On the Hunt

Shouldn't have destroyed the Sentinel. Or at least, I should have kept it somewhat intact. Perhaps then I could have shown the ponies that I'm not the one wiping out their villages. I'm just the one killing the ponies that kept coming after me. But I don't think clearly when I'm berserk. I barely think at all.

I still feel the berserker. He hasn't gone back to sleep, even after all that's happened. I don't like that. The last time he was this out of control, I ended up on the wrong end of a god's hammer. Don't let Hulk's bragging fool you. Mjolnir hurts. A lot. Made of one of the few metals that can hurt the metal in my bones. Maybe something in the land is aggravating him or maybe Alicia's powers had a side effect on me. I've got no idea, but maybe Stark or Richards could...

The thought of the Avengers and my past conflicts with them started to stir up the beast within, so I change my thoughts to think of something else. Like, how in the hell do these special forces ponies keep finding me? First it was the sun princess and her band of misfits, then it was the candy mare and 'death' in pony form. I've been covering my tracks pretty well, aside from the times that I'm forced to fight, but they still keep finding me.

I sniff at my costume again, trying to locate any foreign metal or signature that they might be using as a tracker. But all I smell is myself and blood, so nothing out of the ordinary. I sigh in response. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit. After all, they still fight with spears, for God's sake. Making a tracking device that I couldn't find? That's hard to swallow.

Besides, when would they have had the chance to even place one on me? In every encounter I've had with the ponies, I either beat them without them touching me, or, in the sun pony's case, I ripped off the part of me that was touched by magic. So they would never have had...

Magic. That's the answer. I come to a stop next to a small pool of water and kneel down next to it, glaring down at my reflection. I place a hand to my shoulder, the very spot where one of those bat pony's crossbow bolts had struck me in the shoulder. There's no way that a device could be there. If my nose didn't smell it in me, my healing factor would have gotten rid of it. But I never did check, just to be certain.

I extend a single claw and use it to tear away the fabric by my shoulder, peeling back my suit. A grim smile crosses my face when I spy a small disc of what I think is solar magic stuck to my shoulder. I reach up and peel it off, having to rip off my skin to get rid of it. While my healing factor deals with the bleeding, I move the magic close to my nose and take a whiff. It smells the same as me. That's why I couldn't find it.

"I didn't give ya punks enough credit. While yer technology might not be anything special, ya got some pretty interesting party tricks," I mutter as I start to squeeze my fingers together, trying to crush the magic. But after a moment I stop. If the tracker gets destroyed, then the ponies will know and they'll increase their efforts to find me. But if I keep it active for a little while, they'll know where I am and not feel as pressured.

That's what I'd like to think, but as soon as they get news that a full blown large town was wiped out, they'll be after my guts soon enough. What I need is a way to keep this tracker moving without keeping it on me. Where can I put it so it will do just that?

I scale the nearest tree, leaping from branch to branch while using my claws only to steady myself. I reach the top in a few moments, able to see the whole area around me from my vantage point. I squint my eyes and see far off in the distance another village. Probably where the Sentinel wanted to go next after it was done with the town.

Then I take in another deep whiff and a scent that I'm really familiar with enters my nose. It's the girl. And she's close. A few hours away at most if I sprint at full speeds. I cross my arms while leaning back in the tree, considering what to do. Do I go straight for her? I still have the tracker and if I do that they will see me coming. But if I leave the tracker behind, they might get suspicious of it not moving for a long time and up their guard. Maybe they'll think I'm sleeping, but I don't want to risk it. The rumbling of clouds overhead turns my gaze skyward, where I notice numerous black clouds forming overhead.

"Looks like rain," I mutter to myself. Which is odd, considering that I hadn't smelled the rain coming. Something zips by overhead and I instantly slide down to the bottom of the tree, moving to a bush after a few moments to make sure that I was better hidden. To my surprise, I found that a Pegasus was moving clouds together. Storm clouds, to be precise.

A few minutes later more and more Pegasi showed up, each of them helping to move clouds to create a massive thunderstorm. I guess that the pegasi in this world can move the clouds and control the weather. Sure, I've seen weirder things done with magic. Hell, with science. I watch them create the weather for about ten minutes while the cloud gets larger and larger, eventually blocking out the sun.

Clearly finished, the pegasi start to take off in different directions, except for a few that fly down close to where I am and start to talk amongst one another. I shift through the underbrush and get closer to the horses, silently sniffing them when I'm close enough. A grin crosses my face when I smell that one of them has the same scent as the village I saw. That gives me an idea.

I wait until they're done talking and start to fly off one by one. I move myself closer when it's just the pegasi from the town and his friend left. I get lucky; his friend took off before he did, giving me a moment to leap out from the underbrush, tackle the pegasi from the town out of the sky and roll behind cover before he could make a sound.

I clamp one hand over the pegasi's mouth before extending the claws in my other hand, moving them dangerously close to his face. The pegasi's eyes went wide as he stared at the metal blades with terror. I then move my hand close to my lips and place one finger against them. The pony nods once to show me he understood.

"Hey there, bub," I say to him in as dangerous a tone as I can muster. The pony then wets himself. Good, I've got him scared. But I can also see in his eyes that he's just waiting for his chance to bolt, to run in fear from me. Exactly what I want.

I take the tracker in my free hand and wrap my hand around the back of the pony's neck, terrifying him even further. "Don't worry, bub, you'll get out of this alright as long as you do what I want," I snarl with a sinister smile that makes him whimper. I lightly drag my claws across his neck, drawing three thin lines of blood. "Yeah, you don't understand a word I'm saying. But you sure understand my tone. You're a dead pony. I'm going to kill you. Unless you fly as fast as you can to the-"

I cut myself off on purpose and snap my head to the side, making it look like I heard a sound. The pegasus doesn't disappoint and a moment later I feel his hoof crack my jaw. I barely register the pain, but I pretend like his blow was strong enough to knock me off of him. I fall to the forest floor while roaring with rage, but when I glance over my shoulder I spy the pegasus flying towards the village as fast as his wings can carry him.

"Thanks fer taking that off my hands, bub. I owe ya a drink," I chuckle before I stand back up and start to run towards where I had smelled the girl. I don't have much time. I have no doubt that they have heard of me or at least my description, so the ponies of that town while call for reinforcements at once. That's why I scratched the guy, so they know that I was here.

Hopefully the lunar pony and all of her little friends will come here searching for me. After all, they've just lost a town to me. If I were them, I'd be out for blood. Meaning that while they're busy, I might have just enough time to grab Alicia and leave this place behind like a bad dream.

That's what I want to happen. I highly doubt it will. I've been way too lucky as of late. And lady luck is a temperamental bitch.

||X||

I hate having to watch as my friends gear up to go into battle. Every time I see it, I fear that it's the last time that I'm seeing them. But what I hate even more is when I can't go with them into battle. Can't be there to fight or die along with them. As we stand in the middle of a field outside of Ponyville, I can't help but hate myself for not going.

I made my choice, though. As much as I hate not going with them, I'd hate letting down Lyra and Imp even more. They're my family. And I can't imagine the pain that I would inflict on them, if I went off to battle this creature and didn't make it back. So I watch from the sidelines as my team, Luna, and the Guardians of Harmony gear up to go fight him.

"Luna, are you sure that this is the time to attack?" I ask the princess once more. What I get in reply is a murderous glare from the night as her nostrils flare.

"Sweetie Drops, you have heard the news, am I not mistaken?" I don't need to ask what news. Everypony has heard of how Dustfield was completely wiped out by this monster. We've clearly been underestimating its ability to destroy if it was able to take out an entire town and leave no survivors. "This creature is beyond dangerous. It might just be an embodiment of evil. We have to strike it down now. It's already in another town and they've called for help. We're the only chance they have."

"Don't feel too bad though, Sweetie. I promise that we'll bring back the claws so you can examine them up close without needing to worry about the Wombat stabbing you," Stinger assures me. I give him a smile in reply, but my gut is in knots. This thing wiped out an entire city. How can my friends hope to stop it?

"Now you all have your weapons that I made, right?" Twilight asks the ponies, who all nod with vengeance in their eyes. "The darts, the bombs and all of the other items? You do? Good." She then casts a glance back at me and I avert my eyes. I feel like a coward. I should be going to fight with them.

"Bon-Bon, don't be too upset. I promise you that we'll get it. Your friend will be avenged," she promises me.

"Not just my friend. Every life that he's taken. And Celestia, even though she's not dead," I make her promise as well.

"With all of the material that we've gathered on the creature, along with the Guardians and Princess Luna, we will be forever shamed if we fail to kill this thing," Lens adds with a smirk. Luna then pulls me to the side with her magic, using her wings to shield our conversation from the others.

"Sweetie Drops, I wish for you to take this," she whispers while pulling out an orb on the end of a spike, which she then gives to me.

"What...is this?" I ask her as I take the orb in hoof, feeling raw, magical might flood through my body.

"A last resort. The combined magic of Twilight and myself. The full power of two Alicorns," she replies. My eyes shrink as I realize what I'm holding onto. She then slides a saddle to me, one that's filled with a small number of the weapons that Twilight had made. "I give these to you in case the worst is to happen. If we fall, you are the only one that knows enough about the creature to fight it. I pray that you will not need to use these."

"But it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Don't worry Luna, you won't lose. You're the defenders of Harmony. You always win," I assure her. She smiles back at me before joining the rest of the team. She nods to them before she spreads her wings and takes to the skies. She and Twilight use their magic to lift those that could not fly. I watch them go, watch them go on without me. For a brief moment my whole body shakes with rage at my staying behind. Then a hoof places itself on my shoulder.

"Hey," Lyra asks me. I turn around to face her with both guilt and rage flashing in my eyes. She nods with understanding. "Yeah, I figured that you'd be this way. You always act like this when something goes wrong and you can't stop it. I think I know the cure to that, though."

"Candy!" Imp yells as she jumps out from behind Lyra and tosses a number of treats at me. My reflexes kick in and I catch most of the items out of the air. My moves cause Imp's eyes to go wide and she starts to clap, while I glance at the candy to see that they're all my favorites.

"Since when can she say more than just her name?" I ask Lyra as I crouch down, allowing Imp to crawl onto my back. I offer some of the candy to her and she snatches it from my grasp, downing the treats faster than what should be good for her. Lyra picks up the alicorn bomb and places it in the saddle, which she then slings over her back.

"I've been teaching her some new words. At the rate we're going, it won't be long before she'll finally be able to speak the same language as us," Lyra informs me with some pride. I give her a warm smile in reply. Imp then yells something I don't understand, but I figure it's along the lines of go faster. So I take off at a brisk trot with Lyra right beside me, trying hard not to think of the battle that my friends will soon be going through.

And the clouds that are thundering overhead.