Chapter 1: It Begins
The early morning sun poured its first rays over Twilight Sparkle's window. Slowly, the growing puddle of light splashed around the library, covering the floor and furniture in its warm glow. It was morning in Ponyville, same time every day without fail. The light crept up to Spike's bed, only to be greeted with a grunt as the little dragon pulled his bedsheets over his head. It made its way to Twilight's bed, and with a small and delicate whisper the natural alarm clock woke Twilight up.
The sun always woke her up. After all, who else in all of Equestria knew the sun as intimately as Twilight? And who did the sun know more intimately than Twilight herself? Slowly, and a bit groggy from her sleep, the librarian pony started her day. She had a job to do, she had an assignment, and she had responsibilities. That was enough to get her out of bed every day.
However, something other than the light rose that morning. She could hear it outside. It was hustle and bustle, the faint sound of wood and steel hitting against each other, ponies talking amongst each other, the noise of a busy afternoon so early in the morning.
"What is going on out there?" she thought.
A quick glance at her calendar showed no special days marked, no national holidays, no visits from any important pony, nothing. Twilight prided herself in keeping track of Ponyville's affairs, even though she sometimes couldn't muster up the courage to show up to the more social celebrations. This was something new, something she had not planned for, and this worried her.
In a hurry, she did the absolute minimum to prepare herself for this special unknown day, although to be honest she did this too often on normal days. 30 seconds combing her mane, 60 seconds brushing her teeth, a few more seconds getting her coat in order, nothing too fancy.
"Spike! I'm headed out to see what's going on outside. Open up the library at 10. I'll be back as soon as i can."
The lump in the little bed shifted from one side to the other. Good enough.
Outside was quite the sight. Almost all of Ponyville was out and about. Ponies running back and forth, carrying crates of fruits and breads, flowers and candies, confetti and balloons. Some sort of pavilion was being built in the distance in the center of town, the sounds of hammering and manual labor echoing across the streets. There were ponies on roofs, hanging up streamers, ponies on the floors, decorating the streets, ponies everywhere, working in a manner twilight had never seen before. This was strange. Actually, it was extraordinarily strange. This was the same town who couldn't get their act together for something as important as the Winter Wrap-Up, but so much has been done before even the sun finished rising.
Twilight was surprised, but she was a bit relieved to have so quickly found the source of the hubbub outside. No, wait, she wasn't. She actually grew more concerned. This wasn't right at all. This is completely out of character for this town.
"I have to find out what's going on."
In the center of town, twilight approached a familiar face. Applejack was putting the finishing touches on what looked like a stand, obviously meant to sell apples or apple related products. A big ol' bright smile beamed across her face, she was obviously proud of her work.
"Hi, Applejack." Twilight raised a hoof in greeting.
"Well if it isn't Twilight Sparkle! Nice of you to join in with the construction. We could really use a hoof or two. Or four. Right now though, its time for this gal to take a break." Applejack casually trotted over to a big orange cooler placed on the tailgate of a nearby cart. There was a stack of paper cups on the side. Applejack grabbed one and poured some of the drink into it. Looking at Twilight, she then poured another glass.
"You want some, sugarcube? Its some of the best cider we've got. A special recipe. A bit strong if you're not used to it but hoo boy does it clear your head. Nothing but the best, saved just for today."
"Actually, Applejack, I'm a bit lost. What's going on around here." Twilight was visibly confused, but she reached out for the cup anyway. She wasn't about to pass up on this so-called "best cider," especially one Applejack recommends. The liquid in the cup was remarkably dark, and the aroma was unusually spicy. Swirling it around left a bit of a residue and streaks on the sides, but twilight couldn't determine if this cider actually had legs or it was merely just the paper cup.
"Wow, Twi! Aren't you the one supposed to be in the know? Its Hunter's Day! This is the new hunter's welcoming party."
"A party? For hunters? When does it start?" The cider's spices slowly wafting all over twilight's snout.
"It's already started. All day. Today's the day he'll come back, we just don't know at what time." Applejack took a giant swig from her cup, pretty much drinking all of it in one quick motion, and started to pour more into it.
"Who? A hunter? Here? Today?" All this new information rattled around in Twilight's head, and the cup of cider distracting her wasn't helping in the slightest.
"What do ya mean, 'a hunter?' OUR hunter, the guy right there."
Applejack pointed at the statue in the center of town square. It was a simple bronze statue of a pony on its hind legs, kicking into the air. Strangely enough, Twilight had never paid any attention to it, despite it being right there in front of the town hall. It was on a very small pedestal, and the statue itself wasn't too big, just about the normal size of a regular pony in the same pose. On close inspection, there was a small plaque on the base, and it just said "Welcome Home." Was this the title of the statue? Was it some quote from the pony the statue represented?
A smirk crossed twilight's face as she considered the possibility of "Welcome Home" being the actual pony's name, which admittedly, isn't too far fetched.
"Hey twi, you gonna drink that?" interrupted Applejack, her own cup empty once more.
"Oh right, sorry." Twilight raised the cup and took a drink.
Every day, Twilight tries to sum up her experiences and write a letter based on what she learned about friendship. Today, so early in the morning, she learned that when one of her friends, a particularly orange colored apple cider enthusiast friend, tells her a certain type of cider is "a bit strong," she means something else entirely.
The rest of the day was somewhat of a blur. The sun rose higher, more ponies gathered, booths popped up and the cider poured barrels at a time. There were games and competitions, pies were eaten very quickly, pigs were oiled and chased. Twilight could have sworn she saw spike being chased by foals with cardboard swords. Pegasi had races overhead, earth pony bands played music in the pavilion, and ponies danced to the sounds of chirping birds, courtesy of Fluttershy. It was a very fun day, a welcome break from the norm, and for once in her life, Twilight did not feel anxious or nervous having fun with so many ponies around. To be honest, with a couple more drinks Twilight couldn't feel a lot more than just her nerves, but she didn't mind.
The day grew to night and the party slowly started winding down. Decorative lights kept the town hall and square as bright as it needed to be, but the day's merriment had really toned down. The mayor gathered everyone's attention by ringing a small bell around. It was awards time. Everyone gathered around the main pavilion as Mayor Mare handed out the trophies and medals and ribbons that were earned throughout the day. Twilight took the opportunity to play a little game. She would try to guess the winner in each category, just to prove to herself she knew the people around town.
A race? Had to have been Rainbow Dash. Of course.
Biggest vegetable grown? Carrot Top, obviously.
Best Flower arrangement? Hmm... It's gonna be either Daisy or Rose. Oh, it was Lily!
Most Pies eaten in a Minute? That's easy its nobody other than pink... wait what?
A considerably rounder than in the morning Applejack trotted up to the podium. She had all kinds of multicolored stains on her face, decorating her satisfied smile.
"I may have lost the hog wranglin competition this year, but aint nobody gonna take my championship in pie wrangling. Not for these 3 years straight, and not for the next 3"
"Come to think of it," Twilight thought to herself, "I haven't seen Pinkie Pie all day. This is the biggest party I've ever seen and she hasn't shown up at all."
She scanned the crowd of ponies, the vendors at the stalls, and the various other ponies putting things away into their carts. Not a single trace of hyperactive pink to be found. Things were getting a bit too blurry to see, though. Twilight was pretty sure she was around, she just couldn't see her at the moment.
"I'll go congratulate Applejack, and maybe she'd know about..."
Twilight's thoughts were cut short. The giant bell in the center of town started to ring. The gong was so loud it made the whole rabble quiet down. Ponies around her started yelling "ITS MIDNIGHT!" and everyone quickly scattered, only to quickly return with large pickets and banners, most of them almost exclusively saying "Welcome Home" or a misspelled variant of it.
The bell had rung 3 times so far, everyone turned away from the pavilion, towards the town entrance. They were waiting for something to happen.
4 times
Each ring made the crowd even quieter. Ponies were lifting the signs as high as they could, but not a single word escaped anyone's mouth.
6 times
The silence scared Twilight. Today, she woke up without knowing a single thing about this celebration, and after a whole day in it, she realized she still knew absolutely nothing about what was going on. This had turned from the funnest day to the creepiest day of her life.
9 times
The only sound in the air was the sound of a loosening rope behind Twilight, and as she turned her head she saw a giant banner, about as big as a Sail from a boat, drop down from the bell tower, with the words "Welcome Home" written in the biggest letters possible.
10 times
Ponies weren't even making breathing noises anymore. Twilight instinctively held her breath as well, the silence was so unnatural, so unnerving, she dared not break it.
11 times
Twilight was getting desperate. She hadn't even blinked for a while now, and she definitely stopped looking around. Everypony was doing the exact same thing, gazing out into the town entrance, holding up their signs and banners, waiting for something, someone, ANYTHING to appear. This final second was pure torture. Twilight just wanted someone to tell her what was going on, to assure her nothing was wrong, but she was frozen in fear. Just ring, bell. She wanted that final ring, as if it would somehow fix this, whatever this was. Ring already! What is going on! WHY IS IT NOT RINGING!
The pony next to her let out a sigh. A few ponies in front put down their signs. One pegasus took to the sky, presumably headed home, and others soon followed. Slowly, everypony around her eventually turned back to what they were doing, albeit much quieter than they were one terrifying moment ago. Friends hugged their goodbyes and ponies wished each other goodnight. The town square began to empty, and eventually Twilight was left standing alone, completely baffled at whatever just happened. Soon enough, she gathered the courage to move, but she still didn't know where to go or what to do. Off in the distance she saw Applejack dragging her over-sized trophy back home.
Back at the library, try as she might, Twilight could not gather her thoughts. Did whatever just happen actually happen? Why did the bell stop ringing? What was everyone even doing! The party, the cider, the awards, the bells, the signs, the silence, oh god the silence, what does it all mean!? Where is spike?
Lying in bed, her thoughts could not focus. Despite that sobering moment, she felt her head grow fuzzy once more. As her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, ideas and concepts started to drift away. Eventually there was only one phrase she could think about before drifting off to sleep.
"Welcome Home"
Day 2
Today was just like every other day. Sunrise came at exactly the same time as before. The sun burst through the window at incredible speeds, swallowing the floor and furniture. Its blinding, white hot rays of hate threatened to set fire to twilight's bed. Almost punching her in the back of the head, the sun woke twilight up with its merciless, unwavering light. Twilight groaned loudly as she tried in vain to shield herself from the onslaught of heat and brightness. There was a great pounding of drums and an incredible amount of noise, but this time it wasn't outside on the streets, it was inside Twilight's head.
No time for showers, no time for hair, no time for teeth, Twilight needs coffee right now. Back in the academy she studied the effect of the stronger, spicier ciders on ponies, and she had read all about these day-after effects. She even created a formula that contained the proper amounts of isotonics and nutrients to improve blood flow to the brain and reduce the side effects. She also went the extra mile and developed a magic spell to theoretically mask the effects, but she never actually used any of that, and there was no way she was gonna be able to do any of that right now. Coffee was her only hope.
A few mugfuls in, things started to clear up a bit. The angry environment slowly drifted away, the sun dimmed back to its original setting as the construction crew in her head put down their heavy machinery.
"What time is it anyway?" Twilight asked the clock on her wall, almost expecting a response.
"Its Noon, you lazy bum" it responded, in not so many words.
Oh man, she better open up the library before anyone finds out. Actually, she was pretty sure there was something she had to do today, but for the life of her she could not figure it out.
"Spike, did i have anything planned for today?"
There was no response. Who knows where the little dragon boy had gone? Why wasn't he here? Oh, he must have fallen asleep somewhere after the par...
"THAT'S RIGHT! I NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT IN CELESTIA'S NAME HAPPENED YESTERDAY!"
Running out the door, she noticed spike lying face first in a big pile of books right at the entrance. She'll deal with that later. Right now, Twilight had to find Applejack and force her to tell her just what the hay the celebration was about. As she trotted through the streets, she noticed the Sugarcube Corner was closed; a sign was posted on the front door that said "Open on Monday." Wasn't today Monday? Or is it a Friday? Oh man here comes the headache again.
The Sweet Apple Acres farm was conveniently located a thousand miles away from the library, or so it seemed. Still, it was a good distance away from the town. Twilight could have sworn walking there never took as long as its taking right now. Eventually though, she reached the gates, and she found Applejack in the apple orchard, digging trenches all around.
"Its nice to see you two days in a row, Twilight. Most of the world goes by without you so much as peeking out the window of your big ol' tree full of books sometimes."
"Yeah, yeah, that's nice," replied Twilight, she most likely didn't hear most of that, "Applejack, yesterday night, at midnight, what was all that about?"
Applejack chuckled a bit to herself.
"You mean to tell me that all that explaining i did at the square didn't get through? I've had to repeat myself ta Granny, but you're supposed to be the smart one around here."
"I... I'm sorry" Twilight was surprised and a few orders of magnitude embarrassed, her cheeks started to turn bright red. "I don't remember you telling me anything after i drank some of that cider you gave me."
Applejack's chuckle turned into a full blown guffaw.
"Oh twi, you're a hoot! That stuff should have knocked the socks off ya if you were wearin any. I was surprised you were still standing at noon. I can see you're still kinda out of it, seeing as you actually walked over here instead of doing that fancy flash teleporting poof thing you like to do." Twilight's face got even redder once she realized that.
"Ok sugarcube, i'll tell you the story again. It all started, a long time ago, back when the hunter guild was in full force. See, we were a small town. Well, smaller than right now. And it was basically just this little ol' farm run by Granny Smith, a few houses, and the Hunter's hall. We're so close to the Everfree forest, hunters couldn't help but show up and see what kind of crazy monster's they'd find on the other side. The thing is, the Everfree forest aint exactly a cute Forest and Hills map. Ponies would constantly get lost and never come back. Eventually, the guild shut down our hall and assigned only a single hunter to take care of all our monster troubles. Granny had to step on hooves and pull on manes for that one. A season wouldn't go by without some crazy kutku trying to build a nest in our zap apple orchard."
"Anywho, the guild sent us the weirdest, scrawniest, most timid hunter they could find, probably to make sure he wouldn't go into the forest by himself. After a few years or so, me and Big Mac were able to take care of any over-sized lizard who tried to mess things up here at the farm, and the hunter decided to, uh, 'repurpose' the hall into something a bit more suitable to his, uh, 'tendencies.'"
Applejack gestured out into the town, "Its that building over there, the Sugarcube Corner. Mr. Cake redecorated the place and used the large kitchen to bake cookies. Its not exactly dignifying, if you catch my drift, but i think its an improvement, a girl like me could use a little sweet stuff now and then. Reminds me of the time when i was a little filly and one of my cousins came from..."
Twilight interrupted, "Applejack, this is really nice but i really want to know about midnight yesterday, technically today."
"Oh right, I'm getting to that. Hold your horses. So yeah, Mr. Cake stopped hunting for a long time. A really long time. He got married, and all but retired from being a hunter. He couldn't retire, though. If he did they'd have to find someone else and kick him out of the Hall. However, on his 35th birthday, four years ago, some kid shows up, looking for the hall. He was a hunter sent by the guild, one from the last generation of trainees right before the guild officially disbanded. That kid's the one we celebrate each year. He did in a year what most hunters dream of doing their whole careers." Applejack's chest puffed up in pride. "I was good friends with that kid, at least, I'd like to think i was."
"I could go on all day about the crazy things that pony did, but i aint got the time. Had it yesterday, not today. All you need to know is that one day he left on a hunt, said he'd be back by midnight, and just never returned. The next year on the same day me and Pinkie Pie had a little stakeout to wait for him, out of respect you know, but he really wasn't gonna show. We both knew that. Didn't make it feel any better though. The next year, more ponies showed up and we had a small celebration. We made that statue in the center of town, and the mayor declared it a festival day. At the stroke of midnight, Pinkie ran up the tower and stopped the bell, just to give him more time to show up. I guess whoever rang it this year did the same."
"Oh, so that horrifyingly creepy scene at the end was actually tradition?" Twilight was relieved. "All that welcome home stuff, nobody was actually expecting someone to come back? Wait, what was that about Pinkie?"
"Listen, twi, as much as i like standing around all day doing absolutely nothing, these apple trees aren't gonna dig their own irrigation ditches. If you want to know more, just ask Pinkie herself, she... probably... won't mind. I mean, it has been several years. Of course, you never know what's rattling around in that head of hers."
Twilight excused herself from the farm. Its understandable that Applejack didn't have time to explain everything, but now twilight left with more questions than she started with. Who would this hunter be that merits a whole day of celebration, and such a somber reverence at the end? What did he do to deserve it? Not only that, the only other lead she had was Pinkie Pie and she's probably gone for the weekend, or week, or she's back today, depending on what the definition of "Monday" was. Twilight really had to get a grip and catch up with the real world soon.
"HEY TWILIGHT!" Applejack called out to her. "You're walking back to town, did ya forget how ta magic sparkle teleport?"
Ugh. Its gonna be another one of those days.
Back at the Library, after verifying it was indeed a Sunday, and after scooping up spike back into his bed, Twilight started unraveling this mystery the only way she knew how. By reading. Books on the hunter's guild, the various monsters that need to be kept in check, hunting festivals and traditions, the helper cats who assist hunters, anything she could find. Her previous knowledge of the guild was merely that the hunters were one branch in the 3 branches of public order. The Guard, the Guild, and the Magic Academy. She never came across any hunters in her time studying under Celestia, but the books say the headquarters were right there in Canterlot. It was big news a while back that for some unknown reason the guild would formally stop existing, and that the duty of monster hunting would be shared between the Magicians and Soldiers. Celestia never commented on it, at least not to twilight.
"Actually, now that i think about it, if the guild was still training hunters, there would have been more ponies able to fight against Nightmare Moon." Twilight didn't know if this was a good thing or not.
Monster Hunter ponies are an incredible breed. They are tough, strong, and work as unbreakable 4 pony teams. However, they are only trained to fight the various dragons, wyverns, beasts, and other monsters that endanger the lives of everypony in equestria. A Monster Hunter cannot keep the peace like a soldier can, and in larger groups, hunters tend to fight themselves more than their prey. They don't use magic on their own, but some of their weaponry and armor retain the magic properties of the materials they are made out of. Which brings up another point. Soldiers have uniforms, mass produced armor meant to inspire peace to law abiding citizens and fear to lawbreakers. Magicians are trained to not wear armor, as it would interfere with the spell casting process. Twilight knows first hand you can't wear a helmet and cast even a simple spell. But Hunters? They wear whatever they want. Unique armors made from whatever they hunted, held together by strings and rope made of grass and plants found in remote locations, fused together using the fluids of bugs and poisons and fire from a dragon's mouth. Their armors are tough, heavy, large, and often times just plain silly, but they serve a purpose. Nobody else has to deal with the crushing chomp of a dragon's jaw but a hunter. Hunters need armor that can withstand the blow of a manticore's claws. Hunters need reflective visors to block a cockatrice's gaze. They NEED armor with holes in them to drain water gathered while swimming.
Before twilight knew it, the sun had set and it was actually somewhere close to 4 am. Her stomach was rumbling. All this reading made her revert to her old college ways of not actually eating. Despite it being so late, there was noise in the kitchen. Some pots and pans were being scattered, possibly making a mess of the place. Twilight moved in to investigate.
Spike was standing on a stool, mixing something in a pot over the oven.
"Spike, what in Equestria are you doing?"
"I looked around the house to see if there was anything to eat, and all i found was this box of chocolate pudding."
Day 3
First thing in the morning, twilight was up and about outside the Sugarcube Corner, waiting for someone to pop out and flip the "Closed" sign to "Open." Sure enough, at 7 A.M. on the dot, the sign was flipped by none other than the resident confectionist Mr. Carrot Cake himself. Still covered in flour, he quickly trotted back to the register once he saw the first customer of the day.
"Its a pleasure seeing you here so early, Twilight Sparkle. Can i interest you in some of your freshly made doughnuts? They were just glazed a few seconds ago."
The Sugarcube Corner had a strong scent so early in the morning. Getting a snoutful of that surprised twilight. Its not the sweet smell of confectioner's sugar or the clean, nutty smell of a warm loaf of banana bread this place usually had. Its a sour, pungent odor. Almost of something gone bad. It stuck to your throat and strangled the walls of your nostrils. Its the smell of yeast rising, the smell of burnt wood, melted sugar, bubbling oil, eggs, baking powder, cream of tartar, raw materials used to make the sweet pastries. Very few people get insight on the behind the scenes actions of a bakery, even though the end product is sweet and delicious, its only possible through the mixture of individually disgusting items. Mr. Cake stood there, his apron smeared with dried dough, egg yolk, fruit pectin, all worn as badges of honor, medals awarded in lieu of his work.
Twilight, still full on chocolate pudding, cut straight to the chase.
"Mr. Cake," she said with a very interrogative tone "Is Pinkie Pie around? I need to ask her some questions about the holiday we had a few days ago, about this town's Monster Hun..."
"SHHHH!!!" quickly interrupted Mr. Cake, in a quite assertive manner that was very out of character for him. "We don't talk about this here. I don't know where you got your ideas from, but this is a bakery, not some fancy hunter's hall. I don't even know what hunters even do, heavens, I couldn't possibly be one! That's ridiculous!"
Mr. Cake reached into the counter, pulled out the biggest cruller he could find, and stuffed it into twilight's mouth. Unable to speak, twilight could hardly protest Mr. Cake as he started to push her out the door.
"It's our treat of the day, the specialty pastry, on the house, and most importantly, ONLY AVAILABLE TO GO!"
The door slammed behind twilight, the sound of a bolt clicking into place soon after. On the door, a sign read "out to lunch."
Looks like she would have to find Pinkie later. No doubt she'd be jumping around trying to catch butterflies or something later on in the day, and she really was in no hurry. This wasn't like the time twilight had to figure out the return of Nightmare Moon or something like that. Besides, if Mr. Cake was any sign, Pinkie might have the same response.
Actually, everyone was being so dodgy about this. Applejack wasn't too clear on some of the things she said. Pinkie pie was completely absent from the biggest party in Ponyville. Mr. Cake completely freaked out at the mere mention of Monsters. Could this be some sort of conspiracy? A dark secret this town shares in silence? Some shadowy organization that wants to keep the truth hidden from... no wait, why would they have a festival about a secret? Never mind.
It seemed like Twilight's exhaustive knowledge on mystery novels had caught up with her. This wasn't some Purloined Letter or the Mark of the Five, its just some extraordinarily paranoid scaredy-pony who's afraid of some guild which doesn't even exist anymore, a busy body workaholic, and, well, pinkie pie, doing whatever it is that she does.
"Psst... Twilight!" In the shadow of a nearby house, a pony silhouette beckoned her. "Over here!"
The strained whisper was much louder than normal speech, really, there was no point in even doing that.
"Pinkie, is that you?"
"SHHHHH... not so loud! Someone might hear you!" whispered the voice. Seriously, if anyone was around they would have heard her first.
Twilight approached the dark figure. Dressed in a large brown trenchcoat and a very classy brown fedora, a bright pink pony stood in a very suspicious pose. She was hiding her face with the hat and large collar of the coat, but a pink curly mane forced its way out of every crack and crevice, and her tail swung free in the air like a giant stick of cotton candy. It was obviously Pinkie Pie, no doubt about it. Twilight suspected she was wearing the disguise out of pure stereotype.
"Do you want to know more about P.S.?" Pinkie asked twilight. She was still trying to be as mysterious and sneaky as possible.
Twilight didn't know how to respond. P.S. is a postscript at the end of a letter. P.S. is also a venereal disease. P.S. could mean anything and when it comes to pinkie pie, you can't exactly "guess."
"The hunter. His name. That's what you want, right?"
"Oh! Yeah!" Twilight responded. Finally, a lead.
"Here, take this." Pinkie handed twilight a package. It was rectangular and wrapped in brown paper, tied with string. "I figure you're good with books. You've read plenty of them, about a ton of things. I wouldn't be much of a friend if i didn't let you read this book."
Quickly, Pinkie's voice and posture got smaller. Her hair started to "deflate" for lack of a better description. "Please read it. I tried to, but... its too hard. I'm pretty sure it will answer all your questions, just, don't tell anyone else."
With that, Pinkie raised a hoof up in the air and brought it down. She had thrown something on the ground, and on impact it exploded in a giant cloud of smoke. It wasn't too thick, but the poor circulation in the alley made sure the smoke didn't dissipate quickly. Twilight breathed some of it in accidentally, making her cough. It smelled like a bunch of powdered sugar. Actually, she wouldn't be surprised if it was just powdered sugar. Needless to say, once the smoke cleared, Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen, although there were plenty of sugary hoofprints leading out and back toward the Sugarcube Corner.
Twilight's attention turned to the package in her possession. The paper was now coated in sugar, the twill string bow tie at the front dusted like snow on a winter wreath. Oh god the sugar is everywhere. Its probably all over twilight's mane and tail! Oh well, the time to worry about that comes later. Right now, she's got a book to read.
Back at the library, twilight prepared a reading space. A lamp, a blanket, a small pillow to rest on, a few other books in case she got bored, everything was looking perfect. Spike poked his head in the room and saw what was going on.
"Aw man. Its gonna be another one of those days." Spike rolled his eyes. "Twilight, if you're gonna hang around here all day then I'm going shopping for food."
Completely ignoring him, Twilight carefully untied the knot and unwrapped the mystery book. The outer cover had a crude, blocky image of a dragon of some sort. It was squared, the dragon itself cramped up as if it was trying to fit inside an imaginary box. Nothing in the back, nothing in the spine, the leather-bound book certainly looked enticing enough.
Carefully, Twilight flipped the book open. It didn't pop or crack like a new book. Actually, this book had probably seen better days. The paper was dirty and yellowed in places, and the cover was beaten and bruised. The first page had a few lines of text.
It read: Hunter's Journal, Location: Frontier, Lodge: Ponyville, Registered Hunter of the Guild: P. S.
Oh wow, its a JOURNAL! Twilight's eyes widened in excitement. She knew books. Fictional books took her to a new world, imagined by an author. Non-Fiction educated her about new subjects. Reference functioned as the backbone of civilization. But Journals? They weren't just books. They were open doors to the hearts of the authors. They had such a personal essence, a drive that could not be found in even the most passionate of documentaries. Personality that not even the most fleshed out character could ever possess. This was going to be good.
Twilight turned the page and started reading.
First Hunt: Velocidrome (annoying blue lizards and their leader)
I was called in to some yellow pony's backyard. There were these big bright blue lizards trying to eat the chickens she had in a coop. I hit one with my sword just hard enough to make it go away. The rest followed. The pony who made the request was unable to verify completion because she locked herself in her house and refused to answer the door.
Wait.
What?
Was that it? This was his journal? Twilight randomly flipped through pages in the journal. Most of the entries were similar. No eloquence, no heart, it was just a hunter's log of the things he did to prove he actually worked and not just baked cookies all day, like other hunters. This can't be right. Why would pinkie have such a hard time reading this? The off thought of a poor reading level Pinkie Pie struggling to grasp such a simple book passed through twilight's head, and even though she got a smile out of it, she felt dirty for thinking such a way of one of her best friends.
No, Twilight was probably handed the wrong book. He probably had another, more personal journal, or pinkie probably mistook this for a biography. Something has to be wrong here. However, no matter how many pages she ruffled through, it was all the same.
Disappointed in her ruined day, Twilight wasn't about to let all this preparation go to waste. She browsed her shelves and found that book on Monster Hunters she had been reading the night before.
Hunters, Armor, Weapons, Eating Habits, Musical Sensitivity training, ah, here it is, the section on Journals.
Hunter Journals are mandatory journals every Monster Hunter must keep. Every hunt must be documented, with the technique employed that resulted in a successful hunt clearly depicted. Journals are evaluated after each hunt by the Guild and verified by Felyne scouts. Upon verification, the hunter is awarded the promised reward for a hunt, if any. From their first year in the Guild Training camp, hunters are taught to keep a journal. In order to save space, a new method of writing, named "shorthoof" is taught to hunters. Entries in shorthoof can be added to every normal entry for warnings, specific hunting strategies, new experiences, and other more personal information. Anything written in shorthoof is disregarded by the guild and felynes and will not affect the evaluation of the entry. Hunter Journals created during the training phase should focus on shorthoof, and a hunter is recommended to flesh out his/her life story and personality into their trainee journal. These journals are kept under file in the central archives in Canterlot. Hunter Journals for graduated hunters tend to focus more on the daily lives of the hunters, and upon retirement, should be made available for any registered hunter to read. It is through these Journals that hunting knowledge is passed to next generations and new techniques found and distributed among current generations of hunters.
Twilight's nose scrunched up. Of course. Its written in code. Journals are ALWAYS written in code. She grabbed the Hunter Journal again, opened it to the first entry, and began to examine it. Plain text written in the center of the page, just like before. Nothing strange here. Nothing strange in the next few pages, either, or in the whole book. Did this pony just not care?
No. There's code here, she just couldn't find it. Maybe its every other letter? No.
Every first word? No.
Maybe if she got all the letters and took away the spaces and then aligned them in a grid and used mathematical algorithms to select letters to make a word and... no.
This was getting really frustrating, really fast. Maybe its a chemical reaction and twilight needed to set fire to the book to be able to read the entries in the ashes! That sounds like a GREAT idea just about now.
In the end, Twilight decided to resort to what she believed to be the answer to all of societies' problems. Magic. But what spell should she cast on the book? She could cast a spell to make the book come to life and read her the entry, but every time she did that it would get tired after a while and nothing could read out loud as fast as Twilight could read in her head. Maybe she could cast a code breaking spell that would arrange all the letters in a grid, but she had already thought of that. She could cast a divination spell that would summon pony ancestors to reveal the secrets of the book, but the book wasn't that old, they probably wouldn't know anything about it. Its not old at all, its just really beat up and dirty. Heavy duty stuff, too. Each page looked like it was made out of fiber rather than paper, with little thatches and speckles and markings all over the page. Maybe if she carefully ripped a page in... WAIT
Twilight looked at the texture of the paper. The paper crumpled and cracked like normal paper made of wood pulp, but it was coated in little markings and dashes, giving it the illusion of being made out of fabric. Oh no. Sweet mercy, no! This was the code! The entire paper was coated in secret writing. Not a single square inch of a page was left blank with these specs and scribbles. It was all over the journal; even on pages that had no text, even on those white parts that hold the cover of the book in place! Slowly, the markings started to make sense. They were uniform, organized. What looked like random fibers and accidental flicks of ink were actually clearly defined letters, possibly words. She started to identify individual words among the code, punctuation, grammar, but she had no idea what it meant. This wasn't just a code, it was an entirely new language.
For the first time in her life, being a giant nerd was going to pay off. One of the first magical spells she created, other than the one that lets her summon a door to slam on someone's face, was a spell that let her read books that were previously unreadable. In the Canterlot library there were books of every shape, size, topic, and most importantly, language. Instead of having to learn a new language entirely, twilight managed to develop a spell that let her learn a language for an hour a day. Usually, an hour was all that was needed to read whatever foreign book she encountered, but sometimes she would come across something like the Pony Iliad, written in its original pony Greek, that required multiple sessions.
Taking a step back, Twilight began the incantations for her spell. First up, a cheer to the gods, Ia! Ia!. Her eyes started to glow white with inner power. Her hooves traced the patterns of alchemical symbols in the air, and an aura of force started to surround her.
At around this time, Spike was fumbling with the door, hands full of groceries.
Six red orbs of fire formed from the air around twilight. They bounced back and forth, anxious to be released. Whatever force surrounding twilight was now strong enough to lift her off the ground, causing her to hover in place.
Spike opened the door and saw twilight in the middle of her spell.
"OH NO! NOT AGAIN!"
Spike dropped the brown paper bags and hurriedly started to open every window in the house, traveling as fast as his little dragon feet could let him. On his way to the big window on the second floor, spike grabbed his bed and took it with him. Inverted and against the corner, it provided a little shelter for whatever came next.
Twilight's spell built up. A swirl of dark aura spun from her horn, the fireballs around her shook violently, forces negated the pull of gravity and rendered her weightless. Lost in incantation, words of foreign tongue forced themselves out of her throat, however they were mostly drowned out by the loud wail of the dark magic itself. Finally, in one final exertion, the spell was cast. Spinning around the room, the magical flames searched frantically for an outlet. They screamed past books and furniture, kissing walls with their fiery embers, knocking over books and fixings, making a mess of all the pots and pans in the kitchen, until finally they found an open door or window and launched themselves high into the sky. Twilight was released slowly from the magic's grasp. The dark forces at work finally settled down to a slight breeze and a hum, eventually dissipating. She now knew how to read the hunter's notes, albeit for just about an hour.
Spike peeked his head out from under his little fort. The damage wasn't too big, a few books knocked over, some curtains just a little bit burnt, nothing too drastic. He was glad he managed to get the windows open in time. Those fireballs always want to go out, and if there's no openings for them, they'll make some. Actually, neither his nor twilight's bed were on fire this time, so all in all, it was a pretty good day so far. From what twilight had explained to him, the way magic worked was that physical manipulation was free, but knowledge and wisdom needed you to give something back. The learn-to-read gods want fireballs, so twilight gives them fireballs. What for? It seriously is better nobody actually know.
Without a second to lose, Twilight opened up the journal. The "hidden" text was glaringly obvious now, so much so that actually reading the official evaluation log was almost impossible. The true story so carefully hidden was about to be revealed. Mystery, your slayer is I, Twilight Sparkle.
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
721 users online
741,367 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
a Twilight focused MH crossover? count me in
Twilight's name often not capitalized.
Apart from this, it looks pretty interesting. //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Trixie_lolface_1.png
I have to agree, Twilight's name is randomly not capitalized, and many "I"s are also not capitalized as well. If you can, space out your paragraphs every so often, as the whole thing looks like a big block o text.
That said, I shall praise you for coming up with a way to crossover Monster Hunter, I myself had not thought of. There's a Monster Hunter Group of this site, if you'd like to share your story there. clonezero has been helping my concepts with my future MonHun story, so I am sure he can help you too!
Take care! Watching anxiously
That's it
...I hate this website......................
6 likes, 47 views
...
and it's in the fifth spot of the featured box.
i.imgur.com/kFfkP.png
1504593
Uh? Why the hate?
I find this idea interesting. I will ad to the "To Read" list and will comment when read.
1504702
This broke my head cannon regarding the feature box
Niiice
I dont know if its a good or bad thing I dont know anything about what "Monster Hunter" is but so far the suspense has me hooked.
Mon hun crossed with mlp? Damn I just read a star wars cross fic a few minutes ago and now this! :D I LOVE MH I shall read this and expect an upvote and track if I like this :3
1504716 Look at my comment above, and then you'll see why he probably thinks that. It's not the story itself, but the fact it was featured AND in the fifth spot.
1504737 My head canon is that one entity is secretly in control of the feature box, try to guess who from the gif below:
i.imgur.com/52t0O.gif
Seriously? My story did way better than this and THIS gets featured? WDF!!!
1504702 All I have to say is that I love your name.
1504593 Because this is featured with only 26 ratings and since it is in clear need of editing?
Monster Hunter, MLP crossover...
are...are you God?
Oooo... not getting a good feeling...
First paragraph: >>The early morning sun poured its first rays over twilight's window. Slowly, the growing puddle of light splashed around the library, covering the floor and furniture in its warm glow. It was morning in Ponyville, as it always was, as it always will be. The light crept up to Spike's bed, only to be greeted with a grunt as the little dragon pulled his bedsheets over his head. It made its way to twilight's bed, and with a small and delicate whisper the natural alarm clock woke twilight up.>>
Okay, 'It was morning in Ponyville, as it was, as it always will be.' is a VERY awkward sentence. Sooooo, it never ceases to be morning there? You've just explicitly stated that it is eternally morning in Ponyville. Not good phrasing at all, unless you are actually meaning to say that the sun has been stuck forever just over the eastern horizon in this story's world. You might want to change it to something more like, "It was another perfectly lovely morning in Ponyville, as every morning always was and likely always would be." This gets across the point that life in Ponyville is very predictable and mundane without implying something implausible.
Editing is your friend.
>>>A smirk crossed twilight's face as she considered the possibility of "Welcome Home" being the actual pony's name, which admittedly, isn't too far fetched.
That 'isn't' should be changed to 'wasn't' given that all other actions in the narrative are spoken of in the past tense.
>>>"Oh right, sorry." Twilight raised the cup and took a drink.
Every day, Twilight tries to sum up her experiences and write a letter based on what she learned about friendship. Today, so early in the morning, she learned that when one of her friends, a particularly orange colored apple cider enthusiast friend, tells her a certain type of cider is "a bit strong," she means something else entirely.>>>
Again, in here the tenses jump around. The POV you use at the beginning must remain the same through each scene. The characters actions are in the past tense, but then her intent is spoken in a present tense. This is not inherently incorrect, but it isn't maintained through the entire scene. it only shows up here and nowhere else. You need to go through and make sure your maintaining a consistence POV. I would advise keeping everything in the past tense, as that predominates.
Day 2 starts out rather odd..
>>>Today was just like every other day. Sunrise came at exactly the same time as before. The sun burst through the window at incredible speeds, swallowing the floor and furniture. Its blinding, white hot rays of hate threatened to set fire to twilight's bed. Almost punching her in the back of the head, the sun woke twilight up with its merciless, unwavering light. Twilight groaned loudly as she tried in vain to shield herself from the onslaught of heat and brightness. There was a great pounding of drums and an incredible amount of noise, but this time it wasn't outside on the streets, it was inside Twilight's head.>>>
This is a rather severe departure from the first morning. Is there a reason for this? Why the sudden change in mood? It's unsupported by the previous night's mood. You say later that it's because she needs coffee. Then how is previous morning's gentleness explained? Was she suffering a hangover from the hard cider as is implied a little later one? Then she needs to act more 'drunk' in the narrative of the previous night. As it stands, there is no sign of her being drunk at all. I think a little rewording of a few phrases might allieviate the discrepency. Make her seem more exhausted the previous night; have her collapse into bed with exhaustion, then add a sentence to each morning to let the reader know that these descriptions of the mornings are clearly Twilight's thoughts on them. Then it makes more sense.
Not going to point out all the other grammar errors and oddities... there are too many. Head hurts now.
1504968 same with 3 of my other stories
HEY YOU! Your the most amazing awsome
sexyperson ever. Seriously though I love the idea and I can't wait to see we're this goes! Sigh yet another story to wait for.1504716
I hate this fucking website because my story has 113 thumps up only 6 down and over one thousand views yet this fucking bull shit is on the featured board that's why I hate this website!1505375
Thanks for the feedback. I'll get to editing those errors you guys mentioned and I'll put more effort into editing the next three chapters so far. I'm glad several of you liked it and, well, I'm even more glad some of you didn't. Had no idea it was featured though, I wish I could have taken a screenshot of that :3c.
I'm a big fan of both ponies and hunters so writing this story is entertaining and getting feedback is even better.
i.imgur.com/8ZpQ5.jpg?1
1504863 spider man spider man does whatever he wants to do.