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Monster hunter and ponies pt3

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chapter 3 : Different cultures

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 Pinky 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 walking 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 problem 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 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 wasn't 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 hand 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, hopeful 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.
third chapter of the monster X ponies fanfiction. The mane 6 finally have some dialogue and interaction, if any of you readers feel like one of them is out of character leave me a comment or a note so I can think of adjustments. Also, it's my longer chapter yet! Enjoy the read!


Chapter 1: [link]
Chapter 2: [link]
Chapter 3: you are here

MLP:FIM belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust
Monster hunter belongs to Capcom

Also chapter four is on the way! should be available in a week or two.
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Karpy96's avatar
youre gonna continue this? is awsome