Twilight is now seven years old. Hard to believe it's been that long already. She's been going through hunter training for the past year, and she's done well. You wouldn't expect a pony to be amazing at hunting, but Twilight's proven it's possible. Well, today's the day she puts it all to the test. If she does good today, she'll become a full fledged hunter.

We start off the day with the usual breakfast. Instead of eating across from me, Twilight has been recently eating with the others in her hunting class. It's good for her to have social interactions, but I do sometimes miss the mornings where we would sit and talk together over warm waffles. Yes, I have a heart and feelings... so what?

After breakfast, we all head down to the classroom. After everyone is geared up and ready, the instructors go over what the test will consist of. There are five junior hunting parties in the class, each with their own styles and techniques. Each party is given a choice of whatever creature they want to hunt, and Twilight's party chooses to hunt an Equestrian elk. She's been having dream after dream of felling one for some time now, so I suppose it's fitting. After every party has decided on a creature to hunt, the instructors inform them of the rules and special instructions. Each party will have an instructor watching them from the shadows, grading them throughout the whole hunt. Each party has thirty minutes starting when they reach the trial grounds. Unknown to Twilight is that I will be watching her hunt through her eyes via the hivemind. It's a painless procedure, she won't even know I'm watching, and every action will be one hundred percent her own.

Speaking of the hivemind, Twilight has also learned how to access it. It's an vital ability for hunters, so she had to master it to progress in the class. Despite what one might believe, learning to use the hivemind is really difficult. The first time one accesses it, their head is swarmed with thousands of voices all communicating at once. It's a terrifying experience for sure

So, on to the hunt. After Twilight and her party are dropped off near the edge of their trial grounds, their judge fades away into the shadows. Twilight's hunting party consists of the minimum three members, herself included. The other two are Jade and Swift, two very talented drones. Twilight coordinates the hunt, Jade is the spotter (Her crazy heightened sense of smell is perfect for the role), and Swift is the striker (She's called Swift for a reason). Together, these three make up a very deadly hunting machine.

It takes Jade all of about five minutes to catch wind of their prey. After approaching their prey, they see not one, but at least twelve Elk in a herd. Twilight assess the situation then hooves out instructions. Swift takes her position in the tree canopy, ready to drop at any second. Jade takes on the appearance of a wolf, and Twilight casts an advanced illusion spell to give her friend some spectral wolf buddies (It was quite impressive). Moments later, Jade and her spectral pack jump into the fire, purposely startling the herd. Jade heads up the center, while Twilight manipulates her illusions in a fan formation, forcing the herd to move in only one direction, right towards the spring loaded Swift.

Their goal isn't the young, sick, or otherwise weak herd members, but the big bull. Twilight figured the numbers she was trying to manipulate (Seriously, her control over those illusions is very impressive), but it had backfired quickly. While the females and young ran, the bull lowered his head and charged. Luckily, he aimed first at a fake. I fear for Jade if she was the first target. After the blow is struck, the bull adopts a confused look, moving his head from side to side, looking for the wolf. Makes sense see as, if that was a real wolf, it would've gone flying. Jade took the opportunity to move with Twilight's illusions into a position of surrounding the bull. Swift took the opportunity to move through the canopy and right above the bull. As the bull prepared to strike another wolf, Swift dove down and drove a knife into its neck. After the strike, the bull reeled back and tossed Swift back first against a tree. Good thing for tough carapaces. With the first blow dealt, the bull was reasonably weakened. Twilight threw her illusions one by one at the bull, causing it to rear up and defend itself, exposing it's soft belly for Jade to strike at freely. Longest seven minutes of my life, and I wish I'd have made popcorn. After such an impressive display, I'd say they deserved to graduate.

Back at the hive, the grand hall was filled with drones. The five junior hunting parties stood proudly up on the stage behind their judges. As each party was given their final score, I held out hope. In the end, Twilight's party scored pretty high. Ninety for teamwork, ninety four for technique, eighty two for speed, and seventy five for cleanliness. Overall score? Eighty five and a quarter. Very impressive if I do say so myself. In the end, only one party failed, having taken too long to kill their prey and having decided to bleed it out so the kill was not clean at all (First time I've ever seen a negative score).

The second reward for graduating? First pickings. Twilight went for the heart, liver, and lungs, while her party members went for the more meaty bits. She also requested the antlers be put on a plaque with Jade and Swift's names engraved into them. I'm unsure of the meaning behind that, but I have a feeling it has something with her sense of comradery.

My name is Chrysalis and I am now the proud mother of one of the hive's newest hunters.

Author's Note

Ok, so no foxes were harmed in the making of this chapter, but I felt the title was kind of fitting.