//------------------------------// // Summon the Hunter // Story: Hunt Begins Again // by burner181 //------------------------------// I wake up with a start, knocking a blanket off that was placed on top of me and look around, recognizing Twilight's library. I also see a startled Spike looking at me. “Sorry about that, it’s been awhile since I got peaceful sleep.” Spike nods. “Understandable, if you’ve had to deal with what I have heard the others talking about.” He picks up the blanket and folds it, adding, “Twilight received a letter from Celestia requesting the presence of you and… Nightmare Moon?” I stand up and stretch. “Celestia, that would be Luna's sister, correct?” Spike nods in response. “Well, I doubt Mythril is ready to meet Celestia just yet, so I’ll go and at least make myself known.” A few hours later I find myself on a train heading towards a place called Canterlot. ‘Are all these cities named after equine puns?’ I fall asleep to the sounds of the train as I watch the countryside go by. Waking up as the train pulls into the station, I stand up with only my cane in hand and wait for my turn to get off. Getting off the train, I approach a city guard, clearly setting them on edge with my appearance and show them the summons from Celestia and she proceeds to guide me to the castle. Walking through the city, it bears a striking resemblance from several of the cities my studies have taken me to in my world, only more colorful. On our approach to the castle, I freeze up and clutch my head as memories of Yharnam start flooding into my thoughts. The guard looks over at me concerned, “Sir, are you alright?” I give a sign to give me a moment. I shake my head to clear my mind. “Sorry about that, I was just hit by a rush of memories all at once.” Gesturing for her to continue leading, I follow promptly behind. Taking a few deep breaths, I look around some more, noticing a lantern that’s connected to the Dream in a sort of garden. I pipe up, “Is it alright if I go into the garden first?” The guard nods. “Of course sir, I have to return to my patrol, but if you show that letter to a guard they would be willing to escort you to see the Princess.” I give them a polite bow in thanks as she makes her way back into the city before heading into the garden and lighting the lantern connecting a path to the Hunter's Dream. “Step one done, getting here, step two: actually talking to the Princess, can wait a bit, the plants in this garden actually interest me some.” I walk through the garden noticing both familiar plants and some that I have never seen before. I come across a big patch of sunflowers and find a nearby bench to sit on. “Short break then it’s time to face fate, from what I have heard she can be understanding, but if she has that sort of personality, there’s a confrontation on the horizon.” After taking some time to myself, I stand up and make my way to the entrance. I show the guards at the door the summons and they let me inside. Another guardsmare escorts me to the throne room, throwing curious glances at me when she thinks I’m not looking. I ignore the glances and examine how all the guards look the same except for differences in species, those being what appear to be unicorns and pegasi along with some without additional features. Pausing, I look out the window thinking I saw one with bat wings, then keep walking again, playing it off as me just getting a look at the view. —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘I swear, all these nobles care about are themselves,’ Celestia thinks to herself while listening to nobles in court. She gets a report of a creature with a summons being escorted to the throne room. ‘Well, whether they are hostile or friendly this shall be interesting.’ —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As we continue walking, a sleepy guard promptly wakes up sweating at the sight of my cane. As we walk past him he watches us, then looks down at his armor, deep in thought. We approach the door and the guardsmare gives a sharp salute indicating we have arrived and leaves. I show the summons, "I'm Sparrow, the monster hunter." The guard announces me then lets me enter. As I enter I hear the grumbles of the nobles being ushered out the same door. With a smirk under my mask, I stop a ways away from the throne and take in the appearance of the princess. While most would call her beautiful, I consider her appearance an eyesore, too many bright colors. Looking into her eyes though, I see a being of great wisdom, but equal loneliness. She leans forward and looks around. "Where is the other one? Hiding, perchance?" I straighten up and look her in the eyes. "At this time, I believe Mythril is either patrolling the forest, or learning more about the town we reside in." I stand with my hands resting on the head of my cane waiting for her next move. I notice her smile grow some before putting on her formal mask again. "Be that as it may I request that you bring her here so I may keep my eye on her." I stamp my cane on the marble floor putting small cracks around the impact. "Are you trying to create another Nightmare Moon incident?" The guards gasp and I gesture to her with the cane. "All this summons proves is that you don't completely trust your sister's judgment in a situation like this." I start to pace, noticing a few cracks in the mask. "Your sister entrusted that mare to me, I must ask, is this truly a diarchy or do you hold all the power?" We all hear a gasp from behind us and we turn to see Luna, who promptly leaves. Celestia gets up and tries to go after her but I block her with my arm. "I am sorry for what just transpired but you of all people should know now is not the time for you two to talk." She sighs but nods. "I'll return to Ponyville and try to get Luna to send you a message within a week, but my stance still stands on not turning over Mythril." I give a polite bow. "As a more urgent situation has come up, I shall take my leave." I leave the throne room, pretending to not hear the silent sniffle from the princess, and make my way to the garden. I use the lantern there to hop into the Dream, hopping out in front of Twilight's eyesore of a castle and heading inside. As I start walking to the room I was lent, I get intercepted by Spike. "I want to become a Hunter." I motion for him to walk with me. "Are you sure about this? Until we have a decent amount of Hunters, you'd have to stop being Twilight's assistant." He nods adamantly. "All my life I have been following Twilight wherever she went. While I do enjoy being her assistant, I want to forge my own path." Seeing a drive in him, I nod. "Go to the carpenter and get three training swords, axes, and mauls." Spike salutes, running off with a slight skip in his gait, and I say to myself, "Enjoy the pleasant times while they last, my young apprentice." I make my way to the throne room and notice there aren't any guards. I peek my head in and notice Twilight on her throne. I step inside and walk over to her. "Lonely Twi?" She looks up at me. "You have no idea. I open the throne for any to bring their complaints, but nopony shows up." She blinks and looks at me intensely. "Didn't you have a summons from Celestia?" I put my hands on her shoulders and gently push her away as she unconsciously got in my face. "Yes I did, we had a conflict of opinions, then something more urgent came up, and so I returned here." Twilight looks at me inquisitively. "How did you get here so fast? You don't have wings so you can't fly, and you don't have a horn to do magic." I ball up my fist and tap her on the top of her head. "First, don't be racist there are other ways to do magic." I cross my arms staring at her. "Second, the Hunter’s Dream can be used as a sort of hub to travel to different places almost instantly, as long as a lantern has been lit." Before we continue with our discussion we hear the throne room door open and see Luna and a couple of her guards with her. All three are taken aback seeing me here and the guards get in front of her defensively. "You saw what I'm capable of, do you really think you would stand a chance if I meant harm?" Motioning for the guards to stand down, Luna asks, "How did you get here so fast? I just saw you in the Canterlot throne room." Chuckling to myself, I remark, "Guess I should have waited, the Hunter’s Dream can be used as a traveling hub." I walk over to Luna and give her a hug, surprising everyone. "Remember, you are loved, more than you know." Breaking off the hug, I then leave the throne room and go searching for Mythril. I arrive at our shared room and knock on the door. Getting a response to enter, I do so. Now that my adrenaline rush from the night before is over, I finally get a good look at my roommate. She appears to be taller than the average pony, with dark blue and lighter blue hair with silver streaks. I blink at that realization. "Hold on, wasn't your hair a solid blue when we met?" Confused, Mythril turns to examine herself in a mirror. "Yeah, it was blue where did this silver come from." I come to the sudden realization she's only in her underwear and turn away. "Uhm, what's with the mark on your upper thigh?" Mythril looks at the mark, a blood-stained axe over a crescent moon. "That changed too." Seeing an opportunity to tease me, she hugs me from behind. "Well since you ask, those marks represent what makes a pony unique and what they are especially good at." She lets go to get dressed. "Does your kind not have them?" I sigh and turn back, shaking my head. "No we don't, some humans get tattoos, but nothing that deep." Mythril finishes getting dressed. "Maybe we should think about getting more clothes for each of us?" I look down at my hunter outfit and nod. "Yeah these are the only things we have to wear aren't they?" Getting a nod from Mythril, I continue, "Maybe Twilight has some… pony? she could suggest." Mythril chuckles. "Go ahead and stick to your own terminology dear, if ours is going to give you some trouble, but you were correct." I sigh thankfully and nod. "I'll do that then." Leading the way out of the room, I realize something. "Wait, dear?" Watching Mythril giggle and take off running towards the throne room, I shake my head. "If Mythril is an extension of Luna, when was the last time the Princesses got to act like mares and not have to wear masks?" I continue at my own pace arriving at the throne room where Mythril is waiting. Mythril stands there tapping her foot. “What took you so long?” “I was just thinking of how we need a tailor as your pants have a hole in the rear.” Chuckling as I made her check for a hole that was not actually there, I head to the door and knock.