//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Hunter From Another World 
// by Marezinger Z 
//------------------------------//

Hunter awoke to the sound of excited talking. He sat upright, finding himself in far better shape than the night prior. With a long groan his swung his legs over the side of the bed and steadied himself on all fours. Making his way to the door, he slowly opened it and wandered out into the living room. 
“Hunter?” Sunset noticed him out of the corner of her eye. “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you.” 
“That’s okay.” He wearily made his way to the couch.
“Here, darling.” Rarity moved over and helped him sit. 
“Thanks.” He fell to the cushion with a sigh. 
“How are you feeling?” Pinkie Pie asked. 
“I’d tell you, but Sunset said I’m not allowed to use that kind of language.” He managed to laugh. 
“Hunter?” His eyes rolled down to see Apple Bloom. 
“Hey, little lady.” He sat forward. 
“I didn’t get to say thanks yesterday.” 
“No worries.” He lowered his head to her. “Just put in a good word with your sister for me.”
Apple Bloom giggled and nodded, catching Applejack’s attention. “What are y’all whispering about?” She asked with a hard eye. 
“Nothing.” They answered in unison. 
“Well, you look better.” Sunset noted. “Would you like something to eat?” 
“I could go for a cheeseburger.” His eyes perked.
“Um… yeah, about that.” Sunset began with a twisted lip. “Ponies don’t really do… meat.”
“Really?” He raised his brow. 
“Didn’t you notice that I was a vegetarian?” She asked.
“Well yeah, but I thought that was a lifestyle choice. You know, like loving jazz or being really into feet.” 
“Into feet?” Fluttershy repeated.
“Ugh, I’ll explain later.” Sunset rolled her eyes. 
“How about some fresh, apple fritters.” Apple Bloom suggested. “Granny made some this morning.” 
“Sounds perfect.” He gave her a wink. 
“I’ll grab you a few.” Apple Bloom headed back into the kitchen.
“So, where are we at?” Hunter queried.	
“Well, Luna is still in Canterlot and Zecora went home to start fixing up her house.” Sunset started before gesturing over to Twilight. “Twilight and Pinkie were able to dig up some info on the Vulpion.” 
Hunter turned his attention to the Princess. “Anything good?” 
“Actually, yes.” Twilight nodded. “It turns out that the Vulpion went extinct during an extended winter, this was well before the pegasi took over weather regulation. They had a hibernation cycle of 4 months but due to unnatural weather patterns, there was a winter season that lasted twice that length. Basically, they never woke up and starved in their burrows.”
“How awful.” Fluttershy saddened, even the plight of a ferocious creature such as the Vulpion bringing her pause. 
“So we freeze him.” Hunter concluded, his mind already working out a plan. “RD, were you able to find out where he holed himself up?” 
“Sure did.” Rainbow Dash confirmed. “He’s in Ghastly Gorge.” 
“Well that place sounds dandy.” He jested, taking three of the fritters from Apple Bloom as she returned. “Is it inhabited?” He asked, taking a bite. 
“Only by nasty Quarray Eeels.” Pinkie said with a menacing face. “They’re big and go after any creature that wanders by their holes. I saw them when I went to talk to Maud.” Hunter laid his head back and stared up at the ceiling. 
“What are you thinking?” Rarity inquired. 
“You said pegasi can regulate the weather, right?” He recalled Twilight’s tidbit.
“That’s right.” Fluttershy reconfirmed. 
“I have a plan then, but it’s going to take some doing to pull off.” Hunter brought his head back down. 
“We’re up for it.” Rainbow Dash flexed her foreleg. 
“Yeah, what do we need to do?” Applejack asked. 
“We’re going to need more pegasi, around 50 iron poles that are at least 20 feet in length and several long lassos.” He relayed. 
“I’ll get the Wonderbolts to help out.” Rainbow Dash promised. 
“We can get the iron poles from the smith in Canterlot.” Twilight added. 
“I can secure as much rope as we’ll need.” Rarity assured. 
“Alright then.” Hunter smiled. “Let’s go take him down.” 



The team separated to gather what Hunter had asked for; in the meantime, he went into the yard to loosen his body up for what was to come. Granny Smith provided him with a homemade ointment to soothe his muscles and he put himself through some of his old combat routines to adapt his techniques for a Hippogriff body. Sunset kept a close eye on him, fully aware that he was far from 100%. After a few hours, she brought him some water to keep him hydrated. 
“Hunter.” Sunset called his attention, bringing a halt to his exercises. 
“Oh, thanks.” Hunter gladly accepted the tall glass and proceeded to down half of it in a single chug.
“How’s it going?” She asked.
“Not bad.” He answered through a hard exhale. “Problem is, all my moves are committed to muscle memory; but I’ve got an entirely new musculature now so everything is thrown off.” 
“Just be careful.” Sunset requested with serious eyes. “You’re still not fully recovered from the venom.” 
“No, I’m definitely not.” He agreed with a laugh. “But we don’t have time to sit around and wait for me to recover. While we’re handling Stinger, Skyfall and Ridgeback are still out there doing god knows what. We’ve got a lot of friends here, but time damn sure isn’t one of them.” 
“I know.” She nodded.
“Don’t worry.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “When I told Applejack she was the only one I’d let kill me, I meant it.”
As the day wore on, the others slowly began to return from their tasks. Rarity and Fluttershy brought a dozen, strong lengths of rope that Applejack fashioned into lassos. Twilight’s balloon returned from Canterlot, the iron rods fastened to the basket and Luna at her side; and Rainbow Dash came back with the Wonderbolts as well as the reserve flyers. Once everyone was back, Sunset and Twilight assembled them in the field so that Hunter could detail his plan.
“Alright, Hunter.” Twilight gave him her full attention. “How do we do this?”
“Okay, this is going to be a multi-stage operation.” Hunter began. “First, we need to pin him down to one location. Once we get to the gorge, I’m going to lure him out into an area we can close off from both sides. When he’s in position; Sunny, Twi and Sailor Moon will use their magic to cause landslides to block off his exits.”
“What is this moniker by which he calls me?” Luna turned her eyes to Sunset.
“I’ll… explain later.” Sunset sighed. 
“At this point I’ll square off with him and hold his attention.” Hunter continued. “While we're engaged, I need the iron poles driven into the ground all around us. Once the poles are in place, the pegasi will bring in the clouds and make it snow. The cold will slow him down; but given that he doesn’t know the limits of his new body he won’t realize that until it’s too late. I’m sure at that point he’ll try to go back underground; when he does I need everyone to move in and use the lassos to keep him above ground. In his weakened state, all of your combined strength should be more than enough to overpower him. At that point, we’ll have him.” Hunter looked over the group. “Everyone clear?” The gathered ponies sounded their understanding. “Everyone ready!” He shouted, the ponies cheering in response. “Everyone think that Sunset should totally go out with me!?” Confused mutters followed his third rally, an audible groan from Sunset chief among them. “Eh, worth a shot.” He shrugged with an innocent smile. 
With a solid plan of action, the team moved out and got into position near Ghastly Gorge. Rainbow Dash led them to the spot where she had seen Stinger last and he had already dug out a burrow in the rock. Several dead Quarray Eels littered the area, their bodies having been feasted on by the far deadlier predator. Hunter flew down to the entrance and stared into the void. 
“Stinger!” Hunter called into the darkness. 
After several moments he heard the ground in the burrow shuffle and Stinger emerged, glaring down at him with a mildly impressed smile. “You’re still alive?” 
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Guess you’re a shittier killer than you thought.” 
Stinger laughed in response. “Well, thanks for coming all the way here so I can finish the job.” 
“You’re going to have to earn it, ugly.” Hunter hovered in the air in preparation.
“It wouldn’t be fun if I didn’t!” His tail shot forward and Hunter drifted to the right, flying backwards as he motioned for 					Stinger to continue. Kicking his eight legs into full gear, Stinger pursued Hunter who dodge the flurry of incoming paw swipes and tail thrusts; staying far enough away to be safe but close enough to keep him interested the chase. Hunter led him down the trench, well away from the entrance to his burrow and to their chosen ambush location. Once they passed the agreed point; Twilight, Sunset and Luna, who were poised on the ledges above, began unleashing huge blasts of magic into the walls of the gorge. Stinger halted his attack and looked up to see the avalanches of rock raining down, ultimately trapping them in an arena. 
“Stay sharp!” Hunter yelled as he flew in and raked his talon across Stinger’s face. Stinger let out an angry roar and refocused on Hunter. “Now!” Hunter called up into the sky. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and the Wonderbolts began carrying the iron rods over their heads; they went into dives and released the poles, letting gravity impale them into the ground. Twilight and Luna flew in to help, using their magic to jam some the rods into the ground as well. Within moments, Hunter and Stinger were fully surrounded by 10 foot high lengths of iron. 
“What is this!?” Stinger asked angrily. 
“Just something to even the playing field.” Hunter answered, rolling his shoulders as he prepared for the real fight. He sped between the rods and re-engaged Stinger, sending out a barrage of rapid swipes and kicks as he used the rods as launch pads to rebound himself in a confusing pattern of movement. Stinger tried to fight back, finding that his own movements were severely limited by the dozens of obstructions. His wide swings were cut short as his paws banged into the poles, his many legs were confounded as they tried to maneuver his larger frame in between them and his tail was consistently blocked from landing a sure hit. As Hunter pummeled and slashed the beast, the pegasi had already begun coating the sky in thick, dark clouds. Violently bouncing on them, they brewed up an impromptu snow storm and the arena began to blanket in white. Initially, as predicted, Stinger ignored the sudden change in weather; his bloodthirst keeping his mind focused on ending Hunter’s life. As the minutes passed however, his body began to grow sluggish and a deep chill ran through his bones. 
“What’s… happening…?” Stinger’s chest heaved as he struggled to move. 
“I see someone failed biology!” Hunter flipped in the air and kicked Stinger in the chin, sending him staggering back. He landed a series of solid punches to his face, easily evading the now labored swings of his paws. Stinger made a last, heavy jab of his tail; Hunter caught the end and pulled it taught around one of the rods, severing the deadly barb with his talon. Stinger screamed in pain and began to fall back, trying to find a clear spot in which to dig into the ground. “Move in!” Hunter called again. Everyone charged down into the gorge and breaking into predetermined teams, started to lasso Stinger’s legs and arms. Far too weak to fight back and with his body going into a hibernated state, the once fearsome monster collapsed into the snow. 
“We have won!” Luna sounded off, the others cheering their success. 
Hunter walked over to Stinger, kneeling down and grabbing his head. “Where are the others?” He demanded. 
“Fuck… you…” Stinger managed. “I’ll… kill you… all!” He huffed. “If you think… you can… hold me…”
“I don’t plan to.” Without hesitation, Hunter formed his talon into a point and drove it into Stinger’s neck. 
“Hunter!” Twilight’s scream drew the attention of the others, who fell silent at the sight. Hunter withdrew his bloodied arm and stood, swiping it through the air and sending the blood onto the snow. “What have you done!?” Twilight asked in sheer shock. 
“What needed to be done, Twi.” Hunter said solemnly. “I’m sorry, if I told you this part of the plan then you wouldn’t have gone along with it. 
“How could you?” Fluttershy asked with a quivering lip. 
“We had him beaten, there was no reason….” Twilight began.
“Twilight.” Hunter faced her, his eyes more serious than ever before. “Look what it took to bring him down, do you have any way to contain something like this safely?”  
“We… we could have secured him with magic.” Twilight retorted. “We could have locked him Tartarus.” 
“The same magic that he shrugged off like rainwater?” Hunter asked in return. “We don’t have any way to maintain a cold environment to keep him weak and once he regained his strength we’d be back at square one.” He heavily sighed. “You have to understand, Stinger would kill all of you without a second thought; he didn’t even see his fellow man as human beings, only toys for him to play with and break. You can’t control, reason with or show mercy to a creature like this. He doesn’t value life in any way, shape or form; in my book, that means I don’t have to value his.” 
“Twilight.” Sunset went to her mentor. “He’s… not wrong.” 
“How can you say that!?” Twilight looked at her with frustrated tears in her eyes. “That goes against everything we were taught by Princess Celestia. All creatures in our world deserve a chance to amend their ways.”
“He’s not from your world.” Hunter reminded. 
“Neither are you.” Twilight shook her head. “How is what you’ve done any different than what you feared him doing?” 
“Don’t compare Hunter to them!” Sunset said angrily. 
“Enough!” Luna stepped in. “What’s done is done. There are two more of these beasts running loose which means our fight is not yet over. We will return to Canterlot and speak with sister on the matter.” 
Hunter looked out over the others, all looking at him with varying levels of confusion, concern and fear. He knew this moment was going to come, even so, it didn’t make it hurt any less. 



It was a long, quiet flight back to Canterlot as everyone’s minds were tangled in thought while they processed Hunter’s actions. Hunter saw this, as well as the tension that was now stirring between Sunset and Twilight. Objectively, he didn’t regret his actions, but seeing what his decision was doing to these ponies didn’t sit well with him. Arriving in Canterlot, Luna left them to debrief the situation to Celestia. Hunter and the others were soon summoned to the throne room where the Princesses awaited. Celestia’s eyes were heavy with a mixture of emotion and she stayed silent for a long minute before choosing her words. 
“Let me first say that I am glad you are all safe.” She began. “I know that this situation is… unique; that being said, I cannot help but feel conflicted over your decision, Hunter. From what I understand, this Stinger was beaten and yet you chose to execute him.” 
“I did.” Hunter admitted. 
“I see, and what led you to conclude that you had the right to make that choice?” 
“This isn’t about right, this about what needs to be done to keep Equestria safe.”
“I cannot believe that.” Celestia refuted. “There is always a choice and I cannot see the senseless killing of a creature, no matter how dangerous, as a solution that upholds the ideas of this world.” Her eyes saddened. “I fear I may have misjudged you, Hunter.” 
“Princess, I already knew what you’d think based on Twilight’s reaction. I know that in your world problems can be solved with friendship, understanding, compromise and kindness; but these aren’t creatures from your world and you have to accept that.” He thumbed towards the door. “These men were monsters well before they set foot in Equestria; they don’t care about your beliefs and they don’t care how this world works, they’re going to bring the same level of violence that they partook in back in my world to yours and the fact that we’re having this conversation just proves to me that your world isn’t ready to handle it.” He glanced back to his friends. “I’m sorry I wasn’t up front about my intentions and I’m sorry I dragged you down my road in life, but this is my job and this is why I came here.” He looked back to Celestia. “For me, being liked is a luxury and in the end… if you wind up hating me for what I do then that’s fine; making sure your world is safe is more important than my popularity. You can say I’m no better than them, in some ways you may be right, I never said I was a saint.”
“You’ve clearly thought this through.” Celestia observed. “I won’t claim to understand your world, but the more I learn the more I believe that the two should not cross.” 
“And what about me!?” Sunset spoke up. “I’ve lived in both worlds and I’m proof that the two can coexist.” She turned to Twilight. “You’ve been to my school, you met my friends before they even were my friends, you know that humans have just as much good in them as ponies.” 
“I know.” Twilight nodded. “But even Hunter said that the spectrums of the human world are more extreme. Accepting the best also means accepting the worst, if this situation represents the worst then maybe Celestia is right.” 
“This isn’t the worst, Twilight.” Hunter came in. “You haven’t come close to seeing the worst and I’m trying to make sure you never do.” He stepped up to the thrones. “Look, I don’t want humans, myself included, to damage this world any more than we already have. I’ll track down the last two and deal with them. Once I’m done, you have my word that I’ll leave your world and won’t set foot here again.” He turned and began to leave. 
“Hunter.” Sunset hurried in front of him. 
“Stay here, Sunny.” Hunter tried to step aside but she followed. 
“No, I’m going with you.” She insisted.
“No.” He took her shoulders and smiled. “I can take it from here, I’m not going to force you or your friends to walk my path. You told me you just rediscovered this place and even your relationship with Celestia, don’t throw that away for me… I’m not worth it.” He moved her away and spread his wings, flying from the room. 
“Sunset.” Celestia rose and stepped from the throne. 
“Princess, I get that his methods are extreme, but everything he said was right.” Sunset faced Celestia with teary eyes. “Yeah, Hunter can be just as violent as the men we’re after, but judge him by his heart. He came here and risked his life for us and now he’s going out there again in spite of you telling him he doesn’t belong here. If he goes after them alone… he’s going to die!” Her tears started to fall freely. “I’m going after him and I’ll help him do what he has to do. If that means that you have to disown me again then… so be it. I wish it didn’t have to be this way and I wish that what you and Twilight taught me was enough to bring these guys down, but the truth is that it isn’t. If that way of thinking makes me a human in your eyes, then maybe I’m more human than pony at this point. 
“Sister.” Luna went to Celestia’s side. “I have to admit, I am inclined to agree with them.” 
“How?” Celestia asked. “What if we held such ideology when you were a threat to Equestria. What if we… simply killed you?” Just the thought brought tears to Celestia’s eyes. 
“My darkness was brought on by my jealousy and anger, the elements of harmony removed the cocoon of hate from around me and returned me to normal.” Luna explained. “That is the key word, normal. Deep down, I was never a violent or malicious creature; I was your sister and at my core I loved you. As Hunter said, these men seem steeped in evil and they see no value in the world around them beyond their own gratification. There is no kindness in them to reach." A deep sigh passed her lips. "I am with you in disapproving of killing, but having seen Stinger up close and hearing his vile words… I understand Hunter’s position.” She laid her wing over her sister. “I do not fully comprehend Hunter either, but his character and resolve are more than clear to me. Sometimes, it takes a sword to defend the world in place of a shield; Hunter seems to be the embodiment of this idea. He is capable of becoming the worst a human can be, but he chooses to use that in the defense of the best of them. I can only imagine the line he walks in life and as much as I recoil from the thought I am equally in awe. We cannot let him sacrifice himself for our world without standing at his side; that truly would be against all that we believe in.” 
“Princess Celestia.” Applejack spoke up. “Apple Bloom would be gone right now if it wasn’t for Hunter. I know he’s a strange one, but he’s also a good one and we need to fight with him. 
Celestia looked into Sunset’s eyes and reflected on many things. “You are right.” She finally conceded. “These humans represent a threat that defies everything we know and I cannot ask Equestria to face a threat that I myself would not face.” Celestia steeled herself and raised her head. “I will fight with you as well. Let us catch up with him while we can.” 
“Thank you, Princess.” Sunset wiped her eyes. 
“I am sorry, Sunset.” Celestia went to her. “To be honest, you have more experience than any of us in this situation and I should not have overlooked that.” She looked down at her with a warm smile. “Being human has made you strong in ways that we are not and that is something to be valued, not dismissed.” 
“I’m sorry too.” Twilight joined them. “I didn’t have any right to go after Hunter like that. As the Princess of Friendship this is all just… hard to accept.”
“We’re not going to come out of this the same as we went in.” Sunset said with confidence. “Let’s just make sure we do come out.” She hugged Twilight as the others gathered around to share their sentiment.