//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: The Hunter 
// by HunterBraxton 
//------------------------------//


The Hunter
Chapter 7


Hunter woke up early the next morning, very early. The sun still hadn't risen when he was awake. He started the day by pouring a bowl of his favorite cereal, the last bowls worth of the box. 

'Well this sucks,' he thought.

Throwing the box away. He was also running low on milk, he decided he'd deal with that later. Hunter ate his breakfast in peace then took a quick shower. However, instead of using his regular soap and shampoo he used a scent eliminating soap which is meant to be used before a hunt. Once he was done and dried off he returned to his room and pulled out a pair of camo pants and a camo shirt. Before he put them on he sprayed them with a scent eliminator. And just for good measure he grabbed a camo face mask too. In a minute he was dressed and almost ready to go.

Today he was going hunting. Big game hunting. Whatever that creature was that made those tracks was a predator. A predator that was far too close to his house than he was comfortable with. Once he was dressed he put on a camo cap and reached into his closet and pulled out a grey gun case. He laid the case down on the bed and unzipped it. Inside was an all black Winchester Model 70 chambered in .270 with a three to twelve power Nikon scope on top. He pushed the large bullets in one at a time, once all five were in he quickly closed the bolt and laid it down on his bed. Next he grabbed a belt then he once again pulled out his safe and got out a pair of revolver holsters. He attached them to the belt along with his SOG knife and put it on. Hunter grabbed his pair of .454 Casull Tauruses and tucked one into the holster on each of his hips. Then he packed an extra quick loader for each. Now, you're probably wondering how a nineteen year old has handguns, well, because of his line of work he gets special privileges. With everything in order he slung his rifle over his shoulder and left his room.

Leaving his house he locked the door as usual, even though he doubted anyone would come around. However, it was better to be safe than sorry. If someone did find his little hidey hole he'd just roll with it, but at least they couldn't snoop around inside. Although he would strongly deny any knowledge of the town and stealing from that drunk chick. Once outside he took a deep breath and looked around. The sun was just now rising above the trees. The air was crisp and cool, and there was a light fog in the trees. Hunter recognized this weather, it signaled the beginning of his favorite season.

Deer season.

Which was weird because when he was still in his world it was the beginning of summer. However, it was now the beginning of fall. 'Well, damn, looks like I'm going to miss out on summer fishing this year,' he thought, but he couldn't complain, at least he got an early deer season. And considering the people who inhabited this place were ponies he might not be able to just walk into a store and buy a steak, so hunting may very well become his main source of food.

Which was perfectly fine by him.

Hunter adjusted his face mask and made sure his phone was on silent, even though he wasn't sure if it even worked beyond his house. He walked back down the same trail he had been on, it didn't take him long to find the same tracks from the day before. He took his rifle off his back and held it in his arms, he adjusted the scope so it was on its lowest magnification then followed the tracks.





Ponyville, Twilight's house

"SPIKE!" Twilight yelled upstairs, "Are you ready to go?" she asked as she was putting her backpack on her shoulders.

"Yes, Twilight," Spike replied walking down the stairs, "why are we even going? None of the others would go, maybe we shouldn't either."

"Spike, do you know how important this is? He was once considered a hero, and we could kinda use one of those right now."

"Aren't you and the other girls supposed to be heroes?"

"Yes, but we need more. Me and the others can't be everywhere at once, Spike, we need help."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Plus, no one has really studied him, this is such a great opportunity to!" she said, making Spike's shoulders drop. He looked at her with a deadpan expression. "What?" she asked.

"For a second there, I started to take you seriously," he said, "Whatever, let's just go."

The duo left the Golden Oak Library and walked down the street that would take them in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was just now above the tree line, it was a pretty cool morning, it was finally starting to feel a lot like autumn. Soon the leaves would start turning and the ponies would begin preparing for the Running of the Leaves. A few ponies where out and about or leaving their homes. A few of them waved and Twilight waved back. Derpy, the mail mare was doing her rounds, she could see Rainbow Dash flying around on the other side of town, getting today's weather ready. As the two crossed the bridge leaving town Spike suddenly stopped.

"Hey, Twilight, what could have made those?" Spike asked, pointing to a set of hoofprints on the ground. Twilight crouched down to look at them better, they were shaped like some kind of elongated bean, and had a weird pattern to them.

"I don't know, Spike," she replied. She looked at them for a second longer, then with a gasp she stood back up and slung her backpack around, she unzipped it and pulled out her book. It didn't take her long to find the picture of the Traveler. "Look Spike!" she said pointing to his feet, "He has longer feet, and it looks like he's wearing some type of shoe. These are his prints! We're on the right track, Spike. Come on!" she said taking off down the dirt road.

Spike stood there for a second, "Of course we are," he mumbled, then started to follow her.

Twilight had her eyes cemented to the ground following the tracks, suddenly they stopped and turned off into the tall grass, she stopped and looked at the field in front of her. This gave Spike enough time to catch up.

"Well, looks like we hit a dead end, time to go home," he said, turning and beginning to walk back to town. 

"Get back here, Spike," Twilight said. He did as he was told and stood next to her.

"What?" he said.

"Look at the grass."

"It's grass, what's special about it?"

"Look closely, you can see where he walked through." He did, and he could see exactly where she was talking about, there was a feint line where the grass had been disturbed.

"We're going in there aren't we?" he asked.

"Yes, Spike, now come on." She said, walking into the grass towards the forest. It wasn't hard for the two to find the wide trail that Hunter had used the previous day, soon his footprints turned into tire tracks. The two found the size of the tires odd, however the concept wasn't completely alien. A little while later the two were almost to the creek that he had driven through. 

"Twilight, how much longer are we going to go?"

"Until we find him."

"Oh, come on! We're already deeper in the forest than Zecora's place. Pretty soon we'll be at the old castle."

"Hmm, maybe that's where he's set up his camp," Twilight said. As the two rounded the corner before the creek both stopped in their tracks and stared ahead in horror. "Spike."

"I knew we should have stayed home," Spike whispered.





Hunter

Hunter was getting close, he could feel it. He had been following the same tracks for almost two hours now, he could feel that the creature was close. He always could, it was almost like an instinct to him. No matter what he was hunting, be it animals, monsters, or people, he could feel their proximity to him as long as he had a good idea of the target. All he needed was to either see it, have a picture of it, or find its tracks. From there he simply let the tug on his body guide him. He never told anyone about this ability, especially not anyone from the Foundation. If he had they would throw him in a cell and he would be their pet for the rest of his life. Although he had a feeling they were getting ready to try something. 

He was walking along the bank of the creek, the giant paw prints were much easier to follow in the soft dirt, and they were very fresh. Hunter guessed that they were maybe ten minutes old at most. He had found where the creature had spent the night a while beforehand, there was a mostly eaten deer and an area of flattened grass where it had slept. The area was quite large, about eight feet square. For a minute he was afraid that he hadn't brought a big enough gun, however if you put enough bullets in something it will die. Well, most of the time it will die. Hunter wasn't sure exactly where he was at, he knew that he hadn't made it to the shallow crossing, however by his estimations it should be close. About 50 meters ahead the creek curved to the left. His target was around the corner, he knew it, his instinct told him so. 

Getting close he made sure the safety was off on his rifle and held it to his shoulder. He moved from tree to tree, making sure that whatever it is wouldn't see him before he saw it. His instinct put its position in the water and moving, it must have been crossing where he had. Hunter quickened his pace and brought his rifle up. Soon he saw it, and he really wished he had brought a bigger gun. He wasn't entirely wrong about it being a lion, he had seen a lot of weird shit, but this was different. A hundred yards in front of him was a lion of massive proportions with wings on its back and a scorpion tail. 

'What the fuck?' he mouthed silently.

He turned the magnification up to five times and took aim at the creatures head, just behind the eyes. There was no way it would survive a .270 or two to the head. The creature was looking down at the water, probably hoping to find a fish, then it suddenly looked up and roared at something in front of it.

"RUN!" Someone screamed. Then the creature started to take off after them.

"Fuck!" Hunter said, then took aim again.





Twilight

Twilight and Spike turned and ran. It would be just their luck that a manticore would have been right in their path. Twilight turned around and looked at the creature, it was already almost out of the water, it would be upon them in a second. She was just about to give up all hope, but then the air was filled with the deafening sound of a gunshot. The manticore staggered to the side with a roar as the bullet slammed into its shoulder. It tried to place its leg back down but instead roared in pain and held it up, then it started limping after the mare and dragon.

"It's hurt, Spike, keep running!" Twilight called to him.

The two continued to run with the manticore on their heels. Twilight made the mistake of looking behind her and didn't see tree root that was sticking out of the ground just enough, and sure enough she fell face first into the dirt. She rolled over just in time to see the manticore about to pounce on her. Twilight rolled out of the way and it landed right where she just was, she scampered back as far as she could until she hit a tree. The manticore lowered its front and brought its tail to bare. The tail started to shoot straight for her chest but was interrupted by a blur of green and black. The manticore roared in pain as the tip of its tail landed at Twilight's feet. Twilight looked to where the blur had gone and gasped, there he was. The Traveler!

In his left hand he held a black rifle and in his right a large black blade. He threw the knife up in the air, as it twirled end over end he raised his gun and pointed it at the beast. With another deafening boom he shot the manticore in the head. The beast dropped to the ground, dead as can be. The human slung his rifle over his shoulder and then caught his knife. He spun it on his finger a few times before re-sheathing it. His head was covered by a mask, but Twilight could see his brown eyes looking at her. He pulled off the mask, revealing the young face underneath. 

'Oh my Celestia, he's cute,' she thought, 'why did I just think that?' He walked towards her and held out a hand, a hand that had barely any fur on it compared to a pony.

"Are you alright?" the traveler asked. She took his hand and allowed him to pull her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little dirty," she replied, "So, are you really him?"

"Really who?" Hunter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The Traveler!" 

"Nope." Twilight went from excited to disappointed.

"Oh, then, who are you?"

"My name is Hunter, Hunter Braxton. Who are you? If I might ask."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia, and librarian of Ponyville." Then the purple dragon ran back up to them. He bent over with his hands on his knees, he was breathing heavily from the amount of running he had done. "And, this is Spike, my personal assistant."

"Dude... Thank you... so much," Spike said in between his breathes.

"No problem, I'd been hunting that thing all morning. By the way, what the hell is it?"

"A manticore, it's odd to see one on its own though, usually they travel in packs," Twilight answered.

"Packs?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, you didn't find the others?"

"No, but I'm sure that I will," He said, sounding rather annoyed.

"Where are you camped out at?" the purple girl asked.

"My house."

"You built a house out here?"

"No, it just kinda came with me."

"Came with you?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah, I've only been here three days now."

"But where did you come from?"

"A different world, I think."

"How, how did you come from a different world?" she asked, absolutely bewildered.

"Don't know, went to sleep in my world, woke up in this one."

"So, can we see your house?" This request made Hunter uncomfortable, and it showed on his face.

"Ummm, I'd rather you not." 

"Why not?" she evidently wasn't too happy about that.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Just because," he said, shrugging.

"Please, this is such a great opportunity to study you and your species." Spike facepalmed with an audible smack. Hunter didn't quite like the idea of being this chick's test subject.

He drew in a breathe sharply between his teeth. "Yeah, Naaaaah. That ain't happening. See ya," he said, and then he started to walk back home. 

"I just want to ask you some questions, I'm not going to cut you open or anything," she said walking beside him.

"Nah."

"Just twenty minutes, please."

"Nah."

"You know, you don't own this whole forest. So I could just follow you."

"I suppose so."

"So, are you going to stop me?"

"Nah."

"Why not?"

"I was just going to let the other manticores do it for me."

"Really? Come on, I just want to be your friend."

"That's not what you said a minute ago."

"Hunter, please," she sounded as though she was pleading with him, "I know you probably don't have any friends here, please just let us come for a little bit. I just want to get to know you. Can we just hang out for a while? I won't pester you with questions, I promise." Hunter stopped walking, he closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. She was being sincere, and honestly, she had a point.

"Okay, come on, let's go." She instantly perked up.

"Thank you!, oh, and thanks for saving me back there."

"Like I said, no problem."

"So, can we talk about what your life was like before you came here?" 

The three walked on through the forest, pretty soon they come back to the creek where the chase had begun. Hunter simply walked right into it, he was used to doing this, and his pants and shoes were already soaked from running through earlier. 

"Um, Hunter?" Twilight said, gaining his attention.

"Yeah," He turned around to see them both still on the bank.

"How are we supposed to cross?"

"Just walk through."

"But I don't want to get wet." Spike, who was wearing shorts and was barefoot just walked into the water.

"Oh. My. God." Hunter said, wading back over to her. "Come here." He bent down and put one arm behind her knees and one behind her back and picked her up bridal style. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck for extra support. She couldn't help but notice just how strong he was, he wasn't ripped but his muscles were very well toned. When they got to the other side Spike was already waiting on them. He set her down and they continued on their merry way.

"What did you do for a living back home?" she asked him.

"I hunted monsters." He wasn't really supposed to tell anyone about that, however at this point he didn't really care anymore.

"Really? For who?"

"I worked for a group of people called the SCP Foundation, I was hired as part of a program called the Huntsman Initiative."

"Dude, that's badass," said Spike.

"Yeah, it was, I wasn't allowed to talk about it though."

"Then why are you talking about it now?" he asked.

"Because they can't touch me here, and honestly I'm not planning on going home, so it doesn't matter anymore."

"You don't want to go home?" A confused Twilight asked. "Why?"

"Well, you see, the purpose of the SCP Foundation was to protect the status quo by securing and containing any anomalies that may infringe upon said status quo. Now, a guy that crossed dimensions and has knowledge of a different world filled with new species would definitely count as an anomaly. I would be confined to one of their containment facilities for the rest of my life. I'd much rather just stay here."

"But what about your friends and family?"

"As per standard Foundation procedure there would have been a massive cover up, they play off any rumors of my disappearance as a hoax and say that I died. My friend and family would have been given amnesiacs and probably told that our house exploded with me in it."

"That's horrible!"

"Yep, they do similar stuff all the time, but it's all for the greater good." They continued to walk, Hunter talking about his life, and Twilight talking about Ponyville and her friends. It took a while for them to reach Hunter's house, but they didn't have any problems getting there. "Well, guys, here we are. Home sweet home."