The Hunters of Secrets

Crystal Breeze woke up to the sound of rage and panic. She saw Summer Spell charge and suddenly stop. Crystal didn't know what was keeping her from killing this monster until she saw her turn around; her eyes were glowing orange. The Pegasus started to panic and used her wings blades to cut the smoky tentacles that were holding her. She charged at Mystic Coat aiming to kill the mare, but the pony activated her shadow form and Crystal went right through her. She got up and tried going at Mystic Coat again, this time swinging her wing blades at her. But no matter what she did, it didn't harm the mare in the slightest. It was like going up against a pure shadow. Mystic Coat grew bored, so she decided to spice things up by creating two shadow ponies of herself, then pushing Crystal back as the Umbra dropped her shadow protection and raised a glowing, vibrating orange hoof. The Solar pegasus struggled between two opponents as one grabbed her wings and the other delivered several blows. The first three hit her in the face, then came a kick and a punch to the stomach. A punch to the throat followed, causing the pegasus to fall to the ground. As she lay there, Mystic approached her and placed her hot red hoof on her forehead. When that happened, a sudden gust of wind, so strong and orange it pretty much became a tornado, pushed Mystic back.

The orange tornado spun through the gate and the wall carrying bits of debris, roof shingles, and dead or about to be dead ponies. It stopped in the middle of the town square for a long moment before continuing to spin onward. Within the tornado, Crystal tried to get out, but she couldn't as her body was spinning around wildly. She tried flapping her wings, but the wind inside was too strong; she was unable to move anywhere in the tornado. She then started to feel the heat rising in her body temperature and it wasn't the kind of heat that you feel when you're in the shower. No, this was volcanic heat. It was so intense that she didn't notice when her coat began to change color from light blue to black near her hoofs and head. As she spun around in the tornado, a newly formed horn came into existence as the heat in her body reached a boiling point. It eventually created a shockwave of orange wind which burst from her causing the tornado to disappear. She quickly flapped her wings to stay in the air and glided down for a landing in the middle of the square, several pieces of debris falling around her and many bone-crushing splats of the now dead ponies falling to the ground. She looked around, feeling much stronger than before, and just like Sugar Mist, she used her hoof to feel her forehead and was surprised when she felt her newly formed horn. Once she was finished discovering what had happened to her, Crystal Breeze took off at supersonic speed, charging at Mystic Coat, her horn pointed straight at the mare’s head. But then, orange cracks formed around her eyes, horn and legs. Suddenly, her eyes glowed orange, just like Sugar Mist and Summer Spell.

With no mine left, she flew up and dove into one of the towers left to the main building of the Barracks. She landed on the wall level of the tower and started moving on the walls inside the tower. The faster she went, the more wind magic formed, until eventually, another oversized orange tornado blasted through the roof of the tower, destroying it and half of the wall.

For a moment, Crystal looked at the destruction she had just caused. She landed on the wall, feeling glorious. And then she was stabbed in the back of her chest. This didn't hurt, of course, as the sword just melted away. She turned around and saw two earth ponies, one of them a Solar guard, and a pegasus. The closest earth pony moved backward, holding the hilt of the sword that had just recently melted away. The pony who was once Crystal Breeze zipped through all four of them with her wing blades stretched out.

The Solar guard saw this attack coming and raised his shield to block the attack, but the other three weren't so lucky, as the Monster zipped by them and cut their necks with the weapons in her wings.

One of the ponies tried to get away but was sucked into the tornado. Eventually, she was violently spit out and crashed right in front of three other ponies who were doing their scheduled patrols before the unnatural weather destroyed two towers. The mare was impaled by some wooden beams. One of her wings was broken in several places and most of her coat was burned. With very little life left in her, she managed to toughen up and tell them what was happening.

Meanwhile, the Alirag stopped once she was inside another tower and had summoned another orange tornado to destroy the building and try to kill three ponies on top of the tower. Two pegasus, one a Solar guard and the other a civilian, got out and landed right next to the earth pony who had survived the Monster attack. The three ponies charged at the monster, two of them pulling out swords and a pair of daggers to slash and stab her.

The earth pony suddenly stopped running and closed his eyes to concentrate. Then, with one hoof pressed to the ground, he summoned a dark green mist, which appeared suddenly with two green vines that wrapped around the monster. Crystal struggled and the more she struggled, the tighter the vines became. Then several flowers with purple petals and thorns came up through the middle of the flower. They were connected to more vines that were wrapping around the damage tower. As if on command, twenty to forty big thorns shot right at the monster.

For a moment, the Ailrag’s orange eyes flickered back to their original color, but then the orange veins on her coat glowed even brighter, and with a burst of heat that burned away the vines and flowers, her eyes turned back to orange. Crystal Breeze grabbed both pegasuses by the wings as they went in for another attack and used her earth pony strength to tear one of the wings off.

A bloody cry of pain rang out as the pegasus with one wing turned to run and hide.

But it wasn't over; the Ailrag used her free hoof to punch the pegasus really fast with a dozen small jabs to the pegasus’s face. The pony’s body could only take so much, and as the 50th speedy punch landed, it popped his head like a balloon with brains, eyes, teeth and bits of skull falling all over the place.

Crystal spread her wings and zipped by the earth pony. However, the Solar earth pony again saw the attack coming and raised his shield to block the blow. But he could not block the second attack as his shield was shattered into several pieces. The earth pony summoned the green mist again and this time a huge vine, almost like a bean stalk, hit the monster from behind. Once that happened, he made his way to the wounded pegasus who was hiding in a corner.

When the earth pony approached the ruining building, he heard the pegasus cry out bitterly, "Please don't come back! Oh, please don't come back!"

Clearing his throat, the earth pony said, "Do not be afraid. I'm here." He was about to put his hoof on the pegasus’s back where the missing wing was.

But before he could offer any comfort, the pegasus asked, "What's the point in fighting that thing when it will surely overwhelm us. What can we do against such a force?"

Immediately the earth pony replied, "Now look here, just because our enemy is something far more powerful than us, it does not mean we should just give up."

The pegasus looked at the pony in hopes that he had a plan.

"I'm willing to put up a fight,” the earth pony said, “And if I'm the only one doing it, then so be it." The Solar earth pony began to walk back into the fray before stopping again and saying, "Do you think all those great fighters and heroes of old had an easy way of defeating their enemies?"

There was a small pause before the earth pony turned around back toward the exit and finished, "No. They had to struggle in their fights, and if they ever lost, they would take what they'd learned from their previous fights and try again."

With understanding finally sinking in, the Pegasus rose to his hoofs. The Earth pony approached him once more, "So, are you just going to stay here and probably get torn to shreds by one of those Wereponies? Or are you going to learn from your previous battle and try again?"

Way back to the past, at the battle of Hollow Shade, up in the sky, Silver Tip landed on a cloud. He heard King Steel yelling and then saw the Griffin King launching toward him just in time to dodge him. Steel swung his ax like a madman and didn't notice the clicking sound as two arrows shot at him but bounced off of his armor. He angrily yelled, "Why did you say those things!"

Silver dodged his attack and Steel triggered even more arrow traps; three more arrows shot at him and made contact only to bounce off his armor like the first two. Every now and then, Silver Tip would try to poke him with his spear but it too bounced off the armor just like the arrows.

Steel continued, "I Am Not A Tyrant!" Silver threw several throwing knives at Steel’s armor in an attempt to cut the belt that held the armor together. However, it was with no success.

Steel continued yelling, "I Am A Griffin King! Who Just Happens to Love Each and Every Bit He Gets!" He swung his ax, trying to hit Silver’s head, but he kept on missing, and continued to trigger more arrow traps. As five more arrows fired at him and bounced off his armor, Steel screamed, "So! Why?" He swung again and missed again. "Did You? Have to make this!?" He swung the ax yet again, this time hitting Silver. "Personal!?"

Silver went flying straight into a cloud. When he got up, he felt a burning pain within him. He checked his wound and saw that it was deep. Despite the great pain he felt, Silver summoned whatever strength he had left and stood up to jump off the cloud and glide downward. It was a struggle, to be sure, but he imagined himself landing safely on the ground.

He looked up into the chaotic sky and saw an angry Steel with ten of his Griffins standing on the cloud, crossbows out and ready to fire. Then, as the arrows rained down, the Hunter rose up. He saw that the arrows were at least three feet away. He raised his spear and a black charge began to build up in the weapon. Two of the ten arrows managed to hit him, one in his side, the other in his front leg. Silver unleashed the charge from his spear and black lightning struck every single arrow in the sky, shattering them to splinters.

Then the Griffins charged straight down at Silver, but the Chiroptera simply slammed his spear to the ground and the earth shook. All ten Griffins were pierced by spikes of earth. Furious, the King came charging down at Silver and the hooded Chiroptera’s eyes widened a little, as he could see that King Steel wanted him dead. Steel landed hard on top of Silver but he didn't see the trap before it was too late. Several silver arrows hit him, most of them bouncing harmlessly off of his armor, but two arrows managed to cut the belts that held his entire armor together. With the belt cut, the armor fell down to the ground. Steel swung his ax again and Silver, too exhausted to dodge the force of the swing, was sent flying towards one of the spikes of earth he himself had created. But when Silver hit the risen earth, it cracked and crumbled down, creating a large dust cloud.

Steel flapped his wings to dissipate the dust, and eventually saw the hooded pony. He came straight at him and cried, "Now! Let's see who you really are." And using his ax, he removed the hood to reveal a black coat pony with a silver mane, bat ears, and two long fangs. Five more Griffins landed behind King Steel and stared. One of the Griffins murmured, "A Demon?" Then the Griffin King used his ax to lift the cloak further, revealing two leather wings on his enemy’s back. Steel Beak said, "No, he's more like some kind of bat pony." A huge grin split Steel’s face as he continued, "or, should I call you a flying rodent?" Silver Tip growled at that comment, as if challenging him to call him that again. The King heard this and said with pleasure, "Oh! Did I strike a nerve?"

Silver tried to get up, but there was too much pain. He fell back down but kept the hate face as he looked upon the King. Blood continued to drop out of his wounds, and he held his spear as if his life depended on it. Three more Griffins in armor landing around him with spears pointed at him. He started to move and felt a sharp pain coming from his chest and side. His rear legs and one of his wings were broken. He knew he couldn't get up. He looked at his wings, one of them laying uselessly at his side, then looked at his attackers again. The Griffin King approached with his heavy ax in hand.

"Well, look at you." He glanced at his men and continued. "But, you know, something is missing." An evil smirk grew on the King’s face. "Oh! Now I know what's missing." Steel backed up. "Men, this rodent needs to be chained up like all of the other rodents we have caged up back in our kingdom." One of the Griffins pulled out some chains for Silver’s hoofs and another seven Griffins started to wrap the chiroptera in those chains. They made sure that the chains were wrapped as tightly as possible, squeezing more blood out of Silver’s wounds. When the final lock was clamped shut, the seven Griffins stepped back and King Steel approached Silver again. "Who do you serve? Do you have a plan to overthrow the Ailcorns? And more importantly, how can I benefit from it?"

Silver Tip remained silent. He wasn't going to tell Steel who he served, but the power of his spear answered for him. "Well, I serve ponies who want to have a war. Waha ha ha ha! Oh, and by the way, next time you chain someone up like this, make sure they don't have a hidden dagger on them. Now, let's get wild!" The power of the spear was about to make Silver commit suicide with his hidden dagger. King Steel yelled, "Stop him!"

Before Silver could slash his own throat, a smoky shadow zoomed into one of the Griffins who took his own sword and plunged it into himself. As he did so, the shadow departed from him and zoomed straight into another Griffin. The others did not want to end up like their comrade. They quickly dove out of the way, believing they were safe, but then a spear with black lightning buzzing in it pierced one of the Griffins straight in the head.

A Griffin in armor got cocky and yelled, "It's pointless! You can try to attack me, but I am in armor, and last I checked, you hoodie types always use some kind of arrow or spear. That will definitely deflect off of my armor." Then, a dark red chiroptera with a silver mane came out of the shadows, two runes stones in each hoof. The runes on the stones blinked red and she tossed them at the armored Griffin. They blew up when they touched his armor, creating a cloud of dust.

When the dust cleared, the armor was shattered to pieces. The dark red thread spread her wings, which soon became smoky black. Suddenly, two black spikes shot up and hit both sides of the Griffin. A second later, red veins started coming out of the him and flowing into the shadowy spikes; it wasn't long before the Griffin was so thin that he practically became a mummy. When the two black spikes pulled out of the Griffin’s side, he fell to the ground and crumbled into dusty pieces. At that, the dark red thread wings returned to normal and she looked a little stronger than before.

Another Griffin charged at her, but she easily dodged him, grabbed his head, and twisted it all the way around, slamming his body to the ground. Then she hoisted the body over her, and using her extreme strength, ripped it in two. Night Strike said, "I see that the Griffins haven't changed their greedy ways.” She looked down at her brother, pulled out a greenish black stone with runes on it, then became one with the shadows again and zipped to him.