//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Masks' of the Hunters // by Kamer //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Stories from the Dark "Let's play chase and rip-to-shreds, Marble-thing!" Marble shot awake, jumping to his hooves, terror in his eyes. He stood stock still for a couple moments, trying in vain to quell his rapid heart. He was confused, and couldn't think straight. He did not know where he was or what he was doing. Was he asleep? Did he faint? But what caused that? And why was he shaking so badly? He wasn't cold really, just terrified of something. He shook his head, wanting to gain back some of its lost function. He has so many questions, and non of them would be answered if he couldn't think clearly. Marble finally looked around him, rain still pattering on the stones around him. He passed out in an alleyway. But why? Looking around farther, he remembered. Seeing the form of the dead pony brought back all of those terrible memories. Memories of the voices, the monsters, Lamb and Wolf. But worst was the memories of those eyes, the terrible burning eyes. Marble swore he could still feel them burning in his soul. he was stock still again, muscles tense, ready to run at a moments notice. Taking a couple of deep breaths, Marble steeled himself. He needed to stop thinking about them, those burning orbs. He came to help, but he was too late, somepony was dead. He shuddered, thinking again of the monsters. Taking a few more moments to calm down, he began to breath easily. His mind cleared from thoughts of the monsters and death. Specifically his. 'No!' he shouted mentaly, 'Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!' Happy memories, any memories! Marble was thinking of anything else to help himself calm down. When he got his cutie mark, multi colored wheat crops swaying in a non existent breeze. Happy. Moving to Canterlot. Bittersweet. Playing with his friends near the farm. Joyous. The death of his mother. Sad beyond belief. The rapid onslaught of emotions began to throw back the strong feelings of terror and dread, letting him calm down as best he could. 'I need to do something,' He thought, 'I have to do something.' Marble didn't want to abandon the poor stallion, dead or not, to the poring rain, or whatever else was in this alley. He felt partly responsible for his death, though not sure what could have been done to prevent it. But he needed to get help, and that meant leaving the alley. Marble looked around desperately for something, somepony, to help, but came up empty. They alley way was empty, but Marble prayed to Celestia that it wasn't. Then he had an idea, one that was a little illegal. He remembered his readings from school basics about some guard communication techniques. They would shoot up flairs of differing colors to signify problems. These allowed the guards to communicate from any point in the city with ease, but they where only for the guard to use. In his year in Canterlot, Marble could not remember ever seeing one of these signal flairs, so he didn't even know if they where still in use. He wasn't sure what sort of punishment was in store for him, but he knew that was his only option. Marble wasn't the best spell caster due to his earth pony heritage, but he was thankful that he remembered the fireworks spells that he used as a kid for his siblings amusement. But what color? Marble could remember some of them, green was an all clear call, so that was out of the question, nothing was clear here. Red was really bad, like 'we are at war' bad, so that was a no go too. Deciding, he charged his horn and shot a white ball into the air. It traveled straight up, and exploded with a bright purple flash that dissipated as quickly as it appeared. 'Ponyfeathers!' he thought, 'They spell does not linger long enough. They won't find me!' He sighed, and readied another firework. He would likely be at this for quite some time, depending if the guard knew what he was trying to doing. A mare guardspony was resting her head in her hooves on the railing of the guard's watchtower, watching the night sky, wishing the rain clouds would go away. She loved looking at the stars. She loved the twinkling, the brightness, the shear number of them. She loved just looking up in awe of beauty that was above her, and would spend as much time of her guard shift doing just that. Night Gale, or simply Gale as her friends would call her, was a grassy green pegasus sporting a dark brown mane. Her eyes were a deep golden hue, which often would twinkle like the stars she loved so much. Her cutie mark was a purple gust of wind blowing over some stars in the background. Not that anypony could see that right now. Gale was, of course, a member of the guard, the Lunar Guard to be specific, and, as such, wore the enchanted set of armor that gave her the appearance of a thestrial, complete with a dark purple coat like the night sky, ash grey eyes, leathery wings and, one of Gale's favorite, fangs. She loved to give innocent ponies a smile, flashing the imaginary white fangs just to see the reactions. Gale joined the guard as early as she could. It was a couple years after she got her cutie mark that she could finally join the guard. It was what she wanted almost her whole life before then, and it was still what she wanted now. This guard driven mentality likely came from her family. They where the most unorganized bunch of ponies Equestria had ever seen, and it drove Gale up a wall regularly. Ever since she was a filly she wanted order, organization and structure in her life, qualities that her family seemed allergic too. It's not that Gale's parents were bad, they were very supportive, nice ponies. They just weren't the most 'there' bunch of ponies. For Gale, the guard represented everything that she wanted, and she was enthusiastic from the day she heard about them, to the day she joined and beyond. Sure, there where some ponies in the guard that were as unorganized as her family, but they didn't interfere with Gale's side of the guard. Night Gale was not just an ordinary guard though. through her aptitude in armed flight combat, her natural leadership and organization skills as well as her extreme desire for self-betterment, she rose quickly through the guards. Right out of basic training, she was able to join the officer's school, a fast track to becoming a leader in the guard. After two years, she was given the rank of lieutenant, gaining a small section of guard to command, no more than five ponies. A year into that, and she was given the rank of major, and now a platoon of guards that she commanded. And for her most recent position almost a year and a half after her last promotion, she earned the rank of colonel, commanding an entire division of the Lunar Guard. To say that Gale was happy with her current position would be an astounding understatement. This was her third week as an active colonel of the 3rd Lunar Guard division. a command of over one-hundred ponies. And Gale was loving every second of it. The higher one rose in the guard, the less you had to hear from officers that outranked you. For Gale, the only two officers that outranked her were four generals of the guard, of both the Lunar guard and Solar guard, the Grand Marshall of each, and of course, the Captain of the guard, who oversaw both. She was happy that she got less direct orders from above. That way, she could focus on what she could do for the guard, not just follow orders. Now she could give orders, and ponies would listen. Gale thought that it was one of the better parts of the job. That, and being able to pick her own schedule, like taking the city watch shift for the entirety of the week. Gale loved the city watch shift, it allowed her to indulge her habit of staring at the night sky. The excuse she gave was that it allowed her to plan the next couple guard shifts in her head, which wasn't entirely false. She could think up a lot of the guard schedules up here on the tower. It was also an easy way for the guardsponies to find her, as she would always be here on top of this tower, which also was a deterrent to come up and get her. It was seven flights of stairs, one-hundred and three steps of stupid question deterrent. At least for the non pegasi in the guard. It was situated just at the edge of the wall to the castle, a little to the left of the front gate. Another benefit of the city watch shift was the lack of activity. Nothing happened up here, literally nothing. It was one of the more peaceful shifts that exist in the guard. Which is one of the reasons it is highly sought after by the guardsponies. Tonight was another usual night on the city watch shift, which comprised of nothing. Night Gale sighed, she enjoyed this time to herself, away from her family and the rest of the guard. Not that she has anything against either of them, she loved both dearly. But alone time is where she felt the most peaceful. Three hours into her shift, and Gale was still at peace. 'Nothing still...' Gale thought while looking out over the city. She turned her eyes back up to the sky, 'Still cloudy up there, I see.' She let her eyes wonder the sky for a little while longer, looking for an opening, before a purple sheen caught her attention. "Hmm?" She looked down, scanning the city. was it imagination? Waiting with her breath held, she looked for another sheen. "There," she saw it, in the middle class apartment district, somepony was shooting up purple firework spells. "Hooligans..." she said as she dived down the tower's side. She headed for the guard barracks, looking for the on-call guards. They could usually be found playing hoofball or someother games in the yard. but on a rainy night like this, they where likely playing cards inside. Gale landed with a soft tapping on the stone floor just outside the door, pausing before deciding who to take. Making her choice, she opened the door. "Fleet! Rock, with me!" she said with the authority of a colonel. 'Still love how that sounds!' She thought. "Sir!" the two guards said in unison, one pegesus and one unicorn quickly abandoned their game and trotted to the door with Gale "Whats the problem, colonel?" Fleet, the unicorn, asks. "Some hooligans are shooting off fireworks in Canterlot," she replied. Both guards stare at her, "They why are you coming?" Rock, the pegasus, asks. "Eh, I need to stretch my wings." "Ah..." Fleet says. "That and getting talked to by a colonel should put the fear of Celestia in them!" Both the guards laugh. It is no secret in the guard that Gale is proud of her position, and does whatever she can to make people know where she is. They trot quickly out of the gate from the guard complex and move to a direct line to the offending party. They move in silence, only the sound of hoofsteps and the rain on their armor making any noise. As they move, Gale begins to worry, but she can't put a hoof on it. 'This is just a routine grab and scold,' she thought, 'then why did I take two guards with me?' The more she moved, the more she was worried. she wasn't sure why More silence. She moved a little faster.\ Snap! purple firework. '1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9...' she thought. Snap!, another. '1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9...' Snap, a realization. "Gallop!" she cried, catching her companions by surprise. "What is it, Gale?" Rock asked? "Colonel!" she corrected, before adding, "The fireworks are too regular, its not hooligans!" Catching on, Fleet and Rock put their heads down in concentration. "Fleet, send up a red firework!" "Sir!" Fleet said, readying the spell. It a white ball shot upward into the rainy sky, and terminated with an explosion of red light. Gale waited, still galloping to the source of the fireworks. She counted to twenty. Snap!, a red ball lit up in the sky. Gale took to the skies, Rock followed, Fleet galloped faster. 'A minute away,' thought gale, 'I hope we're not too late.' Gale spent that minute in intense concentration, focused on finding out what was wrong. She was the first to arrive in they alleyway, followed closely by Rock. They saw a tired unicorn, grey coat, speckled grey-dark grey mane, wearing a trench coat and saddlebags. He was leaning up against a wall, panting heavily. "Colonel Night Gale, Lunar guard!" she said, "What's wrong?" The stallion was still panting, trying to catch his breath. Seconds passed, he still did not speak. Fleet ran into the alleyway. "What's the problem?" he asks, breathing a little heavier than normal. "We'er waiting for him to say," Gale replied. "Th-haa.... haa... there's been-haa..." the stallion was trying to say. "A what?" Gale asked, a little of her worry turning into annoyance. "M-Murder!" the stallion said, pointing to a pile of trash. The Fleet galloped over, producing a light from his horn. 'That's definitely a body,' Gale thought slightly disgusted. "What can you see, Fleet?" Gale asked. "No obvious wounds, no magical signature," Fleet said, "Looks like a normal death from cold, or heart failure. Poor soul." Gale looked at the stallion, "Look I know it's scary to find a body, but don't go around shouting murder." "But it was!" the stallion shot back, "There were these two things, monsters here. And they killed him!" Gale raised an eyebrow, "Monsters? Fleet, sobriety check here." "I'm not drunk!" He shouted, "There was something here!" Fleet lit up his spell. Both Gale and the stallion looked at him, waiting for the results, one pensive, the other relaxed. "Nothing, Colonel," Fleet finally said, "High levels of adrenaline and low magic reserves though." "See!" the stallion cried, "I'm not drunk! And something killed him!" "Calm down, calm down," Gale said, "What did you see?" "He saw a visage of a wolf, with eyes of terrible fire." A voice from above called. Getting forced out of the dream world was an unpleasant experience for sure, but being in a dream that shattered and getting shoved out of the dream world, that was extremely unpleasant. Luna opened her eyes to the sight of the room upside down, with the feeling of a crick in her neck. It felt like she had just gone through the Wonderbolt initiation with the machine turned up to twenty. Still dizzy and confused, it took her a moment to get to her feet, and even longer to realize that she had been thrown out of her bubble. She dispelled the anti-gravity zone and brought back the lights when there was a light wrapping on her door. "Princess?" A guard called, "Is everything alright?" "Verily," She called back, "Merely an nightmare gone awry." "So...." the guard questioned. "Everything is fine, return to your post." "Your majesty!" the guard said. Luna sighed, she would need to change her speech patterns soon. The guards still were not use to it after all these years. She looked to her balcony, "What was that dream?" she said as she moved to the doors, "T'was far to real to be merely imagination." Looking out over the city for the location of the dreamer, a flash caught her eye. In the sky a red flash means something of dire consequence, she remembered. 'At least, it once did...' she thought. she opened the doors to the balcony, reading her wings to fly. Another red flash. Luna paused, tracing where it came from. 'The dreamer!' she shot skyward, rocketing to the location of the firework. She was fast, it almost would have made Rainbow jealous. Calm down..., a voice said. Luna remembered it to be a recently promoted guard, by the name of Night Gale. What did you see?, Gale said. "He saw a visage of a wolf, with eyes of terrible fire." Said Luna, now directly over the alley. "Princess Luna!" the three guards said, saluting. "P-princess!" Marble stammered, "What are... How did you know what happened?" "I saw it, in your dream." She responded. "He says there was a murder." Gale said, "Fleet says heart attack." "Where is the body?" Luna asked. Fleet pointed to the body. Luna froze. Everypony was looking at her, wondering what happened. Luna was not looking at the body, but what was in it. "What in Equestria...?" Luna asked to nopony. There, sticking out of the pony's chest, right where his heart was... was an arrow.