Hunter In Equestria Chapter 1: New Places

Roy blinked slowly, waking up with his back against the ancient bricks of the kilometer tall tower. His vision was swimming, and his hearing was muffled. Shellshock, the Hunter dimly realized. Recovering from his blackout after several long moments, he stood just in time to see a woman in Orange Espinas gear be vaporized by a blood-red lightning strike.

The last hunter on his team, himself excluded.

The glittering white dragon in front of the man growled, having singlehandedly eviscerated his team.

Standard hunting teams were four people. For this one, the Hunter's Guild had almost sent an army. All of them, save Roy, were dead or bleeding out. It had seemingly reinforced the fact that large hunting groups were bad luck.

The dragon stood at fifteen feet tall, with a wingspan measuring at least three times that. Razor sharp claws, drenched in blood, were at the ends of its almost human fingers. Its draconic head was topped with two horns that swept backwards over each eye, each of which branched off into two separate tips. One of the horns had been nicked, electricity occasionally arcing across the damaged area.

To Roy's credit, the dragon was feeling the wounds. Scale was missing from its chest and various other places, and its right foot was slashed open, bleeding quite freely. Several arrows and bowgun bolts were sticking out of various places at almost random angles, and the white mane running along the Fatalis' spine was scorched away almost entirely.

Unfortunately, it just...hadn't been enough.

The White Fatalis, Master of Electricity, shrieked in victory, tossing its head in an arc as it bellowed. The beast's blood red tongue lolled out of its mouth as it did so, dragon saliva spotting the ground.

Roy experimentally felt around on his body, hissing quietly when he felt the ribs underneath his Azure Rathalos chestplate. A rib or three were cracked, but the human knew that he had two choices at this point: Get up, or die.

Stooping down for just a moment to retrieve his gleaming Gold Rathian sword, Golden Eclipse, he charged forward. If he were going down, this bastard was coming with him.

The Fatalis growled in confusion, having assumed the Hunter had been killed too. To its credit, the dragon was quick to react, lashing out with electrically-infused claws as Roy closed in, which he in turn rolled under. Coming out of the roll, he turned his wrist and pulled his weapon up, dragging the razor-sharp edge across the dragon's stomach. A blast of flame was the response from the weapon itself, incinerating more white scale and shell and allowing the weapon to bite in deeper.

The Fatalis reeled in pain, screeching and taking flight. Roy was knocked over by the wind pressure from the heavy beast, quickly standing back up and brandishing his shield.

"Get back down here, you son of a bitch!" The furious man roared, shaking his fist at the airborne dragon.

The Fatalis ignored his shouting, instead hovering high above to rain electric death down on the man's head. Defensive rolling allowed the Hunter to avoid the first two or three, but he had been struck *at least* twice. Roy couldn't remember, his abused body and nervous system finally losing count.

Thankfully, his armor was naturally insulated against electric attacks. Still hurt like sin, but at least he was alive.

The final blast tossed the man's sorry ass halfway across the half-mile tall tower top, momentum causing him to come to a rolling stop on his back. Slowly rising once more, muscles convulsing slightly from the errant electricity running through him, Roy took in his options.

One was to continue standing here like a chump and get killed. That option the White Fatalis much preferred, he could tell. Another was to retreat and call this entire thing off, while simultaneously praying the dragon didn't hold grudges and hunt HIM down instead.

A third...

A man not far across the roof was in heavy, grey Gravios plating, dead and leaning against a large crossbow-like weapon. A strikingly red Heavy Bowgun, loaded with an explosive shot.

The third option was to try and end this. Right here, right now.

Muttering a short prayer for the man, Roy grabbed his gun and took aim at the still airborne monster.

"Eat this, you bastard!" Roy roared, pulling the trigger and bracing himself.

A mighty *BOOM* echoed for miles as the red Agnaktor gun launched its explosive payload, striking the dragon in the neck and detonating mightily a moment later. The Fatalis screeched and fell out of the air, landing on its neck with a wet thud.

It lie still, the wind blowing the ashes and dust away. Roy put the gun down, its ammunition spent already. He wasn't sure if the fallen man had more on him, and it was disrespectful to the dead to go through his pockets.

Roy was a Hunter, not a Melynx.

Keeping his weapon drawn, Roy crept closer. The Hunter came less than a quarter meter of its chest, giving it an experimental kick before flinching backwards into a defensive posture.

The White Fatalis didn't respond.

A wave of relief washed over him, his battered body relaxing somewhat.

"I got you...hahaha..."

A tired, spent chuckle.

One more mark to add to his Hunter Journal...

He looked back at the ruined tower top.

...Nineteen more names to add to the last page.

A small shift, and Roy's heart skipped a beat. He should have paid more attention to the dragon, and less to his own next move.

He turned in time for a claw to rake across his left shoulder, slashing apart the protective steel and scale...and rending it wide open.

Turning his tortured scream into a pain-fueled roar of anger, the human spun on his heel to bring the blazing blade to bear on the Fatalis' head. The blade cleaved into the soft flesh of the dragon's face, and the blast of heated fury cooked its left eye and part of its tongue. It brought its claws to bear again, and he intercepted them with his shield, pushing them to the side and taking another slash at the beast's arms.

Golden scale and plate from his shield simply melted, leaving huge ugly gashes in the metal and scale hybrid layers.

Tendons and ligaments similarly simply ceased to be as his blade burned through them in turn, the gleaming Fatalis' right arm hanging down uselessly at an angle that was definitely not natural.  Its tail lashed into his side, pitching him back into the wall. Roy once more struck the stone, and this time the pain was blinding.

He feebly reached into his pouch, fumbling for the restorative green fluids held in the ten bottles in the bag. Painkiller and healing accelerator all in one, the common term was simply "Potion." Popping the lid on one, the man downed it and immediately started feeling the effects.

Unfortunately, it was far too late. A large white spot was under him, growing more intense as the seconds ticked by. This is how he would die, it seemed. Roy laughed at the dragon, gloating as it was literally glowing with rage. Red markings on its chest and what was left of its horns were pulsing, and it was huffing white smoke.

It was also bleeding intensely, he doubted it would last more than half an hour at this rate.

"See you in Hell."

The bolt struck, and everything went black. Roy slammed into something hard immediately afterwards, and he lost consciousness.
===

Relaxing with a good book was how one Twilight Sparkle was spending her day today. No rampages from Ursa Minors, no insanity from friends, no eldritch horrors, no Discord...

Just her, and some Twilight Time in bed.

...there may or may not have been a small catnap in there too.

Of course, the alone time came in part due to the thunderstorm rolling through. This one was...odd, in that any attempt to disperse this rogue storm was met with no success. Several pegasus had been hit with strange, red bolts of lightning, causing them to be pulled away and inspected for injuries.

Aside from some minor contact burns, they were fine.

A rushed, urgent knock on the door got a huff from the mare, obviously unhappy about being torn away from her book.

"Down in a second!" She called, marking her page and trotting downstairs.

Opening the door showed a distraught and semi-cooked Rainbow Dash, looking equal parts annoyed and panicked.

"Oh good, you're home!" The pegasus said, relieved.

"Where else would I be?" The mare asked flatly, looking at the rain-soaked and smoking pegasus. "What happened to you?"

"The storm is what happened to me! It's not natural, isn't there something you can do about it?" The cyan pegasus asked, seemingly out of options if she were asking for help.

Putting a hoof to her chin, the unicorn thought for a moment.

"Let me look, I'll see if there's any weather related spells I can find."

The lavender mare trotted back inside, looking around. The mare skimmed through a few books.

"Weather enchantment, weather enhancement...weather eradication!"

Looking it over, it seemed a simple enough spell. It also covered...practically all weather conditions, if she were reading it right.

"Alright Dash, let me try this one."

The mare stepped back out into the maelstrom, horn aglow. A grunt of exertion, and a wide magenta glow covered the entire cloud system.

She waited.

The next bolt of lightning to make itself known stayed in the clouds, a bright white instead of red. Cheering to herself, the mare turned and smiled at Rainbow.

"And there we have it. Have fun!"

Twilight then pushed Rainbow Dash out with no further fanfare and went upstairs to her warm bed and her book. She couldn't wait to figure out how Daring Do was going to escape her confines over the sacrificial Pit of Kerberos. The unicorn hopped into bed, pulled her blanket across her flank, and cracked the book back open.

A thud echoed throughout the Treebrary. From *inside*.

That...was not part of the storm.

Was it Dash trying to play a prank? Twilight had figured Rainbow would have learned her lesson about scaring the unicorn. Last time, the pegasus had ended up on the business end of a stun spell, paralyzed for several hours.

A wounded groan. Masculine, deep.

Not Rainbow Dash.

Not Spike either, he was keeping Rarity company during the storm...

Horn lit once more, stun spell at the ready, she took a few tentative steps downstairs. The groan sounded again, and something smelled...off. Like ozone, mixed with something else that the unicorn couldn't place.

The sounds were coming from the kitchen. She finished the quick jaunt down the stairs, horn still alight. Twilight also lit a light spell for visibility, turning the intensity to roughly what Celestia's own sun would be. Coming around the corner, she saw...it.

A being was against her oven, bleeding all over her floor. The mare gasped, then turned her head and wrinkled her nose at both the scent and the huge pain in the flank it was going to be to get that up.

The figure was covered in deep-blue scales almost all the way around, aside from its torso and inner thighs. Twilight almost called it a dragon until she realized something; the being was wearing armor.

On its torso and thigh areas was a black metal that looked both flexible and protective, though she couldn't exactly tell what it was made of. Whatever this was made of, it seemed decades more advanced than anything Equestria had. The only thing that could possibly match it would be armor from the Griffon Empire, and maybe not even that.

Which begged the question: What in Celestia's name was powerful enough to put these deep gouges and holes in it?

Pushing that question to the side for now, the mare continued to take mental notes on appearance.

In its five-fingered hand was a golden, triangular sword. It pulsed calmly, an odd effect for a weapon. Perhaps it was enchanted? That would certainly account fo-

The being groaned again, then...slowly gestured for her.

A closer inspection of that curious sword would have to wait.
===

Roy's head hurt like hell.

Still, that meant he was alive. He ached all over, and simply couldn't find the strength to actually move. Instead, a pained groan escaped his lips as he gave himself a short physical rundown.

Legs were barely moving, arms were deadweight, his chest and face were bleeding...

Yep, he was a mess. Roy could still feel all of it though, so no extensive nerve damage.

...he hoped.

He'd probably recover completely, provided he didn't bleed out right now. The man groaned again. Hopefully, someone was around to hear it. His close-in, claustrophobic surroundings were definitely different from the wide open tower roof.

In addition, Roy could swear he was leaning against an oven.

Golden Falchion was still tight in his grip, calmly pulsing in time with his heartbeats. The Gold Rathian materials were supposedly linked with the heart, and that showed strong whenever he wielded this particular weapon. The pulses were slow and steady, which was good.

Light was cast across his face, suddenly dilating his pupils and blinding him. Roy grunted, unable to shield his eyes. It would be several moments before his eyes adjusted, and in the meantime he heard something gasp lightly. Next was the sound of...what sounded like hooves on hard wood. The owner of them was inspecting Roy closely, if the various "hmm's" and "oh's" were to be believed. Finally, the gods found it kind to sate his curiosity, and his eyes focused.

What stood there was...a miniature, purple Kirin.

Its horn was glowing light pink, and it was indeed inspecting the Monster Hunter closely. It didn't appear to wish him harm, or it would have done so already. The light also, thankfully, died out. Roy started willing something, ANYTHING to move. His left arm started first.

Moving his fingers, he beckoned the creature closer. It focused its eyes on his hand, nose wrinkling at the scent of his blood. He painstakingly pointed at his pouch, and it seemed to understand, tilting its head to the side.

"Green...fluid..." Roy croaked out, and it narrowed its eyes...before nodding back?

The pink glow started again, encasing his pouch and pulling the latch open with ease.

'What in the hell...?'

The nine remaining bottles of restorative juice floated up, the mini-Kirin inspecting them. Roy held his left arm raised and his palm up. The thing was smarter than it looked, because it expertly and carefully dropped one single bottle into his grip. He popped the cork with his thumb, lifted the faceplate, and then downed the nasty yet soothing concoction.

A worn out sigh left his lips, and the mini-Kirin sighed too. It sat down near him...then began to talk.

"Can you tell me who or...what you are?" It asked in a calm, feminine voice.

The Hunter could still see the fear in her eyes, very carefully reigned in. Exhaustion from his wounds was taking over, leaving him unable to respond...for the moment. Slowly, painfully, he shook his head 'no'.

For all Roy knew, he was having an intense hallucination. It would be better to just answer anyway.

"I think I need to go get Fluttershy, she's better with animals..."

Roy half-glared at her at the word 'animal', but the Kirin ignored it. She looked him in the eyes, seeming to decide on something.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and...how did you get in my kitchen? All of my doors are shut, and the windows aren't open either..."

He chose to simply tilt his helmeted head at "Twilight Sparkle", not able to answer her himself. Sleep was looking so, so good right now. He couldn't sleep though. He had to get up, figure out where he was.

The mini-Kirin appeared to be debating something.

"You look...so terrible. I'm not sure if I *should* leave, you might die on me."

Not if he had any say. Thanks to that potion he just swallowed, Roy was starting to feel better. Several of his wounds had stopped bleeding almost immediately, though a few of the more shallow ones were still oozing crimson onto the floorboards. His shoulder was messed up too, but it was still functional at least.

The Hunter was afraid for a moment that he had lost all motion in it. Seems that he lucked out again.

"I'm going to go get Fluttershy. Is that okay? She can help you."

Roy wasn't sure who 'Fluttershy' was. Still, knowing he wasn't exactly going anywhere at the moment, and possibly against his better judgement, he nodded.

"Great! Sit right here, I'll be right back!"

A bright pink flash, and she was...gone. First Contact with a sentient species, and he met the one that cracked jokes at wounded people. Perfect.

Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum: Roy was vividly hallucinating, and was bleeding out on top of that tower.

Less than ten minutes here, and he was already so done with it all...though Roy found himself much preferring the former than the latter. New non-hostile species he could deal with. Dying, not so much.

He needed to get up, hobble out of here, and find the nearest Hunter's Guild outpost. Put in as quest completed, because there was no way that Fatalis was surviving its wounds, then go on vacation.

A lengthy, well deserved vacation.

A few minutes passed in silence, the painkillers finally numbing the pain. He slowly stood, using the oven for balance, then bumped his head on the low ceiling. Taking a few careful steps forward to test his balance, he limped towards the door.

Roy paused for a moment to admire the building he was in. It was a library, and huge too. There had to be at least a thousand books on these shelves, maybe more. He honestly wished he had time to stop and just read a few.

"Maybe next time." The Hunter mumbled wistfully, heading towards the door.

It too was three-quarters the size he'd expected it to be, causing him to have to duck his head to leave. Roy stepped right into a rainstorm, complete with lightning and thunder. The lightning cracked, and he involuntarily jumped.

Maybe he would be better off staying inside...

"Wait a damn minute..." He said to himself a moment later.

Roy was a Monster Hunter, since when did a little inclement weather stop him?

Not a soul was outside, which he presumed was due to the storm. That was fine, the Hunter didn't much feel like talking. He could have sworn he saw something in the clouds, but eventually determined it was his eyes playing tricks on him. Or an especially agile Remobra subspecies. One of the two.

He had made his way into a darkened forest, which he admitted seconds later was not too bright of an idea. The road had lead through here, and if there was a road, there was a Guild outpost to be found.

...Eventually.

Wild animals and birds made various noises until he passed by, at which point they went quiet. When he left, they resumed their noises. Shaking his head, Roy noticed the road stopped in roughly fifteen meters, ripped up by foliage and trees.

Off to his left was a patch of bright blue flowers. Something in the back of his mind told him to avoid them at all cost. The only reason something would be that colorful and bright, in a place like this?

It was toxic. Probably lethally so.

With his luck, the toxin would eat through his armor and then him. Roy gave the flowers a wide berth, instead heading to the right. As he approached a clearing, he noticed something.

It was dead silent.

He drew his sword, the heated blade causing the air to ripple.

"Come out and I won't hurt you." The Azure clad man said firmly, knowing somehow that whatever was here wasn't smart enough to reply back.

A roar was the answer, and a strange beast leapt out of the treeline. It was a strange combination of a Teostra and Akura, with the body and wings of the dragon and stinger of the scorpion. The stinger occasionally dripped with venom, and it looked angry.

It slowly prowled around him, and Roy was careful to keep it directly ahead of him. Looking it over, it wasn't an especially large creature. The Hunter had fought Arzuros that were bigger. It faked a lunge, and his immediate response was to hold his almost-ruined shield up to deflect, narrowing his eyes when nothing came.

The beast did it again, and got the same response from him. Wise to the animal's game, Roy started baiting it. Make it think his response was the same each time, and it would make a mistake sooner or later. One more fake attempt, and it finally lunged for real.

Ducking under the beast's body, Roy intercepted the stinger with his shield, shoving it upwards and then neatly cutting its tail off with Golden Falchion. The wound was instantly cauterized in the blast of fire that followed, and it yelped as it inspected the damage. Deciding it wanted no more of him, it retreated back into the undergrowth.

"Pfft. Is that it?" Roy taunted as it ran away, sheathing his blade. "Pathetic."

He decided to collect a bit of its venom for research purposes once he got back to Guild territory. Retrieving the stinger from the tall grass, he gave it a quick squeeze over a vial. A good three milliliters of dark-blue venom fell into a vial, and he put the cork back on before returning it to his bag.

A bush rustled, and he drew his weapon again. Taking the offensive, Roy charged through the bush and rolled. Coming to an abrupt stop, his weapon was mere inches from decapitating...a currently screaming Twilight Sparkle.

"WAIT, DON'T KILL ME!!!" She shrieked.

"Whoops." Roy replied flatly, secretly thankful he hadn't finished that stroke.

He huffed and sheathed the blade once more, turning away.

"I *thought* I saw you walk into here! Why aren't you back at my Library waiting for help?" She asked as soon as her heart wasn't in her throat.

"I feel better." Roy said, and she did a double take.

"You TALK!?"

"The feeling's mutual!" Roy called over his shoulder, walking away.

A small flash of magenta in front of him, and the Kirin was in his face again.

Annoying little...

"Listen buster, you're going to go back to the library. Fluttershy's there waiting to patch you up."

He still weren't sure who or what 'Fluttershy' was.

"And if I don't?" The Hunter questioned rebelliously.

"I'm going to force you to."

"I'd love to see that happen." Roy said, crossing his arms.

Her horn lit up, and she threw...something at him. A small orb of some kind, magenta in coloration and quickly accelerating at him. He ducked it, and she tossed another at him. As he rolled away from this one, his wounded leg gave out. Lying there on the floor, in pain and almost incapacitated, he couldn't avoid the next one Twilight threw. He simply had to hope his armor would hold out, and that he wouldn't be fried on the spot.

The magenta bolt hit...and did absolutely nothing. Didn't even leave a scorch mark on the Azure plating.

"H-hey, what!?" She cried in confusion, sending another his way.

Now he was curious.

Using a nearby tree to help himself up, he let this bolt hit him dead on.

Nothing. The ball of energy washed over him like a wave of hot air, and that was that. Shrugging, he limped past her.

"There's nothing that way but a gorge and the ruined Everfree castle!" Twilight called, sounding frustrated beyond belief.

That was different.

"Everfree?" Roy questioned, stopping once more.

"Yes, Everfree! We're in the middle of the Everfree forest, how did you NOT know that!?" The Kirin said with a stamp of her left hoof. "I'd like to leave before some predators get ideas about a nice, delectable pony in the middle of a dense, dark forest!"

"Predators? Like what?"

"Manticores, Timberwolves, various mobile carnivorous plants! The list goes on!" She said with a fair bit of panic and a fair bit of frustration.

"Fine, fine, little...pony." He said, not sure why the Kirin was calling itself a pony and not sure what ANY of those creatures she listed were. "Lead on."

"Oh, NOW you listen. Fine, this way."
---

The trip back took about half the time as it did forwards. Apparently Twilight knew a few shortcuts Roy didn't. Go figure.

A butter yellow...winged horse with bright pink hair was sitting in the library, going over a manual. A medical bag was on her, obvious from the big white cross on the side. She gasped when the two walked in, wings flaring and with a bright smile on her face.

"Oh my, you're a tall one!" She said in a soft yet excited tone. "Please, sit so we can tend to you!"

Roy strode over to a chair, sitting down after a moment of consideration. Slightly surprised it held his weight, he silently began to remove his armor, finally taking in the damage done to it. Straps were undone as he began removing the heavy thigh plating, scarred in various places. He noted with some annoyance that the leather straps needed replacing as well. Two straps were burned away completely, others were damaged to various degrees.

The thigh plates hit the floor with a thud, and he started the process anew with the gauntlets and arm plating. Those too hit the floor, and he sighed as his skin could finally breathe.

"Now now, there's no need to be afraid of us." The yellow pony said softly, creeping closer to him. Roy didn't give her a second look as he pulled his helmet off, setting it on the nearby table. Final step was his chestplate.

A little fiddling with the straps, and it neatly fell off and onto the floor. Wincing at all the deep claw marks and lightning burns across the onyx chestplate, Roy made a mental note to find a blacksmith for repairs. Finally, Roy sighed happily, glad the heavy armor was off after almost a full 24 hours wearing it.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" The yellow winged pony said, landing with a serene smile. He nodded mutely in return, still just a bit unsure. Not because he thought he was in danger, but because the situation was just so... weird. He finally could take mental notes on appearances, mostly for writing down in his notebook later.

Mini-Kirin: Purple coat, purple eyes, roughly one meter tall, with a strange tattoo-type star marking on her flank. Tri-colored mane, purple-light purple-pink, then back to purple.

Other horse: Yellow coat, bright blue eyes. Same height as the kirin, but with wings and no horn. Triple-butterfly tattoo on her flank, same color as her bright-pink mane.

"A bit better, yeah," Roy finally replied, and the butter yellow one squeed in joy. "I think right now I could use some water...?"

"Oh, of course! You sit right there mister, and don't make a move! Mama Fluttershy will be right back!" The yellow horse quickly trotted out of the room, almost tripping over herself in her attempt to help you.

The Hunter put a hand to his forehead, massaging his temples to try and collect himself. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out a small notebook. It was bound completely in Rathalos leather, giving the cover a dark-red hue. He noted he were on his last couple pages, which was unfortunate as it was hellishly expensive to replace. Still, that meant the booklet had served its purpose.

Roy fumbled through his bag for a quill and inkwell, then groaned in displeasure when he found his quills broken and the ink flash-dried inside the bottles from the lightning strikes.

"Gah."

"Do you need these?" Twilight asked. You looked over to see a quill with an ink well hovering over towards you, coated in a magenta aura. Twilight Sparkle's horn was lit up in the same light, and she was slowly turning her head towards you, as if she were...guiding it?

"What are...how...?"

"Simple levitation spell." The Kirin replied, giving you an amused look.

"Spell...? Like, actual magic?" You asked incredulously, taking the quill and ink well.

"Yes, actual magic." She replied with a laugh. "Doesn't your species have something like this?"

Shaking your head in response, you wrote down your notes before you forgot them. You suddenly remembered the bolts she had slung at you.

Was that magic too?

Next to her page, you added in "Magic usage, danger potential is low."

You heard the purple one snort in response, you had forgotten she was practically reading over your shoulder.

You then took your time writing down the nineteen names from the botched Tower hunt, taking your time to get them right. Twilight watched you the entire time.

"'The Fallen'?" She asked, looking over your shoulder.

"People I've lost during hunts. This last one was the most costly." You replied simply.

She went slightly pale as you wrote name, after name, after name...

Fluttershy came back with the glass of water, somehow holding it in one hoof-type limb. You took it gratefully, downing the tall glass in a few short seconds. Setting the glass down, you wiped your mouth with the back of your arm.

"Ah, thank you. I needed that, really."

You gave them both a smile, hopefully one that was disarming in nature.

...not that the yellow one seemed to mind. Anything you did was a wonder to this little pony, it appeared.

"Alright, I think we should introduce one other."

They both nodded eagerly, Twilight grabbing a quill and notepad in the same magenta aura.

"My name is Anonymous, Anon for short. Monster Hunter of the Hunter's Guild, and one of the best ones in the Pokke and Loc Lac regions."

You gestured at Twilight.

"Your turn."

"No, hold on, wait." The purple pony said, quill coming to an abrupt stop.

You arched an eyebrow.

"Hunter's Guild?" She asked, obviously confused.

"The Hunter's Guild, where to begin...?" You asked rhetorically. "Rather large, tens of thousands of members. Only guild larger is the Merchant's Guild, and only just." You replied.

Twilight and Fluttershy both looked at you blankly, then at each other.

"We keep the skies, oceans, and land clear of intruding wyverns and dragons?" You supplied, hoping it would ring a bell.

Still nothing, as the Kirin tilted her head slightly.

"Ugh."

You pulled out your wallet with your ID (which he sourly noted had his picture burned clean off), showing her the Guild's symbol.

"I've never seen anything even close to that." Twilight said with certainty. "In fact, what you're talking about...isn't in any Equestrian record."

"Equestrian? What?"

Looking around, you spotted a map, up on a wall. It appeared to be a map of not only the immediate area, but for hundreds of kilometers in any direction.

"Can you pull that down so I can look?"

She obliged, curious. You looked the map over, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, the map is slightly out of date. Cloudsdale has moved south a bit, thanks to wind currents." Twilight said, in a tone that was meant to be helpful.

Roy could only make sounds of pure confusion.

Nothing on the map was familiar. No town, no mountain range, no body of water...nothing. A cold chill settled in, one he recognized: Fear. Roy began to hyperventilate and panic, and he couldn't help it.

"I-I don't..."

"Don't what?"

"I don't recognize anything on this map! Is this it?!" Roy half-shouted in distress, and Twilight reeled back in shock.

"W-what do you mean? This is the entire region of Equestria!" She said, taking a close look at the map, then at his terrified visage. The mare couldn't place why he was having a meltdown.

"Where's Minegarde?" He started, poking the map where the large city should have been. "Where's Pokke? Where's Dondruma? Loc Lac? Yukumo?!" He asked, voice getting louder and more intense on each question.

"I-I don't know!" Twilight cried, eyes wide as she was suddenly afraid for her life. She was looking for the nearest exit, while simultaneously trying to keep an eye on him. Fluttershy was gone, suddenly and mysteriously.

There were no words exchanged for several tense moments, Twilight breathing heavily as she became acutely aware he could have killed them both by now if he wanted to. The fact that he hadn't yet, and appeared to have no drive to do so, settled them down quite a bit. Roy was still staring at the map, stunned.

"I...I need to step out." He said a moment later, opening the door and standing just outside the library.

Rain pattered on his bare forehead, and his clothes were getting soaked. Roy's breathing went from fast and shallow to calm and deep over the next twenty minutes, having gone over an argument with himself at least twice now.

The place was completely alien, but...neither inhospitable nor *completely* unfriendly.

The fact he wasn't dead right now certainly said that much.

The hows and whys could be figured out later. For now, he needed to crash. Badly. Heaving a deep breath out, Roy stepped back inside.

"He's scared, Twilight. It's no mystery why he's acting this way!" Fluttershy quietly exclaimed as he entered.

"Well...what do you suggest we do?" The purple Kirin replied, seemingly at a loss as she noted Roy's arrival.

"Find me a place to sleep?" He suggested, a yawn punctuating his need. Both ponies looked at one another before nodding in agreement.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. I'd offer a place at my home, but Angel doesn't like new visitors much." Fluttershy said with a small blush.

"Well, I could...clear space somewhere for him, I guess." Twilight said after a moment. "It's just awful short notice."

"Do you have a couch or something?" He asked.

"Right over there?" Twilight said, pointing a hoof at it. It was a small, green colored couch, well worn from frequent use. "I don't see why you nee-"

"I'll take it."

Roy plopped himself onto it, and it was so soft and warm...

Twilight shrugged, making a small sound of acceptance as she did so.

"I'm going to send a letter to Princess Celestia as soon as Spike gets back. I need...some advice, and possibly her presence." Twilight said, turning away.

Fluttershy found a blanket for him not long after he settled in, and he took it with a grateful 'thank you'.

A long, painful day deserves a long, peaceful rest. Before a comfortable darkness took him, Roy figured he could have been worse off.
===

How the human went to sleep that easily was beyond the lavender unicorn. One moment, he appeared up and ready for action...the very next, quietly snoozing on the couch.

Shaking her head, she pulled her attention to his pouch. Various doodads of unknown function were scattered about inside, though a few she did recognize, such as his compass and telescope.

Just inside, on a small pouch designed for bottles, was a vial of blue...

No, it couldn't be...

Manticore venom?

"How did he get that?" The unicorn mumbled, Fluttershy looking over curiously.

The Ponyville and Canterlot hospitals had been searching for MONTHS for a sample of this! They were on the verge of a breakthrough for an anti-venom, but not a soul was brave enough to go find a Manticore for a sample. A two thousand bit bounty was placed on each single vial, though none had stepped up.

Even Rainbow Dash herself wasn't walking into what was surely a death sentence, brave as she may boast.

The human had been here for less than a day, and had unintentionally helped Equestria as a whole already. Twilight would let the Hunter know about the bounty when he woke up, but until then...

She still had a letter to write to Princess Celestia. Maybe Equestria could find use for a 'Monster Hunter'...
---