My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by ~Meteorimpact/ Monster hunter brony

Chapter 5 : Panic in town
part 1 out of 2

The Everfree forest has been a dangerous place for as long as anypony could remember, but even though creatures of all kind used to lurk in its vicinity, it was surprisingly calm. A calm recently disturbed by a monster the likes nopony ever seen before. The creature appeared in these woods a week and a half earlier, at first the predator managed to kill and eat a manticore, but as time passed the animals of the forest quickly learned to avoid the path of this tyrannical beast. This monster had a surprising ability to adapt to even the harshest of climates and environments, but for a creature as large as it was, it was almost impossible to chase its preys in the woods. Its head had the rough shape of a tyrannosaurus rex's, and it was moving on four legs. The hind legs were powerful enough to spring its mass at incredible height and allow it to leap as far as three time its length. The forelegs were longer and had a shape reminiscing a bat's wings, the joint of each wings had a scaly paws consisting of four fingers, each ending in very sharp claws. The wings of the creature weren't made for flight, but they allowed it to glide over long distances, sadly for it, the forest canopy stopped all attempt at leaping over the trees to glide away from these accursed trees. The monster was known as a tigrex, a monster known for its voracity, only second to an other monster known as the deviljho. The tigrex 's scales were blue on the head and the rest of the body was covered in blue striped yellow scales. It has been 3 days now since the monster last ate, unable to pursue any other animals when trees kept slowing its chase, in a fit of rage it lashed its massive jagged tail breaking a tree in two, it then kept on wandering the woods searching for a prey.

Back in Ponyville, the library was a lively as ever, if one took a look through the window they would see an excited Twilight Sparkle levitating multiple notepads and quills and writing down everything her guest would tell her about his homeworld. The past two days were nothing but streams of questions about the culture, traditions and society of Clay's homeworld. For the purple unicorn it was a golden opportunity to learn as much as she could about an other civilization, she knew theses notes would only mean something to her and those few aware of the stallion's condition, yet she felt she had to make sure this knowledge would never get lost. The book she planned to write would hold no scientific value for other ponies, but she thought it would make a wonderful reference guide to create fiction stories about this world. The day before, she noticed something halfway out of clay's backpack, a rather thick book he called the Encyclopedia Gigantica, it was a complete report on all known monsters from his world, most hunters carried a copy of it as a reference guide when confronting creatures they knew nothing about. And today, Clay taught Twilight how to read the writing from his universe. As she was a very quick learner it only took a few hours for her to understand the basics and get on translating the book. Clay chose this opportunity to try and get some time away from the library, it's not that he disliked the unicorn, but he needed to spend some time outside, away from books and her insatiable thirst for knowledge. He took his saddlebags and headed straight toward the door.

All the floating quills came to a stop. "Well, we are running low on fruits, think you can bring back some apples from Applejack?"

"Yes, just look for a cart filled with red and green fruits, if AJ isn't there, you might see a red stallion in her stead, he's her brother so you can buy from him instead." Clay nodded and took off with a slight wave of his hoof, then the quills started taking notes once more.

The sun was bright, it was obvious the pegasi made a good job clearing the skies of any cloud and Clay felt as if the light was invigorating him. He didn't know the small town that much yet, but he still remembered how to reach Sugarcube corner, still, he took his time to enjoy this stroll as much as possible. He still wasn't used to hear his own hooves hitting the ground, after all as a human he wouldn't hear his own footsteps unless he was wearing metallic boots or walking on a creaky surface, now he was taking pleasure in listening to the soft clopping sound he made with every step forward. It only took him a few minutes to spot the sweets shop, and while passing beside it he finally found the Apple family cart, beside it stood Applejack and a large red stallion. Clay sped up a bit to meet them, the orange mare took notice of the newcomer and approached to greet him.

"Oh I'm fine, thanks for asking, and yes I'm getting used to the library, but I gotta admit I needed a small break from the librarian."

Applejack chuckled a bit. "Yah, that's our Twilight, Ah bet she had thousands of questions for ya. Come over here, Ah'm goin' to introduce you to Big Macintosh, mah big brother."

The red stallion's ears perked up at the mention of his name, he then gingerly turned around to face his sister and the newcomer.

"Greetings Clay, Ah hope you are enjoyin' your stay here in Ponyville." Big Mac then grabbed an apple and offered it to the earth colored stallion. "Here's a free sample on the house, if ye're a friend of mah sis, ye're a friend of mine as well." Clay accepted the gift and ate it heartily, he never tried apples before and he enjoyed trying new food every time he could. The sweet fruit was unlike any he had before, he started thinking this might be his new favorite fruit and was now resolute to buy an extra amount for his personal enjoyment.

"Thank you for you generosity Mister Macintosh, happens I came all the way here to buy some of your merchandise, Twilight asked for some of your fruits and I'm going to buys some extra for myself, how much would it be to fill one of my saddlebags?"

"It will be five bits Sir, glad you liked our products." Macintosh then turned to face his sister. "Applejack, take the day off and go spend some time with yer friend, we are havin' a slow day today and there's no point in havin' two of us holdin' the stand right now."

"Will it really be fine? Ah mean, Ah don't want to leave you with all the work."

"Eeeeyup! It's gonna be fine, now get movin'." He added with a smile and a dismissive hoof.

At that, both free ponies went on their way discussing about the Apple family's orchard, Clay eager to learn more about the different ways to serve the fruits.

Meanwhile, a little farther in town, Rarity was on her way to Sugarcube corner to place an order, she was already done with most of her errands for the day and she thought she would get a little surprise for her sister. On her way she came upon a strange sight, a little farther in the street she was walking in, stood a cloaked pony, the fabric of the cloak obviously made out of cheap material. At first the white unicorn wondered why would anypony try to hide themselves in such a way, the only one she knew with this habit was Zecora, a zebra. Yet this pony was doing his, or her, best to keep a low profile, avoiding other ponies and never lifting his, or her gaze off the ground. Rarity caught a quick glimpse of the stranger's blue coat, and the floating pine cone the pony was munching on gave away the fact he, or she was a unicorn. Suddenly, the stranger took notice of Rarity's gaze upon his/herself and quickly turned and galloped away. Applejack and Clay barely managed to avoid a collision with the runaway pony as they came into Rarity's sight. They quickly spotted the white unicorn and came to greet her.

"Greetings, both of you. Indeed that is where I was going. The cutie mark crusaders are holding a sleepover at my place tonight and I thought they would appreciate a cake or something similar." Rarity took a pensive look. "Is there anything I should avoid getting? I don't know Applebloom's tastes very well."

"Ah reckon' anythin' would be fine as long as you don't get- What in tarnation?!" Applejack exclaimed as a roar and screams of terror were heard a few blocks away. Clay's eyes grew wide and his ears dropped low as he stammered a little. He knew all too well the species of the roar's owner.

"If you are thinking about a mass of claws and teeth, then yes, it is what you are thinking of." Out of reflex he tried to grab his sword, only remembering he was not carrying it after his hoof hit thin air. "Oh, right... Ponified. I don't carry my equipment anymore."

Rarity was pondering something, then her stare hardened as she spoke. "Clay, you once told me that you wanted to help getting rid of these dangerous creatures right? Then today you will prove your resolve, follow me at carousel boutique, no time to explain." She then dashed off with Clay and Applejack in tow.

"If ya don't mind me askin', what exactly is that tigrex ya were talkin' about?"

"AJ, how would you feel if I suddenly grabbed your hat, set it on fire and started dancing on it while laughing."

The farm pony was taken aback with the question, not understanding why it was asked. "Ah would probably be angry enough to buck your face so hard it would fly off to Trottingham. Why do you ask?"

"Well, imagine that feeling if it lasted over a month, then compress it all back into a day, then place it in an overgrown lizard and you pretty much have a relatively zen tigrex."

Almost out of breath, Rarity turned her head to face Applejack. "The library is close by, go tell Twilight about what is going on, she should be able to warn Celestia, then you two have to go help with the evacuation, the average public is more likely to listen to the bearer of the elements of harmony than anyone else. Don't worry about Clay and me, we will be back in a moment to help."

Earlier that day, three little fillies were on their way to their next adventure in hope they would finally discover their cutie mark. The first one, named Applebloom, was a yellow coated earth pony, she wore a large dark pink ribbon in her red curly mane, for this adventure she was carrying a lasso belonging to her big sister Applejack. The second filly, Scootaloo, was a courageous and brash orange pegasus, her fushia mane reminiscing of Rainbow Dash's, her desire to impress the rainbow maned mare was the driving force behind most of her actions. Finally the third filly, Sweetie Belle, a white unicorn with a curly pink and purple mane, even tough she wasn't known for her wits, her singing voice was that of an angel, for this adventure, she managed to sneak a rather large piece of fabric from carousel boutique and made a poorly stitched bag out of it. Their destination? The Everfree forest. It was Scootaloo's idea to remind her two friends they never got the chance to try their hooves at a monster catcher cutie mark. The three of them had thought of it when they were babysit by Fluttershy, but they ended up not having the chance to attempt it. Now inside the forest, the trio made their best to move without a sound, until Sweetie Belle broke the silence.

"You know, I'm not so sure it's a good Idea anymore. Remember last time we went in the forest, we were almost turned to stone by a cockatrice."

"Come on Sweetie Belle, you don't have to be scared, remember how Fluttershy defeated it? If a cockatrice show up I'm going to stare it down until it cries. No way I'm gonna get stoned by a snake-bird. Beside look over there," she lowered her voice and pointed her hoof toward a small clearing in the trees. "I think we found what we were looking for."

The eyes of the three fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders converged toward the same direction. There, lied the sleeping form of a large reptilian monster.

"Ok Sweetie Belle, take the bag you made, we will place it around it's head to blind it if it wakes up."

Applebloom reacted first. "No way, we have to make sure it can't move first, Ah'll use the lasso to tie up its legs so it can't chase us if it wakes up."

"That's the dumbest idea I heard all day! Look at it, its jaws is obviously the most dangerous part of its body, we have to neutralize it first."

"Of course not, wranglin' an animal needs to be done properly, and the best way to do it is by tyin' its legs first you kiwi!"

"Girls!" The white unicorn filly's shout resonated in the whole forest as she pointed the previously sleeping creature. "I think you woke it up..."

All three of them looked at each other, then back at the creature staring at them, licking its lips. The starving tigrex let out a bellowing roar that sent the Cutie Mark Crusaders flying back. A second later, they were fleeing toward ponyville screaming as the monster started its pursuit.

The front door to carousel boutique slammed open as both Rarity and Clay entered. Not losing a second, the fashionista went in the back-store and used her magic to take out a large box and something the stallion recognized right away.

"It's not yet finished but it should do for now. Clay, I need to pack something in this box real fast, can you place this on the windowsill while I do that?" Suddenly a small mushroom shaped pastry made its way toward the colt who quickly grabed it and did as he was asked to, even tough he was confused as the purpose of this action. He took a look back toward the back-store and Saw what looked like an armor made out of blue scales being levitated and dropped in the previously empty box, then a pair of something resembling horseshoes. A few moments later, a screeching sound resonated in the boutique as a grey pegasus mare landed at break neck speed inside the main room. Clay was surprised to notice she managed to go through the opened window and grab the pastry with her teeth without so much as crashing, after a glance at the confused stallion, or rather a glance both at the stallion and Rarity at the same time, she suddenly spoke while pointing at the pastry she was holding.

Rarity quickly scribbled a note and dropped it in the box, she then sealed it and brought it to the mailmare. "Derpy, you need to bring this to Rainbow Dash as fast as you can."

"It is, and it is imperative she get the content of this box. Tell her to look for us around the library."

"Don't worry, we will be fine, just make sure she gets it fast, do that and I'll treat you to a free dress after this situation is fixed."

With a salute, the pegasus known as Derpy Hooves took off at a speed that would make even the Wonderbolt jealous, her flying seemed to be clumsy and irregular but the velocity and agility she showed earlier proved how skilled she was. Only a second later Clay felt magic bringing him close to Rarity as she lifted the familiar thing he spotted earlier. His armor had been completely remodeled, the helm was now slightly stretched to fit his pony head, this part wasn't that different tough, it still had its crest resembling a fish fin and the small slit to see through the head gear. Rarity then started placing the armor's breastplate and secured it tightly, then came the arm guard's turn, they had been opened in the back and were now jointed in a way his front legs would be able to move with them. Finally, what used to be immense shoulder pads were brought over his haunches, they had been modified and held together in a way they would protect the stallion's rump and back legs. The Volcanic grey armor felt lighter than ever.

"I'm sorry if it's not very comfortable, I didn't have enough time to finish it, and I didn't have the chance to bring you over to try it, but it should do for now."

Clay was simply amazed at the speed Rarity worked with, it had been only two days since she got hold of these materials and yet, she managed to make a set of armor from scratch and modified a human armor to fit a pony's body. "It's not uncomfortable, far from it. I think you even managed to make it better than it originally was." He added as he took a look at himself in the mirror.

"Really? Well I'm glad it pleases you, but we got an emergency to take care of, Derpy said the monster was last seen at the library, we need to go there right now. Oh, before I forget." Clay felt his hind hooves lifted off the ground as two hooves shaped items were brought under them, these horseshoes were made of the same blue scales as Rainbow Dash's armor. "These are your weapon, I hope these prototype will work, I haven't got the chance to test them." She then used her magic to push the stallion out without allowing him to touch the floor with his new horseshoes, he quickly understood why when the magic stopped lifting him. As soon as his hind hooves hit the ground, sparks of fire emerged from them. A wide grin crept on Clay's face, he felt readier than ever to take down his prey. Then he took off to meet his opponent.

Rainbow Dash was lazily laying in her bed, cursing the sun for waking her up as early as noon. She gathered the courage needed to get out of her bed and made her way to her fridge, had to start the day with a good breakfast after all. A loud knocking sound on her front door interrupted the cyan pegasus as she was serving herself a glass of orange juice, quickly placing everything back in the fridge she headed toward the door, she didn't expect any of her pegasus friends to come and see her that day, who could it be? The door opened before she could reach it.

"Express delivery for miss Rainbow Dash! Rarity asked me to tell you to meet her as soon as you can at the library once you accept the content of this box. Please just sign here to confirm the reception." Once the mailmare had Rainbow's signature she flew off as fast as she came by.

"What the hay?" With a puzzled look, Rainbow Dash opened the large box and she gasped at the sight of the content. A whole set of azure and black armor was laying in it. Unable to contain her excitement she hurriedly took it out and attempted to put it on, without success, she then noticed a small note beside the box. She grabbed it and read it aloud.

"Dear Rainbow Dash,
in this box you will find a set of armor customized for you, since it might be hard to put it on alone, I included some instructions to help you with this task. Meet us as fast as you can, you are needed to help fend off a monster currently attacking Ponyville.
P.S. I made sure to make the armor at least twenty percent cooler than my original design."

Not losing any second she followed every instructions on the piece of paper, managing to get everything tightly set on her body after a few minutes. Now looking at ponyville, she spotted large dust cloud popping out here and there toward the library, she suddenly felt her heart squeeze a bit.

"C'mon Dash, you can do this, you are not afraid of anything. You. Can. Do. This!" She flapped her wings and heard to box topple on its side, releasing a small electric sound. Surprised she looked back in it and discovered something she had missed. Some sort of fleshy looking horseshoes, they had the neon teal electrodes from Clay's sword and a flat metal part on their underside. Unsure on how they worked, she gave a small poke at the metal part and received an electric shock in return. She then noticed Rarity's note now flipped on its verso and she read.

"P.P.S. The horseshoes I sent you are your weapons, avoid touching the metal part as you put them on."

"Of course now you tell me." She groaned and finally took off, she had friends to help and a town to save.

Panic had settled in Ponyville, a cloaked figure was galloping away from the commotion with dozens of other ponies. She was swearing between her teeth, as she was running for cover she saw two familiar faces helping the panicked citizen to evacuate, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack. "Wait a second, if these two are evacuating, who is stopping the rampaging beast?" She thought as her gaze passed over a panicked mother who fell and sprained her leg, her son was doing his best to help her move forward but there was no way they could flee if the monster chose to run down this street. She suddenly came to a stop and turned around.

"Not this time." She muttered with a burning determination in her eyes. She galloped the opposite way as before, now heading toward the library. As she heard the screams of panicked children she pushed her speed to its limit. She finally found the three fillies trying to escape the fury of the reptilian monster. The cloaked figure's horn began to glow and her eyes were now flaring with blinding light.

"Quick, hide behind me!" She yelled at the small trio. They compelled right away, too afraid to think of anything else. The tigrex tried to follow suit but crashed in an invisible wall standing between it and the four ponies. The impact sent ripples of magic behind it, strong enough to completely rip the cloak the unicorn was wearing, revealing her blue coat and silvery blue silky mane. The remains of her cloak slowly started to float as they turned to smoke, covering the unicorn's body, the smoke slowly took the shape of a purple cape and a pointy hat, both decorated with a starry pattern. As the enraged creature kept trying to claw its way through the invisible wall, the blue unicorn stood on her hind legs, pointing a hoof at it and holding her hat with her other free hoof. She then declared with a booming voice.

End of chapter 5 part 1/2

My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by MonsterHunterBrony

Chapter 5 : Panic in town Part 1