The sun was about to set as Twilight and Celestia reclined on some chairs near a table atop a balcony that oversaw the countryside. The two Ailcorns were engaged in deep conflict.
“And with your last tower now reduced to rubble, my monsters and I win,” Twilight said with a satisfied smile.
Very dramatically, Celestia yelled in her Canterlot voice, “NO!”
After a few seconds, Celestia snapped back to her normal self and said, “You’re right, this is a fun game to play.”
Twilight and Celestia had been playing Canter Panic for three hours with the three expansions. The first expansion was called Star Swirl Tower, and it featured magic cards that could be used against the monster chips. It also had several different and unique monsters and six boss characters to increase the difficulty.
The second expansion was Tirek the Magical Drain, which had a few more unique tokens and five mysterious followers of the mad centaur. But what made this even more difficult than Star Swirl Tower was that when a follower sacrificed their life to loosen Tirek's chains, the player would have to follow the effects of that action, and when he was finally released, all Tartarus would break loose. There were five different types of levels for the mad centaur.
And the final expansion was Engines of Friendship, in which the players defending the castle could fortify it, making it more resistant; however there were even more monster tokens to counter those fortifications.
“*Hic* You two, I’ve been here for four minutes, so what gives?” said a drunk Blue Blood who was lying face down on a table with his rear about to fall out of the chair.
Celestia turned around and she and Twilight looked at a drunk Blue Blood as he fell out of the chair with a satisfying splat. It had been four days since either of them had last seen him.
Twilight frowned and said, “Does he really have to be here? I mean, couldn’t you leave him in his room?”
Celestia turned back to Twilight and replied, “You have much to learn my faithful student, for this is a golden opportunity for you to examine a drunken state. Also, he’s family, and believe me, you never turn on your family. Now, since you’ve successfully demolished Canterlot with that last wave, I believe that it is my turn to play the warlord now.”
Twilight’s eyes widened as she frantically said, “But I’m not prepared to take you on! It was fun when I was doing it to you!”
“Try as you might, Twilight, you will not escape the feel of the full wrath of the sun as I-”
A faint boom was heard and a beam of light shot towards the sky, giving off a low hum. Twilight and Celestia looked at the light show without really understanding what it meant. But every Hunter who saw it knew exactly what it meant.
The seal had been broken.
In the Badlands, some hours before the seal broke, Black Fall and Cold Blood found an empty area on top of the highest mountain around. "We’re here! We finally found it," said Black Fall. "Finally, after killing lots of EUP soldiers from the Fortress and a few Badlands monstrosities, we are here."
Cold Blood yelled suddenly, "We did all of this for a little bit of land on a mountain?!" He looked at the ex-Hunter furiously. "Or did you mislead me on purpose?"
With an irritated look at Cold Blood, Black Fall replied, "No, I didn't. It's here." She glanced quickly at the book she had stolen from the Hunters. "It's just covered by an invisible barrier. And if I'm reading this right, the way to dispel it…is right here." She pressed a rock on the edge of the mountain, and with a mixture of green and blue lights, the seal came to life and brightened.
Across the countryside, far away from the harshness of the Badlands, over the lush green grass and tall trees of the mountainside where Equestria’s seat of power lay,Luna was meditating in her personal sleeping chambers within Canterlot Castle, striving to achieve balance. But she suddenly opened her eyes with a, "Gasp!" She looked out in the direction of the Badlands where one part of the seal was.
"So, they managed to find it." Luna walked out to the balcony. "But the question remains, do they have the means to break it?"
Back at the Badlands, Cold Blood was beside himself. "Why, Black Fall, I don't believe it! You’ve actually done it. You’re getting your revenge! How-" but he stopped talking when a hoof covered his mouth.
"Here we go," Black Fall said. The Butcher moved her hoof from Cold Blood’s mouth to her saddlebags and. She dug through books and gears for war before feeling the very item she was looking for; Rarity’s broken horn. "Now, would you like to do the honors of bathing this item?"
Cold Blood took the horn, placed it in an iron bucket and began to pour blood from his water skins on it. Black Fall gave him a serious look. "What?” Cold Blood said. ”It's good blood and I'm not wasting a single drop."
The werepony stuck his paw in the bucket of blood and removed the saturated horn which was magically reacting, glowing red . He handed it to Black Fall. She walked over to the center of the seal and, with all of her might, slammed the horn down in the center of the seal. Bright purple sparkles of magic started to fly all over the place. For a second, nothing else happened, but then suddenly several cracks appeared around the seal and purple light shone through. However, the light quickly faded away. Black Fall repeated the process of bathing the horn in blood and slamming it onto the seal. This time, the seal released a magical feedback, sounding out a great "KABOOM!!!"
Back in Canterlot, the glowing white light that was shooting into the heavens suddenly turned red before disappearing completely. Enraged, Luna yelled, "They broke it!” She paused for a minute before continuing with a chilling tone, “I must prepare my Hunters for the worst. Fore the Wereponys have returned!”
The sun was barely out and Night Breeze was surprised that her daughter’s friends decided to come along on the train ride. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash ended up sleeping through most of the journey though.
"So, let me get this straight,” said Night Breeze. “The only reason they decided to come was to catch some Wonderbolt action?"
Fluttershy replied, "Yup, and they know nothing about our little secret. I kept my word to you and will continue to keep it."
"Good. The less they know, the better."
But what Fluttershy and her mother didn't know was that Rainbow was only half asleep. She heard them talking and thought to herself, 'Hmmm, what are they talking about?' She pondered over it. 'Maybe Twilight is right about Fluttershy. Well, whatever she’s hiding, I will find out about it.'
A few hours later, the train conductor yelled loudly, "Here's our stop - Canterlot! Please mind your step. The train will depart in three minutes to the next station in Filly Delphia.”
Fluttershy, her mother, and her friends stepped off of the train. As she walked, Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow was looking at her suspiciously. But she had no time to dwell on that, for she suddenly lost her balance. As she struggled to regain her balance, she thought to herself, 'Note to self - if the train conductor says mind the step, then you gotta listen, because that first step might be a doozy.' She tripped again and almost fell onto the sidewalk, but she quickly found her balance, and looked up to see Canterlot castle where Twilight was.
Walking through the streets of Canterlot, past many restaurants and stores, Fluttershy couldn't help overhearing two ponies who were in discussion about something; probably a book, because they mentioned character development. They were also talking about some events that didn’t really make sense unless it was in the context of a book plot.
"I'm just saying that the series could use a bit more action and less romance," said a dark blue unicorn with a sharp curved horn. His black mane flowed like a river and his cutie mark was of a blank book with a quill and an ink bottle.
"But you don't see the problem.I'm telling you, we need to stop throwing in one battle after another. I mean,we just got done with the battle of the 17 races, so I think we need some ‘in between’ material. All those battles; it's just too much." This was said by a green earth pony mare with a long brown mane. Her cutie mark was of two hands, one grasping the other as if to help it up.
"But you're not seeing the big picture, Miss Dash. Besides, the only thing that my books are good for is giving some action with very little character to go with it. It’s not a romance and it shouldn’t pretend to be.”
"Would you listen to yourself, Arkantos? The books you’re writing are getting predictable!" Miss Dash sighed for a moment, then looked at Arkantos quizzically. In a calmer voice, she continued, "What I mean is, you create a character who’s a hero, one who’s a villain, and some other innocent figure. When everything seems to be calm, all of a sudden, ‘BOOM!’ Out of nowhere, there’s a humongous battle, and each character’s life is on the line. Once the battle is over, the villain is either thrown in prison, changes his ways, or he’s dead. And the heroes keep on celebrating their victories. It's just very predictable, not at all in engaging, and-"
Then Pinkie’s voice broke in. "Fluttershy, watch out!" But it was too little too late. Fluttershy slammed head first into a lamp post. She shook her head and sensed Pinkie Pie bouncing right next to her. Rainbow and Night Breeze just looked at her. "Oh, my gosh! Are you okay?!"
"Um, yeah? I think I'm all right."
"Are you sure? I mean, are you really absolutely sure? Because if you’re not and are starting to see a light, don't go near it! Because I won't have enough time to plan for your final party if you go into the light right now, and that's no fun for me! What am I saying? There’s always time! I just have to be quick!" And as fast as lightning, Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy’s hoof and brought her to some filly’s party that was going on nearby, and quickly painted over the happy birthday banner so that it read ’Happy Last Birthday, Fluttershy.’
Shaking her head, Fluttershy walked up to her pink friend and said, "Um, Pinkie, I'm not dying. It's not my last day."
With the realization of her mistake, Pinkie said formally, "Ah, well, um, just be more careful. You should really look where you are going next time." She bounced away, and Fluttershy placed her hoof on her head to find that there were no bumps or anything. She whispered. 'Huh, that's weird. I don't feel any bumps or bruises.' As she walked out of the small garden where the young filly was having her party, she saw her mother and gave her a look that plainly asked, Does this have anything to do with our little secret?
And her mother replied with a look that stated, Not right now. Later.
Fluttershy peered at Pinkie and said, "I will remember that next time, Pinkie. Thank you."
"No problem. Now, let’s get a move on, because I doubt Twilight is doing very well."
"Right."
After that confusing moment, they continued on towards Canterlot castle.
As they walked, Rainbow thought back to the lamp post, which had several new cracks in it after its collision with Fluttershy. Rainbow started to think to herself, 'The last time I checked, Fluttershy did not have the strength to crack a steel lamp post. When the time is right, Twilight, I'll tell you what I saw and what I suspect.' Rainbow looked down shortly after Night Breeze saw her giving Fluttershy the stink eye.
Blood Moon Hospital was about as big as Sugar Cube Corner, but was more rocky and rough gray in color. It also had less candy and sugar, and more bandages. The doctor there might know how to heal others, but he also knew how to kill, so every Hunter who came in treated him with respect.
There were only seven beds for patients, and in one of them lay Eager Shot, who struggled in pain under the application of some rapid healing magic nectar, which had been applied with hopes of easing his torment; however, it only seemed to make his burns worse. As soon as they began applying the nectar, the golden fire returned in force, spreading further to his neck and legs.
"Just hold on, Eager, and focus on our mission. We cannot complete our mission without you," exclaimed Sturdy Step, her shyness no longer showing through. Her coat was dark orange with some scars scattered about on it. Her eyes were blue, and her mane and tail were turquoise and cut short.
"So, yeah, the doctor thinks he knows what went wrong,” Sturdy Step continued. “You remember when you put on the Mask of Knowledge? Well, for some reason, the doctor seems to think that the Mask has its own magic, some ancient magic and, who knows, maybe it was around at the beginning of time. But the reason that the magical nectar isn't working is because it's modern day magic; not ancient magic. Now, it’s just a theory, but we think if we can find some ancient healing magic, then it'll heal your burns right up. I tell you, thinking about all this has gotten me to realize that golden fire isn't normal fire.”
"Okay, miss,” the doctor said, ”It’s time for you to leave now. This Chiroptera needs his rest. Hopefully, with some rest, his burns will heal naturally." Dr. Owl then pushed her out of the room.
"I would have left eventually! There was no need to push me out!"
The doctor glared at her and growled, "I know all kinds of methods to make you as helpless as a newborn filly, so please don’t patronize me. Seriously, you’ve been in there for seven hours. It’s way past visiting hours."
As Dr. Owl placed his leather wing on her shoulder and began walking her to the door, Sturdy Step said, "Well, I'm just worried about him; he's like a brother to me, even though I came from a rich Chiroptera family and he’s from the outside. I see him and myself as equals, no matter where we came from."
Dr. Owl opened the door and said, "Well, that's nice for you and him. For now, you have to leave. I have work to do, and who knows? Maybe your leader has something for you to do."
"Could you please let me know if his condition improves?" Sturdy Step asked on her way out.
With a knowing smile, the doctor said assuringly, "You'll be the first to know."
In Blood Moon, most of the buildings are contained inside big cavern walls, but some of them are in the middle of the cavern. Most of them are homes for the rich Chiroptera.
And here, the narrator says, ’Before you ask, yes, princess Luna has her own place.
There were only two very large buildings in Blood Moon; the hospital and the temple of Luna.
Suddenly, the narrator interjects to say, ’Oh, and FYI, Luna likes her temple, and she welcomes anyone who is looking for a place to call home.
Despite their way of living here, the residents of Blood Moon did not have a lot of fun; they mostly just fought in the dark cave. With a guilty heart, Sturdy Step walked up to Luna’s temple.
Across the city of Blood Moon, in the home of the Hunter Night Glider, two ponies were arguing. One was Night Glider himself and the other was a magical projection of Luna.
"For the last time, I was looking for information about the weapon she possesses!”
With fury in her eyes, Luna said as calmly as she could, "And I told you to hunt her down and kill her!"
"Why? She’s just an ex-Hunter with no wings. I doubt she would risk getting killed for some ancient spear. But it does raise the question: how did she get out of Tartarus?"
Luna’s expression darkened. "There was no need for you to find that information about the weapon. And to answer your question, I do not know. She is the first to ever get out of there. And now there are an unknown number of wereponies loose in the world, for one of the Hunters’ seals is broken. Your search for information has caused one of your members to be cursed with ancient magic. That stuff is not easily broken! Heck, most ponies die from that sort of magic. Now his soul is slowly burning away, all because you weren’t doing your job like you were supposed to."
"What? No, that’s impossible. Only generous blood could destroy the seal. How did she do it?"
"Well, obviously she somehow found some pony who was generous enough to give their spilled blood. And those two used it to their advantage." Luna’s magical form looked at Night Glider and saw that something was bothering him. "I'm sensing there's more to this trip of yours. What is it? Is it the recruits?"
"What? No!"
"Is it the fact that I’ve been keeping this town a secret?"
"No! When you hid the town from the rest of Equestria, we all agreed that it was a wise decision. It's just, why didn't you let Night Breeze kill the Werepony like you have commissioned us to do. That’s what Hunters are supposed to do; kill monsters like her."
Luna was silent for a few minutes but she eventually replied, "It’s because Rarity is not completely gone. In her eyes, I saw what was left of her soul. I believe she’s still in there somewhere, and I think she can help in the war I see coming. Also, if I let Night Breeze kill her, then she would have done the Butcher’s work for her."
Night Glider remained silent, his face turned away from Luna.
"So, what are you going to do now, Glider?"
He looked back at the magical projection of Luna and said, "I'll get a good night’s rest, and then I will gather my Hunters and kill this Butcher."
"Okay. Oh, before I forget, I'm going to bring a newcomer into the hunt."
Night Glider stiffened, slightly affronted.
"Lulu, are you in your sleeping chambers?" the familiar voice of the Princess of the Sun faintly asked. Luna’s magical projection started to fade. As she disappeared, she could be heard replying, "Tia, I was not expecting you. Of all the ponies to invade my privacy like this." The discussion over, Night Glider left his house to train until nightfall.