//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: The Hunter and the Hunted 
// by Marezinger Z 
//------------------------------//

The Hunter and the Hunted

Chapter 6:

The school remained closed for repairs on Friday which gave the students a three day weekend. Having connected with Hunter to some degree, Sunset invited him to hang out with her and the others. He accepted and said he’d be at the park down the road from the school. Sunset and Twilight had already met up so they headed there to join him. 
Hunter sat at one of the many bench/table combos that dotted the open area. He noticed the girls approaching and offered a short wave. “Egghead and bacon, no better way to start the day.” He grinned with open arms. 
“Hi Hunter.” Sunset said with a shake of her head as she and Twilight sat. 
“This is my first day off in a long time.” Hunter spun around on the bench to face them. “So what’s on the agenda?” 
“Just relaxing.” Sunset said. “Everyone’s still worn out from last night.” 
“Yeah, my ears are still ringing.” Twilight stuck her finger in her ear and twisted it. 
“Sorry about that.” Hunter tipped his head humbly. 
“That was an impressive little device.” She admitted. 
“Operates at eighty decibels.” Hunter explained. “Five below the threshold for permanent damage.” 
“How… reassuring.” Twilight said as sincerely as possible. 
“Hey, I never know what I’m going to go up against, best to be prepared for anything.” Hunter shrugged.
“So there are magical creatures native to this world.” Sunset said conclusively.
“Mythology isn’t just something people pulled out of their ass.” He ran through the catalogue of experiences in his mind. “Every myth, legend and tall tale is based on some level of truth… some more than others.” 
“It’s so common and accepted in Equestria.” Sunset noted. “We embrace those things and accept them as part of our world.” 
“Yeah well, humans have a tendency to automatically fear and hate what doesn’t fit neatly into the little box we’ve created for ourselves.” He rested his thumb on his chin. “Even then, the percentage of us that do each have their own way of looking at such things.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Well, some think creatures like the álííl ayą́ should be protected and studied, some think they should be killed outright to protect humanity and some think they can be used as tools or weapons.” He breathed a mocking laugh. “I know all three, which is why I’m always careful of just what I relay back to my superiors.” 
“Aren’t you afraid of what might happen if they find out you keep things from them?” Sunset asked.
“Field agents like me operate with complete autonomy. The brass and pencil pushers are too scared and think they’re too valuable to set foot on the front line, so they leave everything to our discretion.” 
“So what do you think about these creatures?” Twilight asked, keen to get a read on his moral compass. 
“Nothing is across the board.” He shook his head. “I deal with things on a case by case basis. I’ve seen creatures that were essentially harmless and I’ve had to kill some that were a clear and present threat to everything around them. I know that answer makes me an enemy to both sides of the argument; but most of the time the ones crying foul aren’t the ones out here dealing with this shit.” He sighed as he hated getting that serious about anything. “But hey, we’re not here to talk shop, right?” His smile returned. 
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash called to them as she, Applejack and Pinkie Pie hurried over. “Hunter.” She said shortly.
Hunter saw the bandage on her head. “Hey Skittles, how’s the noggin?” 
“Sore.” She sat beside Twilight as Applejack and Pinkie sat on either side of Hunter.
Hunter glanced over at Applejack who bore a similar look on her face. “Oh come on, we ate pancakes together. I thought we were cool now.” 
“You may not be the bad guy but that doesn’t mean we’re all fire keen on ya.” She pointed at him. “Don’t think I forgot about the sleeping gas.” 
“I was only defending myself against your freakish, barnyard strength.” He smiled innocently. 
“No more fighting.” Pinkie protested. “I say we just let bygones be bygones.” 
“Alright.” Applejack huffed. 
“Thanks, candy girl.” Hunter patted her back.
“I mean so what if Hunter is a secret agent who’s been watching every little thing we do for months on end, invading our privacy and collecting data on us for his personal use.” Pinkie shrugged. “He’s our friend now.”  
Hunter looked at her blankly. “No ‘off’ switch on you, is there?” He noticed the girls looking at him funny. “Okay, don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not like I set up cameras in your houses or something.” He turned to Rainbow Dash. “Which reminds me, you might want to get that mole on your back looked at.” 
The girls turned their attention to her. “What!?” Rainbow Dash scowled at him. “I don’t… shut up!” 
“Take it easy.” Sunset laughed as she waved her down. “You know he’s just screwing with you.” 
“I am.” Hunter promised. “Although I will say that I was changed man after watching Applejack churn butter for an hour.” He slyly grinned over at her. 
“That does it!” Applejack pounced on him and they toppled off the bench and began wrestling in the dirt. “I’m going to beat the sass outta you!” Her voice carried over as they rolled around. 
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Twilight asked. 
“He’s fine.” Sunset brushed it off.
“Ah girls, hello.” Rarity said as she and Fluttershy approached from the opposite direction.  She observed the scene and sighed. “I see Hunter is fitting in well.” 
“Hey, get off me!” Hunter’s voice drifted over to them. “You’re going to make your brother jealous!” 
“As good as can be expected.” Sunset smiled as she looked to Rainbow Dash. “Dash, get her off of him before she kills him.” 
“Fine.” Rainbow Dash groaned as she got up and headed over. 
“He certainly seems to have grown on you.” Rarity said, noticing the amused look on Sunset’s face. 
“It’s hard to explain.” Sunset looked up at her. “You didn’t see what I saw when I touched him… he’s been through a lot, probably more than most.” She admitted. “The fact that he stays so positive about his life at all is pretty amazing. We all have our coping methods and our way of expressing ourselves… I guess this is his.” She looked back at the wrestling match before her. “Sure, it’s obnoxious and hard for anyone to deal with; but now that I know where it’s coming from, I don’t know, it’s not so bad.” A short laugh of consideration escaped her. “Derpy was right, he talks crazy but it’s clear to me that he doesn’t really mean any of it.” 
“Calm down, AJ!” Rainbow Dash pleaded as she dragged Applejack away from Hunter. “We need him alive… for now anyway.” 
“Let me go, I ain’t through with that forked tongued sidewinder!” Applejack growled, her heels digging trenches in the dirt. 
Hunter dusted himself off and sat back down, his clothes a mess and his hair frazzled. He cleared his throat and looked to Sunset. “Don’t be jealous, but I think Freckles and I just got to second base.” 
“Well, next time we’re not stopping her.” Sunset smirked. “So I suggest you stop messing with her.” 
Applejack sat back down, Rarity stood behind her and started rubbing her shoulders. “Now now, let’s save all this energy for our real enemy.” 
“Speaking of which.” Hunter began as he fixed his hair. “I pulled the floorplan for Equestria Land and that’s going to be a big job. Any chance I could deputize a couple of you to give me a hand?”
“I’ll go!” Pinkie excitedly raised her hand. 
“Okay.” Hunter slapped the table a few times and looked to Fluttershy. “Hey, you can communicate with animals, right Dolittle?” 
“Um… yes.” She nodded. 
“That could come in handy, how about it? Want in?” He raised his brows questioningly. 
“We won’t be doing anything illegal, would we?” She asked hesitantly. 
“Don’t worry, I work for the federal government which gives me higher authority than the state police.” He put his thumb to his chest. “Anything comes up, I’ll vouch for both of you.” 
“In that case, I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad.” Fluttershy perked up. 
“Perfect, I reviewed the security regimen and shift schedules for the entire employee register. Park closes early on Sunday and the staff reduces to two night guards by eight o’clock. We’ll go in then.” 
“Cool!” Pinkie turned to Fluttershy, bouncing in her seat. “We get to be spies!” 
Fluttershy smiled, her cheeks a light red. “Yay spying.” She raised her fist to the air. 
Leaving the park, the group spent the day about town; visiting their usual spots and grabbing lunch while they were at it. The girls slowly became accustomed to Hunter’s antics; while his verbal jabbing was relentless, it was apparent he genuinely cared in his own way. As the afternoon wore on and the group slowly thinned, only Sunset and Hunter remained as he walked her home. 
Hunter laced his hands behind his head as he walked. “Got to say, this was nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a day like today.” 	
“Pretty sure they feel the same way.” Sunset laughed, recalling various exchanges he had shared with her friends over the day. “But that’s good to hear.” She thought for a moment. “You know, I’m going to be helping Trixie tomorrow down at Grand Illusions. Some of the other students will be there too… you want to help out?” 
“Sure, why not.” He said gingerly. 
“This is a fundraiser event though, so I’m going to need you to be less… you.” She smiled over at him. 
“Yes ma’am.” He promised. 
“Okay, it starts at ten.” Sunset explained. “Trixie said she’s already got $3,277 in donations so far, the goal is $12,000.” 
“Alright, I’ll be there.” 
As they came upon Sunset’s house he bid her goodnight. As he walked off, he pulled out his phone and put in a call for something that he felt could come in handy for tomorrow. 
Trixie was quite proud of what she was able to put together. Having gotten a permit from the city, the sidewalk outside of Grand Illusions resembled a localized street fair. Trixie had her raffle wheel setup with intent to award a prize every hour for the initial five hours. Lyra and Bon Bon had set up a popcorn cart and grill to sell hotdogs. Derpy sat peacefully at a table with an assortment of muffins for sale. Zephyr Breeze was playing his acoustic guitar for a little ambiance and Photo Finish was offering professional level portrait photography. Sunset had showed up early to help set up and the opening hour showed promise with a good deal of foot traffic. Hunter showed up about eleven, as he neared the scene Sunset noticed him and met with him.
“Sorry I’m late, Sunny; had to deal with something real quick.” He looked over the event. “Nice little set up.”
“Yeah, it turned out even better than we expected.” Sunset concurred. “So far so good too.” 
“Nice.” He nodded. “Food, prizes… and that nice homeless man is playing guitar.” 
“Hunter.” She toned with a warning smile. 
“I’m kidding.” He hugged her shoulder. “How about a photo to commemorate?” 
“Sure.” She laughed and nodded.
He led her over to Photo Finish who was wrapping up with a customer; as the three girls left, Hunter stepped up to her. “Guten Nachmittag Fräulein.” He smiled. 
She perked up at the sound of her native tongue, surprised even further by who was speaking it. “Du bist der unruhestifter Hunter, Du sprichst Deutsch?”
“Ein bisschen.” He nodded. “Wie wäre es mit einem bild von mir und dem speck hier oben?”
Photo Finish laughed heartily and nodded. “Na sicher. Komm näher und ich werde ... die magie durchführen.” 
Hunter and Sunset stood against the backdrop and posed for the camera. Photo Finish took a series of rapid shots as dramatically as possible. Once finished, she scanned through them until she found the one she liked best and sent it to the wireless photo printer she brought. As it popped out, she boldly signed it and handed it to Hunter. “Vielen Dank.” He said with a wave as they moved along.
“Okay, that was pretty impressive.” Sunset admitted. 
“Crazy stuff happens all over the world, I’ve had to pick up a few languages along the way.” He modestly explained. As Sunset returned to what she was doing, Hunter smiled as he came upon Derpy’s table. “Heya D.” He waved. 
“Hunter.” She stood and looked at him with disappointed eyes. “You got suspended.”
He nodded and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I did something stupid. How unlike me, right?” He put ten dollars down on the table. “Here, I owe you for two days’ worth of muffins.”
She took the money and put it in her register, as she closed the box she looked at him with a knowing smile. “You’re feeling better now, I can tell.” 
Hunter let out a small gasp at her empathetic astuteness. “Yeah, I am.” He nodded.
“I’m glad.” She hugged him. “No more doing stupid things then, right?” 
He smiled and put his arms around her. “I promise, can’t go letting you down again now, can I?” Sitting back down, Derpy bagged up two muffins for him and he returned to Sunset who was helping Trixie. The bulk of the day went fairly well with the morning traffic being mostly the elderly and families. As afternoon set in, the demographic shifted to the hustle and bustle of daytime workers and other teens who were far more apathetic to the cause.
“Ugh, these people have no consideration.” Trixie huffed as she stepped off her box and lowered the microphone, her over the top requests for help now falling on deaf ears. “So busy with their own lives they can’t spare a thought for others.” 
“Don’t get too down, Trixie.” Sunset put her hand to Trixie’s back. “Day’s still young and we’ve been doing great.” 
“I know.” Trixie nodded. 
“Fundraising isn’t just about appealing to people’s good nature.” Hunter said as he joined them. “As nice as that sounds, you’ll find that well runs dry pretty quick.” 
“Then what else is it about, Mr. Expert?” Trixie eyed him judgingly. 
“It’s about guilt tripping and emotional low blows.” He took the mic from her. “I’ll demonstrate, that is if I have permission?” He smiled over at Sunset.
She nodded. “Go get em’.” 
With a nod in return, Hunter stepped on the box and raised the mic to his lips. “Alright everyone, listen up!” He called out, the change in tone catching some odd looks. “Yeah that’s right, talking to all of you.” He glanced around. “Hey, you too Bluetooth!” He pointed at a man walking by and talking into the hands free device. “For those of you too busy playing Sudoku to watch the news, we’re raising money for the owner of this store. A victim of the recent string of break-ins around the city. Now I’m sure you’re asking, ‘But Hunter, why should I care about some old guy who sells squirting boutonnières and hats with rabbits stuffed into them?’. Well I’ll tell you. This store has been in business for almost forty years, family owned and operated the whole time. Hell, he probably sold your dads’ whatever lame trick they used to impress your mothers the night you were conceived.” He gestured over the gathered crowd. “So how about you all pull your heads out of your asses, put your hands in your pockets and give a little to support a local business; you know, as opposed to the big, money grubbing corporations you’re always bitching about.” He held a single finger to the sky. “1 dollar, that’s all it would take to make a difference. I’ve watched about a thousand people walk by, if each one of them gave only a dollar that would be a solid grand raised for a good cause. What else are you going to spend that dollar on?” He pointed to random man with a bit of a gut on him. “A candy bar you damn sure don’t need?” He pointed to teen boy. “A condom you’re damn sure not going to use?” He waved the crowd over. “Come on, if you don’t like what I’m saying then come over here and prove me wrong.” The crowd began to move in and business slowly started to pick up again. Hunter hopped down and handed the mic back to Trixie. 
“That was amazing.” Sunset looked at the now bustling crowd. “Vulgar, but amazing.” 
“That’s what my tombstone is going to say.” He said with a bow. 
“Thanks.” Trixie smiled at the sight. 
“No problem.” He patted her shoulder. 
The rest of the day went by calmly and as everyone began packing up, Trixie counted their total earnings. “$9,842 dollars.” She let out a small squeal of delight. “Not quite our goal but plenty enough to help Mr. Haas.”
“That it is.” Mr. Haas said with a wide smile as he joined Trixie and Sunset at the raffle table. “Thank you so much for this, all of you.”
“Happy to help.” Trixie handed the money over proudly. 
“Hold up.” Hunter came over. “I was so busy running my mouth I forgot to donate myself.” He threw a check down on the table, the amount reading $2,158. “That should make $12,000.” 
“Hunter.” Sunset looked at him in shock. 
“Young man.” Mr. Haas picked up the check. “I…”
“Hey.” Hunter held his hands up. “Don’t worry about it. I had a feeling we might not make the full amount so I moved some money around last night just in case.” He smiled. “Besides, never ask where donation money comes from. Unless the guy is Italian or something, then it’s probably mob money.” He gave Trixie a wink. 
“Thank you.” Near the point of tears, the old man lowered his head in thanks.
“It’s all because of 3rd person over here.” He gestured to Trixie. “She’s a pretty amazing lady once you get past the ego, the attitude, the voice, the…”
“You’re ruining the moment.” Trixie said grimly. 
“Then my work here is done.” With a graceful wave he started off. “I’ll see you at school.” 
“He makes it very hard to completely like him.” Trixie noted as she looked to Sunset.
“Yeah, that’s kind of his thing.” Sunset nodded. “Come on, let’s finish packing up.” The duo returned to work as the sun began to set on the busy day.