Ember awoke the next morning to find that Perry had left the camp entirely. His first instinct was to panic, having never been left alone in the woods. Was this Perry's punishment for fighting in school?
It was not. After a few minutes , Perry returned to the camp with their kettle. It was now full of pine needles. Ember breathed a sigh of relief, cursing himself for thinking ill of Perry. As he calmed down, he recalled that Perry did this every time they came out here, the big difference this time being that Somber wasn't around.
The two shared a pomelo and several cups of pine tea before preparing themselves for the hunt. Perry, being a natural predator, needed no equipment other than his teeth and muscles to take down his prey. Ember, on the other hoof, was just a regular earth pony. His teeth weren't razor sharp, he had no claws and he wasn't even particularly fast. What he had was an arbalest. He had made most of the parts himself, excluding the string and the bolts. He had also done the assembly. He was, after all, a skilled smith.
They put out the small fire they had started for their tea and set out into the woods. This would mean no talking for awhile, a factor that Ember usually wasn't fond of, but this time he preferred it, as it would mean that Perry wouldn't try to ask him questions about the incident at school again. No talking didn't mean no communication, however, as they were both fluent in hoof signals. This allowed them to move through the forest quieter than the wind did.
Over the next three hours, they found nine deer in four groups. None of them were really suitable, as most of them were too young and small to make a decent meal, or were parenting such young. They chose to head back to their camp, have lunch, and resume the hunt in the afternoon. However, as they were en route to their encampment, Ember spotted a very large buck, and pointed it out to Perry. Perry nodded, climbing up into a nearby tree.
Ember began to set up his arbalest. It took him forty-five seconds to prepare it. That gave Perry enough time to take his position. Ember took aim at he buck's shoulder, a nice, big target that would take the animal down quickly. With a loud thud, the lightly sharpened wooden bolt sailed through the air, punching through the beast's skin with a certain degree of difficulty. He had punctured the left lung, he was certain. As it tried to run off, it stumbled, signaling to Ember that he had injured it in such a way that it wouldn't be able to go very far before collapsing, had he been hunting alone. Luckily for both Ember and the deer, he wasn't alone, as Perry dropped down from above on top of the beast, wrapping his teeth around its neck and ending its suffering with a quick snap.
They gutted it right there, leaving most of the organs on the ground. Most ponies tried to stay away from meats as a general rule, but even the ones that did eat meat typically left behind the offal. Perry was very upset by a pony he had hunted with a long time ago, because the other pony had left behind the kidneys, liver, heart and testicles. This was not the case with Perry and Ember, who took these pieces and placed them in bags for later consumption. That being said, they did leave a few edible pieces behind, such as the pancreas and tripe, partially because of their lack of fondness for these pieces, but also to feed the woodland scavengers. They had no intention of making sausages, either, so the intestines could stay.
Perry carried the carcass back to the camp on his shoulders, while Ember carried the bag of offal. They worked together to put up a stand, letting the deer hang upside-down to drain while they had their lunch. Their lunch, however, would need to wait until they had washed up. They were absolutely covered in blood. Luckily for them, there was a waterfall that fed their pond, making it easy to wash up. Perry went first, as he was messier. As he bathed, Ember would set up the fire again, making sure it was ready for when they were ready to start cooking.
This time, though, Ember was distracted. Usually Somber would be around to chat with, but being alone with Perry, Ember's eyes were drawn to his father. He desperately wished he could look like Perry. Even moreso now that he could see his wet mane clinging to his neck, the way his coat glistened under the crystal clear mist and the smoothness with which his hooves careened down his muscles. Perry was perfect.
Only when Perry was finished and started to come back did Ember realize that he had been staring. He slipped by his father, hoping that he had gone unnoticed as he stepped into the cold shower raining down from the rocks above. He made sure that all of his thoughts from the past ten minutes were well and truly suppressed before he came back to the camp.
Lunch was ready before long, being a potato that was just chucked into the hot coals for half an hour. Simply pull it out, cut it open, add butter, sour cream and chives, and you had an easy lunch. There was even a fresh kettle of pine tea, made from the leftover needles from their breakfast.
They spent the afternoon sectioning off the deer into smaller chunks, placing the parts they wanted to keep in separate bags to be cut down later. The meat was very lean, a fact for which they were very grateful. It was healthier for them, after all. Two steaks were reserved for their dinner tonight, the rest was stored away in Perry's pocket dimension. This included the hide and the brain, as those would be used for tanning once they went home.
The steaks were rubbed with salt and pepper, and placed on a metal grate situated just on top of the fire. Perry started chewing on the femur he had kept, a habit that kept his teeth sharp. Ember had kept the antlers for a decoration, but had disposed of the remaining bones that they were unable to pull any more meat from. He made sure the pile of discarded pieces was far enough away from the camp so as not to attract predators to them. Today had been fun, and had relieved much of his stress. He felt much better now than he had yesterday or the day before.
Perry looked over to Ember. Without stopping his bone gnawing, he spoke. "Tell me everything you know about the stallion you fought with."