The Hunters of Secrets

by Arkantos

Fluttershy Listened to her Friends

Deep inside a series of caves lay the hidden town of Blood Moon where new hunters trained and forged their own weapons; the town itself was built into the walls of the caves. The Threads and Batponiess that lived there were used to the cold and the dark, but one newer pony was not used to it.

"Well, I never. The way you ponies go about your day is not the way to enjoy the day. I mean, how do you know where you are going, and how do you not bump into each other, and if I may be so bold, where is the sun? Any normal pony would say you need at least ten to thirty minutes of it every day."

A cold drop of water landed on Rarewolf. "Aye, and that's another thing. What kind of building has cold drops of water inside that land anywhere in the room. It's like you’re expecting me to live inside a cave.”

Frustrated, a Hunter replied, "That's because you are inside a cave. And I'm starting to question the mistress’ wisdom in bringing you here!" With that, she began to walk away.

"Oh, I'm sorry for criticizing your way of life, but before you leave, could I ask you, is this armor really necessary? Because if what you say is true, then there’s really no need for me to wear this. And to be frank, it’s quite tight for me.” She started using her paws to move the armor around.

The Hunter turned around and said, “This armor is not meant to protect you. It’s worn to make it easier to identify you as an ally. As for those things on your front legs, they can magically increase your speed and strength. Essentially, these gizmos make you way more powerful than the average Werepony.”

Rarity pondered on this for a moment, but she was interrupted by the Chiroptera. “We are all well aware that regular weapons don’t work on those like you, and when you eat someone, the wounds you get in battle will easily disappear thanks to that regeneration ability of yours. Luna has known of their weakness for quite some time now. I’ll be taking my leave, unless there is something else you want?”

“Could you bring me some light? So I can at least see myself." Rarity heard hoof steps fading away, then heard the door open and close.

---

At the entrance of the town where an iron door and wall stood, a hunter leaned back and looked in the direction of constant chatter. Five hunters walked in and the one guarding the entrance said, "Oh, hey, Night Glider. How was the hunt? Did you kill that Butcher of the Night?"

"Well, not exactly," replied Night Glider.

"Oh, yeah, we weren't hunting that monster, we were hunting information,” the third hunter said with a predatory look at Night Glider.

"Seriously, how did you become a hunter, Black Dart? Because in this whole trip, the only things you were really good at was starting fights with your teammates and complaining about the kinds of missions we go on."

The hunter in question removed his hood to reveal himself, a dark blue stallion Thread with a white mane and gray eyes. "Well, I'm not the one who went on a wild goose chase to find the slightest sliver of information. Oh, and one of us has burns that the rest of us have never seen, so yeah!" Both Threads stared daggers at each other.

"I have an idea. How about you just go back to your place to rest that spear of yours. It looks a little rusted."

"I think I will do that." And with a bit more strength in his hoof, Black Dart opened the iron door and left for his home.

"GRRR! If he was more of a team player then we could have gotten that information faster!" Night Glider angrily adjusted his cloak. "Hey, newbie, get Eager Shot to the hospital. I’ve got a feeling he's going to need it."

"Oh, right," said a shy voice.

"Relax, Sturdy Step, it's just a walk. It's not like we're going on a dangerous mission," said Eager Shot.

Night Glider threw a glare at Eager Shot and said, "You say that like it's a bad thing.”

Sturdy Step said very cautiously, “And you seem too eager to find some action." Then both she and Eager Shot walked to Blood Moon Hospital.

"So, Raven Wind," said Night Glider, ”is there any reason why you are looking at me like that? Because it's starting to creep me out."

Raven Wind quickly removed her hood to reveal a dark purple mare; her mane was in a ponytail, black with several faded colors. And her eyes were pink. Because she had been called out, her cheeks blushed pink with embarrassment, and she turned around to hide her face.

"I'm sorry, it's just that your aura is really healthy and it’s so very intriguing that I can't help it." She walked to the iron door. "I must be going. I have to get to the temple of Luna." And moving quickly, she soon was gone.

The hunter at the door said, "Well, I’ve seen some strange things, but that takes the cake. I mean, I know we built a temple devoted to Luna. But why would a hunter run straight for that Luna temple? I mean, seriously?"

Night Glider sighed and said, "She has a bad habit of looking into every pony’s aura, whatever that means. But deep down, I believe that in time she'll be a good hunter and a friend to all." And then thinking about where she ran off to reminded him. "Oh, speaking of which, any world from her?"

Suddenly, Black Dart could be heard yelling, “What the heck are you doing here?! This is my place!”

Night Glider said to the hunter at the door, “Judging from that yell, it seems that Luna is not just focused on training new recruits faster, but also bringing back old veterans as well.”

The hunter appeared nervous and said, "Well, she did come, and she brought a pony with her and told us not to kill her."

"Kill her? What do you mean by that? Last I checked, the Order of the Hunt does not kill their own members. I'm sure she's just some pony who wants to kill the monsters of the night like any other Chiroptera in our town. Why would we want to kill her?"

"Well, she is… how do I say it without you getting, you know, mad?"

Frustrated, Night Glider yelled, "FOR SWEET LUNA’S SAKE, JUST TELL ME ALREADY!"

"Fine. She's a werepony."

Night Glider adopted a dark look. "A werepony?"

"Yes, but Luna said that the original pony is still in there, so there is no way of her losing control. She said the beast inside of her is chained up; whatever that means."

Night Glider glared at the hunter. "Anything else I need to know before I go home?"

"Well, Luna will not be back tonight because of an incident that happened at the edge of Ponyville."

Night Glider walked to the iron door and said, "I think I'll get some rest. For this next night, my team and I will go on a Butcher hunt." He slammed the iron door behind him, unease in his heart.

---

"It's about time somepony came with a little light," Rarity said. As the glow of light became brighter in her room she could see her body covered in fur. Then she noticed a newspaper on the table. She picked it up with her paw to read it and her eyes slightly widened in realization.

"Oh, so it wasn't a dream after all. I really did try to kill my friends. And judging by the fact that I'm inside this cave, I guess I can be grateful for failing to kill them. But now I'm stuck in this cursed body."

‘But don't you feel stronger?’ asked the voice inside her head. ‘Don't you feel good and powerful? That you can take on any pony that gets in your way?’

Rarity’s eyes widened a little when she realized that the voice in her head was right. She did feel powerful. Heck, she took on Celestia, the Ruler of the Sun and of Equestria. But then she yelled out, "NO! I will not succumb to your twisted words!"

‘You will change your mind in time.’

Mentally, Rarity said, ‘In the past, I learned that power comes with a price, and it appears that now that price is killing any and all ponies. And I will not humor you.’

‘It is a small price to pay.’

‘More like a murdering price, which I'm not willingly to pay.’

"Um, madam, where do you want this?" asked a cloaked hunter holding a torch.

Already forgetting the voice inside her head, Rarely said, "In the middle of the room is fine, darling."

The Hunter placed the torch in the middle of her room.

Rarity’s room had three stone walls, two of which had windows with a design of either the Hunters’ arrowhead or the moon. The longest wall had a window and a door. The door itself was iron. The fourth and final is a cavern wall.

"Well,” said the Hunter, “if there is anything else you need, just knock on the door and someone will come."

---

Back at Sugar Cube Corner, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were speaking with Fluttershy.

"WOW! I never would have guessed that you had the feather flu for a couple of weeks," said Rainbow Dash. "Why didn't your mother tell us? We could have helped you."

"Well, I'm sorry if I worried you, but I think she didn't want to risk you getting ill," replied Fluttershy.

"I'm just glad you’ve finally recovered," said an energetic Pinkie Pie. "But you should have heard Twilight’s thoughts about the whole situation." Pinkie got up right next to Fluttershy and whispered, "By the way, she thinks you're hiding something. Ain't that funny?" Then Pinkie sniffed the air and yelled in horror, "AW! MY CUPCAKES ARE BURNING! GOTTA GO!" And she zoomed back to her bakery.

With Pinky gone, both Pegasuses remained silent for a good long while. Rainbow broke the silence and said very excitedly, "I'm working on a new kind of flying style. If you want to see it, you can come around my place about noon-ish. I mean, it's a world breaker, I'm telling you-" Rainbow continued to blah on for quite a while. Fluttershy wasn't listening. In fact, she was recalling what her mother had said.

A few hours before Fluttershy went to her friends, she was at her mother’s house. "I'm not so sure my friends won’t see through to the bat behind the pony."

"Well, of course they will not! Which is why I made you these." Night Breeze put a pair of earrings on Fluttershy's ears. They looked like pink bats. As she looked at herself, she saw no change in her appearance. "Um, I'm still a bat pony. At least they look good."

Night Breeze did a face hoof. "You have to concentrate on the image you want. If you don't, then they won't activate."

"Oh, silly me! Okay, here goes nothing." She concentrated on the pony she was and two magical waves swirled around her, one blue, the other red. It lasted for a second, and when Fluttershy looked in the mirror again, she saw her pony self.

She looked at her mother. "The earrings you're wearing contain a type of magic that is a cross blend of changing magic and princess Luna magic. They’re easy to make and very effective at hiding a Chiroptera in a crowd of ponies."

"Hmmm, I think I will be going to see my friends now." Fluttershy walked toward the door.

"Hold on,” her mother said. “There are two things that you need to know before you leave. The first is that you can't tell anypony about the Hunters of Secrets." Fluttershy opened the door.

"And the second is that your friend Rarity is alive and inside Blood Moon."

"-and that’s when the sonic rainboom happens and I do several maneuvers with a rainbow trail and that's my finale," finished Rainbow.

"Well, I'm sorry, Rainbow, but I don't think I can come to see your awesome new flight pattern."

"Seriously?" Rainbow asked suspiciously.

"Well, my mother and I are going to Canterlot tomorrow night."

"Really? That sounds like fun," exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she jumped out from behind Rainbow. "Oh, by the way, the cupcakes are safe and covered in frosting."

"It does?"

"Yeah, I'm with Fluttershy on this one, Pinky."

"Really, why?"

"Well, because Canterlot is full of, you know, nobles who think they are better than other ponies. I mean, just because they are rich does not mean they are better than us and can do whatever they want!"

"Aw, but I really wanted to go to Princess Celestia’s Wonder Bolt event."

"What? Well, count me in!" Then both ponies looked at Fluttershy.

"Hmmm, I guess I have no say in the matter. Oh, alright. 8 PM at the train station. And don’t be late.” Rainbow and Pinkie nodded their heads in agreement.

"Dessert is on me!" said Pinkie Pie, and she brought out a rainbow blizzard for Rainbow Dash and a simple strawberry ice cream cone for Fluttershy. For herself, Pinkie brought out a triple size banana split with fudge, bubblegum, cotton candy, apple, orange, and daisy ice cream flavors. It was as tall as five ponies standing on top of each other. Lyra came in and stared at Pinkie’s desert. Pinkie noticed her shocked face and said, "Oh, hi Lyra Heartstring! Want some of my cupcakes? They’re right over there on the bake sale shelf. Don't worry, there’s enough sugar in them for you and your friend Bon Bon."

Lyra continued to stare as her jaw dropped to the floor.

Author's Note:

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