Ask The Hunters Anything! · 1:13am Aug 14th, 2021
So, y'all have noticed that my updates for Hunt the Undead have slowed a fair bit. It is happily not resulting from a loss of enthusiasm, but a combination of factors external (returning in most areas to a pre-pandemic work and social life), internal (wanting to give other projects the light of day), and anticipatory (I have some ideas for a fourth installment).
It's not finished, though. Not quite yet. Honestly reading and writing peoples' ideas has been a blast, I wish I could do all of them.
So! In the same vein of thought just with a much smaller time commitment: Ask The Hunters Anything! This blog is open and will remain so for all your questions and comments to any member of the gang (or their friends, enemies, or weird pony clones). Feel free to clarify the "era" or anything else if it makes a difference. Post them below, and you will receive an in-character response.
I don't feel much need to set rules, but like, it's a teen rated story so this'll be a teen rated AMA.
Dear Wallflower: Which character is the biggest wheel of cheese in Super Smash Pillars?
Dear Luna: What was your initial reaction to Celestia finding a longterm boyfriend? Did you feel hesitant to accept him, or did you see his true, kind intentions from the start?
Dear Adagio: What were stagecoaches like?
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Wallflower: "Mage Meadowbrook, hands down. She throws potions faster than you can jump, so what should be easy recoveries turn into knockouts because you just can't get back to the stage. High-end players can dodge and counter, but none of my friends are that good and nothing pisses them off more than dying at 7% damage because Meadowbrook guarded you off the edge for ten seconds straight."
"Other characters are actually better, but Meadowbrook is the one who teaches noobs that life isn't fair."
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Luna: "Mm, that's two different questions. I was 95% thrilled when she got a boyfriend, just knowing that she had a shot at the family she always wanted. That I didn't fuck up her life for good. And most of that leftover 5% was stupid fear that she'd move out or kick me out or something. Of course I know that she'd never do that, but... some nights are long, you know? Some nights, you wonder."
"As for the big guy himself, I guess my main worry was that I'd screw things up by him finding out about me and nope-ing out of the glorious dysfunction that is the Sol family. Teaching in a public school taught me a long time ago that tough punks can be great guys. I liked him a lot right from the get-go: a handy, friendly dude without much ego or machismo, and not a judgmental bone in his body. I know his daughter was a bit weirded out by me, but she got over it and is pretty happy to try out my different Gamestations. Call it a bribe, but it worked."
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Adagio: "Okay, listen: yes, the reason creativity is dead is because people are constantly bombarded by distractions and don't know how to stop. Unplug and slow down; your muse will take care of the rest if you just take a few hours to listen. The world is too fast for its own good."
"Thus said, stagecoaches were terrible. They were either too hot or too cold. Their seats were not padded enough (if at all) and you could be stuck on them for days. The roads were shitty and the ceilings were low. Sonata broke her nose once when we hit a bump while she was looking up. No room to lie down or properly stretch. Uncomfortable, rattling, and sometimes simply painful with how long you were obligated to sit in place. Don't romanticize the past, kids."
Dear Sunset/Wallflower/Adagio: Between your jobs of drawing, writing, and singing respectively, which one pays the bills the best? and have you considered working at AJ's farm for some extra?
Dear Sunset, given your training on magic, have you ever considered/tried to improve your equipment/weaponry with magic, such as carving runes into your gun for supernatural accuracy or setting up magic circles to catch ghosts?
Dear Adagio, before Applejack, did you ever fall in love and if so, who were they? (If the question isn’t too personal or painful)
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Sunset: "Um... it's extremely minimal for all of us. For now. I had one lucky break doing a background for a Hemline store, and the rest of my paid art has been for my friends. Not gonna lie, most of my cash comes from part-timing at restaurants and gas stations. Adagio has her Paytreon and Wallflower her Smash fan-site, but both of them mostly live off their student loans."
"Sometimes we help out at the farm. Even Adagio, I guess. It's usually only when something goes wrong and AJ needs extra hands, so I don't see it as working, I see it as helping a friend. The only time I took her money was when I updated the logos and did some promo art for her business."
Dear all of the Main 7 who aren't Sunset, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle: how do you feel about all of the monster hunting shenanigans some of your friends get up to without you?
Dear adagio did you ever tried a trio with sunset and an?
I'd love to see what a non-hunter, day is like for any or all of you, or something thats made you happy recently big or small.
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Sunset: "The thing is, all my magic training was how to use and control it with a unicorn horn. I still have some know-how and a trick or two that I can do as a human. Like how spoken curses don't need any magic to counter, just the right words. And how sprinkled salt or sticky rice can contain evil spirits. But runes need actual magic to be infused, and I just don't know how to do that as a human. Even if I found a source of magic I would need to figure out how to channel it without a horn, and at that point I'm really no better suited for it than anyone else."
Adagio: "First of all, I never said I love Applejack. But to skip past that, no. Sirens were created by Mother Hydra to keep music eternally young and dynamic, but we became drunk on our gifted perfection and saw all others as beneath us. Imagine falling in love with a mayfly or fish, or anything else perceived as inferior, ugly, and short-lived. Pleasure was a thing of selfish indulgence; 'love' was a tool to get what we want."
"After the Band Battle, we became like you. Blemished and imperfect, suddenly in need of toothbrushes and tampons. Life was hard, and I was bitter for a long time. I was no longer above you, but amidst you. Somewhere along the way I suppose I became you, in the ways that matter. Knowing pain and hunger, becoming vulnerable... then sharing that vulnerability, and learning I am not alone. The old me would never have cared for Applejack. The me of today has learned to care, and I am very, very, fond of her."
To Sunset: now that you're a Werepone, do you spend time transformed for cuddles? Is that a girlfriend privilege? Is it both yours and Adagio's guilty secret receiving/giving you tummy rubs?
Also, considering the previous magic question, don't you kinda have access to your horn now? Or was that a once-of transformation?
To Adagio: don't lie, how soft and fluffy is Pony Sunset's tummy? And her ears? Does she kick her legs when you give scritches? How bashful does she get once petting time is over?
Dear Torch:
How's settling in the new place with this crazy family of hunters? What's your thoughts on Celly, Luna and Sunset?
Also, people have mentioned you seem like the perfect boyfriend and I must agree! How did you manage to get through life looking like the hunk you are without getting a chip on your shoulder.
Finally, (here's a LOL question) would you still like Celestia if she was pretending to be a changeling but was still Celly all along?
Dear Luna;
in light of Celestia having a boyfriend, have you had any thoughts (or doubts) about the prospects of your own love-life? Like, do you have desires for a partner, what would you look for in said partner, commitment? Etc.
To Wallflower (after "Things Change")
Did you ever experiment with wearing a bell when your abilities weren't needed?
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Rarity: "I'll take this one, darlings. In high school we all had to be together to 'pony up,' and Twilight thinks the magic has since decayed in us just as it has with Wallflower. The sad conclusion is that we can't help our more, ah, 'martial' friends with their 'business.' I suppose I worry about them now and then but they seem enormously competent. Pinkie Pie grew up in a household of hunters and never fretted much about it. Rainbow was a bit immature about it in high school; she fancied herself a master 'zombie killer' and wanted to come, but Miss Celestia put a stop to that right away. She's grown up since (I suppose we all have), and just thinks it makes Sunset a 'cool bad-ass' in her own way."
"Fluttershy... has trouble, now and then. She is a were-manatee, as you know, and also maintains something of a home and hospital for supernatural creatures of a peaceful nature. She confided in me that she worries the hunters kill those who don't deserve it, but I went over what we know and each time the hunters have fought someone preying upon the people or world. She hasn't said anything since, but I think that's Fluttershy for 'I'm still nervous.' At any rate, Miss Celestia still doesn't know about her true nature, and even Sunset doesn't know about her little boarding house."
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Adagio: "Finally, a good question. We did menage a trois twice so far. Once for Applejack's birthday, which blew her adorable mind while also establishing Sunset and I weren't that into each other. We tried again with a little more experience under our belts, and Sweet Mother Hydra it was hot. Sunset let me sub her like Applejack, and seeing them both kneeling in front of me, leather-tied, gagged, and blindfolded... let me tell you, Sunset is really sexy when she can't talk."
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Sunset: "These days, most days are 'non-hunter.' I go to class, I work a little, I chill in the apartment. Between my dorm-mates, my family, and the Rainbooms, someone's always got something going on. Last weekend I went practice-shooting with Mom, then to Rainbow's soccer game with Rarity and AJ. It was a great time."
Adagio: "I have songs to write and produce. And Applejack helps manage her family business - the one without quotation marks, that is. Don't tell anyone but we did make time for some snuggles. I think it's boring to just relax and lie still, but I can admit it was... nice. Kinda."
Wallflower: "And I stayed at home and played video games."
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Sunset: "It was a once-off. Thankfully. I'm glad you enjoyed me getting tiny and baby-talked because I for one have had enough involuntary transformations in my life. And I did not enjoy the belly-rubs at all."
Adagio: "First off, she was definitely purring during the belly-rubs. Secondly, I don't really do 'cute.' I'm sure she was soft and adorable because everyone else wouldn't shut up about it."
"Sure is fun to remind her, though."
To everyone: do you like penguins?
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Torch: "Hey, I got plenty of chips. I'm forty-one, you know. But as for how I got where I am now, I can only credit my sweet baby-boo Ember. There I was, just another young tough who thought a motorbike made me a man, and abandoned in an alley there was a filthy little baby with the brightest orange eyes I ever saw. I could have turned her over to the system which I know sucks and no one would'a blamed me. But for me it was 'Okay, Torch. Here's the purpose in life you always needed. Here's your chance to be a man.'"
"It was hard, but we got through. She taught me that the little stuff doesn't matter, that 'normal' is a scummy buzzword. Luna never got her life sorted and lives with her sister? Christ, I get it. She's not shitty or spoiled or anything, she just doesn't want to be alone. Sunset's a little clingy to her mom? Celly adopted her four freaking years ago, give her a break. You gotta think of people as people, not cardboard cutouts revolving around you."
"Celly and I are both around the first bend. We're not pure naive souls creating a whole life around each other, we're bringing our own lives and squishing them together. There's room."
Torch: "Hey, I already know she's not human. She's an angel."
Pillow flies into Torch from off-screen. Camera pans over to Celestia, dying of embarrassment and fleeing the room.
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Luna: "Look, I'm not asexual or anything. I surfed dating websites a bit then lost interest. I'm comfortable where I am, and I know a recurring theme has been a willingness to change but not everything needs it. I'm staying as-is, and if that's a mistake... eh."
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Wallflower: "No, but it wouldn't help. I wasn't exactly invisible, I was outside their senses. Unless I really specifically had their attention they'd ignore or forget any noise, cowbell or otherwise. I guess I could ring it in their ear, but at that point I might as well just touch them or yell out."
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Fluttershy seizes the initiative.
Fluttershy: "They're so cute and precious and lookit their little feet waddle and the males are good to babies and females occupy leadership positions and oh my gosh have you ever seen a baby penguin all small and grey little fuzzballs have you ever seen the picture of one checking out the science team I'm gonna die!"
Dear Adagio: As the most morally-grey-but-still-has-standards of the group, have you considered doing some work for Chrysalis's only-illegal-if-caught business? I heard she pays well.
Dear Sci-Twi: Did you actually install that security system for the sphinx at the end?
Dear Twilight (the human one),
After the whole summoning the Great Dreamer, through what was most definitely not your fault (entirely), please tell me you disassembled, destroyed, or to put it more bluntly; wrecked the portal to R'lyeh. Also has there been any adverse effects on the local population on witnessing the Great Dreamer? For apparently just bearing witness to a Great Old One is to incur madness incomprehensible to our limited, fragile minds.
To Torch and Celestia (during last trimester):
How has things changed for the two of you now that you have a child on the way. How has it changed the business and how has it changed sunset?
To Sunset and Ember (during last trimester):
How is it now being sisters in all but name? Now that you got a little sibling on the way how has that changed your relationship.
To Luna (during last trimester):
Best aunt ever?
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Adagio: "Eh, I have higher standards than that. I'll think of something if I start really needing the income, right now I'm really working on having a career once the loans dry up and I'm out of college."
Twilight: "Yeah. Given the number of cursed artifacts in that Egyptian tomb beneath Oregon I guess it's really in everyone's best interests to leave it alone and protected. Sphinxes are incredible guardians so I don't know how much help I really was, but she seems to take her job very seriously and was alright with the help. The sphinx is actually very polite when she doesn't think you're there to rob her ward."
"...She has sensitive ears, too."
Dear wallflower how do you deal with all this crazy also do you have a favorite um adventure.
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Twilight: "A common misconception! I imagine you're basing your description off the writings of the latent psychic H.P. Lovecraft, who used his maddened visions to inspire his work. The thing is, Lovecraft himself was... uh, troubled. Not only was the poor guy paranoid and afraid of everything from air conditioners to Italians, he probably had a bunch of undiagnosed conditions that were not at all aided by said visions. He also lived in the 1920s and had no real context for visual horror to jade the mind to other life forms. So while he saw a sanity-blasting terror from beyond the stars and wrote his stories as such, we see... you know, a fat gargoyle wearing a squid."
"..."
Sunset: "You didn't answer the first part."
Twilight: "What do you mean?"
Sunset: "About maybe disassembling that PORTAL TO RY'LEH!?"
Twilight: "Oh, don't be silly. My transporter can go to far more places than just there, and return trips would allow me to gather substantial data on... hey, Sunset? Sunset! Where are you going?"
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Celestia: "I'm out of the business, now. Luna's taking over. I... I can admit that it's not easy. I've been a hunter since I was in college. My entire adult life... done. Am I being selfish for following my own desires instead of protecting others? Leaving my daughter and sister to carry on the work? But I've wanted this for so long, and had just given up when Torch came into my life."
"Talking to Harshwhinny has helped, actually. Her old crew are retired. Prim Hemline (don't tell Rarity), Stellar Flare. She said there comes a time to move on. There will always be monsters, and heroes."
"B-But you didn't want to hear about all that! Sunset has been nothing but supportive. The baby changes nothing between us; to be honest she seems to look forward to little Starscout as much as I do! As for Torch, we'd only been together for about eight months before the pregnancy, but at our age it is now or never. It's something we both want. If anything, we're closer than ever."
Torch: "As for me, I was definitely less of a 'hunter' than a 'thump bad guys who come into the wrong neighborhood.' Seems twice as important to keep doing that with a kid on the way."
Sunset: "It's cool. Ember teaches me motorbikes, I teach her longarms. I don't really know what 'sisters' are supposed to feel like; she's more like a cool friend. We're both adults now and we've been through the wringer enough to not get jealous or whatever over the baby. We both love our parents to death and are super happy for them."
Ember: "This is gonna sound fruity as fuck, but... we're gonna be there for our parents, just like they were there for us."
Luna: "Man, don't joke about that. We'll call it a win if I don't screw things up."
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Wallflower: "To be honest I'm just super stoked to be involved. Friends who care about me, who remember me... I don't care how crazy things get, I would literally die for them. These years have been the best of my life."
"Favorite adventure? Four words, baby: I blew up Hitler."
Dear Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz: Is there a reason why Pinkie wasn't "initiated" in the hunting business, or at least not being that involved?
Dear rest of the school faculty: How are things now that Luna has taken over from Celestia.
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Igneous: "Pinkamena is not emotionally suited to the role, child. 'Twas never our intent to force or even encourage our young into it, for the midnight war is a thing to be chosen by the willing. Maud and Limestone have embraced the danger and the unquiet nights, and are welcome. Pinkamena has never asked to join, and bluntly, she would be refused."
Cloudy: "As would Marble, our sweet little siren. It is a burden, to take even the lives of wolves. Two children in the business is enough. Let us slay werewolves so gentle Marble, kind Pinkamena, and others like them may live in peace."
Harshwhinny: "Luna seeks self improvement. Better late than never, I suppose. She is not Celestia's equal, no, but she is the most plausible candidate. The others lack discipline, and I lack the warm qualities required of leadership. At the very least, Luna is clever, and she is learning. Next year it may be me who finally retires... but that is none of your business."
Redheart: "What she said. It's no secret that Luna's had her fights with all of us, just as we've had fights with each other. But we've all grown up a little, and what the hell else can we do? Stop monster hunting just because Celestia left? Forget that, I'm having too much fun."
Dear Adagio: Where do you celebrate human-y things like Christmas and thanksgiving? Does applejack save you a spot over at the farm, or do you hang with Sunset and the family? Maybe just a little get-together with all three of you?
Previous question in mind, do these celebrations ever make you feel alienated? I'd assume being the one without the external family must be rough at some point.
Dear Wallflower: Where did you get your van? Who taught you to drive?
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Adagio: "Wow, there's no way to answer this without sounding like a total sap. Fine, here: I only started with it last year. Our first Christmas as a gang I kinda made something up and stayed away. Between Applejack shooting me down and me wondering if I could get my powers back I wasn't exactly in the holiday spirit or whatever you humans call it. As things... uh, deepened between us, Applejack started giving invites to her Independence Day Cookout, harvest party, and Thanksgiving. The first two were chill parties, Thanksgiving felt... solemn, quiet. Not as many guests. No real distractions or interference between me, her and the family. Then Christmas, and when the fun was over she took me up to her room and played that guitar for me. My own private concert, and I started to sing along..."
She coughs abruptly and turns away. "ANYWAY, I guess in answer to your second question, I passed my 'alienated' stage way back at the Tirek fiasco. And now that I think about it, you're wrong, I do have family. Two idiot sisters in pony jail, who I've started visiting once a month because I guess I'm turning into a gigantic pussy. I hope you're proud."
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Wallflower: "Well, we needed a van, right? Being monster-hunting heroes and all. I basically live on the internet and found a fixer-upper for a cool $300. Add in another $2,000 of repairs and 14 hours of work and it was ready for the road. But, uh, the good news is I learned a lot from Applejack about fixing cars."
"At first it was Applejack who taught me how to drive. She has some fallow fields that are great for practice. I was not a good driver and after she threw up the second time Sunset kinda took over. I drove a ton on my own while getting the lessons so I think I picked it up pretty quick."
Dear Wallflower and Autumn Blaze
Seeing as the two of you hang out a lot now; are there any complications with carrying around an over-eager, perpetually happy and talkative kirin? You know questions from onlookers, hunters, etc? If so, how do you deal with those situations?
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Dear adagio/applejack: dose sunset still purr wen she is a human?
To everyone (minus sunset): what would you do if sunset turned into a werewolf and the cure failed?
Dear Twilight and Pinkie: What the best food to feed a Hound of Tindalos? The poor things seem really lonely and I was hoping to make them feel better by leaving food for them at the corner of rooms and such, maybe give them pets and scratches when they show up. Do you know the best way to feed and care for the poor hounds?
To all hunters.
Can I join? I’m a gunsmith, blade smith and armor smith.
To Sunset:
Master Chief or Doomguy?
Dear Pie Family,
How did your family get involved in the hunter lifestyle? To my knowledge, most people don't just wake up one morning and go 'I'm going to dedicate my life to hunting werewolves' unless they had a very interesting night before.
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Wallflower: "Conveniently, there's this thing Twilight calls the Veil Effect: people not in the know tend to see things in a way that fits in their worldview. So they see a werewolf and think it's a big wolf, or even see some obvious monster and go 'wait that's impossible, I'm definitely hallucinating.' People usually see Autumn as a friendly, yappy cat or dog who is very soft and loves ear-stritches."
"It's... not always great. Sometimes it gets us surrounded by curious people wanting to talk to me and I'm not ready for that."
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Applejack answers with Sunset draped face-down over her legs. Applejack scratches Sunset's tailbone while Sunset purrs.
Applejack: "She sure does. The way Sunset explained it, ponies purr naturally, but when she turned human she kept on doing it because by then it felt like the natural thing to do. 'Learned behavior' and all.
Applejack: "We would have stuck by her thick and thin. If that means sticking her in a dang cage ever full moon then that's what we'd do, and you can bet I'd be down there keeping her company."
Adagio: "Absolutely. (Don't tell the others, but changing species can have a way of... changing perspective. And morality. Suffice to say, she dodged a bullet.)"
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Twilight: "HOUNDS OF TINDALOS ARE NOT REAL DOGS! They are monsters of time itself; to see one is to have its attention, and to have its attention is DEATH! Do not try to summon, contact, or feed them in any way!"
"There, that's your answer. I see no reason to get Pinkie, she'd just be confused by the name."
Celestia: "It's really not a thing you apply for, just something you... well, do, with friends and coworkers."
Luna: "But gunsmith? Make silver bullets and don't scalp for them and maybe we can talk turkey."
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Sunset: "To be honest I'm more of a Wintendo girl thanks to Wallflower. So I guess... Star Swirl?"
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Cloudy Quartz: "That is a long story, child. My husband's family is an offshoot of the Amish, and rural folk such as they are most likely to run foul of werewolves. Their horses and livestock make tempting prey far from city lights, and men may rush out with shotguns upon seeing the 'wolf' with deadly results, whereas city folk would lock their doors tight. Igneous' father resolved to hunt such creatures, using tools, study, and aggression such that his community rejected him. They moved to outer Canterlot, and Igneous took up the labor in this slow, patient battle. Such brought them afoul of other denizens, and in his research of these Igneous came to a library managed by myself."
"I suppose he saw past my cold demeanor to value my acceptance, knowledge and discipline, and I valued his strength and commitment. I became his partner and ally, then his fiancé."
"To thus answer your question: for him it was family duty and responsibility to mankind. For me, it was a choice to share the burdens of the one I love."
To Celestia and Luna, thanks for advice for starting this career first things first make some friends! Uh, do guns and swords count as friends?
Dear Adagio, have you considered the path of working at an orchestra. I'm not sure what the process is but it seems like it would be exactly what you want.
Also can you tell me what is the year you were sent to Earth in the modern Calander? You said Persian Empire(I assume Sasanide Persia) but that was gone by 1,000 years ago.
To Applejack & Adagio (post-Baby's First Mid-Life Crisis)
Ever feel like you're neglecting someone?
Dear Twilight:
So, funny story. You know how you told me to not feed the Hounds of Tindalos as it invites death? Well, your warning came a little late and I had to kill a bunch of the ones that burst into my home. Any idea of how to get rid of the Tindalos remains? I was thinking of giving them as a snack to the local sewer shoggoth. The poor thing’s been doing such a good job keeping the place clean and I feel they don’t get enough credit for it, so this might brighten their day