The short version, or at least my best guess thereof: In an alternate universe (with better technology than ours), a man identifying himself as "The Hunter" wrote the story of how he used to capture ponies from another parallel universe, and why he stopped. Somehow, that story got to me, and I decided to share it with all of you.
That, or I've fallen for an unreasonably elaborate prank.
The longer version is that something strange happened at the moment of the solstice. At least, I assume it was the exact moment; I didn't realize immediately that the exact time was worth noting. My internet went out briefly, and when it came back, the internet was different. Not something where I instantly knew things had changed, but it became apparent pretty quickly. Some sites, such as Equestria Daily for example, didn't exist. Many were wrong: I ended up looking at a bunch of XKCDs at random (and not all chosen with the "random" button, before you cite that as a tool to fool me) and none of them were anything I'd seen before. Wikipedia was just bizarre; since when was there a moon base? So I started downloading webpages as fast as possible; I didn't want to get stuck with fading memories and nothing else.
Around twenty minutes later, the internet went out again, and I reconnected to the normal web. I spent most of my time since then sleeping, and it's going to take me a while to sort through everything, but this one chunk of text was all over the place. It seemed to be important, and real, wherever my internet connection was going for a while. And it was about Equestria, through some strange coincidence. So I figured I'd put it up here for all of you to see.
The timing of this extra-universal message was quite convenient, as it arrived during this contest. Hopefully it's within the rules for me to call myself the closest thing this universe has to an author for this piece, and submit it.
As always, comments are encouraged. I'll try to get them back to The Hunter if I ever connect to his universe again. I'm sure he'd like to know what you all think.
It's funny. The first story I published ,was originally called A Hunters Story. Now it's called, The Hunter, but the story caught my eye.
Chilling, in a very good way. I do like the narrator's initial refusal to accept the idea that his quarry is as intelligent as he is. After all, what would that make him?
The pun honestly weakened the story both in and out of the narrative context. In the setting, it will be a weak point that detractors and deniers will use as an attempt to excuse continued pony trafficking. Out of the setting, it disrupts the tone of the story and the sense of immersion you were sustaining beautifully until then.
"They're intelligent! They're sapient! Spread the word! Inform the masses! Hurr hurr horse pun. The world must know!"
See what I mean?
Aside from that, an excellent read. Thank you for it. Best of luck!
Ooh! Screw spoilers, I'm going in.
Spoiler-free (I already knew about Twilicorn). I agree with FanOfMostEverything about the needless pun. But, a good read. Thanks!
I was surprised by this. Well, I'm a tad miffed that you devote a large portion of the middle to our POV character getting to know everyone in Ponyville (that wasn't one of the contest cliches, but it very well could have been), but otherwise you created a world I've not seen before and you did the first contact thing well. Nicely done. :)
I was very impressed with this story. Liked and Faved.
I do feel a lot more could have been done, even in the short amount of words you have here. Most of the story was walking around in Ponyville as opposed to the existential crisis of realizing your job is both evil and a huge lie, and while I do like that the responsibility is put upon humans to end something like this, the fact that ponies are suddenly literally powerless on Earth always kinda bugged me for whatever reason.
But in any case, this was an idea that really made you think, which is something that around 99% of human in Equestria stories I've read do not do. It's a good idea, and while execution leaves a little to be desired, I'm very glad I read it.
FanFic Reading by Scribbler of your story:
Quality content, probably one of the best stories ever read keep up the amazing work 👍