//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: The Hunter and the Hunted 
// by Marezinger Z 
//------------------------------//

The Hunter and the Hunted

Chapter 9:

Not surprisingly, Hunter wasn’t at school the next day; but he did send a group text to his friends that merely contained a thumbs up. Though they were eased by the knowledge that he was okay, their minds and bodies were still worn by the events of the prior night. They powered through the day with the goal of collapsing when they got home. Hunter returned to school the next day, stitches in his side but otherwise in one piece. With the threat of the álííl ayą́ behind him and the prospect of another day with his new friends in front of him, he felt a welcome peace of mind that he hadn’t enjoyed in some time. As he approached the school he was rushed by a pink blur. 
“Hunter!” Pinkie hugged him. “You’re back.” 
“Watch the stitches, Candycane.” He let out a pained laugh as he hugged her back. 
“Oops.” She backed off with an innocent grin. “Are you okay?” 
“Yeah, I’ll live.” He lifted his shirt to show her the bandages. “Field medic patched me up.” 
“Everyone’s been worried about you.” She pointed back to the school. “Come on, let’s catch them before class.” 
Pinkie led him to the others who were gathered around Sunset’s locker. “Miss me?” He asked as they joined the semi-circle. 
“Hunter.” Sunset smiled in relief. “We were starting to get nervous not hearing anything. 
“Sorry, yesterday was pretty busy.” He apologized. “I had to meet with an agency superior for a debriefing and file my official report on the álííl ayą́.” 
“So, it’s over?” Twilight asked. 
“As far as the government is concerned, yeah.” He nodded.
“What happened to the álííl ayą́?” Fluttershy queried, her compassion for animals extending even to the dangerous creature. 
“You’ll be happy to know that our fuzzy friend is resting comfortably at a black site, containment facility. He’ll be observed and studied, but they’ll go easy on him.” 
“Guess the city can finally rest easy at night.” Applejack noted. 
“All in a day’s work for us.” Rainbow Dash dusted her shoulder off proudly. 
“You aren’t wrong, Stripes.” Hunter admitted. “You ladies were pretty amazing out there. I’m just sorry I can’t give you the credit you deserve.”
“That’s quite alright, darling.” Rarity assured. “While I’m all for adoration I don’t think the government would give us the kind of attention we’d prefer.” 
The five minute bell rang above their heads. “Well, at least pop quizzes are the worst thing we have to worry about now.” Hunter laughed. “I’ll see you at lunch.” 
Hunter was able to relax and enjoy his day. He even started speaking up in class and participating, much to the surprise of his teachers and classmates. In this third class that he shared with Twilight, Mrs. Cheerliee was going over the planned debate. 
“Alright students.” She looked over the ensemble. “Don’t forget that sixth period today is being replaced with a student debate in the auditorium. Our two top teams will be competing to decide who is going to represent the school in the annual, inter-district debate competition. Now, we still need a moderator and we’re running short on time. I know it isn’t a fun job but…”
“I’ll do it.” Hunter raised his hand, the class turning back in their seats to make sure they heard him correctly. 
“Oh, Hunter.” Mrs. Cheerilee looked at him in surprise. “How wonderfully unexpected.” 
“Mrs. Cheerilee?” Micro Chips raised his hand. “Please, no… I’m begging you.” 
“Micro Chips.” She looked at him disapprovingly. “That is quite rude, especially when Hunter hasn’t shown much interest in things like this so far. I think it would be a splendid idea.” She looked back to Hunter. “Thank you Hunter, I’ll let Principal Celestia know.” 
“Oh sweet Hawking.” Micro Chips laid his head to the desk. 
At lunch, Hunter went to meet the girls in the cafeteria. After making nice with Granny Smith to atone for the laundry list of remarks he made about her food, he sat down beside Applejack; batting his eyes at her sweetly.
“Tray’s distance.” Applejack bumped his tray over. 
“Still hiding your feelings?” He asked as he scooted over. 
“Ha.” She scoffed. “I’ll keep an eye on my pigs and when they start flying, I’ll give ya a call.” 
Pinkie snickered at them. “I think you’d make a cute couple.” 
“You hush.” Applejack pointed at her threateningly. 
“Did you hear that Hunter is going to be moderating the debate today?” Twilight asked. 
“Yes actually.” Rarity smiled at him. “Micro Chips is simply ecstatic.” 
“Oh I can’t wait to see this.” Sunset chuckled as she took a bite of her sandwich. 
“About that.” The shadow of Principal Celestia rolled over the table. 
Hunter smiled up at her. “Good afternoon, Lady Principal Ma’am sir.” 
“Hello Hunter.” She walked around to him. “I’m very happy to hear that you’re going to be participating in this afternoon’s event.” 
“Happy to help.”
“That being said.” She eyed him. “I do have some instructions for you. Firstly, mind your language.” 
“Done.” He nodded. 
“Secondly, stick to the topics that are provided. No ad lib.” 
“No problemo.” He nodded again. 
“Thirdly, you must use the student’s actual names.” 
“Ehhhh.” He twisted his lips in thought.
“Hunter.” She sighed. 
“You got it.” He gave her the OK sign. 
“Alright then, I’ll see you all in the auditorium.” She headed over to another table to address some other matter. 
“You know, for the first time I’m actually excited to go to one of these things.” Rainbow Dash perked up. “No offense Twilight.” 
“Gee, thanks.” Twilight gave her an insincere smile. 
Following fifth period the student body migrated into the auditorium, slowly filling the bleacher seats as the podiums and metal chairs were set up in the building’s center. Celestia and Luna sat in the front and Hunter went to them to claim his microphone. 
“Reporting for duty.” He saluted. 
“Here you are.” Celestia handed him the mic while giving him an almost pleading look to control himself. 
“Don’t worry fearless leader, you have my word you’ll live to regret this.” He smiled and headed out onto the floor. 
“Luna?” 
“Yes?” Luna looked down and saw her extended hand. 
“Hold my hand.” Celestia requested with a sigh. 
“Of course.” Luna took her hand and patted it tenderly. 
Hunter strode out as the two teams took their seats in the chairs. He raised the mic to his lips and gazed out over the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, teachers of all ages… even the ones we can’t calculate.” He gestured over to Mr. Cranky Doodle. “My name is Hunter and I will be hosting today's speech spectacle.” 
“Whose idea was that!?” One of the student’s called out, stirring up a low murmur from the crowd. 
“Who said that?” Hunter asked with a smile as he looked into the seats, a few of the students pointed out the heckler. “Him? Right there?” Hunter focused on the boy. “Hey Chuckles.” He pointed at him. “Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be down at the hardware store with the rest of the tools?” The boy stammered as the crowd began to laugh. “Listen, was giving me a microphone in a public setting a mistake? Maybe, but sometimes you just have to buckle down and live with your mistakes. Ask your parents, they’ll say the same thing.” The student clammed up as louder laughter followed Hunter’s words. 
Celestia’s head fell into her hand as she groaned. “There there.” Luna patted her back supportively. 
“Now, as I was saying.” Hunter continued. “Let’s get this communication confrontation going!” The students actually started applauding. “We’re starting hard and heavy with this one.” He pointed to the left. “In this podium, weighing in at I have no clue, because she refuses to tell me how much she weighs. The siren of science! The know-it-all knockout! The Ayatollah of I told you so! Twilight Spaaaaarrrrrrkllllle!” 
Twilight was shocked when students began cheering as she went to her podium. “Um… thank you.” She waved. 
“And in this podium.” He gestured to the opposite side. “Weighing in at ninety-one pounds, an even hundred if you leave him out in the rain for a while. The terror-byte who will give you a hundred and fifty gigs in a nanosecond! The master debater himself! Microooooo Chiiiiiiiips!” Micro Chips was cheered on as well as he stepped up to his podium and waved to the crowd. 
And with that, the debate was on. Sunset watched with a wide smile, finally seeing the real Hunter in full force and the entirety of the school eating it up as they laughed and cheered along with his over the top introductions for the teams and smart remarks about the topics. Even Celestia accepted Hunter’s antics, marveling at how good he was at controlling the crowd. Even though the debate ended with a victory for Twilight’s team, Hunter had the crowd making them all feel like champs. As the event wrapped up and the school emptied for the day, Hunter headed to Celestia’s office to catch her before she left. He poked his head in the door and rapped on the doorframe a few times.
“Hunter.” She put the forms she was looking at down and waved him in. “Come in.” She smiled as he sat. “I have to admit, that was a fantastic job you did with the debate.” She tilted her head in consideration. “Tap-dancing on inappropriate, but fantastic still. Would you consider moderating for the debate competition?” 
“I would… but I won’t be here.” He sighed. “That’s why I stopped by, my dad is being reassigned again so I’ll be taking the act on the road.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that.” 
“It’s okay. Got to keep my record consistent, right?” He sat back in the chair. “My parent’s will be in touch to finalize everything, but as of today you're officially free of me.” He laughed as best he could. 
Celestia let out a saddened breath and nodded. “Hunter, can I at least say one last thing as your Principal?” 
“You bet.” 
“I don’t know what happened to bring about this great change in you, but you’re leaving here different from when you arrived.” She began. “I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you, constantly being on the move… you must feel like you don’t belong anywhere.” Her face lit with a tender smile. “But know that you will always belong here, no matter how far you may travel. I might not have known you for long and we definitely had a rough start, but I am proud to have had you as one of my students and I’ll certainly miss you.” 
For the first time in a long time, Hunter didn’t know what to say. “Thanks.” He finally managed. 
“Take care Hunter, I wish you the best.” She rose and held out her hand.
He stood and shook her hand. Upon leaving her office he stopped and leaned against the lockers as he started to cry, Celestia’s heartfelt goodbye having struck something deep within him. He ran his finger under his eye, looking down at the dampness on the tip. “Well how about that.” He smiled as he pushed himself off the lockers and continued down the hall. 
Sunset got a text from Hunter around five o’clock, asking her to meet him at the vacant office where he was staying. She quickly got ready and headed downtown to see him. Entering the cold and empty building, she found him sitting on a single chair; the rest of his things nowhere to be seen save for a single bag. Seeing this confirmed what she already knew. 
“You’re leaving then?” She asked.
“Yeah.” He nodded unenthusiastically. “Sorry I didn’t say anything at school but… I just wanted to enjoy the day.” 
“I understand.” She nodded and sat down on an empty display box. 
Hunter rose and sat back down beside her. “I want to thank you, not just for helping with the case but for knocking some sense into me. I didn’t realize just how detached I had allowed myself to become, but being around you and the others showed me that I don’t have to close those parts of myself off to do what I do. Leaving still sucks, but I’d rather leave with happy memories than bad ones.” He stood with a heavy sigh, looking down at her with a smile. "So, thanks for being too stubborn to push away.”
Sunset felt herself tear up, she quickly stood and put her arms around him. “I’m really going to miss you, Hunter.” 
He held her tightly and rested his cheek against her head. “I’ll miss you too, Sunset.” 
Sunset looked up at him with damp eyes and a tilted smile. “Ok, hearing you say my name at this point is just weird.”
“I figured by now you’d be sick of the nicknames.” 
“Actually, I’ve gotten used to it.” She admitted. 
He nodded. “Well alright then, Bacon Bristles.” 
“Much better.” They laughed as they held onto each other. 
A short cough caught their attention. “I do hope we aren’t interrupting anything.” Rarity said as she and the others entered. 
“Oooooh.” Pinkie giggled. “I think we are.” 
“Oh shut up.” Sunset said as she wiped her eyes. 
“You girls come to make sure I’m leaving?” Hunter asked.
“I kind of guessed what you wanted to talk about.” Sunset explained. “So I told them to come too.” 
“And we’re glad she did.” Rarity said as she went to Hunter. “We most certainly want the chance to say goodbye.” She gave him a hug of her own. “It definitely won’t be the same without you, darling.” 
“At least I know this city is in good hands with all of you.” He went over to Pinkie and held his arm out. “And so ends another adventure with Sherriff Hunter and the Cotton Candy Kid.” He said in his best western drawl. 
Pinkie hugged his side. “I hope we can go on another one sometime.” 
“Me too.” He looked over at Fluttershy. “But in the meantime, you and agent Zookeeper here can keep an eye on things, right?” 
“You can count on us.” Fluttershy nodded as she hugged his other side. 
“And as for the mad scientist.” He shook his finger at Twilight. “Keep your nose clean, I don’t want to be sent after you because you end up making a doomsday device or a rogue A.I.”
“You have my word to not to do anything that affects society on a global scale.” She smiled.
“Good enough.” He laughed and turned to Rainbow Dash, holding out his hand. “Speedy. You’ve made me change my mind about fast women.” 
“What a coincidence.” She grabbed his hand. “You’ve made me change my mind about snarky jerks.” She pulled him in and hugged him. 
Hunter slowly moved over to Applejack, simply smiling and opening his arms. She rolled her eyes, trying to hide a small smile as she stepped into his arms. “I think I’m going to miss you most of all, Scarecrow.” With a grin, she activated her magic and squeezed him. “Ow, okay okay.” He laughed. 
“I can’t believe I’m actually gonna miss you too.” Applejack shook her head in disbelief. “You be careful now.” 
“Hey, the only thing I’d ever let kill me is you.” He promised. “Oh, one last thing.” He pulled a small card and pen out of his pocket as he wandered back over to Sunset. “I have to either destroy or turn in everything I used while I was here, including my phone.” He explained as he started writing. “But, if something crazy ever happens and you feel like you could use some more firepower, you can use this number to reach me.” He handed the card to Sunset. 
“Thank you.” Sunset put it safely in her pocket. 
“Remember, that’s for emergencies only.” He reminded. “Not for, oh I don’t know, if you wanted to get together for dinner or...” 
“Goodbye Hunter.” Sunset cut him off with a laugh. 
“Right.” He waved as she and the others gave him a last goodbye as they headed out. With a placid smile he took up his personal bag and shut off all the lights before leaving the building. Heading for the bus stop he waited for about twenty minutes before the next bus arrived. He sat in the back and laid his bag in the seat adjacent to him as the bus hissed and continued its route. Getting comfortable, he put his hands in his jacket pockets and felt something in the left, he quickly pulled his hand out and discovered a photo. It was picture of Sunset and the girls, flipping it over he found the message 'we're always with you' written on the back. He laughed as he wiped a forming tear from his eye; returning the photo to his pocket he laid his head back and watched the city fly by as the bus sped along.