//------------------------------// // New Hunters // Story: I Will not be Contained // by Eon333MS //------------------------------// *first person POV Jake* It turns out I really didn't have to worry about the zebra. She's really friendly. Seriously she's letting me stay at her home for a while, she helped me make my tools better than they were, she's even offered to help me build a new home of my own. I might build that up high in a tree though, that'd be cool. She's bringing me supplies from the nearby town too, and even helping me make traps to catch game. There's also a bathroom I can use finally. Back in my containment cell all I had was a little compartment panel that would slide away revealing a place for me to do business. It didn't give much privacy, but there was hardly anyone there to watch me anyway. She did ask me to go to town though. I explained to her why I couldn't go, at least not yet. She said she understood, but felt I was misjudging the ponies in town. She said something about them learning their lesson about people being different, and something about a first hand experience. Right now she had gone into town herself to get some of her own supplies. She's told me all about this world, apparently it's called Equus, and right now I'm in the Everfree Forest which is near the town of Ponyville. 'Ponyville, kind of an unoriginal name. Oh well maybe the founders were going for something simple.' Also these horse creatures are actually ponies, and they're only one of the dominant species on this planet. There's also gryphons, cows, changelings and many more. Those wooden wolves are timber-wolves, and the lion-thing was a manticore. But back to the present, right now I'm thinking about going to the edge of the forest so I can take a look at the town. Looking at the town is probably a bad idea. But honestly I've got nothing else to do today, just gotta be careful and stay out of sight. Zecora had shown me several paths she commonly took through the forest, and I took the one she mentioned led to Ponyville. I noticed the area was slowly getting brighter as I got closer to the edge of the forest. I finally made it just outside the Everfree Forest. I had to shield my eyes from the sunlight because it was so bright. The forest was so much darker and my eyes had adjusted to that level of lighting. But when I finally got a good look at the town, it was beautiful. I don't mean beautiful in looks, but rather it felt beautiful, peaceful, like home. Sigh. I can't see the ponies very well from here, maybe I should get closer. I carefully sneak closer to get a better view, there's virtually no cover to hide behind, but I shouldn't need it. I get to a place where I can see the ponies going about their daily lives. Like I said before beautiful. I can't stay here any longer I might get caught. *Back at Zecora's hut* Man I still don't know what to do with the rest of my day. Zecora isn't back yet so I can't ask her if there's anything she wants me to do. I sit down and think for a while. 'Hmmm. I wonder if the shelter I built is still standing. Maybe I'll go check that out.' I decide that's what I'm going to do, so I gather some supplies just in case I run into any timber-wolves or manticores, or worse. I make it down to the river without running into anything dangerous 'lucky me.' I come to where my camp was located and see that my shelter actually is still standing. 'Maybe I should take it down it'll leave a trail for THEM to find me.' I think about it but decide not to destroy my shelter, because... Well it didn't feel right. It's a memory, a symbol now, maybe I'll take it down when I leave the forest. Suddenly I hear a familiar sound. An all too familiar sound. The sound of flapping wings. "Oh no." *A few minutes ago third person* Flying up above the Everfree Forest is a squadron of ten pegasi, on the search for the escaped creature. One of the pegasi speaks up "We've been searching this area for hours. I doubt the creature is still here, if he ever was." "Our orders were to search the Everfree Forest. So that's what we're going to do." The squad leader stated. "But sir we've searched this area thoroughly. Don't tell me you seriously want to stick around much longer." 'This recruit had some guts.' The leader thought to himself. 'But he is right. This is boring.' "We'll make one final swoop around the area then we'll move on to the next." 'Finally something different.' The recruit thinks to himself. As the pegasi make their final swoop of the area one of them shouts. "Hey what's that down there by the river?!" The leader looked down and spotted their target. "That's him that's the creature. Troops mobilize and surround." *Back to Jake* Ten pegasi landed on the ground surrounding me. 'Not again.' But wait these pegasi were different from the others who tried to capture me. They were all white with blue manes, and golden armor, and they all looked pretty much the same. And they had spears! Were they some kind of police force? I couldn't think of that stuff now I had to focus. One of the guards spoke up "Move in to capture it boys." "If you try that you'll regret it." I said. Some of the horses, I mean ponies reacted to my speaking, saying things like "What! The creature can speak?!" and "It can understand us?" The lead Pegasus spoke up again " So you can speak." I nod my head. "Then surrender yourself so that we may bring you before the princess." "On what charge?" "We are under direct orders from Princess Celestia herself to bring you to her. It doesn't matter what charge, just surrender." "No. I don't surrender without a good reason to." "Very well. Then I guess we have to do this the hard way. Subdue the creature!" I took my battle stance and prepared for the biggest battle I've faced yet since coming to this world...... OK these guys were easy, don't get me wrong they were tougher than the other ponies I fought. But considering the armor and spears they had I would've expected more of a challenge. At the start of the fight two pegasi had charged me, which I quickly avoided. I hit them with my metal pipe when I could and they dropped like a rock. Another one came at me and I parried his spear with my pipe. Now think about it which would win a parry? A hoof, or a hand? That's right I won, I easily out-skilled his parry since hooves aren't meant for close quarters combat, and once that was done I knocked him out. After he fell I put my metal pipe away and picked up two of the three spears that were lying on the ground. 'The odds just got a little more even.' I used my new weapons to force the pegasi to keep their distance. 'Just seven left.' Four of them try to jump at me from different directions at the same time. I duck and roll away, and watch as they all crash into each other. They quickly got back up, but it was my turn to attack. I jump and kick the pony in front of me, which knocks him into another pony and they both topple over. One of the other two tried to jab me with the end of his spear. I ducked and whacked his head with the bunt of my spear and followed up with my knee to the side of his head. He fell unconscious and I walked over to knock out the two that fell over. Once those two were dealt with I turned to the fourth who had decided to fall back to the only other three pegasi still standing 'smart move.'. I decided to speak to them. "Just give up you're losing this fight. You won't beat me." I said. "The royal guard never surrender." the squad leader declared. "Sometimes surrender is the only option. You won't win this fight, do the smart thing, leave and come back with more troops." "I can't do that." I sighed "Your choice." and with that the fight resumes. Two pegasi tried to tackle me which I just rolled under, however I wasn't expecting the apparent leader to be right there when I stopped. He brought his hoof down on my face, which hurt a lot, then he turned around and bucked his legs. Owww now that really hurt, one of the pegasi threw their spear at me which I barely managed to duck out of the way of. The squad leader yelled at the one that threw the spear reminding him that they were supposed to capture the creature not kill it. I think adrenalin started kicking in allowing me to ignore the pain cause I stopped hurting as much, and I used my returning strength to bash into the pony in front of me. After knocking him to the ground I tried to knock him out but one of the others tackled me. He held me down with his hooves, but I brought my legs up and kicked myself free. I picked up my spears, which I had dropped when he tackled me and knocked him out with the wooden end, (I didn't want to kill them). I turned around to look at the last three. One decided to charge me followed by another I swung my spear but the first one blocked it and swung his at me. I ducked but now the second was behind me. Using both spears in both hands I parried their blows trying to find an opening. I finally found one when the Pegasus on my right stumbled a bit, I brought the back-end of my spear into his face and knocked him to the ground. Then I swung around and bashed the other one in the face. Once they were both down I made sure they were KOed. Just one left. We stared each other down. Waiting for one of us to make a move. Who'd strike first me or the squad leader? Finally the Pegasus had had enough and charged at me. I held my ground as he lashed out with his spear. I countered with my one of my spears, and we began to parry. Stroke upon stroke, parry after parry, this guy wasn't half bad. Suddenly he did something I wasn't expecting and one of my spears flew out of my hand. I was stunned for a second, but only a second. I clutched my remaining spear with both hands and continued to trade blows. Finally I kicked out with my left leg and got him when he wasn't expecting it. I followed up with a quick hard stroke to the side of his head and down he went. So that's pretty much what happened there. After that incident I went back to Zecora's which is where I am now. I took a healing potion Zecora had shown me, and I sat down waiting for her to get back. *three hours later* OK where is she, she should've been back by now. Did she decide to stay in town for the day? Maybe she was on her way back. I decided to go back outside the forest to see if she was coming. *Princess Twilight's Castle Ponyville third person POV* Twilight paced back and forth waiting for Spike and her friends to arrive. She wondered to herself what exactly was going on. What was this new creature, what should she do? Finally Twilight's pacing came to an end as her friends entered her castle's map room. First came Spike, followed by Rainbow Dash, then Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and finally Fluttershy. Twilight turned to look at her friends, "Ah girls I'm glad you're finally here." "No problem Twi. What's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked "Yah Spike said something urgent had come up." "Ooh. Ooh, is it a new map location? Are we going somewhere new? Wait wouldn't our cutie marks be glowing if that was the case? Something else must be going on. What is it Twi? Tell me. Tell me." Pinkie said getting right up in Twilight's face as she did so. "Calm down Pinkie. Let me explain." Twilight said pushing Pinkie away from her. "Just yesterday I received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that there is an unknown creature in Equestria, and evidence seems to point to it being in the Everfree Forest." The others stared in surprise at this. But only for a few seconds, they were kinda use to things like this happening. "Did she say anything else about the creature, what it looks like or anything darling?" Rarity asked. "No not yet she said she would send another letter once she had more information." Twilight replied. *At Canterlot Castle* 'Why is it that whenever I have an important letter to send I get interrupted by something that needs my attention.' Princess Celestia thought to herself, as she was writing another letter to Twilight. A patrol of guards had reported back about encountering the creature, and losing a fight to it. The guards had reported about the creature speaking with them, and even offering a chance to escape, which they had refused. This fact interested Celestia, but she didn't have time to think about this now. She had to meet with that new ambassador again. Celestia stopped to think about this new ambassador. He showed a lot of potential, might even become a prince, only problem is he's headstrong, and believes that's he's always right, and he's also a bit radical. Celestia turned her thoughts back to writing her letter, but a guard entered the room. "Your Highness the ambassador is waiting." "I will be there soon." She said quickly writing the letter. Dear, Princess Twilight Some new information has arrived that confirms the creatures presence in the Everfree Forest. I'm sorry I don't have time to write more right now so I'll be quick. The creature single-hoofedly defeated ten of my royal guards. I know you're going to search for this creature, so please be careful when you search for him. Bring him in peacefully if you can. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Celestia prepared to send the letter, and once she was done left the room hoping she hadn't forgotten anything important. *Back to Twilight and the others* "Well I say we go kick that creatures flank with or without more information." Rainbow Dash declared. "Who's with me?" "Ah agree with Rainbow." Applejack stated. "Really Rainbow there may be no need for violence after all this creature could be harmless." Rarity said. "Ummm... I agree with Rarity." Fluttershy said very quietly. "I think we should find the thing and throw it a PARTY!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Girls. Girls we can't do any of those things right now, because Princess Celestia told me not to enter the forest until more evidence turns up." "But Twi mmmph-buuurpp!" Spike was interrupted as a new letter arrived for Twilight. Twilight snatched it up in her magic and read it aloud to her friends. "OK well I guess we've got the approval now to go into the forest, so let's get to it." Rainbow Dash said and raced outside towards the Everfree Forest. "Rainbow Dash wait! Ugh! That mare sometimes." Twilight said frustrated. "Come on everypony, let's git after Rainbow." Applejack said racing after Rainbow Dash. *Back to Jake first person POV* I came out of the edge of the forest. No sign of Zecora so far, well I'll take a look closer to the town. I should be able to stay hidden like last time. I began walking towards the town, but suddenly I heard voices in ahead of me. Unfamiliar voices. "Relax Twi I waited up for the rest of ya." "Rainbow this is serious." I quickly try to turn around, but it's too late as the heads of six ponies appear over the edge of the hill ahead. When they were in full view they stopped and noticed me. 'Oh no.' *Third person POV same scene* The six ponies stared at the human a shocked expression on their face, and the human stared back equally shocked. The Twilight and her friends had finally caught up to Rainbow Dash, who had been waiting for them, and as soon as they stepped over the hill there was the strange creature. Fluttershy was the first to recover, other than Jake who was slowly backing off. "Ummm... is that the strange creature we're supposed to find? I don't think I've seen anything like it." Twilight shook her head to refocus her thoughts. She studied the creature, it looked similar to the creatures she had found beyond the mirror portal, when she went to Canterlot High. But at the same time something was different about him. He was more gruff looking, and had a fiercer 'aura' than the humans of the mirror portal. He also had no magical essence at all, so it couldn't possibly be a human right? And if he had come though the mirror he would have been changed into a pony, or some other native Equestrian. "OK everypony we need a plan to catch that thing." Twilight said "I have a plan we kick his flank." Rainbow said and she charged at Jake. Jake was ready to be attacked and had taken a battle stance when she said this, however he severely underestimated Rainbow's speed. When Rainbow collided with Jake he went flying. "Rainbow stop!" Twilight screamed. 'OK she's pretty fast, gotta remember that.' Jake thought as he rose back to his feet sore but ready to fight. "Twi how are we supposed to catch this thing without ruffing it up first?" Rainbow asked. Jake wondered to himself who these girls were, were they bounty hunters or something? "We should try to get it to follow us peacefully first, and if that doesn't work, we can try tying it up or something." Twilight answered. "Let's get one thing straight here. I'm not going anywhere with you, especially not tied up." Jake declared. All the ponies stared in shock 'The creature can talk, Princess Celestia never mentioned anything about the creature knowing how to talk.' Twilight thought to herself. "You can talk?" Rainbow asked. "Maybe it's just mimicking things it heard like a parrot." Twilight said. "I'm not a parrot! A parrot can't understand what's being said to him, and wouldn't be able to respond to statements like that." Jake stated. Twilight just stared at Jake, she didn't know what to do. "Well regardless of whether you can talk or not, the Princess wants you captured, so that's what we're going to do." Rainbow boasted. "I don't think so." Jake retorted. Rainbow charged at Jake again, but he was ready this time and twisted around whacking Rainbow with the back of his spear. "RAINBOW!" All the other ponies, and Spike yelled. "Yah varmint, you'll pay for hurtin mah friend!" Applejack shouted and charged at Jake. Jake managed to dodge and whacked her with his spear, but she shrugged it off like it was nothing. "Girls stop!" Twilight screamed trying to stop this fight. Applejack tried to buck Jake but Jake moved to avoid it. Jake was a little slow, and AJ's legs did hit him but it was just barely so the damage was less than it would have been at full force. 'Owww. She must be strong. She just barely hit me and that still hurts. Better watch out.' He whacked Applejack with his spear again harder, this time in her face. This time Applejack felt it. "Owww." AJ yelled. Pinkie stepped into the fight. "Hey meanie-pants get a load of this." Pinkie said as she suddenly stood next to her party cannon. Jake thought to himself 'what the, where did that come from.?' Pinkie suddenly fired at Jake 'WHOA' Jake dived out of the way and took a look at the carnage behind him. 'Cake? She shot cake at me?' Pinkie aimed her cannon again and fired "That's for being mean to my friends." She said "Hey you ponies attacked first!" Jake replied just before getting tackled by Applejack who he then kicked off of himself. "Fluttershy use your stare on it!" Twilight yelled. 'Stare what is that?' Jake wondered as the yellow shy looking one approached him. "Ummm. Sir could you please stop fighting and come with us?" She asked Jake. Jake shook his head. Suddenly Fluttershy opened her eyes very wide and stared right into Jake's own eyes. Jake felt like she was staring into his soul. "I asked you nicely now I'm telling you to stop fighting and come with us...Please?" The last word was spoken quieter than the rest. Jake suddenly felt like he couldn't control himself, like he HAD to do what this mare asked. NOOO! He wouldn't he was in control he would not be manipulated by someone like this. 'The eyes I need to stop looking at the eyes!' It took a tremendous amount of willpower but Jake finally managed to move his arm in front of his eyes. With the eyes no longer staring at him he was free, and he brought his arm back and swung as hard as he could with his free hand, hitting Fluttershy in the back of the head. Fluttershy grew very dizzy from this blow and fell to the ground. "FLUTTERSHY!!!" All the ponies yelled. Rainbow and Applejack charged at Jake. He dodged them kicked Applejack away and pounded his fists into her till Rainbow tried to save her. Jake grabbed Rainbow and threw her at Pinkie Pie. Suddenly Rarity blasted magic bolts at Jake "Take this you ruffian!" Blasting more magic at Jake. Jake slipped and accidently sent some dirt flying towards Rarity. "Ewww. Ewww. Get it off!" 'So she doesn't like getting dirty. Now's the time to strike.' Jake ran forward whacked Rarity upside the head. When she fell over Jake picked her up and threw her towards Pinkie, and Rainbow. Suddenly a flash of pink appeared in front of Jake and Twilight emerged having teleported in front of Jake. She shot a magic blast at his feet which missed but the explosion knocked Jake back a bit. Twilight approached Jake a look of rage on her face. Jake swung at her but missed, and Twilight grabbed his spears with her magic knocked Jake to the ground and stabbed the spears into his shirt sleeves to hold him there. Jake was stuck the spears had him pinned down, and the purple pony with wings and a horn was coming toward him. He struggled and struggled but couldn't get free. The purple pony began to speak "Now that I've got you down. You're coming with me to Princess Celestia." Jake had no idea who that was, but he wasn't about to risk being put back in that cell. Jake gave one last attempt pushing away from the ground with all his strength. He felt his shirt sleeves beginning to tear more and more until he was finally free, his sleeves ripped but free. Jake got to his feet which completely surprised Twilight. Jake seized his advantage and began punching and kicking Twilight in the face repeatedly. Twilight couldn't react to the flurry of blows Jake was hitting her with. Jake kept up his barrage until Twilight finally fell down nearly unconscious. Jake looked around, and saw that these ponies just wouldn't stay down. The orange one, and the rainbow one were getting back up, along with the pink one, and the white one. 'I can't keep fighting like this. I need to get out of here. I need a hostage.' Jake looked around to see who he could take hostage. Jake spotted the yellow pony that had tried to control him. She was all alone, she'd be perfect. Jake ran towards Fluttershy, who looked rather scared when he was charging toward her. Jake grabbed her mane, and held her in a headlock, holding the end of his spear to her neck and shouted "STAND DOWN OR THIS PONY MIGHT GET SERIOUSLY HURT!!!!" "FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow screamed and tried to rush over and save her, but was held back by Applejack. "Hold it Rainbow, he'll hurt Fluttershy if yah git too close." "Please let her go. We can sort something out!" Twilight pleaded frantically. "Oh so I should just give in to a bunch of horses who just tried to catch me for who knows what, to bring me to who knows who, for who knows why. And if whoever they are want what I think they want, there's no way I'm going back." "We're ponies not horses! Horse is so uncouth." Rarity said. "WHATEVER!" Jake screamed "Now don't-" "Wow this 'Who' person must know a lot of things if he knows who we're taking you to, what we're doing to you, and why we're doing it. What else does he know?" Pinkie asked Jake just stared. "What?" "Oh silly this 'Who' person you mentioned a few seconds ago he-mmmphmmuuummuuu." Pinkie was cut off as Twilight shoved her hoof in her mouth. "Look I'm going into the forest. DO NOT FOLLOW ME! Or something bad might happen to Fluttershy here." Jake said backing towards the forest. "How do we know we can trust you not to hurt her anyway?!" Rainbow demanded. "You don't have a choice." Jake answered. The ponies looked towards Applejack who looked closely at Jake as if she were scanning him. "Ah think he's telling the truth. He won't hurt her." She said. Jake thought this was curious 'Why'd they look for her opinion?' None of the ponies said anything after that. They just watched with cold eyes as their friend was dragged into the Everfree Forest. *The Everfree Forest* Jake and Fluttershy had been walking for a while, he made sure nothing was following him. Jake had dragged Fluttershy for a while, but he eased up a little later allowing her to walk in pace with him. She seemed a little less frightened as this was going on. Eventually Jake eased up a little more only holding onto her mane like it was a leash. He was surprised that she hadn't tried to escape at this point she probably could've and he wouldn't have stopped her. Eventually Jake let go of her mane entirely, and just let her walk beside him. 'Why wasn't she running away?' "Why are you still following me? You can go now really." "I wanted to talk to you." she said Jake was surprised, she seemed less shy than she had been before. "What about?" Jake prepared himself in case this was another one of her eye tricks. "You weren't really going to hurt me were you?" Fluttershy asked. "You're right. How'd you know?" Jake asked he couldn't help but smile at the pony, she seemed so cute and innocent. "I'm an animal caretaker, and overtime you start to notice patterns among animals, like when they feel sad, or angry. I looked into your eyes and I saw regret, regret at what had happened to you, regret at what you had to do, and regret for other things. I could tell you didn't want to hurt me." She answered 'Wow this pony was smart.' Jake thought. "I see. Is there anything else you wanted to ask?" "Yes, could you please explain to me what you're doing here, and after that come back to Ponyville with me?" "Yes to the first, no to the second." "Why not?" "Well for one thing I just beat five of your town's citizens into a bloody pulp. I doubt they'd receive me too well. Second the other ponies would freak out at the sight of me." "I'm sure we could convince everypony to like you with enough time." "No I'm not going back... Not yet." "But it's dangerous in the Everfree, you could get hurt." "I've survived here so far. Besides Zecora is helping me." Fluttershy paused. "You know Zecora?" she asked. "Yes I'm staying, at her place in fact. Do you know where she is?" "Ummm... I think she had to help Applebloom and the CMC with a potions project for school." "I have no idea who those people are." "Won't you please consider coming to Ponyville? You'll really like it there." "No, and that's final." "Oh. OK. Could you explain some things about why you're here then?" "Yeah I can do that." Jake explained about his time in Equestria in detail, however he left a lot of things out, he didn't want to tell the pony too much. After his story she had started saying things like "you poor thing." to him. Fluttershy had to leave before her friends got too worried about her, but before she left she asked one more time for Jake to come to Ponyville, which he politely refused. Jake however asked Fluttershy not to tell her friends where he was living, and she agreed. Fluttershy walked back to Ponyville, and Jake made his way to Zecora's house. Once Jake entered the house he picked up another healing potion and went into the guest bedroom, and lay down to think. 'First the so-called royal guard find me, then six ponies who appear to be civilians, except maybe that purple one try to find me. This is not looking good clearly everyone is on the lookout for a renegade human, there is probably a reward for my capture too. I can't stay here any longer. I need to leave.'