//------------------------------// // A New Friend // Story: My Little Hunter // by shooting star hunter //------------------------------// The sun was almost at it's peak when I finally escaped the sea of clouds surrounding one of the tallest mountains in Equestria, or so I've been told. What I found below them took my breath away. A forrest the spanned from the foot of the mountain onward stretched across thee land. I had never seen so many of them. Really, the only trees in Cloudhoof were small and sickly, barely worth the attention of anyone. Here, the trees were huge and seemed to be the only thing for miles, besides another, much smaller mountain in the far off distance. I continued flying until the sun began to touch the horizon. With small breaks in between, I was able to fly much closer to the mountain I had seen that afternoon. Before I landed, I did catch a glimpse of something that surprised me. Built into the mountain was a large city I hadn't noticed until now. There were tall, colorful towers and what looked like a castle. That's Where I'm going. It couldn't be more than an hour away by wing, but my wings were already killing me. Putting it off until tomorrow will be my best bet. Of course, putting it off didn't stop me from fantasizing about what I'd find. I let my mind wander for a few minutes until something in the forest made a loud cracking sound and brought me back to reality. An unfamiliar forest with who knows what kind of creatures. No telling what kind of things would eat me while I was sleeping. A tree sounded like a comfortable place to sleep for the night. No, not really. Trees are lumpy in all the wrong places, an unbelievable difference from a cloud. “No time to be picky now.” Verbal encouragement didn't help. I found myself trying to adjust my position on the tree branch continually, but nothing seemed to work. Tap I looked down at where the tap came from. The golden disc was lying against the branch of the tree. I had forgotten I was wearing it up until now. It seemed to have lost all the weight I felt when I first put it on. Light as a feather. I was still confused as to why Mr. Krispy would give me something like this and how something so simple could protect anypony. Surely there were more effective things. I pondered these questions for who knows how long before my exhaustion got the best of me. The thoughts distracted me long enough that I forgot about the lumpy tree branch and fell into a rather sound slumber. --- I found myself in dimly lit room. It was immediately clear that I had been in the room before. Every wall lined with a shelf and at the center of the room, three ponies around a table. They obviously didn't know I was there because they didn't stop their conversation. “You really think he's the one?” A mare's voice asked. “I wouldn't have given it to him if I thought otherwise.” A gruff stallion's voice said. “But he hasn't even found-" “Trust the old guy. He of all ponies should know what would've happened if he was wrong.” Another stallion. His voice was slower and much more deliberate. “I've known for a while. It was just a matter of opportunity.” The dark silhouette looked about the room. “Besides, it's already been confirmed. You needn't worry about him.” The first stallion continued. “What's that supposed to mean?” Distress flooded her voice. She obviously didn't have the faith the other two had. The stallion let out a chuckle. “You know, it's very rude to eaves drop.” He wasn't talking to the mare or other stallion, more like another pony in the room. “Step into the light. We don't have much-” He was interrupted when the room lit up red. I found myself staring at the last pony I thought I would see. “Mr. Krispy?” I asked. “I don't have any time to explain it to you. When you meet them, they'll have the answers." The ground began to shake and sound began to fill the air. "Wake up. NOW.” --- My eyes bolted open, just in time to catch myself from falling. It was just like somepony yelling in your ear to wake up, but as far as I could tell, nopony was there. Several more minutes passed and I got a gip of my situation. “I fell asleep in a tree.” Check. “I had a funny dream.” Check. “I'm on my way to that mountain side town.” Check. “And I made it this far in a single day.” The sun had filled the forest with light, which meant it was time for me to be on my way. Still, the dream from the night before bugged me. There was no way I actually had a conversation with Mr. Krispy. I mean, he couldn't possibly have talked to me in a dream, right? “So, are you going to sit up in that tree all day?” Despite being fully awake, the voice startled me to the point that I lost my balance and fell from the tree. I must have hit my head because the pony I was staring at looked more like a amorphous white blob. “Hey, are you all right?” Regaining the ability to focus, I found the pony talking to me was a white unicorn with a blonde mane, about my age. “Yeah, I'm fine. You just startled me, that's all.” Truth be told, I wasn't sure how okay I was. “You hit your head rather hard, are you sure you're going to be all right?” “Yeah, I'll be fine, now I have to be on my way.” I turned my back and prepared to take off when pain rushed through my left wing. I folded my wing back in instinctively. The pain receded slightly, but it was clear there was something wrong. He didn't miss it either. “You're not all right at all. Look at your wing. You're obviously injured. You should come with me. I'll have somepony take care of that.” His insistence was admirable. “No really, I'm- Argh!” I tried to extend my wing again, but the pain was even worse. “I will not take no for an answer. Is there anything in your saddlebags that might help?” “There should be some bandages.” He pulled my bag of my back and withdrew a roll of bandages. “This should do.” Without a hint of hesitation, he wrapped the bandage around my torso, making sure to secure both my wings tightly to my body. “Sorry, but this is the best way to keep you from hurting your wing any more.” Looking me over, he didn't find any other concerning injuries. “Alright, let's get you to a pony with real medical knowledge.” At this point, I had no choice but to follow. He began to walk away, but stopped. “Oh dear, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is,” he paused for a moment “ah well, you can call me Blue.” “I'm Star Hunter. It's uh, nice to meet you, I guess.” He gave me a smirk and quickly trotted away. We began our trek through the forest when I noticed Blue's cutie mark. As far as I could tell, it was a compass. Small talk seemed appropriate at this point. “So, what's your special talent?” “I'm an explorer, or at least that's what I want to be when I'm older. I always seem to be able to find what I'm looking for, or more often than not, what I'm not looking for.” He chuckled. That last part must have been a joke, but it went over my head. “So, what were you doing in a tree this early in the morning anyway?” “I slept there." He stared at me with a look of astonishment mixed with concern. “You slept in a tree? I'm not one to judge, but don't you have a nice comfy bed to sleep in?” “Well technically yes but-” I stopped when another thought crossed my mind. “Wait, how long were you watching me?” “I was watching you for a couple minutes before I startled you out of the tree. Having quite a time mumbling to yourself about something. Alright we're almost there.” The direction we were heading had us going, not only up hill, but towards a white wall. When we reached the wall, he just stopped in front of it. "So, how are we going to get around this?" I asked him. "Not around-" He approached the wall and raised his hoof to a particular stone "through." He pressed the stone into the wall, which in turn, caused a small passageway to open up next to us. Quickly picking up my jaw, I promptly asked him “How did you do that?” He turned to me a smiled. “I told you, I find things. I found this while exploring the castle garden.” “Garden? Wait, castle?” “You'll see in a minute, just follow me.” He disappeared into the passage that appeared. I followed close behind. Once we were both through the passage way, the opening closed behind us, shrouding us in the darkness. It didn't last long as Blue lit up his horn and walked the the opposite wall. He reached for a stone on the wall but stopped and looked back at me. “Uhh.... from here on, if anypony stops us, just let me do any talking, alright?” I nodded in consent. I was tempted to ask why, but it's probably for the best that I don't, right? He turned around and pressed the button. A piece of the wall disappeared, like the first, flooding the room with light. “Alright hurry up.” We rushed through the opening, which quickly disappeared behind us. "This must be the garden?" I asked him. "Yeah. And that," he nodded to something behind me. "is the castle." I turned and found myself staring at a massive white castle. Topping many spires and towers were the colorful looking constructs that I had seen the night before. “This is amazing!” “It's okay, I guess. A bit constricting for my taste. Come on, this way.” He quickly began weaving from bush to bush towards the castle. “Umm, we're not going in there, are we?” I whispered to him. “Well, where else would we be going? I told you, your wing needs medical attention." “Yes, but what does the castle have to do with-” before I could finish, a shrill voice filled the air. “Bluebloooooooood! Where are you?!” A panicked look crossed Blue's face, but he composed himself just as quickly. “Alright, here's the deal, we need to get inside. Quickly.” With that, he bolted out of cover towards a wooden door. I found my legs moving on their own, keeping close pace with Blue. It was a matter of seconds before we were through the door, but it wasn't until we were on the far side of the room that we finally stopped running. I looked at Blue and asked “What was that about?!” It took him a moment to catch his breath “That would be my mother and I'm supposed to be at a social event with her and father right about now.” It took me a moment to catch my breath, then I asked him “So your name is Blueblood?” It was more a statement than a question. “Yes. I am Prince Blueblood. Equestrian royalty of sorts, but please, just Blue.” “Alright Blue, now what?” My question seemed to confuse him. “You don't seemed to be phased by what I just said.” “You're a prince who's name is Blueblood. It can't be that big of a deal. If it makes you feel any better, I'll probably freak out about it later.” That last part wasn't likely to be true, but I didn't see the point in telling him that. “You're more laid back than most ponies. I like you.” He looked as if he was going to say something more, but he instead said “Onward then. From here, we need to get to the main hall of the castle. It should be on the other side of this door and down the corridor.” We began our walk down the hallway and he began the small talk. “So, you're not a Canterlot pony, you're lack of accent tells me your not from Trottingham, and there aren't a lot of pegasi in Manehattan. Are you from Las Pegusus?” Blue asked. The names of these places seemed foreign to me. “Well, I'm actually from Cloudhoof Village. I've never even heard of Las Pegusus or Trottingham. Are we in Canterlot now?” “Cloudhoof Village? I've never heard of it. And yes, welcome to Canterlot.” We came to the end of the corridor. “She should be just up these stairs, Star Hunter.” Thoughts swirled in my mind and dots began to connect. Prince Blueblood. Canterlot. Canterlot Castle. She. “Blue, who are you taking me to?” “Hold that thought.” He knocked on a door and a voice invited him in. Upon entrance, I noticed at the far side of the room a tall pegasus pony with her face buried in a book. She looked up at us and- oh, she's not a pegasus, she has a horn. Then it hit me. Blue stopped walking and looked up at her. “Good morning Aunt Celestia, I was hoping you'd be here.” He looked back a forth between her and I. "This is my friend Star Hunter. We need a little help."