The Hunters of Secrets

by Arkantos

Fight of the Present Part Two

Blazing Trail and his ponies flew towards the cloudline in hopes of jumping the Wereponies. But unfortunately, the Monsters were in position to jump them instead.

Captain Trail flew through a cloud and yelled to his ponies, “We should be right on top of them!”

A Pegasus stallion replied, “Where have I heard that before?!”

Another Pegasus said, “Oh, we’ve been flying for hours, and I think Celestia could use back up.”

A mare gave that pony the stink eye and said, “Be honest, you just want to sneak into the barracks cafeteria, don’t you?”

“So what if I do? I just can’t help it if I haven’t eaten anything. I get hangry! And what about the old saying that an army marches on its stomach? I’m so hungry! Seriously, couldn’t they have waited to attack us after dinner? Us ponies have to eat too, you know.”

The mare was about to say something harsh but Captain Trail silenced her with a stare and said, “First of all, you two, can it. And second of all, we can’t give those Monsters a chance to surprise us again!”

They were almost out of Canterlot’s air space when suddenly a Werepony managed to grab and tear off a Pegasus’ wing. With uneven flapping that pony went crashing into a nearby cloud.

Then another Monster did the same thing but he managed to grab both wings off a Pegasus, and the pony fell to his death.

Another one tackled a Solar guard and bit into his chest, The pony let out a scream as the Monster flew away to enjoy his meal.

A fourth Monster went after Captain Trail; however, the Solar Captain saw it coming and used his shield to hit the Werepony in the face. As the Monster backed away, his fur began to burn up and he let out an ear splitting scream before the flames burned away his wings and he fell to his death.

“Ambush!” the Solar Captain yelled.

Suddenly, several more Monsters jumped out of the clouds, though some of them stayed on them. There was a tense silence. No one from either side said anything. Both sides did nothing, but they all hovered, waiting for the right time to strike. This standoff lasted for several minutes.

Suddenly, several explosions sounded from the ground, and as the Solar Guard looked down, the Wereponies charged them. The ponies reacted as both armies in the sky went at each other.

The Solar guard took off and did the slash landing tactic; in short, they charged at a Werepony to give them a cut as they passed, then landed on a cloud to go after another. However, the Monsters saw this tactic before on the ground, and knew how to stop it. As the first three went at their targets, they were surprised when the Wereponies dodged the attacks and grabbed them by the tail or rear legs, slamming them on a cloud and biting their necks to tear out their throats.

Six Solar guards went in to attack the Monsters. The first pony successfully stabbed the Werepony in the chest, but the Monster barely felt it. The guard quickly jumped back as the Werepony tried to swipe at him.

The next one wasn’t so lucky as he stabbed a Monster in the stomach. The Werepony didn’t react to the blow; it was almost as if his skin was made of stone. He started shredding the armor and coat as quickly as lightning and they both fell down to Canterlot.

A third pony didn’t do so well either as she tried to decapitate the first Monster with her ax, but sadly, the blade of said ax started to become blunt as she continued to swing it. Eventually, the Werepony grew tired of her attempted attacks and mid-swing, he grabbed the ax by the blade and crushed the weapon into a million pieces. Then he bit into her neck while a second Werepony started digging into her back.

The fourth Solar guard did a little better as she used her spear to repeatedly jab at the Monster. She did it so much that eventually the monster got to his boiling point. He charged at the pony in a blind rage. But this mare was one step ahead of him, and she took off flying around the area. The Werepony followed her with great anger. He wouldn’t make her his next meal; he would just kill her.

The next pony dodged the Monster’s bites and grabbed it by the tail, swinging it into a cloud.

Coming back to the fourth Solar guard mare, she performed maneuvers and dive bombs in the sky to dodge the Monster, and would have had a few close calls if her Captain hadn’t launch a random spell from his scroll, causing the Monster to switch gears and maneuver around the spell.

In another area of battle, a pony used a longsword to deliver a massive slash to a Werepony. The Werepony, however, was no stranger to injuries like this, though it did cause him pain, and he struggled to slash back at the pony, but the Pegasus saw this coming and evasively dove through the cloud.

At the edge of the battlefield, an enraged Werepony who is basically on top of the Solar guard mare slashed out several times, but only three claws actually cut her rear legs. With a powerful flap, she dashed to another side of the battlefield, fully aware that the Monster was chasing her.

The Pegasus with the longsword came out and delivered another blow to the same Monster, this time from the back. She was successful; however, she didn’t see the next attack coming. She screamed as another Werepony bit into her wing and shoulder, and a third one flew right up to her and started to tear through her chest. She died, crying and whimpering.

A Werepony used her claws to break the next Solar guard’s weapon. The Solar guard quickly responded by trying to punch the Monster in the throat; however, that hoof met one of the paws of the Werepony as the Monster proved to be too quick. She yanked the pony’s hoof which caused his shoulder to get dislocated. With severe pain, accompanied with fear in his eyes, he realized that she would be the last thing he ever saw as she slashed her claws toward the Pegasus’s eyes, permanently blinding him. Now no longer a threat to the Werepony and fearing the worst, the Pegasus dove downward using his sense of hearing, hoping to hear the ground before he blindly slammed into it.

The next Werepony tried to butcher Captain Trail. However, Blazing Trail was anything but butchered. He slammed his shield right into the Monster’s face, simultaneously digging through his saddle bag. He withdrew a small parchment of paper with several runes on it. He threw the parchment at the Werepony, and when it hit the Monster, the parchment changed, stretching longer, transforming into cloth. Then it started to wrap tightly around the Monster. He struggled to get out of it, but it proved to be too strong, and it strangled him to death long before he hitting the ground.

One of the Solar guards saw the carnage happening; he couldn’t take it anymore and flew away, hoping to never see those things again. But before he could leave, a Werepony slashed at the pony’s neck. The Solar guard grabbed his throat to prevent further bleeding, but the Monster began to dig through his armor and into his stomach, causing the white cloud to turn red as drops of blood splattered onto it.

The chase of the battlefield continued, as the enraged Werepony managed to get so close to the Solar guard mare that he was able to bite her tail and swing her into Blazing Trail’s cloud. As the Solar captain helped her up, she saw that they were outnumbered.

Captain Trail was well aware of their situation and he said to her, “Retreat. This battle is lost.” He and the last Solar guard took off at top speed with half of the Werepony army not far behind. As they flew back, they saw a true nightmare: Canterlot in flames.

‘At this point,’ Blazing Trail thought, ‘we’re going to need a miracle to save Equestria.'

As they reached the main battlefield where most of the fighting was, Captain Trail yelled at any and all ponies in the Solar guard for a report.

A black mare said, “It’s not good, sir. We are having a difficult time. Every time it looks like a soldier has managed to deliver the finishing blow, the Monsters fall to the ground and stay there for a few moments. But eventually, they fly up and get back into the fight, no matter how badly they were injured." It was clear to Captain Trail that they were on the losing side. He needed a way to change the favor of war and he needed it now.

Then, half of the Werepony army managed to catch up to them and the exhausted Solar guards spread out to engage in combat once again. Captain Trail kept dodging his opponent, but soon enough, he flew around and stabbed the Monster in the back between the wings. But that only made the Werepony mare mad and she lashed out at anything within reach, including him, nearby clouds, and an unlucky Solar guard. If that wasn't bad enough, the creatures were a bit faster than your average pony in the Running of the Leaves tradition in Ponyville. She attacked with savagery and brutality, but Captain Trail luckily managed to stab her first. Just like last time, though, she lashed out at him again.

'It’s like my sword doesn't have any effect on her,' Captain Trail thought.

He decided to do the smart thing and try to fly away. As he did, he saw that he was not alone in that effort; most of the Solar Pegasus were doing the same dance; being chased by the Monsters or dodging them. He saw what was left of the dead Solar guards; they either got their wings torn out of their sockets, causing them to fall to their deaths with sickening splats, or they were ripped to bloody shreds in the air.

'So, what now?’ he thought. ‘I can't possibly fly around the battlefield forever, can I?'

He continued to do his best to avoid the monster. His enemy was about to grab him by the wings, but didn’t manage to succeed, as a fire spell hit the Werepony in the face. Blazing Trail turned his head to see how close the Werepony was, only to see that the Monster had flown away from him. He decided to hover in the sky and enjoy the view of the fire spell’s effects on the Werepony’s face. He watched her go a good couple of seconds before she finally fell in flames to the ground. H

He looked down to find the source of the spell, discovering that the Unicorns had used the fire spell. Apparently, Wereponies are not immune to magic spells, as several of them had been encased in blocks of ice or burned away by fire spells.

Suddenly, the earth beneath them started to split in several directions. Lightning, fire and ice exploded all around,, and the Unicorns and Earth ponies who were standing near the areas of the explosions were frozen solid in ice or burned to a crisp. H

However, in the chaos, the cracking continued, circling around one of the Ballista towers and causing it to collapse. The collapse was accompanied by five explosions of fire and lightning.

The explosions blew the Ballista tower to kingdom come and killed all Earth ponies who were inside it. The Unicorns and Earth ponies who did survive the multiple explosions didn't realize what was about to happen until it was too late. Werepony after Werepony popped up through the holes in the earth. As the Monsters appeared, the Unicorns could no longer help the Pegasusi, as They had to fight on even ground with the Wereponies. With their horns charged up with elemental attacks, the Unicorns of the Solar Guard, along with the wizards of Canterlot, lit up their horns and summoned some magical blades. They then charged at the Wereponies. However, some of them were not prepared. Several Monsters used lightning spells to shock half of them into unconsciousness. As that happen, five Unicorns gathered and used their magic to create a magical barrier. The Solar Earth ponies helped, either by grabbing unconscious Unicorns and dragging them to more secure locations, or they charged into battle with the belief that they would win.

Celestia yelled loudly, "Where's your Captain!?”

As quickly as he could, Captain Trail landed right in front of his Princess, saying, "What is it, your highness? I don't know if you’ve noticed or not, but we are in the middle of a battle."

Celestia raised an eyebrow at that as she said, "Focus! Captain, I need you to initiate Operation Crossbow."

Realizing what his ruler was telling him to do, he adopted a more serious expression. “You know that if I do this, there’s no going back.”

The Princess of the Sun used her magic to fire off a magical beam of fire as hot as the sun. It went through several Wereponies. She continued, "I realize that, and if they weren’t attacking and wrecking our city, or if there was a more peaceful way of resolving this, I wouldn’t ask you to do this.”

“But Operation Crossbow is the last resort for a reason. Even I myself don’t know exactly how it works.”

“It’s a forbidden spell that my mentor Starswirl the Bearded warned me not to do, but I see no way out of it. In order to save Equestria, we must lose Canterlot.” Then Celestia said in her Canterlot voice, “You have your orders. Now, go!"

"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted the white alicorn and yelled to all of the guards that could hear him. "Men, we’re initiating Operation Crossbow!"

All of the guards nearby replied, "Yes, sir!"

Captain Trail shouted, "Wait for my signal!" And with that, he prepared to fly to the throne room where Celestia's secret room was located. Before he could give the signal, tough, a flying Werepony tackled him, hunger burning in its eyes. The only reason he survived was because of his quick reflexes. As he threw his enemy into a cloud, he realized he couldn't complete his orders while this thing kept attacking him, so again, he was forced to fight.

---

"We're almost there!" Twilight called as she, Rainbow, and Pinkie galloped to the castle. The purple alicorn used her magic to push the gates open and galloped straight through the front gates.

But still, the Wereponies continued to follow them, focused on their meal running into the castle courtyard. They decided to stop the chase by land at the castle’s front door.

Twilight, Rainbow and Pinkie stopped in their tracks and began to back away as the Werepony's approached them in a predatory way. Then Twilight yelled and brought up her front hooves in defense, but for some odd reason, the attack she was expecting didn't come. She lowered her hooves, expecting to see the Monsters. She did see them, but realized that one of them was enjoying…a bag full of cupcakes?

Then she heard the other one in the air saying, "Ow, my head! Hey, can you please slow down? I can barely see you when you go that fast!" The Werepony looked around and saw the Monster who came with him down on the ground, continuing to eat cupcakes. The airborne Werepony decided to resume looking for his little blue opponent. He spent several minutes looking for her. Every now and then, she would try to punch him again. Sometimes, he managed to dodge, and other times he got a horseshoe mark on his face.

After the last kick to the face, he realized that his attacker was too fast to track. Then he looked back down and pointed one of his paws at the lazy Werepony who kept on eating the cupcakes. "Why are you eating that stuff? You know it's not going to satisfy your hunger."

The one lying on the floor continued to eat the cupcakes and said, "I know that; it's just, we're always moving from place to place, and we never settle down. The reason I'm eating these weird cake things is because that pink pony offered them to me. She told me that they would be delicious. How could I say no to that?"

"Because we are Wereponies! We cannot have a way of luxury! So please stop eating those things and go after something with a little more filling, like the blood of a pony."

The Werepony in the sky decided to kill Twilight, but before he could, he was blasted away by Pinkie’s party cannon. It sent him straight into a wall with all kinds of confetti.Pinkie did an aside to the audience, saying, "Oh yeah, we’re in a war. Silly me!" Then she hopped away, humming, "Lala la la la la la."

It didn't take Twilight long to notice that Rainbow Dash was defending her friends with her hyper fast speed, which she could do without breaking her wings. As she hit the dumber Monster and made him lose all of his cupcakes, she yelled, "Don't! Mess! With! My! Friends!"

As Rainbow continued with her speed attacks on one Werepony, Pinkie Pie jumped high enough to appear right next to the more intelligent one. She gave him a gift and shouted, "Surprise!" The Monster looked confused as he took the gift. It was a small box with pink wrapping paper and a light blue bow tied on the top. He grew curious as to what was inside. His curiosity took over as he tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box. Somehow, that same pink mare popped out of the box with two cupcakes in her hooves, yelling, "Double Surprise!" The pink mare threw one cupcake after the other at him as fast as a machine gun. It was so messy he started to lose his balance. He heard the pink mare laugh maniacally through the stream of cupcakes being pelted at him, and then he slipped on one of them and slammed onto the floor.

---

Black Fall walked through the streets. There was no pony anywhere.

'Well, I think it's time for some revenge, don't you agree?' A voice inside her head said.

'Alright, but just remember, we don't kill the innocent,' the Ex-Hunter told her inner demon.

'Right. It's not like we're in the middle of a battlefield,' the spear said sarcastically. 'Oh, wait, yes we are. And from what I recall, anything can go in the heat of battle.'

'Grr, why are you always like this? Why do you want blood all the time when you're just a spear that I carry around?'

'Always with the questions. Tell you what, I'll give you an answer when you find somepony to kill.'

Black Fall didn't reply, but continued to walk down the streets of Canterlot.

Author's Note:

P.S. For those of you who have read the previous chapter and got confused by how can the Werepony can be retreating and attacking at the same time well basically imagine a larger force and sometimes in war chaos happens and the ones that that took on the Solar guard and end up retreating as for the rest of them actually went after civilians.