Author's Note

IT'S NOT A DREAM! NEW CHAPTER POSTED!!! This story is Edited by the amazing WurkyWilk358! Go check him out and give him some love! I hope you all enjoy, I love you all!

Primal Instinct Part 1

No POV. Ponyville

It has been a few days since the battle with Dr. Freeze and things have been changing. While Freeze cooperated with Batman and the others on providing information on the other villains Batman, Red Robin, and Twilight have been working in the labs of Canterlot to search for a cure for Freeze’s wife and himself as part of their deal. With Batman occupied with creating a cure, it was up to Red Hood, Nightwing, and Robin to figure out a plan on how to take down the other villains. Red Hood was back in Ponyville with the others as he wanted to make sure Ponyville stayed safe just in case, assuming that the villains may know about this town being his new home now.

Currently, Red Hood was in Twilight’s Library with Nightwing, Robin, Avril, and Rainbow Dash.

“We can’t just sit here and wait, we have to search for them,” Robin said.

“We know, we just gotta wait for some information from Freeze or any news on them,” Nightwing told him.

“And it’s not like we can just split up and scour all of Equestria hoping to find something. There’s too much ground to cover,” Red Hood said as he drank some coffee.

“What if we enlist the help of the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow Dash suggested. “They’re the fastest flyers in all of Equestria and they’re also another branch of the military. They could help us with covering more ground.”

“That could work,” Nightwing agreed.

“Maybe, they would also have more motivation to help to avenge the ones that were killed by Bane,” Red added.

“We could go and talk with them, I know where Twilight keeps a cloud-walking potion in the basement,” Spike said.

“That’s not a bad idea, go and grab it for us.” Jason said as he gently rubbed Spike’s head, making the small dragon smile proudly as he happily ran off to fetch the potion. Spike soon returned with a few bottles of cloud-walking potions and handed them to the vigilantes. Nightwing and Robin both opened the bottle and took a sniff of it, the two looking over at Red Hood who was already drinking the potion.

“Bottoms up,” Nightwing said as he soon drank the potion. Robin took a deep breath and followed his lead, the two finished the bottles and looked down at themselves.

“Uh…did it work?” Nightwing asked.

“You’ll know soon enough, now we just gotta get up to cloudsdale,” Red Hood said.

“We can take Twilight’s air balloon, she always makes sure to keep it handy,” Spike said, “Follow me, I’m sure Twilight won’t mind us using it.”

As the group followed after Spike, Avril grabbed Red’s hand and pulled him close. “Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?” Red Hood looked at the others as they nodded and continued on.

“We’ll wait outside,” Nightwing said as he patted Red Hood’s back.

Avril and Red were soon left alone so they could speak.

“Look, I…I know you have a job to do and that this is very important to you. Because of your life and now because of us you have to do this, but…” Avril spoke as she gently pulled his hand down to her stomach. “Remember to come back home, safely.” Avril then leaned in and rested her head on his chest. Removing his helmet, Jason leaned down and kissed Avril’s cheek.

“I promise to come home, Avril,” Jason told her.

“You better. Besides, you still owe all of us an actual date.” Avril smiled as she gave him a quick peck on the nose. Jason chuckled a bit and nodded.

“I’ll be sure to give you all a proper date.” Jason told her as he put his helmet back on and prepared to leave with the others.

CLOUDSDALE. WONDERBOLT ACADEMY

Jason, Grayson, Damian, and Spike landed the air balloon down on a landing bay and stepped off, Grayson and Damian were a little cautious about stepping on the cloud until Jason showed them they were fine by walking on the clouds.

“Whoa. It feels…weird,” Damian said as he jumped a little bit on the cloud.

“You get used to it,” Jason chuckled.

“Beats falling to the ground,” Grayson joked as they all turned to see two stallions wearing what appear to be officers’ uniforms and sunglasses.

“This is a restricted area, this is no place for civilians. Turn back now,” One of the officers ordered them

“Easy flyboy, need to talk with Spitfire,” Jason said as he tried to avoid any conflict.

“Return to your air balloon now, sir.” Unfortunately, the officers refused to let them in.

“It’s information regarding the dead Wonderbolts.” Hearing this the two officers froze and looked at each other, having heard and even held a funeral for their fallen comrades. The two officers stared at each other for a moment before turning back to Jason and the group.

“Follow us,” one pegasus said.

“Friendly bunch, aren’t they?” Dick asked rhetorically.

“Can’t blame them,” Jason said, pointing his thumb at what looked like a memorial. Several Pegasus ponies had scattered dozens of flowers around some pictures. “Seems like a funeral was held recently.”

“It was,” one of the officers said. “From what I heard. you seem to know who it was.’

“If you’re insinuating that we’re with the people that killed them, you’re wrong. We’re the ones who are trying to stop them,” Jason cleared up. The officers both looked at each other again before speaking.

“Then make sure you beat that bastard to a bloody pulp,” They said as they escorted them towards Spitfire’s office. “Wait here.” Jason and the group waited outside for a few minutes before the door opened back up.

“Come in,” Spitfire told them, stepping inside they saw Spitfire in her officer’s uniform. It was a dark blue color and it was a full suit, not a dress skirt. She had a few ribbons on her right breast and wore a pair of dark orange sunglasses.

“I take it this isn’t a friendly visit?” Spitfire asked as she sat back down behind her desk.

“Fraid not,” Jason said. “Let’s cut to the chase. We need any intel you got on Bane or anyone else wreaking havoc across Equestria.”

“Oh, and what makes you think I’ll just willingly tell you what I know?” Spitfire said dismissively. “You may be tossing bed sheets with the princesses, but I don’t answer to you.”

“Ooh, busted." Jason heard Damian’s snide comment before giving the little shit the bird.

“Look, what matters is that we stop them. Any info you can give us to speed it along saves time for us, and guarantees no one else gets killed or hurt by that monster,” Nightwing argued while leaning his hands on the captain’s desk.

“I’m not stupid enough to deny you have a lot of skill, since I saw you fight back in the arena at the Crystal Empire. In fact, you are arguably, by far, one of the most skilled fighters I’ve ever seen. But that still doesn’t mean I can just disclose private information to civilians,” Spitfire told them.

“If you don’t let us help them, more people will die. You know what happened to the ship and what happened in Trottingham. This isn’t a matter of rank or protocol, it’s a matter of life and death. Our best chance at stopping them is by working together,” Jason said as he slammed his hands on Spitfire’s desk, taking off his helmet as he looked at her with his own eyes. “We fought these people before and I guarantee you that if you don't let us help a LOT more people will die, our best chance at stopping them is by working together.” Spitfire stared into Jason”s eyes as she listened to every word he said, trying to find any hint of hesitation, deception, anything to give her a reason not to trust him.

“…I’ve sent a few teams out to search throughout Equestria to find any clues on strange activities. Radio checking in to keep us updated,” Spitfire said.

“But?” Spike asked.

“But one of my teams didn’t report in,” Spitfire said, resting her chin on her hands.

“Where was their last location?” Dick asked.

“The last known location was down southeast, deep in the jungle. They claimed they saw massive gorillas wearing armor,” Spitfire briefed them.

“Grodd.” Jason said before putting his helmet back on. “We’ll take care of it.”

“I’m coming with you,” Spitfire said as she stood up. “My best friend, Soarin, was a part of that squad. I’m not going to sit on my flank while he’s in danger.” Her tone was clear that she wasn’t asking nor was she going to accept a no from them.

“Then we’ll have to move fast,” Dick said.

“You could use your car, Jason,’ Spike suggested.

“You have a car?’ Dick and Damian asked while looking at Jason.

“I do,” Jason nodded. “Long story, met some people, I’ll tell you all about it later. We can swing by Ponyville and take it.”

“Whatever you plan to do, just do it fast. I can fly there with a squad and meet you guys there. We’ll have to keep in contact.” Spitfire said while putting on an earpiece. Jason and the others all used their links to find Spitfire’s frequency and spoke, checking to see if they could talk to one another.

“Red? A word?” Nightwing asked.

He and Jason stepped out of the office and walked down the hall a little to talk in private.

“What’s up?” Jason asked.

“Are you good?” Nightwing asked.

“Good? Define good,” Jason said.

“I mean, are you good enough to go on this mission? We both have had our experiences with Grodd,” Nightwing said.

“You’re still paranoid I’ll kill him, aren’t you?” Jason said.

“Rightfully so,” Nightwing said, crossing his arms. “Every baddie who’s here has some kind of personal vendetta against us, especially you. I would even go as far to say their grudge against you is almost as big as Batman himself. I just want to make sure you don’t do anything that might jeopardize the life you’ve chosen.”

“This is my home now, the women I love and my soon-to-be-born children are all here. I will do what I have to to keep them safe,” Jason firmly said.

“And by that you mean?” Dick pressed.

“I won't kill them…unless it’s necessary,” Jason replied.

“No, Jason, we don’t kill.” Nightwing tried to plead with his brother to not go against their code, the code that kept them separated from the people they fight against.

“Remember, Dick, I honored that code most of the time back in Gotham. Back then, I only had you, Bruce, and the others. You’re the family I always wanted, aside from my late parents. But now I have my own family, and I will do whatever it takes to protect them.” Nightwing looked at Jason and with a heavy sigh he nodded

“I…I know…just don’t lose yourself in doing so,” Nightwing said as they all prepared to head back to Ponyville to ride in Jason’s car.

“I’m coming too,” Spike told them. “T-This is my home too, and I wanna do my part to protect it.”

“Spike-” Jason tried to say.

“No! I don’t want to be the scared little kid anymore!” Spike said as he puffed out his chest and crossed his arms, before any of them could argue Jason sighed and spoke up.

“…Fine. But you will STAY near us the whole time and do EXACTLY what we say, got it?’ Jason ordered him.

“Yes, sir!” With a nod they all headed back out and got in the air balloon, heading back to Ponyville.

“So, what’s the play?” Damian asked. “Sounds like Grodd is trying to set up some kind of base in the jungle.”

“Due to our lack of information we’re going in blind, the best we can do is go to their last sighting, find the lost scout team, and save them. But we need to take Grodd and his men down as soon as possible,” Jason said.

“Should we bring Batman and Red Robin?” Nightwing asked.

“No, they’re too busy working on a cure for Freeze and his wife and I don’t think Freeze will take too kindly if we make him wait even longer. We’ll have to handle it ourselves, otherwise there’s no telling just how dangerous Grodd will become.” The others didn’t feel all too sure about it but knew that Jason was right. They couldn’t afford to wait too long in fear of how many lives may be lost.

“So, what’s so bad about this Grodd guy?” Spike asked.

“Grodd is one of the most intelligent beings on Earth, his telekinesis ability is troubling. Not to mention that his strength is double that of a normal gorilla, able to lift cars with ease and smash through brick walls,’ Robin briefed Spike.

“His main goal is to turn all of humanity into apes or to enslave them for the better race of gorillas,” Jason explained. “Knowing him, he must’ve brought a small army of his kind over here.”

“So…now that he’s here, what would be his goal? Or is he doing a favor for someone?” Spike continued to question.

“Grodd is part of the Legion of Doom, the biggest alliance of supervillains in our world. Most likely it’s part of Lex Luthor’s plan but my best bet is that Grodd plans to double-cross Lex and the Legion for his own goals. Is there any type of powerful magic or artifacts that he could be after?” Nightwing asked.

“Not at the top of my head. But I bet you my entire sack of gems that Twilight would know,” Spike proclaimed.

“True, but she’s too busy with Batman and Red Robin to help us, we can’t afford to have Freeze work against us… That’s it! We can ask Dr. Freeze!” Jason said. “Spike I want you to send a letter to the Princesses and tell them to ask Freeze what he knows, in the meantime let’s get moving.”

The group landed back in Ponyville and Jason led them to the car that his friends made for him

“Can I drive?” Spike asked innocently.

“Spike, you’re still a kid. I don’t think-” Grayson was cut off by Jason speaking up.

“Send the letter, and it's a deal,” Jason said.

“Woohoo!” Spike cheered as he immediately grabbed a pen and paper and wrote a letter to the princess, using his flames to send the letter. Jason took out his keys and unlocked the car, Damian went to the backseat and Grayson rode up in the passenger seat. Jason sat down and had Spike jump up on his lap, turning on the car Jason held the bottom of the steering wheel.

“Not too hard, just turn the wheel wherever you wanna go.” Jason told Spike as the young dragon felt a huge wave of pride and excitement building up inside him. Finally, this would be his chance to show Jason that he can be a great fighter and prove himself in Jason’s eyes.

“Let’s go kick some gorilla butt!” Spike cheered.

Deep within the jungle, an ancient temple stood that looked untouched at first glance. However, large groups of armored gorillas paced about the area as they kept their eyes peeled for intruders. Within the temple, a group of ponies were chained up against the wall, all beaten to near death. Standing by them were a couple of local apes, each seemed to have a glazed daze in their stare. The ponies were too weak from blood loss or their injuries to even be able to lift their heads as another much larger gorilla stomped toward them. He wore armor and a headpiece that signified his position as leader. Following him were two more gorillas that had the same dazed gaze in their eyes.

“I hope you pathetic ponies are still conscious,” the gorilla mocked. “I still have questions I desire to be answered.”

One of the ponies was Soarin, he had a black eye that was so swollen that he was blind in his left eye, his right wing was bent unnaturally and painfully that flying would be out of the question for him, and he had multiple cuts along his body and his suit was torn, blood dripping down his wounds

“W-What do you…want…h-hairball?” Soarin asked, his voice raspy and sounded like he was in great pain. Grodd blinked and looked at the ape next to him. The ape acted like a puppet as it grabbed Soarin’s hand and bent it back all the way.

SNAP!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” Soarin screamed out in agony as his wrist snapped like a twig and felt his hand go completely limp, Soarin looked down and saw a bone sticking out as he cried out in pain.

“Your treatment thus far was only the beginning,” the lead gorilla said calmly as he paced along the captured group. He then glared and snarled at Soarin. “What just happened now is a warning to speak out of turn against Grodd, welp.” Soarin panted and groaned in pain, trying to feel anything in his hand but could feel nothing but agonizing pain

“W-What do you want? Why the buck are you even here?’ Another pony asked, a pegasus stallion with black fur, white and silver mane, autumn eyes, and a lean muscular build. Thunderlane was in a similar state except his left leg was broken and the fingers on his left hand were all snapped in all sorts of unnatural positions.

“I’ve only been in this unnatural world for a short while, but my new ears have informed me of something that has intrigued me,” Grodd said. “An artifact from this world’s history lays dormant somewhere that is said to enhance one’s telekinetic capabilities. I want to know what it is and where I can get it.”

“Why are you asking us? We’re both just soldiers. You’re better off asking a history major,” Soarin said through both pain and blood.

Grodd considered this. “Hmm, sound advice. Perhaps you ponies aren’t as useless as I had originally thought.” Grodd glanced over his shoulder to one of the gorillas.

“Kill the weakest one,” he ordered. One of the gorillas nodded and marched up to the group of ponies, inspecting them all to pick which one should die first. Then he picked one. A young stallion with white fur, white mane, and light blue eyes. From the looks of it, he was fairly young, no older than twenty at best. The gorilla grabbed him and pulled him down.

“Wait! Wait wait wait! No, please Celestia no!” The stallion cried out.

"Nooo! Take me, damn it!” Soarin yelled, pulling on his chains.

“You bastards, leave the kid alone!" Thunderlane and Soarin both tried to plead for the rookie’s life, but it was all in vain as the gorilla pushed the rookie down to his knees and roared, bringing both of his massive fists down on the poor young stallion’s head. A loud, sickening crack was heard as blood and brain matter flew out. The rookie’s body twitched a bit before going completely limp.

“Don’t worry.” Grodd smirked with a sadistic chortle ”Soon you’ll be reunited with him.”

“YOU BUCKING MONSTER!!!” Soarin screamed as Grodd walked away, now laughing out loud. “I’LL KILL YOU!!! I’LL BUCKING KILL YOU ALL!!!”