The Hunters of Secrets

by Arkantos

Training and Snakes

Meanwhile at Bloodmoon.

"Come on! You're not even trying."

"I told you, Princess Luna, that I am not good at this." She gestured towards a training dummy. "And I'm not a werepony who can make mincemeat out of an innocent creature. I can't be one of those things. I can't be a Monster, for I am a lady and wish to be treated as such."

"Look, Rarity," Luna smirked, "or do you prefer Rarwolf?"

Rarity glowered."Rarity will do."

"Ok, look, Rarity, all I'm asking is for you to discover is what you can do with, well, your claws and your teeth. So, just run up to the target and slice that dummy into pieces."

Rarity was not looking forward to doing this; a couple hours ago, she was lying down on the cold stone floor until the Princess of the Night got her up and brought to the training room that had probably held many fights over issues that her Hunters had with each other. There were broken swords in the corner and incomplete gadgets all over the place. Her task was to destroy a dummy that was filled with straw. For now, though, she decided to avoid looking at Luna and to examine the silver regalia around her neck instead, which would be used on her if she ever stepped out of line.

A monstrous voice spoke in Rarity’s mind. 'Let's waste her. Take the Alicorn’s heart out so that she can truly be heartless, and then turn her into one of us before she dies.'

Rarity replied to the inner voice, 'Did you forget that we are wearing a regalia that could kill us for doing something like that? I, for one, do not want to die'

Luna spoke. "Look, I know what you are going through. I have experienced it.”

Rarity said harshly, "Really, I doubt it."

"When my sister and I became Equestria Alicorns, we lost friends and family. Because of our ascension, others have treated us like goddesses, but to be perfectly honest, we're not. We are just ponyies who have a better understanding of the universe and how it runs."

"And apparently can control the very celestial bodies of the sun and the moon."

"Well, that is true, but we still suffer because of it in one small way or another."

"Just to be clear, you're saying that I am now someone who has a different view of the world that we live in?"

The Alicorn of the Moon nodded her head.

"But does that mean I have to remain here with you? I am a pony who is a creator of things that nobles can only dream about."

A Hunter who was outside mumbled, 'Just what we need, a pony designer.'

Luna approached Rarity and said, "Ignore my Hunters. They do not know what they are talking about."

Luna gave the Hunter that had spoken the stink eye before turning back to Rarity. "You can go ahead and get out of here. You just need to pass one test first."

Mentally, Luna thought, 'I'm sorry to put you through this, but you have to know." She brought out a thick juicy steak with a little blood dripping from it.

Suddenly, Rarwolf’s eyes widened. She immediately began shaking her head, trying to fight the urge to feed, but it was a losing battle. As her eyes changed from blue to red, she tackled the steak. She began shredding it into ground beef, and then downed every last bit of it except the bone. When she finished, her eyes returned to blue. She looked up at the disappointed Luna.

The Princess said, "You lost control, as I expected. You need to fight these urges, because if you don't, then you can say goodbye to pony life as you know it."

Rarity collapsed to the floor and said, "But I-I believe I can control it."

"Don't waste your breath. You have just proven here that you can't control it, and no matter how many times you try, you just can't. You could lie to yourself and say you can control it, and you probably want to control it, but you simply can't. Imagine that steak you just devoured being somepony who was just injured, something simple like a cut. Then you go full on monster on them as soon as you smell or even see their blood. You would be left with a pile of bones and a renewed reminder that you are no longer you."

"I just want to be me again. I never asked for this. I never want to hurt anypony."

"You may not want to, but for the rest of your life, there will be a part of you that would want to, and like it or not, this is what you are now. You are no longer a creator but a destroyer. So stop lying to yourself and embrace who you are now."

Rarwolf’s floodgates opened and the tears poured out. She looked at her paw, then got up and wiped the tears away. She had a new look of determination on her face as she sprinted towards the dummy. Using her claws and strength, she shredded the dummy to pieces.

Luna yelled, "Think fast!" Several clicks could be heard followed by a bunch of arrows. She heard them and dodged most of them. She used magic from her broken horn, which crackled dangerously, creating a magical barrier. But instead of bouncing off, the arrows were shredded into splinters.

The Princess picked up one of the splinters and said, "I never imagined you knew such a spell."

Rarity replied, "Twilight showed me how to use it, but I never really thought I'd ever have need to use the spell. But since my horn was broken off, my magic has been unstable." She pondered for a moment before continuing. "You see, a horn is like a spyglass, and when I point it in one direction, I can focus as much magical energy as I want without the constant fear of it going unstable. It is unfortunate that my horn is broken and every time I use magic, it is unstable. Who knows what could happen when I use magic."

"Well, it definitely does have its advantages, but please do not use it too much," Luna asked before pressing something hard and wooden into Rarity’s side.

Surprised, Rarity asked, "Wait, what are you doing?"

Luna answered, "This is the Hunter’s mark." She removed the wood from Rarity’s side and plunged the sponge back into ink.

Rarity took a good look at the mark while Luna became satisfied that she had gotten enough ink in the sponge again. Luna walked to Rarity’s other side and placed the second mark of the Hunter, a black arrowhead. When she had finished, Luna said, "Welcome to the hunt."

Then, Luna walked over to a table where an unfinished project was and started to tinker with it before saying, "Now, tell me, what is your body size?"

---

Black Fall and Cold Blood made their way into a nearby cave with a band of hooded ponies. The cave was not far from the fortress. That same pony with the sneaky voice who spoke for their Leader turned around and said, "OK, we're here now. the floor is open to any questions."

There were a million things that Black Fall wanted to ask, but she only said these words, "Um, yeah, what's going on?"

Two of the masked hooded ponies looked at each other and said, "Well, here’s the thing. We are planning to take that fortress over there, but every time we reach the gate, we get reset back to the fortress’s border. And every time we try to get in that fortress, even if it is at night, the same thing happens. I think they have somehow weaponized a time loop. Apparently we don't remember what happened previously, but every now and then, we find something that indicates we have tried this before. But I have a feeling that things will end differently this time."

Cold Blood asked, "Why do you think that?"

The Leader’s speaker answered, "Because we bumped into you." The pony pointed something under the cloak at Black Fall and continued, "And she is an ex-hunter who butchered several of our men."

Cold Blood assumed a questioning expression, walked up, and said, "I'm just seeing five of you. Where are the rest?"

"They're underground. They can jump out when our Leader needs them to."

Black Fall was in deep thought before curiously asking, "What are you? ‘Cause I know you're definitely not ponies. Normal Earth ponies can't dig as fast as you guys did. Heck, even the strongest Earth ponies would still have to dig nonstop for countless hours, and even if they did and they waited underground to ambush someone, they wouldn't be able to jump out that easily. Then there is the fact that when I killed your men, they had green blood. So, what exactly are you?"

The Leader slammed his spike to the ground. One by one, the masked ponies removed their masks and headgear. When the leader removed his, he revealed a green, scaly serpent head with yellow eyes.

A black serpent pony with purple eyes said, "We are called Serpentine, and before you ask a stupid question, like why us five are above the ground, know that the reason is because we can pass as ponies in this rusty armor and these rags. However, the others can't."

As the black serpent pony spoke, a dark blue Serpentine jumped out of the ground. He was almost like the five above ground. The only difference was that he didn't have any back legs. Then the Serpentine shook his rusted armor a bit to loosen the dirt before using his hoofs to dig down again. And just like quicksand, he disappeared down into the ground.

Black Fall’s eyes brightened. "You Guys Are Amazing! What is your origin of birth? When you shed your skin, does it hurt? How do you reproduce? I have so many questions!"

Black Fall continued to ask one question after another, but stopped asking when the black Serpent exploded, "OK! When I Said ‘Ask Your Questions,’ I didn't think you wanted to ask those kinds of questions! And to be frank, your questions are personal and none of your business!"

Cold Blood looked at the Leader and asked, "Why doesn't your Leader here speak at all?"

The green Serpentine answered this question by revealing his neck to show a scar. The black Serpentine said, "Yeah, let's just say that our leader was wounded by an arrow that the commander of that fortress fired when we were trying to invade it, and since then, he has been unable to speak, so I have to speak for him."

Black Fall, who had recovered from being yelled at, asked carefully, "What are your names?"

The black Serpentine replied, "I am Cobra, and this is Venom." Cobra gestured to a dark green Serpentine near him. Cobra continued, "Over there, the white one is Pearl and the brown one is Copper. And last but certainly not least is our fearless leader Poison Fang." As Poison heard his name, a small drop of poison fell on his spike, and the entire weapon started to glow green.

Now knowing their names, Cold Blood was trying his best to not be intimidated by Poison Fang. "So, why don't you guys try to sneak in?"

One of Serpentine said, “Don’t you think we’ve tried that?”

Black Fall asked "What about the defenders of the fortress? Have you seen any ponies running in or out of that fortress?"

The Serpentine pondered for a minute before Pearl said, "Yeah, there's always been a wagon with seven pony guards on it, one pulling it and the rest guarding it."

Black Fall put her cloak back on as she said, "Well, I think I know what's keeping you Serpentine from overwhelming that base. It’s probably the staff of Meadow Brook. It is said that her staff can create a time loop that can take you from point A - that would be the front gate - to point B, which is the fortress border. But that is one of five items that has been known to bend time to its will."

Cold Blood realized what Black Fall was saying and planning and said, "I get it. The reason why they aren't able to enter the fortress is because whatever is creating the time loop only recognizes ponies and only ponies. So we could easily slip in unnoticed."

Black Fall replied, "Well, that could work, but there's one downside to your plan; once you try to get past the barrier, you'll just get time looped back to the border. So instead of that plan, let's go with my plan. I will go into that fortress alone. Because I'm sort of a pony, it probably won't affect me. As for the rest of you, you wait for my signal."

"Um, question?" the Serpentine named Copper said. "What exactly is the signal?"

Black Fall smiled and pulled out an explosive bolt with magical lightning in it. "The signal will be one of their towers being blown sky high."

Cobra said, "Sounds like a good plan. l like the way you think. Now, let's just see it executed correctly."

Author's Note:

I apologize for the long wait because me and Miss Dash had a busy work schedule and we tried our best to work quickly as possible but then Miss Dash got ill and probably had to rest through it until she got better.

Like I said we have busy schedules and I usually work on fanfiction at night while Miss Dash did the corrected in the morning I hope you enjoy the chapter.

P.S. I'm praying that the next chapter won't takes so long.