Come on Twilight, you can do this. You are the Princess of Friendship and Magic, trusted student of Princess Celestia, and leader of the Elements of Harmony. It is still about... A quick glance to the grandfather clock standing near the far-left wall across the main door. Seven minutes before they should arrive.
I was pacing around the cutie-map now, checking the documents again, nervously waiting for the contractors to show up. You'll only be meeting with what is probably the only solution left before more than ten thousand ponies die... At the thought, I stopped and started to tremble. Oh, sure, that will get me to calm down, for Narrator's sake!
"Silly Twi, no need to get so worked up!" I heard behind me. When I turned around, I saw Pinkie sitting on my chair at the map, looking at me with her familiar smile. "If you're already so grumpy dumpy, how do you think our guests will feel when they arrive? Come on, cheer up a bit."
"Wha... cheer up? Pinkie, this isn't something to be happy about! I'm about to receive professional hunters. Do you actually think I can be happy with everything that's happened recently?" I replied, stunned by the pink pony's cheerful attitude.
"Yes" Pinkie simply replied.
"Yes?" I said back, puzzled.
"Well, I mean, duh. You invited our soon-to-be guests to do good, right?" Pinkie said, a bit softer now. "You're doing this to save a lot of ponies, aren't you?"
"Oh... yeah, Guess I... forgot about that." I answered, calming down a bit.
"So, as I said, not need to be miss grouchy. Remember what Princess Celestia taught you: Dear student of mine, if you let trouble cloud your mind too much, you might not be able to see through the downpour that follows... or something like that, I dunno." Pinkie said in a... perfect imitation of Princess Celestia's voice. Even in these dark times, this pony still finds ways to surprise me.
"While I'm pretty sure that isn't what the princess said... I think I get what you mean. Thanks Pinkie, I really needed that."
"No probs Twi, happy to help." Pinkie said. "Besides, I'm just y-" Suddenly, I saw Pinkie's ears and tail start to twitch.
Before I could ask what was going on, I heard a hard knock on the door, followed by a dusk guard opening the door. "Princess, your guests have arrived. Are you ready to receive them?" he asked. Even though he had a stoic face, I knew that he, like the rest of the guard, was anxious, both for who had arrived, as well as the days to come. I replied: "Yes... yes, please, let them come in."
The guard left, leaving me alone for a last few precious seconds, the silence for the storm, but Pinkie started talking again. "Huh, weird, both ears and tail usually means... well, a lot of things, but not someone coming. Wasn't that right hoof and left eye? Eh, anyway, Twi, are you ready? Know everything you're going to say?"
I didn't respond, as I heard multiple hoofsteps coming closer, loud thumps mixed in with softer clopping. I stood up after placing the documents back on the map, facing the door with what I hoped to be a stoic expression, like the one I saw on the guard earlier. Though I wasn't sure if I did that for their sake, or mine.
In came the same guard, followed by five minotaurs. All had full mail armor, with I believe steel plate shoulder- and wrist guards, though only on one arm. One was wearing a bag of spears on his back, another a longsword, arming sword and shield. The third had a bow far larger than anything ponies can use, with arrows the length of her back, and a battleaxe on her belt, while the fourth leaned on a poleaxe taller than him. The last one, the only one who had to duck to get through the door, carried a massive mace, as well as two smaller axes on her belt. All had various sacks and pouches, likely filled with the various tools they use for their normal line of work. I couldn't imagine none but the stronger earth ponies wearing everything one of the minotaurs wore, much less maneuver and fight.
Pinkie clopped a few times with her hoof, breaking me out of concentration. When she motioned to look up, I noticed that the minotaurs were looking at me, unsure. I quickly regained my form and bowed, saying "Greetings, honored guests." which seemed to put them at ease a bit more. "I thank you for your quick response." The minotaurs bowed in kind, and I gestured for them to sit at the table, while the guard exited and closed the door behind him, making sure we weren't disturbed. While minotaurs are far wider than normal ponies, luckily so are the chairs that came with the map, so everyone could be seated. As I walked up to the map, standing next to my chair with Pinkie still in it, she gave me an encouraging smile.
The minotaur with the spears spoke up. "Greetings to you as well, Princess. I will speak for my fellows, as I lead this unit." All the remaining minotaurs gave a small nod at this, so I directed my attention to him. "Very well. I imagine you are interested as to why I invited you?"
Before answering, the minotaurs produced a small letter, the very one sent by Celestia shortly after this mess had started. "Very. It is not often a pony would ask for a hunter, much less the princesses themselves if these signatures are to be believed." He said slowly, obviously carefully choosing his words. "Though, you are not the princess I expected, princess Twilight. I thought princess Celestia herself asked for us?"
"Yes, she did, but she is currently in the dragon capital, and it is much faster for me to explain things here than for you to travel to her first." A raised eyebrow at that, or actually a couple few, but nothing I didn't expect. "Please, time is of the essence. I've already prepared a map with documents for each of you, so I'll start explaining why we called you here."
No response this time, as the minotaurs only opened the maps. Before they had a chance to flip through it, I took a deep breath and started.
"Your target will be a giant dragon-pony hybrid infused with magical powers rivaling that of an alicorn, named Soras. For a picture, see page 4 in your maps." The minotaurs were... suprised, to say to least. Though I can't blame them, I suppose.
"Soras is a creature with massive magical power, due to the circumstances of its birth, which is also the reason we can't terminate it ourselves. It has an almost impenetrable skin due to its dragon half, rendering all but the strongest piercing weapons, be they melee or ranged, effectively useless."
I took a short pause to catch my breath, which the leader took as a chance to respond. "Its birth? How do you mean?"
You really don't want to know, I thought, but said "You won't have a need for that information." Furrowing his brow at this, he asked "Very well. Still, that doesn't sound like your kind can't take care of it."
I responded. "We can't, at least not in a normal way. You see, Soras is a hunter of magic... or to be more precise, a destroyer of magic. It seems to know exactly where the nearest source of magic is, and once he has found that source, proceeds to obliterate it. However, larger sources seem to attract him more and ignore weaker sources closer by, provided the distance isn't that great compared to those weaker but closer sources."
"How does he do it, to be precise?" The leader asked, to which I said "Soras periodically sends out pulses of void magic. While these pulses seem to be sent out faster if Soras feels threatened, the range is always around 60-70 meters in a radius surrounding him."
"Threatened? The way you have been talking before, this sounded like a mindless beast." The leader said, getting a few approving nods from his fellows. I only shook my head.
"Do not be mistaken, Soras is a sentient and intelligent being, not a wild animal. While I know of your usual... preys, if you think of Soras as just another beast you will not last long. However, so far we've observed that it only acts intelligently if it senses that there is magic in whoever's near them, or if you make it clear that you have hostile intentions. We observed, for example, that Soras will just walk over small critters like it doesn't notice them. We also saw that Soras did not notice a nearby hydra, until said hydra attacked Soras and got promptly shredded to bits due to Soras' hooves and teeth. Another few contacts saw that Soras immediatly attacked both a pack of timber-wolfs, an ursa-minor and its mother afterwards, as well as several roaming dragons who didn't think of Soras as a threat. In these last cases, due to Soras' void pulses their power was quickly eliminated, after which Soras simply ate the weakened creatures."
"This is the second time you mention these void pulses. Care to elaborate?"
I didn't respond immediately, thinking of a good way to properly explain this. I should have thought they would ask about this. "Do you know of anti-magic? How it suppresses magic for a short time? Void magic goes further than that. It destroys the magic's source, with no chance of recovery. This is both the reason that we can't get near it, as well as why I specifically contacted your group. Us ponies are natural beings with innate magic, defining our traits and abilities, both in race and cutiemark, and is basically the sole reason we can live as we do in the first place. Taking that magic away from a pony is such a terrible thing, you basically take away everything a pony is."
I looked around, to make sure that everyone is still following.
"While the suppressing effect of anti-magic is a bit more tolerated in our society, both as a punishment for ponies commiting harsh crimes as well as a combat technique against mages, void magic, on the other hoof, is such a rare, powerful and terrible magic, only the greatest of mages have the power to learn and execute them, lest they become affected themselves. Even then, I only know that Princess Celestia and Luna know how to do it, and they only use it to punish the worst of the worst criminals, effectively giving them a death sentence. For Soras to use this with such range and regularity, we don't dare to come even close to it."
Before I could continue, Pinkie coughed next to me. Looking to her, she pointed at my hoofs, which had started to shake. The minotaurs only gave me a strange look at this, so I tried to steady them. Which, after a short breath, succeeded.
"Which, to conclude, is also the reason you are here. Minotaurs don't have magic, at least as far as we know, so Soras will most likely not actively hunt you, or be a threat to your abilities. While Soras also has the deadly abilities and ferocity of a dragon, combined with the intelligence of a pony, your kind is one of the few that can actually get close enough to try and damage it, or so we think."
Before I could continue, the leader spoke up. "This is certainly a lot to take in. Do you have any practical info, such as weak spots?" I nodded, holding up the photo from earlier, this time enlarged with a few circles on it.
"Don't bother trying to go for the back, his scales there will stop everything thrown at him, same for his upper legs, feet, lower arms and claws. While the head is also covered in the same scales, spots like the eyes and ears are vulnerable to strikes. We have also observed that his front does not have as much protection, so it is probable that that is one of the few places where his pony side is dominant.
If you can, try to aim for the spots marked on the photo, as that is where we believe are his organs. While the white circles indicate vital organs, the red circle is where his heart should be located. Strike that, and you should have felled Soras."
The leader nodded at this, but made no comment.
"One last thing before you may leave; you have about twenty moons to find and disable Soras. Once that date has passed, we will activate our back-up plan and destroy Soras ourselves. I would understand if you, in case of a non-succes within this time period, value your life and get away as fast as possible."
Now the minotaurs were confused. It took a few moments before the leader spoke. "How do you mean, back-up plan. Didn't you say you couldn't defeat him in a convenient way? And why such a time limit?"
I thought again, pondering what would be the best way to say this. Pinkie coughed again, before doing her Celestia impression. Ah, of course. As cool-headed as my teacher would do.
"Do you know of the Fifteen Vales? Yes? Do you know that it was made, rather than formed?" This seemed to chill the leader. "That was due to Starfall, a spell that levels anything within a sixty kilometre range. Based on Soras' current speed and destination, the latter controlled by us, we predict that in about twenty moons, Soras will have reached a spot where we have decided the potential casualties are few enough to activate Starfall."
The leader was trembling now, which started to unnerve the others, but I pressed on. "Of course, these potential casualties will still reach hundreds if not thousands beings, both sentient and not, but it will still be less than whatever Soras can accomplish if left unchecked, hence why we will not hold anything back at that moment. Know that anything within a sixty kilometer range will surely be destroyed, as mentioned, while the fallout can go as far as two-hundred and fifty kilometers."
And that was that. Everything I needed to say. Everything I could do, it was all out of my hoofs now. Noticing this, the leader started to regain his composure, though still obviously shaken by what I told him. "I... didn't think this would be the target. Nor how calmly you could speak about such things, so many... deaths." And with a grim tone, he added "It reminds me of a Celestia from a long time ago... which is not a compliment."
I only gave a small, weak laugh at that, before replying. "It's the only thing I can still do." The leader only asks "Why not bring in an army, if the problem is so serious? Yes, this Soras seems to have a range, but surely your kind can overcome that. Why such a drastic measure?"
"Because we're afraid Sora will simply flee when faced with such a large force. As for why Starfall... well, let me put it his way. We rather want to make sure Soras is dead, because if he is left unchecked... the potential deaths from Starfall would pale compared to what he can accomplish, so we are not afraid to use it if the time comes."
The minotaur shook his head. The others were unsure what to do, making for an awkward moment. Even Pinkie didn't know what to say. Still, the leader spoke again. "Very well. We will accept this hunt. I have seen the additional instructions in this folder, and will try to perform them to the best of my and my unit's abilities."
At this, Twilight let out a small breath, one she did not know she was holding in. "Thank you. We have arranged for pegasi travel to bring you as close as possible."
The leader merely waved his hand, saying "That won't be necessary. We are used to travel on foot, and your offer wouldn't be much faster, I'm sure. A single fast guide to bring us near his most recent sighting will be enough." before standing up. The rest followed suit.
I nodded. "Very well. I wish the best of luck to-" The guard from earlier suddenly burst in, panting. Immediately, every minotaur was standing in a battle ready position, and I snapped my head to the guard.
He could barely speak, but tried all the same. "I... I'm sorry, Princess. We couldn't hol... hold her." Before Twilight could ask, three more ponies came flying into the room. Two were her remaining guards, while the third...
"Don't stop me, Rainbow." I said, with such a chill I even surprised myself. As she got up, she turned to me, furious.
"Fuck that shit, Twilight!" She started flapping her wings, rising a bit. "Element of Loyalty, remember that, huh? He ain't some fucking wild animal for you to just kill of, we're better than that! He deserves better then that!"
Judging by her expression, she was seething. Never before had I seen her so angry, and... I could understand. A few weeks back, I would have reacted the same to this plan, but after... after what happened, I see only one path. One she seemingly can not accept.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow, but... Soras has to die. He has killed too much already, taken away too many of our friends." I said. I noticed Pinkie nodding encouragingly, no longer smiling. Incidentially, this also took my attention away from Rainbow, and I heard a sudden boom. Snapping my head back, I turned snout-first into Rainbow's still, trembling hoof. It seemed that she snapped, and came at me with a punch, only to be stopped by three of the minotaurs, locking her entire body with various holds. I see now why they thought they were faster than a pegasus, if they can clear this distance in the extremely short time it took for Rainbow to get to me. Speaking of which, I just realized she was still struggling quite a bit.
"FUCKING... GET OFF ME. I CAN'T LET HER DO THIS!" She screamed, surprising me. Without hesitation. A fourth minotaur took out a muzzle and some ropes, starting to bind her wings and hooves while silencing her, though she never stopped struggling. I looked to Pinkie, but she only shook her head, so I turned my attention to Rainbow again.
"I'm sorry Rainbow, I really am. But you need to realize that this is the only way."
Rainbow only struggled some more, trying to speak through the muzzle but failing. I noticed that the guards had managed to get back up again, so I waved two of them over.
"Please, take her to a cell, and leave the bindings on. I will visit her when she has cooled off, is that clear?"
While I could obviously see the discomfort on their faces for having to jail an element of harmony, they nonetheless nodded and levitated her up, taking her away. I turned to the leader again. "Thank you, for such a quick intervention. Now, as I was saying before, I wish the best of luck to you. My remaining guard will escort you outside, where a guide will be waiting."
The leader seemed to be overthinking something, probably wanting to ask about what just happened. Seems like he decided against it though. "I sincerely hope I will need no such luck. Farewell, Princess."
And with that, they finally left, leaving me alone with Pinkie again. I looked to her, and after finally being able to let the mask fall, tears began to well up in my eyes. Though she didn't react the same, she came out of her chair and moved closer to hug me.
"You did good, Twilight. Really." She whispered, softly, comforting. "There, there, don't worry, just unleash all those bad thoughts."
I didn't respond.
The hunt has begun.
I only cried.
Author's Note
Same as usual, written way too late, errors are to be expected.