//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: First Conflict 
// Story: The Final Strike 
// by BlackDragon 
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The atmosphere was thick with tension and fear. It was so thick that one could cut through it like a hot knife against butter. Now with the new details of the criminal released, everyone was on high alert. Not to mention, the details also caught the imagination of ponies and others all over town. Unusually tall, slender, agile, and strangely ape-like, these creatures have had people asking all sorts of questions. What are these creatures? Where did they come from? Why are they causing all this trouble?

But, those questions would be answered later. Right now, the authorities and the Mane 6 have a lead on the fugitive and they vowed not to let him out of their grasp. He will not escape justice this time! 

At the dark of night, three of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, led a portion of the Royal Guard as they patrolled the town. Everyone was vigilant; the Royal Guards were armed to the teeth and the trio leading them wore their Elements, in case the fugitive possessed any magical abilities. In fact, considering that they may have discovered a new species, it might either have no magic or a new type of magic never seen before. Still, they all had a job to do. They will all make sure that the job gets done and peace will be restored to Ponyville.

Right now, the three Elements carefully treaded along the main road, watching from all sides, while the others stayed in town in case the culprit makes his move out of sight. Rainbow Dash gently gilded in the skies above while Twilight and Applejack stuck to the ground. The three Elements scanned their surroundings as they made their way. All was quiet and all were left weary of it. It was almost too quiet and the silence never helped in easing everyone involved. 

Worse still, the silence continued on and on. What must been mere minutes felt like hours. The search would have been called off if it weren't something unexpected. A feminine shriek from a distance pierced the silence, startling the search party. 

With newfound determination, Twilight snorted and shouted, "Everypony, split up! Dash, follow him from above! Applejack and I will cover both sides and surround him!"

Rainbow Dash saluted with her response, "You got it, Twi!"

And with that, the leading trio separated into three groups. Rainbow soared higher up with Pegasus guards following her. Meanwhile, Twilight and Applejack began their charge. Both mares sprinted toward the sound; their sight completely focused on the dirt road ahead of them with a fire burning in their eyes. They reached a right turn and just spotted the faint outline of a two-legged figure before it sprinted away. Twilight ordered the figure to freeze, but her commands went disobeyed and the figure continued to run away straight to the Everfree forest. 

Applejack growled and ran after him with Twilight and the rest of the Guard following her shortly after. From above, Rainbow Dash followed the other two mares and followed the figure as well, tracking his every move and memorizing them just after seeing. Whoever, or rather whatever, he was, he wasn't going to get away so easily. No matter how far or fast he goes, Dash would be right behind him. So with a cocky grin, she dived straight towards the figure with undivided attention. 

Then, she rammed her shoulder into the figure and sent him skidding on the dirt. She quickly wrapped her hooves around him from behind, but his wide frame prevented her from getting a full grasp on him. Both the figure and Dash grunted as he struggled and writhed all around and Rainbow's grip was starting fail. 

She shouted, "I GOT HIM, BUT HELP ME OUT HERE! HE'S A FIGHTER!"

Shortly after, the Elements and the Guard appeared and charged toward them. Applejack was the first to attack as she leaped forward and headbutted the figure's torso, instantly knocking the wind out of him. As he laid on the ground, the others joined in dogpiling the figure with Applejack being the most violent. She slammed his head, hit him, even bit him, while she cursed at him for scaring her little sister to death. She would have nightmares after her encounter with this fiend and now he was going to pay through the nose. 

The three Elements seemed to have the fugitive in their grasp. He even went quiet and still for a moment. Suddenly, Twilight Sparkle's ear twitched. She could hear strange noises somewhere in the Everfree Forest. There were other voices, screams, echoing in the woods and they were growing louder and louder as time passed on. Suddenly, the surrounding foliage started rustling until other figures burst out and forced the Elements and the Royal Guard off of their companion. In the chaos, the new creatures battled the Dash and Twilight with almost immediate superiority by quickly overwhelming them. 

Meanwhile, Applejack remained hanging on to their original target. She struggled to hold on to the fugitive's arm as he was nearly free. He shook and writhed even more until he finally loosened the Element of Honesty's grip enough to hold her by her front hooves. Then, he swung her around while she clung onto him however she could. She even bit into his uniform since her hooves they were nearly loosing their grip. With a growl of frustration, the fugitive slammed the farm pony into the ground.

She let out a muffled scream of pain when she hit the ground. Without any apparent effect, he continued to slam her to the ground and even started slamming her against the trees, into the vegetation, and even against the other ponies, hurting the farm pony and loosening her grip even more. With one more swing, he finally threw Applejack into a nearby bush. 

Finally free, he shouted, "WE'VE BEEN MADE! FALL BACK!"

With that, the fugitive turned around and sprinted deeper into the forest. The other creatures immediately followed him after releasing their opponents. As they ran to the forest, two of the Elements and the Royal Guard tended their wounded while Applejack stood up and returned to the dirt road. For a moment, she looked around and saw all but one of the creatures retreating into the forest. Growling again, she went after the creature with newfound anger and determination. 

She ran on and on for seemingly forever, but she can hardly keep up. For as long as she ran, the creature seemed to go farther and farther away. She went so far into the Everfree Forest that no dirt road could be seen, but she could still barely hear the creature she was after. Finally, she leaped from our of the dense undergrowth and landed into a strange clearing. As she looked around, the surrounding vegetation seemed damaged in some way, as if they were cut or broken apart. 

The farm pony wandered around for a while; her confusion growing as she saw no sign of life in her current surroundings. No voices, no creatures, not the songs of crickets could be heard. Suddenly, she was startled by a thundering roar that shattered the silence.  Then she was blinded by two bright lights in front of her, which was then accompanied by other pairs of blinding white lights surrounding her.

The lights suddenly grew larger until they broke through the vegetation. Applejack jumped back into the dense undergrowth and ducked down. There, her jaw dropped at what she saw. The lights were attached to gigantic metallic machines that rode on enormous wheels. As they rode away from the forest, Applejack froze in place for almost a minute before she shook her head and regained her focus. 

She went after them again, but she was having even less success than before. In no time at all, they were leaving her sight and Applejack was left alone in the dark woods. Try as she might, she could never keep up with the machines. Her desperate attempts became pitiful as she was left alone in the dark. Finally, she stopped her chase and slumped to the ground, panting and her coat matted in sweat. As she laid on the ground, her voice started to tremble and her eyes started to water. She tried to catch the culprit responsible for attacking Ponyville and she just had him, but she failed. She failed Ponyville, her friends, even her little sister.

In a final act of protest, she screamed "DAAAAAAAMMMNN!"

Her cry could be heard all throughout the forest from where she left, and she was quickly taken back to Ponyville by Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. The latest victims, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, reported their encounter as did the other before them. Vinyl was about to leave home for concert until she spotted the creature sneaking up to Octavia's bedroom. She tried to defend her housemate and even fended him off from her. Despite Octavia's fear, Vinyl took some pride in that she had fought off an intruder in her home. 

They may have learned something about their enemies but in the end, it was just another failed capture and the culprits are still free.