//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Hunter/Prey // by UnluckyReaver //------------------------------// Luna looked over her work; a large mirror sat in the center of a rune covered circle that she had carved into the ground. Around the perimeter of the circle, a dozen candles burned with a dark blue flame. Magic swirled around her horn, and flowed across the ground; as runes began to glow an image formed within the mirror. Pleased with her progress, the princess poured more magic into the spell, causing the image in the mirror to come into focus. The image on the glass showed a deep forest, filled with tall and old trees, a figure moved through the trees almost as if it was stalking something. Luna’s expression changed from joy to horror when she realized what the figure was doing. The image pulled back giving a wide view; a second from appeared on the glass, a large buck. The first figure lifted something, which the Night Princess recognized as a weapon, fear overtook her when she realized that the thing she was watching was some sort of predator. Panicking Luna began to pump more magic into the spell, desperate to help the stag. The glass began to crack under the strain and the candle flames grew to five times their original size. The cracks on the mirror crew to the point where mirror could not withstand the stress and it shattered, sending pieces of glass in every direction. The spell then collapsed in on itself with a thunderous explosion; launching the blue alicorn backwards. Recovering from the blast the lunar princess blinked trying to get her eyes to focus. Through the thick smoke, Luna could make out a strange silhouette; a tail bipedal creature stood where the mirror used to be. The creature looked around for a moment then fell to its knees before collapsing to the ground. “What were we supposed to do, sister? We could not just leave it there; it was dying and it would have been our fault!” Celestia looked at her sister, then towards the unconscious creature that was occupying the lunar princess’ bed, then back at her sister. The solar princess sighed, “I suppose you are right, little sister, but it was you yourself that told me that this creature is some kind of predator. I only worry about the safety of our subjects.” “Do not worry dear sister, for if this creature does indeed become violent or threatening we have enough power to deal with it.” “We do not understand; it has been three days why has the creature not awoken yet?” The doctor shifted nervously. “You see Princess the problem is… we have no idea what we’re dealing with. This creature is like nothing we’ve seen before.” The doctor led the lunar princess over to the bed. “Physically its fine, we’ve managed to all of the wounds and lacerations it received when it… however, I suspect the problem lies within the creature’s mind. “We tried to scan it mind and memories, but it is so alien to us the pony performing the procedure was so traumatized by what she experience she was forced to take a leave of absence. My guess is, now that its body is healed, the creature’s mind will begin to heal itself as well. However, I cannot say how long this process will take. “Princess! Princess Luna! The creature! It’s awoken!” A small mare called out as she chased the princess of the night. “Truly? Does our sister know of this?” Luna asked as she turned towards the room where the creature was kept. “Yes, your majesty, she has asked you to be there when she meets with the creature.” The guards opened the large doors and the two princesses entered the room. As they did, a dark green unicorn wearing a lab coat and a stethoscope walked up to them. “Highnesses,” She said with a bow, “The creature has indeed awoken.” she gestured towards the balcony; the creature stood there with its back to them as it stared out over the countryside. Even from across the room Luna could tell that the creature was tall; it stood at least as tall as herself, perhaps even as tall as her sister. It upper limbs ended in what Luna first thought were claws but now could see that they lacked any sharp ends; it had no fur or hair except for its mane which was a dark brown in colour and reached past its shoulders. It was wearing a shirt that covered its torso and the upper half of its forelimbs as well as pants and something that resembled slippers, but Luna couldn’t quite think of a name to call them. “I have had a chance to speak with him,” the doctor continued, “He seems to be highly intelligent, and so far has managed to retain a calm demeanor, but I suspect that underneath he is confuses and possible scared.” Celestia blinked in confusion, “Scared? Why would it be scared?” “He, your majesty.” The doctor corrected, “The creature is definitely male. He’s confused because he woke in a strange place after passing out. He’s scared because he’s being forced to question what he held as reality.” Luna looked over at the creature, “Why would it feel like its reality was threatened?” she asked without looking at the doctor. “Its… strange, almost to the point of unbelievably,” the doctor said her voice was filled with uncertainty, “he says that unicorns are myths and is having a hard time coming to terms with being treated by one.” A small smile came to Celestia’s face, “I suppose I could understand that; if I were to awaken and the first thing that I saw was a being I believed to be mythological I would have a hard time adjusting as well.” “I suppose that if he learns that a princess can empathize with his position, he might be more willing to open up and actually converse.” The unicorn doctor said shaking her head. “However, it does get stranger; the creature… it calls itself a human.” Both Celestia and Luna’s eyes widened at this. “Human? How is that possible?” Luna exclaimed. “Humans are supposed to be nothing more than a myth!” “Now you understand the problems we’ve been having.” The doctor said. “It’s fairly confusing, as you can guess; a mythical patient being treated by mythical doctors.” “Do you think that we could talk to him, doctor?” Celestia asked. “I suppose that it’s alright.” The doctor answered. “Be cautious though, he’s still on edge.” Celestia nodded, looked over at Luna briefly then walked towards the human. Celestia cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the creature. As it turned Luna felt her anxiety rise, its grey-blue eyes seemed to scan every part of her and her sister as if trying to judge of they were a threat. Luna studied it carefully, it seemed like all of its muscles had tensed and was ready to pounce forwards and attack at any moment. As Celestia took a step forwards, the creature took a step back. The solar princess blinked a few times at this reaction before speaking in a calm voice. “My name is Celestia, I, along with my sister Luna,” she gestured towards her sister, “together we rule the kingdom of Equestria.” The creature looked at them for a moment trying to piece together what it had just heard before taking a bow; one that was deep enough to be respectful, but not so deep it lost sight of them. “Greetings, majesties,” it said as it righted itself, “I am Hunter, and I believe I am from very far away.” Celestia smiled at Hunter’s comment. “So I see, I was wondering if you’d be up to answering a few questions.” “I suppose I could answer them, provided that you could answer some questions that I have.” Celestia nodded, “Yes, I that does seem fair. Please sit, I have a feeling this may take some time.” She said, gesturing towards a chair. Hunter looked at it for a moment then slowly walked over and sat down, then wordlessly looked at the two princesses waiting for them to begin. “For our first question;” Luna began, “we wish to know what manner of creature you are.” “Animalia Chordata Synapsida Mammalia Primates Hominidea Hominini Homo H. sapiens; we call ourselves Human for short.” Hunter said with a smile, “Before you say anything else, yes the doctor unicorn did tell me that you… ummm… ponies?” He paused and looked at the princesses for conformation, “ponies think that humans are myths. I’m also assuming that she told you that I think… thought that unicorns, Pegasuses… pegasi, and whatever it is the two of you are, are myths as well.” “The proper name for our species is Alicorn.”Celestia told him. “Alicorn? I was going to say pegacorn or maybe unisus, but alicorn does sound much better then what I came up with.” Luna stared at the human blankly, while Celestia suppressed a giggle. “Yes,” the solar princess agreed, “Alicorn is a much better name the unisus.” “Names aside,” Hunter said, “how did I get here? All I remember was this strange fog, then this buzzing noise, a lot of pain, and then waking up here.” Luna hung her head and took a few nervous steps back. “It was our fault,” she explained while trying to avoid eye contact, “we were using a spell that allowed us to view into another world; when we saw you hunting the buck, we felt the need to intervene.” “So you tried to save it, but you drew me into the world by mistake?” Hunter asked calmly. Luna nodded. “Yes, that was our intent; we did not wish to see him harmed by a carnivore.” Hunter smile and raised two of his fingers. “Two things; first:” he said holding up his index finger, “humans are omnivorous not carnivorous. Second:” He held up two fingers, “humans are the only sapient creatures where I’m from, so if you did manage to get it here your conversation would be rather one sided.” The two princesses looked at each other for a moment, then back at the human. “Are you saying that the only creatures capable of speech are humans?” Celestia found herself saying before she realized what she said. “Yeah, back on my… world, I guess, humans are the only sapient creatures.” Hunter answered looking from one princess to the other; the two princesses stared at him blankly. “I’m guessing by your reaction that it’s different here?” Luna was the first to regain her composure. “No, ponies are not the only sapient creatures in the world;” She explained, “Along with ponies there are the zebras, buffalo, griffons and dragons.” “Wait,” Hunter interrupted, “I don’t know if I should be more surprised that there are dragons and griffons here or that there are buffalo and zebras. I guess it also explains how you knew what that stag was.” “Are you saying that you are aware of what they are?” “Yes… and no.” Hunter answered. “Griffons and dragons are myths in my world; their existence here is no more worrying than yours. It’s the existence of buffalos and zebras that worry me; they exist in my world.” “I thought you said that humans were the only creatures on your world capable of speech.” Celestia said as her eyes narrowing as she stepped closer to the human. Hunter raised his hands in defense, “Yeah, I did, but they don’t talk they’re just… animals, no more intelligent than a dog or a cow.” “Cows are also capable of speech.” Celestia said talking a step forwards. “What?!” Hunter exclaimed as he jumped out of his chair. “This world makes less and less sense. Does everything speak? What about dogs or cats or pigs or elephants, can they speak?” “No, they can’t,” Celestia said not taking her eyes off the human, “you should calm down.” “I am calm!” Hunter snapped, “I just found out that I lost in some fantasy land where half of the things I eat can yell at me! How would you like it if you woke up in a land of talking apples?” “We understand your frustration,” Luna said diplomatically, “but we cannot have you shouting and scaring our guards.” “Fine, whatever; just undo whatever it was that brought me here and send me back!” Both Celestia and Luna lowered the heads slightly. “Unfortunately, we cannot do that.” The night princess explained, “As we have said; the spell that brought you here was meant for viewing into other worlds, not traveling to them.” “The use a different one!” “It is not that simple,” Luna shook her head, “the spell picked a world at random, and it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to your world again, and it is slightly more complicated than that.” “Define ‘slightly’.” Hunter demanded as his features and voice took on an aggressive tone. Celestia moved forwards to put herself between Luna and the human. “Is there magic in your world?” “No.” Hunter replied, letting his impatience come through. “That would explain it.” “Explain what?” “You see, Equestia… no, the whole world, is filled with magic.” Celestia explained, “It’s everywhere, on and in everything; it presses down on us, but the magic within our bodies prevent it from doing any harm. However, you are from a world without magic, when you arrived here you were almost crushed by its force. In order to save your life, my sister placed a small piece of her… essence within you. Should you return to your own world without removing this essence, it would expand outwards killing you from the inside.” “And if you took it out of me before you sent me back, I would be crushed, right? So what, I’m stuck here for the rest of my life?” Hunter said before turning and walking out onto the balcony. He raised his left hand to his head, holding it as if he were in pain. “Stupid ponies; making my head hurt.” He muttered to himself. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, unsure of what to make of the human’s sudden mood swing. “Are… are you feeling alright?” Celestia asked, her voice taking on a concerned tone. “Yes… no, I don’t know.” Hunter’s face twisted trying to push the pain out of his head. “Just leave me alone for a while. I can’t think straight, need to think. You’re not helping.” The human slumped down so that he was sitting on the balcony then drew his knees up to his chest and lowered his head. Leaving him alone, the two princesses exited the room, quickly followed by the doctor. “Doctor, can you explain what just happened?” Celestia asked. “Things seemed to be going well, then…” “I’m unsure.” The green unicorn answered. “He only became aggressive after you accused him of lying; his attitude worsened as you got closer to him. Then, when he went out on to the balcony, increasing the distance between you and him, he seemed to calm himself but was complaining of a headache.” Luna nodded in agreement, “That is all true, but that does not explain why it happened.” The doctor furrowed her brow. “I am unsure; however I would suspect that it a combination of mental, physical and emotional fatigue could be the cause. Also his physiology may be so alien to us that it is somehow reacting negatively to your presence.” “Our presence?” Celestia asked. “Seeing how his world lacks any magic, it is possible that the ambient magic that alicorns radiate subconsciously affects him in some way; or it could just be his nature, or his culture, or any number of things we don’t know or can’t understand.” “So what are you suggesting?” “Treat him fairly and with respect; it’s likely that he’ll be able to sense if you’re pandering or lying to him.” “Treat him with respect? Is that all?” “Yes, I believe so; after all, respect then can become trust and trust will grow into friendship.” “That is indeed true, doctor.” Celestia said then thought to herself; But that is only if he proves to be trust worthy.