The Hunter's Trek

The Hunter’s Trek

Chapter 3: The Beacon

It was early morning up in Canterlot. The many birds that lived outside of the many gardens and parks were singing their song and early workers would oft be seen wandering the streets towards their work placements, or towards cafes for morning coffee or breakfast. That is, if mood struck them.

One pony, in particular, a light brown earth pony, with a dark blue mane, and tail, with two red and white pills crossed in the universal sign for medics making up his cutie mark, was walking towards the great castle, sitting more on the ledge of the mountain than any other residential building of Canterlot.

He had two saddlebags strapped ether side, each full of medical supplies. Apparently, one of the local resident pones of the castle had gotten sick, and he had been charged with tending to the patent. Currently, the description of the symptoms given were; a high fever, constant headaches, and a stiffness in the neck. He had an idea of what was wrong, but, if he were to be at all honest, he could not care less. No, if he were an honest stallion, he would say he was happier for his real visit.

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“So just take it easy for a few days. And, if it doesn’t pass, or f you get worse, send for us and we’ll be down in no time.” He waved off the elderly mare as he left the maid’s room. The poor mare had been affected by a virus, now known as the West Nile virus.

The nasty little pathogen was quite harmless at first. That is until it sends somepony into a coma. Often, the virus rarely needed treatment, able to clear away on its own. It was also quite uncommon for a pony to gain any illness at all. And it seemed the only way the virus would spread would be through the bite of a mosquito.

‘Nasty little buggers.’ Silver Gift shuddered at the thought of those bloodsuckers, and their unorthodox form of nourishment. His mind wandered back to a question he had asked himself but kept quiet about since he did have a job to do. Why weren’t the castle doctors called in to take care of her? But although he had not asked a soul, it seemed fate gave him the answer when he passed the medical wing on his way to the princess.

Stretchers were filled with many soldiers, a lot of them sporting red, seeping wounds. Didn’t look like anything too serious to him, but still serious enough to warrant all hooves on deck. Of course, it all did not matter to him in the slightest. He was here for one thing, and he was glad all the guards would not be much of a worry anymore.

It was then that he reached the doors to Princess Celestia’s chambers. Two guards stood at attention at the door, both long at Silver Gift with stoic suspicion. The stallion pulled out a letter, addressed to him and signed by the princess, up to the guards. After a quick glance to check the letter for any signs of falsity the guards stepped to the side, one of them knocking on the door to the princess’s study to notify her of Silver’s presence.

“Come in,” Princess Celestia called out to the sound of the knock. As Silver Gift pushed the door open, he thought back to the reaction of the guards. It was not the first time he gave his regards to the princess face to face, so he knew how the guard’s reactions had changed over the years.

Many a groups of ponies had been threatening the crown about the time of Celestia’s first student, whom, if he remembered what had been told to him, had abandoned her studies in search of something. Thing was, nopony ever saw her ever leave the castle. So, in retrospect, he couldn’t really blame their apprehensiveness around him. Too bad she was too trusting.

“Good morning, Silver Gift.” Princess Celestia stood from a large stack of paperwork piled on her desk a smile gracing her features. “It is good to see you again.”

“Princess.” Silver crouched into a bow before rising back up onto his hooves. “I’ve come to assure you that the patient is absolutely fine. Just as long as she has plenty of rest.” He placed his saddlebags down on the floor, silently relieved of the weight from his back. He couldn’t really pack light anyways, not knowing what the poor mare would need to be treated with after all.

Princess Celestia acknowledged the good news with a smile, and a slight nod of her head, before she turned to her island of papers and plucked a small envelope off the edge of the desk. She turned to regard the stallion, bringing a pot of tea and two cups over in her golden magic over to a small coffee table by their side, where she then sat down on a floor cushion, the doctor following her actions shortly after.

“Well, before you go off, I would like to spend some time catching up with an old friend,” She spoke up as she started pouring some tea into both cups, the two being moved towards the two occupants. “How have you been lately?” Princess Celesta asked out of curiosity.

“None the better!” Silver exclaimed with a good-natured chortle. “If you’re still looking to set up your student, I may know of a stallion who might meet her tastes.” He blinked and, for a second, thought over his response. “Or was it Cadence who was looking for one?”

Celestia giggled softly and said “Oh, I assure you, we both have been trying to get her out of her shell. But her friends have been doing a good job where we could not.”

“Did I hear that right? The little spark, shut-in, and highly reactive study addict, now has friends? And here I thought the day would never come!”

“Indeed, it has. And, if the news did not reach you, she and her friends are responsible for Luna’s return and Discord’s defeat.” She looked up wistfully. “She has grown so far…”

“I had heard of her achievements, yes. Though I had no idea it was in the presence of company,” Silver Gift said with a sip of his tea. He left it on the side to cool, turned his eyes to the princess’s teacup, which was still left untouched, and took a chance.

“I always did wonder how a cheery pony like her made no friends. Studying or not, she always seemed friendly to me, very creative too. But that is just my opinion.”

“She was never really the best at making friends in school. From the stories I myself have heard, she always worried too much about what they were going to think of her. She felt more comfortable around ponies living in the same space as her.” Celestia explained. “Although, from what I hear, she was never like that her whole life. Cadence even saying she was emotionally different from even before her entrance exam. Perhaps...?”

“Well, sorry to cut this short, Princess, but I’m afraid there is more work that needs to be attended to,” Silver said as he finished his tea and gave a small bow of farewell to the princess.

“Ah. How unfortunate. But I myself know what it is like to have your duties ruin a meeting with friends.” Celestia stood up before bringing her cup towards her lips for a light sip. After swallowing the tea, Princess Celestia started to feel a little off. But before she could say anything, she fell to her knees, finding it difficult to stand. She tried to say anything, but her vision started to cloud over. And everything went black shortly after.

Silver Gift watched on, a smile on his face. He started walking over to the downed princess, though as he passed the coffee table, he spied the letter the princess had picked up. He glanced over it, seeing it was addressed to Shining Armour, Captain of the Royal Guard. He picked it up and unsealed it, pulling out the contents.

‘A threat to the wedding? Well, we can’t have that, now, can we? Two invasions would make it quite confusing to the populace.’ He crumpled the paper up and into a ball and threw it away, where it landed underneath a nearby bookshelf.

He stood there for a minute before turning his attention around and towards his saddlebag. Taking a few steps closer, he took a decently large, black gem, polished down like a pebble and in a shape similar to that of a compass, from one of the side pouches and a metal rod with a small ring at one end, a red gem placed within the ring rung a slight humming sound, resonating magic.

He turned back towards the coffee table, lightly placing the stone on its surface. He spared a glance towards the currently unconscious mare, actually quite surprised the drug worked on her at all. ‘Guess I should apologize the next time I see him,’ He thought as he lifted the rod in the air before striking the dark gem lightly with the currently glowing red one.

It reacted immediately. A faint, pulsing red light came from the centre of the stone, continuously growing in brightness until it stopped, still repeatedly pulsing slowly, like a signal light in the dark.

Satisfied, Silver placed the rod back in the pocket it came from, placed his saddlebags on and readied to set out. And, if what they said was true, the princess should be out of it for at least a maximum of an hour. That was all they needed really. But, if she woke up before they had her, there was plenty more they could get from there… supplier.

He was done here, so there was no need for him to stay.

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“I don’t know, Rarity. Are you sure this gem is special?” Twilight asked as she poked the black, compass-like gem the aforementioned mare had brought her with a small, metal shaft, held aloft in her magic, trying to get it to react. The day had shifted towards midday, Twilight and Rarity spending that time experimenting on the rock the latter had brought over. Said rock currently resting on a metal bench in the middle of the basement of the hotel and, no matter what Twilight did-save using magic-the rock had refused to do anything but lay absolutely still. Like a rock should.

“Well, I may not have seen a gem quite like this one, but I could most certainly feel something was off with it,” Rarity insisted, though she did start to feel as if the gem may just be a normal rune gem and that she was overreacting for nothing, “It did feel as if there was some magic in it, though. Even I know you don’t find natural resources with some runic magic already within the gem without some sort of explanation to it.”

“While yes that is entirely true, there have been cases of that happening before. But if this does have any special attributes, then the last test is the more risky one.” Twilight held a hoof to her chin, thinking whether it was a good idea to use magic on it or not. She initially decided that, if she were to get any results at all, she would have to go through with it.

She placed her metal poking stick to the side and grabbed the piece of cloth the gem in her magic, ready to minimize any risk if it ever became deadly. In addition to that, she spread her stance in case of any magical discharge the gem would release.

Rarity stood just behind her friend, watching the scene with trepidation, afraid of what might happen if everything went bad. “Are you sure it is safe, darling?”

Twilight’s gaze never broke off the stone as she replied. “Nope. But it’s the last test before we can assume it is safe.”

“Alright then, if you feel you must…” Rarity trailed off as her friend started applying a small amount of magic to the gem. But that was all the gem needed as a faint, red glow started pulsing from the inside of the stone.

Twilight ceased her magic, causing the cloth to fall atop the glowing object, the light slowly glowing bright enough to shine through the cloth, continuing to pulse as the light stopped growing.

After a few seconds of nothing happening, the two of them relaxed, twilight coming out of her defensive stance. She moved closer, still with a slight nervousness to her, and picked the cloth up and to the side, the gem still pulsating harmlessly.”

“Well, that settles it, completely harmless!” Twilight exclaimed, picking it up and spinning it around in the air. “Well, for now at least,” she added as an afterthought. She then turned over to face Rarity, holding up the gem to her friend in offering. “If you still want it, it should be safe for you to use now.”

“Oh, well I might just take you up on that offer.” Rarity took the gem-unfazed by what her friend had said, in her own magic, grabbing the bit of cloth she had used to transfer the thing safely. “And who knows what I could do with this? If I could replicate the flashing light, then I could make a truly wonderful new line of dresses as well!” Rarity took her inspiration and headed up the stairs of the basement as she started planning what would go well with the black stone she had found. “Farewell, Twilight! I simply must start designing straight away!” And just like that, she had disappeared from out the basement.

“Bye Rarity!” Twilight said as she soon followed her friend out of the basement. ‘Wait, was it a good idea to give Rarity that stone?’ Twilight started ruminating ‘It didn’t show any signs of being dangerous, but that doesn’t mean it won’t…’ Twilight started to worry that maybe it was not a good idea to have done. ‘Oh no! What I made a mistake and something bad happens and evrypony blames me!’ She started pacing around the room in worry when she passed by where she and Edmond had sat before the events of the morning and something had caught her eye.

It was Edmond’s leather-bound journal! The one he sat, drawing something inside of. It had a pencil sticking out, bookmarking the page he must have been working on. Twilight had personally never seen what he had drawn inside of it, never bothering to ask him. Surely, he wouldn’t mind if she had a small look inside, right?

Her curiosity getting the better of her, she slowly opened the front cover, taking the pencil out so she could read the whole thing without distraction. The first page had a short message, reading:

To make it less confusing, for myself or any reader, the book is split between non-fiction research and completely made up. The two black pages are the border between the two.

It was like he knew someone was going to pick this up. Before Twilight continued to the next page, she noticed a warning at the bottom of the page.

Warning: Don’t let any changelings get a hold of this book, there is, and will be, dangerous creatures in here.

For reference to them, look at page entry 23.

Twilight did just that, wanting to know more about this species that had been forbidden to this book. As she turned the pages, she saw many pictures of creatures she had recognized and some she did not. she had even spotted some on ponies.

When Twilight had gotten to the right page number, what greeted her was a picture of a vaguely pony-like creature, but instead of fur, it had chitin. Instead of a mane and tail made of visible hairs, it looked as though they had theirs crafted of a thin membrane, looking more like a fin. Its eyes were a single, light blue colour, looking almost soulless. Its wings looked a lot like that of an insect, baring holes here and there, a trait it shared with its legs. Two curved fangs protruded from its mouth, making it look like a carnivore.

There was a cue card stuck in one corner of the page, reading:

Common Name: Changeling

Species Name: Allagí Schímatos Insecta

Diet: Emotivore

‘So, this is the changeling? But what does it mean by ‘Emotiore?’ Twilight looked at it in a bit of confusion, before looking over to the written information beside the picture. She skimmed through most of it, missing what would have been important had she actually read it all the way through, to try and get some answers. Luckily, she didn’t need to go far through the text. The description explained that they can transform, as long as they knew what they were transforming into, to help them gather their source of food, emotions. Primarily love.

Satisfied with the answer, she continued looking through the book’s pages. As she distracted herself, a shadow passed her window, its eyes watching her, making sure it wasn’t seen. The shadow continued on its way to Carousel Boutique. The home of Rarity.

Twilight stopped at a page on the ‘completely made up’ side of the book, the creature being half-finished. And, on the cue card that adorned every page, its name read: stoiteran.