Proof of a hero

by SkarinOfAtmora

4 - Crafting from nature

Captain Flash Sentry was not having a good day.

The day even began on a good note. His guards were all dresed and ready for the celebration as soon as he entered the barracks, they even teased him about being late. After a uniform inspection it was off to the streets of Canterlot and helping out in preparations for the grand celebration.

Then all Tartarus broke loose. A red monster by the name of rathalos descended from the sky and turned everything upside down. Then this hunter and his crazy cat friend appeared out of nowhere and took down the rathalos with ease. It was a blow to the guard's ego since they could do nothing but poke the beast, their spears as effective as a toothpick, and their magic had no effect on it.

To add insult to injury, Twilight believed their little story about needing to kill it and then put the crazy cat in charge of this little escort mission. No, not an escort mission, an execution. Somehow Flash felt sorry for the rathalos. There must be a way to end this without killing it and he's going to find it. It took about thirty minutes to reach the forest outside Canterlot and for the cart to slowly dig itself deeper into the soft ground.

"Oy! Put some back into it!" Flynn yelld from the sleeping rathalos's back as the guards were pushing the heavy cart it was sleeping on.

"You could help us, you know?" a guardsmare shouted from the back as she strained against the weight like everypony else.

"I'm too old for that shite." Flynn said back and then slid down the back and tail of the rathalos until he was eye to eye with the mare. He stared at her with a nasty look and the mare gulped. "What's yer' name, lassie?"

"Sundancer." the mare replied and Flynn continued to stare for a few moments before he smiled a toothy grin.

"Yer' goin' to help me carve." and with that he ran back up to the Rathalos's back.

"Carve it?" Sundancer recoiled in shock and let go of the cart.

"Hold it!" Flash Sentry called to his guards and the cart stopped. "What do you mean, carve it?" Flynn gracefully jumped down from the rathalos and approached the captain.

"Aye, carve it for materials." Flynn crossed his little arms and glared at the captain. "Be that a problem?"

"I thought we were going to euthanize it-" Flash thought that was the least nauseating way of putting it. "-and then bury it!" all the guards supported their captain and nodded their heads.

"And I thought yer' boss put me in charge of this operation." Flynn growled and pulled out a purple colored ball. "And as long as I'm here-" the rathalos jolted and it's eyes slowly began to open "-I'm in charge! So ye' best back away before the beast wakes up." he tossed the tranquilizer ball into the air before catching it.

"How can you just carve it?" Sundancer joined in on the conversation. Flynn turned around and raised one finger.

"Respect for nature. Don't kill unless absolutely necessary." Flynn raised a second finger. "Life as a community. Co-exist with nature." followed by a third. "Prosperity from nature. Without nature, we are fucked." and finally a fourth. "Crafting from nature. Means' not to just kill and let it rot." Flynn then turned back to Flash. "I'm sure some scholar would explain it better but that's my way of puttin' it." the rathalos squirmed more on top of the cart. "This is neccesary. Like it or not, I don't give a fuck if you-MREEEEOW!!!" Flynn didn't get to finish as somepony snatched him up in a bag. Flynn yelled curse after curse and tried to claw his way out as he thrashed around in the bag.

"Are you sure about this, captain?" a unicorn guard asked and Flash Sentry nodded.

"There's some foul magic at work here." Flash answered and walked to the rathalos's head. "There's no way Twilight would just accept killing it as an option." his hand hovered above the head, fingers trembling. "We'll find another way." finally, his hand steadied and rested on the monster's head. As soon as that happened, it's eyes shot wide open and looked at Flash. "Stay calm. We're not going to-" now, as Flash Sentry would re-tell this story on numerous occasions, he would swear by Celestia's Sun and Luna's Moon that the beast grinned, as if it was waiting for this.

ROAAAAAR!!!

The tail thrashed violently and one of the spikes caught a guard in the stomach, leaving some sort of purple ooze on the wound. Flash recoiled immediately and luckily so as rathalos almost bit his head off. Sundancer just turned her back to run away but a wing talon slashed her across the back, the claw going through her armor like paper. Pain shot through her entire body as she collapesd to the ground. One guard had the bad luck of being struck by the rathalo's foot and sent flying into a tree, the pegasus's wings breaking in multiple places upon impact.

The stallion holding Flynn's bag dropped it and ran for his life, giving Flynn a chance to crawl out. Not wasting any time, Flynn sprinted on all fours and retrieved his katana that he co carelessly left on the back of the cart. Once he had his weapon back, Flynn jumped up on the tail and in one swift moce cut it cleanly off. The rathalos roared in pain and almost collapsed to the ground. Turning it's head back he saw the palico out of the bag and staring at him with a gaze of steel. Even though the hunter was not around, rathalos knew this palico was not to be trifeld with. Taking a step back, the beast roared once more before taking off into the sky.

Flash's ears were ringing from the constant roaring. He was panting, heart going a thousand miles a second as he watched his guards, his friends, scatter around like ragdolls. Flash looked to Flynn, the cat looking at the captain with a mix of rage and disappointment. Plunging his katana into the ground, Flynn dashed towards the pony who was poisoned.

"Move." he shoved the two ponies apart who were trying to help their poisoned friend but were too shell-shocked to do anything. The poisoned stallion was shivering as the poison spread through his body and foaming at the mouth. Flynn stuck his paw into a small pouch and pulled out a vial of purple liquid. Lifting the stallion's head from underneath, he poured the contents into his mouth and the effect was instantenious. The shivering stopped immediately and no more foam was collecting at the stallion's mouth. "Clean the wound." Flynn instructed the two ponies who immediately got to work with their field med-kit. Flash slowly stood up and observed his beaten and broken company.

"This... This is my fault." the captain stood there horrifed. Looking at Flynn, he saw the grumpy old cat was running from guard to guard and checking for injuries, givng them some green liquid which seemed to lift their spirits. Then Flynn's eyes fell on Flash and the cat stomped across the field towards the captain. Flash gulped and knelt down to at least be at eye level with him. "I-I-I'm sorry. I thought-" before he could finish, Flynn slashed him across the face, leaving three long claw marks. Flash recoiled and fell on his rump, hands clutching his wounded face. Flynn just glared at him, the message was clear.

---

Captain Flash Sentry was really not having a good day.

Flash dragged his hooves on the marble floor of the castle towards the kitchen where the staff informed him Twilight was at the moment. They say hindsight is 20-20 and this couldn't be more true in this case. He should have listened to the crazy old cat. It was a miracle nopony died, thanks in no small part to Flynn carrying antidote for the rathalos's poison.To be fair, they weren't trained for this, but that still didn't exuse them for what they did. Flash disobeyed a direct order from his princess. Worst of all, he disobeyed an order from his marefriend. Guess who's sleeping on the couch tonight...

Speaking of his princess, slash marefriend, Flash's ear twitched upon hearing her laugh. He reached the kitchen doors and opened it to step inside.

"Princess Twilight, there is something I-" he stopped in his tracks when he saw the scene in front of him. The entire kitchen was a mess, flour and milk scattered everywhere. His eyes then fell on Twilight who was laughing so hard she had tears on her cheeks. The lavander alicorn was covered head to hoof in flour as well as the hunter Max.

"And so there I am, covered in barioth muscus-" he took another bite of his syrup covered pancakes. "-and Flynn says That's quite a load." Flash's emotions did a one-eighty upon seeing them. There he was, risking his life to clean up somepony's mess, and the two of them were having the time of their life.

"Oh my gosh!" Twilight laughed at the image of Max being covered with mucus, which was totally something else, and for some reason she also saw the barioth blow a kiss towards Max. "It think it liked you!" both Twilight and Max laughed.

"Ahem." Flash announced his presence and both Twilight and Max looked at him. Upon seeing the claw marks, Max knew Flash fucked up bad.

"Flash!" Twilight gasped in shock and ran to her coltfriend. "What happened?" she took his head with her hands and inspected his wounds.

"Nothing. Can I talk to you?" Flash sent a glare towards Max. "Privately."

"Nothing my flank! You're hurt!" Twilight took him by the hand. "C'mon! We'll get that treated right away-"

"What did you do?" Max glared back accusingly and walked up to the captain. The two stared at each other as Twilight frowned at Max.

"Why do you assume he did anything?" Twilight asked defensively.

"Because that-" Max pointed to Flash clawed face. "-is Flynn's doing. Must've been one hell of a fuck up you made." the hunter took a step closer. "Well?"

"Flash?" Twilight looked at the stallion who looked away in shame. "What happened?"

"It got away." Flash addmited and Twilight took a step back.

"Where's Flynn?" Max asked and retrieved his sword that was propped up on a counter. Before Flash could answer, Max walked past him and made sure to bump him with his shoulder. "Never mind. I know where he'll be." and the hunter walked out, leaving the two ponies alone. Neither spoke for a while and the atmosphere grew heavy. He is soooo sleeping on the couch...

"Captain!" Twilight raised her voice and Flash finally looked at her. Twilight was standing there with crossed arms and a slight frown. "What happened?" Flash sighed and prepared to face his maker.

"It got away. The rathalos."

"How?" Twilight's tone clearly showed how angry she was.

"It was wrong!" Flash's outburst caused Twilight to flinch. "That crazy cat wanted us to carve it for materials! Materials Twi! It's a living and breathing creature!"

"Crafting from nature." Twilight replied. "Take what you need and pay your respects to nature."

"How do you know that?" Flash's eyes narrowed.

"Max told me." Twilight put her hands on her hips.

"Oh he did?" Flash laughed. "Well, why the two of you were getting all chummy with eachother while I almost died!"

"We weren't getting chummy!" Twilight shot back in anger. "He said he was hungry and-"

"So you decided to make him pancakes!" Flash threw his arms up in annoyance. "You! Was there nopony else around?" Twilight frowned and stepped forward.

"By the stars! Are you jealous?" Twilight poked his chest and Flash stepped back.

"I am not jealous!" he defended. "All I'm saying is, the two of them should have taken the rathalos to the forest! This is not our problem!"

"Monsters are roaming Equestria and you say it's not our problem?" Twilight fired back in anger.

"They brought them here!" Flash retorted. "And then they put some kind of spell on you!" he poked her shoulder, eyes filled with anger. "Why else would you trust them so easily?"

"Excuse me?" Twilight thought she heard wrong. "Put a spell on me? Flash! They are the only ones who have dealt with monsters before and they're the only ones who can help us defend against them!"

"Maybe they're trying to conquer Equestria and-"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?" Twilight roared at her coltfriend who took a step back in shock. "DO YOU NOT SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING OUT THERE?"

"I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING OUT THERE! GOT THE SCARS TO PROVE IT!" Flash shouted back and pointed to his face.

"THEN STOP SCREAMING AND START LISTENING!" Twilight poked his chest hard and Flash could tell there will be bruising. Damn alicorn strength. "Max and Flynn are the good guys! They're here to help us and I will not have your little jealousy outbursts put our cooperation at risk!"

"I am not jealous!" Flash defended but Twilight wouldn't hear it.

"Go to the medical wing and get that scar looked at." Twilight then turned her back on him. "We'll talk later. Captain." the coldness in her tone with the last word made Flash growl in frustration and he stomped out without a word. Twilight slammed the door shut with her magic and sighed deeply. "Can this day get any worse?" she looked around the pigsty of a kitchen and groaned. "Chef's gonna' kill me."

---

Max ran through the castle and asked for directions to the highest point of Canterlot castle.

"That's... a lot... of staris..." he panted heavily. "Dammit Flash..." Max knew the ponies would be distrustful of them so they made sure to not make contact unless absolutely necessary. Clear out the monsters, find out the cause of the transfer and go home. Things just got more complicated.

Sfter about another five minutes of running, Max finally saw the end of his journey. He reached the highest point of the tower, a place where some of the castle chimney's were coming out and the platform used for cleaning them. Stepping outside, Max saw Flynn sitting on the railing and smoking a pipe, the old grump mumbling to himself. Max approached and leaned on the railing, his back facing the city below.

"Your claws need trimming." Max's jab was met with a short smirk. "Let me guess, they wanted to free him?"

"They succeded." Flynn replied with a low growl. "Fuckers almost died." he took a deep inhale from his pipe.

"Great." Max rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Now there's an angry tempered rathalos out there."

"Aye." Flynn said as he exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "Get yer' gear ready. We have 'ta-" Flynn stopped mid-sentence when he saw Max covered head to toe with flour. "Why are ye' covered in barioth sperm? Again?" Max rolled his eyes.

"You'll never let me gonna' live that one down, are you?" Flynn grinned and shook his head. "Princess Twilight was making me pancakes since I was hungry."

"Really?" Flynn turned sideways on the railing and took another puff from his wooden pipe. "They any good?"

"Sneaked out a few." Max reached into a pouch and gave Flynn the neatly wrapped pancakes. "The kitchen's a mess though." Flynn snatched the package and sniffed curiously.

"Smells good." then he put them into a pouch of his own.

"Is everyone okay?" Max asked and Flynn nodded.

"Aye. One got poisoned but he'll be fine." Flynn then tapped his pipe on the railing and the cinders fell out. "Let's go. I wanna' hunt this thing before sundown." he stashed the pipe behind his back and jumped off the railing.

"Doesn't the hunter call the shots?" Max asked with a smirk which earned him a punch to the calf from Flynn.

"Ye' calling the shots was what got ye' covered in barioth gunk."

---

Twilight was back at her office. She was standing at the same window where she and Max were earlier. Ponies were still cleaning up the mess caused by the chaos the rathalos brought. She also spotted Max and Flynn in full gear heading towrds the city gates. They informed her they are going to hunt that rathalos and should be back by morning. The beast was angry and wounded which was not a good combination. Twilight hoped for their safe return and made sure that a room was prepared for them to rest.

Turning away from the window, Twilight made her way towards her large office desk and sat down. Taking a fresh scroll, Twiligh dipped her favorite quill into the ink and began writing.

"Dear Celestia." it still felt weird not adding the princess before Celestia's name. "How is your vacation? I hope you and Luna are having a wonderful time!" Twilight smiled and looked at the picture the sisters sent her. Both were on the beach and drinking cocktails and you could also spot some stallions staring at them in the background. "I know it's been some time since I wrote you but something big happened..." and so Twilight continued writing her letter, explaining the events that occured today, who their visitors were and what they were up against. "Your ever faithful student and friend, Twilight Sparkle." she put the final dot on the letter and smiled proudly. "There! Pretty short letter, but I'll give them the details once they arrive in Canterlot!"

The letter was 18 pages, front and back...

Author's Note:

Soooooo, drama much?

I also noticed some of you said you don't know anything about Monster Hunter but that's okay. I'll try to answer your questions and if that's not enough, there's always wiki and youtube.

See ya'!

Comments

[Manr]

Great now Rathalos escape it's going to be a deviant variant next time it reveals it's going to be a Dreadking Rathalos thanks a lot Flash ruin everything.

[PinkDragonJr]

I can still enjoy the story even if I don't know much of anything about Monster Hunter. I may ask a question or two in the comments but don't feel obligated to answer. You're correct in that if I cared enough or thought I needed context through knowledge then I can look it up at a dozen places online.

There must be a way to end this without killing it and he's going to find it.

There had to be a way to end this without killing it and he was going to find it.

"Oy! Put some back into it!" Flynn yelld from the sleeping rathalos's back as the guards were pushing the heavy cart it was sleeping on.

Flynn yelled from the sleeping rathalos

One guard had the bad luck of being struck by the rathalo's foot and sent flying into a tree

One guard had the bad luck of being struck by the rathalo's foot and was sent flying into a tree

Flynn sprinted on all fours and retrieved his katana that he co carelessly left on the back of the cart. .... Flynn jumped up on the tail and in one swift moce cut it cleanly.... Turning it's head back he saw the palico out of the bag and staring at him

Flynn sprinted on all fours and retrieved his katana that he had so carelessly left on the back of the cart. .... Flynn jumped up on the tail and in one swift move cut it cleanly.... Turning his head back he saw the palico out of the bag and staring at him

the grumpy old cat was running from guard to guard and checking for injuries, givng them some green liquid which seemed to lift their spirits

the grumpy old cat was running from guard to guard and checking for injuries, giving them some green liquid which seemed to lift their spirits

It was a miracle nopony died, thanks in no small part to Flynn carrying antidote for the rathalos's poison.

It was a miracle nopony died, thanks in no small part to Flynn carrying the antidote for the rathalos's poison.

To be fair, they weren't trained for this, but that still didn't exuse them for what they did.

To be fair, they weren't trained for this, but that still didn't excuse them for what they did.

"That crazy cat wanted us to carve it for materials

"That crazy cat wanted us to carve it up for materials

"Oh he did?" Flash laughed. "Well, why the two of you were getting all chummy with eachother while I almost died!"

"Oh he did?" Flash laughed. "Well, why were the two of you getting all chummy with each other while I almost died!"

"They're here to help us and I will not have your little jealousy outbursts put our cooperation at risk!

"They're here to help us and I will not have your little jealous outbursts put our cooperation at risk!

Sfter about another five minutes of running, Max finally saw the end of his journey.

After about another five minutes of running, Max finally saw the end of his journey.

[Crio-Kitsune]

Never mind all. Thought that was Thor not a Monster Hunter.