Warframe: Equestria

by Urimas Ebonheart

Chapter 17: Hunted

POV: Karn / Location: Equus - Everfree Forest

I'm following the waypoint marking the Extractors location with Twilight and Rainbow following behind me. Twilight has her Dera in her hands, while Rainbow is flying above us with the Imperator.

"Hostile to the right!" Rainbow shouts out and a red marker appears. She aims her Imperator at an infested changeling and fires. Ten shots rip it apart. "More on the left!" Twilight yells and three markers show up. I aim for the left one while Twilight opens fire on the right one. Rainbow then launches a missile at the middle changeling.

All three of them are killed from our attacks. "We need to move now. Whoever is taking the Extractor is sure to have heard that," I tell them.

I don't wait for an answer and continue on with both of them hot on my heels, though Twilight is stumbling now and then. Two more infested changelings attack us along the way where Twilight shoots the right one while Rainbow stabs the other with her left Venka. I wait for them to finish and then keep moving.

We reach a clearing where I see a small crater with drag marks leaving it. We follow the marks quietly for a few minutes and come across three felines with bird like heads and wings. These must be those gryphons Twilight mentioned.

POV: Twilight Sparkle / Location: Equus - Everfree Forest

We watch them as they drag it close to a cart. I can faintly hear what they're saying.

"What do you think this is? I know the King wants whatever that strange creature has, but what can we do with it? We don't even know what it does," the male black furred gryphon says.

"You don't need to worry about that, our job is just to get the stuff. The bird brains back home can figure out how it works. We need to get moving now! Whatever made that noise is getting closer, and I don't want to meet it!" the female white furred gryphon replies. "Jango, Lift this clucking thing onto the damn wagon!" she says to a large grey furred gryphon who looks as dense as a brick.

"Errr, okay boss," he replies and grips the Extractor's remains. He hefts it up and dumps it on the wagon.

"Be careful with that! We don't need it busted up any more than it already is!" the white gryphon scolds this, Jango.

"Oops, sorry boss," he says slowly.

"I want you to translate for me, Twilight. Repeat exactly what I say. Rainbow, you tell me what they say. Got it?" Karn tells us. Each of the gryphons are tagged with a red marker.

"Okay," I reply.

"Sure!" Rainbow says with a salute.

"Good, let's go!" Karn says and steps out with his weapon aimed at them.

"Put your hands above your heads and step away from the wagon!" Karn says, which I translate.

"OH CLUCK! It's the monster! And there's two more!" the black furred gryphon yells in panic.

"Jango! ATTACK!" the white one orders the big grey gryphon.

"Errr, Okay!" he replies and pulls out a large iron mace. He charges at Karn who just shoots at him. Blood and brain matter splatters over the ground as a single shot rips through his forehead. He stumbles for a few steps before falling face first on the dirt, unmoving.

The other two stare wide eyed at their colleague's corpse. Even I cringe slightly at the sight.

"You two will surrender yourselves to us. Or you too will suffer the same fate as your friend here," Karn says and I translate.

"Cluck that!" the white one says and throws a small ball at her feet. A blast of smoke blinds us, but a red outline marks the gryphon's location.

"HEY! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" the black gryphon yells at the white one.

Karn lunges forward and pins the black Gryphon under his hoof, er, foot. He holds his left hand over the confused gryphon who then starts screaming as he glows orange. Small cubes then break away into Karn's palm. After a few seconds the gryphon is gone.

"You two protect the wagon. Take it back to the Dojo if you can," Karn tells us.

"What about you?" Rainbow asks.

Karn then looks at the fleeing outline of the female Gryphon. "I'm going hunting," he replies as Rainbow's Archwings detach from her and connect onto Karn before he flies off after the gryphon.

"Come on, Dash. Let's get this back to the Dojo," I tell her.

"Aw come on! I hate not being able to fly!" she complains as she starts pulling the cart easily with her left hand.

POV: Karn / Location: Equus - Everfree Forest

I take off in pursuit of the fleeing gryphon. It looks back and spots me over the canopy where I hear it yelp as it tries to speed up.

I pick up speed and try to tackle it, but it takes a dive below the canopy. I quickly stop and look down. I tuck in my wings and drop down to the ground. The marker showing its location faded away once line of sight was broken.

The sounds of twigs snapping gets my attention and I see the gryphon running away on foot. I give chase and follow it as I weave through the trees. It drops something with a burning fuse, so I jump behind a tree.

A small explosion peppers the surrounding trees with shrapnel. Chipping away at the bark on the trees.

I swing my Soma to aim where I last saw the gryphon, only to find it's gone. I turn the light on my helmet on and look around. I spot a set of tracks leaving the area. I wonder why it ain't flying away... Did it injure itself diving into the canopy?

I follow the tracks while keeping my weapon aimed in front of me. I stop in front of a cave where the tracks end.

I enter the cave and look around. I notice disturbances in the moss with small specks of blood. I follow the trail and come across the gryphon staring at me wide eyed at a dead end. It squawks, then pulls out a primitive looking pistol.

It pulls the trigger and a little hammer on the side flips down. A large plume of smoke comes out of the barrel as a small metal ball bounces off my Warframe... My shields didn't even take any damage.

I put my Soma onto my back and pull out the large Veritux from the left wing.

The blade extends slightly once its out and the gryphon's eyes widen at the sheer size of it.

"Rainbow, Twilight. I've found the gryphon. How's it going on your end?" I ask them through the comms.

I hear gunfire from Twilights Dera and Rainbow's Imperator as she replies. "Not too bad! Some infected changelings are attacking but not that many!"

POV: Rainbow Dash / Location: Equus - Everfree Forest

I jump back and shoot the changeling attacking me in the head. I look to the right and see four more charging at me. I yelp as they all jump at me and in that moment of panic I feel a power course through me, I push that power out below me and I jump above the trees where another burst of power fills me as I launch myself back down without thinking, landing on two of the changelings killing them and sending the other two off their hooves.

"Okay. Once you're both done I need Rainbow over here, I need a translator. Twilight, do you think you can take back the cart on your own?" Karn asks.

I look to Twilight and watch as she hits a changeling with that electric stick of hers. It shakes from the current coursing through it and drops to the floor unmoving. She then shoots another one with that long ranged weapon of hers.

"Yes, I believe so," Twilight replies.

"You sure you can handle this on your own, Twi?" I ask her.

"Uh-huh, I'm sure I can handle this. It's not too far from the Dojo, and the map function will make getting back a lot faster," she replies.

"Alright, if you're sure," I say. "Good luck, Twi. See ya back at the Dojo!" I tell her and take off through the Forest at a fast sprint.

POV: Karn / Location: Equus - Everfree Forest - Inside the Cave

I hold my sword to my right to prevent the gryphon from leaving. I start hearing footsteps and see the Zephyr frame approaching on my minimap. A few seconds later, she walks in with her helmet light on.

"I'm here," she says.

"I want you to translate for me," I tell her.

"Okay," she replies.

"First question, who are you?" I say looking at the gryphon.

Rainbow translates it and the gryphon squawks angrily at her.

"She ain't gonna tell us anything," Rainbow tells me.

So it's a female. "Oh really?" I draw my Heat Dagger in a reverse grip with my left hand. The cave lights up slightly from the dagger's glow. I walk up to the gryphon and hold the dagger's tip near her right eye. "Feel like telling me now?" I ask again.

Rainbow speaks to it and the gryphon replies in a shaky tone.

"She won't tell us because the gryphon King will kill her if she does," Rainbow tells me.

"Tell her, I'll do much worse than that," I say.

Rainbow tells the gryphon that. She replies to Rainbow with a slight frown.

"She says, how could you do any worse than killing me?" Rainbow says.

To prove my point. I put my Veritux away and grip her throat with my right hand. I then slowly drag my Heat Dagger across her forehead. The sound of feathers and skin sizzling fill the cave as she screams.

"Rainbow. Tell her, I can do much worse than kill you. I could cut your wings off, as well as your arms and legs, then leave you in the forest for the wild beasts to have you. Or I can just let the Technocyte Virus claim you. I take it you've seen it in this forest?" I say.

They talk and her eyes widen.

"She said, nopony could be that cruel. And what virus?" Rainbow tells me.

I'm getting frustrated as we don't have time for this. I sheath my dagger and hold my left palm at her face. She screams as I digitise her into my prison hard-drive.

"We'll continue this later. For now let's meet up with Twilight and get back to the Dojo," I tell her.

"Okay," she replies. We leave the cave where I pick up Rainbow under her arms and fly to Twilight's position.

We land next to the wagon that she was dragging behind her. "Ah, you're back. Did it go well?" Twilight asks as my Archwings reattach onto Rainbow.

"Not really. I just captured her for interrogation at the Dojo," I reply.

"Oh, okay. Well, as for me. I've had no trouble so far. It seems as if the virus is keeping its distance..." she says trailing off at the end. That is strange, the virus is relentless. It doesn't give up until their prey is caught. I look around, trying to see if any of them are close by, I see nothing.

"Rainbow, cover Twilight's right side and behind us. I'll cover the left and front. Twilight, keep pulling the wagon. We're getting out of here, now," I tell them.

"Okay!" Twilight replies. "Roger that!" Rainbow says with a salute. I just roll my eyes at her antics.

We travel through the forest. Following the waypoint markers. A few more infested changelings and animals attack us along the way. I kill four changelings and a strange lizard like creature with a birds head, which Twilight tells me is called a Cockatrice. Rainbow kills three changelings and two timberwolves.

After a good ten minutes or so of jogging, we exit the tree line.

"Now then, Let's find out what they were doing here," I say as we walk up to the Dojo.

Comments

[RazorWing_GB]

Oooo, updates... this is good.

uh huh, somone's gonna be hurting later...

[Gizmo Gear]

7763084 Ah, torture. Like that thing I'm gonna do to the next guy that breaks my lil sisters heart!!!
Sorry, what were we talking about?

[The Crimson Reaper]

Im still waiting for Limbo to appear...

[The Lurking Creep]

7764514
I know that feel...
You break her heart, I break you. Understood?

[SolitariLupus]

I feel his little "torture" session was a bit overboard and a little out of character for a Tenno. A true Tenno would have been calm, offered protection from the king and a better way out after seeing the griffins situation, their just soldiers and being forced to follow orders of a tyrant after all. Instead, he shoots the one griffon that obviously was a little slow in the head and had no real idea of what he was doing instead of easily disarming him and capturing him as well, a needless death. Then he starts sounding like some kid trying to sound like a bad ass by saying "I'll do worse than that other guy if you dont tell me! Raargh!!" to the griffon he captured.

Also, what kind of example is that to the new tenno now looking to him for guidance on what it means to be a Tenno. Does he want them to brutally terrorize and torture anyone and anything that refuses to cooperate over something? Since when did Tenno act like the Greneer? Wheres the Tenno that's supposed to resort to combat last and try to find peace first, or at the least make an attempt to deescalate the situation before drawing blades.

[Urimas Ebonheart]

10913787
Hmmm. True, might rewrite those scenes after the next chapter is finished.

[OP Omni God-Emperor Doom]

10913787
10913801

You still didn't "rewrite" it like you promised to that other commenter. But I personally don't mind the "torture". This is tame compared to something like the Dark Elder, Night Lords, or Slaanesh/Emperor's Children from WH40K.