My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by ~Meteorimpact/ Monster hunter brony

Chapter 5 : Panic in town
part 2 out of 2

Clay was galloping as fast as he could. Every time his hind hooves hit the ground they left a trail of U shaped burnt marks. Rarity was following him the best she could, but she was panting and had a hard time to keep up with the stallion. It wasn't hard to follow the presence of the currently rampaging monster as its loud screams resonated around. What Clay couldn't figure out though was the origin of the strange magical ripples in the air, their vibrations following loud crashing sounds. As he turned a corner he finally caught glimpse of the reptilian creature struggling against something out of his line of sight. He quickly raised a hoof to block Rarity's way when she managed to catch up to him.

"Now it's my turn to do something for you all. Try to backtrack down the destroyed streets and see if anypony is in need of help, on my side I'll do what I do best, kick some overgrown lizard's ass. I'll see you again when we celebrate our victory all right?" Clay winked at her with a confident grin.

"Fine, you better not do anything too reckless tough, we wouldn't want to send you back to your world in more than one piece right? Take care of Rainbow Dash, she is very likely to try something dangerous so keep an eye on her. I'll be on my way then, good luck!" At this she went down a devastated street, using her magic to lift broken walls in case somepony was stuck under the debris of a house.

Without losing any seconds, Clay dashed toward the monster, allowing him to see what it was struggling against. There, behind a practically invisible wall of magic, stood a blue coated unicorn, protecting three little terrified fillies. He quickly ran toward the monster while remaining in its dead angle, but before he could reach it, a loud explosion resonated from the skies. Both the monster's and Clay's curiosity led them to look at the origin of the sound, the red stallion saw a magnificent rainbow colored nova spreading and covering the heavens. The tigrex tough wasn't so lucky as the only thing it saw was a blue blur ramming it square in the chest. The striped creature was sent flying and rolling on the ground, unable to catch its breath.

"Leave these fillies alone you filthy monster! And you better stay down because Rainbow Dash is here to save the day!" Rainbow Dash was beaming with confidence and pride as she looked down on the panting monster.

Using this opportunity, the blue unicorn dropped her invisible wall and turned to face the fillies."Quick, go hide somewhere, Trixie will stay to stop the beast, it seems like help is finally here." Now bringing her focus back toward the tigrex, the showmare approached the two ponies who just intervened. "Glad somepony out there isn't fleeing, Trixie doesn't know how long she- YOU!" She pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash, her face locked in a surprised expression.

The rainbow maned pegasus harbored the same surprised look as the unicorn when she realized who was protecting the fillies. "Trixie?! What the hay are you doing here, I thought you fled ponyville when your lies were brought to light a few months ago. You better have some explanation for your return." Rainbow Dash was staring menacingly at Trixie as if she tried to intimidate her.

"The great and powerful Trixie does not need a justification for her presence." She snapped back.

Clay, still excited by his glimpse of the sonic rainboom hurried over the two mares. "Rainbow, did you see that? What was it?" A look at the unicorn reminded him of the ursa minor story he heard from Twilight. "Hey aren't you that Trixie Girl I heard about? I thought you-" Unable to finish his sentence a deafening roar forced all three ponies to turn around and face a very angry tigrex. "Oh right, the tigrex. Think you can put your differences aside and work together for a bit?" The beast started charging at the three ponies. "DODGE!"

Trixie and Rainbow did not need to be told twice, all three ponies left off in a different direction, the pegasus lifting herself to the skies. Ready to shine, Rainbow made a quick U-turn in the air and dashed back toward the creature to hit it with a mighty buck from her electrically charged horseshoes. The effect was immediate, as it felt the electricity course through its body, the lizard let out a loud roar. If one read the encyclopedia Gigantica, they would know that electricity was particularly effective when fighting a tigrex. Apparently, their spine contained a hard substance with properties similar to copper's, no need to say it was like a highway for electricity, a lightning rod with the brain as a destination. The creature shook its head vigorously to focus once more on the battle, it knew who the biggest threat was and used its hind leg to try and leap to the skies to catch the rainbow threat. Rainbow dash's confidence quickly melted as she felt the humid and warm breath of the monster rapidly closing in. A sudden pull to her tail brought her under the beast at the same time the sound of snapping jaws came from where she was a second ago. She realized her tail was glowing with magic and a glance at Trixie confirmed her thoughts. Trixie just saved her life. The pegasus lifted her head just in time to see a wall piece levitating and suddenly falling over the airborne monster, she quickly flapped her wings to avoid the now crashing mass of scales. Clay charged and gave a few bucks to the struggling monster, branding it with hooves shaped burn marks all over.

The tigrex violently jerked its body to move the debris away from its back, it then planted his forelegs in the ground to lift his body and head as much as it could, its wings opened themselves, making the beast look much larger than it actually was. The roar it made was unlike any it did prior this one, rubble and dust were pushed away by the sheer strength of its volume. Clay gulped loudly when he noticed the glowing red vein pattern now appearing all over the tigrex's body.

The tigrex leapt toward Clay in an attempt to bite him, but the stallion's reflexes where fast enough to allow him to roll under the airborne body. Rather, that's what would normally have happened as he couldn't manage to roll the same way as with his human body, while passing under the beast, its massive tail connected with him. The impact made him flinch as his left haunch protector was sent flying. It seemed like Rarity was right when she said the armor wasn't quite ready for battle. Not losing a second, the tigrex spun on itself to face its opponents once more and charged again leaving deep claw marks in the ground. Trixie, who was hiding herself to make sure not to draw the monster's attention, used her magic to levitate a new broken wall and placed it between the creature and its target. The tigrex went through it like it didn't exist and kept going forward, not noticing the rainbow maned pegasus currently forming a tornado. Right as Clay dodged the last charge, she hurriedly brought the tornado in the monster's direction. The spinning winds were gathering broken pieces of rocks, debris, and tools from the recently destroyed houses. Rainbow Dash unleashed the fury of the winds on the creature, all objects present in it hitting the beast repeatedly.

"KEEP GOING DASH! YOU'RE THE BEST!" Scootaloo popped out of the place she was hiding in to cheer on her idol, completely blowing the three fillies' cover.

A loud roar made the tornado explode as the tigrex spotted the preys who initially brought it there, it leapt as high as it could and spread its wings to glide and try to eat them all in one fell swoop. The three fillies' confidence quickly fell apart as they turned their back to flee once more.

"Oh no you don't!" Trixie came out of her hiding spot and charged her magic. A purple magical aura suddenly appeared around Applebloom's body as she felt the lasso she was still carrying being forcefully levitated. The solid rope flew toward the skies as the sliding knot grabbed one of the monster's wing paw, then the other end of the rope tied itself to one of the library's branches. The momentum and the centripetal force combined forced the tigrex to crash to the ground with such force that the vibrations made the still standing houses vibrate. The monster rose again, one of its wing clearly broken, yet, it wasn't satisfied, it tried to charge again as both Rainbow Dash and Clay did the same. The creature didn't take into account it was still tied and when it tried to swipe its claws at the ponies, it got stuck mid motion, allowing the armor clad ponies to each get on a different side of the monster's head and deliver a simultaneous buck. A sickening cracking sound was heard confirming its skull was probably fractured. It was a cue Clay was waiting for, he was now certain the monster was almost beat.

"Rainbow, go get the fillies and make sure they stay somewhere safe, this won't be pretty."

Dash's eyes widened as she understood what the stallion meant. "Got it, I'll see you later then."

Clay was Looking for something, a solid, yet relatively soft surface would do. Then it dawned upon him. The library! The tree trunk would probably serve the purpose he had in mind. he rushed to the building and stood right beside it, only then he realized his now unprotected leg was hurting and bleeding. The adrenalin's effect was wearing off, and the pain now coursing through his left leg made him flinch, still he knew what he had to do. The monster turned around and locked on its target. A final charge to try and defeat the pony who challenged it. Clay waited as long as he could, then he tried to leap out of the way, though the pain in his legs was a bit more than he could handle, and he couldn't give enough strenght to his jump. He closed his eyes ready for the now unavoidable impact, only to notice he was telekinetically moved out of the way just in time to allow him to see the monster crash in the tree, its jaw still opened. The beast was now stuck as its teeths sunk in the soft wood, the momentum it had forced its mouth open too wide for it to be able to get unstuck. Trying his best to ignore the pain, Clay quickly jumped on the back of the thrashing monster, he then made his way to the neck and turned around to deliver a strong buck right where the head connected to the neck. The thrashing stopped immediately as the tigrex's neck was now broken.

Out of stamina, the red stallion collapsed and fell off the monster's body, face first to the ground. Trixie was exhausted as well, she used most of her magic power while protecting the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the aid she brought into battle further drained her of any energy. Both ponies slowly blacked out as they managed to hear some worried voices calling out to them.

Clay's consciousness slowly came came to him, he could hear the sound of other ponies talking to each others, though he couldn't make up what the conversation was about. He wasn't sure where he was, all he knew for now is how comfortable he felt surrounded by some sort of warm blanket. He gingerly opened his eyes and realized he wasn't in the streets anymore, the walls around him where all white, and he was laying in a comfortable bed with white sheets covering him whole. A glance to his right revealed a blue unicorn in a similar situation as his. As he tried to sit, he noticed the talking he was hearing suddenly came to a stop and he saw a familiar pony looking at him from the room's door.

"Girls, he's awake." The orange farm pony took a few step in the room, quickly followed by Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and the three fillies they saved earlier. "Hey buddy, how are ya feelin'? Think ya can stand up?"

Still a feeling a bit woozy, Clay tried to get off the bed, he had to proceed slowly, but he managed to. "I think I'm fine. My leg hurts a little, but the worst seems to have passed. By the way. where am I?"

"You're in Ponyville's hospital." Replied Twilight. "As soon as the princesses arrived we went straight to where the monster was last seen to try and stop it. You can't imagine how surprised we were when we found you and Trixie uncounscious beside the... The corpse. We brought the two of you here so you could receive first aid, Rarity and Rainbow explained all that happened when they came back to the library to see if you were all right. Right now, bot princesses went back to Canterlot, but they said they would like to have a word with you and Rainbow Dash soon enough, she will send me a letter when a date and time will be chosen."

Right as she finished her sentence, a groan could be heard from the adjacent bed. Trixie was waking up and only recently noticed the small crowd of ponies surrounding her and her temporary roommate. It took her a few moments to realize where she was, and more importantly who were the ponies surrounding her.

"What are you all doing here?" was the only thing she managed to ask. The gathered ponies where startled by the small outburst but they quickly relaxed again, then, Applejack moved toward Trixie's bed, a serious look covering her face.

"You..." Now right beside the unicorn's bed, she quickly raised a hoof above her. Trixie's heart skipped a beat as she quickly raised both forehooves in front of her to protect herself against a hit that never came. Risking a glance through her defense, she was surprised to see Applejack simply offering a sympathetic hoof. "I wanted to thank you."

"Wait,, What?!" Trixie stammered. "The great and powerful Trixie does not understand. I... She shouldn't be worthy of your praises. Not after what She did to you all. I... She humiliated you, the white unicorn and the rainbow maned pegasus when we last met. There is no way any of you would want to thank me for anything!"

Applejack was taken completely off guard, did Trixie just show some kind of modesty? Shame even? Either she was too shaken to think rationally, or something had drastically changed since they last met.

"Well, Ah have to admit we usually all think you are a boastful whiny annoyin' lyin' bratty good-for-nothin' coward. But today, Ah'm proud to say you aren't any of these, you are nothin' short of a hero. One of the fillies you saved is mah little sister, she told me how you risked yer life for them, and Dash was eager to tell me how you actually stood up against the rampagin' monster. She even claims you saved her life. A coward would have fled without a care for anypony else. While Ah can't really forget how we first met, Ah think you just managed to get back in our good favors. Ah was thinkin' we could start anew, what d'ya think partner?"

At a loss for word, the blue unicorn took quick glances at all the ponies observing the scene with expectation. When her eyes crossed Clay's, he simply smiled and made a nodding gesture. "She... I... Trixie accept your offer." She said as she brought a hoof to Applejack's.

Everypony in the room cheered at the new friendship that was about to start, only to be shushed and brought back to calm by an irritated Nurse Red Heart. Now a bit quieter, the cutie mark crusaders all jumped on Trixie's bed and they all hugged their savior while thanking her repeatedly for the risks she took for them. Trixie blushed out of embarrassment, while she usually liked to be the center of attention, her recent months were met with nothing such as this, and through a big change in her life, she actually started to learn to be more modest. This was a way too heavy dose of attention at once. Applejack who noticed her embarrassment quickly beckoned the fillies off the bed.

Dash approached the unicorn mare as well."So, yeah, I guess its my turn to tell you how cool you were back then, I mean, you DID save my life, and you pulled some incredible magic moves! That trick with the lasso was pure gold! I never thought I'd say that about you but you seem to be smarter than you look. Of course you are still miles away to be as cool as I am, but you are getting close. By the way, our friend Pinkie started organizing a party and feast to celebrate our victory over the monster, would you like to join us? Maybe even bring some of your entertainer stuff if you want to set up a small show."

"Trixie would be honored, but... There is somepony Trixie would like to bring with her. She is a stranger to you though, so Trixie think she will have to decline the invitation."

"Bah, one pony more or less won't bother anyone, especially Pinkie. The more the merrier she would say. Come on, let's just go get that other pony and get ready to party like we never did before!"

At that, the pony group helped Trixie get out of her bed, they went out of the room to sign the required papers to allow the patients to leave and followed Trixie.

The walk took a while, wherever Trixie lead the group, it seemed to be on the outskirt of the small town. At some point a small slightly decrepit house came into sight, beside it stood the props and contraptions chariot the showmare usually carried around to perform. The group was surprised to figure out this modest place was the unicorn's house, unless, maybe, she really wasn't able to afford anything more. After a slight knock on the door, Trixie opened it and entered, beckoning her new friends in, then she turned around and said:

"Mirage, I'm home and I got a surprise for you." Less than a second later, the sound of a very small set of hooves rolled in their direction, until a small purple unicorn filly, with freckles and a red and orange mane came in sight and stopped in front of them.

"Hi mom! I missed you so much, you told me you would be back in only 30 minutes, yet I waited aaaaall day for you to come back. I thought you forgot about me... Hey, who are these guys?"

"They are, mommy's new friends, rejoice little one, they invited us to a party tonight, go and prepare yourself. Oh, before you do, did you do as mommy asked of you before she left?"

The filly looked toward the skies for a second as she tried to remember what she was asked to do, then she suddenly gasped and stood on two legs, in a fashion similar to Trixie"s when she is performing. "Watch in awe as the Grandiose and Pretty Misty clean her room in less than ten minutes!" She then hurried back to the room she was in when the guests first entered the house. Trixie started levitating a teapot and a set of cup to make some tea for her guest while they waited, when she turned around to invite them to make themselves comfortable around the tea table, she noticed most of them were now agape.

To which all of them but Clay, who barely knew Trixie anyway, simply muttered a: "Mommy?"

"Oh, Trixie will have to explain this one won't she? Please sit down, This will be a long story."

My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by MonsterHunterBrony

Chapter 5 : Panic in town Part 2