//------------------------------// // Amethyst Star and the Hunter // Story: Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This // by MagicS //------------------------------// Spending the night in an inn that also doubled as a tavern on the ground floor turned out not to be the brightest of ideas. Amethyst Star was kept up well into the night by the rowdy ponies drinking down below when she really wanted to get some sleep. Hugging the thin pillow over her ears did nothing to help and she ended up tossing and turning for hours before her exhaustion won out over the noise. Even then she didn’t get near as much sleep as she wanted, in only a few hours the sun rose and a ray of light just happened to perfectly shine through a gap in her room’s curtains to hit her eyes. And as much as she grumbled and tried to get back to sleep after that it was pointless. Eventually Amethyst Star gave up and got out of her sparse bed. “I’m going to be glad to get out of here...” The unicorn yawned and gathered up her things, matting down her mane to make it a little less wild after sleeping with a pillow sandwiched over her head. Throwing on her saddlebag, she was more than ready to leave this inn and get back on the road to wherever it was she was going. West was still good enough for her. Amethyst Star looked in the mirror on her room’s wall to see if she looked alright. Seeing nothing more than a tired pony staring back at her she figured that was good enough and headed out, walking down the stairs so she could notify the family that owned this place that she was leaving. They had a few rooms at the back that they lived in and their kids worked around the place to clean up or serve guests As she walked by the bar she looked out at all the tables that were last night full of rowdy ponies, this morning they were still full of ponies but they were far more quiet. Either eating breakfast or pleasantly chatting with each other. A stark contrast to the zoo this place became as soon as the moon came out. Amethyst Star was kind of surprised to see how good of business this place did considering it was in such a remote location. Maybe that was why though, if it was the only place around then traveling ponies would have no choice but to come here. Amethyst Star shrugged and walked up to the mare behind the far end of the bar, close to the door. She was busy wiping it down with a rag, no doubt getting things clean for the next night of roughhousing and drinking down here. “Excuse me? I just wanted to let you know that I’m leaving, so my room’s free again,” Amethyst Star told the barmaid, one of the owner’s daughters. The barmaid perked up and looked at her with a surprised expression at first. Finally upon recognition of who she was and what she just said her face morphed into a smile. “Oh, right! Thank you, I hope you enjoyed your stay!” Amethyst Star didn’t see the point of complaining or sticking around any longer so she just smiled and left the establishment. It was just one night and she’d probably never be back here again so what was the point of making a perfectly nice pony upset? As the door closed shut behind her though another mare in the back of the tavern stood up, one that had been stealthily watching Amethyst Star the entire time since she had come down. For whatever reason this mare had, she quietly walked past the other tables and patrons and left out the door just the same, following Amethyst Star. Her recent stop was situated in the middle of a desolate mountain path that Amethyst Star had been traveling on for the past couple of days. Now she was back to hoofing it across that with no other company but her thoughts. Supposedly there was a large town fairly closer to where these mountains and this road ended but for now Amethyst Star had nothing to do but walk. The morning air out here was nice at least and the sun kept her warm despite the altitude. The mountains rose higher and higher to her right while to her left it was only a short ways before the ground started to slope into an artificial ravine. Amethyst Star had asked about it the night before and the ponies told her it was to make a river flow down from a reservoir up in the mountains so it could be used for farming in the valley below. Amethyst Star peeked over the edge into the gravel-lined ravine, it was a small river that sat at the bottom of it, flowing uninterrupted as far as she could see. The sides and bed of the river looked like they were made with cement, giving it an appearance more like a dam’s spillway or an aqueduct than a river. Ignoring that for now she kept on walking through the mountain pass. She had been warned to not leave the main pass by pretty much every pony she had come across so far on this mountain. Apparently there were too many twists and turns among the rocks, and a pony like her who didn’t know them would get lost. Well that didn’t bother her. She didn’t feel like going through anymore mountains or exploring them on her adventure, walking around or on them was more than enough for her. Unless they held a secret castle or treasure or something. But she doubted these ones did. “Hey!” At the sudden cry Amethyst Star looked up to see a pony standing on a rock above her. Once the pony was sure she had gotten Amethyst Star’s attention she gracefully jumped down right in Amethyst’s path, kicking up a cloud of dust with her landing. “Uh...” Amethyst Star tilted her head at the mare now blocking her way. She was a scarlet red earth pony with an even deeper shade red mane and tail, giving her a vibrant but dark look that was uncommon in most ponies. She really seemed to have a fondness for the color black too. The mare was wearing a black, buttoned-up vest with a black beret on her head that covered most of her cut short mane along with a pair of sunglasses that completely concealed her eyes. The only other “color” on her clothes was the puffy gray collar of her vest. The whole look and outfit of the pony, and the way she carried herself, screamed that she was trying to intimidate whoever it was she was dealing with. “Who are you?” The mare reached up and tilted down her sunglasses, showing off a sliver of striking and incredibly deep blue eyes behind them. “You can call me The Red Hornet.” She said in a sharp tone as her eyes pierced Amethyst Star. “Okay? What do you want?” Amethyst Star asked as she took a small step back from the scarlet pony. The Red Hornet tilted her sunglasses back up so they completely covered her eyes again before responding. “Honey, I’m gonna give you the chance to do this the easy way. Hoof over the box to me right now.” “Box?” That command just made Amethyst Star even more confused. “Don’t you be playing dumb with me now,” The Red Hornet frowned as she took a few steps closer to Amethyst Star. “I know for a fact that Birdseed gave you the box to take to his associate. So I’m gonna say this one more time before I get a little angry. Give me the box.” Recognition lit up on Amethyst Star’s face. “Oh!” She smiled. “I keep forgetting about that!” The Red Hornet raised a barely seeable eyebrow at Amethyst’s unusual response. “Honey? You aren’t playing me off so easily, I’ve come a long way to make sure that box doesn’t fall into the wrong hooves. You can act ignorant all you want but I’m getting the box one way or another.” Amethyst Star now seemed to really register what was being said, her smile changed to a frown and she put a protective hoof over her saddlebag. “I have no idea what you’re talking about but I was asked to take this box with me somewhere and only give it to a specific pony if they find me. And that’s not you.” “That aint what I wanted to hear,” The Red Hornet threateningly glowered at Amethyst Star. “Do you even know what you’re carrying? You say Birdseed asked you to give it to someone else but what’s in that box doesn’t belong to him in the first place!” “Yeah, well, how am I supposed to know if that’s true or not?” Amethyst Star countered. “You could be lying just like you say he is!” The scarlet mare growled at Amethyst Star. “He’s a criminal, that box is dangerous!” “Well you look like a criminal too, you know?” The unicorn scoffed. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, if you wanted to convince someone you’re the good guy maybe you shouldn’t look like you kick puppies for a living!” “Okay, now I am angry,” The Red Hornet stomped towards Amethyst Star, who repeatedly took steps away from her. “Give. Me. The box. Give it to me now and you can just be on your way. Refuse? Then you won’t be in good enough shape to be on your way for a good long while.” “No!” Amethyst Star shook her head. “This was my first quest! I was given this box to carry and keep safe until that other pony comes to get it, I’m not giving it to you!” “Quest? This isn’t a game! This is serious!” “I’m serious! Whether you like it or not that guy trusted me with this box and I’m not letting him down just because some pony I don’t even know says he’s a bad guy,” Amethyst Star glared at her. “So why don’t you just turn around and leave?” “No can do, honey. Looks like you’re gonna make me do this the hard way. I’ll be taking that box from you, you hear? Got that?” The Red Hornet narrowed her eyes behind her sunglasses. “O-Oh yeah?” Amethyst Star gulped, she stopped backing up and spread her hooves, tensing her body and lowering her head. “You and what army?” The unicorn preemptively lit up her horn. If she was intimidated by the threat of magic The Red Hornet didn’t show it. The scarlet pony just lifted up a single hoof in front of her face. “This army.” Amethyst Star grimaced, sweat starting to form along her brow even as she tried to fight off her nerves. Had she ever been in an actual fight before? With a pony who really intended to hurt her? “T-That’s not a very impressive army.” “You’ll be changing your tune about it after I break your legs,” The Red Hornet maliciously grinned. “Good luck,” Amethyst Star attempted her best to sound cool and calm, but it was kind of ruined by her voice cracking on luck. “I’ve been in way more dangerous situations in my life than some pony like you trying to steal something from me.” The Red Hornet paused for a second. Her face settling into an unreadable and impenetrable mask as she put her hoof back to the ground and just stood in front of Amethyst Star. Was she testing her? Waiting for the unicorn to make the first move? Amethyst Star had no idea, she wasn’t very experienced when it came to stuff like this. Even if she was good at reading another pony’s intentions or emotions she’d have a tough time doing that with the midnight black sunglasses completely covering up the red pony’s eyes. Amethyst Star wasn’t one for patience and her nervousness was starting to get to her as well, she could feel her heartbeat speeding up with each passing moment and the sheer anxiety she felt was well on its way to make her breakdown before anything had even actually happened! It was probably that that The Red Hornet was waiting for, the tenser and more high-strung Amethyst Star got the easier she would be to deal with. The moment Amethyst Star blinked The Red Hornet swung into action, deftly darting from side to side to make it harder for Amethyst Star to hit her with any spells she might fire. And since Amethyst Star had no idea how to effectively use her magic in an offensive manner it worked. “Ah!” Amethyst Star yelped at the pony running at her and blindly fired a bolt of magic that was easily dodged while jumping back. The Red Hornet then lunged forward, swinging her hoof to knock out Amethyst Star with a single hit to the jaw. But the little jump backwards Amethyst Star had made saved her and the scarlet hoof struck empty air. Amethyst Star backpedaled to the edge of the embankment and fired another weak beam of magic right at The Red Hornet’s hooves, causing the red pony to herself jump out of the way. “S-Stay back you hear! Come at me again and I’ll really hit you this time!” Amethyst Star attempted to bluster her way out of this situation but as she tried taking another step backwards and felt nothing beneath her hoof she realized she had accidentally ran out of room. Briefly looking behind her back she saw nada but the ravine and river below her and a painful tumble waiting if she tried backing up anymore. “Honey, you’ve clearly been trying to hit me already. And now you’ve got nowhere else to go,” The Red Hornet didn’t grin this time, immediately after her sentence ended she ran with a lightning fast speed at Amethyst Star. The out of her element unicorn had the appropriate reaction when that happened. Her eyes went as wide as possible while she screamed in terror and automatically tried to back away, leading her to slip down the gravelly embankment and roll down to the river. The Red Hornet gasped in surprise when she saw the unicorn slip and she reached out a hoof trying to grab her. But she was just a fraction of a second too late and Amethyst Star kept going down and down. “Wait!” The Red Hornet yelled as Amethyst Star fell. “Argh! That’s not what I wanted to happen!” Amethyst Star grunted in pain the whole way down before she bounced right into the water and was carried away downstream. The artificial river’s pace quick as it traveled down the mountain. The Red Hornet stood at the top of the ravine, lifting up her sunglasses and watching with those sharp blue eyes as the pink and purple head sticking out above the water faded away into the distance. “Tch, really wish I knew how to swim right now,” the scarlet pony scowled and kicked a loose pebble down the ravine. “That little idiot… does she have any idea what she’s gotten herself into?”