The Hunters of Secrets

by Arkantos

Slaughter

As the sun set and every pony went to sleep, there remained many that were up and throwing a party that could have lasted all night in the town of Las Haygas. Las Haygas was a town sort of similar to Ponyville except, in Ponyville there were a lot fewer fillies running around. And Ponyville is more about business than pleasure, but every now and then, a pony rodeo would come into town to give a show. Little did Las Haygas residents know the werepony pack was running nearby, ready for a feast.

The pack ran into Las Haygas. Some ponies saw them and screamed in terror after witnessing the first kill. They ran hopelessly into their homes for safety only to be met with a similarly grizzly fate.

Frozen Fang yelled with an intense hunger in his belly. "Break in and commence with your feasts! If you have wings, then go to the roofs of the buildings! When you see ponies with wings flying away, go for the kill! If you can use magic, use a fire spell to cook your meal! They taste better when they’re hot and well done!"

While he yelled, several wereponies took off into the sky. Frozen Fang ran through the town hall and saw ten fireball spells flying loose towards several wooden buildings. He looked to his left and saw a mare werepony with a horn firing three fireballs, causing several ponies to catch fire. Terrified, they ran for the nearest water source.

As flames of the fire encompassed their coats, a stallion yelled out, "I'm on fire! I'm on fire! My flesh, it burns!" Then up in the sky, a mare pegasus tried desperately to fly away but was tackled to the ground. She begged pitifully, "Please, please don't do this. Please. I have a family. Please don't-" Her final words were cut off as a werepony with wings began to dig into her torso. Frozen Fang listened with pleasure to the constant screams of the innocent getting slaughtered and torn to pieces, his pack gorging themselves.

Frozen Fang spotted his meal, a pony in EUP armor who was up in a stone tower. As the pony fired his bow, trying to kill the monsters that were eating ponies left and right, he managed to hit two or three. But they didn't stay down. Instead, they yanked or pulled the arrows out with their teeth. Frozen Fang enjoyed the thrill, and he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, dodging the arrows that the EUP fired. The soldier aimed for Frozen Fang again as he made it to the base of the tower. Then he used his claws to climb up the side of the building. Multiple arrows whizzed towards him, most of which he was able to dodge, but the EUP pony did manage to hit him four times. The arrows pierced his fur and he felt the pain. Thankfully, the arrowheads were not silver.

Frozen Fang reached the top of the tower and his meal, but, thinking quickly, the EUP pony drew his sword out and swung to kill. However, Frozen Fang was too quick. He grabbed the wrist of the pony and twisted it unnaturally, using his brute strength. The pony yelled in pain and dropped his sword.

Frozen Fang looked at the brave but foolish EUP pony who had tried to kill him. "Willing to die a warrior’s death. I can respect that."

The pony replied in a suffering voice, "I die to protect my friends and family to the end, to stop you monsters from entering Equestria."

"Ha hah hah!" Frozen Fang burst out in mad laughter. "Look around you! Half of this town is on fire, and the ponies that are trying to escape are going to be hunted down and eaten alive." More distant screams rang out with explosions going on far away. "And you're about to die here. So how exactly are you going to stop me and my pack from entering Equestria?" Frozen Fang slashed through the armor and coat of the EUP pony. He fell to the floor and quickly began to bleed out. "You wish for a quick death. Then I will grant you your wish."

The pony lay there realizing that Frozen Fang was right; the whole town was burning and he hadn't done enough to stop them. And now it was too late. The light in his eyes faded away and went dead.

Frozen Fang dug into the pony, enjoying his meal. When he finished, only a bloody pile of bones and armor remained.

As Black Fall and Cold Blood walked into town, they saw the wereponies enjoying their meals, as well as several buildings burning brightly. Black Fall wondered if these ponies deserved the fate they’d been given?

'Of course they did,' the power of the spear answered. 'They left you to rot in that pit of Tartarus, so stop second guessing your decision.'

They passed a werepony levitating his food towards his mouth, and Black Fall mentally said, 'I'm not sure they did. These ponies did nothing to me, and they knew nothing about the Hunters of Secrets.'

Cold Blood said, "I'm going to look for Frozen Fang. Hopefully he's in a better mood."

"Ok, I'll wait here," Black Fall replied. Then her friend left and the spear mentally added, 'You are too deep in this now. Might as well see it through.'

While she waited, she pondered on her actions before coming to the conclusion that her spear was right; she was in way too deep.

There was nothing to do but watch the sky, in which Black Fall saw several wereponies flying around.

Suddenly, Black Fall heard Cold Blood’s voice. "Black Fall, come here." At that, she ran toward the town center, toward Cold Blood’s voice.

---

Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends had placed their orders. However, the first pony to get her meal was Twilight, and she was very sloppy devouring her hayburger. Pinkie was having a deep conversation with Night Breeze about something, but in truth, Rainbow didn't care what they were talking about. As for Fluttershy, she excused herself to use the restroom. Rainbow kept staring at the door to the restroom like it might disappear, or like something epic like an explosion would take place. But nothing happened. Then Rainbow started to think about what she saw several hours ago before she, Fluttershy, and Miss Shy came to the restaurant.

Earlier that day, in the sky, a rainbow mare glided from one cloud to the next. In truth, Rainbow had lied about seeing a Wonderbolt. She had actually been spying on Fluttershy and her mom, and she was extra careful in following them. As she zipped from one cloud to the next, she made sure they never left her sight. She followed them to the edge of the city where several hooded figures greeted them. Rainbow watched from the sky as the whole thing went down before her eyes.

"I must say I didn't expect you, of all hunters, to come to this city and aid them when they need it," said Night Breeze. "Especially after what happened to your special somepony."

Night Glider removed his hood and said. "That was a long time ago. We need to focus on the here and now. A war has begun, and we are going to defend Canterlot from those monsters for as long as it takes." He looked at Fluttershy and asked her mom, "Does she know?" Night Breeze simply shook her head. He looked at Fluttershy again and said, "Well, better show her here and now."

Night Glider pulled out a stone with runes on it and tossed it at the wall. The stone hit the wall and immediately glowed with a light blue. Then a portal opened to reveal Rarwolf. As soon as she saw Fluttershy, she exclaimed, "Fluttershy, is that you?" But Fluttershy didn't answer. She just blinked. But Rarity continued, "It is you! How are the girls? Have you met anypony? Oh, and I'm sorry for trying to eat you like that. It was most unladylike. And what’s with those earrings that you're wearing? I must say, they are fabulous! Do you think I-"

Rarity stopped talking as a brilliant light flashed and consumed Fluttershy. When the light faded away, she spread her leather wings. Rarity saw this and said, "Fluttershy? Did you join them?"

A dark yellow chiroptera looked at Rarity and spoke. "Yes, I have joined the Hunters, just like you."

"Well, alright." Rarwolf looked at Night Glider and said, "I take it that you're going to pass the stone to somepony else?"

Night Glider replied, "You guessed right." He looked at Night Breeze and said, "Luna has ordered me to give you the stone." He then grabbed the rune stone from the grassy floor, which closed the portal door. He gave it to Night Breeze and she put it into her saddlebag. Looking at her daughter, she said, "Back to pony form now, my dear, for we have a princess and her friends to eat with."

---

In the town of Las Haygas where blood and fire flowed, Frozen Fang and Cold Blood were in deep conversation. "So, you trust her completely?"

"Yes, and now so must you. For she had every chance to backstab you, but she didn't."

Frozen narrowed his eyes and saw that it was more than faith that he saw in this werepony. If she was that reliable, then he would be a fool to refuse her.

"Very well,” he said. “I will let her tag along if she wants to."

At that point, Black Fall came running up to them and asked, "Are we good?"

Confused, Frozen asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Cold Blood answered for her. "The words and tongue have changed through the years. But, essentially, she is asking if you are not going to eat her for dessert."

With understanding spreading over his face, Frozen said, "Yes, we are good."

Then, they saw a werepony using levitation magic on a bloody pony skeleton to make it look like it was dancing. The werepony got it to spin around and a few drops of blood that hadn't fallen off yet went splashing to the walls. One drop landed on Black Fall, and as she used her hoof to wipe the blood drop away, she asked, "Alright, so what’s the plan to invade Canterlot?"

Frozen Fang replied with a simple answer. "We count on our instinct."

---

In the Canterlot throne room, Princess Celestia was waiting for her sister to show up. She eventually did, but it was ten p.m. The Princess of the Sun was about to call it a night when the massive doors swung open and Luna came flying in, landing right in front of Celestia.

“You’re late,” Celestia said bitterly.

Luna, catching her sister’s tone, said, "I’m sorry for keeping you in this room, but the Dream Realm waits for no one."

"Well, you can start with why you want me here so late at night?" said a very tired Celestia.

Luna gave her a serious look and replied, "Sister, something has happened in the Badlands and it could ruin the very lives of our ponies."

Celestia yawned and asked, "Is it Discord? Is he turning the ponies into oranges the size of ponies? At least a dozen times now, I’ve told him not to go too crazy."

Luna frowned. "No, it's not him."

Celestia thought for a moment then tried again. "Are the griffins trying to expand their kingdom? For goodness sake, it's like they want to have every bit of currency we have to be stuffed in their vault so they can count it whenever they want with those greedy claws of theirs."

Luna placed her hoof on her sister’s mouth and said, "No! It’s not the griffins or the dragons or any creature that you haven't named yet." 'Yes, I will tell her the truth,' Luna said mentally. "It's something that I have kept from you for centuries: knowledge of a small group of Chiroptera guardians called The Order of the Hunt."

Luna moved her hoof off of Celestia’s mouth. The Princess of the Sun looked at her sister very seriously and said, "You mean to tell me that you trained a small group of Chiroptera to, what, overthrow me?"

"That was never my intention. It's kind of a long story. Do you remember that one time in our long history when ponies needed our help?"

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "You must be more specific. There have been many times when the ponies were in trouble and you and I helped them. Many, many times."

"Well, do you remember this?" Luna used her magic to conjure a second sun throne. However, this sun throne looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for centuries, and by the looks of it, whoever sat in it last caused the throne to melt from the temperature of an angry sun princess. With that level of heat, the gold on the chair came to look very melty; the sun symbol that would usually be on top was melted down until it was positioned on the seat of the throne.

Celestia recognized the chair and said, "Oh, you mean that time of expansion when several ponies tried to build a bunch of settlements out there on a plot of land and they worked on it for an entire year? And after a month they mysteriously got destroyed, and the ponies that lived there were torn to shreds? You mean that time?"

"Why, yes." Luna looked out the window and used her magic to raise the moon. Celestia saw what Luna was doing and used her magic to lower the sun. When the two princesses were finished moving their celestial bodies, they both remained quiet for a couple of minutes.

Luna broke the silence and faced her sister. "When you tried to help with the ponies’ settlements, you had the EUP station there, and they did their best to save it. But no matter how many soldiers were stationed there, they couldn't save the settlement. And when you tried to stop the madness yourself, you arrived too late. When you didn’t get there in time, you became angry at yourself."

Then Celestia realize something. "Does this mystery have anything to do with Miss Rarity’s blood thirst attack on me and her friends? And her sudden disappearance?"

Luna nodded and continued. "I tried to calm you down but you just glared at me hatefully. So I tried to solve the ponies’ problem myself by investigating the already destroyed settlements. And after closer inspection, I realized that the moving bloodbath was actually a pack."

Celestia asked, "What do you mean, a pack? A pack as in a Timberwolves pack? Because last I checked, the Timberwolves didn't aggressively go into settlements and risk being destroyed in the pursuit of killing the ponies there. That’s the reason why they lay low deep in the forest. When and if any colt or filly got the stupid idea to go running deep into the forest, they would meet a grizzly fate."

Raising an eyebrow, Luna frustratedly said, "Yes, but these were not the Timberwolves. Rather, they were an unholy abomination mix of pony and wolf, harboring a desire to eat any kind of flesh and an endless thirst for blood. I call them Wereponies." As Luna said the name, it was as if she was reacting to an insult..

What she wasn't expecting was her sister to give her a warm embrace.

Celestia said, "You have been holding this secret for so long, I'm starting to rethink who the strongest one of us is. I’m thinking it isn't me."

Luna returned the hug and said. "Well you know me. I can keep a whole lot of things bottled up."

The sisters broke the embrace and Luna continued in a calmer tone. "When I realized I could not solve the ponies’ problem by myself, I went looking for the Chiroptera. With their respect for me, I found them a home in a dimensional plane that they call Blood Moon. I sought them out and told them about what Equestria was facing, and when I was finished, two of them - they seemed to be brother and sister, and I think her name was Silver Strike; regardless, the dark red chiroptera filly asked again how they could help with the situation, for there were no warriors among them then. I told them I would train them on all kinds of combat. The one that seemed most effective was the way of the Hunters. And later, I taught them all kinds of magic with some forbidden artifacts that I found in the old destroyed Order of Time cavern. Soon, with my help, doorways were built to the new secret town where they could train and sleep. Before I knew it, I had an effective way of fighting and killing those monsters that ate those ponies. As time passed, the ponies’ settlements began to grow into the Equestria that we reside in today."

Luna’s face darkened. "And then you became more popular with the ponies and I became your shadow."

Author's Note:

For those who are wondering. Yes a werepony can fly or use magic if they are born with it.