Jumpers: Taking Back Equestria

Chapters

Jumpers
Right In The Thick Of It
Scouting the Enemy
Problems With Brutal Solutions
Last Stop
Nowhere To Run: Part 1
Nowhere to Run: Part 2
Nowhere to Run: Part 3
Nowhere to Run: Part 4

Jumpers

Author's Note

This was inspired by a fanfiction writer called Imaginationsburstingout. He's a writer from Fanfiction.net and I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to share this idea of his to this website. I have asked permission and he said it was cool for me to share it!

Please tell me your thoughts about this!

Jumpers

Jumpers

Jumpers

A collective group of mercenaries that conduct expensive contracts from all around the known multiverse. Like normal mercenaries, their loyalty is dependent on how much a person pays them. Pay them a lot, they will give their everything just to finish the mission, on the other hand, if the price isn’t good that doesn’t mean that they won’t take the contract… they’ll just be lazier during the mission and will only help during crucial times.

Jumper contracts are special. While they take missions involving the real world, where they most shine is in fictional worlds. Indeed, most contracts that Jumpers accept usually involves them jumping to fictional world. It can vary from movies like Avengers to a kid’s cartoon show like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Jumpers are garbed in white skin tight suits, while this type of apparel does not give the mercenary feel it is what’s inside every of Jumper that makes them extremely dangerous. This object inside of them is known as the Core. The Core the single most powerful object in the known multiverse due to its capability to create or grant any weapon or body modification from any movie, show, book and comic.

A Jumper wants super speed? Use the Core to gain access to the DC’s speedster, The Flash. Summon iconic weapons from video games like the Blade of Olympus from God of War. Desire J.K. Rowling’s spells? Granted! Able to create multiple copies of yourself using Naruto’s Shadow Clone Justu? Done! The possibilities are endless for Jumpers and how they execute their mission is countless due to how flexible they are.

But there is a drawback

When using the Core to get what the Jumper wants. Jumpers need know something first before getting their desired weapon or body modification. For you see, in each of these legendary weapons and abilities were created for a reason. A story behind each weapon, an anecdote for each ability. For Jumpers to gain access to these weapons and abilities, they must know their stories, their Lore.

For example, if a Jumper were to use the Core to gain The Flash’s powers, they would need to know the backstory behind how The Flash got his powers. Jumpers need not to re-enact how it happened. Of course, the amount of Lore than Jumpers put in each weapon the powerful it becomes vice versa if they don’t know much about the weapon.

A Jumper could summon something a legendary as King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur but if they don’t know the Lore behind such a legendary weapon, then they would just be holding a normal, ordinary and well-crafted sword. On the other hand, if a Jumper were to summon the same weapon and know it’s backstory in detail then they will be holding the actual sword of King Arthur.

In the end, a Jumper’s strength is not dependent on how strong, witty or fast they are. Their power is determined by knowledge of culture references.

Click clack click clack

The sound of shoes on tiles echoed in the long and pristine white hallway. The owner of these shoes stood at an average height of 5’9’’. He wore the trademark Jumper outfit, a white one-piece jumpsuit with the number 0007 inscribed it the back. His eyes were a shade of brown and his hair was a soft black combed to the side. If he were standing in a busy street in any populated city, people would think nothing of him due to how average he looks.

Why was he walking down this long and seemingly unending hallway? Well, about five minutes ago, the he received a notification from the Jumpers’ headquarters intercom that he had received a contract. Hence, why he is now making his way towards his designated briefing room, G019.

He found said room, to the normal eyes it might just look like an ordinary white tiled wall. Looks can be deceiving as the ‘wall’ that Jumper 0007 was looking at suddenly had an outline of a rectangular door. The outline retracted and slid to the side revealing a cube room; a table sat in the centre of the room but that was all that was visible to him. As he made his way towards the table, the door behind him slid back to its original position and resealed the room even going so far as to removing the outline making it look like there was no door in the first place.

Jumper 0007 looked at the table to see a cylindrical object the size of a hockey puck. On the centre of this puck was a blinking blue light that the Jumper touched with his finger. The blinking stopped and what appeared was a hologram of a horizontal line. Sound began to emanate from the puck making the line wiggle up and down. Then the line went sporadic when a voice came in.

“Welcome to the Jumpers Agency, would you like to hire a Jumper?” an automated voice of a female came on.

“Yeah… I’d like a Jumper to enter the world of Equestria that’s been invaded by humans,” Another voice chimed in, accent reminiscent of an average Brooklyn Joe.

“Attention: creating a custom world will increase the price for hire as Jumpers are not restricted by canonical events. Do you agree to these terms?”

“Sure, I agree. I have enough money,”

There was short pause in the recording. Another second passed and the recording continued, “A Jumper has been notified and is now making his way to the briefing room, would you like your name to be known by this Jumper?”

“Nah, put me as anonymous,”

“Please wait… contract has been created, thank you for buying our services,”

A scoff was heard from the recording, “You’re the only group that does service like this,”

Finally, the recording ended. The horizontal line shrank and what replaced it was a hologram containing information about the contract.

Custom Contract

Contractor:Anonymous

Price:1,750,000$

Mission:Enter a custom made Equestria that had just been successfully invaded by humans.

Mission Duration:Unspecified

Objective:Assist ponies and create a rebellion against the humans.

(Note: This is a custom world. Canonical events will not happen.)

“Hmph, decent pay…” Jumper 0007 said to himself.

A mechanical sound reached his ears, in front of him, a platform rose. He made his way to the platform and stepped on it. A humming sound that slowly increased in pitch was heard. Upon reaching the apex a notification appeared in front of the Jumper.

[You are now Jumping to: Equestria (Custom)]

[Would you like to proceed?]

[Yes] [No]

Jumper 0007 hovered his hand above the ‘yes’ option. The platform began to engulf him in a bright light.

“Let’s do this,” 0007 thought as he left the headquarters.

Right In The Thick Of It

Author's Note

Tell me your thoughts!

Right In The Thick Of It

Right in the Thick of It

As the bright light died, Jumper 0007 opened his eyes to the sight of a ruined castle. He didn’t really know much about the cartoon series, only bits and pieces. Since the world he Jumped to was a custom one, he doesn’t really have enough knowledge of the situation. Preparation is important, so without wasting time he immediately used his Core to obtain the powers of a certain web swinging hero.

After being bitten by a radioactive spider, his life turned around. Gaining abilities like super strength, agility, stamina, durability and heightened coordination. Aside from these basic abilities, what separates him from other heroes is his ability to detect danger seconds before it happens. Using these abilities granted to him, he swings around the city of New York doing random acts of kindness to saving thousands of lives from fighting villains who want nothing but to destroy the city.

[Core has granted Jumper 0007 access to: Spider-Man’s powers – Spider-Man]

[Core has completed construction of: Wrists Web-Shooters – Spider-Man]

Nothing much really changed in terms of his body structure what did tell Jumper 0007 that he had gained the wall-climber’s powers was his instincts yelling at him to dodge. Not one to deny this, he dodged just in time to see a rainbow streak pass by him. He traced the streak and found a cyan equine with rainbow mane. From the big cylindrical eyes, he could tell that her expression was one of surprise. The surprised look on her face however immediately morphed back in to a scowl.

“AJ, take the food back and tell Twilight that one of them found the hideout!” the rainbow maned equine said.

The sound of hooves on dirt reached Jumper 0007’s ears. Looking behind he just spotted an orange equine wearing a cowboy hat. He was going to tell her to wait and let him explain himself only for his spider-sense to flare up again. He backflipped narrowly avoiding the blue blur one more. Locking eyes with his opponent he noticed a sharp blade wrapped around her foreleg. Jumper 0007 raised both of his arms in surrender.

“Look, I just want to talk,” he said.

“Yeah, and I want you to die!”

She zoomed at her again, much faster than the last two attempts. As always, 0007 dodged it at the last second. He could see the scowl on her face deepen as she threw away her strategy of charging at him and decided to fight him up close and personal. She swiped her blade with some degree of skill and even mixing up her attacks with some kicks here and there. Despite the fast bombardment of slices and kicks, 0007 had managed to dodge all of them.

“AARGH, STAND STILL!”

“Like,” dodge. “I,” dodge. “said,” backflip. “I just want to talk with you!”

The rainbow maned equine decided to charge in again but this time, Jumper 0007 was ready. With the heightened hand-eye coordination granted by Spider-Man’s powers he shot a web at the equine’s wings. This prompted her charge to cut short as she fell face first on the damp dirt. She tried standing up only for 0007 to shoot her at her legs and seeing as how feisty she it even though her movements are restricted he continued to shoot webs at her until her whole body, sans her face, was covered in webbing.

With the fight finally ending, Jumper 0007 approached the still struggling equine. As he came closer the struggling started to become more frantic and the panic in her eyes slowly became apparent. He couldn’t blame her though, the way she fought, it looked like she was fighting to kill. She also expected him to do the same but now that she’s restricted, she didn’t know what he was going to do with her. He can probably guess what she was thinking: death would probably be better than being tortured for information.

Her struggles finally stopped, she glared at him with so much hate. “Go on… kill me!”

Jumper 0007 sighed, “I’m not here to hurt you… I just want to talk,”

“Then start talking,”

Jumper 0007 looked behind him to see a dozen equines glaring at him. Four pegasus were hovering just above him, ready to dive down should their companion get in to trouble. The unicorns were aiming their horns at him, presumably to fire some sort of projectile. Last but not the least, the normal equines scratched the mud with their hooves while their spears pointed at him. Finally standing in in the centre of this small regiment stood a female equine that had both wings and horn. Her coat was a shade of purple, she had a black mane with a purple streak in between. On her rump, was a mark of a star. Actually, now looking closely, all of the other equines have some unique symbol. Perhaps there is a meaning behind that.

That, however, is a question asked for another time. Right now, he has to prove to them that he is on their side. Turning around, he raised both of his arms in surrender.

“I just want to talk with the leader,” he said.

The purple one, which he immediately deduced as the leader due to how much she stuck out, spoke. “What do you want?”

“An alliance,”

She scoffed, “Why would we need an alliance? We’re strong enough as it is,”

Clearly a bluff, so he retorted, “Yeah, you’re definitely strong… the fact that humans have already conquered almost everything that Equestria has to offer is a testament to how strong you guys are,”

He grinned mentally as the small but obvious ‘tsk’ look on her face. “Release her first, then we can talk,”

Jumper 0007 shook his head, “No can do, what’s to say that once I release her, you’ll unleash your whole regiment on me?”

She narrowed her eyes, “You are not in a position to negotiate, hand her over,”

He mentally grinned and decided to quote a particular bat back breaker, “Do you feel in charge?”

She tilted her head in confusion, he continued. “Because if I wanted to…”

He accessed the Core.

A power that emanates everywhere, a metaphysical and ubiquitous power.From the greatest stars to the insignificant rocks. This power is wielded by individuals called “Force-Sensitive”. It contains two sides: Light and Dark. Mastery over this power grants the user the ability to become one with it or bend it to their will.

[Core has granted access to: The Force – Star Wars]

With the new power he acquired he made a gesture with his pointer and thumb that looked like her was going to pinch someone. The purple alicorn tilted her head in question, it wasn’t until she suddenly had trouble breathing, did she notice what was happening. She tried to summon a spell to protect her friends but it was too late. All of them were lifted up in the air, hooves grasping at their throats. The dark scowl on the Jumper’s face struck fear into their hearts.

“…I would’ve done it a long time already,” he finished.

He continued to [Force Choke] them for a few more seconds before releasing his hold. They all fell unceremoniously on the ground, taking in their precious oxygen. The purple one glared at him but finally understood their situation.

“So… are we going to talk?” Jumper 0007 asked.

With clear hesitation, she relented.

Jumper 0007 walked down the winding and crumbling hallway that was the ponies’ hideout. When he entered for the first time, she noticed that while it may be a hideout, it is also a place where civilians resided. When said refugees spotted the Jumper, they started feeling uneasy they probably would’ve panicked if no one was watching over him. They rounded a corner, Jumper 0007 laid eyes on a dark and damp room, it was filled with torture devices, though, from the looks of it, they’re more catered to pony prisoners rather than humans.

In the middle of the torture room, was a wooden table. Beside the table, the orange pony that he spotted scurrying back in their hideout glared at him with malice. He was told to stop just in front of the table while the purple one went to the opposite side. Silence graced the room, Jumper 0007 stood stoic while the conscripted guards shuffled, spears still pointed at him.

The leader of the would-be rebellion took a deep breath before talking, “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, princess of Friendship,”

Jumper 0007 stood straight, “I am Jumper 0007, a mercenary hired to assist you in your mission to retake Equestria,”

Twilight looked at the orange pony, seemingly looking for some confirmation. The orange one shook her head which brought some confusion to the princess.

Twilight scrunched up her face, “You said you’re a mercenary,” 0007 nodded. “What’s stopping you from betraying us when the enemy presents a more favourable offer?”

She has a point, nevertheless he spoke. “Even if the offer is enticing, I’ve already been paid to do this mission. Failure in completing this contract would result in a failed mission and I don’t want to tarnish my perfect record,”

The Princess looked towards the orange pony again, and once more, the orange pony shook her head making Twilight scrunch up her face again in confusion. 0007 took a moment to realise what was happening, from how much attention he was getting from the orange one he assumed that she’s able to tell whether he’s lying or not. Seeing as how Twilight seems to give her one look. Being interrogated was nothing new to him. He’s been on the receiving end many times before and if there is always one thing that interrogators do before talking to him is to have a lie detector.

While most of the lie detectors he had been under influence to had been machines, this is probably the first time in a long time he had a live lie detector test him. Of course, just because he’s under the influence of a lie detector, doesn’t mean that he only has to tell the truth. He can use the Core to alter his body to a calmer state, reduce the sweat released from his pores, keep his heart rate consistent. In short, no matter how outdated or futuristic lie detectors are, he can still cheat the system.

“What’s the name of your contractor?” Twilight asked.

“I cannot say as my contractor wished to be anonymous but believe me when I say that he wants to help you all take back Equestria,”

Twilight looked at the orange pony one last time, and as always, she shook her head. She returned her gaze back at him, she gave out a tired sigh.

“What can you do?”

Scouting the Enemy

"So... that's them?" Jumper 0007 asked.

The guard watching over him rolled his eyes and answered with a sarcastic remark. "What do you think?"

Under the protection of the Everfree Forest, Jumper 0007 and two other guards scouted the cottage which once belonged to a pony that he didn't know. The cottage looked similar to The Shire, home to both Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins, among other Hobbits. It had a red wooden door, the 'roof' of the cottage consisted of brushes which made perfect homes for any small critters that have feathers. Jumper 0007 could also spot multiple small houses and holes on the ground and a chicken coop around the back of the cottage. Whoever lived here must've been a big animal lover. A small bridge could be seen which went over a creek, said bridge had a path which lead further away from the cottage, presumably towards the local town.

All in all, the cottage would be a wonderful place to settle in and have a calming day. However, this was all ruined because of the presence of humans. 0007 and the guards could see two humans outside of the cottage. Around their hands were guns that were completely disappointing in the eyes of Jumper 0007. On the other hand, just from the sight of these weapons is enough to elicit a reaction to both of his guards. One of the guns that they held was a revolver rifle and another was a bolt action rifle. Their 'uniform' is just a blue shirt and black overalls with red straps.

"I'm really underwhelmed by these guys," Jumper 0007 said, clear disappointment in his voice.

The guard to his left scoffed. "If you're so confident then why don't you go ahead and attack those guys?"

That made the other pony to his right chuckle. Jumper 0007 mentally gave a smirk, if he's allowed free reign that's what he probably would've done. Right now though, he needed to earn Princess Twilight's favour by scouting the location. Plus, underwhelming they might be, they're still humans, they probably have a system working on how to deliver information. If word gets out that this outpost gets overtaken by the enemy they'll probably beef up their security back in town, thus making the retaking of Ponyville much more difficult for the ponies.

As much as Jumper 0007 wanted to, he can't really pull out his strongest weapons like the virus Blacklight from the Prototype game, or the portable nuke thrower from the Fallout series, the Fatman and countless more. He doesn't need attention as it will attract more trouble than good. No, he needed keep them thinking that the rebellion is consisted of mostly ponies. Hit and run tactics are also viable like cutting off supply lines and communication from other bases. That plan will come later on once the rebellion starts kicking.

"Alright, we're done here," Jumper 0007 said.

His guards didn't say anything and started following him back to the castle.

"When do you think the hunting part will show up?"

Jumper 0007 stopped in his tracks, his guards also seem to give the same reaction and decided to stay a bit longer to listen in on the conversation that the two guards outside of the cottage were having.

"I don't know... I heard from Jerry that they're coming here in a week but then I asked Garrett and he said they're coming tomorrow!"

"DId you ask them both during the same day?"

He scoffed, "Of course, I just don't get it; why are we waiting for a large party all the way from Manehattan just to hunt down a few ponies? I mean, with just the five of us we can take em' on easily!"

"Probably because they're a lot more than what we expect,"

"'a lot more' my ass,"

Their conversation continued on but from that point it was just needless banter that all of them can easily forget about. Jumper 0007 left immediately, along with the two guards. Running past trees and foliage, the Jumper weighed their situation. Seems like time is not on their side, while he didn't know how big of a hunting party is being sent towards them he's going to take a shot in the dark and guess that it's a hundred soldiers. Judging by the confidence of that one guard, one of them is capable of taking out a lot of ponies. He could deny that information and just chalk it up to bravado but he won't. He knew the reason why they're sending a large party.

The forest

Just from the looks of it, he can tell that there was something off about it. Perhaps that's the reason why they're sending the party? They finally reached the ravine with the rope bridge and was about to start crossing it when all of a sudden, his spider-senses started screaming at him. He wrapped his arms around both of the guards' stomachs and jumped to the side, he felt something rush past him a millisecond later. All three of them landed in heap but quickly stood up. One of the guards was about to give 0007 a piece of his mind for throwing them off course but that was cut off when low growl reached his ears. Both ponies seized up and looked towards the direction of the growl to find themselves wrapped in total fear.

"M-Manticore,"

He could hear the other guard gulp as both of them shakily pointed their spears at the creature. For one thing, it towered the ponies by a great margin and was a foot taller than 0007 but that's only when it's down on it's four limbs. It had the body of a lion, ears and wings of a bat and tail of a scorpion. It gave out a loud roar that seemed to make the ponies' hind legs buckle. Both of them were looking at each other with a look that screamed 'what are we going to do?!'. For them, they had two options. One option will be to have one of them willingly fight it, that would cost one of their lives but it would save both 0007 and another pony. Option two would be to run away and use 0007 as bait, reason for thinking? He's a human, an enemy, they wouldn't think twice of leaving him behind just so that they can live another day.

If they actually chose the second option, 0007 wouldn't oppose to that, they're just conscripted guards they have next to nothing in terms of battle experience. He on the other hand is thinking about this in a different perspective. If they chose the first option and decide to leave one of them behind to buy some time, that will be one less pony to help with the rebellion. With the current situation, he couldn't afford that, he needs every able bodied pony alive to help and at least take over the first town, Ponyville. The second option which is the dumber decision. if they decide to leave him behind in panic they might run the risk of getting lost in the forest, exposed and easy prey for anything in the wild.

This would also prompt Princess Twilight to conduct a search party. In the event that his guards were to die because of the wild then they can easily shift the blame to him, losing all the trust he'd gained ever since he arrived. In addition, he'll lose two more ponies than the first option and reduce morale for the rebellion.

"I can tell from the looks of your eyes that both of you are weighing two options," both ponies looked at him. "One option would be to have one of you willingly stay and fight to buy some time. The other is to leave me as fresh bait,"

From the shocked looks in their faces, he grinned mentally knowing that he had hit the mark. Afterwards, he then started explaining to them how both options were dumb all the while eyeing the manticore for any sudden movements. Their features darkened, the look of hopelessness was visible in their eyes.

"Then... what do we do? Just give up and die?" the guard to his left said.

There was a moment of silence before Jumper 0007 spoke up, "What are your names?"

A look of confusion overcame their current fear for a second before they both decided 'we're going to die anyways, might as well introduce ourselves'.

"Red Rapid,"

"Sarsaparilla Sunrise,"

"Alright, Red, Sarsaparilla, here's what we're going to do...," 0007 said before accessing his Core.

Originally crafted by the Goddess, Hylia and later forged into the weapon it was meant to be by the Goddess's chosen spirit, Fi. The weapon was bathed in the three Sacred Flames located around the Kingdom of Hyrule. With the power to repent Evil, a power which is augmented after receiving its blessing from the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom. It is a mighty weapon that chooses it's rightful owner, that being the Triforce of Courage. Usually accompanied with this weapon is a shield that is crafted by the blacksmiths of Hyrule.

[The Core has granted access to: Triforce of Courage - The Legend of Zelda]

[The Core has completed construction of: Master Sword - Legend of Zelda]

[The Core has completed construction of: Hylian Shield - Legend of Zelda]

Red and Sarsaparilla gave shocked looks at the sudden appearance of weapons. Jumper 0007 observed each Link's favourite weapon and his trusty shield. He then looked at the back of his right hand to see the mark of the Triforce of Courage.

With a visible grin he continued his statement. "...We fight,"

The manticore gave out a loud roar before making a mad dash towards them.

Author's Note

What do you guys think? Some constructive criticism is appreciated. Is the Lore for the Master Sword accurate? Also how about some weapon or body modification suggestions. Make sure that you include the Lore behind them.

Of course, make sure that the weapons you're all suggesting aren't over the top attractive. Jumper 0007 is trying to stay hidden after all so anything that will attract attention to both him and the rebellion will not be accepted. That's all and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed making it!

Problems With Brutal Solutions

"Follow everything I say and you'll make it through. I'll get its attention, if you see an opening stab it with your spears," Jumper 0007 said.

Both of Red Rapid and Sunset Sarsaparilla looked at each other, the looks on their faces told them that they wanted to interject that the idea of following a human but between letting go of their pride for a while or becoming manticore food they're forced to choose former. All three combatant tensed their muscles as the manticore barrelled its way towards them. When the manticore was halfway from where it stood before it lunged with its maw opened wide.

"Scatter!"

Red dodged to the left while Sunset dodged right. 0007 on the other hand stood his ground. The manticore didn't seem to care for its two other preys moving at both sides of him, instead, it was more focused on the biped. 0007 timed it right and jammed his shield in the monster's mouth, preventing it from closing. For any normal shield, it would've already collapsed sure to the bite strength of the manticore. Fortunately, the Hylian Shield isn't just any normal shield. When the manticore realised that crushing the shield was impossible, it decided to start crushing 0007. Of course, the Jumper already had a counter for that: Spider-Man's incredible strength. Jumper 0007 faked a grunt to make it sound like he's trying is hardest to keep the manticore's attention focused on him.

"Any time now!" he sarcastically called out.

This seemed to jog the ponies out of their stupor, seeing the vulnerable sides of the manticore they charged and stabbed the creature. The manticore roared in pain, this made it open its mouth wider allowing 0007 to retrieve his shield from the monster, without missing a beat, he slashed diagonally, earning a large gash on its face. This prompted the manticore to back away. Red and Sunset wer about to give chase only for the Jumper to yell at them to form up behind him. Showing lesser hesitation than before, they did just that.

"Good job, on my 'go' I want both of you to back away,"

He looked behind him, looking for confirmation. They both gave him a determined nod. Turning his attention back to the manticore, it shook its head succeeding in ignoring the pain that resonated from his sides and face. It glared at its opponents making the two ponies falter a little. It charged at them again, this time turning it's whole body around, it's scorpion tail whipped towards them in a low sweep. Jumper 0007 didn't even have to call it out as all three of them avoided the tail by jumping up. When they landed back on the ground, they were forced to think fast since after the tail sweep the manticore followed it up with a claw.

Quick on his movement, 0007 parried the claw. It roared in pain again as blood spurted out of its wounded paw.

"Get back!"

Both ponies moved back letting Jumper 0007 follow through with his plan. Taking one step forward, he spun the Master Sword in a wide circle cutting through anything that it made contact with. Fortunately, for the manticore, it managed to avoid this attack by rearing up both of its front legs.

"Now!"

Not missing a beat, both Red and Sunset emerged from 0007's sides and thrusted their spears at the rearing manticore. Once they lodge their weapon deep enough they pulled back yet again and formed up behind the Jumper. Another roar of pain escaped from the creature. When it landed back on its hind legs its started backpedalling, both 0007 and the ponies could already see the rage that was in its eyes but unlike last time, it's eyes now had a tinge of fear in them. It sent them another glare but this time they did not falter. Now with confidence the ponies awaited for the next order.

"On my go, we push,"

"Alright!"

"Sure!"

Red and Sunset replied respectively. When 0007 took one step forward, Red and Sunset would do the same. Meanwhile the manticore slowly backed up whenever they tried to gain ground. Now feeling cornered, the manticore started contemplating on whether it was a wise decision fighting the three. Its rage suddenly disappeared when 0007 gave out a war cry, this sound made Red and Sunset also scream out from the top of their lungs. Finally understanding as to who is the better warrior, the manticore lowered itself in a submission stance.

"YOU BROUGHT IN A WHAT!?"

Twilight's hooves were on the table, her chest was heaving up and down as she tried to process what was just told to her. On the other side of the table, Jumper 0007, Red Rapid and Sunset Sarsaparilla gave varying expressions from a stoic look to bashful and regretful respectively. Behind these three a manticore sat, and was being treated by a pony with buttercream fur and pink hair.

"Princess Twilight, trust me, this manticore will be useful in the future,"

At this point the Princess of Magic looked like she was about to pull out her mane. "I specifically told you to scout the cottage! Not bring in a manticore!"

Without missing a beat, 0007 answered back. "And we have scouted the cottage you told me. Aside from there being two guards in the front we've also received crucial information about a hunting party coming from Manehattan in a week,"

That seemed to have enough impact that her stressed look turned to one of confusion as she tried to process the information given to her. She wasn't the only one to show a reaction to this; the orange pony beside her seemed to have wide eyes while the pony treating the manticore behind them tried to make herself as small as possible and hide behind her long pink mane. Afterwards, there was a solid five minutes of Twilight walking around the room, doing this weird gesture with her hoof as she inhaled and exhaled, muttering 'what do I do?'. The Jumper gave out an annoyed sigh which was missed by the other ponies.

"Don't worry, I have a plan,"

Every pony in the room stopped and all stared at 0007. A look desperate look on their faces with a tinge of hope but at the same time there was doubt in those eyes of theirs. He stood up from the table and looked towards the orange pony wearing a Stetson hat and asked the if they had any wooden boxes around.

"We have a few.. why do you need to know?"

He didn't answer, he then turned his attention towards Twilight, "Could you gather all of the in the main hall?"

"I-I could...," Twilight said.

Jumper 0007 nodded, "Alright, we have a week but that's more than enough time to prepare ourselves before the hunting party arrives,"

"What's this plan of yours?" Twilight asked her worries quickly replaced with curiosity.

"I'll explain later once you've gathered the ponies in the main hall," 0007 said before asking the orange pony to lead her to the wooden boxes that she spoke of.

As they made their way towards the storage room, Jumper 0007 had been introduced to the orange pony which goes by the name of Applejack. The storage room contained twelve boxes with eight of them completely empty. He nodded to himself and left the room with Applejack in tow. She didn't bother hiding her curiosity and from the looks of it, she wanted to ask him what he's got in store for them. She didn't answer though and kept quite throughout their small walk towards the main hall.

When they both reached the location, a large number of ponies, probably ranging from fifties to seventies, stood with curious looks at their resident princess. The main hall was a large open space, it's tall ceilings were gone due to the passage of time. A staircase lead upwards towards two seats, one had a faded emblem of a sun while the other had the moon. He walked around the large crowd though that didn't stop one from looking at his general direction and started to spread his discovery. When he finally rounded to the foot of the staircase, a large number of them had already been eyeing on him.

There was a moment of silence. Not a single one made a move, some gave 0007 scared looks while others glared at him with hatred. He didn't care, what matters to him right now is to make sure that these ponies survive long enough to spark a rebellion. He started off with a small cough just to make sure that he had grabbed every pony's attention, which wasn't hard since most of them already had their attention on him.

"I'll keep this brief... a few hours ago, Princess Twilight Sparkle had ordered me and two other ponies to scout out the cottage that's just on the edge of the Everfree Forest," This elicited a couple of murmurs from the crowd. "Aside from spotting two guards outside and potentially more inside the cottage, we've also overheard a conversation from the two guards talking about a hunting party coming all the way from Manehattan in a weeks time, sent here to finish off the last ponies,"

There was a long and deafening silence as Jumper 0007 purposely allowed that to sink in, he could see a large number suddenly sitting on their flanks, the look of hopelessness in their eyes. Of course, while there were some who looked like they had just gave up on their lives, there were a few, particularly a rainbow maned pony who voiced out how he was lying and that he's just doing it to scare them.

"You don't have any reason to believe what comes out of my mouth, miss," he said as he gestured towards the pony who voiced out, "but you can believe Red Rapid and Sunset Sarsaparilla, the two guards that were with me in the event that I run away during the scouting mission, they too have heard the conversation and can vouch for me,"

After that, she quieted down, a frustrated look on her face, knowing that she'd been cornered. He didn't paid her any attention and continued his speech.

"Now, there are two things that all of you can do while the week progresses. One would be to give up right now, so that when the hunting party arrives they'll show some mercy. Perhaps they'll make you slaves, if you're lucky you'll get a handler who only tells you to do tasks, if you're not... well, some of them are pretty pent up during this war, you'll be providing them with some stress relief," That made the ponies grimace.

"Or if they choose to, they can just outright eat you," he added nonchalantly.

The alarm on the ponies' faces were now prominent, some of them even started crying on the spot, others glared at him with a new level of hatred. Beside him, Twilight was even glaring at him.

"Oh, don't tell me that none of you had seen this coming. We humans are omnivores, while we do eat vegetables, meat is also important in our diet, our canines aren't just for show you know," the tone of his voice when he said that was more like he was stating the obvious. After that small jest, which he personally found a little funny, his facial features returned back to a neutral look.

"Option two, would be to fight- and I don't mean your conventional fighting of pointing you spear at the enemy and just blindly charge. No, I'm talking about a different way of fighting: guerilla warfare,"

Ponies who were crying their hearts out had momentarily stopped and looked at him with puffy eyes. The ones glaring at him retained the glare but this time they were at least listening instead of just shouting at him. From the looks of it, they've never heard of the concept therefore he explained it to them. A way of fighting where even the smallest of groups could topple the largest armies, through a mix of hit-and-run tactics, raids, sabotages and ambushes.

"The hunting party doesn't know where we are, so were going to use that to our advantage. We lure them in deeper in the forest and let the traps that we set up do the work and if you're feeling lucky, you might just have the chance of stealing some of their weapons. You have roughly three hours to consider your options, if you're not going to give up easily then meet me and Princess Twilight so that I can teach you how to make these traps,"

After that, Jumper 0007 walked off. Nothing could be heard except for his boots on cobble, a few seconds later Twilight followed him leaving the ponies all alone to ponder their choices. Leaving the main hall, both Twilight and 0007 were now walking down a dark, damp and mossy hallway.

"D-Do you think, they'll agree into helping you?" She asked, concern on her face.

Jumper 0007 shrugged, "It's their choice,"

"What kind of traps are you talking about?"

Jumper 0007 looked at her, "The Vietnam kind,"

Author's Note

Now, for those who don't know much about the traps that were used during the Vietnam War here is a link that I recommend watching as I will be using some of these traps in the next chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg9GZPRjL4o

Last Stop

CHOO CHOO

My whole body unconsciously shook me awake due to the loud whistling of the train. Opening my eyes, I took a few seconds to take in my environment. both familiar and unfamiliar faces greeted me left and right as they all readied themselves, taking their packed bags filled with standard issue meals, others chose to shoulder their weapons first before grabbing their bags. I too did the same, opening my bag I took stock on my supplies. Apparently, the people in the top told our platoon leader that this mission will take some time to finish so he told us to pack enough food to last for a month. With that being said, what I packed inside of my bag consisted of:

5 stripper clips
3 boxes, each containing 25 bullets
My knife
A water pouch
A dozen apples
20 strips of pony meat jerky

I closed by bag and hefted it over my shoulder, I then looked under my seat to grab my rifle. It wasn't like any other rifles that I saw in the train. This rifle was handed down to me by my father, he served during the war to save Equestria from its leaders but was decommissioned because a water tower landed on his platoon. In the middle of that chaos, he lost his arm rendering him unable to fight for the rest of the war. Being the eldest in a family of five, my father gave me the rifle and told me to continue where he had failed. I've never let him down since.

The rifle in question wasn't all that special when compared with the others, it had a wooden frame, inside had an pre-attached clip which can house five bullets, behind the stock was a small compartment which housed the servicing tools that can be used to clean the rifle so that it won't risk any problems of jamming, misfiring or anything that could bring detriment, it was bolt-action but the bolt itself was custom made so that it feels smoother and easier for me to pull it back and chamber the next round, finally it had a ring sight, a preferred sight for my father.

The train lurched forward making me bump my shoulder to the person on my right. He turned his head around to face me, he has dark brown hair accompanied by his jet black eyes, large pointed nose, he had a rough skin due to countless days of warfare and a long beard, mostly because he wanted to grow one.

"You ready, Zachiel?"

I shrugged, a grin forming on my face, "ready as I'll ever be... will I be finding you again in someone's bathroom?"

He gave me a mocked offended look, "Are you going to let that go?"

I gave a chuckle while shaking my head making him sigh in defeat. HIs name was Barden, my friend. Ever since I joined, he's been with me the entire time. We've been through thick and thin, we trust each other and we protect each other's backs and when the going get tough, we always find a way to punch through.

The conductor stood up from his seat and declared that we have arrived at our destination. All standing in line, we stepped out of the train and marched our way through the small hamlet. Passing by the main street, I could see some civilians waving and cheering for our arrival, beside some of them were ponies wearing saddlebags, scowls pasted on their faces, others fakes a smile and tried to cheer along but the smile they're forced upon is really strained.

Captain Rogers stood in front of his battalion, a proud smile graced his face as he is reminded of how they will be the one bringing the end to the ponies' rule and for good reason. His battalion has been in the forefront of most major battles, leading the charge and penetrating those damned pony defenses when the going gets tough. Scouts that lived in this hamlet started debriefing them about abnormity of the forest, he didn't care about the forest, he and his men are used to fighting into the unknown, a forest known to house 'deadly' monsters?

Just another Tuesday for them

Once the briefing was done, the battalion didn't waste any daylight. An hour long march towards the cottage and they now find themselves standing just within the edge of the Everfree forest. The battalion had mixed expressions but for the most part, all of them were positive, morale was high and all of them were confident that whatever wrench the ponies throw at them, their gears will continue to turn like a well oiled machine.

Being the person with the highest rank, Captain Rogers was the first person to step into the Everfree forest. Eventually, all trickled in, spreading out to cover more ground. Due to how thick dense the forest it, they knew that this mission will probably last at least for a month. They didn't make much progress during the first time, that's understandable since they reached the hamlet a few hours past the afternoon. So, they set up camp in the forest, happily telling stories.

Three days had passed and they have already made impressive progress. They did encounter some wildlife but none of them lived to tell the tale. They had reached the general area where the scouts had reported where the ponies are. When they reached the location, Captain Rogers had opted to split the group into four groups of twenty five. Afterwards he told them to split up to cover more ground. After assigning the group captains, they all split up.

Unknown to the battalion, someone has been watching them ever since they had entered the forest. With a cold and calculating gaze.

"Show time,"

0007 stood up from the branch that he perched on to watch the hunters. Once he was sure that they were spread far apart, he activated his Core.

A dangerous alien race that hunts the strong all for sport and honour. They stalk their prey using advance technologies like active camouflage and energy based weaponry but also use tribal-esque weaponries like spears and shurikens. These hunters kill and mutilate their prey in a ritualistic manner and as a prize, they keep their skulls.

[Core has allowed access to: Yautja abilities - Predator]

As soon as her was approved, his body started morphing. His normal face was reconstructed and what came out were the alien's distinguishable mandibles, his hair changed from its usual style into that of dreadlocks. His height increases reaching up to a whopping 7'3'', due to his increase in height, his skin tight shirt was ripped off, speaking of skin it had a more reptilian feel to it now. Once the transformation was finished, he then used his Core to create the Yautjas' weaponry and equipment.

His chosen equipments were:

Wrist blades
Shoulder cannon
Bladed discs
Whip
Active camouflage
Bio-Helmet

Fully decked out in his preferred weaponry, the blood of the Yautja began to flow through his veins. The game was on, a hundred prey to hunt.

Under the setting sun, 0007 reeled back and roared

Author's Note

The hunt is on! Tell me your thoughts! If there is something wrong with the Lore of the Predator then please, feel free to correct me!

Nowhere To Run: Part 1

"Wait," the leader of Group A gestured a stop with his right hand. A moment passed once the sounds of footsteps were silenced. "Do you guys hear that?"

This question prompted some confused looks but it still made them look around their surroundings, focusing their hearing on the general direction they were looking at. Try as they might though, there was nothing could be seen or heard at the moment, just the constant noise of the wildlife. After a few more seconds of listening to the wildlife, Group A's leader ordered them to continue traversing the forest.

Unknown to them, a distortion of light trailed right above them, followed by its signature clicking sounds.

Bounding from tree to tree, 0007 tailed the the first group which was located closing in on the left flank of the castle, by no means were they too close for comfort, far from it, 0007 simply chose that this group that he's currently stalking will be the first one to die. With the inherent thermal vision that predators have and the addition of the bio-helmet, he's able to detect see past the trees and spot the signatures of twenty-five humans. He bounded towards four more trees before he stopped and looked down to see one human lagging behind, probably to catch their slack. Three moe were right in front of the lagging human, if he is quick enough, he'll be able to eliminate all four of them without alerting the others.

He quietly climbed down the tree he was grabbing on to and stealthily dropped over some foliage. Despite his large physique, he managed to laughably sneak up to them. Hiding behind foliage, he was just within arms reach of the slacker.

He did not waste the opportunity

His wrist blade unsheathes. His left hand wrapped around the mouth of the slacker while his right hand slit his throat, blood dripped down his shirt along with muffled gurgling noises. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to admire his handiwork, dropping the slacker he then took his attention towards the three who were close to the slacker, they haven't looked behind him yet but the one of the left seemed to have noticed him just outside of his peripheral vision. He's the first, his right arm reached for his whip, while his left took his disc. Once the whip was let loose he flicked his arm, the whip, being taken from a xenomorph's tail meaning its had an extremely pointed tip followed by the entire length being as sharp as the tip. With terrifying accuracy, the tip of the whip decapitated its target.

Two down, two remain

With his left hand holding the disc, he threw it at and angle to the person who got splashed with blood from his decapitated companion. He wasn't able to complain anything as the disc cleanly removed his head from his shoulders. Time was of the essence now since the latest kill was spotted by the last man, he opened his wrist gauntlet and pushed a button which prompted the disc to return back to its owner. Since he threw it at an angle, when the disc returns what stood in between was the last human. Just like last time, the disc went through cleanly but instead of decapitating him, the top half of his head was the one that got removed. In the span of a at least two seconds, four humans were killed.

Twenty one remain.

At this point 0007, ignored stealth and opted for a more aggressive stance. Decloaking, he grabbed the next slacker by the neck and pulled. His guttural screams and cracking of bones alerted the rest of them, prompting all of them to look behind, they watched in horror as 0007 ripped the man's spinal column off along with the head. All eyes followed the look of pure terror permanently plastered on their fallen comrade's face before they're shook out of their surprise when 0007 roared.

"S-Shoot that f-fuckin' thing!" the group's commander screamed.

Shots were fired, the ones closer to him hit but they didn't hurt, probably because of the caliber that their guns were using and his durable body, some of the shooters further away from him missed their first volley due to their shaky hands. When he heard the collective sounds of rounds being chambered, he moved. Covering the distance to the next human at an unbelievable speed, he unsheathed his other left wrist blade and went for a haymaker, his blades removed his torso from his legs. Bullets peppered his reptilian skin again but he didn't care. Next, he pulled out his whip and threw it at the next guy which was further.

It wrapped around his waist, he tried to escaped from it but it his fate was sealed. 0007 pulled closing the gap between them in an instant, he grabbed the human by the head and used him to shield himself from the third volley. Bullets peppered his victim, once the firing stopped, 0007 threw him at the next three who were trying to form a firing line. The three were knocked down, they tried to push the body away as fast as they could when all of them noticed something above them. Its enlarging shadow started to become bigger and their action started to become even more frantic.

A shrill scream escaped from all three before two were completely cut off when the monster dug both blades on their faces. Fortunately, the third one managed to wiggle away and started making a beeline for his comrades only to have his head explode into a thousand pieces by 0007's shoulder cannon. Just in the span of ten seconds flat, six had already died.

Seeing the deadly efficiency, durability and agility of the monster that they're dealing with, fear started to encase around but it wasn't enough to warrant a panicked retreat, they were hunters after all, they're the best of the best. They will kill this monstrosity one way or another. Chambering another round they prepared for the fourth volley. Meanwhile, 0007 grabbed his whip once more flicked it towards the next closest human. The bladed length tore his upper torso, an added bonus, the tip of the whip managed to reach the human behind, the blade wasn't enough to remove his upper body from his legs but it was enough to disembowel him.

He fell to his knees, a mixture of panic and pain as he tried to prevent his intestines from touching the ground, his attempts were abruptly stopped when three laser dots were pointed at his head, the next was history. The fourth volley peppered his skin once more but like the last three, the results remain the same. He snapped his neck to the left, locking eyes with another human who shrieked, he pulled the bolt and pushed it back in, watching as his rifle chambers a new round. He thought he still had time to load and shoot but that was proven wrong when his gun was harshly swatted away, his leg and his face were then gripped hard.

Holding the screaming human perpendicular to him, 0007 heaved before throwing him towards a nearby tree, due to a Yautja's incredible strength, the human flew towards the aimed tree, in an instant, the visceral sound of his back wrapping around the tree echoed through the forest before it was covered by the fifth and last volley. 0007 looked at the remaining twelve hunters frantically rummaging through their equipment for their stripper clips.

He wouldn't allow them

Pulling out his disc, he threw it. The disc soared across the field, the first victim it claimed was a man who had just placed the stripper clip in. His head rolled on the floor, its second had half of his neck spurting out blood since he was a bit to the left of the first victim. With a gurgling noise, he stopped reloading his rifle and decided to live longer and applied pressure to his bleeding neck. He died while being drowned by his own blood.

0007 didn't bother retrieving the disc since he can always call it back later. With only ten remaining, they all aimed again and fired but by this point, all were trembling in fear. Few were just blindly shooting in his general direction, completely missing 0007.

He roared

That was it, the last straw, they couldn't take it anymore, they dropped their rifles and ran deeper into the forest, screaming in terror about a monster who withstood the five shots from twenty five hunters.

He ran

He didn't care about his group any more, he just wanted to live.

Terror filled his entire being

What the fuck was that thing!?

He didn't know how long he'd been running but he was sure that he ran fast enough to hide from that monstrosity. He needed to tell this to Captain Rogers, he needed to know of that thing in the forest. Suddenly, he lost his balance, then he felt a sharp pain coming from his foot and thigh, he screamed.

Looking down, he realise that his left leg had been caught in some kind of trap. It was the size of a wooden box, at the bottom tipped and downward serrated spikes made of wood pierced through both his foot and his tight. He tried to pull his leg out only for him to scream louder, whatever was coated in the spikes, it enhanced his pain ny tenfold. In his panicked and pained mind, a clarity came up, reaching over to his uninjured leg, he pulled out his knife, if he can cut the wood then he can just push it inward until it reaches the end.

This took about three minutes but nevertheless, he managed to chop the wooden spike off. Now for the hard part, feeling around his hamstring, he found the entry part of the spike, a couple of deep breaths before he pushed his finger in, the squelching sound entered his ears and following his was immense pain. He howled as loud as he could, tears flowing down his face but nevertheless he persevered until the spike popped off. He exhaled, feeling lightheaded. Sadly, he wasn't done.

He was about do the same for his foot when something grabbed him from the back of his head. His body froze, fear overtaking his pain as he was forced to face whatever was grabbing him. Blood and urine mixed and dropped to the ground as the monster from earlier stared at him. It didn't waste any time before bringing up his wrist blade and stabbing it into his stomach. His voice was gone, all that came out was a wheeze of air. His body reeled forward forcing him to look down, there wrapped around the monster's waist were familiar faces, looks of terror plastered on their faces, a reminder of what they felt while this thing was ripping them apart.

He was no different

The monster unsheathed its blade and used its sharpened claws to dig inside him, pain was all he felt then a sudden spike when he felt his spine break, he screamed hard and long as he watched with visceral horror at the sight of his own spine being ripped out in front of him before the monster gave one final tug which ripped his head from his body. Finally, cutting off his screaming

0007 looked at his latest trophy, the remaining nine that ran away ran deep into the forest, a part which he knew was heavily booby trapped, he knew they didn't survive, after all, in their panicked state the didn't have time to view their surroundings. He placed his new trophy on his waist.

One group down, three to go

Author's Note

First part of a four part chapter all about 0007 slaughtering the hunting group! What do you think of this chapter? Did I capture the feel of Predator? Or was it more brutal than what I had written?

Tell me your thoughts and of course, some constructive criticism. If you have something to say then please do tell! I don't care whether it's a complaint, compliment or just something random, I appreciate the reviews and replies and I try my best to answer them to the fullest of my abilities!

Nowhere to Run: Part 2

Night had fallen, as per orders from the captain, the groups met up beck where they first split up to set up camp. Group C was the first one to reach the spot and started making camp. Not long after Group D, Captain Roger's group, emerged from the forest to be greeted by Group C. Multiple campfires were set up with some already set up to cook some stew. The scent of chicken soup, courtesy of the chickens from the cottage, wafted to the hunters' noses instinctively guiding them towards the cauldron.

Their celebrations were halted though when they heard some bushes rustle, prompting most of them to put down their soup and take out their weapons. A tense moment permeated around the group as they all awaited the potential threat behind the bushes to make its move. What emerged was a naked man screaming surprise. A solid second passed before both Groups D and C lowered their weapons, chuckling while they were at it. Meanwhile, Group B came out from their hiding spot, chuckling at their naked companion who was already putting his clothes back on.

The battalion started to laugh and talk about random things, enjoying the chicken soup that was served. Things were just looking up even more when someone took out their backpack and only pulled out beer, after beer, after beer. A couple of hours passed, the moon had already reached its zenith. A large number of hunters were fast asleep with the help of alcohol. For those who didn't drink chose to take the first watch, one of the hunters who didn't drink was sitting on a rock looking at the wall of trees, Captain Rogers.

How could he enjoy his drink when one group hadn't returned yet?

"Permission to sit next to you, captain?"

Captain Rogers looked to his left to see a familiar face, he gestured at him with a finger. "Your...,"

"Zachiel, sir,"

Rogers gave out a mute 'ah' before he made some space for his rock, allowing Zachiel to speak. There was a long silence as both just appreciated the presence of the other while at the same time, vigilantly scanning the forest for anything that might come out of place. This continued on for a few more minutes before the silence was finally broken when Zachiel spoke.

"Trouble sleeping, sir?"

"Not that, just waiting for the last group,"

"Glad to know that I'm not the only one who noticed,"

Rogers smiled. "Glad to know I'm not the only one who worries,"

Another moment of silence passed before Zachiel started rummaging through his pack. He took out two pieces of jerky, one for himself and offered the second to his captain which took it and bit on it like a cigarette. The silence was broken once more when both of them heard the brush in front of them rustling, immediately after, a figure fell out of the bush making both Zachiel and Rogers jump in surprise. Rifles trained at the figure they immediately recognised the uniform he was wearing and immediately rushed to him.

Both Zachiel and Rogers started repeating 'hey' and 'its okay' while the man started sobbing, panic coursing through his body. He then looked up and made eye contact with his captain. The look of pure terror on his face, he grabbed on to Rogers' shirt and pulled him closer.

"T-T-They're...."

A look of concern and confusion was on the captain's face as he tried to make sense of his soldier's mumblings. Realising that he couldn't after a few words in, he slowly convinced him to calm down. Rogers then called the nearest sentry to go and take a blanket, upon closer look he could see how muddy and torn up his clothes were, it was like he was thrown into the meat grinder only to be spit out. The man trembling, he was sitting fetus style in front of the fire, rocking back and forth.

A few more minutes passed and an empty bowl of chicken soup later, the man's trembling had finally stopped enough for him to stop stammering whenever he tried to say something. Kneeling down, Captain Rogers asked him what happened. He told them, every grueling, visceral and brutal detail. He told them about a monster in the very forest they sleep in and how couldn't be hurt by their firearms. He told them of the weapons it carried and how it was so otherworldly. He told them of his friends getting their spine ripped out from their bodies, brandishing it like trophy.

Zachiel and Rogers looked at each other, concern mounting on their faces. His story sounded so unreal that most would probably just dismiss it and assume that he's gone insane while venturing in the forest. The terrified look and the thousand yard stare that he had though also made them think that he wasn't lying. Either way, it was late, all of them are tired. Rogers bid the scarred man to sleep and told Zachiel to watch over him just in case.

Day had arrived slowly for some as they nursed their heads, clearing the hangover from yesterday's tomfoolery. Another hour had passed before all started to gain some composure. Standing on top of a relatively flat rock, Captain Rogers grabbed everyone's attention by shouting to form up.

Forming their ranks it was then that everyone noticed that they were short by twenty four. Their questioning looks were answered when Captain Rogers had told them of what happened the yesterday. Disbelief started to spread but that was stopped when the lone survivor of Group A stood next to Rogers and explained to them with morbid detail as to what happened to his group. There were still a small number of people who were still skeptical at the thought of an apex predator but what they did believe was to avenge their fallen brothers by hunting down this so called 'predator'.

Opinions were raised as to how their plan of attack would work, eventually, it boiled down to two choices. Continue to split up to cover more ground or all would stick together, strength in numbers. Last time didn't work since this described monster was said to be able to withstand a volley of their rifles. If twenty five people didn't work, how about they increased that by a factor of three? Surely then will they start doing some damage to this unseen monster.

With their plan set in motion, Captain Rogers rallied all of them and started to trudge through the forest again. Of course, they hadn't forgotten their mission to hunt down the last of the pony resistance, they were just more alert of their surrounding, checking every nook and cranny for this unseen monster. They looked up in the trees, since they knew how high the creature could jump, the looked straight ahead, making sure to cover all of their blind spots, making this impenetrable and moving fortress of humans.

The lone survivor told them how this monster was an apex predator? Well, that predator is going to be in a world of hurt once one of them lay their eyes on him.

"At least, they're not dumb like in the movies," 0007 thought to himself.

Crouched and in the shelter of some high brush, the Jumper used his thermal vision to tail the hunters. While the hunters still don't pose a threat to him, it did cause him a small bump since, he has the trouble of killing all of them without being riddled with bullets. Durable as his body may be, it will rouse some suspicion if he doesn't fall under the might of seventy six rifles trained at him. Therefore he hatched another plan, something simple.

If they're going to increase their firepower by a factor of three, who is stopping him from doing the same?

With that being said, he accessed his Core.

A forbidden technique that's been locked and kept away from prying eyes. Found by a young boy who is destined to do great things. The ability to be able to clone oneself countless of time as long as they still have energy to spare. Add on the fact that the moment this clone dies, it's memories will be transferred to the original host making it useful experience for the host.

[The Core has allowed access to: Naruto's large chakra pool - Naruto]

[The Core has allowed access to: Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu - Naruto]

Feeling the mystical force inside of him, 0007 then his pointer and right fingers for both hand and placed them together for form a cross. Two puff sounds were heard and once the white smoke cleared, out came two more Yautjas equipped with weapons and equipment similar to his. Since there were only two clones, 0007 was sure that bullets won't be enough to pop them.

He looked at both of his clones and spoke the Yautja tongue. "Plan is simple enough, kill them,"

Both clones looked at each other before comically shrugging. All three Yautjas opened their wrist gauntlets. Pushing a button all three decloaked and split up.

Author's Note

Part 2 of 4! What do you guys think? Was the lore behind the multi shadow clone jutsu accurate? Also, feel free to correct me if I was wrong of the clones' durability to tank a bullet. If you know any other powers that duplicate, feel free to tell me a long with the lore behind the duplicating ability.

Nowhere to Run: Part 3

The silence between the group was deafening. Rifles were aimed high and low, hoping to catch a glimpse of the invisible enemy that had taken out a quarter of the battalion. Eyes were stretched thing, focusing on every minute detail that might tell them of something that could provide evidence that the monster was around here. Of course, there were others who were more lax with the situation, chalking it up to the sole survivor of the group experiencing some hallucinations. Nevertheless, that didn't mean that they weren't alert with their surroundings, a rustle of a brush there and their heads would snap to that location, taking five to ten seconds of making sure that it was just some wildlife passing through.

When nothing would happen during that time frame, one of them would then be sent to check the brush, nudging the plant life and stirring up whatever was hiding under it. More times than not, what would emerge was something harmless. Although, occasionally they could encounter some of the smaller monsters like the cockatrice, which were dealt with immediately, of the times when there was nothing there was something to bring more concern as they had no idea what had passed through their watch which would increase their paranoia little by little.

Hours had already passed since they left the camp and slowly all of them started to relax, to the point where even a few started cracking jokes which of course was responded with some stifled chuckling, hoping that the captain wouldn't berate them for easing the tension. Meanwhile, the captain, while not as alert as before still looked around his surroundings, he knew something was wrong, he couldn't place it but from his experience he just knew that something was off with the place.

Perhaps it might just be because of the forest's atmosphere, how it's eerie appearance makes one think that there is more to this forest than what meets the eyes. HIs thinking was put on halt when when the he and a few near him heard another rustling to their left. Looking around he locked eyes with one of the hunters who were cracking jokes and bid him to investigate the bush. Said hunter looked to his companions before shrugging and doing what their captain had asked him.

As the man made his way to the bush a faint sound was heard, the sound of something stuttering. Thinking that it was just the wildlife making noise, the all dismissed it. All except two; the captain and the sole survivor. The captain had his reasons as to why this foreboding crackling sound brought a sense of dread inside of him but he never showed it, keeping his composure since his battalion looks up to him. The sole survivor on the other hand was more vocal with the sound.

"DON'T GO THERE!"

The one who was called to investigate looked back towards the sole survivor. "Relax buddy, there's nothing here,"

Captain Rogers looked towards the sole survivor to see him already backing up, fear evident in his eyes. This prompted a few to do the same, the feeling of paranoia climbing up at the back of their minds as they all watched the lone hunter poke the bush one, two, three times even going so far as to shoot the plant so to scare whatever was persistently hiding under the bush.

One second

Two seconds

Three seconds

Four seconds

Five seconds

The hunter turned around a grin on his face, "See, nothi-AAAAAAAAGGGHH!"

All of the hunters flinch at his blood curdling screams as he two blade protruding out of his chest. He was easily lifted up the ground which in turn revealing whatever was impaling their comrade. At first they thought he was being levitated by an invisible being but that all changed when the monster finally decloaked. The ones nearest to the monster started backing away as much as possible. All were still stunned at the horrific sight of the monster casually holding up their still screaming friend. That was finally silenced when the monster brought out its other wrist blade and slit his throat, becoming a gurgling mess before finally dying through the drowning of his own blood.

"OPEN FIRE!" Captain Rogers commanded.

Whether it was because of his commanding voice or the need for revenge, all aimed their weapons at the Yautja. They were about to pull their triggers when another scream came from behind them. Captain Rogers snapped his head behind him to see another one of his men just had their spine ripped out of their body by another Yautja. Under a veil of calm, was a barrel's worth of rage, splitting the group in to half, they all aimed at their two adversaries. Smoke coming out from their weapons covered the area. There was no order anymore, just people firing freely, not caring if one had the intention of firing a volley.

On the other side, the Yautjas were ripping and tearing left and right, 0007 had just finished disemboweling one hunter before he snapped his head to the left, letting his shoulder cannon take out another hunter. One courageous hunter decided that if bullets aren't going to make the cut, then perhaps blades might answer their problem. Aside from scratching the scales of 0007 what followed next was his spine and head on the ground.

It didn't take long for their morale to break as slowly but surely, their numbers decreased but the monsters didn't, their bullets still not doing any form of damage. Those who decided that they should live ran away only to discover that there was third monster ensuring that there were no stragglers.

WIth nowhere to run, things were getting desperate for the battalion and yet despite this, Captain Rogers remained as calm as he could. He took a deep breath before he yelled.

"FORM UP!"

Second nature instincts came in and the remaining hunters formed up behind their captain. Hands were trembling and breathings were ragged as they all tried to look brave at their enemies but they didn't. From their strong seventy six, to their weakened thirteen. They knew that there was no hope for them to see the light of the day. Across the pile of dead bodies stood two Yautjas, eyeing their prey with some interest, mostly on Captain Rogers, certainly, throughout this whole massacre that he had seen, not once did he falter.

Bursting through the brush behind them, another Yautja came. Just when it was going to swing its whip at the hunters, it was stopped when the first one they say brought its claws up. This made the hunters equally curious and terrified. Stepping up, the Yautja which all believed to be the leader pointed at Captain Rogers. The silence was deafening as they all watched the monster take off its armour one by one. This gesture wasn't missed by their captain, it was obvious what it was doing.

It had deemed him worthy enough to be fought on equal grounds, hence why it started taking of its armour.

Once they were all removed, it then focused on removing its bio-helmet. Taking off tube after tube after tube, tensions finally peaked when it had its finally tube removed. It wrapped its hands around its helmet before taking it off, revealing its face to the rest of the remaining hunters. It spread its legs and lowered it form and gave a roar that asked for a challenge. Captain Rogers' features darkened before he stepped up to its challenge, reaching behind him, he took out his ten-inch serrated knife. Just when the fight was about to start, Rogers asked the predators one thing.

"If I give you a worthy battle... will you let my men go?"

This brought some confusion to the predators as the leader looked at its companion which only answered with a shrug. Looking back at Rogers it nodded. A sigh of relief came out of his mouth before his face returned back to its serious look. Bringing up his knife up to his face he glared at his enemy.

"Bring it on, you ugly motherfucker!"

Author's Note

Part 3 of 4! Like always, thoughts about this chapter! Sorry there are still no ponies involved, once this part is done, more will be seen as they will be with 0007, as they retake Ponyville.

Nowhere to Run: Part 4

The tension was palpable as a hunter who fights stares down at a hunter for sport. Captain Rogers' forehead dripped cold sweat, he swallowed a glob of saliva as he looked at the one responsible for killing his whole battalion. His years of experience helped somewhat as the first thing he did was observe the monster, determining where its weak spots were. Sadly, he found none, after all, this is his first time fighting a creature that wasn't a quadruped for a long time. The worst part for him is the fact that the monster wasn't confident, it didn't show any signs of overconfidence, it glared at him as if he was his equal.

The long silence was finally broken when the monster moved, claws stretched wide, ready to tear him apart. Of course, Rogers saw this coming and prepare himself. The first swipe came from the side making their leader jump back, he couldn't reply to the monster's attack as the other hand went for a diagonal down slash forcing him to lean to the left. Fortunately, the claw had only grazed his clothing, now revealing a bare right shoulder. He gave himself a mental grin as he noticed that the monster had overextended itself.

He quickly rushed up to its guard, his twelve-inch blade held backwards and thrusted. He struck through and deep making the monster cry in pain. He could hear from behind him the cheers of his soldiers. He was going to continue his attack only gasp in pain as the monster kneed his side. He quickly retrieved his knife before his whole torso was grabbed and thrown across the makeshift arena.

He rolled to a stop and wasn't given enough time to think as he forced his body to stand up and immediately leaned to the side once more to avoid a claw that was about to tear his face off. Another came but this time he was prepared to dodge it. He leaned, successfully avoiding certain death but not all was saved as the bridge of his nose was scratched, though the injury didn't bother him since he was hyped up in adrenaline. Seeing the monster overextend itself again, he brought up his arms and charged back into its guard.

Sending two quick left jabs to the monster's face before following it up with a mean right hook, the monster stumbled backward, clearly stunned. Not missing this valuable opportunity, he brought his leg up and kicked the monster's right knee forcing it to go down, once it was down on one knee he held his knife backwards again and swiped. Green blood splattered all over the grass followed by a mandible falling, they Yautja screeched in pain and in it blind retaliation, managed to back hand Captain Rogers hard enough to be throw far away and collide with a tree.

Rogers groaned in pain, from a distance, he could hear his men cheering for him, telling him over and over again to get up. Despite having a couple cracked ribs on his side and a graze on his now, he really wasn't that much damaged when he compared himself with the monster he's fighting with.

Unfortunately for him though, that was going to change right now.

0007 had to admit, he severely underestimated this man. With deep stab wound an a missing mandible he knew that he was slowly tearing him apart. Which he wouldn't allow since, he still had to finish his contract. Ignoring the pain from his mouth and the wound from his side, he walked up to the still struggling captain. He had to finish this quick, lest he starts to adapt to his fighting style. He ran up to him and quickly grabbed him by the throat. The captain struggled against his vice grip and was about to start stabbing his arm, 0007 immediately saw this and threw him away. Just like earlier, 0007 ran up to him but this time he punted the captain forcing him to cough up blood.

He should've continued fighting but instead he rolled over and clutched his side, groaning in pain. An actual Yautja probably would've waited until his opponent could stand up again but he wasn't a Yautja, he wa Jumper. He brought out his claws and like a wild animal started to tear him apart. First was the skin then followed the flesh, not long after the insides. By now the captain's screaming had stopped, all sense of pain lost as he looked with horror at his ravaged body. Finally, 0007 found what he wanted, gripping the spine he tore it apart and pulled finally ridding the captain's body of his spine and head.

0007 leaned back and roared prompting his clones to do the same. The cheering of the humans had stopped and were now looking at their dead captain in horror. Once the celebration was over, 0007 looked at the terrified hunters. He was then reminded of the captain's wish; hoping that he would free his men if he gave 0007 a worthy battle to which he honoured.

He lied

The screams of the last hunters echoed in the forest that day.

Twilight Sparkle trotted around throne room, a worried look on her face. A million questions raced her mind wondering what was happening outside of the ruins. Did those traps that the mercenary taught them work? WIll she have to start shoring up defenses and begin their last stand? Did the mercenary finally show his true colours and betrayed them? All of these were suddenly put to a halt when she hear an unusual beat of footsteps. Looking up, her eyes widened at the sight of Jumper 0007, there was a large gash on his right cheek while his right side was bleeding.

Even though he had severe injuries, he walked as if they were nothing but flesh wounds. Grasped in his right hand was a small sack, the bottom was stained with crimson making her nervous as to what was inside. Nonchalantly, 0007 threw the sack towards her, the sack rolled a few times before it finally vomited out what was inside.

A human head

"Twilight Sparkle, meet Captain Rogers... leader of the battalion that is... well, was sent to kill the rest of you,"

Twilight eyes were wide as she tried to say anything. She never got another word as 0007 spoke again.

"Two weeks,"

"Huh?" Twilight said dumbly.

"You have two weeks to prepare an army before the humans back in the village realize something's up,"

Author's Note

Tell me your thoughts! Personally, I think the climax for this arc was kinda bad. I don't know, tell me what you think about it.