Chapter 7: Hunters
"Sweetie Belle, What's taking Apple Bloom long? We've got a couple of new blank flanks hoping to get their Cutie Marks."
"Well, I haven't seen her yet so might be still at home."
"At this time of the day? Have you at least checked the club house?"
"Eyup."
"Sugarcube Corner."
"Eyup."
"The school house?"
"It's summer, Scootaloo. No one goes to school during summer."
"What about...?"
"Girls! Sorry Ah'm late!"
Apple Bloom galloped to her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and stopped to catch her breath, "Sorry Ah'm late. We had a few visitors from another world in our farm. You should have seen them; they were amazing singers."
"Wait... ANOTHER WORLD?" The other two CMCs were dumbstruck. "You're not pulling our legs here, right?" Scootaloo asked.
"Nah, Ah'm serious!" insisted Apple Bloom, "There was this stallion who's bigger than Big Mac an' a two-legged, hairless thing Twilight called a hoo-man who's just as tall as the stallion."
"Wait, do you mean Human?"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell turned to look at two earth pony fillies that approached Scootaloo. One had a grey coat and a curly ginger coloured mane while the other had a tan coat and a straight blonde mane.
"Sorry, I just can't help but overhear your conversation," the tan filly sheepishly smiled.
"Nah, it's fine," said Apple Bloom, "Who are you two?"
"Oh, right!" exclaimed the orange pegasus, "Crusaders, allow me to introduce to you our new clients!" She points at the grey filly, "This is Della Lillie," and then to the tan, "and her cousin Jessie Bella. They're new in town and they heard that we could help them find their Cutie Marks."
"Word in town say you girls are the experts in the field, so we came looking." Della added.
"And then we overheard your conversation about a human and it piqued our curiosity." added Jessie.
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow, "Y'all know what a human is?"
The cousins looked at each other for a moment and returned to the Crusaders, "Um, yeah. We kind of heard about it from some conspiracy enthusiast in town called Lyra Heartstrings. Hard to miss when you live next door to her."
"I guess that makes sense," Sweetie Bell pondered.
"Never mind that," Scootaloo interrupted, "What did you say about this human being from another world?"
"It ain't just the human, there's also the stallion with him!" said Apple Bloom, "They came to our farm last night; the human was badly hurt while the stallion, he was out cold from bein' tired."
"Wow, how did that happen?" asked Jessie with awe.
"Maybe they are aliens from outer space and they crashed landed with a space ship?" suggested Scootaloo with excitement.
"Or maybe they're just explorers who just want to say "Hi"?" suggested Sweetie Bell with optimism.
"Or, maybe they're here as infiltrators who's come to scout us out so that the rest of them could invade us!" Della exclaimed with horrified enthusiasm.
"Um, Ah don't know 'bout that last one," said Apple Bloom sounding unsure, "Ah mean, sure they said they was some kinda soldiers or guards of the sort but it sounded like they were here to stop an invasion instead of startin' one. Besides..." she leaned in close to them with a smirk as though she was telling a juicy secret, "the Stallion who's named Joshua kinda has his eye on AJ, if y'know where Ah'm gettin' at."
The four fillies listening gasped in adoring awe.
"That is so romantic!" said Sweetie Bell.
"About time Applejack found some special pony!" said Scootaloo.
"Oh how I love star-crossed lovers!" cooed Jessie.
"Two people from different worlds meet, only to fall for each other. It's such a dreamy story!" added Della.
The five of them continued to gossip when suddenly one of the two newcomers perked up. "Oh shoot, we forgot something important! Sorry girls, but we're going to have to put a rain-check on the Crusading business today. Me and Jessie need to be somewhere else by now!"
"S'alright," said Apple Bloom, "Is not like we're gonna find your Cutie Marks on the first day anyway. It takes time and trial after all."
"We'll see you two tomorrow then," said Scootaloo.
"Nice meeting you two," added Sweetie Bell.
"It was our pleasure. Charmed to meet you." The two waved off as they left the trio.
"Well, now that that is taken care of, how about we get to see these aliens?" Scootaloo suggested with a wide grin.
"Oh that would be awesome!" exclaimed Sweetie Bell.
"Um, about that," Apple Bloom fidgeted nervously, "Twilight and the others already brought 'em to the Castle of Friendship to have a private meeting, so chances are we ain't seein' 'em til the meeting's over."
"Aww!!" the other two groaned.
"But Ah bet Zecora could tell us more 'bout 'em!" Apple Bloom suggested to lift their spirits, "She was treatin' the human from his injuries."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sweetie Bell exclaimed, "Let's Go!"
They rushed through the town square to Zecora's when they encountered a gathering of ponies.
"I'm telling you, these newcomers are strange. Especially the tall one."
"Are you sure you weren't just seeing things? I mean, tall, bipedal, hands? You sure you haven't been listening too much from Lyra's theories?"
"Nurse Redheart saw them though. And so did Zecora."
"Could they have something to do with the strange activity around the Everfree? I mean, Starlight Glimmer and the Mayor organised no one to enter until they could properly investigate it."
"What of Zecora then? Doesn't she live in the Everfree?"
"She was forced to move here two weeks ago, remember?"
"But she's still entering the forest from time to time."
"Maybe she's still bringing her things from her old house here. After all, it was at such short notice that they told her she can't stay in the Everfree."
"I think we're dodging the subject here."
"What's going on in here Diamond?" Sweetie Bell approached a familiar light purple earth pony filly with a tiara.
Oh, you three. You're just in time," the filly by the name of Diamond Tiara replied with a concerned expression, "Some strangers came to town last night and was seen heading off to the Castle of Friendship with Princess Twilight and the Council of Friendship earlier. The whole town's started asking a lot of questions."
"Y'all mean Mr Percival and Mr Joshua?" Apple Bloom asked, "Those were the two that were on our farm last night, injured and tired. We took them in for the night til they were well enough to go with Twilight and the others."
"Wait, are you serious?" another earth pony filly named Silver Spoon jumped in, "You actually met them? What are they like? Were they dangerous?"
"Ah actually don't know that much about them, other than their names and the fact that they are amazing singers." Apple Bloom proudly admitted, "We was hoping to ask Zecora for more info, considering she was there healing the two of them."
"Zecora?" Diamond Tiara wondered, "I thought I saw her head for the Everfree Forest not long ago."
Before the Crusaders could say anything further, the Zebra in question just ran into the town square panting for breath with fear clear in her eyes.
"Zecora? What's wrong?" a beige old mare who was Mayor Mare asked the panicked alchemist.
Before Zecora could manage a sentence however, a scream was heard from the edge of town; followed by gasps and more screams. The whole town watched with horror as walking piles of wood stalked their way into the town, baring their sharpened fangs at the now terrified ponies.
"TIMBER WOLVES! EVERYPONY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
"There's panic in the town! Twilight, it's Timber wolves!"
Spike watched with horror out the window to see the commotion. Vast numbers of Timber wolves were spread across town chasing the towns folk everywhere. A group of them encircled the ponies at the town square with royal guards forming a perimeter between them and the wolves.
"Twilight, we need to get out there!" Rainbow Dash peered out the same window before turning to the alicorn, "What's the plan?"
Twilight looked around the room and watched as all eyes were now on her, staring expectantly for her orders.
"We are right behind you Twilight," came the voice of Pinkie with her signature grin.
Twilight took a deep breath and nodded knowingly, "Right, okay. First off, our priority is the safety of the townsfolk. Rainbow Dash, you are the fastest; pick up any pony who is isolated and cornered or need the most urgent of rescues."
"Got it Twi!" the cyan pegasus saluted with a smirk.
"Applejack, you go with Spike. Herd as much of the townsfolk who are being chased to the town square. Spike will provide cover and direct you to where you need to be."
"You got it Twilight!" Applejack nodded.
"I'll watch your back, AJ!" Spike gave her a knowing nod.
"Rarity, Fluttershy. I need you both to bring as much of the townsfolk indoors and provide medical attention to those injured."
"We'll do our best, darling! We won't let you down!" Rarity smiled confidently as she flicked her mane up with style.
"I'll have my animal friends try to spot some stragglers too." Fluttershy softly replied.
"Starlight, you and I are going create a barrier around the town square. As we clear out the town from the timber wolves, we'll widen the shield."
"Got it, Twilight!" Starlight nodded.
"Pinkie, do you think you could make a distraction to catch the timber wolves' attention?"
"Sure can do, Commander!" Pinkie Pie gave a sing song reply with a salute.
"Count us in, your highness!"
All eyes turned to Percival who was watching the devastation unfold from the balcony. They all stared at him incredulously, wondering.
"How?" Rainbow pointing at him accusingly, "No offence George, but you aren't exactly rescuer material. I don't know by what means you think you can do to help, but I think we got everything covered right now."
Percival turned to look at the blue pegasus, "Well, for starters you need someone to drive the beasts out of town. We can do that for you."
"How do you plan to do that?" Starlight asked, "You can't use magic and I doubt you're strong enough to fight them head on."
"Need I remind you that I am a soldier? I served five tours of duty and survived the Great War. As for fighting..." He turns to his steed, "Joshua, grab my Shockgun!"
A bright smile came out of the stallion, "Yes Sir!" and he reached for a rucksack and pulled out the most peculiar object. It was shaped like a blunderbuss but was made of copper and surrounded by coils, pipes and small lights.
The sergeant marched towards the group from the balcony whilst donning a pair of tinted brass goggles and a helmet. "The two of us can drive the wolves out while you rescue the town. I know a thing or two about hunting and I think its time those mongrels learned that they are no longer the top of the food chain."
He turned to see a few of them winced from his declaration. "Besides," he removed his goggles for a minute and gave them a reassuring smile, "this might be an opportunity to see each other in action."
Rainbow grinned, "Oh, now this I have got to see!"
On cue, Joshua approached with the weapon in his mouth and handed it over, "Here you go, Sir."
Percival took the gun, placed a saddle on Joshua and mounted on him. All eyes stared with awe at the height he sat on.
"On your word your highness, open the doors and we shall commence the operation!" he adjusted his goggles to his eyes and gave his steed a pat on his mane, "Joshua, would you do the honours?"
"To ride out and meet them in Glorious Combat? Gladly, Sir!"
The sergeant flipped a switch and the weapon gave a tuned whirl indicating it was charging up.
"Alright everypony!" Twilight announced, "Let's do this!"
"FOR GOD, KING AND COUNTRY!" Joshua bellowed.
"ET VETERUM, ET VIRTUTI, ET VIRIBUS!" came Percival's reply.
The castle doors opened.
"THERA VICTORIA!!" came the battlecry as they charged out the castle and into town.
"Zecora, what happened? Why are the Timber Wolves attacking the town?"
"I know not Apple Bloom. Had I not fled, I would have met my doom. I was just on my way to retrieve my belongings, by Celestia I am glad I kept an eye on my surroundings."
"Well while we're here, could you perhaps tell us about the two aliens that came here?"
"This is hardly the time to discuss such things, Scootaloo! Besides, I know just as much as Apple Bloom too."
BANG!
"What was that?!"
BANG! BANG!
"Was that thunder?!"
"Sweetie Bell, the sky is clear. Whatever made that noise is not thunder I fear."
The series of thundering noises continued followed by howls and yelps of pain. Everyone at the square braced themselves for the worst to appear as the explosion of sounds drew closer.
"Everyone keep calm and stay behind us!" ordered a guard, "We need to keep the perimeter stable from the wolves! Whatever made that sound could be help, so keep calm!"
Just as the guard was finished, a mass of Timber Wolves spilled out from one of the streets and into the town square. The townsfolk were about to lose all sense of order and panic when out from the street the wolves came; a burst of lightning blasted out from the same path with splinters of wood popping out of it.
"YEEEEAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!" came a battlecry.
Every creature watched with awed silence as they all witnessed a bizarre sight: The Banes of the Everfree fled for their lives from a creature mounted on a large pony as it shot bolts of lightning from a magical tool it held on its upper limbs. The crackling blasts was deafening but the wolves seem to be more terrified of the lightning than the noise. The brave few that held their ground gave a howl and snarled at the new comers, only to be either blasted into splinters or bucked by the mighty hooves of the stallion. The wolves that were just now witnessing the carnage joined the rest as they made their way out of the square, fearing for their lives.
None spoke a word until the rider turned to one of the guards and looked at him through his tinted goggles. "Guardsmen! Grab what volunteers you have and follow me! We are driving these wooden mutts from the town!"
"Guardsme...? Who are you to give us orders?" the lead Royal guard ordered the strangers, "And for that matter, who in Tartarus are you?"
"Who we are doesn't matter!" came the frustrated reply from the Stallion who was mounted on, "We need to kick those things out of town, pronto! Besides, we're under orders of Princess Twilight!"
With that the head guard snapped from his thoughts and addressed his subordinates, "Royal Guard! I want eight of you to protect the town square! The rest of you, let's drive these snarling twigs out of this town!"
The rider snorted a smirk before turning towards the fleeing monsters. "Guards, to me! I'll take the spearhead. CHAAAAAAARGE!!!"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders could only watch with awe as the rider and his mount rally the guards against the Timber Wolves and chased after them.
"That. Was. AWESOME!!!"
Starlight and Twilight just entered the town square as they witnessed the occurring events.
"Twilight, are you seeing this?"
"I see it Starlight, and I can't believe it!"
Rainbow Dash watched the whole fiasco unfold from the moment they left the castle to the town square with her jaw dropping as she rescues a frightened young colt.
"No way! How did he shoot lightning without a storm cloud?"
Pinkie Pie readied her party wagon to create a distraction only to find not a timber wolf was in sight of where she was.
"Aww! I was going to make a blast of a distraction!"
"Everypony get inside a building and off the streets, if you don't mind."
"Fluttershy dear, could you help me bring her inside? Her injuries need looking after."
"Oh, right away Rarity."
The two mares were in an alleyway bringing in injured ponies (and other creatures) indoors while tending to some who were injured. All the while, a series of thundering shots were heard across the town followed by howls, screeches and yells. Fluttershy winced at the few pain howls from the timber wolves but tried to brush it away by tending the injured inside.
Time stopped for the mare however when she heard a loud howl that chilled her to the bone. That howl. It couldn't be! Why is it here?
Applejack and Spike began rushing towards the noise across town after rallying the last stragglers to the town square.
"Sis! Spike! Over here!"
Applejack stopped on her tracks and took notice of her sister and her fellow Crusaders. "Apple Bloom!" the farmer rushed to embrace her little sister, "Are you alright, Sugarcube?"
"Ah'm fine, Applejack. We just saw Mr Percival and Mr Joshua chase a whole group of Timber Wolves!" Apple Bloom gleamed excitedly.
"Now hold on, did you say chased? Like they really chased them out?" Applejack stared at her sister in disbelief.
"Yeah, it was awesome!" Scootaloo added with her own excitement, "They just charged right in and blasted the timber wolves with lightning and a few good old bucks! Then the others just saw what they did to them and just ran off, then they rallied the guards and chased after them!"
Applejack just stood there, trying to take it all in. They chased off the timber wolves? I mean, when they said they'd drive them out Ah figured they'd just make some noise and ward them off like old Granny Smith did in her time. But CHASE? Who in their right mind would chase after timber wolves?
The orange mare shook her thoughts off and made her way towards the howls and thunder. "Spike, look after them for me! Ah'm goin' after them!" Before any could protest, she was already gone.
She galloped through the streets and alleyways of Ponyville, following the noise until she reached the edge of town. Applejack saw her friends gathering there, a wall of Royal Guards and... And Percival and Joshua standing off against the largest Timber Wolf she has ever seen.
Oh Nelly, it's an ALPHA!
"To me, lads! We've almost driven them off of town!"
BANG!!
Percival took another shot at a wolf that was covering the retreat of the others as the entire horde of them ran wildly towards the forest's edge.
"We did it Sir! We've beaten them back!" Joshua cheered at the sight, "Oh that was easier than I thought it would be..."
Before the stallion could finish his sentence an ear-splitting howl was heard from the edge of the woods as a figure emerged before them. A giant timber wolf that towered over the pair, three times their size in height. Its deep, green eyes stared into them as it snarled with fury and... desperation? Percival wasn't sure why, but he sensed there was something off about it. Regardless, it posses a threat to the town and its inhabitants. It must be stopped now.
The giant slowly stepped forward as though to challenge the two and unleashed another ear-splitting howl. The smaller of its kind began to rally behind it at the edge of the forest.
Sensing the challenge, Percival dismounted and slid-pumped his gun giving an electrical whirling tune. "Joshua, cover my back. If any of the spectators got any funny ideas to interfere, give them a good beat down."
"Aye aye, Sergeant!" Joshua gave a salute as he hung back behind his rider.
"Sgt Percival, what are you doing? Are you crazy? THAT'S AN ALPHA!" came the scream of Twilight.
He ignored the warning and stared down the giant wooden canine. The creature replied with a glare of its own and snarled, hoping to intimidate the human. Percival didn't even flinch.
"You know, as terrifying as you look, you are hardly the scariest thing I've ever laid eyes on," he taunted, "Not to brag but you barely even begin to scare an inch of my nerves. I used to hunt vermin like you on a regular basis. But since we've just been acquainted, I'll give you and your kin a chance; leave this town and never return."
The creature seemed to snarl a laugh from what he said and lunged after the human. Percival reflectively dodged the charge and fired a blast of lightning. The shot stung the giant wolf but shrugged it like it was nothing. It charged once more at him and once again missed as Percival dodged and fired another shot. It shook off the blast, more irritated by the sound of the blast than its impact as it once more lunged at the soldier. This time however, it managed to pin Percival down with its paws. The timber wolf readies to bite down on him, much to the horror of the observers. It opens it's fangs and lunges its jaws into its helpless victim.
"Let's see if you can eat plasma, you wooden bitch!" Percival swore as he switched his weapon's power outlet to the highest setting.
Just as the giant's teeth was inches away, a bright blast of burning hot plasma seared all over its muzzle as the creature's wooden frame burned brightly and spread across its head, torso and the rest of it's body. It screamed, thrashed and rolled on the ground to put the fire out. All who witnessed the inferno were wide-eyed and dumbstruck at the sight. As the flames died down, the creature was on the ground whimpering in pain and shuddered as the soldier drew closer pointing his weapon at it.
"Mr Percival, wait! Please don't kill it!" Fluttershy screamed, begging with tears, "Its afraid! They're all afraid! Please don't hurt it!"
Percival pumped his shockgun and glared at the beast through his weapon sights. Everyone held their breaths as he broke the deafening silence, "I let you off with a warning. You laughed it off on my face. I should kill you in front of everyone for that, just to make an example how deathly serious I am."
He closed his eyes and lowered his aim before glaring at the pitiful thing in the eyes, "But from one hunter to another, I'll let you live. I'll let you live to warn every creature you could communicate with that if anyone of them dares to approach this town and threaten any of its residents, I will personally hunt them down. You will tell your kin, that if anyone of them terrorizes another soul from this town I will blast every last one of you to splinters and turn you to fire wood. Am I clear?"
The Alpha painfully stood up and nodded in agreement to the demand.
"Good. NOW GET!!" he pointed his gun in the air and fired a blast of lightning to the sky, signalling the wolves to promptly leave.
Joshua trotted towards his rider and nuzzled him, "Brilliantly said sir. Here's hoping we don't see their lot again."
Percival brushes his steed's mane with a gentle smile before he gave a worried frown as he stared to the onlookers. Joshua turned to look at the sight of them and a growing concern crept in. "You don't suppose we might have intimidated the entire town with that display of Strength-of-arms, did we?"
"Joshua, I might believe that we have just overstayed our welco..."
"THAT! WAS! AWESOME!!!!!!!"
The two were startled by the sudden uproar of praises as they we both tackled by several ponies who were elated by the fight.
"Who are you two?"
"What kind of creature are you?"
"Are those hands?"
"Where are you from?"
Are you part of the Royal Guards?"
What are your names?"
"Are you heroes from somewhere?"
"Are you really aliens?"
"Are you really dating Applejack?"
"Settle down everycreature!" ordered Twilight, "Settle down! I know all that today has been overwhelming for all of us, so I will do the honour of answering the questions in everyone's mind. Ponyville, meet Sgt George Arthur Percival and Private Joshua of Cornwall. They came from a world far away, arrived in our town as injured patients and now find themselves as heroes." She turned to the two with a smile, "As such, let us give them the welcome they rightly deserve. Give it up for The Heroes of Ponyville!"
A round of applause and cheers rang across the town as Pinkie Pie stepped in to silence everyone, "With that said, you all know what this calls for!"
"PARTY!"
As the crowd gathered around to parade the two into town, Percival couldn't help but look back into the forest. He turned to Twilight and nudged her to catch her attention, "Out of curiosity, how often do those wolves attack the town?"
"Never actually," Twilight casually replied, "Timber wolves mostly stay clear away from the town. Why?"
Percival looked back to the forest and narrowed his eyes, "I've hunted wolves before, and from all that time they only ever attack towns for two reasons; either food became scarce or they were driven out of their territory."
G'day all,
Might I say, this was a blast to write and personally I've never written anything as action pact as this before. Do let me know if any improvements are needed for this chapter and I will not hesitate to add changes.
Look forward to the next chapter because it's going to be a PARTAY!
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Nicely done, pal! I actually liked the action displayed in the chapter!
You got featured! Nice work!
10877057
I honestly don't know how to feel about it. I wrote this story as just a means to improve my writing (as well as show off bits and pieces of my original stories) yet here it is featured in this website with over a thousand views.
I'm a little choked up about it.
Nice, he didn't roll ones when firing plasma)
I can't wait to see what caused the Timberwolves to attack Ponyville like that.
10878920
You misunderstand me. Just one type of magic being toxic is justification to be cautious of it as a whole.
10878927
You have a point I suppose. I guess I'll take that to consideration in my future projects.
10889757
Ya I get that. I thought ponies were mega cringe at first to. Only even tolerated cause iam a whovian wanted to see pony doctor cause why the fuck not would be hilarious
10889764
Are you me from another reality? Because in my case, it's pretty much the same.
10889769
Possibly. Did you skip most of the songs? Funny enough it was just a year or so ago that I got sucked in
I mean we obviously seem to have some historical interest and taste in sci fi especially sci fi mixed with other things like history or fantasy
10889770
I skipped 90% of the songs and 20% of filler episodes. Stayed for the memes and fandom.
10889771
Ya besides the discord episodes only seen it thru once most of time spent with fandom, fanfic, equestria at war, music, ect
10889772
Okay now I am convinced you are me from another dimension.
10889776
How many conversations and scenarios do you have in your head a day
10889778
More than I would like.
Is Joshua shod? As in, does he have horseshoes nailed to his hooves?
Also, apologies if I asked this before.
10913134
Without a doubt.