As the Moon Rises

by MorbidTheBrony

Chapter 11. Hunter

July 12th, Musket's Office, Thursday Afternoon
01:22PM

Woodland Musket was sitting at the desk within his dimly lit office. He was writing another update about his and the girls' progress on catching the werewolf that roamed Canterlot during the night. Unfortunately, they were not much closer than they had been during their first night hunting. His update mainly contained somewhat the same information from the previous couple of nights. Their progress was currently extremely slow.

The werewolf may be a wild animal, but it was intelligent. Intelligent enough to slip itself out of danger to prevent itself from getting caught. But Woodland did not plan on giving up. This werewolf hunt has been passed down his family for generations. All had failed on catching the werewolf during their time, so Musket planned to be the first in his family to have a werewolves head on a plaque. The problem was, however, his teammate Twilight Sparkle was against the idea of killing the beast. She believes there is a way to turn it back to normal, which Musket highly doubted.

Musket looked over what he had written so far and decided to come back to it later. Since this werewolf business had started, he hadn't spent much time with his wife. He stretched his arms down to his fingers, stood up from his desk and left the office. He was greeted by his wife, Hilda Musket, once he stepped out into his house.

"So, anything new on the werewolf, Woodland?" Hilda asked. Patting him a spot on their couch.

Musket sat down beside her and sighed. "Unfortunately, no, my dear. Nothing new yet," Musket announced disappointingly. "This beast is just far too clever for me. But I don't plan to give up, you see! I'll find the beast, I'll make sure of it. It... just may take a while to see if I can find a pattern to its nightly schedule."

"Perhaps there is a way you can strike as soon as the night begins," Hilda suggested.

Musket looked at his wife. "What are you saying, dear?"

"I'm saying that maybe it is possible to predict where the human will go to transform, and when he does you finally strike."

Musket thought over the idea for a moment. It wouldn't be easy since literally anyone in the city could be the beast. But it wasn't such a bad idea either. Musket nodded. "That's... actually a good idea, I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thank you for the suggestion."

Hilda smiled as the reached for the cup of tea sitting on their coffee table. "When will you be leaving again?" she asked.

"Well, thanks to your idea, I now plan to leave very soon. I want to search the forest and cover as much ground as possible before nighttime comes around," Musket explained. "But I swear, when all of this is over, I'll be spending a lot of time with you again."

Hilda hummed. "It has been quite a while since we last spent a lot of time together."

"Yes, and that's been my fault. I'm just so focused on my jobs that I couldn't focus on much else. But that will change, you can-"

"Count on it I'm guessing?"

Musket and Hilda then began laughing, then right after, they shared a kiss together.

---

Canterlot Park Forest, Thursday Afternoon
02:01PM

Woodland Musket stepped inside the forest once more. This time during the daytime, as he wanted to see of there were any potential hiding spots the werewolf could come to once nighttime rolled around. He already had a few spots in mind, but, judging by how large the forest was, there could be many more. So he may be at in the forest for quite a while.

He sighed through his nose. "Well, it's now or never."

The forest was really big, huge, but Musket felt determined enough to find any left behind clues. It could lead him to saving the city. He was a hunter, this was his duty, and as a hunter he will bring this beast down.

Throughout the forest, he found many things, claw marks on trees and boulders, footprints dug into the ground, but they led him to nowhere except in circles. They were scattered all over the place, they had no pattern. The werewolf clearly had places to be if it had to go everywhere. Musket tried to follow the footprints backwards to see if he can get anywhere that way, but the footprints were too bunched together, it was easy to lose where he was going.

Wherever this monster was, it was surely making a mess of the forest.

Musket sighed at the sight. "A beautiful place where the youth can explore and wander, ruined," he said sadly. "It is a right good shame, but nobody will have to fear much longer, they could count on it."

Musket found one of the potential hiding spots he mapped out. It was the cabin he and the girls found on their first night. It looked just as intact as they had found it. A small, abandoned, plant covered building that could suit only one person.

He looked around the inside for any proof there was someone staying here. He first checked the largest room, which was still pretty small. He checked the walls of any claw marks to show its been here, but it was empty, no scratches, no holes in the walls, nothing. He then walked through the door just further ahead. Again, there was nothing. He proceeded checked every other room in the small cabin - which was about two more - but, unfortunately, he turned up empty. There was nothing living here.

Musket stepped outside, looked back at the cabin and hummed questioningly. "Perhaps they thought it was too open to the public," he theorised. He began walking off, keeping a positive attitude. "Oh well. The day's still early! That hiding spot is somewhere in this forest, I just know it! I just have to... think more outside the box! Where would one hide that was private?"

He looked around on the spot. No hiding spots immediately came to mind, but then Musket looked up at the small mountain nearby. It was likely for it to have a cave, maybe that was where it was hiding. He then began trekking to the mountain.

Once he finally arrived at the foot of the mountain, he looked up to see that it was quite a steep journey up. The cliff side was very narrow going up. Although, that wasn't going to stop an old man like Musket. He reached into his bag and brought out a grappling hook. A four pronged, sharp piece of metal with a thick and strong rope tightly tied at the end of it.

Musket stepped back and tried throwing the hook upwards towards the edge of the cliff, hoping that it would attach to a rock. His first attempt, he swung the hook around in a circle until it had gained enough speed and power and launched it upwards. He, unfortunately, missed the first shot by not throwing it high enough.

He began swinging again, keeping the note in mind to add more power to his swings. Musket threw the hook again. This time, he almost had the hook over the top, only missing due to the hook hitting against the side when it reached the top. The hook fell down with a clatter as it hit against a rock and few feet away from Musket's feet.

Musket huffed and wrapped the rope around his hand again. "My, it certainly has been quite some time since I've had to climb," he said to himself. "Age really does take a toll on one's body." Once the rope was tight around his hand and the hook was sitting in the other, he looked back up at the edge. "Alright, third times a charm."

He swung the hook once again, round and round, getting faster and faster until he threw it again, harder than his last attempts. The hook finally made it over the cliff. Musket began reeling back the hook to see if it would get stuck on anything. Luckily, the hook found a rock to hold onto, keeping it in place.

Musket unravelled the rope around his hand and gripped it tightly. "Rusty climbing skills, don't fail me now," he said with a confident grin. He jumped up, wrapped his legs around the rope and began pulling himself up. Pulling his body up the rope he found quite difficult. It had been so long since he last went on a hunt as great as this that he must have lost some strength over the years.

But he eventually found himself at the top. He hoisted his entire upper body up onto the edge and rolled further along so he didn't fall off. He laid there for a few minutes panting while also fist bumping the air in success. He looked around for a cave, if there was one, and he found one... higher up.

He groaned in anger and looked to see if there was a way up without using the grappling hook. There, unfortunately, wasn't another way but the wall leading up to it wasn't too steep, so he could throw the hook up and walk up the wall.

He sighed and began swinging the hook once again. He threw the hook up as hard as he could, given how exhausted he already was it wasn't all that hard, and managed to, once again, have the hook fly over the edge. It latched onto another rock and he began climbing again. This journey up was far easier than the last one, as he could walk up while he was pulling himself up.

Musket finally arrived at the mouth of the cave. He looked inside and saw nothing but a gloomy darkness. He grabbed a flashlight from inside of his bag and shined it inside. However, it didn't help all too much, he could only see a few metres in front of him.

With another reassuring sigh, he walked inside the cave, not looking back.

---

Deep Within the Cave, Thursday Afternoon
03:52PM

Musket could barely see in any direction inside the cave. He couldn't even see the exit anymore. All he could hear now were his cold, steamy breaths and his echoing footsteps on the stone cold ground.

He had to admit, after all of his years of being a hunter, he'd never felt as spooked as he did now. What if the werewolf was here? What if they were a psycho as a person? Despite the coldness of the cave, he began to sweat mainly from discomfort and fear.

How was he still walking forward? How long was this cave?

It seemed that last question would finally be answered, from a distance away, Musket could see a very faint flicker of light. He walked towards it, the light grew larger until it was revealed to be a lantern.

"Peculiar," Musket said, stroking his mustache. He looked around the area he was in, shining his flashlight in whatever direction he was facing.

He gasped at the sight of something sitting at the walls to the left... bones! He looked around more and found more bones, and he found there to be dark stains on both the floors and the walls. Beginning to shake, he walked towards a stain and analysed it closely. As he got closer, he noticed that there was a hint of red on the stain. There was blood smeared all across the walls!

He stepped away from the walls, only to then find more stains. There were also large scratches covering almost all of the area.

This was all the evidence he needed. He noted his sighting on a notepad and, before taking one last glance at the gore, quickly made his way out of the cave.

---

Canterlot Park Forest, Thursday Afternoon
04:35PM

Musket continued to run. He ran and ran and didn't look back. He now knew where the werewolf was going to be later tonight. He had to tell Twilight about this. As his teammate, she deserved to know what discoveries he makes. Rainbow Dash too. They both had been huge helps to Musket ever since their first hunt, they should also be there to help for the last one.

Should he make another update tonight, though? Every night after the hunts, Musket posted updates online on him and the girls' progress on catching the wolf. But he was skeptical about making one based on what he just saw in the cave. If he mentioned where he found the hiding spot, it may encourage people to go there themselves, putting themselves in danger, more lives being lost to that thing, and it would be all his fault.

But what if he were to attack it tonight as well? The quicker the wolf was gone, the better it would be for the city's safety.

Now resting by a tree, he thought over the idea. Though, he was distracted by his panting. But he now knew what to do. And as soon as he got back home, he'd tell Twilight and her friend to meet him back at the park's entrance. This was it. This was his final plan. No more games!

This werewolf problem ends now!

Author's Note:

"I promise, you don't have to worry about a thing."

D _ _ k N _ g _ _ _ A _ _ U p _ _ U _

i s t h r s o a a n e

Comments

[solusjbj]

Dark Nights Are Upon Us Well that's ominous.

[twience]

Ooo I’m so excited to see what’s next

[TyrTheTaur]

Dark Nights are upon us. FUCKING REALLY MORBID! I know u like DA Games but honestly!

[MorbidTheBrony]

9534096

[Anonimate]

Sem ofensa mas o caçador é meio lerdo