Dreamwalker Dash

by Fluttercheer

Chapter 16: The Hunt for the Skinwalker

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Hyper Sonic's eyes rested on the headmare, the guidance counselor, Yona and Ocellus until they had disappeared inside the school building and until the door had closed behind them. Then she turned away and gave her thoughts full reign over herself, over mind and body.

“Gooseberry, I need to do something,” she spoke to her little sister, then gently undid her tightly-clinging grasp on her and got up.

Gooseberry looked at her, face full of surprise and a little protest over the sudden, forced separation from her big sister. Hyper Sonic trotted away, letting her sit alone where she was. Her movement had something energetic to it and she looked determined into the direction she was heading into. “Hyper, what are you doing?” The slightly sobbing sound of Gooseberry's voice only grazed her mind.

Hyper Sonic aimed for the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. She flapped her wings, flew and landed on the ornament on top of it. She looked around, at the students that reluctantly rose up from their resting positions and trotted towards the entrance of the dorms. They clung together in groups of more students than could sleep in one dorm room, it was evident they had made the resolve to stay in as much as company as possible after the attack. If what her heart desired should happen tonight, she couldn't afford to lose another moment, so Hyper Sonic stuck her chest out and stood upright as much as it was possible.

“Wait a minute before you go inside, please!” she addressed her fellow students, the word “please” added for reasons of diplomacy.

The students stopped as they heard the unexpected plea and collectively turned around to look at the fountain. They raised their heads to get a good view of Hyper Sonic.

“I need your help tonight, from many of you as possible,” the young speaker continued.

Some of the students where shaking and pulled their blankets tighter around their bodies, the temperature of the autumn night wasn't high enough to sleep outside, but they stayed and listened. Something in Hyper Sonic's voice caught their attention and was binding them to her speech.

“The skinwalker is dangerous and it needs to be stopped!” Hyper Sonic came right to the point. “And we are the ones who have to do it tonight!”

The incredulity that appeared on the faces around her was strong, but it didn't overwhelm Hyper Sonic. She looked down at the other students with confidence in her eyes. And she was going to use the momentum of the surprise.

“I will follow the monster again tonight and try to catch it!” she announced. “But I'm not strong enough to do it alone. I need some of you as volunteers to come with me and fight the monster to protect the school together!”

A gasp went through the audience now. “No, Hyper, why?” Gooseberry cried out from the corner where she was still sitting. The confused look on her face became replaced with despair now.

“Why us?” Peppermint Goldylinks asked, from the middle of the crowd. “We should let Headmare Twilight and the other teachers take care of the monster.” Agreeing murmurs went through the crowd.

“We can't,” Hyper Sonic took a strong stance for her plan, answering the mare's objection and simultaneously ignoring her little sister's concern. Her mind was already on the adventure she had just proposed. She let her words linger for a bit, just long enough that she was sure no other question would be asked before she continued. “It's on all of us to do this tonight! It's our school and the headmare has made it for all of us. We could let the headmare take care of everything, but it wouldn't be grateful to let her do it.”

The students below her looked at each other. They were clearly pondering the words. Hyper Sonic smiled. And there was a tinge of guilt she felt. Hunting the skinwalker was a deep desire in her soul, the desire for adventure and heroism. More than that, the desire for risk and danger. She loved it when her life was on the line. But that was just her, she was keenly aware of that. No other ponies were like her, she was the only one who went headfirst into danger and loved it. Asking other ponies to do the same thing was selfish.

Those who decided to come with her would not do it out of their own motivation, they would join to do her a favor. Because her words convinced them that joining her is a good thing to do, something that's done for the right cause. She was good at this, convincing ponies through speeches. When her heart was into something, she could make other ponies become into it, too. Which meant that she brought all ponies who decided to join her into danger. Hyper Sonic was aware of all this. And yet, she had to.

Seeking out thrill and adventure, danger and risk, by hunting the skinwalker and fighting it was one thing. Becoming a hero by defeating it and carrying it back to the school, be it dead or unconscious, was another thing. She couldn't do this alone. She had the bravery that was needed for the task, but not the physical strength. Only teaming up with other ponies, or creatures, could bring that success, defeating the monster and becoming a hero. And of course she wouldn't be the only hero then. Everyone who helped would get the same credit. But she would be one of the heroes and that would be a start. If she wanted to make this happen, she had to find other students who would join her hunt and, despite endangering them, her thrill-seeking mind called for it. She couldn't resist it and she did not want to resist it.

“Headmare Twilight has founded this school for us, so we can learn about friendship!” she continued using her momentum. “We should give her something back for it. It's our school just as much as it is the headmare's school and if we find the skinwalker and defeat it, we can show our gratitude to her for teaching us by protecting the school she made for us!”

And it worked. The unsure expressions in the faces of the students disappeared and smiles took their places. They looked up to her, not just literally, but also figuratively now.

“Well, if that wasn't an impressive speech,” a snarky, sarcastic voice rose from the crowd. Gallus rolled his eyes. “I'm in,” he said next. “Don't think I like working together with you, but this monster has attacked two of my friends, so I won't sit here and do nothing.” The blue griffon unfolded his wings and flew over to Hyper Sonic, where he took up position next to the statue.

One student was on her side. But Gallus wasn't enough. He was strong, least he had claimed to be when he opposed her in the cafeteria a few days ago, but it would need more than two fighters to take down a beast like the skinwalker. Hyper Sonic was opening her mouth to speak more convincing words, but then she didn't have to, as another student pledged support.

“I will come and join you!” a young, scratchy voice with a cheeky undertone came from a corner of the courtyard.

Hyper Sonic followed the voice and saw who had spoken there. It wasn't one of the students.

Alula had raised a hoof, hovering in the air next to Rainbow Harmony.

That made two. But there was an obstacle that could undo Alula's decision as she wanted to fly towards Hyper Sonic. And that obstacle was Rainbow Harmony. She grabbed Alula's right hindleg and gripped it tightly. “No,” she said. “I'm not letting you go. It's dangerous and I could lose you forever.” A sob was audible in her words as she spoke them.

Alula turned around at her. “Let me go,” she demanded. “I need to join this hunt.”

“Why do you need to?” Rainbow Harmony questioned her.

“Because this monster is endangering you too. It's after the school and us students, it will attack again, and maybe you will be the next one who gets attacked and then it will be successful.” She stopped for a moment, recounting Rainbow Harmony's words. “I don't want to lose you,” she repeated them and turned them back around at their source. “What if that monster comes back and smashes your head while you sleep? I'm not going to risk that!”

“But others can go and defeat it!” Rainbow Harmony argued back. “You don't have to go with them, Alula. You don't have to do this for me. There are others who can take care of it!” She poked out her lower lip and tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

Alula stopped flapping her wings and landed on the ground. She reached up into the face of Harmony with a wing and brushed away those tears. “Because I have to do it,” she explained, in a gentler voice now. “I have to join them so I can be the one who protects you.”

In front of her, Rainbow Harmony's face fell apart. A blush appeared on it, her features became softer and new tears came out of her eyes. But a smile was building on her face, as well, indicating the nature of the new tears. She covered her mouth with both forehooves, which shivered now, and looked at Alula from widely opened eyes. “Oh, Alula.....” she said, voice slightly cracking. Rainbow Harmony reached out and wrapped her hooves around Alula's neck, pulled her close and gave her a tight hug. She held her embraced like this for a moment, then shifted her face and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Then I'm coming with you,” she announced, now zeal in her voice.

The expression in Alula's face changed again. She pushed Rainbow Harmony away, albeit gently. “No,” Alula said. “I don't want that you bring yourself in danger.”

Rainbow Harmony frowned. But it was not from anger, it was from concern. “But I will,” she announced, firmly. “I'm not letting you go alone. Maybe I'm not very strong, but neither are you, Alula. And I can still do something to protect you if the skinwalker aims for you with its claws. You go with them because you want to be the one who protects me, so let me do the same thing for you.”

Alula was attempting to respond something, but she found herself unable to. It was a logic she couldn't argue with. Who was she to deny Harmony this, after she had told her that she would go with them on the skinwalker hunt to protect her? Alula gave up. She wrapped her hooves around Harmony and pulled her in for a hug now, silently giving her agreement. They would go together, she and her, and protect each other. Rainbow Harmony understood without words being spoken.

As the two fillies had released their hug, they turned at Hyper Sonic, holding hooves now. “We're coming with you!” they said together, their voices joined like their hooves. Then they took off and flew over to Hyper Sonic. They took position at the other side of the fountain, opposite of Gallus. Their hooves remained intertwined as they stood there.

Now she had three volunteers. Hyper Sonic didn't think about if there were enough for the hunt now, instead, she looked down into the crowd to see if anyone else would sign up. She waited a whole minute, looking down at faces that had lost their earlier enthusiasm now, until it was clear that no one would join her anymore. The crowd even moved again, into the direction of the dorm rooms, many of them shivering now. It had gotten colder in the meantime, Hyper Sonic had to admit. She looked down from the fountain, at Gallus, Alula and Rainbow Harmony. Three young pegasus fillies and a teenage griffon to hunt down a monster. It had to do, she figured.

Having found her team of hunters, Hyper Sonic flew down the fountain and landed in front of the other three students. They looked attentive, waiting for instructions from the pony who had seen the skinwalker and followed it. Hyper Sonic wasted no time.

“I lost sight of the skinwalker half an hour away from the school,” she began. “I don't know where it went, but that doesn't matter, because we know where its home is.”

Gallus, Alula and Rainbow Harmony nodded. “The Everfree Forest,” Gallus voiced their thoughts. “It's only a short flight over town. It won't take long to get there.” He avoided to look at Hyper Sonic while he spoke.

“Yeah. But searching the forest will need a lot more time. I've been there often enough to navigate it, but the forest is big, so we don't have any time to lose. Get equipped for the hunt and we meet in five minutes at the school gate.”

The team of four made their way to the dorms. On the way over, Gooseberry joined Hyper Sonic's side again. Her face was already wrecked with worry, much worse than it was earlier.

“Hyper? Do you really have to go and hunt the skinwalker?” she spoke in a low voice, ears pressed flat against her head. Her eyes shimmered.

Hyper Sonic looked down at her little sister and placed her right foreleg over her back. “Yeah,” she said, simply. “I need to, Gooseberry. But we'll be back soon.”

“But why, Hyper? I'm scared.....” the younger filly wailed. Gooseberry gripped Hyper Sonic's chest and forced her to stop.

Hyper Sonic leaned down and gave her sister a hug. “Join some other students in their dorm room while I'm gone,” she said. “If you aren't alone, then you won't be scared”.

Gooseberry frowned. She squeezed her big sister back, but remained silent all of a sudden. Among the remaining concern in her face was a bit of anger now.

Four minutes later, Hyper Sonic stepped out onto the corridor of the dorm building. Saddlebags were on her back, filled with a bottle of water and a quick snack, and her right wing gripped a flashlight. Gooseberry had refused to spend the time in a dorm room that wasn't theirs, but Hyper Sonic had asked Citrine Spark to stay with her little sister and the mare had agreed. Now it was nearly time to meet with Gallus, Alula and Rainbow Harmony outside. The door of Yona's and Ocellus' room was closed, but Hyper Sonic could hear the faint voice of the guidance counselor behind it. She snuck past it, opened the door of the dorm building quietly and slipped outside. In the courtyard, she instantly took flight and disappeared over the roof of the dorm building.

Gallus, Alula and Rainbow Harmony were already waiting in front of the school. They wore saddlebags, as well, and Gallus and Rainbow Harmony had brought a flashlight. The latter was still holding hooves with her fillyfriend. She gripped Alula's hoof tighter this time and her face looked more grim than before. There was determination in it, though. For a moment, Hyper Sonic wondered how far she would go to protect the filly she loved, but she didn't pursue it.

“The guidance counselor is still in the dorms. Let's go,” she spoke, then immediately flew off. The other tree nodded, then followed her.

Quiet wingflaps brought them away from the school. They became louder as there were a fair distance away from it, out of earshot of the faculty. Their only worry was that one of the other students would betray their secret plan. But no one tried to stop them when they left the dorms and even now there wasn't a sign that they were followed. And if the headmare would find out now, they had the advantage of a headstart and would be deep inside the Everfree Forest by then, where it was easy to hide.

Ponyville lay peacefully below them. Most houses were dark, only a few of them had light shining out of their windows. Music or idle chatter was carried into their ears by the wind as they flew past those houses. When they arrived at the Everfree Forest, they dared to turn their flashlights on. The light cones pierced the darkness and revealed the gnarly trees at the entrance. Rainbow Harmony shivered and clung a little closer to Alula, who comforted her with a gentle back rub by her left wing.

Hyper Sonic stood at the top of the little group. She would be leading them through the forest, as she knew it like her feathers. They wouldn't get lost. The only unclear thing, the one uncertainty of their plan, was the lack of a strategy to fight the skinwalker once they had found it. They knew nothing about the monster, so devising a plan was impossible. Gallus was the strongest of them, so they had agreed he would charge first. But other than that, there really was no plan. They would have to improvise to take the skinwalker down, but it made none of them less determined to go and try it. Especially not herself.

After going over what tiny strategy they had again, Hyper Sonic spoke the command to enter the Everfree and they ventured inside.

It was scary. That was what all four of them agreed on, not with words, but with the expressions on their faces. Hyper Sonic was thrilled to be there, it was her first time exploring the Everfree Forest at night and that made it all the better for her. Gallus tried to disguise the fear in his face with a smug expression, but it shone through regardless. Alula and Rainbow Harmony showed their fear openly. They were holding hooves again. The light of Rainbow Harmony's flashlight shook every so often.

Hyper Sonic looked around, trying to spot possible dangers in the light of her lamp. Around them were more gnarly trees. They usually had a cockatrice or two sitting on them. On good days, they were lined with them. But cockatrices slept at night, so they would be no danger for them. Timberwolves were a different matter. These beasts knew no sleep. Hyper Sonic didn't fully understand what they were, but she knew that their bodies consisted of nothing but dead wood, which was controlled by something. What was a mystery, but she did not particularly care about figuring that mystery out. She just needed them to put up a good fight.

There was one obvious place for the skinwalker to hide in and they were heading towards it now. The Everfree Forest did not have many caves, only two, in fact. One of them was already occupied by a beast that was probably far more powerful than the skinwalker and Hyper Sonic knew that this beast wouldn't share its home. Even she avoided it, there was nothing she could do against a creature that would tower over Ponyville like one of Manehattan's skyscrapers, if one were relocated into the little town.

The other cave used to be the home of a benevolent force that was now destroyed. She had learned all about the Tree of Harmony in the friendship school, but her discovery of it happened in advance of these lessons, a long time before its destruction. And the fact it was destroyed now meant that it was possible for a dark entity like the skinwalker to hide there. Harmony couldn't get in the way anymore.

As they arrived at the cliff that separated the Castle of the Two Sisters from the rest of the Everfree Forest, thankfully without any encounters that could have distracted them from their search, their wings became of use again. Instead of balancing their way over the old, rotten rope bridge and then trotting down the craggy path at the other side, they directly flew down and towards the cave.

Inside of it, they were greeted by blinding light as the large crystal structure in the middle of the cave reflected the glow of their lamps. They instinctively shielded their eyes and aimed their flashlights at the rocky ground. Treading forward carefully, they approached the crystal structure. It filled the cave from the ground to the ceiling and disappeared in the rocks above them. Hyper Sonic knew what it was and where the crystals led to. Gallus explained it anyway, as he saw the clueless and surprised faces of Alula and Rainbow Harmony.

“That's the foundation of the treehouse of me and my friends,” he spoke, letting the light he was holding wander upwards where the crystals disappeared in the ceiling.

“You have a treehouse made of crystals?” Rainbow Harmony questioned.

“Yeah. We built a house from what was left of the Tree of Harmony. Then it grew into a large treehouse. It's a gift from the Tree, because we revived it.”

Hyper Sonic nodded, absentmindedly, while she let her light go over the walls, looking for any presence besides their own. “And if we don't found the skinwalker in this cave, we're going to check there next.”

“Where?” Alula asked.

“In the Castle of the Two Sisters,” Hyper Sonic answered. She trotted behind the structure that formed the foundation of the crystal treehouse above them. The space behind it was completely empty. They were alone in the cave.

“Going in there?” Alula asked, with disbelief. “What's with the Pony of Shadows?”

“That's just a legend,” Hyper Sonic spoke firmly, stepping out from behind the crystal at the other side of it.

“Found anything?” Gallus asked gruffly.

“No. There aren't any signs that a living creature was here.” She trotted past her fellow hunters and aimed for the exit of the cave. “Let's check the castle next.”

No objections from the others. They followed her silently. Their wings carried them out of the canyon and soon they stood in front of the castle. As they were about to enter, Gallus stopped his company. “Isn't it weird that nothing attacked us? I never heard that the Everfree Forest is so quiet.”

Hyper Sonic pointed her light at him. She shrugged. “It happens. The forest does what it wants.”

“Or something is here that scares all the other monsters.” Alula looked around cautiously, while staying close to Rainbow Harmony.

“Maybe,” Hyper Sonic agreed. “That's what we want to find out.” She turned around and stepped at the castle gate. “Come, let's go inside.”

The crystal treehouse was sitting in the middle of the courtyard that lay behind the outer walls. It sparkled as stray light of their lamps touched it. “Could the skinwalker hide in there?” Hyper Sonic asked, letting her light glide over the treehouse.

“Doubt it,” Gallus rejected the notion. “By what the Tree of Harmony told us, a monster like that couldn't get inside.”

Hyper Sonic nodded. “Let's explore the castle ruins then.” She marched ahead, followed by the others. They ventured forth into the castle's dark depths and disappeared in them.

When they returned to the crystal treehouse an hour later, their heads were hanging low. They had searched the entire castle, but found nothing but dusty, old books, ancient statues and decaying tapestries. Even a few secret rooms, which would have been a perfect hiding spot for a creature of darkness, but they had all been devoid of life. All they came back with were disappointment and, with the exception of Hyper Sonic, scares from countless sounds they couldn't explain and the occasional scurrying shadow at the borders of their vision. None of them was surprised that the castle seemed to be haunted, but the scary creature they were looking for wasn't there.

“And what now?” Gallus asked, getting annoyed. “This entire search was a waste of time. I probably should have stayed where I was. The skinwalker is obviously not here.”

Hyper Sonic ignored the remark, going over their options. Where could they search next? The only other cave was an impossible hideout, as she had already deducted. But it was also the last place of interest left. There was Zecora's hut, but it was an obvious guess that the skinwalker wasn't there, and the rest of the forest was nothing but a rough wilderness consisting of trees, bushes, rocks and swamps. Searching through the entire forest would take days, she knew, and they didn't have that much time.

Before she could come up with a solution, Hyper Sonic was thrown out of her thoughts by a loud rustling of the bush next to her. It wasn't big enough for the monster whose outline she had seen to hide between its branches, but all of them were instantly on alert and Hyper Sonic brought herself into a battle-ready pose. Before she could call for the mysterious figure to show themselves, the branches of the bush suddenly got pushed aside and somepony stepped out of it. In the light of her lamp, Hyper Sonic could see the familiar face of her little sister.

“Gooseberry?” she asked, bewildered now. “What are you doing here?” She trotted up to her sister, ready to scold.

Gooseberry didn't look well. Her mane and tail were full of dirt, leaves and little twigs. Her coat was dirty, as well, and there was a bruise on the knee of her left hindleg. Her eyes were red and wet around the edges, she had obviously been crying. And once she saw her big sister, new tears started flowing. “Hyper!” she cried out and flung herself into Hyper Sonic's arms. The gesture immediately extinguished any and all anger the older filly felt.

Alula, Rainbow Harmony and Gallus watched as Hyper Sonic stroke the mane of her little sister and tried to calm her down. “I got too scared!” they heard the young filly sob. “I told Citrine Spark I am going to the bathroom, but I went looking for you, Hyper!”

Gallus crossed his forelegs. “So, what now?” he asked. Impatience glistened in his eyes.

“Nothing”, Hyper Sonic said. “I can't stay here with Gooseberry and drag her into this. I need to return now. We can continue the search tomorrow night.”

“But without me.” Gallus huffed.

Dejected, the other two friendship students and Alula followed Hyper Sonic and Gooseberry out of the Everfree Forest. Hyper Sonic chose the quickest route out. It was still deepest, darkest night as they left the Everfree. They hadn't found the skinwalker and coming back with empty hooves was a horrible feeling in Hyper Sonic's stomach. But Gooseberry was not cut out for this type of endeavor and for no adventure in the world would she risk her little sister's life.

The group had turned their backs and marched a bit into the direction of Ponyville and the friendship school. Gallus, Alula and Rainbow Harmony were about to take off, as a frightening, loud howling came from the Everfree Forest. They stopped in their tracks, frozen by the sound.

Hyper Sonic, who was at the top of the group with Gooseberry clinging to her, turned back around at the forest. The others hesitantly followed her example. The howling happened again. Then, lit up by the moon, a monstrous figure peeled itself out of the forest's shadow in the distance. It was standing on its hindlegs. For a moment, it only watched them, then the creature lowered itself down on all fours and began to ran towards them. They couldn't yet make out what the creature was, but they had the skinwalker in front of them, there was no doubt.

Hyper Sonic pushed Gooseberry behind her and took up a protective position in front of her. “That's it!” she shouted. “It's here!”

The skinwalker came closer fast, then it suddenly lowered its tempo when it was only a few yards away from them anymore. It walked slowly, menacingly, with its eyes fixated on them. They could see it clearly now. The creature that came towards them was a large wolf, three our four times as big as an average adult pony. Its entire body was covered in thick and long, brown fur. It was massively built, with huge muscles under its fur, and yellow, evil eyes. The five of them stood completely still, observing the monster's every movement.

“Gallus, charge!” Hyper Sonic gave the griffon the command to begin the battle. But Gallus didn't move. He only stood there and stared. “Gallus!” Hyper Sonic called out to him again, but he did nothing to attack the monster.

“I can't move,” he said instead. His eyes widened in shock.

“This is not the time for being afraid!” Hyper Sonic shouted at him. “If we are frozen in fear, we're done!”

“Shut up!” Gallus shot back. “I am not afraid! I really can't move.”

“What?!” Hyper Sonic observed him and the rest of the group. Alula and Rainbow Harmony did no step backwards, even though the monster was very close to them now. As she tried to move herself, she realized that she couldn't.

“Hyper? I can't move my legs.” Gooseberry's distraught voice came from behind her.

It was the skinwalker's doing. She had underestimated its powers. Some kind of magic the beast possessed kept them in place, making them the ideal, helpless prey. Hyper Sonic gritted her teeth. The only part of her body she could still move was her head. Everything was over. Not only were they unable to defeat the skinwalker, they would also not return from this adventure at all.

The skinwalker reached Gallus. The griffon felt a strong urge to fly away, but the magic that kept him in place forced him to accept the inevitable. And, for some reason, it didn't happen. The monster paid him no heed and walked past Gallus without even attempting to dig its claws deeply into his body. Its eyes were fixated on something behind him, but Gallus couldn't turn his head far enough to see what it was. Alula closed her eyes as the wolf-like beast had reached her. Behind her, Rainbow Harmony looked away from the beast and focused her eyes on her fillyfriend.

In front of Hyper Sonic, the skinwalker stopped. He turned at the pegasus filly and looked deeply into her eyes.

“H-HYPER!” Gooseberry screamed next to her, loud and startling.

The skinwalker did not react to her scream. Its entire focus was on her sister. Hyper Sonic felt the hot breath of the monster in her face. Why it had chosen her as the first one was unfathomable for the filly, but she knew what would be happening any moment. “Gooseberry, look away,” she spoke to her little sister. But Gooseberry couldn't, her shocked eyes were glued to the scene next to her.

The skinwalker was taking its time. It brought its monstrous mouth close to Hyper Sonic's mane, fangs not yet exposed, and sniffed at it. Then its face came even closer, it practically buried itself into Hyper Sonic's mane and continued to sniff, stronger this time.

Slowly, the beast went down her entire face. It plastered it with deep, strong sniffs, from her eyes all the way down to her neck. A low growl left the skinwalker's throat. Then it opened its mouth and poked out a long, fleshy tongue. Stopping the sniffing, it let the tongue come down on Hyper Sonic's right cheek and slowly licked over it, like it was savouring the taste of her. Hyper Sonic closed her eyes and turned away in disgust as her cheek was covered in thick saliva by the wet tongue. Then the unwanted sensation was suddenly over.

Hyper Sonic opened her eyes again and she saw that the skinwalker had retreated its face. Once more, it was staring deeply into her eyes. Hyper Sonic noticed that the breath of the skinwalker was going stronger now. And there was a certain expression in its eyes..... The expression was deeper all of a sudden, almost like it was longing for something. Hyper Sonic answered the look, trying to figure out what it was that she saw in those deep eyes. They only looked at each other, the skinwalker wasn't doing any attempts to tear her young flesh apart.

“NOOOOO!” someone was suddenly screaming behind Hyper Sonic. A dark ball of magic suddenly soared over her head and hit the skinwalker with full force. The beast yowled in pain. The smell of burning flesh rose up into the air. As it did a step back, Hyper Sonic noticed that she was able to move her body again. She turned around and saw Luna hovering behind her. Her eyes were filled with hatred and fixated on the monster.

Alarmed by the sudden attack, the skinwalker turned around and began to run for the forest at a high tempo. Luna landed in front of Hyper Sonic and fired more magic at the monster. Before she could land another hit, the skinwalker suddenly dissipated, like it became one with the air. Their eyes could not detect it anymore, but they could still hear it, invisible steps that ran away in the distance.

Luna looked after it, still with the same hatred in her eyes. “STAY AWAY FROM THESE INNOCENT CREATURES, VILE, FOUL BEAST! NEVER LAY YOUR CLAWS ON THEM AGAIN OR WE WILL BRING ALL OF OUR WRATH UPON YOU!” Luna used the Royal Canterlot Voice to its full, terrifying extent as she shouted after the monster. Her breath was going unsteady after the last words had left her lips. When she finally turned around at the group of creatures she had just rescued, her eyes fell on Rainbow Harmony for a moment, before she turned at Hyper Sonic.

“Princess Luna?” Hyper Sonic asked confused. “What are you doing here?”

Alula, Rainbow Harmony and Gallus looked at Luna, as well, expecting answers. Only Gooseberry was hiding her face in Hyper Sonic's coat, sobbing again.

“This is not a nightmare, as much as I wish for it to be one,” Luna told them, like she had been reading their minds. “You will turn away now and return to your schoo!” she commanded them. Her voice was full of stress. “This is not the right night to roam around outside.”

None of them would have objected Luna's command, but before they could say something in return or do as Luna had told them, they suddenly found their bodies wrapped into a blue glow. Luna's ignited horn was the last thing they saw, then all five of them stood in the courtyard of the friendship school. The princess had teleported them back.

It took all of them a few seconds to realize what Luna did, then Gallus found his speech back. “Fine with me,” he said and shrugged his shoulders. “I had enough of this hunt anyway.” The tone in his voice couldn't hide a certain disappointment over the fact that they had failed to defeat the skinwalker, though. He left the group and stomped into the direction of the dorm building. Alula and Rainbow Harmony did likewise, hooves wrapped around each other's shaking bodies.

Hyper Sonic, staying behind with Gooseberry, was unsure what to do. A part of her still itched to challenge the monster again. But her team of hunters had enough, they wouldn't join her anymore, this was more than clear. She turned at Gooseberry, who still clung to her tightly.

“Let's go to bed, Gooseberry,” she said.

“Um-hm.”

Hyper Sonic felt the nod at her chest. She gave the full moon a look, then sighed and entered the dorms with Gooseberry.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

nice work, as always!

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

Are they going to be punished from their near-suicide mission?

[Fluttercheer]

10753368

Realistic expectations would dictate so. But I don't think Twilight or Starlight noticed anything. Unless somepony or -creature spills the beans in the future, they will be safe.