Hunter/Killer

by Muramasa

Rating: mature
Tags: Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Other, Thriller, Crossover
Length: 6069

An entity stalks the Everfree Forest. Crossover with the "Predator" franchise.

Bodies without skulls. Ponies hanging from the trees above, stripped of all flesh and meaning.

These are only some of the reported findings in the Everfree Forest as of late, and it's left officials and scientists baffled; naturally, Ponyville turns to their Princess, Twilight Sparkle, to sort it all out. When Twilight enters the forest with her five greatest friends, she quickly comes to realize that the enemy lurking amongst them is like none they've ever seen.

Crossover with the "Predator" franchise.

Published 2015-11-04 21:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-11-19 19:34:06 UTC

Trophy/Prize

The world looked familiar.

The oceans could easily be seen from the vacuum of space. The being could easily imagine the ocean waves, roaring upwards with raw power and crashing downwards across the soft sand of the shore. He could imagine the rolling plains of grass, and possibly the towering structures and buildings that marked the unstoppable force that was civilization.

The world looked familiar indeed, but there were questions to be answered.

Was there any life on this planet? The being could not see signs of heavy metropolitan areas; had the planet remained untouched from the imprint of sentient creatures? Or were the creatures on this planet not yet advanced?

What was this planet called?

These questions had always interested the being. Knowing that he would find these answers in due time was exciting as well, and the fact that he was sure none of his kin had yet discovered this planet made it all the better; he would come back with knowledge unknown to anyone, as well as some physical evidence as well.

The being studied the hologram in front of him mindlessly, watching the planet rotate. The being did not fancy himself a scientist, but there was one thing in particular that interested him about this world; the Moon seemed to move around constantly, and the planet's sun...well, that was a whole other matter in itself. The being knew that things became stranger and stranger the further out in space one went, but never before had he seen a star of any kind...move? This was yet another question the being sought to answer.

The being shut off the computer that had been projecting the hologram. Silently, he walked the corridors of his ship, a fairly large vessel which was commonly referred to as a "scout ship". Scout ships were usually connected to a mother ship, where his kin would live, searching for planets across the galaxy. The being had gone from his mother ship years ago, although he knew one day he would return, and deliver the knowledge he had acquired on his travels to any of his race that were interested.

The being turned a corner at one of the many hallways of his ship to find what he had been seeking; his trophies.

The skulls of all he had killed rested upon the wall. The race known as Humans proved to be his favorite so far, and he had collected thirteen of their skulls; their almost perfectly spherical head had always intrigued the being; his race had always known Humans as "the perfect prey" so it was only fitting that their skulls were so well sculpted. Humans weren't his only accomplishments, however; the planet of LV-426 proved to be quite the challenge, as it was filled with savage creatures the humans called "xenomorphs". He found them to be fun, but they didn't give the same rush that a human gave the being.

The wall was filled with various other things, too. A skull from a planet he had long forgotten, inhabited by a race with swords of pure energy and a camouflage that worked similar to his own; that was a fun time. There was another planet that housed a race that had somehow completely encased themselves in some sort of robotic shell, and had removed their own emotions. Hopefully there would be a surprise like that on this new planet, should anything be there at all. The planet looked like the home planet of the Humans, which excited the being. Could it be filled with a race that was similar?

The being couldn't tell, for he was not a scientist. He was a hunter, a killer, a predator, but most importantly, he was an Yautja. A piece of that planet would come back with him.

He reached out his arm and began to wipe the dust off the numerous skulls. They had been sitting there for quite a long time, without a new edition in a whole year.

That was about to change.

* * * * * *

"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, think about all the creatures!" stated Blossomforth, the Pegasus of her group of three friends. Her two other friends, Berry Punch and Lyra, began to laugh.

"Oh, don't be such a wuss, Blossom! We just wanna go inside and see a little bit of it before we head out. You volunteered to go, too, so I don't know why you're complaining," said Lyra.

Lyra and Berry Punch had wanted to see the Everfree Forest for a long time. Many ponies in Ponyville feared the place, particularly due to it's self-controlling nature, but the two ponies had always wanted to explore the area and find out what was really in there; they had heard the tales of the Timberwolves and Manticores, but of course, who was to really know?

"Scientists, that's who," said Blossomforth when the idea was pitched to her. The three ponies had been great friends since kindergarten, and Berry only thought it fair (and a little safer) that they bring her along for the trip as well. She had outright refused, of course, but once Berry and Lyra told her about the reported fantastical creatures of the forest, and explained that three ponies would be enough to ward off any attack, she grudgingly agreed.

The group was silent as they drew near the entrance to the forest. Berry decided to lighten up the mood and calm the nerves of Blossomforth, whom she saw was shaking just a little bit.

"Doesn't that one Zebra live here? If her hut is in this place, and she's lived in it all this time, why hasn't she been killed? We'll be fine, Blossom. What's her name...Zathura? Zeranda?" said Berry Punch. Blossomforth shot Berry a sour look, and Lyra gave a smirk in amusement.

"It's Zecora, first of all," began Blossomforth. "And you know that's different. She's been in there for years on end, and she's seen and knows everything about this area, while we'll be going in blind. I'm just nervous that we're doing something not only we've never done, but something many ponies haven't done. Excuse me for freaking out a little," she said defensively. Knowing there was no hope, Berry Punch merely shrugged.

As the trio walked through the entrance, they could easily notice the change. Darkness enveloped them like a blanket, and the flora instantly shifted. It seemed as if everything was larger; the grass almost went up to their knees, the flowers up to their shoulders, and Blossomforth couldn't help but marvel at the size of the trees. Her mouth was agape as she turned to look at the unique scenery.

"Wow," whispered Blossomforth. She turned to her friends, who both were grinning at her.

"See?" began Lyra. "This place is even more beautiful than I thought. Check this out!" Lyra grabbed a plant stem to her right and brought it against her mint green coat. It was a little hard to see in the darkness, but Blossomforth could tell that the plant's color matched her fur exactly.

"We match!" said Lyra in a satisfied tone. What Lyra didn't notice, however, was a Spider the size of a small plate slowly climbing up her arm. The whole group saw it at the same time, and Lyra, her eyes wide in shock, flung it away as hard as she possibly could while stumbling backwards.

"DEAR CELESTIA!" shouted Lyra, who fell to the ground. The whole group stayed silent for a moment, but quickly began to laugh as Lyra brought herself to her four hooves.

"See?" said Blossomforth between laughs, mimicking Lyra's voice from earlier. The unicorn responded by rolling her eyes and attempting to stifle her chuckling, but it was simply no use; the group continued to howl with laughter. After a solid five minutes, the group came to their senses, and Berry Punch was the first to speak.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I want to go in further," she stated. Blossomforth, who had just moments ago detested to entering the strange forest, nodded eagerly, waiting to see more. Lyra agreed, and the group steadily began to press further into the forest full of life.

They were not alone.

* * * * * *

From a tree towering above forest soil, the Predator watched.

When he had first arrived in the forest, the Predator was, to say the least, disappointed. The only thing he had seen were small creatures similar to those found on Earth; animals defenseless to the hunt he sought to engage. He had been searching around the forest for two whole hours, looking for an sign of a truly intelligent organism, and he was about to leave the area; that is, until he heard the loud noise.

DEAR CELESTIA!

Language. The communication from one to another. The capability to understand and comprehend vocal noises, and interpret them; true life! The Predator didn't know what it meant to them, but he knew what it meant to him: Life worthy of the hunt! Eagerly, the Predator hopped the branches of the massive trees. The flora and fauna of the planet was remarkably similar to that Earth, as it seemed so far; could the inhabitants of this planet be human like as well?

What the Predator got was far more intriguing.

They were quadrupedal, and looked quite like the animals humans had used to transport themselves in a time long ago; the Predator had still seen them occasionally on Earth, often used for riding, but the humans now preferred their bulky metal boxes to move themselves around. They were smaller, though, and two of them had an interesting deformity; one had what appeared to be wings, and the other had a horn of some sort. This confused the Predator; he could not think of a way that creature could possibly get off the ground with those wings, as it appeared far too heavy. Perhaps an evolutionary trait that was now useless?

The Predator brought his wrist to chest level and tapped a button on his gauntlet, which switched his vision through his helmet from filtered thermal to normal vision, and what he saw through this was also confusing. The creatures were vibrant colors, on both their body and their hair; one of them had multiple streaks in atop her head. Also notable was some sort of symbol that rested on both sides of their legs; the Predator came to the conclusion that it was some sort of tribal tattoo. The Predator promptly switched back to the thermal vision he was so used to.

The group had been laughing about something, and once they were done, the one with no horn or wings spoke to the other two creatures. The Predator had no idea what they said; he had a translator in his helmet, but since he had never encountered the language before, it wasn't locked into the database. That didn't matter, however, as the Predator saw all he needed to; the group was heading further into the forest.

The Predator hopped across the branches of the Everfree Forest, keeping an eye on the group while also observing the scenery below him; it was hunting time.

* * * * * *

"Oh, come on, you KNOW I didn't want to do it to her," said Blossomforth, smiling. Lyra and Berry Punch collectively rolled their eyes.

"Yea, but you did it anyways. Twilight never even saw it coming, either, it was FANTASTIC!" said Lyra. The group laughed once more, though as they kept walking, Berry Punch brought the group back to their senses.

"How far out are we? Have we even been keeping track?" asked Berry Punch. At that sentence, the group stopped dead, and Blossomforth began to manically look around. Even Lyra, who had been considered the "brave one" for the trip to the forest, seemed a little uneasy.

"I...don't know. Uh, why don't we all split up and look for an exit? We'll shout "HERE!" if we find anything. Sound good?" asked Lyra. The other two ponies looked at her in shock.

"Uh, no, it doesn't sound good! Do you know how many flora and fauna in this place could kill us without even trying? I saw we look for an exit together, and just go back the way we came; if we do that, the path to an exit is a straight shoot, right-" said Blossomforth, looking around. It was at that moment she saw that the path had split multiple times, and that the group had absentmindedly taken one of the many forks in the path.

"...Yea, I'm down with Lyra's plan now. Besides, we can't be that deep in, so there won't be too much that'll hurt us on the way back. I'll take the left, Blossom will take the middle, and you, dearest Lyra, will take the right path. Are we good?" asked Berry Punch. Hesitantly, Blossomforth nodded, and Lyra seemed proud that a plan of her design was being taken into action.

"Alright, but...I still don't like this. If you really can't find anything, make sure you remember where you came from so you can come right back here. And don't go too far out, okay?" said Blossomforth. Lyra and Berry Punch gave her an eye roll she had now been conditioned to expect.

"Yes, mom," said Lyra. "Now come on, guys; we'll find the exit faster than a sonic rainboom!" Lyra said.

"I think I can hear Rainbow Dash cringing," remarked Berry Punch. With a collective laugh, the group began to disperse themselves amongst the many pathways of the Everfree Forest.

* * * * * *

Lyra Heartstrings did not have many regrets in her life. There was that time she drank eight large espresso's at her friend Sweetie Drops' birthday party. There was that time she didn't change the strings on her Lyre right before she was set to play a solo at a concert event, because she had thought, in her own words, it would "work just fine".

Lyra Heartstrings was beginning to regret this.

It seemed that not only was the forest alive, but it was playing some kind of trick on her. Everything looked exactly the same; she would look at a plant and try to use it as a landmark, only to wonder if was the one she had used when she came across it. It was still the middle of the day, however, and light wouldn't be dying down for quite some time; and she would surely be out of the forest by then. Whatever happened, she would not be returning.

There was something else, however, that worried Lyra Heartstrings. She knew there were many exotic creatures in the forest, but she also knew that they would only be found deeper into the area; so why did she feel like something was watching her? Had she gone deeper into the forest without knowing? Had one of the many predators of the Everfree come close upon hearing them? It all made Lyra uneasy, but she had to convince herself everything was okay and she knew what she was doing; she had done it her whole life to others, so why couldn't she do it to herself?

Lyra only knew one offense spell, which she learned at a magic self-defense class that Sweetie Drops had dragged her along to a while back. It wasn't very powerful (Lyra was no Twilight Sparkle, and she knew it), but it would do a little bit of damage, and certainly allow her enough time to get away. Lyra had been going through the motions of the spell in the event she needed it when she heard the call.

"HERE!"

Immediately, Lyra began to sprint towards the direction of the sound. She sighed in relief, knowing that she would, indeed, make it out of this place alive, though there was one thought running through her mind that she just couldn't shake off.

"That didn't sound like Blossom or Berry. In fact...that kinda sounded like me," she thought aloud. Immediately after saying it, she laughed, shaking off her observation as a sign of fatigue.

"HERE!"

Lyra stopped dead in her tracks. She looked around for a second, seeing if perhaps her friends were in her field of vision; they were not. She was alone, and her previous suspicion she shook off as paranoia suddenly didn't seem so silly.

"That was my voice," whispered Lyra. Lyra didn't think she was the smartest pony on the planet--far from it, in fact--but she definitely knew something was wrong. Slowly, she began walking towards the area she heard the noise, and began to really take in her surroundings. Lyra thought she began to see a light enter the top of her vision, and she realized that she had subconsciously prepared her self defense spell she had been going over previously.

Lyra began to chuckle, and though it didn't do much to calm her nerves, it was able to bring her back to her senses. Now aware she was charging her spell, she began to look for potential signs of a threat as she advanced closer the origin of her voice.

A loud crackling noise sprung from Lyra's left side; she screamed, and the spell she had been charging up promptly fired from her horn. It exploded upon contact with the ground, and a quick flash of light flooded her vision, causing her to temporarily shield her eyes. Once the explosion passed, Lyra put her hoof down from her eyes to see a squirrel quickly scampering up the tree near where she had fired her spell.

The unicorn was dead silent for a moment, but began a fit of nervous laughter. It continued for what seemed like hours to Lyra, but once she had deemed herself calm again, she pressed towards the area of the sound again.

You need to chill out, Heartstrings. It's probably just some weird magical creature that Princess Twilight Sparkle dreams about studying every night, she thought. She pressed forward, and heard the voice once more; now that she was extremely close, Lyra could easily tell that the voice she was hearing was her own.

Lyra paced onward. She tried to regulate the noise of her hooves on the fall leaves of the Everfree, but it was no use; every step she took brought a slight crackle into the air. She tried to her best to relax her muscles and use her ears, and it after what seemed like hours later, she finally made it to the source of the sound she had been hunting for so long.

Or so she thought.

She knew it. But there was nothing here, just a small clearing, with the thousand shades of green the Everfree boasted hanging all around her. It just didn't make any sense; where was her voice coming from? Did the creature who had been doing it just disappear?

Lyra, deep in thought, felt a little light enter her vision. She squinted in response, before realizing that it was some sort of red beam; it continued to travel up her face before finally resting on the top of her forehead right between her eyes.

"Wha..." she spoke aloud. She didn't finish the thought.

Run/Hide

The mare was shaking in her chair. It was subtle, but if you really paid attention, you could tell; a slow, gentle, back and forth rock. Her fur stood up end, which was disturbing enough, but that wasn't the worst part. Her eyes were wide open, staring in thought, and they seemed...hollow, like she knew there was nothing left. That, thought Shining Armor, was the worst part of all, and it was also a reassurance that this was, indeed, serious.

Shining Armor cleared his throat, attempting to draw the mare out of her trance. It successful, as she just kept staring at the floor as if it held a secret she didn't want to know. Shrugging, Shining looked down to his case files and began to read.

"Now, I don't know much about this, um...Berry Punch, right? Celestia just sent me here, but from what I understand...an, uh, "alien" attacked you and your friends in the forest?" asked Shining Armor. The mare hesitated for a second, and then looked up at him, though her slightly disturbed countenance remained plastered to her face.

"No," she began. "It attacked--it killed my two friends, but it-it didn't attack me," said Berry Punch. At those words, Shining cocked his head in confusion, but continued his investigation none the less.

"It says here that it had what you described as "dreadlocks" and some sort of mask on. You also claimed that it had two weapons, and that this creature used both of them to kill your friends. Can you elaborate on that a little bit more?" The mare was still for a moment, but then cautiously nodded her head, as if the being she had been stalked by was still in the room; Shining reasoned that, in a different way, it was.

"Well, I didn't see the first one, but...but...I saw my f-friend, Lyra. I heard her voice, or so I thought, saying she'd found a-an exit. So me and my other f-friend, Blossom, we, uh, we went to see where she was..." at that point, a tear began to slowly roll down Berry's eye, but Shining could tell she was doing her best to keep it hidden.

"Her h-head, was in pieces on the ground. Her body...it flayed her. Her skin was just gone. she was h-hanging by a rope on the tree above us, swaying back and forth with the little breeze. If I hadn't seen some of her hair, and the eyes scattered at different sides of the grass...I wouldn't know it was her." Berry was about to continue, but Shining put his hoof up in protest.

"Now, you explicably said that this creature had two "weapons" it had used. If you didn't see Lyra die, as you've just explained, then how could you possibly know it used two different weapons?" asked Shining.

"I was getting to that," said Berry, with a tinge of hostility. "The wounds, the...chunks of head, they were cauterized. I don't know how, or why, but they were. And I saw it use the other weapon, too. Me and Blossom, we decided we w-were going to stay together and find the exit. So we were walking--no one talked, because we were terrified--and she just lets out a little yelp, like a puppy who got pricked by something," she began. "So I turn around, and...there are these two sharp blades just bulging from her stomach. I don't know when she died. I don't know...how long it took, but when she fell to the ground, I saw it. Dreadlocks, this odd netting it wore. It was bipedal, and the mask...it was sleek black, and the eye holes just looked so...horrible. It also had these three red dots there, staring right at me." Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at that last statement.

"Wait a minute, Berry, you're saying that it looked right at you? Then why didn't it kill you? It killed your friends, but not you? Why?" asked Shining. Berry, much to Shining's dismay, Berry Punch looked down again.

"That's the guilt I'm living with. Why me? Why kill them? Why kill Lyra, the brilliant lyrist that was just about to make it to an ensemble in Canterlot? Why Blossomforth, the inquisitive mind who could have done so much? But not me. The damn...creature had to leave me alive. It stared at me for what seemed like hours, and I was sure it was going to kill me, and then...it didn't. It turned around and walked away. I don't get it. What did I have that they didn't?" asked Berry, looking up at Shining in a plea. Shining was silent for a moment, but began to slowly exit his chair to a stand.

"That's all for my questioning, Berry. I'm sorry about your friends. You can roam the building now if you'd like, but I'm gonna need you again pretty soon, okay?" Reluctantly, Berry Punch nodded, before getting up to stretch a little. Shining took one last, good look at the stark whiteness of the Canterlot Guard interrogation room before slowly making his way down the many corridors of the station to the outside.

Waiting outside was Flash Sentry, the captain of Celestia's personal guard. He normally never left the castle, as he was usually by the side of the sun princess, but he was occasionally sent to gather information or for the retrieval of a certain object or letter; this situation was one of the former, and so Shining Armor was greeted with an eyebrow raised.

"You got anything?" asked Sentry. Shining merely shook his head, though, to Flash's confusion, he levitated a pen and some parchment from his coat pocket and began to write.

"Nothing we haven't heard before, Flash, but we knew that's what we were gonna get. Celestia wasn't exactly keen on details; she told us to figure out who was behind this, not what happened. I can't do that, because I'm not the smartest pony in the world." Shining finished writing on the parchment before rolling it up and placing it back into the pocket where it originated.

"But I know the mare who is."

* * * * *

Trees never changed. Wasn't that fascinating? No matter what planet you go on, the culture will be different. The intelligence, the athleticism, the hierarchy, that will always be different. But trees? Plants, for that matter, they were all the same. The universe created a blueprint for life, and it began with the trees; the soft, gently swaying leaves, whatever color and shape they a happened to be, and the varying sizes of branches shooting from the soil no matter where one happened to be.

The Predator sat atop one of the branches, about a mile from the ground. These trees were exactly like the ones on his home planet, but, more excitingly, exactly like the ones on Earth. The Predator looked to his left to see his prey,  slowly dangling back and forth on a simple black thread, their muscles and anatomical beauty revealed to the forest with every red detail.

It was fun. The green one pulled her weapon quick, and the Predator distinctly remember watching with curiosity as she looked back and forth through the forest as the building paranoia quickly tore her psyche to shreds; the Predator finished what it had started on the physical aspect of her body with an energy weapon of his own.

The white one with the wings? She was smart. The smartest in the group, in fact, because she tried to stay with that dull friend of hers. Those wings had so much potential, the Predator knew, and it was a shame he only barely saw them in action. Unfortunately, her ears were not quite as good as her flight, and she didn't even hear the Predator coming when he creeped from behind with the forest as his shroud and pierced his twin blades straight through her heart.

The Predator chuckled at that thought. It was in the Yautja code of honor to never kill an enemy while cloaked, but that little rule had long since fallen out of practice. Unfortunate for the white one, though it wasn't something the Predator thought to dwell on.

And then the dull one. The Predator always got those, though it couldn't help but stare at the innocent horse before turning to walk away. He had no interest in those types, and he got a bonus out of it, too; she would go and tell the others. She'd tell them what she had seen in the forest that day, and they would send the absolute best they had to try and kill it. Their weapons would be the most technologically superior they owned, even beyond the strange looking energy weapon the green one had. They would be in a large group, ten to twenty, and they would enter the forest fully expecting to eliminate the threat they had heard of.

The Predator would be ready.

What was it the humans said? "A few more tricks up the sleeve?". The Predator had many, and this morning, he had added to the arsenal. While cloaked, the Predator had gone to the nearest town and observed the cultural norms and habits, whilst also allowing the translator in its helmet to synthesize their language with his own; it took approximately eight hours, but now the Predator could hear every plan, every cry for help, and every whisper that these ponies ever uttered. Whilst among them, it found that they were very similar to humans, and it was at that point that the Predator couldn't wait to taste their blood once more.

But he had to come back to the forest. There were Yautja who enjoyed to pick off their prey in their urban cities, when they least expect it; the Predator was not one of them.

And so, he continued to sit, cross legged a mile from the ground. It took a look at its prey again, and looked down to its hands, which held the spines and skulls of those hanging beside him. It felt their weight in his hands, and inspected the eggshell color the skulls possessed very closely. Although, in reality, it didn't really need to.

There would be plenty more to look at.

* * * * *

Twilight Sparkle was a huge fan of mysteries. she would stay up all night in her youth reading about the adventures of Sherclop Pones, the world's greatest detective with observational skills incomprehensible. to the mind of a regular pony. She would try to solve the mystery herself, following with the case, and when Sherclop finally explained hw he caught the culprit, she would always get a little angry when she was way far off.

Twilight Sparkle was not a huge fan of this mystery. This mystery hit close to home, real close to home, and she had been hoping her brother would be able to figure it all out. She had heard about it, of course; everypony did, especially because Berry Punch stumbled into the market square with blood covering her coat, muttering something nopony could understand. She had been at her castle researching something for Celestia when she got the news, and it was at that moment she knew she would somehow get tangled up in it.

Twilight began to descend from the skies and make her way down to the Canterlot Guard Station. The building wasn't flashy at all, just a stark white structure with some gold outlining here and there, and "GUARD" written in old equestrian written in big letters on the top. It appeared her brother was already waiting for her outside, and when she finally touched the ground, he gave a heavy sigh of relief.

"I'm glad you're here," he said curtly. Twilight gave a quick smile before walking beside him, and they both began to make their way through the guard building to the back room.

"Where's Spike?" asked Shining as they began to make their way through the many corridors of the facility.

"He was helping the crusaders with something, and you said immediately, so I couldn't bring him. Too bad, because he's actually really good at this kind of stuff," replied Twilight. That was the end of all conversation, and it wasn't until they got into the room to see Berry that her brother finally spoke again.

"Alright, Berry, this is Twilight. I'm sure you know her, but she's gonna be helping us with this case, so if you would just recount the whole story for her, we might be able to pick up some more clues," said Shining. Berry nodded and gave a smile to Twilight, the first Shining had seen out of her, before she recounted her entire story again.

Twilight listened intently. She didn't say anything the whole time, and it appeared as if she was looking out the window absentmindedly, but Shining Armor knew better; she was listening to the whole thing, and she would have a plethora of questions when she finished her account. Sure enough, once Berry completed the anecdote, Twilight immediately went to work.

"You said that Lyra was calling out to you, because she found an exit. How quickly did you get there?" asked Twilight.

"We heard the first one and we started moving," explained Berry Punch. "It took us about fifteen minutes to get there, but...we heard the voice the whole time. The last time we heard it was when we were at least twenty feet close." Twilight raised her eyebrows at that statement, but continued her questioning none the less.

"Now, you said that Lyra's head wound was cauterized. Do you think it was using magic?" asked Twilight. Immediately, Berry shook her head.

"There was a thing on its shoulder. Whenever he moved his head to look at me, it moved, too; I think that was the weapon he used to...to...to kill Lyra. I k-know this must sound crazy, but--" Twilight held a hoof up to stop her, indicating that she believed her. She leaned back in her chair and looked towards the ceiling, and Shining Armor knew that Twilight was desperately attempting to connect the dots in her head.

"But that isn't the biggest mystery. Why didn't it kill you? Why are you sitting here?" asked Twilight aloud. She closed her eyes and took a very long, drawn out breath.

She was drawn by Lyra's cry for help, but when they found her...she was skinned. But that isn't possible! How could she be crying for help even after death, because she couldn't have been skinned in the seconds they got there! And Blossomforth, she was stabbed in the back while they were together. It snuck up behind them, completely undetected? Nothing connects! I'm hunting for something, but I just can't--

Twilight's eyes shot open.

Hunting for something.

Hunting.

Hunt!

"You were being hunted!" began Twilight, sitting back up in her chair. Shining and Berry pulled back with surprise from the sudden outburst. "Lyra wasn't calling you that whole time. She must have said it once, because whatever killed your friends mimicked her voice. It...lured you there. It was waiting for you. It was hunting you all the moment you walked into the forest," finished Twilight. Berry stayed silent for a moment.

"But that doesn't make any sense. It didn't eat any of them? It just...d-displayed them," said Berry. Twilight nodded.

"That's the big problem. It wasn't hunting for survival; it was doing it for sport. Which means, undoubtedly, that it will try to kill more. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was waiting for more ponies to walk into the Everfree as we speak," said Twilight. Shining Armor put a hoof up, signaling for a time out.

"This is a good theory, but that doesn't explain why the thing didn't kill her," said Shining. Twilight stopped for a moment and leaned back into her chair. She resumed her thinking posture, but Shining was surprised to see that she didn't keep it for very long.

"Lyra had a spell fired up, you said," she began. "And Blossom used her wings a few times to get a better look at the area. This hunter must have perceived them to have weapons, and went after them. But you, Berry--" Twilight turned to face the subject in question. "There's nothing special about you, at least from the outsider's perspective. You have no horn, and you have no wings, which means you have no way to defend yourself. That, to the hunter...isn't any sport. It wanted a thrill, but it saw none in you. So it let you go."

There was a dead silence in the room for what seemed like an hour. All three of the ponies were processing the information they just heard, and after what seemed like a lifetime, Shining Armor broke the silence.

"You can leave, Berry. Thank you for your time. What happened to your friends is horrible, and we're going to stop this creature from killing anymore." Shining turned to his sister.

"And we're gonna figure out how."