"Not a whole lot is known about what happened to him next," the pegasus continued, "or how he went insane, but one thing that’s for sure is that the spear has three different magic runes on it. The first is gravity, the second is earth, and the third is nightmares. But be warned, this kind of artifact is extremely dangerous. The more you use it to kill, the more insane you'll become, just like Silver Tip."
"Okay, good to know,” Eager Shot said. ”By the way, I never got your name."
"I am Sonia Kicker."
"I'm Eager Shot."
"Well, nice to meet you,” Sonia Kicker sighed. “But why did you do it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why did you put the mask on?"
"Oh, well, my fellow hunters were arguing about who should put it on after after they found out what kinds of risks there were, so I just decided to do it."
"Oh well, I'm sorry in advance. You seem like a nice guy."
Suddenly, the mare flew straight at Eagle Shot and he screamed.
A muffled voice asked, "What’s wrong with you?"
"Eagle Shot, hold still! Just, try not to fly up," Night Glider’s voice said. "Now, what happened?"
Eagle Shot realized he was trying to fly away from the group of hunters. He quickly calmed down and told them all he knew about the spear, who owned it, and the mysterious pegasus inside the mask.
When he was done, he noticed he was still glowing even after the mask of knowledge was off.
Suddenly, several bursts of golden flames erupted from his body. The flames hurt a lot. It only lasted a few seconds but it felt like years of damage was done.
"Sweet Luna, what happened to your face?" Night Glider exclaimed.
Black Fall and her partner walked to the wagon. It was well hidden, but they knew where it was.
Black Fall began to feel on edge. "You know what’s so funny."
"No, what?"
"The fact that we haven't seen anypony walking by on the road." Black Fall gave her partner a look that said ambush.
"You know what? You're right. We would normally have bumped into one or two ponies by now." They prepared themselves for an attack. "But look at that; not one pony in sight. There must be an unusual holiday going on in this town."
"Now!" shouted a hunter who was hidden in the bushes.
Several arrows zipped from the trees and the bushes. The arrows got closer, revealing each one to have an elemental rune which burned with power.
Slam!
Thinking quickly, Black Fall used the spear to hit the ground, sending a gravity wave expanding outwards. The wave caused all the arrows to miss their targets and explode in the air with lightning, ice, and fire. Because of the explosions, nearby trees started to burn.
The hunters looked around for their kill, but didn't find them.
Suddenly, the ground shook and several spikes made from earth shot upwards, aimed for the hunters’ heads. Two got out of the way in time. But the other two hunters were not so lucky; they now lay on the ground with their heads missing.
"Well, well, it looks like the party is just getting started." Black Fall’s partner ripped off the clock he wore, revealing a black werepony with one good eye that was red and another eye that was white with a scar over it. He wore leather armor and his claws were sharp as swords, which he demonstrated by tearing through one of the hunters. He moved so fast that no hunter could see him coming. As he started digging into the hunter and eating the raw flesh, the other hunter swung her sword at his fur, but that made him more angry. In a blind rage, he shattered the sword with his claws and slashed at the hunter. Then he said, "I do not like it when I am disturbed from my meal!" He licked his wound and continued to dig into the hunter.
Two more hunters came out, looking for their prey.
"Okay, let's see what this one does," said Black Fall. The two hunters looked at her with swords drawn, but it was too late. As the last rune glowed purple, the hunters’ eyes began to glow with purple magic. They dropped their swords and started to mumble something like they were living their worst nightmare.
"No, no, please! I'll do anything for you! Just please leave me alone."
"How can this be? I...I saw you die! How can you be here?"
Black Fall looked at the two helplessly stuttering hunters."I could kill you here and now. But you know what? I think I'll spare you, because when you return, you will be humiliated. So, yeah. Goodbye for now."
Black Fall started to walk away. But she stopped in her tracks when the spear began to glow red. She turned around screaming, her eyes as red as the spear.
"You jackass! You hunters made me to kill any monster you thought you couldn't handle! Well guess what! It's time for a little slaying of my own choosing! Heh, he, he, he, he!"
Then Black Fall slashed brutally at the hunters, still trapped in their nightmares. They were quickly transformed into an ugly pool of blood with guts. Then the eyes of Black Fall returned to normal.
"What have I done?! Who was that?!"
"Hey, Black Fall, I just got done and-" Black Fall’s partner stopped when he saw what was troubling her."Well, well, well. I'm surprised that you decided to go with my approach. Effective, isn’t it?" He gave her a toothy grin.
"No! I don't know what I was doing! I was planning on letting these hunters live! But then a power washed over me and I think it used my body to do this!" She pointed to the puddle.
"Well, as the saying goes, ‘the bloodier the better.’ I'll just fill up my canteens and we’ll save the flask for later in my bags. When I'm done, we better get a move on.”
"To the badlands, Cold Blood?"
"Yes, to the badlands, where the magical seal is." Then Cold Blood took out his canteen and started to fill it up with blood. Once it was full, he put it back where he kept it. He then grabbed some bags, placed them on the ground, and began to pick up pieces of flesh from what was left of the hunters, dropping the pieces into the bags.
Black Fall walked to the cart, still wondering what had happened to her. As she approached the wagon, she heard a voice inside her head. 'Soon we will kill your partner and kill any pony or creature that gets in our way.'
"Who said that?" she said. But no one answered. She continued to walk to the wagon that they would use to travel into the badlands of Equestria.
One month later, in Sugar Cube Corner, where Pinkie Pie worked making cakes, cupcakes, and other baked goods, a party was going on for Pinkie’s pet alligator Gummy.
"Well, I'm glad all of you ponies could come to Gummy's party," said Pinkie Pie. Her mane then deflated a little. "Even with what happened to our friend."
"Oh, shucks," Applejack said. "I'm just happy to be here. But to be honest, work at Sweet Apple Acres is getting old, and it's doing nothing to get rid of that troubling moment."
"Well, the same can be said for me, but the real reason I came to this party is-" Twilight looked around. "Hey, does anypony know where Fluttershy is?"
"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her helping any critter."
"Oh, that’s easy. She’s inside her mother’s house," piped up Rainbow Dash. Everypony looked at Rainbow. "What? I saw her flying up to her parents’ house when I was busting clouds."
"But why is she there? It's not like her to do that. What is she hiding?" Twilight mused with a curious look in her eyes.
Back at Night Breeze’s house, a little later in the afternoon, Fluttershy opened her eyes, which glowed a pale light blue before returning to normal. Then she looked around and saw that she was lying on the couch. She got up and turned a steel gaze on her mother.
"So, princess Luna wants me to be a hunter of secrets?"
"Yes," her mother replied.
“So, are we going to meet her at some secret place or does she have a magical way to communicate with us? Because I doubt Luna would appear in public with the sun still high up in the sky.”
"You are correct about that. I believe it will be up in Canterlot during the night.” Mrs. Shy walked over to the dining table. "But before we go anywhere, I need to see if you have the sense."
Suddenly, Night Breeze grabbed several pieces of silverware and threw them at her daughter. Thinking fast, Fluttershy kicked and grabbed the silverware out of the air, ending up holding five of the pieces. The rest were either stuck in the furniture or on the cloud floor.
"I can't believe I just did that!" Then Fluttershy’s eyes widened. "Actually, how did I do that?"
"Well, that amulet you have on is a hunter heirloom. It's capable of teaching hunters about their strengths and weaknesses, about how traps work, and about how to set the perfect ambush."
Night Breeze went silent for a few seconds before saying, "But on to more important things. Like Blood Moon. Luna has kept it safe from prying eyes, and only she knows where that town is. But there is a downside. If you journey there, you have to leave your friends behind here."
"Well, I might be sad for a while, but I think this is a higher calling, and it’s not about me."
Fluttershy wiped away her tears that she hadn’t realized were forming."I'm ready. Let's go!"
Fluttershy started for the door, but her mother said seriously, "Unfortunately, you can't go out like that. I suggest you look at yourself in the bathroom mirror quick."
Fluttershy was confused, but went to the bathroom mirror as her mother suggested. Instead of the yellow pegasus that Fluttershy usually saw staring back at here, there was now a dark yellow bat pony with light blue snake-like eyes. She understood now why her mother didn't want her walking outside. She test flapped her leather wings. Flutterbat was back, and this time she was here to stay.