roll to the nearest cover, which turns out to be a barrel of rainwater resting next to an old house. My heart beats like festival drums as I glance over the edge of the barrel, my ears twitching for any sound while I try to locate where the roar had come from.

Yet the only sound I hear is the sound of hooves running, a sound that draws my eyes away from where I believed the roar to have come from, to the sight of six ponies that I know racing past me.

"What's going on?" I call over to them as they race by. Yet my words appear to have fallen on deaf ears, since all but Pinkie race on past me and towards the edge of the town.

"You didn't hear? There's a big, scary monster that is dancing around the edge of the town! We're going to go make friends with it!" Pinkie exclaimed with the same smile that she always wore, before racing to catch up to her friends. I slowly rise out from behind the barrel as my eyes follow her trail of dust, still having come no closer to figuring out how she moved so fast. For a brief moment I consider following her. To see the monster that they fought...

"No Bon Bon, you know better than that," I whisper to myself, closing my eyes and shaking my head to clear those dangerous thoughts. "It cost your team and nearly your life to get you out of that job in the first place. Don't allow yourself to get sucked back in. Fighting monsters isn't worth this happiness."

Forcing myself to smile again, I trot along towards the sweet shop. I know that those sweet drops that Lyra likes so much come in today, and I'm going to make sure that we don't miss them this time. Let Twilight and her friends handle the monster. That's what they do now. I'm a regular pony who doesn't fight monsters. Not anymore.

||X||

I hear the kid screaming in my ears, wailing both with her voice and on my back with her tiny fists. But as I sprint through the forest with all of my strength, her concerns and wails are the least of my worries. Because I can hear the screams of people running in terror behind us...and the metallic sound of the monsters that are destroying every thing in their path.

Sweat drips down my brow, but I'm lucky that the mask manages to mop up most of it before it can reach my eyes. Because any distraction could be fatal to the girl that I have on my shoulder, keeping a death grip on her so she can't break free of my grip. Her white coat makes her easy to hold onto, but the constant screaming and flailing is going to draw attention.

My heightened senses lead the way, with my nose and eyes making the normally black forest nearly as clear as day for me. But my nose also picks up the scent of buildings burning...as well as people. I'm glad that I can't see it. I want to go back, but to do so would be suicide for both the girl...and maybe for me as well. Because I know better than anyone what those things are capable of and why I need to run as quickly-

"Damn it!" I roar as a blast of energy tears by my head, just narrowly missing both me and the girl. I leap to the side as the tree it tore through comes down nearly on top of us, just clipping at my heels. While it's not enough to hurt me, for a brief moment I stumble to my knees. Another curse escapes my lips as I realize that I dropped the kid. I spring back to my feet and glance down to see her laying in the mud next to me. I kneel down and place my hand on her neck, a sigh escaping my lips as I find that she's still breathing. My hands wrap around her waist and I hoist her back onto my shoulder, though when I turn back to the forest I find that I'm no longer alone.

"So, you're the famous Wolverine. Got to admit, thought you'd be taller," a kid in a hoodie smirks at me. My eyes narrow behind the mask as I sniff the air twice, taking in his scent. I snarl the moment I realize where I've smelt the scent that's coming off of him before...and I feel my body crouch down on its own, simply in reaction.

"That scent...you're one of Magneto's mutants, aren't ya?" I ask with danger in every word, preparing for a fight that I don't need right now. The mutant laughs aloud as he removes his hands from his hoodie, showing me that his fingers have lightning practically flying from their tips. I feel myself tense slightly, already feeling the pain of their burn. I hate lightning. And I hate those who use it even more. "And you're here for the girl."

"Of course we are, Wolverine. I was just the fastest to get here," the kid laughs at me before pointing his hand at me, making his fingers look like a gun. "Bang." Instinct kicks in before thought or reflex, hurling me to the ground a moment before a streak of lightning sails past where I had been standing. My ears pick up on trees being felled from that attack, but I keep my eyes forward and on the mutant.

"You're not just going to turn around and leave, are ya?" I ask the kid, but the question is just a formality...Just an excuse I'll tell myself once I'm done doing what I do best. I accept what I'm about to do and begin to move the muscles in my arms, knowing that things are about to get bloody.

"Mutant detected."

Another point goes to instinct as I hurl myself out of the way once more, landing in time to see a blast of yellow energy tear through the kid. All that's left of him after the energy blast is done with him, is his shoes. No time to think about that. Because I know what that voice belongs to. I hurl myself up to my feet and switch the girl from my shoulder into my arms, tucking her in close as I sprint as fast as my legs can go. I grit my teeth as my muscles began to tear, the pain just starting before my body heals up the damage done to them...only for it to repeat again and again.

But the pain I can handle. I've made a career of it. A clearing greets my eyes and I race out into it...only for spotlights to shine down on me the moment I break free of the trees. A snarl escapes my lips as I glare up at the light, able to vaguely make out a massive, humanoid-like creature behind the light. I begin to consider my options before the sound of trees crashing to the ground spins me around, revealing to me another purple and blue robot that is advancing from the forest.

"Mutant detected," the one above me says as I hear an energy weapon power up. I spin around just in time to see a beam of energy hurtle down towards me. I leap back as fast I can, using my body to shield the kid as best as I can. I roar while agony sears through my leg, my muscles giving out for a moment as I collapse to my knees. I force myself to look through the pain at my leg, which is charred and burned from the attack.

"Ignore it, Logan. Get up!" I roar at myself, pushing the pain to the back of my mind as I rise back to my feet.

"Second mutant detected," I hear the second Sentinel say from behind me. "Terminating."

I hurl myself forward, roaring as I force my legs to move despite the pain that nearly blinds me. I race for the trees, relying more on my nose for navigation that my eyes. A blast of energy just barely misses the two of us as I race to the trees. At least luck still hadn't abandoned me.

I continue to sprint into the forest, glancing over my shoulder to see that the Sentinels have taken to the sky once more. Their spotlights rain down upon us, but I have just enough time to leap under a tree to avoid detection. But only for a moment; I know these bastards and it won't be long before they start scanning for mutant blood...and then we're both screwed.

"Mutant detected," I hear a Sentinel say. My reaction is to tense my arms, my claws ready to come out. But a quick glance down at the kid changes my mind. One Sentinel I might be able to handle. Two would be a stretch, even for me. But to fight two while trying to protect this kid? Even I have limits. So I grit my teeth as I prepare to run once more, looking out from under our cover so I'll know when to run.

But either luck continues to bless me or Lady Death doesn't want me yet, because the mutant that the Sentinels begin to attack isn't us, but instead one off in the distance. I don't wait to see how the fight will go. I know Sentinels. They'll win. And if they don't, they'll call in more. And then things get worse.

So I race out from under our cover and sprint through the trees, a sigh of relief escaping my lips as I notice that the pain is gone from my leg. I spare a moment to glance down at my leg to see that not only are the burns and disfigurement healed, but my yellow and blue suit has repaired itself as well.

"Well I'll be damned. Beast's self-repairing suit actually works. Have to thank him for that," I say, making a note to thank the guy. A groan reaches my ears and I come to a stop so I can look down to see that the kid is waking up.

"What's going on...where...?" she mutterers weakly as her eyes blink twice. Her eyes glance at the forest around me before she looks straight up at me. Her pupils shrink as her eyes meet mine and I see the fear well up within her. Before she can even tease the idea of screaming, I cover her mouth with my hand.

"Look, I know you're scared and rightfully so. But if you let out any sound, then the both of us are as good as dead. Understand?" I suck with kids. Always have. And that was made painfully clear for me when the girl chose to bite me instead of staying quiet. I curse at the pain but keep my hand over her mouth, lifting my eyes back to the forest...only to be stopped dead by what I saw before me.

It was a Sentinel. That much I knew. But it was a pure white, with golden trim covering most of its body. And while most Sentinels were at least twice the size of Hulk, this one was barely any bigger than me...

"GRAH!" I cry out as a small fist drives itself into a part of me that isn't coated in metal. Despite my incredible tolerance for pain, even I fall to my knees from a low blow. In the moment of pain, the girl manages to wiggle free of my grasp and lands on the forest floor beside me, scurrying away on all fours from me as fast as she can. "Kid...listen...you don't-"

"Stay away from me! Stay away!" she screams at me as her eyes switch from me to the Sentinel. I watch as the metal monster slowly begins to advance towards her, stretching its hands towards her with eyes glowing a golden color.

"New mutant detected. Capturing."

"No...stay away..." I hear the girl whisper from under the tree as she curls into a ball, holding her hands to her head. That's it. That's enough. I ignore the pain in my crotch as I push myself back up, with a look that I knew was upon my face. A look that was often followed by bodies.

Snikt! Snikt!

"Let's go, tin man! You and me!" I bellow as I lunge towards the Sentinel, metal claws extended towards the face of the metal monster. It turned its head to face me, its eyes seeming to scan me over right before I made impact. I tackled the Sentinel to the ground, drawing an arm back as I aimed straight for the center of the tin man's head.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Despite having the Sentinel pinned, the roar of the girl drew my attention away from the metal man and to her. Her eyes were filled with a white light and her body was floating off of the ground. But I found that what disturbed me the most, what sent chills up my spine, was the sphere of white light that was circling around her body.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!" she screamed as light erupted from her eyes, causing the sphere of energy to erupt from her body and consume the area around her...which unfortunately meant me as well.

"Ah, hell," I mutter right before the energy wave struck me...and everything went white.