On the Hunt

I'm back.

That's the first thing that comes to my mind as I feel my conscious return. A weak groan escapes my lips as I open my eyes slowly. The first sight that greets me is the reflection of my masked face staring back at me. Seems I passed out looking over a pond. I push myself up as I gaze down into the pool of water, seeing the reflection of a blue sky overhead. Guess I've been passed out for a long time.

I hold a hand to my head as I try to figure out how I got here. The last thing I remember was battling with the ponies and...

"Oh," I mutter to myself as I glance down at my arms, then the rest of my body. The yellow suit is now brown and the blue is dulled and dirtied. I'm covered in blood. Some of it is mine. Most of it isn't. I exhale while bracing myself for what I'm about to do before I take in a deep breath through my nose.

I recognize the blood immediately. Some of it smells like the royal. A lot of it smells like the green-maned pony that annoyed me. The rest smells of the other two. If there's this much blood on me and I don't remember what happened, then it's most likely that I went into the berserker state...and that those ponies are dead. I can smell the death on me as well. And there's a lot of it.

I close my eyes as the guilt nudges at the back of my mind. As much as I hate to admit it, I've killed so many times that I'm not really sickened by it like a normal person would be. But I still take a moment of silence for the lives that I've ended--or rather, the berserker ended.

I then extend my claws to see that there's no blood on them. That means that they've been in my arms for quite a while, maybe half a day. Meaning that I've been in the berserker state a while. That's not good. Probably raised a trail of destruction and cut down all those in my way. Great, just add their souls to the pile.

Can't think like this. Need to think of why I'm here. I take in another whiff and recall the scent of Alicia. At least one good thing came from that encounter with the pony. I've got the girl's scent locked in. I turn my head and take another whiff, but come up empty. I try two more times before I smell the faintest of traces. Good. Now I've got an idea where to go.

There's still not enough of Alicia's scent to track her, though. For the time being I'm relying on the scent of the two royal ponies that I've encountered. Their scents are everywhere. The lunar one is fainter than the white one, who flew close to where I am. I trace my steps back through another damned forest to where her scent is strongest, while also doing my best not to look at the slaughtered creatures that I walk past.

The berserker rage. Where I lose myself in my more animalistic side. A last resort, of sorts. In that state, I don't feel pain, I hit harder and I'm a lot harder to predict or have telepathic abilities used on me. The downside? I become a bloodthirsty monster, cutting down any that dare get in my way. I've almost killed a few of my friends while in that state. I've killed nearly all of my enemies.

I shake my head again and force the guilt for my actions back down. I can hate myself for what I've done later. Got to focus. I've been in this land nearly two weeks now. That means that the government and Magneto have been given two extra weeks to figure out where Alicia is and track her here. And if those bastards came here, then I might be the least of the ponies' worries.

Now that I feel motivated, I start to sprint through the forest, ignoring the burning in my legs as I push my body harder than it should be able to go. My healing will keep the pain from getting too bad. The rest is mental fortitude. The white royal's scent is getting stronger in the direction that I'm heading, but my other senses are telling me that there's something else up ahead. I skid to a stop at the edge of the clearing and lean down low to observe the structure in front of me.

It's an outpost, filled to the brim with guards. And ponies in strange, cloak-like attire. All of them are unicorns. Might be mages. Or high level spell users. Either way, I don't want to tangle with them. Not when they outnumber me this badly.

I decide to circle around and try to pick up the scent from where the royal entered. I also keep my eyes peeled as I do so. I stop and glance down at my foot, spying a pitfall just inches from my toe. They've got this place pretty well trapped. Got to be careful.

The next trap I come across looks like a bear trap, but with a different metal than steel or iron. Instead of tripping it, I slice clean through the center with my claws. A lot less noisy than letting two pieces of metal slam into each other. A snare, a spike fall and some kind of web are the only other traps I pass by (though I think the web belonged to a spider) before I realize that I've made a complete loop around the outpost.

I can't find her scent. I crouch back down into the shadows beneath the trees as I begin to wonder why I can't find her scent. Even if she flew pretty high above the ground, there should be something for me to find. But there's nothing. I tilt my nose upwards and inhale again, but aside from the ponies in the outpost, I've got nothing.

I glance at the base and focus on the ponies within. Maybe they can give me a clue as to why I can't smell her. I watch them for hours, biding my time for the truth to reveal itself. I then notice that one of the mages has separated himself from the rest of the group and has left the outpost. The wind blows in my direction and I take in a quick whiff of his scent. The unicorn's horn begins to glow and a moment later he teleports out of my sight.

That's it. That's how she got here without leaving a scent. Teleportation. I climb the tree closest to me and take in a deep breath, vaguely smelling the unicorn that had just teleported. I leap down and hit the ground in a roll, sprinting off as fast as I can towards where the unicorn reappeared. I'm lucky. If he had teleported downwind I may not have found him.

I spy the end of the forest and I race out of it, but I quickly skid to a stop when I realize where I'm at. There's a massive city standing in my way, way larger than any of the towns that I've come across. Almost reminds me of the cities back home. It's pretty far off in the distance, but even from this far away I can tell that it's huge. I glance to my side and spy the unicorn walking towards the city down a path a good distance from me.

I need to weigh my options. I could follow him towards the city and risk being seen, while at the same time hoping that I come across another scent that can take me to where Alicia might be. But with a city that size, they must have one hell of a security force. And no doubt now the ponies are on guard. Doubt the royal pony would have failed to mention that she was hunting a monster.

Then I look up and spy something that I never would have expected to see here. An airship. A literal airship. Looks like a freaking pirate ship with balloons attached to it instead of sails. And it's flying through the sky. I glance back at the city in time to see another airship beginning to take off. Travel this land by air, eh?

Sure. That just might work.

||X||

I remember when I was little my mom told me to never stare at the sun. She said that if you do it for too long Celestia will come down and take away your sight for a few days, just to teach you not to stare. It's not a true tale of course, but it did its job at the time and I never stared at the sun. That also carried over when I grew to a full mare, because I try to avoid staring at the sun (or moon, just in case) so I don't accidentally offend Celestia.

But when the sun is hanging up in the sky, dead center, without having moved for a long time? That's when I feel like I should stare. Because if the sun isn't moving, then that means that Celestia hasn't moved it. Who knows why she hasn't? Maybe she didn't want to. Maybe she forgot, she is getting on in years. Or maybe she wants to keep it there and give us a little extra daylight.

That's what I'd like to think. But then I remember that she went off with a friend of mine to battle a monster--a monster with claws that slice through bone like nothing. And has the ability to heal missing chunks of its body. They went to fight it the other day. And now the sun isn't moving. The sun isn't moving and my soul is the coldest that I've ever felt it.

I feel a hand gently press against my side and I tear my eyes away from the sun to see that Imp is looking up at me with a look of concern. She has no idea what's going on, but her face mirrors mine. She has a feeling that something is wrong as well. But then the imp gives me a kind smile and holds up the ball that we brought with us to this field.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up," I say to Imp before kicking the ball down the field. Imp let's out a giggle as she races after it. Perhaps I'm thinking to negatively. Wildfire was one of the best. She can handle herself fine. And Celestia is the...one of the most powerful alicorns in the land. She can put this monster down if she needs to.

Imp comes running back up to me with the ball clutched in her arms. I hold out my hoof and she gives it to me, before she backs up and starts to jump around like a rabbit. I pull my arm back as I take aim at the bouncing girl, before letting the ball fly. Imp staggers backwards and manages to catch the ball as it descends, but in doing so she trips and falls onto her rear.

"Nice catch!" I call over to her before the sounds of hoofsteps greet my ears. I turn around to see Lyra walking up to me, an annoyed expression on her face. "Well, somepony looks grumpy. Not happy that I got you up this early in the morning?"

"If you can even call it morning. Why is the sun already set at noon?" Lyra asks me as she shields an eyes with her hoof and looks up at the sun. I debate whether I should answer her or not before Imp comes running over, dropping the ball so that both of her arms were free to tackle Lyra with a big hug. "Well, you're up early if we believe this to be morning. Must be nice having so much energy."

"Yep. Alright, now that you're here Lyra, I can finally begin," I say as I pick up the ball off the ground. I sit down on the grass before placing the ball in front of me, motioning for both Lyra and Imp to sit across from me. Lyra does so and after a moment Imp catches on and sits down next to Lyra. "The reason that I got you up so early is because I've been doing some thinking. About the monster."

"What about it?"

"Well, the reason that it would be after her," I reply before swatting away Imp's hand as she reaches towards the ball.

"What reason? It's a monster, they do all sorts of horrible things."

"True, but that's mostly for mindless monsters. This one is smart. This one is intelligent. So it has to have a reason for trying to take her," I explain before motioning at the ball. "And I think I know the reason why. Lyra, can you please take this ball from me without touching it with your hooves?"

Lyra raises an eyebrow at me, but a moment later her horn glows and she slowly levitates the ball over to her. I nod with approval before motioning for her to levitate the ball back to me. She rolls her eyes this time, but does as I have instructed.

"Thank you Lyra. Now it's your turn, Imp." Lyra gives me a look as I turn towards Imp, pointing at the ball and then to her. She reaches our to take the ball, but I shake my head and she stops. I then point from Lyra to the ball, then back to Imp from the ball. I look into Imp's eyes to see that the wheels are beginning to turn. The girl then reaches out with her hand, but doesn't move. But the ball does start to move.

"Bon, what the hell is happening?" Lyra asks me with a whisper as the ball slowly begins to roll towards Imp, who has sweat dripping down her face from how hard she's concentrating. After a moment the ball stops rolling right at Imp's feet and she picks it up, giving both me and Lyra a tired smile. I stand up and walk over to Imp, patting her on the head for a job well done before looking over at Lyra.

"When we first met Imp, she managed to knock me back. I wasn't fully awake at the time and wasn't sure if she was just strong or if there was another reason. I've been watching her though, and she never showed any kind of super strength, nor did she show any kind of abilities."

"Then how in Faust's name did you-?"

"Because of the monster. I thought, "why would a creature that looks human have claws in its hands, and heal quickly? And why would it be after a little girl?" I explain, seeing from Lyra's face that she's starting to catch on. "And then I realized it was because she was just like it. She's not a human. Not entirely. She's similar to the monster. Imp has powers, which seem to be telekinetic in nature."

"And the monster. It wants to use her powers for something?" Lyra asks. I nod to show that she's correct.

"I'm not sure what, but it's clear that it's after her for her powers." A look of concern crosses Lyra's face, but then she shakes her head and her smile returns.

"Well, it doesn't matter what it wanted her for. Because after Celestia's done with it, it'll be..." Lyra's eyes go wide and I can tell she's looking behind me. I turn around to see Luna flying towards us, with a look on her face that makes my stomach drop.

"Hello, Bon-Bon. I need you to come with me immediately," Luna instructs the moment she's close enough, not even bothering to land. I take a second to glance into her eyes and I'm terrified by what I see. Because Luna is terrified. It's written all over her face.

"Something very bad has happened."