//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Adopting // Story: The Hunter Guardian of Equestria // by Kitsune_Kenshi //------------------------------// Tempest wasn't sure if she can survive this night, no with that giant monster around, but it's worth a try. She took a deep breath before walking out. This startled the Mane 6 and their friends. She immediately raised her hooves, "No! I surrender! Please don't kill----" she couldn't finish that sentence because Apex came to immediate action and grabbed her neck, lifting her up. "What is your purpose?!" he snarled, "Cuz I'm not taking any tricks." "Apex! Put her down!" Twilight cried. Hearing Twilight, Apex glared at Tempest before dropping her onto the floor. Tempest is still recovering from that sudden outburst, her hooves shaking violently. She saw Twilight and collapsed onto the floor, her voice trembled in fear, "P... Please h...Have mer... mercy on m... me princess..." Apex's wrist blades were out, glaring at the terrified pony, but he met Twilight's soft glance. He sighed and deactivated his blades. "Fine, but if you're planning anything to harm her, you'll deal with me." Apex warned. Tempest nodded, still shaking, but not as violent as before. Something seemed strange about this so called "Apex" creature; he's completely loyal to the mane 6 and there friends, especially to Twilight. It's like he has multi-personalities. "So what are we gonna do with her?" Apex asked. "If she's truly sorry for what she've done, then just give her a chance of reformation." Twilight said. "Whatever you say." (~) 5 weeks since the defeat of storm king and his minions, Tempest is slowly being accepted, she did not make Apex and Twilight regret their decision. Apex apologized to her about his violent actions that they, Tempest forgave him swiftly, they became very good friends and hunting buddies. Apex was introduce to the ponies by Twilight; at first they're scared by Apex's face and his actions, but as time moved on, they, too, accepted him. Princess Celestia found a problem still going on with Apex: his appearance. Not that she's judging him, but it just that his face is a bit too much, especially for the fillies and colts. So she'd decided to call in Apex, for a small change. A hour later, the door of the throne room opened, Apex walked in with no guards blocking him. At first, the royal guards were aware of him, but later, they gained interest in his gears. Apex's generous DNA came in, he let thsoe ponies took in his technologies for research and practice. Now they're armed with plasma weapons instead of spears and swords. Apex also became their coach for physical training and weapon training, Shining Armor is, too, one of his best friends. In time, he became trusty enough to enter the castle and the throne room without being escorted. 'Your majesty, you called?" Apex asked with a small bow. Celestia chuckled, "Just Celestia is fine." Apex nodded. "Anyway, I see you've made some friends in ponyville," she said, "however, I do see a small problem." "What is it?" Apex asked. "Not to be rude, but... Your appearance is a bit too much for most ponies." Celestia said. "Yeah... I figured that..." " So, Apex, do you prefer a small swift of change?" Apex thought about it, as long as he keep his mask on, everything is normal. But once he takes it off, things get a lot harder. The only fillies that were brave enough to talk to him were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which he'd learned that they're Applebloom, Applejack's sister, Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister, and Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash's top fan and an adopted sister of her. So maybe a new look would be fine. "Of course," Apex said, "if it make things easier, uh... one question; it won't hurt that much will it?" The Princess of the Dawn chuckled, "No it won't." Apex nodded, then Celestia's horn began to glow in bright golden light, blinding everyone. It covered Apex as it started to transform. Apex's claws became hooves, his body began to shrink in size, his armor still covering him, but looked way cooler than before. His small yellow eyes turned big as a pony's, and his hairs came shorter. His jaw began to form a regular pony's muzzle, the best part is that he can still stand on his back hooves. When the light faded, Apex studied his new look. https://p7.hiclipart.com/preview/357/206/410/alien-vs-predator-pony-alien-vs-predator-horse-alien.jpg For a brief moment he couldn't find the correct word to describe his new body. Then, one word crept in his mind, Awesome! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Apex POV) Over the past few days, Rainbow Dash would usually come around and ask me to show her how to use my weapons; she argued that she could sue it one day to protect her friends, which I found it reasonable, wrist blades and disc are more than enough for her. There's a limited amount of Royal Guards who uses plasma weapons, I cannot let those plasma weapons fall onto the wrong hands--- Or hooves, these ponies are way too peaceful to use any deadly weapons that can destroy a tank in one single shot. Plus some them were stuck on how to activated plasma casters, so... ya know. But since I'm a carnivore, I asked Fluttershy for permission to hunt, which she hesitated at first, but agreed fro me to hunt, without killing any sapient animals; luckily, fishes are not included. Still sometimes she would follow to me keep an eye out, took her a few days to get use to my brutal hunting style. Princess Twilight on the other hand, has been very intersected in my species, though I never met one personally, but the memories of the past Predators that had been on Earth were planted in my DNA, so I could tell a bit to her. Though she's not amused by the fact that Predators viewed killing and hunting as entertainment, but she is fascinated by the technologies. She asked me to introduce some of my safe technologies to Equestria, which I figured out it would be the cloak and my bio-mask. I explained to her that clocking isn't actually turning invisible, just bending the light sources so the light coming from myself wouldn't be reflected in their eyes, so basically, cloaking just bends the light to not get seen. The bio-mask was a bit difficult to explain, it contains many visors like thermal visor, Anti-Xeno visor, UV visor, X-Ray visor, Optical visor, and Scientific visor (Used to scan another creature, like the one used by the Ultimate Predator in the movie). Took me a while to explain the details to Twilight, but bookworm managed to figure some of them out. Must say, I'm quite impressed. Tempest Shadow, or now known as Fizzlepop Berrytwist, asked me for her to join my hunt as well, though I was still bit suspicious of her, but if Twilight trusted her, then maybe I could give it a try. Turns out I did not regret my decision, Fizzlepop is actually not bad as I thought, she can be damn serious sometimes, even a bit sweet. Last time we're cornered by a herd of Timberwolves, thought I managed to wipe them out, one of them nearly bit my wrist off. I was able to recover from it, but that's teh first time I've seen Fizzlepop cried... What does the human called it again? ... Ah yes, tough love. I saw many potential in her during our huntings, and she's loyal to Equestria, so I guess she can be the first pony to use my gears... For good. I'm currently at the Royal Guards training field, teaching Captain Shining Armor the use of Plasma Caster, I designed this one, it's now well fitted onto a Pony's back, it can also auto-aim. Wherever the user's head points, the Plasma Caster would follow the direction, and all you need to do is to command it mentally to fire. With another plasma shot fired, another dummy is down, blown to shreds. Shining Armor slightly flinched at the explosion. "Still needs some times to get use to the effect." He said while taking off the shoulder cannon while stretching his back a bit, say, I need to decrease the weight a bit. "You did well captain, hitting a target 1,000 meters away is enough for a beginner." I said, reaching over the Plasma caster, carefully taking it apart, checked the systems, and reassembled it back together. Shining Armor, though haven't master the Plasma weapons yet, is extremely good at melee combat, he's using the wrist blade I brought from the research lab back on Earth, it used to belong to another Yautja known as Scar. Using wrist blade on quadrupedal is difficult for some others, I'm included, so teaching Shining to stand in his bipedal form is on my list. We were training until I spotted something coming from the skies above, it looked kind of familiar, hold on, why is there a huge letter 'W'... My eyes widened at the realization. "SHINING ARMOR GO REPORT TO THE PRINCESSES, TELL THEM TO ACTIVATE LOCK-DOWN SEQUENCE!" I shouted at the captain. "Apex, what's the ma-" I cut him off. "GO NOW! YA WNAT YOUR SISTER TO LIVE OR NOT?!" He bolted toward the castle. The dropship- dropships, began to appear in teh horizon. That forces I knew too familiar, fire of hatred burned within me. Wayland Yutani, that old bastard... But on the other hand, if they DARE to lay a hand on my friends, I will make DAMN sure that they'll regret their arrival. Let the hunt begin.