My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by MonsterHunterBrony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Doctor Whooves, Princess Luna, Original Character, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Crossover
Length: 28899

Due to a magical mishap, the monster hunter universe clash with Equestria.

After a magical mishap from Luna, some creatures from an other world are brought to equestria. Among them, a young hunter, now turned into a pony, will need to adapt to this equine universe and help defeat the monsters from his own world. But to do this he will need help, and the help he seeks may be closer than he expected.Will he be able to go back to his world? Or will he have to live the rest of his life in Equestria? There is only one way to find out.

this is my first fanfic ever, so if there is anything you guys think could be improved don't hesitate to comment. Also since english isn't my first language feel free to point out my grammar mistakes, I try to make the story as good as I can but there is a limit to how many time I can manage to find errors as I proofread it.

Published 2011-10-10 23:34:35 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-04 08:23:51 UTC

Chapter 1: Welcome to Equestria

Author’s notes: First of all I want to welcome you to the first story I chose to share with the public. Since the original scenario was thought of before season two started airing, I would like to ask you to disregard anything season two will bring as you read through this story.

My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by ~Meteorimpact/Monster Hunter Brony

version 1.2

Chapter 1: Welcome to Equestria

Special thanks to Sparky who helped me fix most of my grammatical mistakes.

Canterlot, a city high on the side of a mountain that keeps watch over all of Equestria. In this lively city where mostly unicorn lives, the royal castle stands proudly, sheltering the two Princesses from outside disturbance. Princess Celestia returned from raising the sun as she did every day, but today was different. It had been a year now since Nightmare moon had been defeated, and Luna's rehabilitation to the new world was a bit harder than expected. During the thousand years in which she was banished to the moon, her own powers kept growing, but without the help of her big sister she never learned to control them, or rather, Nightmare Moon never bothered to try to control them. Now shot back in this world a millenia later some nervous breakdown would sometimes arise as Luna felt she isn't adapting fast enough. During these nervous breakdown she would accidentally spawn small black vortexes at random places in Equestria, mostly around ponyville and the Everfree forest. It seems Luna inherited more power to control time and space than Celestia did, and if the younger sister wasn't able to control this power, the eldest might need to seal this ability to create these anomalies, before anypony end up caught straight in a rift and injured.

Celestia was walking down a flight of stairs that would lead her to a meeting she had scheduled with a good friend of hers, who had saved Equestria from interdimensional danger many times. Maybe he would be able to understand what Luna's powers exactly were. Horn glowing, Celestia softly opened the door of the laboratory. Inside, there stood a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark. He was standing in front of some screens and talking to Luna through a microphone, the princess of the night was currently isolated in a room a bit farther than the laboratory for security purposes.

"Dr.? I suppose Luna is ready for the tests?" Celestia asked the brown pony.

"Everything seems to be in order, her highness has been very cooperative and I'm pretty sure we will soon find out if she can master or not this ability to create these rifts. Now we will try and find out if she can actually summon them of her own free will, or if only stress makes them appear." Dr. Whooves paused for a second then turned around and grabbed the microphone. "Luna, can you hear me?"

Inside the test chamber, Luna kept impatiently walking back and forth, these last days have been a bit hard on her, trying to understand all these new technologies and customs of new Equestria she kept getting a bit too enthusiastic about it and often would end up the new experience into a big blunder. Her big sister kept telling her it was normal, she had to learn, to adapt to this new world, but it was so hard to figure out how to become your "future self" in so little time. A thousand years have passed and the generation gap was so hard to cross. Often, Luna would wake up from her sleep all sweaty, stressed and feeling magic coming out of her horn unconsciously, of course she would immediately stop the flow, but the rifts she accidentally spawned in her sleep didn't go unnoticed and created panic in Canterlot and Ponyville. As Luna kept thinking about all this, she suddenly heard a familiar voice coming out of a speaker set in the test room.

"Luna, can you hear me?"

" Yes I can Doctor Whooves, are we about to start?" replied the dark purple mare.

" Yes, Celestia has come to supervise the tests, if anything goes out of control she will help fix it, so feel as relaxed as possible. I will now ask you to try and generate one of the black rifts in the room you are in right now, start small and see if you can summon it."

Luna's horn started to glow, the young Alicorn then closed her eyes and bowed her head. Taking a deep breath she started focusing on the empty space before her. The horn kept glowing brighter and brighter eventually looking like a small flame on her forehead. After a few seconds of concentration a small black ball appeared coursed through by small lightning bolts. Doctor Whooves' calm, clear tones resonated through the overhead speakers once again, but this time it was laced with ear-splitting static.

"Very good, it seem you can actual... summon them of your... will, Now try ma... -ng it bigger."

Apparently the appearance of the rift caused radio interference, Luna didn't think too much of it, but she was starting to wonder if it was a good idea to make it grow bigger. After a moment of reflection, she started to pour a bit more power into her horn, making the anomaly grow some more.

Celestia kept a worried eye on the screen displaying her little sister attempts at controlling this unknown new force, of course she was there to intervene if something would go wrong yet she felt a bit uneasy, she had already lost a thousand years with her beloved sibling, she wasn't going to risk losing her for good. Yet, she waited to see if the young mare would be able to handle this on her own. A gentle hoof then grabbed her shoulder.
"Don't worry Princess, your sister is doing quite well thus far, and according to the readings it seems like the holes she is creating are actually unstable tears through other worlds. I see reading similar to those I use when traveling with the TARDIS, yet it seems like these tears are one way only." Whooves turned around and grabbed the microphone again. "Luna, now I will need you to start gathering power and to release it directly in the anomaly. Once you gather plenty, pour it in it but not all in one shot, do it slowly." As the two observer watched the scene unfold before them, time itself seemed to stop- then, it all begun.
As the stone floor began to tremble beneath their hooves, the Doctor shot a concerned glance towards Princess Celestia.

"Uh-oh." He muttered.

The ground suddenly shook even harder sending important research equipment to the ground. Celestia's previous worries were slowly starting to come back at her as she hurried over the test room.

Uncertainty seized Luna once more, the black portal seemed to pulse with life, just like a water balloon that keeps being prodded and is on the verge of exploding. Static noises kept coming out of the speakers as the black ball of energy grew.

"Luna... need you to... gathering power... release... in the anomaly... Gather plenty, pour it in... all in one shot...”

The speaker was crackling and soon died, Luna wasn't so sure about that last instruction, but Dr.Whooves was reliable, there is no way it could go wrong, right? Her horn started to glow even brighter, her eyes opened revealing lights as strong as the sun's coming from them, The horn was now a huge pillar of purple light.

"Here goes nothing" muttered The young princess. She released all the charged magical energy at once. The black ball of energy suddenly expanded at an alarming rate as it rose to the sky destroying the ceiling of the test room, once at it's apex the now gigantic vortex of black energy and lightning bolts divided itself into 4 smaller tears and they each flew away, 3 of them toward everfree forest and the last one in an unsure location. Exhausted from such a use of magic, Luna fainted, but kept consciousness just long enough to feel the embrace of her sister before everything went dark.

Luna reopened her yes a few minutes later, still held by Celestia.

"Are you ok Luna, please tell me everything is all right" Pleaded the light pink alicorn.

"Yes everything's fine, not sure what happened tough... do you think I just caused trouble for everypony?" Replied the Purple one.

"Actually it seems like you did." A male voice added as the silhouette of Dr.Whooves made its way trough the rubbles toward the two princesses. "But, it wasn't your fault, I'm probably the one to blame here. Here is some of the reports I managed to salvage from the equipment that survived the shockwave, it shows that the four vortexes all ended up opening a rift through space-time and each brought something alien to our world. One of the portal got me a little worried tough, normally I would be able to track down anything from a different world just with the dimensional data they have stored in their bodies, but out of one of the portals, two being came out, one as big as an half grown dragon, the other one hardly bigger than a pony, yet, even though the smaller one comes from this other world, it seems like its dimensional data is being slowly overwritten by our own world's. Soon I wont be able to differentiate it from a regular equestrian. And an other interesting fact is that the subject seems to be radiating a power similar to one I detected at Sweet Apple Acres. We need to investigate this as fast as possible."

Somewhere else, in a completely different world where life itself is like a jungle, only the fittest survived. Eat or be eaten is what everyone was taught, and on this sunny plain, Danleon was about to be the one to eat. The young man all clad in a volcanic grey armor was waiting for the right moment to strike, he already weakened his target and saw it limping a few times, surely the azure rathalos would not last much longer. Then the sound of an activated pitfall trap echoed, as fast as he could, The hunter readied his greatsword made out of metal and khezu pieces and charged at the now helpless wyvern. The sword cleaved the skull like hot butter, but instead of preparing to celebrate his victory, he suddenly stopped moving in stupor. Lightning bolts started surging all around him, creating an unreal vision. He saw similar lightning bolts before when he fought a kirin, yet these bolts seemed to ark oddly toward an empty space in the air. A sudden cracking sound ripped the air as a vortex opened right in front of the young man, no matter how hard he struggled though he was slowly sucked in closer and closer.

"This is definitely not going to end well-" was the last thing he could say, before disappearing in the portal, along with the fresh body of the fallen rathalos.

Danleon finally open his eyes after a few hours unconscious, he slowly tried to stand up while fighting his nausea. He wasn't certain what exactly happened but it sure left him groggy. His surrounding weren't the same as he remembered before blacking out. Instead of the green sunny plains and woods where he fought the rathalos, he was now standing in a dark gloomy forest, the air seemed heavy, and the simple act of standing there brought a chill down the young man's spine. Maybe he was knocked off a cliff by the lightning bolts... The lightning bolts! Suddenly remembering the last time he was still awake, he started scouting the area with his senses. His ears picked up something, a few flaps of wings, then... the sound of hooves? It didn't take much more longer before two equine creatures appeared in the forest, both heading toward him. The creatures each had a long horn coming out of their forehead, and it didn't take long for Danleon to do the math.

Lightning bolts + horse with horn = Kirin... two of them!

He knew he wasn't prepared for this type of encounter, after all kirins rarely ever show up in the forest, why did these two come here? And was he seeing wings on their body? Flying kirins? This was no time for dilly dallying and fleeing seemed to be the best option. Danleon turned around and started running as fast as he could. Only to trip in his own legs and fall to his dismay, it was as if he could not command his body properly, also he just now realized how the ground seemed to be way closer than usual. the sound of hooves was getting louder and he knew he would not be able to run away in this state, so he turned around to face the two creatures and tried to charge them. As soon as he dashed tough, one of the kirin's horn started to glow and he felt as light as a feather, actually, this wasn't a bad feeling at all. The magical aura surrounding him drew him closer to the two monsters, strangely enough, he felt relaxed, one of the kirin had a a very light tint of pink for coat,almost white, and a multicolored pastel mane flowing like water on a beach, the other one, a lot smaller, was the same color as the summer's night sky. The closer he got to them the more he felt like they looked somewhat harmless. Suddenly, the taller Kirin opened its mouth:

"Greetings young one, My name is Celestia, and this one over here is my younger sister Luna, you are probably confused about your situation, and for a good reason. It seems like we are responsible for your current distress."

"What the-" The hunter was flabbergasted, did the kirin just talk? Ok that's it, all this was probably just a dream, he probably drank too much and that was just the result of his excesses. Yet, the weird sensation of floating seemed very real. "Celestia? Luna? I didn't know Kirins had names... Or could talk. And what do you mean by you 'might' be responsible for my situation?"

Once again the biggest of the two spoke:

"How can I explain this... We aren't what you call a 'Kirin', we are alicorns, and this here around you is the Everfree forest, one of the most dangerous places of Equestria. It seems that due to a mishap of our own, a portal linked both our worlds together and sucked you in with other creatures from where you came. We are deeply sorry about that and we are working as hard as we can to send you back to your home world. One of our most trusted agents is currently working in this matter. I also have some... somewhat bad news for you, from what Mr.Whooves could tell us, you are originally from a world where the dominant specie is called 'humans'. But since you have crossed the portal, our world's magic transformed you into the dominant specie of this world, known as a pony."

"A what?" The young man wasn't usually gullible but he was genuinely starting to worry about what the alicorn meant. It seemed important to make a self check very quick.

Intact belly, check! Recognition of pain, check!, hooves, check!... HOOVES?

Now something was wrong, very wrong. No wonder the ground seemed to be so close, he was shorter than usual, no wonder either he couldn't run properly, this body obviously wasn't meant to run, or walk, on two legs. Danleon was in a state of shock, nothing he learned from the hunts could have prepared him for this, yet this was real, and he would need to adapt. Fast!

The tall alicorn raised her voice once more "Do not worry though, I will make sure your arrival here in Equestria will go as smoothly as possible. I will bring you to the castle, in Canterlot, there we will help you learn to use your new body as any other normal pony, and I'll get some of my friend to help you integrate into the life of Ponyville. We will try to keep you updated as much as we can on our researches to send you back to your world. Now will you accept following us? I'll send a letter to my most faithful student, she will gladly help you adapt yourself to pony life, but for now you need to learn how to walk normally on four legs, and to use the hooves magnetism magic."

"I guess I don't have much of a choice do I?... And what do you mean by hooves magnetism magic?" asked the hunter.

"There are three types of ponies except for the fourth type which only has two members, the three types are as follows: unicorns, adept at magic- they use their horn to cast their spells. Pegasi, they are winged ponies, the magic they are infused with allow them to fly even tough they have relatively small wings and they can touch or give shape to clouds. As for the final type, which you are now a part of, the earth ponies, they aren't gifted in magic as the other two species, but they make up with stronger bodies. Yet there is one type of magic that the three type share and is usually an innate skill, the hooves magnetism magic, it basically allow you to channel some of your energy through your front hooves to help you hold an object, you can't grab an item as well as with hands and fingers, but it is still useful for housework in general, even if the slightest touch of your object may make it fall. Since you are not born a pony you may need to learn to channel your energy into your hooves to be able to manipulate basic tools. Now I'll bring you to Canterlot, prepare yourself young colt, the rehabilitation may not be as easy as it seems... By the way I haven't heard your name yet, but I will need to help you find a fitting pony name for you so you won't draw too much attention."

"Just call me Danleon, for now. I have a favor to ask though can you help me gather my equipment and the body of the wyvern I slain? I would like to at least be able to keep my belongings for when I go back home. It was right where I first appeared."

For the first time the darker alicorn spoke "We can't bring them with us right now but if it's really important for you I can probably freeze them in stasis for conservation until you can come back to get these yourself. Give me a moment and I will take care of it." The mare turned around to head toward the appearance site. Danleon, still a bit confused, proceeded to follow Celestia to a kind of golden chariot with guards around it, shortly after they were on their way to Canterlot.

Luna easily found the arrival zone, the ground was scorched and trees were scattered where the portal left its load. The young Princess gasped in awe as she discovered the body of the massive beast corpse. A big reptilian creature, scales as blues as the sea with spikes ending in an ebony color. The creature looked like a dragon, except it only had two hind legs. "I don't know how he defeated this thing, but these humans are sure amazing if they can fight them on equal grounds. I just hope the other creatures that were brought here are nothing as scary as this one, or Equestria may face a crisis we haven't dealt with in centuries." Luna walked around the wyvern to observe it a bit more, and found a discarded monkey shaped armor. By looking at the head of the monster she also saw a massive weapon as big as an adult pony, longer even. "Back at Canterlot I will have so many questions to ask him!" she giggled, then prepared herself to cast the preservation spell. A thin layer of ice started forming around the rathalos, growing thicker and thicker until the whole area was covered in a blue crystal like dome. "All done, now to go back to Tia and our new guest."

Chapter 2 : New friends

My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by ~Meteorimpact/Monster Hunter Brony

chapter 2 : New friends

version 1.2

Special thanks to Onej6 for helping me fix some grammatical mistakes.

A week passed since Ponyville witnessed weird magical activities coming from the Everfree forest. Twilight Sparkle tried to lead a search party with her best friends to discover the source, yet all she could find was a huge dome of magical ice, too thick to see trough it. She did send a letter to Celestia to inquire about it, but the reply told her not to worry, and that the situation was under control. After a few days passed, she chose to stop thinking about it and go back to her normal activities, until today. At dawn her sleep was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Spike coughing, then burping a letter from Celestia.

"Ugh, my head... I guess I went to sleep too late yesterday." Still a bit drowsy, she slowly got off her bed, then looked at the still sleeping Spike, a roll of parchment rolling away and back at him every time he snored. This scene brought a smile to the unicorn's face. "I wonder what is going on, it's unusual of the Princess to send her letters this early in the morning." She stifled a yawn, and proceeded to take the parchment and read it. After a few seconds of running trough the royal letter, her eyes grew wide in surprise. Immediately awake after reading the letter, Twilight grabbed her saddlebags. She rushed to her mirror to fix her bed-mane. Pleased with the result, she quickly trotted over to spike, where she unmerciful brought the dragon out of his slumber.

"Spike, come on wake up we need to hurry... SPIKE!"

The baby dragon jumped out of his bed out of surprise and accidentally bumped the bookcase he was sleeping under making all the books in it fall on him.

"Spike stop fooling around we are in a hurry!" The purple unicorn stated impatiently.

"Geez Twilight, what's the hurry?" Spike emerged from under the book pile. "Did Pinkie Pie play with fireworks and set Sugarcube Corner on fire... Again?"

"More urgent, Celestia wants us at Canterlot as soon as we can and I need to contact everyone else! Let's head to Rainbow Dash's place first, she will be able to reach Sweet apple acres way faster than anypony else to get Applejack. Now stop playing with these books and let's go!"

Spike rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah Twi, I'm on my way."

"So, what's the big fuss about sugarcube, Ah barely had 'nough time to finish mah mornin' chores when Dash came crashin' in the barn." Said a strong looking orange mare, her mane covered with a stetson hat and her flank harboring a cutie mark consisting of 3 small apples.

"Hey I didn't crash in your barn, I just landed loudly." The one who replied was a cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow colored mane, obviously not wanting to swallow her pride and admit her mistake.

"If that was a proper landin' then Ah don't wanna see what a bad landin' is. Can't you just admit you failed one of yer new tricks?"

"What?! I never fail my tricks... Except when I don't succeed! I'll let you know that-"

"GIRLS! Now is not the time to argue." Twilight Sparkle intervened and tried to stop the fight that was about to start. "And to answer your question Applejack, I recieved a letter from Celestia this morning, asking all of us to meet her in Canterlot. This gotta be important!"

"It's probably nothing to worry about, as usual," Said the little dragon. " you know how Twilight tends to overreact whenever the Princess is involved?"

"Spike! I'll let you know I never overreact!" All six of her traveling companions raised an eyebrow in disbelief." Ok, maybe 'sometimes' I overreact, but now I'm pretty sure it's important."

"Maybe she is throwing a party? You know like a it's-been-one-week-since-mysterious-lights-appeared-around-Ponyville-party? Oh! Oh! Oh! I bet there will be a gigantic cake, and games! And then-Mfmmmlfmfll!" The excited pink party pony was suddenly interrupted by a white hoof on the mouth belonging to none other than Rarity, the unicorn dress designer.

"Pinky, Please! Allow Twilight to talk, I'm sorry darling but if we want to know what's going on we need to hear what the letter said. Now if you may, Twilight, would you be a dear and read the letter aloud?"

"Here it is:

My dearest most faithful student Twilight Sparkle,

I need to inform you about the recent magical activities in the region of Ponyville. I will answer all the questions you have about the phenomenon, but I need your help with a particular task. We now have a newcomer to Ponyville, and I would like you and your friends to meet him. His situation is a bit special and I will need to give you more details personally, but the task ahead will basically consist in helping him settle in Ponyville and teaching him some of your lessons in the magic of friendship. I would like him to also meet the other elements of harmony to help him make some friends from the get go.

Sincerely,

Celestia.

As you can see, the situation is of utmost importance."

"Um... Well... The situation doesn't seem that bad... I mean, all we know is that we will meet a new pony... I'm pretty sure it will even be... Nice..." Fluttershy was about to say something else but a pink streak popped right in front of her, happily bouncing around.

"How great! there will be a new pony in town, then it means I need to prepare a welcome-to-Ponyville-party! I need to start baking a cake and cupcakes! Do you think he likes chocolate? Or maybe strawberries! I love strawberries, because sweets made out of them comes out pink and pink is my favorite color! I wonder what he will look like, is he a farmer? A craftpony? Oh maybe he is a-Mphmhphmh!" Rarity sighed as once again she held her hoof over Pinkie's mouth.

"Pinkie, darling, you need to show a bit more patience, we are arriving in Canterlot soon enough, you will be able to get all the answers you seek there. And I'm pretty sure you can wait until we are done with this meeting before heading to your ovens, the day is still young."

The seven friends finally reached the castle, at their arrival a guard who was tasked in welcoming them lead the way to the throne room. After all of them entered the meeting place, the guard stepped back and closed the door behind him, making sure they were left alone with both princesses. Celestia was comfortably sitting in her throne, her grace reflecting onto the golden structure, on her left, the younger princess, Luna, stood solemnly bearing a gentle smile. To Celestia's right tough, a young stallion was standing with a bit of a nervous look. He was probably two or three years older than Twilight, she guessed he was the pony who was going to be brought back to Ponyville. The colt had a red earth colored coat, his mane was long and had the same color as dark chocolate. Yet, the earth pony had one strange feature, even tough he was clearly a young adult, he didn't have a cutie mark, how could this be? Was he as oblivious as the cutie mark crusaders about his own special talent? Now standing in front of the throne, the six mares and the baby dragon kneeled down, bowing their head. The princess of the sun spoke:

"Now, now, everypony, you don't have to act so formal, after all we are alone in this room, I think we can allow ourselves to act a bit more familiar, Just like that one time at the doughnut shop after last grand galloping gala. I'm guessing Twilight briefed you all on the letter I sent, right?" The group all nodded at once."Good, I'll start with the introductions right away then, Clay if you please, take a step forward and introduce yourself."

The stallion obliged and started eyeing all the ponies in front of him, he already heard from the princesses that these ponies were special, they were the representatives of the elements of harmony, those who defeated an evil being known as Nightmare Moon. As he now stood before all of them he felt a bit overwhelmed by their presence, they were emanating some sort of invisible power, as if their very being could match Celestia's majesty.After taking a deep breath he finally opened his mouth. "Hello everybody... Err I mean everypony, my name is Clay. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, I want to thank you all in advance for your assistance in my adaptation to Ponyville lifestyle and I hope I'm not going to give you all too much troubles."

"Well, you sure are the polite pony, you can call me Rarity, it's my pleasure to meet such a well behaved stallion."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s student from the school of gifted unicorns. Pleased to meet you."

"Hey there! My name in Pinkamena Diane Pie but I don't like my full name so I ask everypony to call me Pinkie Pie, I love to party and to make everyone happy, being happy is a good thing, because no one enjoys being sad, well maybe there is somepony out there who likes to be sad but I'm sure it's only because they never had the chance to attend my parties. Oh by the way do you like chocolate?" Clay took a step back completely startled by the Pink pony who had her face less than an inch away from his. Her eyes were blinking expectantly as he could barely answer the last question.

Now with a puzzled look, all he could reply was "What is chocolate?" At this question Pinkie's face switched from overly happy to an expression of horror as she came to realize the colt never ate chocolate before. Her coat became a bit darker and her poofy hair suddenly deflated in a cascade of long straight hair. After a few seconds tough her colors and mane returned to normal as a conspiratory grin crept on her face, she had something in mind and Clay wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was.

Then, a reassuring hoof firmly landed on his shoulder. "Don't you worry sugarcube, this reaction of yours is completely normal, Heck Ah'm pretty sure Ah had the same face as you do right now when Ah first met Pinkie. The name's Applejack, mah closest friends call me AJ. If you ever get hungry for a snack in Ponyville just look for mah stand, Ah sell the best apples in all of Equestria."

The cyan pegasus then landed right beside Applejack. "Hello there! Rainbow Dash's the name, and speed is my game! I'm the fastest flyer in all of Equestria and nopony can beat me in a race... Except Pinkie, but I never understood how she managed to do that." Her rose colored eyes briefly drifted in the pink pony's direction, then back at Clay, Rainbow dash shrugging. "All I know is that the laws of physics don't seem to apply to her." She then took a step aside to allow a little purple and emerald colored dragon to introduce himself.

"I'm Spike, Twilight's number one assistant, I do some of the chores at the library and take care of communication between Twi and the princesses." A yellow pegasus then slowly crept away from behind the five mares.

"I... I'm fluttershy... P.. Pleased to meet you."

"Perfect, now I think it's time for me to explain the situation." The eldest alicorn spoke once more. "You probably all remember the magical disturbances that occurred a week ago I presume. These disturbances were caused by none other than Luna and me, we were trying to help her control a power she just discovered, and it seems like she have the ability to open portals to other worlds. In other words, Clay originate from a totally different world than ours, and he wasn't born a pony either." All guests were obviously surprised by the revelation, their eyes as wide as saucers. "Clay is the name he came up with to identify himself in Equestria, as you can guess, he named himself after his coat's color. His original species is called a human, and even tough their lifestyle is similar to ours, they are shaped completely differently. Allow me to reveal some of the images one of my agents managed to show me." Celestia's horn started to glow as a little reproduction of a village appeared in the room. The illusion was a replica of some of the memories the princess was willing to show. Everypony formed a circle around the small village and then noticed something peculiar, practically hairless monkeys were walking around between the houses, they were all wearing clothes of different color and style. Yet, contrary to common monkeys their facial traits were more defined, and they all stood straight on two legs. Some of these creatures were engaged in conversations, other drinking outside what looked like an inn, and a few different humans were walking out of the village, all clad in armor and carrying massive weapons. "As you can all see, our guest is now stuck in a body he knew nothing about prior his arrival. Gladly, he is a quick learner and he can probably take care of himself by now."

Twilight raised a hoof to draw Celestia's attention, the princess gave an approving nod. "I know this question may seem weird but, why was he transformed into a pony? I find it hard to believe it would just happen without reason."

Luna took a step forward to reply. "I can answer this question since I have been making research about it myself. I found the information in a book dating from before me or Tia were born, it was probably written by our parents or grandparents. It seems like it is a security measure they implemented in our world, apparently Clay's situation has happened before and to make sure that no dangerous being would be set free in Equestria, they infused a spell that would turn any intruders into ponies. This is also a way to prevent panic if an alien creature appeared in a crowded place, and since someone stuck in a different body than their own is easily spotted by trained eyes, the royal spies scattered in villages and cities can warn the current royalty of their presence. But now this leads us to an other problem, this magic doesn't work on creatures that are devoid of sentience or are very resistant to magic. And three powerful creatures appeared in Equestria along with our guest, our tracking equipment is in need of repairs and we only managed to find one of these beasts, yet, it easily fought off the guards that found it and they only managed to get away out of sheer luck. Since then we haven't seen the beast."

Twilight gulped. "What do these creatures look like?"

"They are very similar in appearance to dragons, but I will let you find out about it on your own since Clay will show you a dead one that was brought here with him. We will work on tracking them, the best we can to prevent useless destruction, but I can't promise anything."

The village illusion slowly faded away as the regent of the sun talked once again. "Now that you know the situation at hand, I give you all this mission: Bring Clay back with you in Ponyville, show him around and help him adapt to pony life. Twilight, I will need you to give him shelter for a while, of course I'm not asking you to share a room with him but I know the library has a room, or two that can be used underground. On our side we will keep doing researches until we can find a way to send him back where he came from. I hope you will all get along until then. I am afraid we need to cut short this meeting tough, I have to hold court in less than an hour and I have to properly prepare for it. And don't worry about money, I gave him enough bits to be able to take care of himself for a while, and thank you all for coming today."

The purple unicorn quickly bowed and replied. "It was an honor to come see you Princess, and worry not, we will do our best for our new friend over there." Then the 6 mares and dragon started heading toward the exit, leaving both celestial regents alone with the stallion.

Clay grabbed a saddle bag and before he joined the pony group, he turned around to face Celestia one last time. "I thank you as well for allowing me to stay in the palace in the past week, also to have taught me how to live with this body."

Both princesses lightly bowed. " This was a pleasure." then Luna added "I really enjoyed the memories we shared trying to understand how to operate modern stoves." both she and Clay giggled as they remembered how they stuffed logs and wood sticks inside the door of the oven. They wanted to surprise Celestia by making her some pastries, but since neither of them tried this kind of oven before, they both came to the conclusion they worked like those where, for Clay, or when, for Luna, they came from. It resulted in a kitchen set on fire and two embarrassed ponies apologizing non-stop. Celestia frowned for a second then allowed a smirk to show on her face.

"You two sure kept the royal staff busy all right, but I think it helped you realize something, my dearest sister, adaptation to a new world is the same for everypony. You have to work hard, and learn as much as you can from your mistakes. Both of you share a similar fate, and I know you both have the potential to succeed in modern Equestria, and most important of all, you probably realized you must never give up."

"I sure did!" Both Luna and Clay replied at the same time, triggering a hearty laugh from all three of the ponies.

"Well I think I have to be on my way now. If I can be of any assistance to you please let me know, nothing forced you to help me out in this situation and I am very grateful for it. I hope to see you soon." Clay then turned around and galloped toward his seven new friends.

chapter 3 : Different cultures

My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by ~Meteorimpact/ Monster hunter brony

chapter 3 : Different culture

Outside the castle Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Spike, who chose this moment to take a nap on Twilight's back, were waiting for Clay and Applejack to join them. Right before they left canterlot, the stallion mentioned he needed to get a chariot to get his stuff back from the Everfree forest. The orange colored mare offered to half the load and followed him to get one as well, her hard working nature showing itself. After a few minutes, both Clay and Applejack appeared pulling very wide carts, way larger than what everyone expected. Once they were all together again they finally set hoof toward the area where Clay first appeared. After some walking, Twilight couldn't help but look at the chariots, surely they wouldn't need that much carrying capacity. In doubt, she inquired about that matter.

"Mmh, guys, are you sure you are not overdoing it?"

"That's what Ah was thinkin' as well, but he insisted on gettin' those. He says we might even be unable to get everythin'. "Replied The farm pony.

Clay couldn't help but apologize. "Sorry about that, at first I planned to do this on my own so I wouldn't have to bother you girls with this, still I guess some help might be indeed needed. You will understand what I mean when we get to my arrival spot." He thought now might be a good time to break the ice and try to know the six ponies a little more, at least it would help make the walking more pleasant. "Sooo, I got to hear your names but I don't know anything about any of you yet. So, out of curiosity, what do you all do to earn some zennies... Oh, I mean bits, what do you do to earn some bits? Let's start with you Miss Sparkle."

"Oh, I am the pony in charge of Ponyville's library, as the only one in town who actually got around to reading most of it's content, it is my duty to help other ponies find what information they seek. I'm quite fond of reading, may it be stories or research material, there is almost nothing I won't bother trying... Well, except these dirty clop novels, I'm actually considering getting rid of these, they are sort of a disgrace to this "temple of knowledge"."

"Temple of eggheads rather. All praise those who spend more time in a book than the real world." Rainbow dash added, rolling her eyes.

" Rainbow! Stop acting like being knowledgeable makes you a lesser pony!"

"Pfff, give me one reason to believe spending most of your time in books makes you able to pull off anything more awesome than what I can do." She grinned, convinced the purple unicorn would not be able to counter argue.

"Oh, I do have a reason, and a rather good example. Remember last running of the leaves? Not only did I beat you, but you arrived last, tied with Applejack yes, yet, still the last. And thanks to the pacing and respiratory techniques taught by my book, I managed to get a decent position even tough I'm not half as well physically trained as you two are." Twilight let out a smirk of triumph as Rainbow was at a loss for words. She clearly tried to bury this episode of her life as deep as she could, seeing it pop out once more just made her unable to reply anything, she ended up swallowing her pride and remained silent.

"Touché." Added Rarity, clearly enjoying the sight of Rainbow Dash utterly defeated by mere words. One day she might learn that brains and brawn are both as important.

"I see, so I guess if I need any information, you are the one I should ask first." Clay nodded and turned his head toward Pinkie Pie. "Your turn, what do you do for a living." Clay quickly realized he probably should have made a better choice of words as the Pink pony took a long breath.

"What I do for a living? Well first I wake up every morning around six to make sure I can get the kitchen for myself when I make my breakfast, Mr. and Mrs. Cake takes waaaay too much time preparing their own, so I make sure I'm done eating and cleaning the place before they get out of bed, then I give a bath to Gummy. Gummy is my pet alligator by the way and the little guy is so adorable with his little bubblegum pink eyes, but sadly even tough they got the same color they don't taste like bubblegum, trust me, I licked them to make sure! After Gummy's bath I go around town and start pranking peoples while I organize my next party- Oh it reminds me I still need to throw a party for your arrival in Ponyville, after all every newcomer must have their own welcome party, you are not yet a true Ponyvillian, wait is that even a word? Oh doesn't matter and nopony cares, anyway, you aren't a true Ponyvillian until you get to participate in my welcome party! It is tradition after all and everypony knows how much traditions are important, you know, Granny Pie used to say all the time that we should respect traditions lest they disappear, oh it reminds me one of the Pies family tradition is to find a rock, write your name on it and every year on your birthday you are to throw it as far as you can in the same direction as the previous year, it is supposed to symbolize the way a pony advance in life. You just need to remember where it fell the previous year tough." Pinkie pie stopped talking for a second to take a new massive breather, Clay wincing at the perspective of the next onslaught of random monologue he would have to face. Gladly for him tough, Applejack interrupted Pinkie just in time to make her expel all accumulated air.

"Pinkie, he didn't ask what you do WITH yer life, he asked about what you do to pay yer livin' expenses. Yer job If you prefer. Also, Ah gonna try and forget that part about Gummy." Applejack stuck out her tongue in disgust at the mental image she got.

"Oh! I work at Sugarcube Corner as a baker and salespony, I also have a hobby of organizing parties, sometime I'm hired as a party organizer, and geez it's so much fun, I mean how can I not enjoy making a party, I am allowed to use streamers pastries, games and-" The party pony suddenly noticed all other ponies' gaze upon her and proceeded to cut short her current rambling. "And I think I should stop there for now." The sigh of relief from the other travelers could probably be heard a mile around, yet Pinkie was all smile.

Clay was about to ask Rainbow Dash about her job when Applejack interrupted him. "Ah don't mean to be rude by stoppin' you right here lad, after all Ah know what yer tryin' to do. Even tough it's commendable of you to try and know more about us, Ah'm pretty sure it's common courtesy to introduce oneself before askin' others about'em. After all you will have plenty of time to get to know each of us later, since you are gonna live under the same roof as Twilight for a while. How about you tell us what you are made of."

Clay was taken aback slightly, but he knew he would eventually need to tell them about his life prior coming to Equestria. "I am a hunter, or more precisely, a monster hunter."

"How cool!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"WHAT?!" everypony turned around to look at the origin of the voice, all surprised of the intensity of it's tone considering Fluttershy never raised her voice except when she was either in complete hysteria, or in what some called "the Flutterrage". "Oh... Um... Sorry about that, I mean, I probably misunderstood you mister Clay. By monster hunter you probably mean you search for them to tame them as pet or to help them in some way or an other right?" The yellow pegasus was looking at the stallion with timid eyes.

Rainbow Dash landed right in front of the butter colored pony. "Fluttershy? As someone as close as you are with the fauna, you should know what it actually means to hunt right? You know, like a predator with it's prey. Anyway, after seeing what humans looked like I think it's kinda awesome that these creatures can manage to stand up against the forces of nature."

"Ooooh! This gives me an idea!" Pinkie chirped with a smile that covered the width of her face, as a light-bulb appeared out of nowhere above her head. She then disappeared in a puff of pink smoke leaving behind the a fore mentioned light-bulb. Clay was left agape as the remaining ponies just shrugged with the 'it's Pinkie Pie being Pinkie pie' look on their face.

Clay recollected his thoughts then took a more serious look, staring at Fluttershy and putting emphasis on each words. "I do not hunt monsters to play with them, I hunt to kill them." Fluttershy felt her heart collapse as Clay continued. "My job is to make sure our villages stay safe from monster attacks, and the hunters are an essential part of our culture. Almost everything we make is made out of monster parts, may it be clothes, shelters, tools or even food." Twilight facehoofed realizing Clay's mistake, he didn't know yet about Fluttershy's bond with woodland creatures, his ignorance was about to seriously disturb the poor animal caretaker.

"You... You can't be serious right? How can you hunt down these poor animals? And you Rainbow Dash, how can you praise him for doing such things? Doesn't it bother you that he claims to kill innocent creatures as a job? I... I... I'm sorry, but... I think I need some time to think about this. I'll talk to you girls later." With these final word she turned around and ran to her cottage, tears of frustration coming out of her eyes. She wasn't sad, yet, she felt like Celestia tricked her or willingly hid this information from the pony group.

"Fluttershy! Come on, don't tell me you're getting all flustered just for that." Rainbow Dash sighed, she guessed Clay hit a sensible cord, but she also knew he probably wasn't intending to make her feel bad. He just seemed to be a bit clumsy with words. "Guys, I think I will follow her and see if I can't do anything to cheer her up, I'll meet you again later, shouldn't be too hard for me to catch up with you." The representative of loyalty then zipped in the same direction as the other pegasus.

Clay looked a bit confused. "What got into her? I mean, Isn't it normal to actively hunt monsters?" He looked quickly at the remaining three ponies noticing Twilight still facehoofing, Rarity looking a bit disappointed, and Applejack walking to him.

"Ok new guy, Ah think we need to make something clear for ya. Fluttershy is very sensitive, and can take any form of aggressivity in a harsher way than most ponies. I guess you had no way to know this but Fluttershy is an animal caretaker. She share a deep bond of friendship with all living creatures, monsters even. Ah bet if we knew about yer job beforehand we would've stopped you from tellin' her, but right now what's done is done. Ah'm gonna have to ask you to avoid mentionin' your line of work to her again tough, well at least until she can actually accept what you are. Ah just hope Dash will manage to comfort her a bit. One sure thing tough, Ah want you to go apologize to her for the tone you used, Ah dunno why, but your voice suddenly sounded aggressive when you told her that you killed your preys, it sure didn't help and Ah didn't like it either."

Clay was starting to feel guilty as he looked in the direction both pegasi left for. "I... I'm sorry girls. It's just that for a second I thought she was mocking me when she asked If I was playing with monsters or even helping them. Where I come from, hundreds of peoples suffer every day because of these beasts, this simple thought kinda irked me and I guess I let my irritation get the best of me." He sighed, knowing full well how his fast changing temper got him in trouble before. "Next time I see her I'll try to make amend, promise." He was staring at the ground not wanting to cross the eyes of the farm pony.

"Glad to hear you can see yer wrongs lad. And don't fret too much about this, after all, you've only been here for a week right? It's probably hard on yer nerves to have to cope with a body and a world you weren't born in." She gave Clay a gentle nudge on his shoulder while bearing a cheerful smile. "Now If you don't mind, can you tell us if we are gettin' close to our destination? We've been walkin' awfully close to the Everfree forest for a while now and Ah don't feel very comfortable around it. The sooner we get in and leave will be the best."

Clay started ruffling trough his saddlebags until he found what he was looking for, a map of the forest, and a small dark blue key bearing Luna's cutie mark. He proceeded to unfold the map and placed it flat on the ground. Then the stallion dropped the key at its center. Clear blue light emerged from it as it started floating above the paper representation of the surroundings, the tip of the key then marked a spot of the map indicating the destination of the pony group.
"I don't know much about this place, but if I'm right, we should be able to get there in about twenty minutes or so. I think." He then stored everything back in their respective bags and resumed walking, the remainder of the travel remained silent, the group guessing it would be wise not to give away their presence to the denizens of the Everfree forest

Fluttershy ran as fast she could toward her home, questions still rolling trough her head. Why did Celestia accept to shelter this pony? Why has she asked them to take care of him? Why didn't she tell them he was the kind of pony who takes the life of other creatures? The more she thought about it, the more confused she felt, this didn't make any sense. As far as she knew, there was always a peaceful way to settle problems with monsters, she proved it with the manticore and the cockatrice. Twilight did the same with the ursa minor. Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted as a blue streak passed in front of her and landed at her side, startling her for a second.

"Fluttershy! I've been trying to get your attention for the past two minutes. What is wrong with you? I don't think I've seen you act like that before. Was it what he said?" Rainbow Dash asked with concern, she knew that Fluttershy was not the type to run away, she sometime hid herself when thing scared or disturbed her, but she would not flee just like that.

"I... I'm sorry Rainbow. It's just that I think we are making a mistake by allowing him to come to Ponyville. I mean, Celestia probably knew about his past, yet she didn't tell us, as if she thought we wouldn't find out ourselves. Was it to protect him? Or did he hide that from her knowing full well it wouldn't be wise to tell this truth to the most powerful being in Equestria. What do we know about him? Only that he is ready to take the life of somepony else to make money, that's what." Fluttershy's tears already dried up, but she still felt some anger squirming in her heart, a feeling she was not used to. The cyan pegasus then passed a hoof around her shoulders to keep both of them closer as their walked.

"We need to get a small discussion mare to mare. I'm sure you are making it worst than it is. I fully understand that you feel insecure with this new pony around, and, while his line of work isn't very common here, I don't think he would just take the life of anypony for no reason. This is a clash of cultures, we were raised to try to resolve most problems without violence, tough I know I'm not a good example of that. On his side, he was raised to fear the monsters and was taught how to deal with them, in a different way than ours. I'm pretty sure our favorite spirit of kindness can learn to tolerate a simple cultural difference right? I know I'm not the most empathic pony around, but I think I am well placed to know that cultural difference shouldn't stop one from becoming friend with another." She grinned bringing a small smile on the butter colored pony's face.

"I know what you mean. I still wonder tough, if you think back, when Nightmare Moon returned a year ago, even tough she had the power to, she didn't harm any of us, she could probably have killed us all in one sweep, or banished us to the sun, yet, she simply toyed with us until we managed to get rid of her. If the strongest evil in Equestria didn't take any life when she could, what does that make him?"

"Well, the only way we could know about Nightmare Moon would be to ask the lady herself, which is a bit impossible right now. My best guess is, even tough she was in control, Luna's feeling were probably stopping her from doing anything terrible. As for what he is, I would say he's nothing more than a poor pony who is confused about his situation, taking a life is how he learned to defend himself, and we can't really change his past. That's why Celestia and Luna are both working their flank off to send him back home, so he won't need to become somepony else just to live with us. Worst case scenario, he can't go back, and he learn a new way to live on his own." On these words, Fluttershy's cottage came in sight.

"Thanks Rainbow, I will try to be a bit stronger and make peace with him. After all, nopony is ultimately evil right? I just need to accept our differences."

"Now that's my kind and loving Fluttershy! Well, I will go back to meet with the others, he probably can use a bit more hooves to gather his stuff." She took a quick glance at the cottage's mailbox. "Oh, and I think I'll see you again tonight, looks like Pinkie is delivering invitations for his welcome-to-Ponyville party. Will be a good chance for you two to talk things over as well." They both shared a hug as Rainbow Dash took flight." Well then, see you later." She disappeared leaving a trail of rainbow. Fluttershy entered her cottage and headed for her couch where she laid, her anger had completely faded and she felt at peace again allowing her to drift in an afternoon nap.

It didn't take long for Rainbow Dash to find her friends in the Everfree forest, her enhanced pegasus vision allowed her to spot the chariots they brought with them from far away. As she guessed they were now standing beside the ice dome that appeared a week ago, eager to find out what was hidden under the thick layer of ice, the cyan pegasus increased her speed and tried to land directly on the dome, resulting in a slip and a crash right beside it.

"Loud landing!" She claimed as she stood back on four legs, a bit bruised and trying to cover up her mishap. Applejack rolled her eyes out of annoyance but refrained from commenting. "So what's under this thing?"

Rarity walked up to her to answer her question. "We are just about to find out, my dear. More importantly tough, was Fluttershy all right? The poor darling seemed greatly disturbed."

"Nothing to worry about, just a bit of a misunderstanding. All she need is to talk to our new pal over there, she simply need to accept the differences of culture between ponies and humans."

"Glad to hear it, I bet a quick visit to Aloe's and Lotus' bath house will help her feel even better, I will schedule a visit for tomorrow."

Clay searched his saddlebags for the blue key once more, now holding it in his teeth, he proceeded to touch the ice dome with it. The key turned into a glowing mist that engulfed the frozen structure and started to melt it until it all vanished away revealing the huge body of a dead wyvern. The creature had azure scales and only two legs, a long tail ending with a spiked mace shaped tip, and a pair of wing as wide as a dragon's. The reptilian creature's head was hard to describe tough, since a pony sized sword was stuck in it emitting small jolts of electricity. Beside it, an empty shell shaped like a monkey was laying on the ground with what the ponies guessed was a human type saddlebag. It was still a mystery for them why the hunter insisted on bringing carts that large, it should be easy to fit that armor, weapon and bag on a regular sized chariot. The stallion then ruffled trough his bag again, taking out some flint and tinder and a long carving knife.
"Can any of you help me start a fire while I get to work? It may take a while since I haven't done this with this body yet. And by the way, those with weak hearts should refrain from watching, not everyone can stand looking at this."

The pony group was a bit dumbfounded since they didn't understand what was going to happen, Twilight Sparkle wanted to ask what he meant. "If you don't mind telling us, what is going to be hard to-" TCHUNK. Holding the carving knife in his teeth, Clay started to stab the wyvern corpse and proceeded to carefully remove the skin and scales of the creature. The purple unicorn became livid as she finally understood why the need of large carriages. She felt her stomach churn a little and chose to look away, she levitated the flint and tinder and volunteered to start a fire, at least it would keep the Everfree forest creatures at bay while the colt was doing his grim work.

Applejack couldn't help but ask why Clay was doing something that horrible, to which he replied he was trying not to waste anything. He quickly explained how it was a way to show respect to your prey to make sure its death wasn't for nothing, and how he planned to give a new life to its parts. The farm pony wasn't sure she approved of this, but she did understand the colt's point of view. She then offered to gather some wood for the fire and left the forest clearing.

Surprisingly enough the usually tidy and ladylike pony wasn't looking away. She was remembering her days at Hayrvard university where she learned how to turn her passion for dressmaking into a career. She shone trough all of the fashion courses, may it be design, sewing, gem-crafting or metallurgy, which was useful to craft the jewelry to accompany her dresses. There was an other course she took that was way more uncommon, almost nopony would subscribe to this one since the materials for it were so hard to come by. The leather and dragon scales modeling courses. Mostly used for protection and armor, these material always eluded Rarity's search for them, leather haven't been used for the past years and even back when it was common, only the tanned skin of already dead animals was used. Dragon scales on the other hoof were hard to come by simply because dragons were a rare sight to behold, let alone a dead dragon or a live one willing to part with its scales. This was a chance in a lifetime, and she didn't plan to waste it. She got closer to the body as Clay was struggling with his knife, the handle was slipping out of his mouth and he kept spiting the blood that was smearing it.
"Need a hand darling?" She used her magic to lift the knife out of Clay's mouth and then she lowered it near the spot he was trying to cut. "All you have to do is tell me where I should cut and I will. All I ask is to be allowed to keep some scales in exchange of this service." She winked at him to confirm her claim.

"You can keep all of it if you wish to, all I want is to make sure not to let any of this go to waste. Where I come from, the hunters are allowed to take their share of materials, then they bring their quarry to the closest hunter guild. The guild staff is then tasked to use everything that's left to help their community. I know we won't be able to keep half of the rathalos' body, so we might as well give as much as we can to those who wish to use it. Thanks for your help by the way, I really appreciate it."

"It's my pleasure, but I would feel bad to keep everything for myself, isn't there anything I can do to repay you?"

Clay pondered a little, then as he looked at his empty armor he got an idea. "If you can tell me where I could remodel this to fit my pony body I would be ever grateful, I kinda feel naked without my armor on... Oh, right, I'm actually naked, but that's beyond the point. What I mean is I feel safer with it on my back."

"I guess it's time to tell you about my line of work then, I am a dressmaker, a fashion designer, and most of all, I like a good challenge once in a while. I will personally remodel your armor for you, I know a couple magic tricks to cut through hard material which should come in handy. All I need is to take your measurements, If you don't mind I will take them as we bring the scales and skin to my workshop. I haven't filed an order for new fabric in a while so there should be plenty of room in the back-store." She followed Clay's instructions for a while longer a she cut trough the thicker plates forming the back of the wyvern, levitating each pieces to one of the chariot. After a moment both carriage were full of scales, leaving just enough space to store the armor and sword. Moving the protective gear wasn't too hard, but when it came to lift the weapon, it was a whole new challenge, Rarity had to ask Twilight for help as the sheer weight of the blade made it hard to lift off the ground. Applejack already came back and was now laying beside the fire Twilight started earlier, both mares refused to take a look at the now skinless beast.

Rainbow Dash remained silent during the whole skinning procedure, at first Clay tought she was as shocked as twilight and Applejack, but soon, he realized it wasn't it. The rainbow maned pegasus was staring at the scales and armor, and the stallion couldn't help but feel a bit of envy coming from the mare. After all she did say earlier that she tought it was cool to battle these creatures, was she thinking of trying this job? A rumbling sound emerged from his stomach, and the mares' digestive organs replied with a similar sound to voice their approval. It is true they didn't eat anything since their departure from Canterlot. Clay started searching the bag that laid beside the armor earlier, and he took out the portable barbecue spit that was in it. He then proceeded to cut a piece of meat from the wyvern and placed it over the fire, much to the disapproval of the ponies. "What are you doing?" Asked Twilight.

"Cooking dinner. You want some?" The already pale purple unicorn almost turned white, the orange mare quickly shook her head left and right and Rarity simply declined the offer as politely as she could, unease showing in her voice.

Much to the three mares' surprise Rainbow dash answer was "Why not?"

Still shocked Twilight voice rose. "Wait you can't be serious Rainbow, this is meat, ponies don't eat meat!"

"Twi, it's not as if it was the first time I ate meat." The eyes of the three mares grew as wide as saucer, all of them agape with this revelation. Rainbow Dash let out an exasperated sigh. "Girls, do I have to remind you my best friend used to be a griffon? It's kinda awkward to ask for hay or grass when you are invited to stay over at a griffon family's dinner. It's far from being my favorite dish, but when prepared properly it's not bad." Clay then grabbed some spices from the backpack and powdered the meat with it. The smell of unknown spices quickly spread all around, and much to their surprise, it did smell good.

"I..." Rarity started, then gulped. "I will try a piece. Just out of politeness for our first meal with our guest. But please don't expect me to eat a whole plate, just a sample will suffice." Twilight Sparkle and Applejack looked at each other for a few second, then back at the cooking piece of meat.

"Ah'm sorry but Ah can't bring mahself to do this. Don't take it personally but Ah'd rather stay ninety percent vegetarian. Only animal products Ah consume are milk and eggs. So Ah think Ah'm just gonna eat in town today. If you want me to Ah can bring the first carriage with me as Ah head there."

"Please do so darling, would you mind leaving it in the back-store of Carrousel Boutique? I have an agreement with Clay here to keep these materials and work with them, You would be a dear."

" All right, Ah guess Ah'll send the chariot back to Canterlot after Ah'm done. Enjoy your... meal."

"No offense but I am with Applejack on this one, I can't bring myself to eat the flesh of an other creature. So I guess I will accompany AJ for dinner, and at the same time I'll drop Spike at the library, the poor thing seems to be so tired even tough he spent all day sleeping, I guess he did work a lot these past days. Rarity, would you mind showing Clay his way to the library when you guys are done?"

Rarity, smelling the dish she was about to taste lifted her head to answer Twilight. " Of course darling, don't worry, I will not bring him late, just need to take care of some business at Carrousel Boutique and I will be on my way."

"Good, well, see you all later." Then, both Twilight and Applejack were gone, leaving Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Clay alone around the barbecue spit.

After a few minutes passed, Clay asked Rarity if she could use her magic to cut the meat, she complied splitting it into three pieces, one very small and two equally bigger ones. At first she only nibbled her portion. The taste of the spices filled her mouth like spilled water, the spices had a comforting aroma to them. She then took a larger bite, the taste of the well done meat wasn't bad at all, it was a bit hard to chew since equine teeth weren't made for cutting, but after a while she managed to swallow, feeling the warm food go down her throat. Her rumbling stomach was asking for more, but she didn't know how to admit she liked it enough to have a full plate. Apparently words weren't needed since both Rainbow dash and Clay hoofed her a part of their share. She thanked them both and greedily ate the new pieces.

"Well now you amaze me Rarity, I never thought you, of all ponies, would try or even appreciate meat. When I first tried it at Gilda's place it took me a bit longer to convince myself to munch on it. I'm not making it part of my diet, but I do admit I like it once in a while."

"Well, this is a surprising experience I gotta say. It will probably be both the first and last time I eat this, but I guess I have to thank our cook for this delicious meal." She seemed lost in thought for a second, then she turned around to face Clay. "If you don't mind answering, what do you plan to do during your stay in Ponyville. Are you going to look for work? Maybe you could help at the library."

The stallion took a few second to think about it, he remembered what Celestia said about other creatures that were brought with him to Equestria.

"Well, there is one thing I want to take care of before I think about that. I know other creatures like the one we have beside us are lurking around Equestria, I think it is my duty to get rid of them before they kill innocent ponies. Problem is, I don't know if I can do this alone, I know how to use many weapons with a human body, but as an equine, I don't think I can wield anything with just my teeth. And I can't really ask Celestia's guard to do this themselves since they know nothing about these monsters, and they don't have enough experience to deal with them, I know how their group was defeated when they first encountered a flying wyvern. They were simply too many, if you are too close to each others you run the risk of having collateral damage from an exploding fireball to hit more ponies. Also, more hunters all trying to hit the same target makes you unable to properly focus on the weak points, since you have to make sure not to hit your allies. And finally, because it is more likely you will have an injured pony, you have to split your focus between bringing them to safety for recovery, and dodging the next attack from the beast. That is why the hunter guild only allow groups of four maximum to leave on a hunt. The only situation where it is allowed to have bigger groups is when a large monster needs to be fought, creatures large enough to allow all hunters to have their own maneuvering space." He pondered for a second about his decision. "I need to find another pony who is willing to hunt with me, most monsters are manageable while in pair." As Rainbow Dash finished her share of the meal, she quickly glanced at the remaining chariot, the one with the armor and sword. This wasn't unnoticed by Clay, yet she didn't say anything, apparently unsure about what she wanted. A keen observer, Clay added "And I think I found somepony. Rarity, do you have Rainbow Dash's measurements?"

Both mares blushed as rarity rose her voice, apparently aggravated. "Now that is a bit rude to ask for a lady's measurements as if she was an object, don't think I am willing to share this kind of professional secrets so easily, you ruffian." She huffed.

Clay blushed as he realized what the female ponies were thinking."Nonono, you got it all wrong, that's not what I meant. What I meant is: Do you have the information needed to make Rainbow Dash an armor out of the rathalos pieces we just gathered? I noticed she has been giving my equipment envious looks all day long. If you are willing to, I can show you the ropes." Both mare blinked quickly, analyzing the last information.

"Oh I see but, I don't think she w-" A blue hoof appeared before Rarity's face, interrupting her speech.

"Of course I'm accepting! I mean, this gotta be the coolest thing to do after joining the wonderbolts! How can I say no to a chance to be an awesome monster hunter! This is just so awesome! And I'm pretty sure it would be amazing on my C.V., think about it in a few years, Rainbow Dash, ex-monster hunter now leader of the Wonderbolts!"

"Glad to see you eager to help me, but if you are going to follow my tutelage, I have a few rules to give you," he then stood as tall as he could, a stern look in his face, and a somewhat intimidating voice "If you do not follow them I will revoke your apprenticeship, got it? First rule, you will obey every order i give you in battle, you are free to act as you please, but if at some point I tell you to do a particular action, you do it. Second rule, you have to prioritize dodging over attacking, if you get hit even once it might be the end of the battle for you, as for the monster, it can probably endure an onslaught of our attacks before falling, so be careful, you can't help bring it down if you are down yourself. As for the next two rules, they are the most important, don't even think about not respecting them. Third rule is-"

Applejack and Twilight Sparkle were eating their own dinner at the closest Daisyburger they could find. This chain of restaurant was known as the first to deep fry flowers before placing them in a roasted bun, the food wasn't considered very healthy, but it was tasty and it did fill the stomach as it should. As dinner went on the farm pony raised a question.

"So, what do ya think of this new pony? The lad seems to be a good fellow, but he doesn't seem to think much before acting."

"It hard to say really, as you are saying he seems to be a good and honest colt, but we can't really judge a book by it's cover right? We need a bit more time to make an actual opinion, although you can probably agree that he left a bad first impression on Fluttershy."

"Yeah you may be right about that, but Ah think he is just as awkward socially as one of my best pal used to be, happens Ah'm currently eating dinner with her." She winked at the purple unicorn who shyly reminisced of a time when she would rather spend time studying than with other ponies. After all Applejack may be right, his behavior is probably the result of not spending enough time with others. "And that's why Ah think Celestia asked us to take care of him, after all she did send you here to help you with this matter, and Ah would bet my hat she wants to do the same with him. After all, she did say she wanted you to teach him yer lesson in the magic of friendship. That was probably a hint."

"You're right. I didn't see it like that at first, but I think you are close to the truth. What tickles me tough is I wonder what would stop him from spending time with his peers. There gotta be a reason."

"Beats me, the only way to find out would be to ask him directly, maybe if we wait a few days he will tell us by himself, but now we need to give him some time to get used to Ponyville, then we will see what we can learn about him, he should open up by himself after a while, hopefully before he has to go." Applejack took a last bite out of her dinner and prepared to leave the table. "Now if you will excuse me, Ah need to bring this empty cart to the local rental service office so they can ship it back to Canterlot, Ah'll see you later."

"Ok, take care." Twilight finished her own dinner and left for the library. Little did she know Ponyville would soon face dangers like it never had before.

Chapter 4 : First night in Ponyville

Author's notes: Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the story thus far, I know I'm a bit slow with updates but I have a hard time keeping up with all IRL stuff. This not is to mention that I posted a revised version of chapter 1 and chapter 2, no major changes but I think it's worth mentioning. Also feel free to give feedback about the way I portray the characters and such, I don't want Clay to enter Gary stu's hell, and I don't want to make the mane 6 out of character, so if anything bugs you, tell me and I'll take it in consideration when working on new chapters.
Originally this chapter was supposed to be much longer but I chose to cut it in 2 parts, both because I want the action to move a bit faster toward the first encounter and because I know I can fit the removed part somewhere later without affecting the flow of the story. The now removed part will appear somewhere in chapter 5-6-7 depending on their individual length.
And now, enjoy the new chapter!

My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by ~Meteorimpact/Monster Hunter Brony

Chapter 4 : First night in Ponyville

Rarity and Clay were on their way to Carousel boutique, Rainbow Dash already left them and mentioned she would meet them later at Sugarcube Corner leaving them question whatever she meant. Once they finally reached the fashionista's shop, she unlocked the back-store door usually used for deliveries, allowing Clay to bring in the scale filled cart. They then proceeded to unload it and when only the sword and armor were left, Rarity faced Clay asking "Are you sure about doing this? I'm not going to stop you, but I have to admit I am worried for Rainbow Dash. Do you really think she can pull it off?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked her, she is full of energy, and seems to have a lot of ambitions. We could say that the best hunters are forged out of peoples like her, I didn't get to ask her much about herself, and I know very little about who she really is, but her eyes can't lie to me, she wants to do this, and even if I didn't ask her, I'm pretty sure she would get into a fight with a monster at the first occasion. Might as well make sure she is safe by tutoring her." He replied trying to make his tone as reassuring as he could.

"If you say so, but I warn you, if anything happens to her. You. Will. Be. Held as responsible. Is that clear?" She emphasized her thought by prodding Clay with her horn every time she took a pause in the sentence.

"Crystal clear ma'am!" He couldn't help but rub the now sore spot on his shoulder, where the horn left a little bruise. Then he muttered to himself "I won't allow any harm to come to her or anyone else."

"Did you say something?" Rarity inquired as she was unloading the armor and carefully placing it in a corner.

"Nothing important, just mumbling to myself. By the way, do you think there is any way to convert my sword into something Rainbow and I could use?"

The white unicorn took a long pensive look at the massive weapon, still coursing with jolts of electricity. The gigantic sword had a blade making only half of the broad side of the blade, other half was made out of sort sort of fleshy light grey matter. A few electrodes glowing neon teal seemed to be the source of power for the electric weapon. "I think I have an idea, but I don't know yet if it's feasible. You will have to ask me in a day or two." After she and Clay took it off the cart and stored it beside the armor, she beckoned him to follow her to the front of the boutique. "What kind of host am I, I forgot to offer you something to drink, would you like some water?" to which he simply approved with a nod. As Rarity walked around the shop's counter to reach her cupboard, she noticed something laying on the door mat, a bright pink invitation to Clay's welcome-to-Ponyville party. "Oh dear, I forgot Pinkie wouldn't pass a chance to throw a party." She took a quick glance at Clay and her eyes quickly grew as large as saucers. " Oh my, you certainly aren't ready to attend it! Your coat is still stained with blood and you definitely need some sort of makeover, I can't let you go like that. You are going to follow me home and take a bath, as soon as we get there I want you to go to the second floor and head to the second room on your left, you will find the bathtub there, meanwhile I will prepare something to make you somewhat presentable."

"Umh, I appreciate the attention but it will be ok, it's only a little smudge of blood, I'll clean that la-"

"I said: Second room to your left on the second floor!" If Rarity was able to shoot lightning with her eyes, Clay would probably be a pile of ashes by now.

"Got it!" The stallion just gave a very nervous grin as he was looking for a way to escape the slightly irritated fashionista, to no avail. Guess there was no escape from this.

"And don't take too long, I don't want Sweetie Belle to come back from her Cutie Mark Crusaders activities and ask me why there is a stranger in the bath. Now let's move!"

After a small detour by the library to drop Clay's saddlebags and back pack, both ponies took off to join the festivities. The party was already ongoing when both Clay and Rarity arrived, ponies laughing and talking everywhere around Sugarcube Corner. It didn't take long for Twilight Sparkle to spot them and join the newcomers.

"Hey guys, I see Spike gave you the message, glad you could make it to the party."

"He did but even without him, Pinkie already left invitations at both my house and Carrousel Boutique, my guess is she wanted to make sure I wouldn't miss it. We are a bit late but I had to take care of something." She waved a foreleg toward Clay.

Twilight took a glance at the earth colored stallion and chuckled. "I see, it seem you got the Rarity makeover treatment, don't worry we all went through it." Clay blushed a little, not used to wear anything formal, or getting groomed. He had his mane slightly trimmed and combed so the hair wouldn't touch the ground anymore and he was donning a wine colored necktie matching his coat. "By the way Pinkie was looking all around for you. You should go tell her that you are finally here, speaking of the devil, she's right over there looking under the punch bowl."

"Got it, I guess it would be polite of me to at least thank her for the attention." He bowed to both Rarity and Twilight and quickly trotted over the table Pinkie was looking under and called out to her. "Miss Pinkie, I hear you wanted to talk to-" He didn't get to end his sentence since he got literally glomped by the energetic party pony.

"There you are! I looked all over for you, I couldn't announce the special game I planned for this party without the guest of honor , it would have been rude of me especially since I got the idea from you!" Without warning she bit Clay's tail as he was trying to get his breath back and then proceeded to drag him over a small stage where she did her best to attract everypony's attention. "Hello ladies and gentlecolts, I hope you are all having as much fun as I do as we welcome our new town resident" She pointed a hoof at the colt trying to desperately free his tail from Pinkie's teeth, how was she able to speak so clearly with her teeth clenched this hard was a complete mystery. "I will now present you the main attraction of tonight's party! We are going on a monster hunt in Ponyville!" Pinkie pie then pulled a rope that was hanging over the small stage, and a curtain raised revealing a manticore shaped Pinata. The candy filled creature was tied to a small battery powered wheeled contraption. "I hid many of these around ponyville, and once I press a certain switch they will all start to roam around town, your mission if you accept it is to grab one of those wooden sword laying under the stage and hunt for your candies! Good luck everypony!"

After some loud cheering the crowd rushed to get their wooden weapons all eager to hunt for delicious sweetness. Satisfied with this, the pink pony turned to face the still struggling colt. "And I got something special planned for you before you attend the party." Her immense grin did nothing to reassure Clay who felt Pinkie tugging on his tail again, forcefully dragging him inside a dark room in Sugarcube Corner. The room was almost pitch black and it was impossible to discern anything if not for the help of the moon's light. Clay suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground and dropped on what seemed to be a chair. As he was trying to find his bearing he realized his tail was free again, after scanning the room for a source of light he felt his blood freeze in his veins when he saw Pinkie's eyes and large scary grin reflecting the moonlight, she was holding something made out of metal in her teeth, Clay was about to switch to self defense mode but the light suddenly turned on, revealing Pinkie pie holding a large tray of mushrooms of all imaginable colors. She then dropped the tray on the table Clay was facing and exclaimed "SURPRISE! I'm not letting you leave this room until you try them."

Clay wasn't so sure it was a good idea but he thought now wouldn't be a good time to anger the party planner. He grabbed one of the mushrooms from the tray and started analyzing it, the stem had some sort of thin wavy layer sticking to it, he tried biting in that layer to see if it was edible but when he pulled, it simply came off, dropping on the table. He then smelled the weird mushroom and was surprised it smelled, sweet? That's when he noticed Pinkie was staring at him expectantly the whole time, not able to stand it any longer he just stuffed his mouth with the mushroom in one go. He couldn't believe it, the sweetness was incredible, and this flavor was nothing he ever tasted before, the only sweets he knew where honey based pastries and a few made out of berries. Not waiting any more seconds Pinkie pie jumped on the table and brought her face right in front of Clay's.

"So do you like chocolate?"

"Oh, you mean chocolate is that kind of mushroom? I guess I do like it." He chuckled as he realized what this set up was all about, but Pinkie felt the need to correct him.

"These aren't mushroom silly, they are cupcakes! Who would make sweets out of mushroom, you have weird taste if you do, really. I spent all day making them since I guessed there is no cupcakes where you came from, you can try any you want, I made chocolate, blueberry, and my favorite, strawberry! I'm so glad you like it, I mean I can't imagine a world without sweets so it must have been horrible for you not to have had cupcakes before! I may have been a bit forceful but it was for your own good, now try an other one and you are free to go party with the others, after all you got sweets to take from the roaming pinata monsters!" At this moment a faint voice coming from the next room could be heard asking who wanted to play pin the tail on the pony, Pinkie practically disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Clay alone with the cupcakes.

The stallion, just laughed at the whole situation, all this just to make sure he would know the taste of cupcakes? That's when he realized he was a fool to let himself be afraid of the pink pony. She was simply the most spontaneous and random being he ever met, and frankly, he was starting to enjoy this. Only a few days passed since he arrived to Equestria, and yet, it felt so good. He had a hard time remembering the last time he enjoyed the company of others as much as this, sure he joined many hunting parties, but even tough he somewhat befriended some hunters, he never tried to keep contact with them. If he met them again on a hunt it was fun, but he wasn't actively looking for these particular peoples, just a group to hunt with. As weird as it seemed, he enjoyed this adventure with the multicolored ponies and he was ready to try and have as much fun as possible during his stay. He shoved an other cupcake in his mouth and headed outside grabbing a wooden sword lying on the ground, time to kick some pinatas' flanks.

As he ran trough Ponyville in search for his quarry he took great care in taking notes of some landmarks to be able to make his way back to Sugarcube Corner, having fun was great and all, but not if he wasn't able to come back after. The streets were dark with only the moon and occasional lit windows to reveal them, then, the sound of wheels rolling on the stone road could be heard a few meters away. Clay readied his weapon, holding it as best he could with his teeth, and trotted over the sounds origin, only then did he notice a weak thumping sound coming from the same direction, as he came closer he finally spotted the candy filled monster, beside it was a yellow pegasus lightly hitting it with her own wooden sword. Clay had to stifle a laugh at the scene, Fluttershy looked so adorable trying to get her hooves on the sweets, yet failing to break the pinata due to the lack of strength in her hits. That's when he remembered he owed the mare some apologies, this chance meeting was probably a good time to try and make up. The plan was simple, he would help break the pinata, and would improvise depending on her reaction, if she got scared he would use comedy to lighten the atmosphere. without a second thought, the stallion clenched his teeth as hard as he could on the sword handle and dashed toward the pinata, with a precise strike to the papier macher monster's belly it finally stopped moving revealing its candy filled insides.

"EEP!" Fluttershy startled and hid as fast as she could in a barrel leaning against a wall. A few seconds later she finally risked a look out of it and saw Clay splitting the candies in two equal piles.

Exactly what he was waiting for, he then took a comically heroic pose and said with a comedic tone "Hello there, I'm sorry if I scared you, but when I saw you were in dire need of assistance I had to rush to your help, no need to thank me, anypony would have done the same for you. Thanks to your help in distracting the beast I was able to strike the final blow and we managed to save Ponyville from it's attacker! Here is your share of the spoils, let's celebrate our victory over the pinacore!" He then pushed one of the candy pile toward the now confused pegasus all the while bearing a smile he hoped looked cheerful, she simply stood there, blinking and staring in his general direction as if she was trying to make sense of the scene that just unfolded before her eyes. Clay was starting to wonder if operation 'make-a-fool-out-of-myself-to-lighten-the-atmosphere' was a success or not. Apparently his attempt at looking ridiculous didn't work as he planned. "Miss Fluttershy? Are you all right?"

She finally emerged from her stupor, "OH! Mmh... Yes... I am fine... I was just a little surprised." She then realized who she was talking to, and felt a little embarrassed as she remembered the way she acted during the walk back to Ponyville.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened today." They both said at the same time.

Clay quickly added. "You don't have to apologize to me, I was the one at fault. I think I got a bit rude with you and I know how I sometimes express myself the wrong way. If there is anything I can do to make it up to you, you can ask me, if it's in my power I'll try to grant it to you."

Fluttershy blushed a bit and came to the realization the colt really wasn't a bad pony, maybe she did overreact when they first met. She got out of the barrel she was hiding in and stood beside one of the candy pile. "I... Um... I still want to say I'm sorry about judging you before actually trying to know you a bit better. As for making it up to me, I think you just did, After all you saved me from the claws of the dangerous pinacore." She took a hoof to her forehead in a comedy act as terrible as Clay's. "Who knows what could have happened to Ponyville if not for your help?" There was a moment of silence before they both started laughing. Clay felt relieved there were no hard feelings between both of them, the weight of his guilt finally leaving his shoulders. Both ponies then chose to head back to Sugarcube Corner with their trophy. Unable to carry all the sweets on their own, they simply filled the pinata with everything and pushed it like a cart, they would share the reward later with their friends.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, Doctor Whooves was working with Luna on a way to open a two way rift to Clay's home world. Thus far, all attempts to connect to it either started opening a portal to a different dimension than the one they were looking for, or, when they did manage to make a gate to the right world, it was still one way only. Luna was taking a nap as Celestia entered the laboratory in search of answers. In the past week, every night were spent trying to figure out how Luna could open portals to an other dimension, and why their locations were so random.

"Good evening Doctor. Did you make any breakthrough regarding the current situation?"

The stallion with the hourglass cutie mark did not lift his eyes from the notes he was reading but still answered the question. "Greetings Princess, indeed I think I managed to work something out, or rather, I think I'm starting to understand how the spell works, or doesn't."

She perked an eye out of confusion. "How it works or doesn't? What does it even mean?"

"Exactly what it says. The spell seems to be an incomplete spell, one that Luna didn't create herself. As you know the alicorns aren't born as alicorn. I know you both used to be unicorn before you inherited the powers to move the sun and moon. And I think we can trace the origins of all this to this period, during the ceremony where a regent of the sun or moon choose their successor, they pass down all of their power, including their cutie marks, and the spells they knew beforehand. I'm actually pretty sure both you and Princess Luna have many latent abilities or spells you don't even know about, because you don't know you have them."

"Are you implying that we have magical powers we ignore? How is that even possible, if we know how to cast a spell, then it should mean we know what the spell is, right?"

"It's not as simple as that I fear. Remember back when you got your powers, what is the first ability you used? The answer is easy, you already knew how to move the sun, because you knew that being the regent of the sun implied this responsibility. By knowing this role you were given, you were easily able to find the power to move the sun in your spell pool. But since you have no idea what kind of other magic your predecessor knew, your subconscious don't know where to look when it comes to use them. That's where my theory comes in. Let's recapitulate the events leading to Luna's discovery of the spell. during the past months, she tried to integrate modern life with little to no success, every time she made a mistake or failed in a simple task, she would end up isolating herself in her room, ashamed of her inability to adapt. As time went on and the stress accumulated, she finally started breaking up, she was starting to sink in despair and fear of being unable to live a normal life."

Suddenly Celestia's eyes grew wide as she was starting to piece everything together. "A call for help, her nature always made her keep everything to herself, so it was a distress call nopony but her could hear."

"Exactly. That's when the first incomplete tears started appearing. Her subconscious used her emotions to find a spell to help her. And if my theory is correct I might be able to figure out if the spells is really acting randomly or if it's just unstable because it's still in creation process. It seem the previous regent of the moon started working on this spell but never finished it before giving his powers to Luna. Problem is, to confirm my theory I would need to access the ancestral archives, the place where the previous leaders of Equestria stored all their knowledge. Would you mind granting me access to this section of the castle?"

"Permission granted, I will make the arrangements to allow you to make your researches in that sector."

As the night was moving on, the party's participants slowly started to head home one after the other, it was getting late and only the elements of harmony and Clay still remained. The past few hours were spent telling stories about themselves such as the day Rainbow Dash performed her sonic rainboom, or even the time when Trixie came to ponyville. Failing to stop an ursa minor's rampage, Twilight intervened and managed to defeat the beast, saving ponyville. Clay was finishing his own story about a hunt he went on with a female hunter. The monster they were looking for was something fairly easy to defeat, a monster known as the Yian Kut-ku. The Kut-ku is a small bird like wyvern with a big beak and fan shaped ears, the average specimen is about two to three meters high and four to five in length. The first day of the hunt didn't go quite well, they spent all afternoon and evening looking for their quarry, yet, they never managed to see it, at some point they decided to set up camp and try looking again the day after. Ironically enough the wyvern found them as they were about to go to sleep. Both hunters had removed their protective gear and were only wearing their casual clothes when they were attacked. During the battle a wrong maneuver from one of them, they never got around to determine whose fault it was, made them collide as they tried to dodge a fireball spat by the Kut-ku, tough the projectile didn't hit them directly, the small explosion set their clothes on fire forcing them to remove everything mid fight and finish the battle butt naked.

"- so when we readied ourselves to go back to sleep, most of the camp was thrashed and our sleeping bags couldn't be used anymore, she hastily grabbed whatever was left of them to cover herself and laid beside the campfire adding an angry 'no peeking!' before falling asleep. All I can say after that is I started bringing a change of clothes on all subsequent hunts."

Rainbow dash giggled a bit."Geez, having to wear clothes all the time sure seems like a terrible annoyance, I wouldn't want to be a human for all the bits in the world." After a quick glance through the window, she noticed the moon was already past the middle of the sky, indicating it was somewhere around two or three in the morning. "Well, I think it might be a good idea to call it a night. I'll see you all later." After a quick wave of the hoof she went outside, flapping her wings to reach the skies. It didn't take long for the remaining guests to take their leave as well, thanking Pinkie pie for the party. Twilight took off toward the library, Clay following her. About half way she broke the silence.

"So, what do you think of your first day in Ponyville?"

Clay took a few second to think it over. "Well, it sure was enjoyable, but I'm tempted to say either all the ponies in this town are crazy, or I am the one who needs to step up my game to match them. I always had a hard time making friends, mostly my fault for not actually trying, and I feel like I missed a lot. I think it's because I'm afraid of losing them after creating strong bonds, it's something I don't want to experience again..." He seemed lost in thought for a bit but noticed Twilight's inquisitive look, he quickly added "Nevermind that, it's in the past now and shouldn't influence the present, or the future." He suddenly increased his pace as if to avoid incoming questions.

Twilight chose not to pry,but she was certain she got her first clue to understand why Clay wasn't getting along with his peers. It seemed like Applejack was right after all, the stallion had social issues. The library finally came into sight and after a few minutes, both ponies were inside the building. They tried to stay as quiet as possible not to wake up spike who was sleeping. Clay picked up his saddlebags and backpack he previously left near the door as Twilight showed him the way to his room in the underground level of the library. Spike had already set up a bed with sheets and pillow for the guest and it didn't take long for the colt to make himself comfortable. Twilight then proceeded to go brush her teeth and get ready for bed. Before laying to sleep tough, she telekinetically brought a small empty notepad beside her with a quill and labeled it 'Clay's world'. She smirked as her last thought before falling asleep was "You better brace yourself because I'm not letting you leave the library before you answer all my questions." She then drifted to sleep, dreaming of the book she planned to write later about a world outside of Equestria.

Chapter 5 : Panic in town Part 1

My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by ~Meteorimpact/ Monster hunter brony

Chapter 5 : Panic in town
part 1 out of 2

The Everfree forest has been a dangerous place for as long as anypony could remember, but even though creatures of all kind used to lurk in its vicinity, it was surprisingly calm. A calm recently disturbed by a monster the likes nopony ever seen before. The creature appeared in these woods a week and a half earlier, at first the predator managed to kill and eat a manticore, but as time passed the animals of the forest quickly learned to avoid the path of this tyrannical beast. This monster had a surprising ability to adapt to even the harshest of climates and environments, but for a creature as large as it was, it was almost impossible to chase its preys in the woods. Its head had the rough shape of a tyrannosaurus rex's, and it was moving on four legs. The hind legs were powerful enough to spring its mass at incredible height and allow it to leap as far as three time its length. The forelegs were longer and had a shape reminiscing a bat's wings, the joint of each wings had a scaly paws consisting of four fingers, each ending in very sharp claws. The wings of the creature weren't made for flight, but they allowed it to glide over long distances, sadly for it, the forest canopy stopped all attempt at leaping over the trees to glide away from these accursed trees. The monster was known as a tigrex, a monster known for its voracity, only second to an other monster known as the deviljho. The tigrex 's scales were blue on the head and the rest of the body was covered in blue striped yellow scales. It has been 3 days now since the monster last ate, unable to pursue any other animals when trees kept slowing its chase, in a fit of rage it lashed its massive jagged tail breaking a tree in two, it then kept on wandering the woods searching for a prey.

Back in Ponyville, the library was a lively as ever, if one took a look through the window they would see an excited Twilight Sparkle levitating multiple notepads and quills and writing down everything her guest would tell her about his homeworld. The past two days were nothing but streams of questions about the culture, traditions and society of Clay's homeworld. For the purple unicorn it was a golden opportunity to learn as much as she could about an other civilization, she knew theses notes would only mean something to her and those few aware of the stallion's condition, yet she felt she had to make sure this knowledge would never get lost. The book she planned to write would hold no scientific value for other ponies, but she thought it would make a wonderful reference guide to create fiction stories about this world. The day before, she noticed something halfway out of clay's backpack, a rather thick book he called the Encyclopedia Gigantica, it was a complete report on all known monsters from his world, most hunters carried a copy of it as a reference guide when confronting creatures they knew nothing about. And today, Clay taught Twilight how to read the writing from his universe. As she was a very quick learner it only took a few hours for her to understand the basics and get on translating the book. Clay chose this opportunity to try and get some time away from the library, it's not that he disliked the unicorn, but he needed to spend some time outside, away from books and her insatiable thirst for knowledge. He took his saddlebags and headed straight toward the door.

"I'm going out for a walk, do you need me to buy anything?"

All the floating quills came to a stop. "Well, we are running low on fruits, think you can bring back some apples from Applejack?"

"Of course, no problem, her stand is close to Sugarcube Corner right?"

"Yes, just look for a cart filled with red and green fruits, if AJ isn't there, you might see a red stallion in her stead, he's her brother so you can buy from him instead." Clay nodded and took off with a slight wave of his hoof, then the quills started taking notes once more.

The sun was bright, it was obvious the pegasi made a good job clearing the skies of any cloud and Clay felt as if the light was invigorating him. He didn't know the small town that much yet, but he still remembered how to reach Sugarcube corner, still, he took his time to enjoy this stroll as much as possible. He still wasn't used to hear his own hooves hitting the ground, after all as a human he wouldn't hear his own footsteps unless he was wearing metallic boots or walking on a creaky surface, now he was taking pleasure in listening to the soft clopping sound he made with every step forward. It only took him a few minutes to spot the sweets shop, and while passing beside it he finally found the Apple family cart, beside it stood Applejack and a large red stallion. Clay sped up a bit to meet them, the orange mare took notice of the newcomer and approached to greet him.

"Howdy Clay, how are ya? Gettin' used to the library?"

"Oh I'm fine, thanks for asking, and yes I'm getting used to the library, but I gotta admit I needed a small break from the librarian."

Applejack chuckled a bit. "Yah, that's our Twilight, Ah bet she had thousands of questions for ya. Come over here, Ah'm goin' to introduce you to Big Macintosh, mah big brother."

The red stallion's ears perked up at the mention of his name, he then gingerly turned around to face his sister and the newcomer.

"Big Mac, here's Clay, the colt Ah told you about the other day."

"Greetings Clay, Ah hope you are enjoyin' your stay here in Ponyville." Big Mac then grabbed an apple and offered it to the earth colored stallion. "Here's a free sample on the house, if ye're a friend of mah sis, ye're a friend of mine as well." Clay accepted the gift and ate it heartily, he never tried apples before and he enjoyed trying new food every time he could. The sweet fruit was unlike any he had before, he started thinking this might be his new favorite fruit and was now resolute to buy an extra amount for his personal enjoyment.

"Thank you for you generosity Mister Macintosh, happens I came all the way here to buy some of your merchandise, Twilight asked for some of your fruits and I'm going to buys some extra for myself, how much would it be to fill one of my saddlebags?"

"It will be five bits Sir, glad you liked our products." Macintosh then turned to face his sister. "Applejack, take the day off and go spend some time with yer friend, we are havin' a slow day today and there's no point in havin' two of us holdin' the stand right now."

"Will it really be fine? Ah mean, Ah don't want to leave you with all the work."

"Eeeeyup! It's gonna be fine, now get movin'." He added with a smile and a dismissive hoof.

At that, both free ponies went on their way discussing about the Apple family's orchard, Clay eager to learn more about the different ways to serve the fruits.

Meanwhile, a little farther in town, Rarity was on her way to Sugarcube corner to place an order, she was already done with most of her errands for the day and she thought she would get a little surprise for her sister. On her way she came upon a strange sight, a little farther in the street she was walking in, stood a cloaked pony, the fabric of the cloak obviously made out of cheap material. At first the white unicorn wondered why would anypony try to hide themselves in such a way, the only one she knew with this habit was Zecora, a zebra. Yet this pony was doing his, or her, best to keep a low profile, avoiding other ponies and never lifting his, or her gaze off the ground. Rarity caught a quick glimpse of the stranger's blue coat, and the floating pine cone the pony was munching on gave away the fact he, or she was a unicorn. Suddenly, the stranger took notice of Rarity's gaze upon his/herself and quickly turned and galloped away. Applejack and Clay barely managed to avoid a collision with the runaway pony as they came into Rarity's sight. They quickly spotted the white unicorn and came to greet her.

"Heya Rarity, on yer way to Sugarcube corner?"

"Greetings, both of you. Indeed that is where I was going. The cutie mark crusaders are holding a sleepover at my place tonight and I thought they would appreciate a cake or something similar." Rarity took a pensive look. "Is there anything I should avoid getting? I don't know Applebloom's tastes very well."

"Ah reckon' anythin' would be fine as long as you don't get- What in tarnation?!" Applejack exclaimed as a roar and screams of terror were heard a few blocks away. Clay's eyes grew wide and his ears dropped low as he stammered a little. He knew all too well the species of the roar's owner.

"It can't be,it's a, a...." He gulped. "It's a tigrex!"

"A what now?" Applejack asked.

Worried, Rarity added "Is it what I think it is?"

"If you are thinking about a mass of claws and teeth, then yes, it is what you are thinking of." Out of reflex he tried to grab his sword, only remembering he was not carrying it after his hoof hit thin air. "Oh, right... Ponified. I don't carry my equipment anymore."

Rarity was pondering something, then her stare hardened as she spoke. "Clay, you once told me that you wanted to help getting rid of these dangerous creatures right? Then today you will prove your resolve, follow me at carousel boutique, no time to explain." She then dashed off with Clay and Applejack in tow.

"If ya don't mind me askin', what exactly is that tigrex ya were talkin' about?"

"AJ, how would you feel if I suddenly grabbed your hat, set it on fire and started dancing on it while laughing."

The farm pony was taken aback with the question, not understanding why it was asked. "Ah would probably be angry enough to buck your face so hard it would fly off to Trottingham. Why do you ask?"

"Well, imagine that feeling if it lasted over a month, then compress it all back into a day, then place it in an overgrown lizard and you pretty much have a relatively zen tigrex."

"Oh."

Almost out of breath, Rarity turned her head to face Applejack. "The library is close by, go tell Twilight about what is going on, she should be able to warn Celestia, then you two have to go help with the evacuation, the average public is more likely to listen to the bearer of the elements of harmony than anyone else. Don't worry about Clay and me, we will be back in a moment to help."

"Got it!" Applejack replied as she made a sharp turn toward her objective.

Earlier that day, three little fillies were on their way to their next adventure in hope they would finally discover their cutie mark. The first one, named Applebloom, was a yellow coated earth pony, she wore a large dark pink ribbon in her red curly mane, for this adventure she was carrying a lasso belonging to her big sister Applejack. The second filly, Scootaloo, was a courageous and brash orange pegasus, her fushia mane reminiscing of Rainbow Dash's, her desire to impress the rainbow maned mare was the driving force behind most of her actions. Finally the third filly, Sweetie Belle, a white unicorn with a curly pink and purple mane, even tough she wasn't known for her wits, her singing voice was that of an angel, for this adventure, she managed to sneak a rather large piece of fabric from carousel boutique and made a poorly stitched bag out of it. Their destination? The Everfree forest. It was Scootaloo's idea to remind her two friends they never got the chance to try their hooves at a monster catcher cutie mark. The three of them had thought of it when they were babysit by Fluttershy, but they ended up not having the chance to attempt it. Now inside the forest, the trio made their best to move without a sound, until Sweetie Belle broke the silence.

"You know, I'm not so sure it's a good Idea anymore. Remember last time we went in the forest, we were almost turned to stone by a cockatrice."

"Come on Sweetie Belle, you don't have to be scared, remember how Fluttershy defeated it? If a cockatrice show up I'm going to stare it down until it cries. No way I'm gonna get stoned by a snake-bird. Beside look over there," she lowered her voice and pointed her hoof toward a small clearing in the trees. "I think we found what we were looking for."

The eyes of the three fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders converged toward the same direction. There, lied the sleeping form of a large reptilian monster.

"Ok Sweetie Belle, take the bag you made, we will place it around it's head to blind it if it wakes up."

Applebloom reacted first. "No way, we have to make sure it can't move first, Ah'll use the lasso to tie up its legs so it can't chase us if it wakes up."

"That's the dumbest idea I heard all day! Look at it, its jaws is obviously the most dangerous part of its body, we have to neutralize it first."

"Of course not, wranglin' an animal needs to be done properly, and the best way to do it is by tyin' its legs first you kiwi!"

"Kiwhat? You're wrong, tying the legs isn't the priority!"

"Is too!"

"Umm... girls..."

"Not now Sweetie Belle! Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Girls!" The white unicorn filly's shout resonated in the whole forest as she pointed the previously sleeping creature. "I think you woke it up..."

All three of them looked at each other, then back at the creature staring at them, licking its lips. The starving tigrex let out a bellowing roar that sent the Cutie Mark Crusaders flying back. A second later, they were fleeing toward ponyville screaming as the monster started its pursuit.

The front door to carousel boutique slammed open as both Rarity and Clay entered. Not losing a second, the fashionista went in the back-store and used her magic to take out a large box and something the stallion recognized right away.

"It's not yet finished but it should do for now. Clay, I need to pack something in this box real fast, can you place this on the windowsill while I do that?" Suddenly a small mushroom shaped pastry made its way toward the colt who quickly grabed it and did as he was asked to, even tough he was confused as the purpose of this action. He took a look back toward the back-store and Saw what looked like an armor made out of blue scales being levitated and dropped in the previously empty box, then a pair of something resembling horseshoes. A few moments later, a screeching sound resonated in the boutique as a grey pegasus mare landed at break neck speed inside the main room. Clay was surprised to notice she managed to go through the opened window and grab the pastry with her teeth without so much as crashing, after a glance at the confused stallion, or rather a glance both at the stallion and Rarity at the same time, she suddenly spoke while pointing at the pastry she was holding.

"Blueberry muffin! It means there is an emergency delivery to be made!"

Rarity quickly scribbled a note and dropped it in the box, she then sealed it and brought it to the mailmare. "Derpy, you need to bring this to Rainbow Dash as fast as you can."

"Is it related to that monster rampaging near the library?"

"It is, and it is imperative she get the content of this box. Tell her to look for us around the library."

"On my way! You two be careful then, don't do anything reckless"

"Don't worry, we will be fine, just make sure she gets it fast, do that and I'll treat you to a free dress after this situation is fixed."

With a salute, the pegasus known as Derpy Hooves took off at a speed that would make even the Wonderbolt jealous, her flying seemed to be clumsy and irregular but the velocity and agility she showed earlier proved how skilled she was. Only a second later Clay felt magic bringing him close to Rarity as she lifted the familiar thing he spotted earlier. His armor had been completely remodeled, the helm was now slightly stretched to fit his pony head, this part wasn't that different tough, it still had its crest resembling a fish fin and the small slit to see through the head gear. Rarity then started placing the armor's breastplate and secured it tightly, then came the arm guard's turn, they had been opened in the back and were now jointed in a way his front legs would be able to move with them. Finally, what used to be immense shoulder pads were brought over his haunches, they had been modified and held together in a way they would protect the stallion's rump and back legs. The Volcanic grey armor felt lighter than ever.

"I'm sorry if it's not very comfortable, I didn't have enough time to finish it, and I didn't have the chance to bring you over to try it, but it should do for now."

Clay was simply amazed at the speed Rarity worked with, it had been only two days since she got hold of these materials and yet, she managed to make a set of armor from scratch and modified a human armor to fit a pony's body. "It's not uncomfortable, far from it. I think you even managed to make it better than it originally was." He added as he took a look at himself in the mirror.

"Really? Well I'm glad it pleases you, but we got an emergency to take care of, Derpy said the monster was last seen at the library, we need to go there right now. Oh, before I forget." Clay felt his hind hooves lifted off the ground as two hooves shaped items were brought under them, these horseshoes were made of the same blue scales as Rainbow Dash's armor. "These are your weapon, I hope these prototype will work, I haven't got the chance to test them." She then used her magic to push the stallion out without allowing him to touch the floor with his new horseshoes, he quickly understood why when the magic stopped lifting him. As soon as his hind hooves hit the ground, sparks of fire emerged from them. A wide grin crept on Clay's face, he felt readier than ever to take down his prey. Then he took off to meet his opponent.

Rainbow Dash was lazily laying in her bed, cursing the sun for waking her up as early as noon. She gathered the courage needed to get out of her bed and made her way to her fridge, had to start the day with a good breakfast after all. A loud knocking sound on her front door interrupted the cyan pegasus as she was serving herself a glass of orange juice, quickly placing everything back in the fridge she headed toward the door, she didn't expect any of her pegasus friends to come and see her that day, who could it be? The door opened before she could reach it.

"Express delivery for miss Rainbow Dash! Rarity asked me to tell you to meet her as soon as you can at the library once you accept the content of this box. Please just sign here to confirm the reception." Once the mailmare had Rainbow's signature she flew off as fast as she came by.

"What the hay?" With a puzzled look, Rainbow Dash opened the large box and she gasped at the sight of the content. A whole set of azure and black armor was laying in it. Unable to contain her excitement she hurriedly took it out and attempted to put it on, without success, she then noticed a small note beside the box. She grabbed it and read it aloud.

"Dear Rainbow Dash,
in this box you will find a set of armor customized for you, since it might be hard to put it on alone, I included some instructions to help you with this task. Meet us as fast as you can, you are needed to help fend off a monster currently attacking Ponyville.
P.S. I made sure to make the armor at least twenty percent cooler than my original design."

Not losing any second she followed every instructions on the piece of paper, managing to get everything tightly set on her body after a few minutes. Now looking at ponyville, she spotted large dust cloud popping out here and there toward the library, she suddenly felt her heart squeeze a bit.

"C'mon Dash, you can do this, you are not afraid of anything. You. Can. Do. This!" She flapped her wings and heard to box topple on its side, releasing a small electric sound. Surprised she looked back in it and discovered something she had missed. Some sort of fleshy looking horseshoes, they had the neon teal electrodes from Clay's sword and a flat metal part on their underside. Unsure on how they worked, she gave a small poke at the metal part and received an electric shock in return. She then noticed Rarity's note now flipped on its verso and she read.

"P.P.S. The horseshoes I sent you are your weapons, avoid touching the metal part as you put them on."

"Of course now you tell me." She groaned and finally took off, she had friends to help and a town to save.

Panic had settled in Ponyville, a cloaked figure was galloping away from the commotion with dozens of other ponies. She was swearing between her teeth, as she was running for cover she saw two familiar faces helping the panicked citizen to evacuate, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack. "Wait a second, if these two are evacuating, who is stopping the rampaging beast?" She thought as her gaze passed over a panicked mother who fell and sprained her leg, her son was doing his best to help her move forward but there was no way they could flee if the monster chose to run down this street. She suddenly came to a stop and turned around.

"Not this time." She muttered with a burning determination in her eyes. She galloped the opposite way as before, now heading toward the library. As she heard the screams of panicked children she pushed her speed to its limit. She finally found the three fillies trying to escape the fury of the reptilian monster. The cloaked figure's horn began to glow and her eyes were now flaring with blinding light.

"Quick, hide behind me!" She yelled at the small trio. They compelled right away, too afraid to think of anything else. The tigrex tried to follow suit but crashed in an invisible wall standing between it and the four ponies. The impact sent ripples of magic behind it, strong enough to completely rip the cloak the unicorn was wearing, revealing her blue coat and silvery blue silky mane. The remains of her cloak slowly started to float as they turned to smoke, covering the unicorn's body, the smoke slowly took the shape of a purple cape and a pointy hat, both decorated with a starry pattern. As the enraged creature kept trying to claw its way through the invisible wall, the blue unicorn stood on her hind legs, pointing a hoof at it and holding her hat with her other free hoof. She then declared with a booming voice.

"THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE WILL ONLY SAY IT ONCE! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

End of chapter 5 part 1/2

Chapter 5 : Panic in town Part 2

My little hunter : Companionship is magic

by ~Meteorimpact/ Monster hunter brony

Chapter 5 : Panic in town
part 2 out of 2

Clay was galloping as fast as he could. Every time his hind hooves hit the ground they left a trail of U shaped burnt marks. Rarity was following him the best she could, but she was panting and had a hard time to keep up with the stallion. It wasn't hard to follow the presence of the currently rampaging monster as its loud screams resonated around. What Clay couldn't figure out though was the origin of the strange magical ripples in the air, their vibrations following loud crashing sounds. As he turned a corner he finally caught glimpse of the reptilian creature struggling against something out of his line of sight. He quickly raised a hoof to block Rarity's way when she managed to catch up to him.

"Now it's my turn to do something for you all. Try to backtrack down the destroyed streets and see if anypony is in need of help, on my side I'll do what I do best, kick some overgrown lizard's ass. I'll see you again when we celebrate our victory all right?" Clay winked at her with a confident grin.

"Fine, you better not do anything too reckless tough, we wouldn't want to send you back to your world in more than one piece right? Take care of Rainbow Dash, she is very likely to try something dangerous so keep an eye on her. I'll be on my way then, good luck!" At this she went down a devastated street, using her magic to lift broken walls in case somepony was stuck under the debris of a house.

Without losing any seconds, Clay dashed toward the monster, allowing him to see what it was struggling against. There, behind a practically invisible wall of magic, stood a blue coated unicorn, protecting three little terrified fillies. He quickly ran toward the monster while remaining in its dead angle, but before he could reach it, a loud explosion resonated from the skies. Both the monster's and Clay's curiosity led them to look at the origin of the sound, the red stallion saw a magnificent rainbow colored nova spreading and covering the heavens. The tigrex tough wasn't so lucky as the only thing it saw was a blue blur ramming it square in the chest. The striped creature was sent flying and rolling on the ground, unable to catch its breath.

"Leave these fillies alone you filthy monster! And you better stay down because Rainbow Dash is here to save the day!" Rainbow Dash was beaming with confidence and pride as she looked down on the panting monster.

Using this opportunity, the blue unicorn dropped her invisible wall and turned to face the fillies."Quick, go hide somewhere, Trixie will stay to stop the beast, it seems like help is finally here." Now bringing her focus back toward the tigrex, the showmare approached the two ponies who just intervened. "Glad somepony out there isn't fleeing, Trixie doesn't know how long she- YOU!" She pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash, her face locked in a surprised expression.

The rainbow maned pegasus harbored the same surprised look as the unicorn when she realized who was protecting the fillies. "Trixie?! What the hay are you doing here, I thought you fled ponyville when your lies were brought to light a few months ago. You better have some explanation for your return." Rainbow Dash was staring menacingly at Trixie as if she tried to intimidate her.

"The great and powerful Trixie does not need a justification for her presence." She snapped back.

Clay, still excited by his glimpse of the sonic rainboom hurried over the two mares. "Rainbow, did you see that? What was it?" A look at the unicorn reminded him of the ursa minor story he heard from Twilight. "Hey aren't you that Trixie Girl I heard about? I thought you-" Unable to finish his sentence a deafening roar forced all three ponies to turn around and face a very angry tigrex. "Oh right, the tigrex. Think you can put your differences aside and work together for a bit?" The beast started charging at the three ponies. "DODGE!"

Trixie and Rainbow did not need to be told twice, all three ponies left off in a different direction, the pegasus lifting herself to the skies. Ready to shine, Rainbow made a quick U-turn in the air and dashed back toward the creature to hit it with a mighty buck from her electrically charged horseshoes. The effect was immediate, as it felt the electricity course through its body, the lizard let out a loud roar. If one read the encyclopedia Gigantica, they would know that electricity was particularly effective when fighting a tigrex. Apparently, their spine contained a hard substance with properties similar to copper's, no need to say it was like a highway for electricity, a lightning rod with the brain as a destination. The creature shook its head vigorously to focus once more on the battle, it knew who the biggest threat was and used its hind leg to try and leap to the skies to catch the rainbow threat. Rainbow dash's confidence quickly melted as she felt the humid and warm breath of the monster rapidly closing in. A sudden pull to her tail brought her under the beast at the same time the sound of snapping jaws came from where she was a second ago. She realized her tail was glowing with magic and a glance at Trixie confirmed her thoughts. Trixie just saved her life. The pegasus lifted her head just in time to see a wall piece levitating and suddenly falling over the airborne monster, she quickly flapped her wings to avoid the now crashing mass of scales. Clay charged and gave a few bucks to the struggling monster, branding it with hooves shaped burn marks all over.

The tigrex violently jerked its body to move the debris away from its back, it then planted his forelegs in the ground to lift his body and head as much as it could, its wings opened themselves, making the beast look much larger than it actually was. The roar it made was unlike any it did prior this one, rubble and dust were pushed away by the sheer strength of its volume. Clay gulped loudly when he noticed the glowing red vein pattern now appearing all over the tigrex's body.

"Girls, the real battle starts now."

The tigrex leapt toward Clay in an attempt to bite him, but the stallion's reflexes where fast enough to allow him to roll under the airborne body. Rather, that's what would normally have happened as he couldn't manage to roll the same way as with his human body, while passing under the beast, its massive tail connected with him. The impact made him flinch as his left haunch protector was sent flying. It seemed like Rarity was right when she said the armor wasn't quite ready for battle. Not losing a second, the tigrex spun on itself to face its opponents once more and charged again leaving deep claw marks in the ground. Trixie, who was hiding herself to make sure not to draw the monster's attention, used her magic to levitate a new broken wall and placed it between the creature and its target. The tigrex went through it like it didn't exist and kept going forward, not noticing the rainbow maned pegasus currently forming a tornado. Right as Clay dodged the last charge, she hurriedly brought the tornado in the monster's direction. The spinning winds were gathering broken pieces of rocks, debris, and tools from the recently destroyed houses. Rainbow Dash unleashed the fury of the winds on the creature, all objects present in it hitting the beast repeatedly.

"KEEP GOING DASH! YOU'RE THE BEST!" Scootaloo popped out of the place she was hiding in to cheer on her idol, completely blowing the three fillies' cover.

A loud roar made the tornado explode as the tigrex spotted the preys who initially brought it there, it leapt as high as it could and spread its wings to glide and try to eat them all in one fell swoop. The three fillies' confidence quickly fell apart as they turned their back to flee once more.

"Oh no you don't!" Trixie came out of her hiding spot and charged her magic. A purple magical aura suddenly appeared around Applebloom's body as she felt the lasso she was still carrying being forcefully levitated. The solid rope flew toward the skies as the sliding knot grabbed one of the monster's wing paw, then the other end of the rope tied itself to one of the library's branches. The momentum and the centripetal force combined forced the tigrex to crash to the ground with such force that the vibrations made the still standing houses vibrate. The monster rose again, one of its wing clearly broken, yet, it wasn't satisfied, it tried to charge again as both Rainbow Dash and Clay did the same. The creature didn't take into account it was still tied and when it tried to swipe its claws at the ponies, it got stuck mid motion, allowing the armor clad ponies to each get on a different side of the monster's head and deliver a simultaneous buck. A sickening cracking sound was heard confirming its skull was probably fractured. It was a cue Clay was waiting for, he was now certain the monster was almost beat.

"Rainbow, go get the fillies and make sure they stay somewhere safe, this won't be pretty."

"Wait, what?! We're not done yet, what are you-"

"Rule number four!"

Dash's eyes widened as she understood what the stallion meant. "Got it, I'll see you later then."

Clay was Looking for something, a solid, yet relatively soft surface would do. Then it dawned upon him. The library! The tree trunk would probably serve the purpose he had in mind. he rushed to the building and stood right beside it, only then he realized his now unprotected leg was hurting and bleeding. The adrenalin's effect was wearing off, and the pain now coursing through his left leg made him flinch, still he knew what he had to do. The monster turned around and locked on its target. A final charge to try and defeat the pony who challenged it. Clay waited as long as he could, then he tried to leap out of the way, though the pain in his legs was a bit more than he could handle, and he couldn't give enough strenght to his jump. He closed his eyes ready for the now unavoidable impact, only to notice he was telekinetically moved out of the way just in time to allow him to see the monster crash in the tree, its jaw still opened. The beast was now stuck as its teeths sunk in the soft wood, the momentum it had forced its mouth open too wide for it to be able to get unstuck. Trying his best to ignore the pain, Clay quickly jumped on the back of the thrashing monster, he then made his way to the neck and turned around to deliver a strong buck right where the head connected to the neck. The thrashing stopped immediately as the tigrex's neck was now broken.

Out of stamina, the red stallion collapsed and fell off the monster's body, face first to the ground. Trixie was exhausted as well, she used most of her magic power while protecting the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the aid she brought into battle further drained her of any energy. Both ponies slowly blacked out as they managed to hear some worried voices calling out to them.

Clay's consciousness slowly came came to him, he could hear the sound of other ponies talking to each others, though he couldn't make up what the conversation was about. He wasn't sure where he was, all he knew for now is how comfortable he felt surrounded by some sort of warm blanket. He gingerly opened his eyes and realized he wasn't in the streets anymore, the walls around him where all white, and he was laying in a comfortable bed with white sheets covering him whole. A glance to his right revealed a blue unicorn in a similar situation as his. As he tried to sit, he noticed the talking he was hearing suddenly came to a stop and he saw a familiar pony looking at him from the room's door.

"Girls, he's awake." The orange farm pony took a few step in the room, quickly followed by Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and the three fillies they saved earlier. "Hey buddy, how are ya feelin'? Think ya can stand up?"

Still a feeling a bit woozy, Clay tried to get off the bed, he had to proceed slowly, but he managed to. "I think I'm fine. My leg hurts a little, but the worst seems to have passed. By the way. where am I?"

"You're in Ponyville's hospital." Replied Twilight. "As soon as the princesses arrived we went straight to where the monster was last seen to try and stop it. You can't imagine how surprised we were when we found you and Trixie uncounscious beside the... The corpse. We brought the two of you here so you could receive first aid, Rarity and Rainbow explained all that happened when they came back to the library to see if you were all right. Right now, bot princesses went back to Canterlot, but they said they would like to have a word with you and Rainbow Dash soon enough, she will send me a letter when a date and time will be chosen."

Right as she finished her sentence, a groan could be heard from the adjacent bed. Trixie was waking up and only recently noticed the small crowd of ponies surrounding her and her temporary roommate. It took her a few moments to realize where she was, and more importantly who were the ponies surrounding her.

"What are you all doing here?" was the only thing she managed to ask. The gathered ponies where startled by the small outburst but they quickly relaxed again, then, Applejack moved toward Trixie's bed, a serious look covering her face.

"You..." Now right beside the unicorn's bed, she quickly raised a hoof above her. Trixie's heart skipped a beat as she quickly raised both forehooves in front of her to protect herself against a hit that never came. Risking a glance through her defense, she was surprised to see Applejack simply offering a sympathetic hoof. "I wanted to thank you."

"Wait,, What?!" Trixie stammered. "The great and powerful Trixie does not understand. I... She shouldn't be worthy of your praises. Not after what She did to you all. I... She humiliated you, the white unicorn and the rainbow maned pegasus when we last met. There is no way any of you would want to thank me for anything!"

Applejack was taken completely off guard, did Trixie just show some kind of modesty? Shame even? Either she was too shaken to think rationally, or something had drastically changed since they last met.

"Well, Ah have to admit we usually all think you are a boastful whiny annoyin' lyin' bratty good-for-nothin' coward. But today, Ah'm proud to say you aren't any of these, you are nothin' short of a hero. One of the fillies you saved is mah little sister, she told me how you risked yer life for them, and Dash was eager to tell me how you actually stood up against the rampagin' monster. She even claims you saved her life. A coward would have fled without a care for anypony else. While Ah can't really forget how we first met, Ah think you just managed to get back in our good favors. Ah was thinkin' we could start anew, what d'ya think partner?"

At a loss for word, the blue unicorn took quick glances at all the ponies observing the scene with expectation. When her eyes crossed Clay's, he simply smiled and made a nodding gesture. "She... I... Trixie accept your offer." She said as she brought a hoof to Applejack's.

Everypony in the room cheered at the new friendship that was about to start, only to be shushed and brought back to calm by an irritated Nurse Red Heart. Now a bit quieter, the cutie mark crusaders all jumped on Trixie's bed and they all hugged their savior while thanking her repeatedly for the risks she took for them. Trixie blushed out of embarrassment, while she usually liked to be the center of attention, her recent months were met with nothing such as this, and through a big change in her life, she actually started to learn to be more modest. This was a way too heavy dose of attention at once. Applejack who noticed her embarrassment quickly beckoned the fillies off the bed.

Dash approached the unicorn mare as well."So, yeah, I guess its my turn to tell you how cool you were back then, I mean, you DID save my life, and you pulled some incredible magic moves! That trick with the lasso was pure gold! I never thought I'd say that about you but you seem to be smarter than you look. Of course you are still miles away to be as cool as I am, but you are getting close. By the way, our friend Pinkie started organizing a party and feast to celebrate our victory over the monster, would you like to join us? Maybe even bring some of your entertainer stuff if you want to set up a small show."

"Trixie would be honored, but... There is somepony Trixie would like to bring with her. She is a stranger to you though, so Trixie think she will have to decline the invitation."

"Bah, one pony more or less won't bother anyone, especially Pinkie. The more the merrier she would say. Come on, let's just go get that other pony and get ready to party like we never did before!"

At that, the pony group helped Trixie get out of her bed, they went out of the room to sign the required papers to allow the patients to leave and followed Trixie.

The walk took a while, wherever Trixie lead the group, it seemed to be on the outskirt of the small town. At some point a small slightly decrepit house came into sight, beside it stood the props and contraptions chariot the showmare usually carried around to perform. The group was surprised to figure out this modest place was the unicorn's house, unless, maybe, she really wasn't able to afford anything more. After a slight knock on the door, Trixie opened it and entered, beckoning her new friends in, then she turned around and said:

"Mirage, I'm home and I got a surprise for you." Less than a second later, the sound of a very small set of hooves rolled in their direction, until a small purple unicorn filly, with freckles and a red and orange mane came in sight and stopped in front of them.

"Hi mom! I missed you so much, you told me you would be back in only 30 minutes, yet I waited aaaaall day for you to come back. I thought you forgot about me... Hey, who are these guys?"

"They are, mommy's new friends, rejoice little one, they invited us to a party tonight, go and prepare yourself. Oh, before you do, did you do as mommy asked of you before she left?"

The filly looked toward the skies for a second as she tried to remember what she was asked to do, then she suddenly gasped and stood on two legs, in a fashion similar to Trixie"s when she is performing. "Watch in awe as the Grandiose and Pretty Misty clean her room in less than ten minutes!" She then hurried back to the room she was in when the guests first entered the house. Trixie started levitating a teapot and a set of cup to make some tea for her guest while they waited, when she turned around to invite them to make themselves comfortable around the tea table, she noticed most of them were now agape.

"Hum... Is there something wrong?"

To which all of them but Clay, who barely knew Trixie anyway, simply muttered a: "Mommy?"

"Oh, Trixie will have to explain this one won't she? Please sit down, This will be a long story."

Chapter 6 : Conflict

Chapter 6: Conflict

A few months ago, in canterlot, Trixie was negotiating her next contract. Not a contract up to her expectations, but anything would do to help her recover from her recent fiasco in Ponyville.

“So let’s see, you want I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, to entertain the foals at that birthday party. You are in luck as Trixie happens to be free that day” she said with a forced smile. “Now let’s discuss my wages, Trixie’s talents will cost two hundreds bits for the duration of the festivity and-“ a hoof suddenly raised in front of her face cut her speech.

“Wait a second here, miss Trixie. If I wanted to spend two hundred bits on this kind of show I’d have asked for a high ranked performer such as Avid Plain or Kiss Anvil. I came to you because I could only afford a second rate performer. Fifty bits plus the food, that is my offer. Take it, or leave it. After all there is many other cheaper performers I could go to.”

Trixie’s eye twitched, “Did you just call The Great and Powerful Trixie a second rate performer? How dare you count me as one of those charlatans who can’t perform half the tricks I can? I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, the best, the strongest and the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria!”

“You know what? I’m gonna go find someone else, I know as well as anypony else how much of a phony you are. We all know about what happened in Ponyville and how your story about the ursa major was nothing but horseapples. I wanted to give you a chance, but it seems like you do not deserve it.” The mare huffed and turned around, leaving a devastated Trixie behind.

In the two weeks that followed the events in Ponyville, her reputation had degraded to such a point she could not manage to get any form of employment. Who would willingly hire somepony who built their fame on lies after all. Trixie brought her purse under her nose and took a glance of the few remaining bits. She barely had enough to eat for the rest of the week. The sound of small hooves reached her ears. She sighed. Since her return to Canterlot, she could hear the rumors and the gossip about her wherever she went. There was something else that started following her though. A young filly, probably five or seven years old at most started stalking her. Trixie had tried to shoo her away, convinced she was partly to blame for her inability to get new contracts, but to no avail. Every day, at some point, the filly would come out of nowhere and follow her around. Often, she would mimic the adult mare’s actions, the way she stood on two legs and how she moved her imaginary cape around. At first, Trixie thought she was just a fan of her and that she was imitating her for no other reason, but over time she figured the filly had a different purpose in mind. Trixie turned to face the filly, a small purple coated unicorn with a red mane and freckles. It seemed as if the filly did not take a bath or anything similar in days, according to the state in which her coat was.

“What is it, little one? Why do you keep stalking the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

The kid’s face beamed with joy as for the first time in the past weeks, Trixie finally spoke to her. She then raised herself on her hind legs and Declared ”I, the Grandiose and Pretty Misty needs to observe you if one day she hopes to become such a great street performer as The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Trixie is flattered to know you admire her so much, but Trixie doesn’t have the time to deal with kids right now. Please, be a dear and go back to your parents.”

“I can’t do that. I got no parents, miss. I, Misty, lived on her own for as long as she remembers! Free of any consequences… But also as lonely as a discarded sock…” she replied. Her cheerful grin slowly turning upside down.

Trixie was baffled. How could a foal this young survive on her own? As far as she knew, there were no orphanages in Canterlot. Then it meant the filly has been living in the street for only Celestia knows how long. The little Unicorn spoke once more.

“You know, I first saw you a year ago, when you were doing a street performance. I knew from this day onward what I wanted to become when I grow up. I wanted to become an entertainer too, but no one ever wants to help me. That is why I thought I should try to get closer to the pony who created my dream. And also, because we are so alike. After all we both got no friends.”

“What are you saying fool? Trixie got plenty of… friends…” the realisation struck like a bullet. Now that she thought about it, she was always alone, her only company being the crowds of onlookers. She had no one to talk to when she needed to, no one to rely on, and with her parents now gone, no one actually loving her for who she was. “Actually… you may be right little one. I got no one I can actually call a friend.” She slowly hung her head low, staring at the ground. Now that her popularity disappeared, no one would come see her performances. The public’s company had disappeared the same way all of her acquaintances left her. Only now was she able to understand how she came to be alone. Her ways were wrong, she started losing her friends when she became a performer. When she started boasting about her skills and when she started to be condescending to others. She changed for the worst when she gained her popularity, and only now was she realizing it. She then looked at the filly now sitting in front of her. A child who didn’t seem to get fazed over the fact she had no family of her own. Even at her young age, she was more mature than Trixie ever was and yet, she looked up to her.

“Tell me, little one. How did you manage to survive this long on your own? Without a family to raise you or a roof to shelter you.” Trixie asked.

The child’s head perked up to meet Trixie’s face with a grin “I’m not quite proud of it, but I know ways to ‘acquire’ what I need. As for shelter, you’d be surprised at what you can make out of the stuff ponies throw away. I made a small shelter in an alley over there. Winter is harsh, but the rest of the year, it’s not too bad.”

Maybe, just maybe this child is my chance at redemption… Maybe that is why our paths crossed. Yes I will straighten my ways, I know I can do it! Trixie thought. She then addressed the filly: “How would you like to have a true home? My career as a performer is pretty much ruined anyway, so I guess I will just start all over again, and I will need all the help I can get to do it. I will sell my current house and find a cheaper one, that way I will be able to get food for both of us. So, what do you say? Want to try a new life?”

The child could not hold her joy, she simply jumped at Trixie, hugging her as hard as she could. “Yes! Yes I want to!”

“Then it is decided, we will make our own little family and start anew.”

“And that is how I adopted Mirage Mist and moved here. I currently work on Carrot Top’s farm as a planter/gatherer. The location of the farm allowed me to spend most of my time away from the town center, where I was afraid ponies would recognize me too easily. Thanks to her generosity though I can now take care of my daughter.” Trixie said as she stroked the mane of Mirage, who joined the storyteller when she was done with her chore.

Twilight spoke up. “I see you learned a lot from this filly didn’t you? I also noticed you barely refer to yourself at the third pony anymore. I guess you were always playing a role, am I right?”

Trixie left out a weak chuckle “I think I let my early popularity get to my head, I started wearing a mask of overconfidence and never realised I was only hiding behind it. Sometime I wonder though, who is the real Trixie? Is she Trixie the showmare or Trixie the mother?”

Clay was the one to give an answer “You are who you want to be. If you want you can even be both, as long as you remain true to yourself.”

“Ah couldn’t agree more.” Added Applejack.

The small group of ponies spent some more time chatting as they finished the tea Trixie brew for them. They took the time to each get properly introduced to Mirage Mist, then proceeded to leave the small house. On their way to the party, they went pass the library. Clay’s gaze observed all the remnants of the previous battle. The body of the monster was gone and the library had lost a large piece of bark where the tigrex bit it. Clay felt a little bad for using Twilight’s home as a trap for a rampaging creature, but he knew that was the simplest way to get rid of it. He wished he could at least have kept innocent ponies away from the monsters of his world. This attack on Ponyville made him decide to actively start hunting, to make sure this situation would not happen again. Lost in thought, he never saw Pinkie who came to greet them as they reached Sugarcube Corner.

“Hi there everypony!” Clay let out a loud yelp as he jumped in the air, startled by the sudden apparition before him. Pinkie didn’t seem to bother about the reaction though. “Ooooh, I see you convinced Trixie to join us tonight! You guys even brought a filly I never even met before, this is going to be great! I bet she will get along with the CMC, we should have them meet each other! It’s just a shame Fluttershy won’t come tonight, it would have been nice to have her befriend Trixie.”

“Huh? Why isn’t she coming? I know she is not very outgoing, but it never stopped her from joining us in parties.” Asked Dash.

Pinkie brought a hoof to her chin as she reminisced the moment she invited her pegasus friend to her Ponyville-has-been-saved-from-a-big-monster-bully party. “All she said Is that she didn’t feel well, do you think it’s something she ate? I didn’t want to force her to come if she didn’t feel like it, but I’m pretty sure a party would help her feel better don’t you think? I could add some medicinal herbs to the cupcakes to make her feel even better!”

Rainbow frowned. “That’s weird, when I saw her this morning she looked fine, even cheerful. You know what? I’m gonna get her, I’ll be back later, seeya!” She flew away leaving a multicolored trail behind her.

“Ah, wait! Aaaw, too late. Oh well, if she manages to convince Fluttershy to come by I sure won’t complain.” Said Pinkie. ”Well guys, IT’S TIME TO PAAAAAR-TAY!”

The skies were tainted red and the lawn around her cottage was devastated. Fluttershy was slowly moving around in a chaotic landscape she’d rather not see.Then, at her feet a small critter laid, not breathing. A maniacal laugh reached her ears, the voice was one she recognized too well. As her gaze rose to see the one laughing evilly, she observed her surrounding once again. The lawn was now covered in lifeless creatures of all kind, a few steps in front of her, a large pile of critter corpses towered above her. Her eyes followed the pile to its top and her eyes locked with those of her rainbow maned friend. A psychotic grin adorned Rainbow Dash’s face as the shape of a large armor clad stallion approached from behind. The stallion, also known as Clay had the same grin as the cyan Pegasus, his eyes were glowing a bright red as he burst laughing, while stomping the body pile. Fluttershy felt her heart skip a beat, a loud thumping sound started beating in her head and then she screamed in horror.

She suddenly woke up. Her heart was beating as fast as ever, her breathing was laborious, and she found out the source of the thumping was coming from none other than angel bunny. Her pet had worked as hard as he could to awake his terrorized master. Worried, Angel looked at Fluttershy with pleading eyes, hoping she would recover quickly.

“Don’t worry Angel. This… this dream is over now… I think my imagination is getting the best out of me after today’s events…” She took a step out of her bed and took a glance through her window. The moon had started rising. Her afternoon nap ended up lasting way longer than what she wished. With a sigh she lit up some lamps and headed to her kitchen to prepare some tea. At least the chamomile she brewed would help her calm down. The water was about to reach its boiling point when a knock on her door caught her attention.

“Hey, Fluttershy, are you there?”

Fluttershy froze in place. It was Rainbow Dash’s voice. She remembered the Dash she saw in her dream and gulped loudly. An other knock. “C-coming” she stuttered. She turned off her stove and walked to her front door. She brought her hoof to open it and hesitation held her in place for a few more seconds. She gathered her courage and finally opened her door.

“He-hello Rainbow. Is there anything I can do to help you?” she asked, not daring to look at her friend straight in the eyes.

“Well, I heard from Pinkie Pie that you weren’t feeling well, I thought I would check up on you and see if everything was fine.” While she was certain Fluttershy wasn’t sick, she felt like something was wrong, something she was hiding from her. “Mh, Fluttershy? You look kinda nervous, did something happen?”

“Well… ye-no… Everything is… hum… fine…”

“Ooooook… You are a worst liar than Applejack so this is not going to work with me. Spill it. What is the matter?”

“No—nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Fluttershy, I know you are hiding something from me and you will tell me what it is. I got all night and I am not leaving until I know what troubles you.”

“Really it’s fine I-“

“Spill it.”

“But I-“

“I said: spill it!”

“Ok! Fine! You really want to know? You are the problem.” She said, raising her voice “You and Clay to be precise. I thought I could accept the differences between ponykind and humans, but I guess I was wrong to trust him. I saw what happened this afternoon. I was far from the battle itself but I was able to see it from where I was at the moment. I saw you two fight that creature. I felt its emotions during the whole fight, anger, followed by fear and then… You two finished it off. If he had fought the creature on his own I might have been able to overlook it. After all he did protect Ponyville. What I can’t forgive though is that he got you to do the same as he does! Do you think I missed what you’ve done? You used the sonic rainboom, the stunt that only you can perform, as a weapon. I can’t believe you could do such a thing! Today you became a murderer Rainbow Dash!”

“Hey wait a darn minute! I didn’t kill anything! All I did was help repel a monster that was destroying Ponyville, the town we live in! Yes I agreed to learn how to hunt from Clay, but it doesn’t make me a killer!”

“Dash, you just said yourself you agreed to become a hunter like him. And hunters, kill. That is what they do. I am very disappointed in you Rainbow Dash. We always found a way to solve our problems without resorting to such method, and today, you broke the cycle we managed to perpetuate for so long.”

“Fluttershy, you got it all wrong! Me and Clay have a deal. We-“

“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but I am not in the mood to continue this conversation. I will now ask you to leave before I say something I regret. Please, leave me alone for now.” She then closed her door without letting Dash adding anything.

“Fine!” She yelled, “If that’s how you are going to take it then I guess I have no reason to stay here!” She turned around and Flew away back toward Sugarcube Corner. It took her all she got to not let go her tears of frustration.

The party was still going on when Dash came back. Trixie was making an impressive depiction of the battle that raged earlier that day. She had now a story far more impressive than her previous Ursa major tale. And this time, she had the courage to admit she didn’t fight alone, standing beside the shape representing her, two more ponies, an earth pony and a Pegasus, were valiantly fighting the monster. From time to time the CMC were spotted trying new crazy tricks with their new friend as they attempted to get their ‘party prankster’ cutie mark. The night started growing old and Dash managed to keep her head cool enough not to show her concern for Fluttershy. When asked about how their meeting went she just shrugged it off, claiming she would be fine, eventually. As most ponies returned home, Twilight and Clay readied themselves to leave as well.

“Clay, do you mind going a little ahead of me? There is something I want to ask Dash before going home.” Asked the purple unicorn.

Clay simply nodded and went on his way. As for Twilight she joined Rainbow Dash who was about to leave herself.

“Hey Rainbow, there is something I wanted to ask you. Tomorrow I planned to try a spell to see Clay’s memory for my researches about the creatures of his world. Considering how you seem to have decided to follow him on his hunts, I thought it might be a good idea if you had a chance to take a glance at what he can show us. Also, it is a chance for us to discover some stuff about his past.”

“Oh, well. I guess it could be interesting. Sign me up. When do you want me to show up?”

“Just spend the night at the library, the sooner I can start, the more we get to see and learn. I wouldn’t be surprised if he chose to search for the next monster that was brought with him, so if we are lucky, you might even get a chance to learn how to deal with your next target.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that logic. I’m gonna get some stuff from my place then I will join you at the library. Seeya in a bit!”

Twilight looked at Rainbow leaving the place and headed home herself.

“I hope you are prepared, because tomorrow I’m going to pierce some of your secrets, mister hunter.” She said with a sly grin.