On the Hunt

The wind feels great against my face. Its fingers gently caress me as they drift by, almost taking my mind off of the little imp that's sitting on my back and pulling on my mane. I'm not mad at her, though. After finding out what she went through, I realized that I've been a bit...cold to her. So if her pulling on my mane makes us even, then it's a pain I can tolerate.

What I can't tolerate is, not knowing how the battle against the clawed creature is going. I open my eyes again and glance at the sunset, knowing that somewhere out there Celestia and Wildfire are battling with the creature right now. I'm worried about Wildfire. She's with Celestia, so she should be fine, but still...

"Hey, don't look so worried. The princess who can move the freaking sun is with them," Lyra says from my side while she levitates a mug of hot chocolate to me and the imp.

"How'd you know what I was thinking?" I ask her as I take the mug. The girl jumps off of my back and grabs the mug from Lyra, who sits down beside the girl and pulls her into a close hug. "She's such a little sweetheart. If I had known this is what having a foal was like, I would have adopted one a long time ago."

"But then you would have missed out on your very own human," I remind Lyra with a smile. I sip at the chocolate while my thoughts drift back to the battle. Lyra bumps my shoulder to snap me out of my thoughts once more, and when I glance at her she give me a look.

"Stop being so worried about them. They'll be fine. Besides, you're retired, right? What good would you be to them in that battle?" Lyra's words are true, but that still doesn't mean that I don't feel worried. Lyra then reaches into her bag and pulls out a picture, which I notice is similar to the image that the imp had drawn the other day.

"What's that?"

"I wanted to figure out more about our little human, and I figured that communicating through pictures was the best way," she says while showing the picture to the girl. The picture has a little girl, almost identical to the way the imp had drawn her picture, but with two taller humans, one male and one female, on either side of the girl. "So let's start with family. Are your parents worried about you?"

The girl gives Lyra a blank look in reply. Lyra sighs before she pokes at the adults with her hoof. The girl seems to get what Lyra is asking, but to our surprise the girls shakes her head. Lyra then points at each parent individually, but each time she does the girl shakes her head.

"So, she's an orphan," Lyra mutters as she tucks away the drawing. She pulls the imp a little closer before she starts to stare at the sunset. "Hey Bon..."

"I know what you're about to ask me."

"Come on, Bon-Bon. She's an orphan, she's stuck in our world and she's already taken a liking to the both of us," Lyra argues with some heat. "Why can't we take her in? What's so wrong with us raising a human child?"

"For starters, we don't know that much about her. You still call her a girl or human, you know that?"

"Well what about you? You still call her an imp!"

"Because that's what she is."

Lyra starts to pout and she looks away from me, getting the imp to look back and forth between us with some confusion. I sigh as I realize that we shouldn't fight in front of the imp, because we're probably the only source of comfort she has in this world.

"Look, right now I'm more worried about my friend that went off to fight that claw creature. And also...we need to figure out a name for her," I mutter, but the second I do so Lyra perks up immediately.

"What do you think would be a good name for her?! I'm thinking Golden Heart! Or how about Sweet Thing? Adorabelle?" Lyra goes on and on with the names, but I stop paying attention to her and start focusing on the girl. While I still don't think she can understand us, from the expression on her face she's started to catch onto what Lyra is doing. Some of the names make her smile. Others make her stick out her tongue. I guess when Lyra says one she likes we'll just go with that.

"Lyra, you're going over pony names. Shouldn't you be saying a few human names to see if she recognizes hers?" I suggest. Lyra then gives me a sheepish grin as she begins to rub the back of her head.

"W-well I would...if I actually knew any human names," she stammers out. "See, I only know about humans through myths and legends. And the humans Twilight met were all kind of...human counterparts to us, with the same names and everything. So no, I don't know any human names."

"Well, it was worth a shot. But until we think of a name I'm still going to call her 'imp'." To both my and Lyra's surprise, the girl starts to nod her head and make a commotion. Lyra and I share a look before glancing down at the girl again. "Wait a moment? Imp? You like being called Imp?"

"Imp!" the girl replies.

For a long second neither Lyra or I move. Then I throw my head back as I start to laugh, laughing harder than I could ever remember. Through the tears that I start to cry, I can see Lyra giving me a sinister look from the side.

"Good going, Bon. You've been calling her an imp for so long that not only does she think it's her new name, but it's also the only word that she can say," Lyra says in a seething tone. I couldn't care less at that moment. For all my worries were gone and I had the dumbest grin on my face that I'm certain I've ever worn. I pulled Imp into a tight hug and continued to laugh. Imp began to giggle as well and after a few moments she was laughing with me. Lyra didn't join in with the laughing, but I could see a smile crease her face.

"Thanks, Imp," I say to her with a smile. "I needed a laugh to take my mind off of things."

||X||

My blood boils as I duck under the spell of fire that near burns my face off. And I don't mean my blood boils because I'm furious. I am furious, but that's not why my blood's boiling. It's boiling because that damned white horse keeps trying to burn me alive with every spell in the book.

During our fight, I've noticed that she too smells like Alicia. And her scent is far stronger on the royal's body than it was the others. I think I might be able to find the girl now even if I can't trace the royals. But I save that thought for the future and return my focus to the battle.

I bellow with fury as I slash at her next spell with my claws, cleaving through it and giving me a clear opening right at her. I race forward at full speed, making myself look like a blur as much as I can as I close the distance. Her eyes go wide when I seem to appear right in front of her. I give her my most sinister smile before I drive my claws towards her face. The royals horn flashes and next thing I know I'm flat on my back with a blazing sensation burning through my chest.

"Yer gonna look a lot less pretty once I'm done with ya," I promise her as I pick myself off of the ground, gritting my teeth as my healing factor stiches the wound back together. I see that the royal's eyes narrow in surprise while she watches my healing factor in action, causing me to smile slightly. She doesn't know as much about me as she thought she did. Means I've got an advantage.

She then barks something at the ponies that had been attacking me and they all walk behind her. I assume that she told them to stand back so she could take care of me. I admit, my biggest concern in this fight was that I would have to worry about the shrimps while taking on the big girl, but she made this a one-on-one. Giving me another advantage. I should thank her for being so kind...once I'm done ripping her to shreds.

In a flash of movement I'm on the offensive again, closing the gap between us as quickly as I can. Before I have the chance to get close, the royal flaps her wings and takes to the skies. I snarl up at her as she starts to circle overhead, smirking down at me. I smirk back before I race forward and lunge at one of the other ponies, catching him completely off guard. I hear the royal cry out right as my claws tear through the unicorn's chest, sending him sprawling to the ground in a spray of blood.

I know what's coming next, so when the hailstorm of fire rains down where I was standing, I'm already out of the way. I roll across the ground before kicking back up to my feet, smirking at the royal as she floats down next to the wounded pony. Her horn begins to glow once more and I spy that the pony's wounds start to close. He's perfectly healed a moment later, but when the royal turns to glare at me I see that there's now hints of exhaustion along with the rage. Looks like she tired herself out with that one.

"Did ya really think that I'd play by yer rules?" I ask her as I clash my claws together, causing sparks and cleaning the blood off of my claws. "You've made it clear that this is a fight fer survival. And I'll do what I have to so I can survive. And unless yer ready to fight a beast like that, I'd recommend you walk away." I point to where the exit of the forest is as I say this, sneering at the royal at the same time. I see the rage reach a boiling point in her eyes, but then it cools. I don't like that.

Her horn glows once more and I brace myself for whatever light show she's going to hit me with next. But then I feel something grab my arms and I start to float a moment later. I glance at my arms to see what looks like a thin layer of magic is covering them, lifting me into the air. I struggle as best I can, but she's got me by the skin. And she ain't letting go.

The royal walks over to me and begins to speak, no doubt telling me what a monster I am and how I need to be stopped. I've heard it all before. I spit into her eye mid-sentence, causing her to back away for a moment. I smirk at her as she glares at my face before her horn glows again, this time levitating numerous vials filled with something towards me.

I take in a quick sniff and my nose goes slightly numb. Anesthetics. And they're potent. One or two of those my healing factor could handle no problem. But all of those...that might even put me under. And then I'm in a heap of a lot of trouble. That means that I've got to get out of here...and this is going to hurt like hell.

I take a moment to collect myself and realize what I'm about to do, before I begin to strain against her magic with all of my might. The royal stops advancing to watch me struggle, the smile on her face telling me that she's amused with my efforts. Good, you dumb kids' show reject. Keep that smug look on your face. Give me the extra strength to do this.

My goal isn't to break the magic. I'm fairly certain that even with my strength, I ain't breaking free. So instead I'm tearing...and I'm in for a world of pain. My arms begin to scream in agony as I pull them in with all of my power. I look out of the corner of my eyes to see that the skin near my shoulders is beginning to tear. Seems my guess was right and the magic holding me was only skin deep.

I brace myself and with every last ounce of fortitude I have, I pull with all of my might, tearing the skin in my arms clean off of my body. I bellow with agony as I fall to the ground, a bloody mess as blood seeps from the wound and pain rips apart my nerves. Even though I'm in some of the worst pain of my life, I can still hear the ponies all cry out in shock at what I just did. And as the healing factor starts to kick in, I remember my mission. I remember the girl. Along with all the other kids that had been killed by others. Just because they were different. And my rage gives me strength.

"GGGRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I scream with all my fury and rage as I lunge to my feet, swinging my skinned arms towards the royal with all the force I can muster. Somehow, despite watching a man just tear his own skin off, she retains enough sense to create a shield around herself. But her shield met my claws and adamantium won out. Shock spreads across her face as I cleave through her shield and one of my claws imbeds itself in her shoulder.

She roars in pain before blasting me in the chest with her magic, sending me crashing back. With all of the strength I have left I push myself back up, fighting to stay standing. And then I realize that I'm not just fighting the ponies now. The berserker wants to come out. With the amount of pain I'm in, it takes nearly all of my mental efforts to push him back, to keep him under lock and key. But the ponies don't know that. They see that I'm weak. That I'm not moving. If I were them, I'd attack.

A blast of magic catches me in the side and sends me crashing into the ground, sending my already peaked fury through the roof. I seethe in both pain and rage as I see out of the corner of my eye the royal approach me.

"Stay...back..." I warn her through gritted teeth, barely able to keep my rage at bay. My vision is practically crimson and I want to tear each of these ponies to shreds. "I can't...much...long-" Another blast of magic catches me in the side of the head and I feel my mind go blank.

Stay in control.

Another blast strikes me in the stomach and I roar with pain, my vision completely red at this point.

Stay in control!

The pony then raises a hoof over my face and breaks my nose when she stomps down.

Stay in...

A scream escapes my lips, but it's not my scream. My body then lunges back up to its feet and spins around to face the ponies, blood dripping from my mouth while my eyes stare them down with only one desire in them. To kill them all. Another blood curdling scream escapes my lips before I lunge forward, eyes as crimson as fresh blood.

No! I'm in control! I will not give into the berserker! I'm...