To Hunt a Beast

by Blackdrag-rose

0: The Beginning of the Hunt

Inner Wisdom, known throughout Equestria as Wisdom, was a very patient pony. How was he patient? He had spent the last three years tracking down a legendary beast, one of such prowess that even the Goddesses themselves simply ignored. How does one ignore a beast that could very well be threatening their ponies? Simple, it stays as far away from civilization as it possibly can.

The beast was simply known as a werepyre, the dreaded combination of werewolves, those that took the form of a wolf, and vampires, those who took the form of the bat. It was known that a werepyre had the strengths of both worlds, like the vampires speed and the werewolves strength, without either of their weaknesses. Things like silver, sunlight, garlic, and even a stake to the heart meant nothing to such a beast.

Wisdom knew about the existence of one werepyre, the very same he had been tracking for the last three years by himself. His friends, a mare named Peachy Keen and a stallion called Tick Tock, had been cursed by the beast, Peachy taking the vampire curse while Tick took the werewolf. They had spent months hiding themselves from Wisdom and the rest of Equestria, letting only their chosen leaders know of their exact location. The four alicorn's wanted to test Wisdom and by not sharing what they knew they made it so he would spend a yew months looking for his own answers.

His answers rested with his cursed friends, one of whom Wisdom had finally tracked down to a well decorated cave just outside of Manehatten. Peachy had hidden herself quite well and he might not have found her for a few more years, but the reports of some ponies vanishing and other reported missing blood had said otherwise. She had found herself a nice little place to set up a new permanent residence in, but right now Wisdom was going to rain on her parade.

He hated to admit it, but he needed the help of his friends Peachy and Tick if he had any hopes of locating the beast responsible for their changes.

One of his other friends, a stallion by the name of Dynamo, was supposed to be meeting him outside the cave, or 'Vampire's Haunt' as Dynamo called it. He was an expert in the art of explosives, anything from a stick of dynamite to a barrel full of oil that was lit on fire to exploding crystals. His other companion was the mare he and his friends had met when they were saving King Sky's life, an adventurous mare named Copper Sprocket. She was what most called a tinkerer, a pony that could build interesting items that wowed the mind and could even replace missing limbs.

"Hey Wisdom," Copper said, appearing behind him with Dynamo in tow, "Sorry we're late. I had to pick up some supplies and gadgets that we would need if we are going to succeed in capturing your powerful friends."

"We're not here to capture Peachy," Wisdom replied, his voice completely calm as he stared at the opening to the cave, "We're here to see if she'll join us in hunting down the beast that cursed her and Tick Tock. It is a beast that would require the abilities of all three of us, Peachy, Tick, Sunset Shimmer, and our friend Tonto to take it out."

The inside of the cave was full of fine decorations, such as expensive chairs, sofas, dining tables, and bookshelves filled with an assortment of books. It was like the living room of any ordinary household, though when they turned to the left there was an entire opened area with at least seven coffins, the preferred sleeping bed for vampires. Wisdom had been hoping that there were only two or three more vampires in the area, but when he inspected the right side of the cave he grew even more worried. The two sides were identical, so there were at least fourteen vampires running around Manehatten without anypony knowing it.

Wisdom and his group moved up towards the back portion of the cave, the last area that they had to search and found a huge open area with two floors. The bottom section of the cave looked like a sparring area, full of wooden dummies, weapon stands, and bullseye targets made out of straw. They would have gotten closer to the stairs that lead up to the second floor, but there were fourteen ponies running around the sparring area. Standing at the edge of the second floor, watching over the open edge, was a sherbert color coated mare with a pink and purple mane, the same colored tail, red colored eyes, small fangs in her mouth, and fully grown pegasus sized bat wings.

He would not have mistaken his friend Peachy Keen anywhere, but when he noticed the miniature set of Nightmare Moon armor, indicating her training under Princess Luna once upon a time, he knew it was her. So either she was training fourteen vampires on how to defend themselves or she was preparing to go to war against somepony. She even had the same fluffed ears that a batpony, the members of the Lunar Guard, had all the time.

"What is she doing in here?" Copper softly asked, poking her head out to look at the training ponies, "Is she secretly building an army without trying to cause suspicion?"

"I honestly don't know," Wisdom answered, noticing a second figure behind his friend, "but it seems that she might have company besides us. I wonder who she could be talking to."

"Can I please blow something up this time?" Dynamo asked, pulling out a stick of dynamite while he stared out at the area, "We could use a distraction if we want to escape later on."

"We are not blowing anything up yet," Wisdom commented, shaking his head at the thought, "If we blow something u it will attract attention to ourselves and make our job even harder to accomplish. We need to incapacitate the vampires in front of us before we move on to capturing Peachy. Maybe she'll have a clue as to where we can find our ultimate prey."

"Oh come now Wisdom, do you honestly believe I would know something like that?" said a voice from the area around them, causing the three to look around in confusion, "Do you honestly think I would stay idle for the last three years, twiddling my hooves while our friend roamed the whole of Equestria unchecked? You'll soon find that there is more to terror than meets the eye."

That was the last thing Wisdom and his group remembered as the darkness swallowed them whole.