After Fluttershy had left Twilight's house from discussing Rengar's whereabouts, the pegasus gathered the rest of her friends, The Elements of Harmony, and met together within the confident of Twilight's castle. Meeting inside the Council Chamber, this was the first that Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash had heard of Rengar in the first place.
And from what Fluttershy was telling them, he didn't seem like the nicest fellow.
"Look, ah don't care if that lion had patched her up. As much of a good deed that was, that guy is about as much of a beast as that cragadile! Telling Fluttershy that he's going to harm her if she tells anypony about him is downright wrong!", Applejack huffed.
"He threatened Fluttershy. Fluttershy out of any other pony! I'm with Applejack on this one! Until he says what a meanie he's been and apologizes to Fluttershy, then he's not going to make a good friend out of me!" Pinkie Pie stared at the Everfree Forest on the Cutie Map, seemingly watching over Rengar's supposed location, and pointing her hoof at him.
"He claims to hunt beasts down? Well! I'm going to hunt him down and see how he likes it! When I get my hoofs on him, he's gonna see more stars than on Nightmare Night!", Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and punched her two hooves together.
"Twilight, how are we going to deal with this rapscallion? From what I've heard from you and Fluttershy, this "Rengar" isn't one to be taken lightly.", Rarity managed to hush her friends down before speaking up, "After all, he is a hunter."
Twilight nodded and began to trace around the Cutie Map.
"From what Fluttershy has been telling me about how she exited the forest, I believe that Rengar's den is roughly a quarter of a mile or a half from Froggy Bottom Bog.", a mark that she'd place on the Cutie Map highlighted the supposed area, "However, I bet we can all agree that Rengar must know his habitat better than we do. That's why if he managed to do something like spring a trap on us, we should stick together."
Twilight spoke again while planting her hoof down and looking over everypony else.
"No separating. We're dealing with a poacher that most likely knows how to trap. Got it?"
"Trapper or not, he's not going to stand one hit from me. That lion's going down!"
Applejack flicked Rainbow Dash with her tail, silencing her.
"Let's not get too cocky with this feller'. Being able to take down a cragadile is no easy feat, and I'm pretty sure he'd have no problem smashing you into the ground. Or any of us for that matter.", the farm pony explained her reasoning.
"But we all have different attributes that Rengar won't be able to fight so easily. From me and Rarity's magic, Rainbow's speed, Applejack's strength, and Pinkie's..."
"-unpredictability!"
Twilight smiled a bit at her friend and let out a little chuckle.
"That's right. But that leaves one last thing."
The group turned around to face Fluttershy, who hadn't spoken throughout this conversation.
"Y-Yes?"
"Fluttershy, I think we could agree that you should stay near the back of us. Rengar has a bone to pick with you, even after he's saved you. If we confront him and he sees you, things might turn more ugly then what they already are. Can you understand?", Twilight asked her friend.
"But what if you all got hurt? What if you need my help?", Fluttershy tried to interject, but deep down knew that this was the best choice for her.
After all, Rengar would defiantly not take too kindly to the fact that she had crossed him.
"We'll be fine. It's six of us against one of him. Lion or not, he's not going to beat six of the most powerful ponies alive. Right girls?"
"Yep!"
"Yeah!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Exactly!"
Fluttershy looked up at her friends.
"Don't worry Fluttershy, we're going to keep you out of harm's way. This entire mess will be sorted out, and Rengar's going to be taken care of. He's not going to get away from threatening you, or any one of my friends as long as he goes unpunished.", twilight put her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, reassuring her. After looking back up at Twilight, smiling a bit weakly and nodding, the Elements of Harmony met in front of Twilight's castle, ready to head off.
"Alright girls, let's go meet us a lion.", Twilight pointed towards the path in Ponyville that would eventually lead them to the outskirts of the Everfree forest.
He could have sworn that his visitors would have arrived sooner. However, he knew that ponies always took their sweet time indulging in their luxuries. He could only imagine them as slow, lazy, and dull-minded from what he has heard about from the various times he had spent company with griffons, the more respectable race, though stubborn as they are to Rengar.
At least they were rather accepting of him. Too bad there was nothing exotic to hunt near their territory. And the numerous griffon trappers easily increased the competition. To him, it was a mixed blessing that he was able to inhabit this forest, as he now had to be cautious of the obnoxious species that inhabited its borders.
"Hmph. I guess they really do take their sweet time."
Rengar got up from the branch he was lurking on and landed on the soft dirt that was beneath him. His feline characteristics allowed him to hardly make a sound as he landed down on the forest floor. Turning back to his make-shift den, he heaved a frustrated sigh.
"I should have gone out hunting. Maybe I could have picked up a basilisk while I was at it-"
Rengar's left ear turned towards the location where he could hear murmurs and whispers. Crouching down in brush, both of his ears fixated themselves on the noise.
He could hear talking- no, chatter. He was able to discern some sort of bubbly laughter. As the noise drew near, he could hear a posh-accented voice that complained about the dirt that was in her coat.
Definitely ponies.
Listening in closer, he could dissect the numerous accents each voice gave off. From the quantity of the different pitches, he could estimate about six or seven equines approaching his territory. Rengar gave a tiny smile, complete with his carnivorous teeth.
And he thought his guests couldn't be more late.
Keeping low in the brush, his eyes slowly viewed over the ponies that had come into the clearing. He could see one with a pungent pink coat, and a mane that would put his dreadlocks to shame. The pink pony continuously bounced up and down, hopping along with the others that it was with.
Rengar managed to find where the posh accent had come from. The white pony rubbed her coat and mane to shake the numerous burs that had lodged themselves within her coat. A purple mane that appeared to have been groomed to no end was now becoming completely ruined by the Everfree forest. Rengar found a bit of humor in that, once again confirming his stereotype of ponies as a whole.
The one with the rainbow-mane seemed to posses a determination not seen in her other companions. She was actively stating all of the painful things that she would enact on the hunter if she got her hooves on him.
Way to break a stereotype.
The one with the orange coat and the blond mane gave a feeling to Rengar that she was also looking forward to finding him. Not in a good way, however, as she explained that he would smash him with her hind hooves. Although Rengar had no idea how hard a pony could buck, it had to be nowhere as painful as getting trampled by Hecarim.
Then, the last one was enough to send a shiver down Rengar's spine.
An alicorn. The rarest if breeds in the pony species, and often a sign of royalty and authority. He knew about the two alicorn deities that ruled over this land that he had set paw in. He has also heard of their extraordinary power in the arts of magic. Seeing one walk before him nearly unnerved the veteran hunter. Could this be one of the two goddesses? Rengar kept inside of the brush and let out a silent growl as he readied himself.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Fluttershy trailing behind him.
How predictable. Knowing now that Fluttershy had attempted to play him as a fool after enacting a little surveillance, their reunion would not be the most pleasant.
The ponies were moving into position.
Perfect.
With a bola in hand, he gave it a flick. Instead of the simple string and stone composition, a heavy-duty net was webbed in the gaps of the rope. A net so powerful that it could prevent a mantacore from attempting to untangle itself.
Just a little more...
Venturing into one if the many unknown veins of the Everfree forest could stress nearly any pony to its breaking point, but the Elements of Harmony were determined to arrive at Rengar's den to interrogate, or should it come down to it, apprehend him.
"Alright girls, this was the location that the Cutie Map was able to pinpoint for us. Be careful, we're getting closer.", Twilight moved aside a branch with her magic.
"The sooner the better...", Rainbow Dash had still not removed her grudge against Rengar. Eyeing the surrounding landscape, she scanned the area for signs of that white lion.
At least Pinkie was still having a good time, being able to recall tress that she somehow recognized, going on about how scary they used to look.
"So...um...Twilight?"
"Yes Fluttershy?"
"Are you really sure we can do this? He's a very strong lion, and we already know that he's not going to react too kindly to us trying to punish him for hunting endangered Everfree animals.", Fluttershy seemed to get more worried as time went on.
"Don't worry a bit. It's six of us versus one of him. As long as we're together, nothing's going to separate us.", Twilight reassured Fluttershy with a smile, "Besides, if he tries anything against us, it will only further his current crimes-"
*WHIRRRR-THACK!*
"Get down!"
"Agh! What the-!"
Rainbow Dash couldn't finish her reaction when a massive net uncoiled from a tree, launching itself at her and bringing her straight to the ground. Tangling her wings in the rope, and held down by four large weights, she struggled and struggled to get herself free. Doing so only tangled herself in further, until she couldn't even retract her wings.
"Rainbow Dash! What happened?!", Rarity looked back towards the noise, but looked away from another net sailing straight towards her, catching her entire body into a know and smashing her into the ground.
"That lion's here! Come out and face me so ah' can smash your-"
*WHIRRRR-THACK!*
"AGH!"
Applejack's legs were suddenly bound by another net, tangling itself to restrict her movement entirely. Squirming and trying to kick her legs out, even her impressive strength was no match for the durable and well-crafted net.
"Over there!", Pinkie managed to shove Twilight out of the way as a net sailed towards her from behind. Catching Pinkie instead, she plummeted to the ground, her bubbly and go-happy mood crushed by the ambush.
"Pinkie! Applejack! Rarity! Rainbow Dash!", Twilight looked backwards in utter shock as her friends, one by one had become snared, "Don't worry! I'm gonna get you girls out of there!"
Heading over to Applejack's net, her horn lit up as she grabbed the ropes, but was thrown to the ground just like the rest as a net-equipped bola was hurled at her. Tumbling in the mud, she attempted to power up her horn to teleport from the trap. That was, until she felt something familiar get sprinkled over her horn.
That something smelled...
...funny.
Oh no.
Looking up at her horn, she saw the sight that was to be expected. Covered in blue spots and now flopping lazily in front of her eyes, her horn had now become deflated and floppy, rendering her magic useless.
Poison Joke.
Eyeing Rarity, she could see that her horn had under-come the same fate, her gasping in horror at her now floppy horn.
Fluttershy could only watch as her friends became ensnared one-by-one the nets. Shriveling up in terror, the pegasus was far too shaken to get herself off the ground, and ended up frozen in place with absolute terror. Her eyes flashed everywhere around the forest, anticipating the net that would fly out and snare her, just like her friends.
Then, out of a large gathering of brush, he emerged.
Fluttershy's friends now bare witness to the lion that had saved her, and who was subject to hunting endangered animals and slaying the mercilessly. Each of the ponies took in the details of Rengar, from the dreadlocks that formed his mane, to the absolutely massive blade that was clutched in his paw. His whiskers twitched once, then he stopped approaching.
"So...she squealed.", Rengar looked over the trapped ponies, "I'm not surprised."
"Urgh! You're making a big mistake, Rengar! We know about your illegal hunt in the Everfree Forest, and ambushing us like this will only drive you deeper into the law!", Twilight managed to yell from her bindings.
"Ahhhhh, I figured that it was about time that one of your species finally came to the forest to kick me out.", Rengar knelt down next to Twilight.
"And let me tell you.", Rengar growled in Twilight's ear.
"You couldn't stop me, even if my hunt was illegal.", the whisper was loud enough for everypony else to hear.
"Now that isn't the slightest bit true! Ah' know for a fact that hunting in the Everfree is illegal, because of all the critters in there that are endangered!", Applejack protested while still attempting to free herself from her bindings, unfortunately not making any progress.
Rengar turned towards the farmpony. His facial expression had a more...un-amused vibe towards it than any other emotion.
"Endangered? Huh...I never would believe that your species's stupidity and ignorance would dip this low, but apparently, it has.", Rengar turned back towards Twilight.
"What are you going on about?!", Twilight narrowed her eyes at the lion who mocked her's, her friend's, and her entire species's intelligence.
The lion looked over the ponies that were before him.
"You ponies don't even know how dangerous and hostile the Everfree Forest has become since one of your alicorns had tainted these lands.", Rengar spoke back in his deep and dark growl.
"Are you referring to Princess Luna?", Twilight asked.
"If that's what she's called, then I would suppose so."
"Alright! I'm not in the mood for stories now! You'd better let us go or there's gonna be hay to pay!", Rainbow Dash, increasingly frustrated with her bindings spewed out daggers of words at Rengar.
"Yeah! I would have been in the mood to forgive you if you'd apologize to Flutters, but I think you've gone far enough, mister!", Pinkie joined in the threats.
"Girls! Quiet!", Twilight yelled above the rest.
Rengar held up an eyebrow at Twilight's behavior. Fluttershy, frozen in fear for this entire time had finally looked up at the gathering.
"Alright Rengar. Do you know who we are?"
Rengar's face remained neutral.
"I wouldn't care-"
"We're the Elements of Harmony."
Rengar's sentence came to a grinding halt. In the tiniest of slivers, his eyes widened.
"Oh...you. I've heard about you ponies."
"Oh, really? Where from?"
Rengar looked backwards, then shifted his attention to Twilight.
"Who cares where I've heard about you. But do you know how much trouble you have been causing for me? Your magic is so strong that creatures of the Everfree attempt to attack your hometown just for a taste of it. You've even disrupted my hunts on numerous occasions as you've wandered through the forest, and find them yourselves.", Rengar's tone now had a strong hint of frustration.
"Really now. Well, maybe it was for the better. After all, we don't want any more endangered animals to die in your paws."
"And that's where you're wrong."
Fluttershy now spoke up.
"W-What do you mean?"
"No animal in the Everfree Forest is endangered. Not a single one."
"Urgh! Lying your way out of a crime?! Applejack's gonna have a word with you!", Rarity looked over towards her friend. Rengar looked towards the orange pony that was caught in another one of his traps.
"Applejack?"
"Element of Honesty. Not only good with being honest to the core, but a pretty good lie detector.", Twilight gave a smug smile towards the lion.
"Well hold on there. I know I'm the Element of Honesty, but I really don't think I'm a...uh...what do you call-", Applejack asked Twilight.
"Polygraph.", she responded.
"Polygraph. Right. But ah'm pretty sure that it doesn't take one of those to know that yer' telling a whopper of a lie!", Applejack narrowed her eyes at Rengar.
"Am I now? Try me."
The lion walked straight up to the farmpony, his towering and hulking figure shadowing her body like an entire castle. Keeping he wits with her, Applejack met Rengar's eyes. Her bright and vivid green eyes met Rengar's one blue eye and his amber-pieced eye-bonding.
"Now, pony, I'll tell you. No animals of the Everfree Forest are endangered. As a matter of fact, they have been multiplying. Breeding. And growing more aggressive-no...volatile. They now desire a lust for magic as well as killing for the entertainment of it.", Rengar began.
"Tell us more?", Twilight asked.
"Quiet, pony. Now, I've come to settle in this rather poorly-named forest, because the beasts here are the most dangerous and thrilling I have ever seen in my entire life. Some could even kill a dragon with little effort from what I have heard from before.", Rengar continued.
"However, the forest had not been inhabited by this quantity of animals that were this aggressive. From what someone has told me, the animals began to mass-breed and become insatiable on a certain day, roughly two years ago."
"Wait. Does he mean when Night- I mean, Luna came down from the moon?", Pinkie Pie asked Twilight.
Rengar cringed at the sudden interruption and the high-pitched voice that filled his sensitive ears.
"Yes Pinkie. The longest night. But what does Nightmare Moon have to do with any of this?", Twilight suddenly had the realization cross her mind, "Unless..."
"Yes. Your 'Nightmare Moon' had tainted this forest with her dark magic, mutating and changing the once endangered and rather passive creatures into massive, hulking, and murdering beasts. As the years progressed, the magic mutations had become far worse. The population skyrocketed, and the beasts sought to kill everything they saw.", Rengar eyed over the ponies.
"Well Applejack? He has to be lying about this!", Rainbow Dash piped up.
"Ah' don't know, darnet! But that story is quite a long stretch from what ah'd call 'believable' in the slightest!", she yelled back at the lion.
"Believe it or not, that's the truth I am telling. And I can't even believe I'm trying to reason with such dim-witted ponies like you! Your ignorance is unmatched by Yordles!"
"Yordles?", each pony asked immediately.
Then, shaking her head, Twilight looked up at the lion.
"Okay Rengar. This forest is part of the territory that is Equestria. Therefore, we own this land. If there is any sort of issue that is on our land, then we're going to fix it. Because you've already dug yourself in by trapping us, I'm going to break a deal with you."
"I'm not listening.", Rengar replied, turning his back.
"You can't be serious, Twilight!", Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped to the ground.
"Rengar, prove to all of us that these animals are indeed, overpopulated and not endangered, then we could re-discuss what's happened here already.", Twilight offered.
"I feel that she's a good example of why you can't trust ponies."
Rengar pointed a claw at Fluttershy, getting her to shrink back down.
"Rengar! If you can prove to me that what you say is true, then we can talk about this! I'm not one to believe in prison sentences! I believe more in helping someone start over! We've done so with Discord!"
"You ponies get under my fur. Don't you see that I'm unwittingly helping you?! I'm keeping the Everfree population from rising too high by hunting the most dangerous of the creatures in the appropriate seasons! I'm preventing them from overtaking your town and slaughtering all of you defenseless twats!"
"But for how long?"
Rengar glared at the alicorn. He glared into her eyes. To Twilight, it seems that he was glaring straight into her heart. Fire was in his blue eye, and the amber in his other gleamed.
Then, the lion began to approach Twilight.
SHHHHH-HHANG!
The massive knife came right out of the sheath, and pointed itself at Twilight. A gasp escaped her mouth as the blade inched towards her. Distressed, her friends began to fight their bindings, all the while shouting "Twilight!", "You monster! Don't hurt her!", and "I'm going to-"
*THWACK*
The ropes fell off of Twilight.
Looking up, then looking down, Twilight brought herself to her hooves and looked up at the hunter. The rope lay in scattered pieces at her feet.
"I'll show you, alicorn. But there will be a lot to discuss. I demand secrecy, and promise of your word."
Twilight watched over Rengar.
"We'll talk later. But first, can you free my friends.", Twilight asked in a tone that was more of a statement than a question.
Grunting, Rengar walked up to each of Twilight's friends and removed their bindings, each having mixed feelings from suppressed anger and joy from not being cramped.
"Alright, Rengar. Another thing. I want an antidote for the Poison Joke. I'm pretty sure Rarity would appreciate one as well."
"And what's not to stop you from attacking me with your magic?"
"Nothing. But like I said, you have my word about discussing your situation in the Everfree.", Twilight hoped that he could still comply.
Rengar reached towards his waist, and pulled up a small vial of liquid. He popped it open, took a sniff of it, and dangled it over Twilight's horn...
...before hitching it back onto his armor.
"I don't think so."
"Fine then. Lead the way."
The lion motioned for the Elements to trail behind him, the seven individuals heading deeper and deeper into the forest. As they followed the hunter, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash approached Twilight's sides.
"Ya really wanna trust this guy? I don't really know about you, but I'd rather see him in jail than you trying to talk sense into this guy. And you still trusted him after he didn't give you an antidote for...this?", Rainbow Dash flicked Twilight's floppy horn.
"Look. I can infer something about this lion. I could tell that he wasn't willing to do us any harm earlier. Even though he ensnared us before, and I'm not going to let that slide, he wouldn't have killed us. Because I can make a good guess about this lion."
"What's that?", Pinkie asked quizzically.
"If he were to kill us, he wouldn't be a hunter, but a murderer. And I feel that's something that Rengar doesn't want to have associated with him. I feel that there's something about him that I can understand and relate to. Even to you, Rainbow Dash."
"Hey! Don't go comparing this guy to me!"
"He has honor. I doubt that he would have hunted endangered animals, because he would have been a poacher. He claims to hunt in seasons, and by not harming or killing us, he's not a murderer. Sure, we don't appreciate hunters in our midst, but look at the griffons. They have trappers as well. They hunt for subsistence, and I'm pretty sure Rengar does to.", Twilight finished, "At least that's what I could estimate about him. He could just be a crazy lion that poaches on animals he lies that are overpopulated."
"Yeah. I'm gonna go with the latter.", Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the lion leading the group.
"I can hear everything you say, ponies."
That got them to shut up rather fast.
The annoying thing was to Rengar...
...Twilight had guessed his motives. And she was accurate.
But they didn't have to know that.
Finally, the group had managed to hike an entire mile away from the den, until their elevation had risen drastically. The ponies and the lion were now approaching a large cliff that overlooked a massive grassland in the forest.
Or, at least it was a grassland.
What lay before them was a massive barren patch of dust and dead plants strewn everywhere, with the most ungodly amount of mantacores laying around everywhere. There could have been hundreds of the beasts. In fact, with this massive barren patch, there could have been over a thousand of the beasts roaming around.
And to the ponies' horror, many were not just roaming around.
Rarity managed to see one suddenly rear up and tear another's throat out, roaring menacingly. She passed out when the surrounding mantacores turned on it, and after they were done mauling one of their species, turned on each other.
"Dear Celestia...", Applejack's heart seemingly stopped in place as no matter where she looked, bloodshed was sure to arrive.
"I...I...I...", Rainbow Dash was at a complete loss of words.
Then, Rengar pointed his claw towards a mantacore eating the corpse of another mantacore, and three smaller ones beside it.
"Do you see that one over by the top?"
"I...wish I couldn't...", Twilight felt sick to her stomach.
"The one it's eating was his mate. The smaller ones, their cubs. I studied that one male for a while, and it's not even the worse I've encountered."
Twilight's held her hoof to her mouth, and ran off with a green shade to her face.
"H-How did we not know about this...?", Fluttershy couldn't even watch what they were observing.
"Because your species hardly ventures into the forest. If when you do, you don't travel far. From the population that just this one species is gaining, they could even stretch out and tear your little town to pieces.", Rengar spoke as he watched over the bloodshed as if it was nothing new.
"And that's just the mantacores. Don't ask about the basilisks.", Rengar turned back to the Elements of Harmony.
"And I thought baking a cake for the first time was scary...", Pinkie Pie's bright pink coat had become far more pale than usual.
Even Rainbow Dash had to turn away after a while.
At this point, Twilight had come back to Rengar.
"And you...hunt these mantacores?"
"Yes. They're one of my more common hunts. Easy to track down, easy to separate, and I bring about two in the day time."
Twilight looked down at the massive congregation of beasts.
"I don't think that's going to be enough...", Twilight realized that she was referring to slaughtering beasts as "not enough".
"I...I...don't know what to say-"
"Wait. Do y'all hear that?", Applejack hushed everypony down, with only the roars of the mantacores echoing through the clearing.
"Hear what?"
"I don't hear anything..."
Rengar's eye closed and his ears shifted towards Applejack's direction of attention.
"I do."
KREEAAAWWWWWW!!!
A massive roar shook the entire clearing as a massive, hulking, snaking, and fearsome head broke high above the treetops and let loose a roar over the mantacores. The beasts looked up, some realizing the eminent danger, and others not began to flee in terror or charge the giant reptile-like head, wings outstretched.
Then, another massive head burst from the treetops and gave another shrieking roar to the rather minuscule looking creatures.
"What in the name of Equestria is THAT?!", Twilight stumbled on her back and pointed at the absolutely gigantic dragon-like heads.
Then, another burst from the clearing, and another, and finally another totaling five giant heads over-watching the mantacore pride. The long, yet hulking necks had massive blackish and bluish scales that formed into a head with rows of gigantic teeth. Their tongues as they flicked out resembled snakes, but the heads didn't resemble dragons, snakes, or any other lizards on closer inspection. They simply bared their own terrifying appearance with no eyes and and a red under-neck.
One last head emerged from the treetops, larger, and growing curved red spikes over its head, totaling six heads.
"I-I-Is that-?!"
Rengar and Fluttershy both muttered at the same time.
"A hydra."
Then, what happened next shook even Rengar down to his soul. The six heads, roaring in unison opened their maws at the incoming mantacores that were far too aggressive for their own good, and a massive jet of fire erupted from the hydra's mouths, disintegrating and grilling the manatcores into charred corpses that either fell to the forest floor and broke apart, or simply fell to ashes before they hit the ground. The brightness of the fire caused the ponies to shield their eyes and back up from the cliff they were standing on.
When their hooves and paw were removed from the fronts of their eyes, the hydra gave another shriek into the air, and with force that could cause an earthquake, marched off towards some sort of destination, smashing down trees as it went.
"W-What...was THAT?!", Rainbow Dash recovered from the monster attack that had unfolded before her very eyes.
"The very manifestation of magic mixed into beast. A hydra that was never born, but materialized from the darkest of magic, one that Nightmare Moon possessed, and the one that tainted the forest.", Rengar watched as the hydra began to move down the forest's acres.
"Wh-What?! That thing is a beast made from Nightmare Moon herself?!", Twilight gasped in astonishment and horror.
"In your terms, yes. All it had to do was manifest until it could come to life. That must have been the same creature that was sleeping at the bottom of Froggy Bottom Bog that I had kept records of, but I could never know what it was...", Rengar looked back towards the monster, "Until it had emerged now. Now I can see what had bitten the normal hydras in half..."
"Wait. Where is it heading off to?", Fluttershy asked as the rest of the Elements suddenly looked back towards the monster, looking towards its direction of travel.
"That's a very good question. Where is it going?", Twilight asked while Rengar pulled out a small compass from his waist.
"It's heading...towards your village."
The Elements froze in place.
"Ponyville!", Pinkie immediately freaked out as the monster roared again, heading towards Ponyville, as it would now seem.
"What?! Why?!"
Rengar narrowed his eyes.
"A magical entity of a beast. I could guess...it would feed off of magic. Don't you see the streams coming from the forest and being absorbed into its body? Look!"
The ponies squinted their eyes, seeing a black haze stretch from the forest floor and into the beast itself.
"But Ponyville doesn't have too strong of magical properties! I mean, sure that everypony there has some sort of magic in them, but-"
Rengar interrupted Twilight with: "Look at the hydra. Now follow my claw. In its direction of travel, where would it eventually reach?"
"Twilight looked past the claw, past the hydra, and up the mountain where Rengar was pointing. The unmistakable white castle that was fixed to the mountain was being highlighted by Rengar.
"Canterlot. It's population is dominantly unicorns...and Ponyville just happens to be in the way...", Twilight muttered to her friends, "We have to stop that thing! Ponies are going to get hurt- no! Killed!"
"Um, no offence Ms. Sparkle, but HOW ARE WE GOING TO STOP THAT", Rarity threw her hoof at the direction of the monster.
Rengar suddenly remembered something.
Or more appropriately, someone.
"You want to save your town? Follow me. I think I might have a plan.", Rengar pointed back into the forest.
"You think?!"
"Do you know how to kill a gigantic hydra that literally drains magic from its surroundings?"
Twilight bit her lip and looked back at the hydra.
"If you want to save your town, there isn't much time! It will only take so long for it to become sated from the forest's tainted magic! Then it's going to move on!"
"Alright, Rengar! Lead the way!", Twilight nodded as the group ran straight back into the forest.
All this while, Twilight's opinion of Rengar was begun to shift towards a more positive side. Even Fluttershy felt a new sense of trust in him knowing that he's now going out of his way to help the ponies that don't even know that are in peril. To Rengar, it was a bit of a different story. Knowing a plan to possibly take the beast down, it was imperative that he got all the help he could get.
Even if it was from ponies, a species that ticked him off to no extent. However, with the Elements of Harmony at his side, he himself could recognize a larger, and larger advantage that he could put himself at, as he had heard stories of how these "Elements of Harmony" had saved this world numerous times without him knowing of it.
Besides, letting the best rampage would destroy the Everfree Forest, thus ending his hunt. And mostly likely getting himself killed thereafter.
Rengar snapped back to reality, took the vile of Poison Joke antidote, and handed it to Twilight.
"Take this, and get back to your town to warn the citizens!"
"Oh, right!"
Splashing the antidote on her horn, it suddenly reshaped itself to its normal form. With a bright flash of magic, Twilight vanished.
Now, it was time to hunt a hydra.
The hunt was, once again, on.