The Words Of Darkness

The train rattled down the track as it journeyed to Shade Prison. The hunters aboard chattered and argued about their trophies. Some were interested in what they were hunting and why. While others only cared about the reward.

"Look here, mate." Dust Roo said, pointing sternly at a dark grey griffin, "I've hunted just about everything in this world. Nothing can best me. And no one."

"Bold words." The griffin replied, pushing Dust's hoof away with a claw, "But, I still think you shouldn't be here."

"First of all, I'm the best at what I do. Second, if anyone on this train doesn't belong, it's the unicorn over there."

Dust gestured towards Arrow Heart, who sat quietly in her seat, reading the file on the human. The page she was fixated on the most was the anatomy. She adjusted her glasses as she took in the information. At least, until she heard a voice.

"Miss Heart." The voice said, causing her to meet Dust Roo's eyes, "Me and the lads up front want to know why you're here. Surely, you can't have been summoned by the princesses because you're an Equestria Game gold medalist."

"I'm not just a gold medalist." Arrow Heart said flatly and returning to the file, "I'm also a zoologist and tracker."

Dust Roo raised an eyebrow at this information.

"If that's true, than how did you have time for the Games?" He asked, taking a seat across from her, "You have to practice almost daily for that, don't you? Plus, you said you don't hunt. How can you track, but not hunt?"

"I track to observe, not kill." Arrow replied, keeping her eyes on the pages, "As for archery, I started when I was a filly in summer camp. From there my interest in the sport grew and I practiced every chance I got. I was in college learning zoology when I tried out for the Games. When I was accepted to participate and won, I used my winnings to pay for my student loans and expenses. After I graduated and was banned from the Games, I took up tracking as a hobby, starting with small creatures and working my way up. I became pretty good at it and allowed me to observe animals from a safer point of view, rather than chase one blindly and accidently come face to face with something dangerous."

Dust Roo seemed more interested in Arrow Heart's story. But, it bothered him slightly that she wouldn't look him in the eye.

"What makes you think zoology will help with this?" Dust asked, placing a hoof on the file and blocking her view of it, "I doubt there's anything in the world that can help identify how this one behaves."

"That's where you might be wrong, Dust." Arrow replied, raising her eyes again and removing her glasses, "His body structure and posture is similar to primates. See? His hands and arms are similar to apes, as well as his ears, the shape of his head and torso. The bottom half is similar also."

They stopped talking as they felt the train slow down.

"Shade Prison station!" The conductor called through the cars, "Last stop, Shade Prison station."

Everyone looked out at the large cave entrance and saw debris scattered around it.

"Well," Dust Roo said, standing and shouldering his crossbow, "time to go to work."

The train glided to a stop and whooshed steam as it reached the platform. The hunting party began filing out of the cars and onto the wooden planks. As they did, some formed groups and teams, while others opted to go alone. Once they were ready, the hunters approached the cave mouth and saw a few guards standing watch.

"Who's in charge here?" The grey griffin from before asked, stepping up to one of the guards.

"I am." Another guard replied, stepping up to the crowd, "My name's Silver Shield."

"Grimshaw. Nice to meet you."

He took the stallion's hoof and shook it before looking back at the cave.

"Where's the rest of your unit?" Silver Shield asked, scanning the varies faces.

"This is it." Grimshaw replied, looking back at the group, "Several of us aren't even on the same team. Or with any team."

Silver Shield facehoofed, causing his helmet to clang.

"Are you at least military?" Silver asked, looking back at Grimshaw, "Or have military experience?"

"Two or three of us, maybe. Myself included." Grimshaw replied, "In total, there's ten poachers, eight licenced big game hunters, twelve trappers, and six trackers. Seven trackers if you count our Equestria Games archer and zoologist."

"Thirty-seven hunters? I requested a military unit. Where are they?"

Some of the hunters appeared offended by his remark. While others didn't seem to care.

"Celestia and Luna ordered all available military personal to guard cities and villages around Equestria." Another hunter said, stepping forward, "Something about preparing for a monster attack."

Silver Shield's expression eased a bit, but it still held a certain level of frustration.

"Fine." He huffed, turning toward the cave, "I hope you'll be rewarded well for this. But first, you might want to see just what you're after."

He began leading the hunters into the cave, where they saw more destruction and chaos. Blood stains and scratches covered the walls and floor, as well as a strange black residue. When they reached the dragon-sized door, they found the locks had been mangled and twisted, preventing them from engaging. Past the door, more blood and carnage. Many of the traps had been sprung and all the cages had been dropped. The large openings in the walls for the beasts, were now empty. The beasts themselves were killed and removed in order to avoid the smell of decay in an enclosed space. Then, finally, they reached the chamber that had held the human. However, nothing appeared to be damaged. The chamber door had been left open as well as the cage door.

"How could a creature so small do all this?" Grimshaw asked, looking at the gorilla-sized cage, "And how did it escape?"

"We're not sure." Silver replied, looking around the chamber, "Commander Iron Blade came in shortly after the princesses left and it overpowered him somehow, stealing the enchanted key in the process. I wasn't on duty here at the time, but according to the reports, it moved quickly. As if the creature was part shadow. It managed to use one of our beasts to damaged the front entrance. It went through our guards like nothing. After that, it just disappeared. But, one of our guards did manage to wound it with a dagger. Unfortunately, he didn't survive to have another chance. And the human took the dagger with it."

The more Silver explained, the more nervous some of the hunters were.

"How many did it kill?" Grimshaw asked, looking back at Silver Shield.

"We lost ten guards." Silver replied, "Out of three hundred."

This ignited a small worry throughout the group. Many began to voice their opinion on whether they should continue on with their mission, or turn and leave. Some argued and started to panic. This made Grimshaw and Silver Shield turn and try to calm the group. However, Arrow Heart had chosen to separate from the group and was already making her way back to the entrance.

"Ten out of three hundred?" She said quietly to herself, making mental notes, "He knows restraint. And he took a dagger with him. He's intelligent enough to wait and attack. As well as coordinated enough to attack multiple enemies and was only wounded once."

After a while, she reached the outside again and began scanning the ground. Looking for any sign of the human. As she did, the rest of the hunters exited the cave.

"Your wasting your time, Miss Heart." Dust Roo said, approaching her, "That thing is long gone by now. I doubt there's any trace of it anymore."

"Really?" Arrow Heart said, finding an odd print, "Than what's that?"

The rest of the group gathered around and observed the print, noting its unique shape.

"He's heading west." Arrow said, looking forward and spotting another print, "And he's in a hurry."

Grimshaw looked at the print again before addressing the group.

"Alright, mount up!" He called out, "The trail's getting colder and we got a human to catch."

"And who put you in charge?" Dust Roo asked, glaring at the griffin.

Grimshaw rounded on him and met his gaze.

"The best chance we have is to work together." The griffin said, moving to the next print, "And since no one else is stepping up, I'll be leading. Unless, someone else wants to be in command?"

No one moved and Dust Roo went silent.

"Very well. Move out!"