The Hunters of Secrets

by Arkantos

Hunters Aid

In Canterlot's throne room, three Wereponies charged at Fluttershy, but before they could get too close to her, she closed her eyes and thought to herself, 'I hope my mother is right about the magical training.’ Then she opens her eyes again, game face on.

As the Wereponies charged at Fluttershy, the closest one tried to tackle her, but she dodged him and he slammed into the throne. The next one tried to claw her, but the Hunter in training used her silver sword and cut off one of his legs before she stabbed him through the neck and he disintegrated.

The final Monster managed to slice her chest, to the point where she would have a good scar when it healed up. Fluttershy jumped back and tripped over a tripwire. But as the Werepony followed, tripping over the same tripwire, seven silver arrows hit the Monster and he said, "All of that for a scratch? Well, that makes me want to kill you even more!"

The Werepony began to dig the arrows out of himself. He managed to remove three of them, but then Fluttershy, moving swiftly, stabbed him in the heart. The Monster disintegrated.

The first Werepony that had run into the throne shook out his dizziness and charged at Fluttershy once again. The dark yellow Thread put away her sword and punched the Werepony to the floor once he got close enough. This only angered the Monster further and he punched the ground, cracking the floor.

The Werepony charged at Fluttershy again, going in for a bite and catching Fluttershy's leg in his teeth. Grunting from the pain, Fluttershy punched him seven times in the stomach. The Monster's jaw loosened and his teeth relinquished their grip on her leg, leaving a good bite mark behind. Fluttershy punched him three more times in the face, then grabbed, twisted, and dislocated one of the Werepony's legs before hurling him against a stone pillar. The pillar cracked a bit from the impact. Then Fluttershy grabbed the Werepony, who was very panicked and tried to slash at her; but it proved pointless. She wrapped her long tail around the monster's head and yanked down hard until she heard the satisfying snap of the neck bone. The Werepony disintegrated, and Fluttershy said, "I guess that worked." She looked around before she continued. "Now I think I should make my way back to the portal."

---

The Chiroptera fired off a wave of arrows, and the Solar Guard Captain believed that this was it. This was where he would die. The arrows flew past him, some of them hitting the Wereponies and some of them missing their targets. But the ones that hit their targets took them down for good.

Captain Trail heard a war horn sounding through the sky, and suddenly several Chiroptera dove down and helped the Solar Guard fight off the Wereponies.

Back in the midst of the battle, Celestia was concerned about making sure there was a safe zone for her students, somewhere no Monsters could enter. She dealt several killing blows, but it wasn’t really a competition for her. Though the Wereponies were immune to the weapons that her Solar guards used, they were no match for the Princess of the Sun.

When she ran up to the main road to the castle of Cantorlot, Celestia saw several Wereponies going inside the buildings that used to be homes for innocent ponies. Some of them were burning; others were painted with blood. Celestia galloped through the main street and every Werepony saw her. All of them ran at her with hunger in their eyes. Celestia lit up her horn with a dazzling light, temporarily blinding the Monsters. Then she conjured up several swords of sunlight and sent them piercing into every Werepony in the street. Some of the Monsters were clever and pounced on her from the rooftops. She received four bites before she unleashed a torrent of flames that burned any Werepony near her. She killed one after another by cutting off their heads, slicing them in half, or stabbing them.

More Monsters came flooding out for a piece of the action, but the Princess of the Sun was growing tired of the game. She summoned an enormous ball of fire and lava and shot it at all the gathered Wereponies. As the enormous ball of fire approached them, some of the Wereponies attempted to put up a barrier to protect themselves, but it was not enough. The fireball turned them into ash regardless.

As Celestia looked at her work and saw several dozen piles of ash, seven Solar guards came up to her and said, "Princess, there is another army in the sky."

'Hmm, that must be Luna’s army of Hunters,' The Princess of the Sun thought before she spoke to the guards in front of her. "We must save the ponies, and when the time comes, Captain Trail will initiate operation Crossbow, and that is-"

"Your Highness!" one of the Solar guards yelled.

Celestia turned to see a white Werepony approaching her. His voice sounded like the cold itself as he said, "At last we meet, Bringer of the Sun."

Celestia narrowed her eyes and said with fire in her voice, "Are you the one responsible for this destruction?"

Seven guards surrounded the white Werepony as he replied, "You only see the destruction; I see a creation that will feed my kind for months. But it's kind of funny: no matter how many times we find something to eat, we can never truly satisfy our hunger."

The white Alicorn tried appealing to him "You can still stop this. Go and find a non-pony thing to eat like berries or wildlife. As you do so, try to think about the difference between meals and friends."

He replied with a snap. "Oh, don't you tell me what to do! Don't you think I haven't already tried that? The more me and my kind ate non-pony things-" His eyes grew red and wild. "The hungrier my kind became! We can't eat berries! We can't eat wildlife! The only things that seem to satisfy our hunger are Ponies! So we will continue with our hunt until we are satisfied!" He took several deep breaths in an effort to regain his cool before continuing. "Look, it's the way of nature. My kind is supposed to devour the old to make way for the new."

One of the Solar guards piped up. "That's crazy, and it’s not true! We need wise ponies to teach us about and guide us through the world that we live in. We also need stronger ponies to protect us and watch over us."

The white Werepony started to look bored and said, "I’ve had enough of this."

Celestia could do nothing but watch the Monster as he moved so fast he almost looked like a white blur. He zipped around the Solar guards so quickly they didn't get a chance to defend themselves against his fatal blows. The white Werepony said, "I made my peace with what I am long ago. Now I kill for the enjoyment of it. You know, it's kind of funny that my fur is the color of truce, but then I turn out to be deadlier than any of my kind." He zipped through the battlefield and killed every pony that got in his way.

"That Monster does not care for the innocent." As the Princess spoke, she looked at the fallen Solar guards. "I was unable to save you, but I can avenge you." She took off into the sky and looked for that white blur. As she flew, a Werepony got in her way, its eyes hungrier than ever. It hit Celestia, and she realized there would be no peaceful way to end this. ‘These things only respond to one thing: blood.’

"Well, if these things want blood-" She knocked the Monster onto a cloud, then landed on top of it.

"Then blood is what I'll give them." She hoisted up her pike and stabbed the Monster in the face. It disintegrated as fast as a flowing river. Then she retrieved her weapon and took off into the sky again.

As she flew, her mane began to flicker with orange flames, then returned to its usual color, but not before a few embers fell out. The kind and gentle Celestia was almost at her tipping point; soon, the day would break.

---

Outside of the Barracks, a figure in a hoodie walked up to the military complex gates where some stallions and mares were trying on some of the armor that was left behind. One of the Solar guards walked up to a pony that was wearing a too-large helmet and said, "Yeah, that looks a little too big for you. Maybe you should try it with no helmet." A bit disappointed, the civilian placed the helmet on a pile of empty armor that didn't quite fit anyone. He then looked over the wall and saw the hoodie-clad stranger. He was about to tell the closest Solar guard when Crystal Breeze and Sugar Mist said in unison, "Who goes there?"

The figure looked up. "Who? Me? I'm no one, but I have heard a lot about you guys. Some of you are even famous to me."

The ponies on the wall started to feel a little uncomfortable. Others were flattered that some stranger was a fan of them. Sugar Mist said, "I think I'll get Summer Spell," and he galloped off the wall and straight towards the main building of the Barracks.

The stranger pulled out a book and scribbled into it. As he scribbled, the ponies on the wall began to take precautions, four of them pulling out crossbows and aiming at the stranger.

As Sugar Mist and Crystal Breeze made their way to the main building to get Summer Spell, a weird feeling grew within them, a deep desire to destroy everything. They didn't notice the burning runes on the backs of their necks. They entered the building and went from room to room to find Summer Spell. They found her listening carefully to the telegram, hoping that eventually, someone would answer.

When they saw how focused she was in her listening, Crystal Breeze adopted a mischievous grin and did her best telegram voice. "We read you loud and clear! I'll send reinforcements right away!"

Summer answered, "Really? Can you bring them as soon as possible?"

"Yes, but we have one question."

"And that is?"

"How long are you going to be sitting at that desk listening to the telegram?"

"What? How do you know I’ve been listening this whole time?"

Crystal Breeze dropped the act and said, "Because you've been up here for several hours."

The unicorn jumped before turning around and shooting a glare at the pegasus. "That's not funny. This telegram is our only way of knowing if there's someone else ready to help us."

This time it was Crystal Breeze's turn to glare at her. "Well, if you call listening for hours on end and doing no work whatsoever helpful, sign me up."

Both ponies got into each other's faces. The uncomfortable atmosphere was broken when Sugar Mist stepped between them and used his hoofs to push them back from each other. "Just forget the joke! There's a situation at the gate that needs your attention." He looked at Summer Spell.

Frustrated, Summer Spell said, "OK, fine. But don't think I won't forget this, Crystal Breeze."

The Pegasus replied, "I won’t either." Then all three of them exited the room and walked out of the main building.

As they approached the gate, all three of them started to feel that sensation of burning rage. Summer Spell was caught off guard by it and lost her balance. She was quickly grabbed by the Earth pony as the Unicorn looked over in appreciation.

Summer Spell’s mind started going 100mph trying to understand what exactly was going on and why she was feeling faint. This has never happened; it was almost like another's mind was pulling her strings. The most likely source of the odd sensation probably had something to do with the new stranger at the front gate. Summer Spell reoriented herself back on all four hooves, then looked at the pony by the gate mechanism. "Open it," she said.

The pony started to crank the mechanism and the gate slowly opened. Summer Spell looked at the stranger sitting on a rock. He had just gotten done scribbling in a book. The most unusual thing about the stranger, she noticed, was his coat. It shined brightly, like silver.

Author's Note:

The idea for the Wereponies if you haven't guessed it already is that they're Werewolves and pretty much silver and magic can kill them.

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