I was finally free. Against all odds I had escaped from the horses and their facility. I can only imagine how mad they must be. But I feel so freaking GREAT right now. Some of the horses did try to follow me into the forest. But I used various hiding tactics such as climbing trees, hiding behind boulders, or just out right running in the opposite direction to avoid getting caught. They never found me 'Thank you God'. Now that it was all over at least for a little while I dared to ask myself the one question I had been dreading. "Now what?"
*Tempest reasons office third person POV*
Tempest was just staring at his desk. He still couldn't believe this had happened. Now he had to figure out to do about this situation. Obviously he needed to send out a group of ponies to find the creature, but there were other matters to consider. Like what to tell princess Celestia. Yes as much as he hated to admit it he did actually have to tell the princess sooner or later. According to the laws and rules that applied to this place he was required to inform the princess immediately when something like this happened, he was already late for that. He had to figure out exactly what to say without incriminating himself. If he didn't tell her she'd eventually find out anyway, then he'd be in bigger trouble. But if he played his cards right he'd get the princess to help find the creature and simply hand it over to him. In the meantime he'd stall for as long as he could, maybe his personal guard would find the creature and this whole thing would be unnecessary meaning no risk of Celestia finding out the creature was sapient.
There were some ponies that had been hurt by the human, but they were all doing well now. Tempest thought over all he'd learned about the human. It had to have a weakness somewhere, yes the creature was vulnerable to magic, but there had to be something else. One of the unicorns had managed to grab the creature, but that was because he was lucky and really close, it was difficult to catch a creature in magic when it didn't want to be caught. The unicorn probably only caught him because it wasn't expecting it. To catch a creature in magic that was moving fast took careful calculations. Calculations that you usually couldn't make when something was fighting or charging you. Still magic was our best shot right now at catching it. Tempest got up from his desk and went to check on how progress was going with the creatures recapture.
*Back to Jake third person POV*
Jake was sitting on the grass just wondering to himself what he should do. Should he try to find a village or something? Jake shook his head at that thought. No the horses there would probably treat him the same way those scientific ones did. Or they'd just turn him in. His best option would be to find a new place to hide, the horses would search this forest from top to bottom looking for him. He also had to try to survive out here. Jake only had minimal survival training, and most of what he remembered was from survival TV shows. He wondered if any of those tricks would even work on an alien world? Regardless still he had to try.
Priorities first, he needed to find a new place to hide. So he began walking in the opposite direction of the facility that had held him prisoner for so long. He took breaks whenever he needed to, and during those breaks he tried to make some useful things to make his journey easier, for example the first thing he did was use some vines to create a makeshift pack of sorts, all it could carry were things like his metal pipe and a few other necessities (if he had any) so it was more like a scabbard than anything else really. But it was still something he was proud of, especially since it took a lot of attempts to actually get right. His first creation in the wild he'd probably keep this in his memory for a long time.
He was rested now so time to continue. His stomach growled, reminding him of the necessity of food and water. Unfortunately Jake couldn't afford to stop to find food because had to keep moving or the horses might find him. Speaking of the horses, Jake suddenly heard a familiar sound coming closer. Wings flapping. Jake ran and dove into the bushes that were nearby. He saw through the canopy of trees at least six horses fly by. Had they seen him? He waited for a while but the horses didn't come back, so Jake decided they probably didn't notice him. He started walking again.
*Several hours later*
It was officially way to dark to continue. Jake had to find somewhere to rest for the night. It was going to be cold, and he couldn't make a fire without the risk of being seen. He hadn't seen any predators, or even any signs of them so he shouldn't need a fire other than for warmth. He hoped.
*The underground science facility*
Tempest Reason was marching toward the facilities entrance. The time to tell Celestia about the creatures escape was near, and he had finally decided on what to tell the princess. He'd begin by telling the princess that the creature had been created in his genetics lab by complete accident. Then somehow the creature became self aware. From there they had used magic and teaching to help it learn to speak and understand Equestrian. He'd describe it as a miracle but unfortunately it came with a side effect. He would explain that the creature developed a slight mental disorder, and began a desperate attempt to explain its existence. The creature had made up a story of an enitre world inhabited with creatures like it, and that it had come here through some magical accident. We tried to explain to it that these were just delusions, but when we tried the creature became aggressive, and refused to listen to us. In the middle of our trying to fix this problem the creature staged an escape.
Now would come the best part of Tempest's description of what happened. Tempest had decided to exaggerate the carnage the creature had done. This way when the princess knew how violent it could be, there's no way she'd ever allow it into society. It would be returned to him at once. From there the research would continue until they learned all they could from the creature then he'd put it out of its misery.
Tempest exited the facility and headed toward the carriage that had been prepared for him. Tomorrow he would be in Canterlot to tell the princess the "True story".
*Back to Jake*
Morning. Finally. Jake got up after the sun shone in his face, and took a look at his surroundings. He was still where he had fallen asleep last night against a tree, so that meant nothing had bothered him while he was sleeping. Good. Jake got up his stomach rumbling again, and he felt very parched. Oh well nothing he could do about that now. Jake was pretty sure he was getting pretty close to the end of the forest so he continued on his journey.
Eventually he made it out of the forest. "Finally! YES!" He exclaimed. However unfortunately for Jake he was so distracted by his accomplishment, he forgot to check if the coast was clear. High up above the ground six pegasi were circling the area for the human. One of them spotted Jake. "Hey there's the human!" The squad leader looked down and saw where the other was pointing. "Good eye. Now give the signal!" One of the pegasi pulled out a flare and yanked the pull-string to activate it. It launched into the sky and burst into bright red flames in the shape of an eight pointed star.
Jake looked up when he heard the explosion 'What the heck was that?!' Then Jake spotted the pegasi. 'Great. Just great they probably signaled to Tempest exactly where I am. Well I'm not going down without a fight!' He gripped his metal pipe hard and took a fighting stance, Jake was an ex-cop so he had had plenty of combat experience. Granted he hadn't kept up his practice since he retired, but he still remembered enough. Somethings you just never forget. Suddenly four unicorns appeared on the ground next to where the pegasi had landed. 'That's their reinforcements? I was expecting worse.' Jake eyed the situation carefully he was outnumbered ten to one, but he probably had more combat experience than any of them. But if the worst happened and they were too much for him, he could retreat back into the forest and change up the playing field or outright retreat if he needed too.
"Creature surrender now, and we will go easy on you."
"That's not going to happen."
"So be it then. Engage HIM!"
The pegasi charged full speed while the unicorns fired energy blasts from their horns. Jake dodged to the right of the first pegasus, and wacked his head with the pipe. The pegasus was down but not out. The second pegasus tried the same manuever and was met with the same result except Jake made sure to hit him harder so he'd be knocked out. He was. The third pegasus managed to get close to Jake and tried to bring his hooves down on him, but Jake grabbed his hooves and soon the two were in a battle of strength, each one trying to tackle the other. The unicorn was slightly stronger than Jake and Jake was beginning to realize it. So he quickly thought of another tactic. He side kicked the unicorns back legs throwing him off balance, then bashed him in the side of the head until he passed out. Jake had been dodging the energy bolts this whole time, but he got a little distracted when he was wrestling the third pegasus and a bolt managed to hit him. "Gah!" It hurt a lot but he didn't let the pain stop him. He wacked a fourth pegasus behind him in the side of the head with his pipe and the pegasus fell to the ground.
"Is this the best you can do?" Jake taunted. The two pegasi standing nearest him were mad about that and charged at Jake. This was exactly what Jake wanted. He dove left and the two pegasi missed him. Jake then jumped and kicked the pegasus closest to him which knocked him into the other so they both fell down. Jake seized this opportunity to knock them unconcious. That left six. Jake turned to face the rest of his enemies. They had all regrouped, including the first pegasus he had knocked down, although he looked a little dizzy.
The last two pegasi charged and the unicorns fired their lasers. Jake ran forward and rolled underneath the pegasi to get at the unicorns. Following up his roll he leapt forward and rammed his pole into one of the unicorns heads. The group was stunned by this and Jake knocked out another while they were distracted. After that they recovered and tried to blast him. Jake dove out of the way, and looked up to see that the last two unicorns had zapped each other. They were both lying on the ground. 'Hah.' Jake thought then turned to look at the last two pegasi. Who returned his look with absolute disbelief plastered on their faces. Jake decided to speak up. "I'll give you one chance to surrender. " The two pegasi snapped back to attention, and shook their heads. "Your choice." They charged each other, Jake rolled again, but the two pegasi had been expecting this, and quickly swooped around for a second strike. They rammed into Jake knocking him to the ground. Jake quickly got back to his feet. He was in a lot of pain but not enough to stop him. He ran and grabbed a pegasus by the mane and pulled with all his might, yanking the pegasus' head with him. Jake kicked the pegasus' legs from underneath him and threw the pegasus at the other one still standing as hard as he could. Fortunately Jake had just enough strength to make the two pegasi collide. They fell down like bowling pins. Jake didn't let up, he ran with his pipe in hand and bashed them both over the head knocking them unconscious.
Finally it was over. Jake dropped to his knees panting. He had won, he was in a lot of pain but he would recover. Jake took this moment to examine his surroundings. He noticed in the distance that there was another forest completely separate from this one. 'Really? Another forest. Oh well it's probably the best place for me to hide right now.' So Jake made his way to the new forest. This one seemed even darker and more foreboding than the last. Regardless Jake entered, and started planning ahead, to find some food, and water and eventually build a shelter.
Little did Jake suspect that he had just entered one of the most dangerous places in the general area. The Everfree Forest.
*Canterlot Castle with Tempest Reason*
Tempest was preparing for his meeting with Celestia. He had just received a letter informing him about how one of his search teams, had located the creature but was unable to apprehend it. The letter also mentioned how the creature had clobbered all the ponies on the team. 'More grist for the mill.' Tempest thought. He'd be sure to mention this to Princess Celestia. Speaking of which here he was in front of the two giant doors that lead to Princess Celestia's throne room. 'Here we go.' Tempest took a deep breath and entered the throne room.
"Ah Tempest glad to see you finally made it." Princess Celestia greeted.
"Glad to be here your highness."
"Shall we begin the important matters?"
"If you wish to Princess."
"Very well then is it true that the new creature escaped your custody? And that you're only now coming to tell me?" Celestia asked.
Tempest briefly wondered how she had figured it out. "Yes your majesty you see-"
*One long explanation later*
"-And most recently my search team that I sent to find the creature, managed to find it."
"Really?" Princess Celestia asked surprised.
"Well yes but unfortunately when they went in to recapture it the creature brutally fought back leaving most of them for dead. Fortunately it looks like they will recover. But the creature is still very much a threat."
"I see. What would you like me to do?" Celestia inquired.
"I strongly suggest you send out your royal guard to search for the creature. And as soon as they find him, to immediately return him to my custody." Tempest answered.
Celestia considered Tempest's request. "I agree with your proposal Tempest."
Tempest grinned, everything was going perfectly. "Thank you your highness I-"
"However." Celestia interrupted. "Before I return the creature to your facility I want him brought here so that I can determine whether or not he is a threat myself."
"What! But your majesty. You-you...you...you can't risk him breaking free and then being unleashed into the city." Tempest stammered.
"I assure you Tempest Reason my security will be more than adequate enough to contain the creature."
"But-"
"No buts Tempest my decision is final." Celestia declared.
"As you wish your majesty." Tempest said through gritted teeth.
"You are dismissed."
Tempest turned and left the room, thinking to himself, this is not how I planned this would turn out. This could ruin everything. This isn't good.