//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: With Friends Like These... // Story: Time to go // by MasterHunter55 //------------------------------// Time To Go Chapter 26 With friends like these... It was a sunny day, but the higher ups in Cloudsdale had ordered some rain to come down on ponyville today. A lot of outdoorsy events had been scheduled recently and the small town needed the moisture. The clouds of Rainbow's house were in fact getting a little wispy and some rain would do the clouds good. As the rainbow clad pegasus stepped out of her house, letting the clouds reconnect behind her, she glanced around and smelled the fresh air. Per the norm of a sunny day such as this, the air was crisp, but was lacking the normal moisture that it usually did. The pegasi had let this drought go a little too long. Dash noticed that one of her rainbow falls had stopped flowing altogether. “I'll have to fill that back up sometime.” Rainbow thought to herself, before spreading her wings, crouching low, and then taking off into the morning sky. The sun was full in the sky, but only just barely. The mountains just barely losing their grasp on the tendrils of Celestia's sun. Rainbow flew quickly with the bright light to her back, giving her a great view of the landscape and her home of Ponyville. Her morning flight was on of her favorite parts of the day. The sun on her back warmed her as she exercised, and the view was always a wonder to behold. Not to mention the morning was the time she had the most of to herself. Nobody came to bother her this early, and work didn't start for another hour at least. Soon Rainbow completed her morning flight, quickly turning around and returning home. She was a little sweaty now, but that was alright, she always waited until after her morning routine to shower. After a quick shower to wash away the sweat and slight smell, she dried herself off and headed downstairs. Rainbow took a glance inside her cold cupboard to see what she would have for breakfast. Seeing that she was all out of breakfast food, she checked her other cupboards. Nothing. “How could I let myself run out of breakfast food!?” Rainbow groaned to herself. The rainbow mare's protests mixed with the slamming of her cupboards and she sat at her table with a mug of water. “Now what am I supposed to eat?” Rainbow thought to herself, “eating out is a last resort, I have to stay in shape. That trip to the restaurant with AJ, Pinkie, and Hunter was weight gain enough.” As she sipped her glass, Dash thought of options to try before going out for something. “I could go see if Twilight has anything... No, last time she made pancakes, Hunter made a story out of it. Applejack always has food, but I don't feel like eating twenty apples for breakfast.” Then she had a revelation. Pancakes... Hunter made great pancakes. Rainbow wiped the drool from her lip as she got up from her chair and chugged the rest of the water. “That's it! I'll go get some breakfast from Hunter before we go off to work. Might as well go to work with him anyways, he'll enjoy that.” Rainbow had been trying to get Hunter motivated for outings, but he seemed to just waste away in his house with his electronics, or mope to himself in his room. Michael and Trixie basically took care of him and while Trixie was slightly tired of the whole thing, Michael just continued to worry about the emotional well being of his friend. The clouds of Rainbow Dash's house once again opened up and deposited her outside, reforming behind her as she flew off the porch. The cyan mare didn't have to fly very far, and only flapped her wings a few times before she landed safely on Hunter's cloud porch. A couple steps later Rainbow was standing at the front door of the cloud home. The pegasus raised a hoof to knock but suddenly became apprehensive. What if Hunter was too out of sorts to go today? The stallion had lashed out before, and she wondered if he would be the same level of grumpy that he had been since Jordan's funeral. Dash shook her head and lowered her hoof for the moment. Maybe he shouldn't be bothered today, maybe it was best to just let him be for a while. No. That wasn't the right thing to do, Rainbow realized. Hunter was in need as it were, and to leave him alone like that would be wrong. Dash lifted her hoof again with a new found determination to get Hunter back on his hooves, and the her cyan appendage almost struck the clouds, but they swung away from her and were instead replaced with Trixie's head. “Ow!” Trixie yelled in surprise, getting a few knocks from Rainbow's hoof before either of them knew what was going on. “Oh, my bad.” Rainbow apologized, hiding her satisfaction in getting to knock Trixie a few times. “Certainly...” Trixie said, rubbing her head for a bit where Dash had repeatedly assaulted her skull. “What do you want?” “I just came over to see Hunter to work.” Rainbow said simply, as if it was no problem at all. Trixie smirked a knowing but slightly sad smirk. “He's still in his bed upstairs, Michael is trying everything to convince him to get ready for work.” “It's that bad huh?” Rainbow thought, then she spoke aloud, “Where are you going?” The pegasus paused for a moment, before she realized she sounded a little rude. Normally she wouldn't correct herself, but Michael and Hunter had wanted her and Trixie to get along, so she obliged, “If you don't mind me asking I mean.” Trixie scoffed, “Since when have you been so polite?” Trixie now wore a slight grin before she answered, “If you must know, the cakes are requesting I do a morning shift today. If you'll excuse me, I must be leaving.” The blue unicorn stepped out the doorway as Rainbow moved to let her pass. Before Trixie finished her teleport spell to leave the porch, she turned and addressed the mare on her doorstep one more time, “Go inside if you wish, maybe you'll be able to get Hunter out of this funk he's in.” and then she was gone. Rainbow could faintly hear Trixie's hoofsteps on the ground below as she advanced into the house. It was quiet albeit for a few muffled murmurings coming from the top floor. A small pile of dishes sat in the sink, filled with water waiting patiently to be completely cleaned. The table had recently been eaten on, as a few pieces of silverware had escaped being placed in the sink, and a place setting still sat on the table, a plate with silverware at it's sides, waiting to be eaten upon. The couch was messier looking than Rainbow had ever seen it. Multiple blankets lay strewn over it's back and cushions, leaving a space in the middle where somepony had obviously been sitting. A controller to the Xbox was sitting on the floor in front of that space. Most of the mess derived from the plates and mugs that were sitting on and around the couch. Leftover foods caking on the plates on the floor, and a few cans of a pony soda that Hunter had recently discovered littered the area. Dash took a few steps towards the couch and took one of the cans in her hooves, inspecting it. The yellowish can had the picture of a lemon in the grubby grip of a yellow parasprite, and as she turned the can over, it changed to a green color with a lime in the grip of a green parasprite. The name of the soda revealed itself as she turned it once more. In small letters the can said, “lemon-lime” and then in bold yellow and green letters it said “Para-sprite.” “How did I not recognize this before!” Rainbow said to herself joyfully, “I hope he has some more, this stuffs my favorite.” Dash made her way over to the cupboard that kept things cold and was slightly surprised that not only did he have more, but the cupboard was basically full with the stuff. “Whoa...” Rainbow whispered to herself, taking a can from an open case. The now empty box sat atop the rest in the cooler. “Maybe he has others in his cupboards that I can replace this with.” Her cyan hoof shut the cold cupboard and opened up a different one in the kitchen, one above the sink. As she opened it, she could see various spices and such, but those were overwhelmed by the cases of Para-sprite filling the back of the cupboards. “I guess he has some extra...” Rainbow whispered to herself. The mare pulled a case carefully out of the cupboard, trying her best not to knock any of the spices down. Despite her efforts a salt shaker flung itself from the cupboard, falling into the clean sink and opening, spilling salt into the drain. “Oh no.” Rainbow groaned, setting the case of soda on the ground before going to work the faucet. Dash removed the salt shaker from the sink and screwed the top back on before running the water and washing away the salt. “Oops, the salt shaker is mostly empty now.” Rainbow thought, “I should find his salt and refill it.” Rainbow Dash moved to one end of the kitchen and started opening cupboards. The first cupboard at the end of the kitchen was also filled with Para-sprite, but this wasn't the cupboard with the salt either. “Wow, he sure stocked up on soda...” Rainbow whispered, opening the next cupboard. This one had the salt on the second shelf, but there was more Para-sprite on the shelves behind the regular spices and ingredients. “This is a lot more soda than anypony should have...” She was starting to get worried, and although she had found the salt she continued opening cupboards. Third cupboard, more soda. Fourth cupboard was the one above the sink, fifth cupboard, more soda, sixth cupboard on the other side of the kitchen, more soda. Soon enough Rainbow Dash had opened every cupboard, excepting the ones below the sink, and was a little scared. Every single cupboard was filled with soda, and it was all Para-sprite. Rainbow was scared to open the cupboards below the sink, hoping that he had not filled them with soda cases as well. She moved an apprehensive hoof towards the doors and opened them slowly, slowly enough that they creaked as they swung on their hinges. Dash shielded her eyes until she knew the doors to the cupboard were opened. She peeked at first, but as her eyes opened fully she didn't see anything in the cupboards. There wasn't any soda, but there weren't any cleaning supplies either. Dash looked further back into the cupboards and in fact discovered a solitary peanut resting in the back behind the pipes. The pegasus reached back and plucked the peanut from its resting place. “That's mine I believe.” Michael spoke from the door to the kitchen. Rainbow jumped from where she was sitting on the floor, and the peanut flew from her grip onto the counter near Michael. The dragon stood up on his toes and grabbed the peanut, snapping it open and eating the contents. “So what's up?” Michael asked as he crunched the peanut between his teeth. “That was below the sink just now...” Dash said, gagging slightly. “I'm a dragon, my tastes have changed dramatically.” Michael responded simply, swallowing the peanut without second thought. “Next question,” Rainbow said, getting up off the floor and dusting her self off, “Why do you guys have so much Para-sprite?” “Hunter bought it all.” Michael said, his lips forming a sad expression that didn't give frowning much justice. “He stocked up so he wouldn't have to go to the store as often.” “Why wouldn't he want to go to the store? It's not like a cupboard full isn't enough to plan for... It's as if he doesn't...” Rainbow paused, realizing that the completion of her sentence was the answer to her question. “Want to go outside?” Michael completed. “Yeah, I can see that.” They stood on the cold tiles for a moment before Michael realized that Rainbow had been in their house for a while without his knowledge. “So what brings you by anyways?” Michael asked with a cutting curiosity. “I actually just came over to see if I could get some breakfast.” Rainbow explained. “I was also going to get Hunter out of bed for work today, seeing as how his time off from work is over.” “Well you can give it a shot, but he hasn't left the area between his bed and that couch in the whole time he's been home.” Michael said, walking further into the kitchen, “I'll see what I can do about getting you breakfast.” Rainbow Dash walked out of the cloud tiled area as Michael searched the lower cupboards for some food to prepare for his guest. Cyan hooves made no noise as they made their way across a white fluffy floor, up some white fluffy stairs, and into a bedroom where a white fluffy floor reflected the bright white light of the fixture in the center of the room. Some of the light that found its way into Rainbow's magenta eyes showed a mess of blond hair with white streaks, and a gray head that rested upon a soft red pillow, the body it connected to huddled under a multicolored quilt. Hunter stared intently at the cloud wall before him with blood shot, tired, baggy eyes. “Hello.” Rainbow Dash was slightly startled by Hunter getting out the first word, and after composing herself once more, she thought more about what she should say. “I heard you're looking for some breakfast.” Seeing as how Dash hadn't really known how to start the conversation, she decided that she might as well roll with this one. “Yeah. I somehow ran out of breakfast food without knowing it.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head with a foreleg, grinning from her slight embarrassment. Hunter still lay motionless in bed. “So are you going to get up today or what?” Dash asked, suddenly serious. “Nope.” “Whaddya mean nope?” The pegasus mare asked with a huff, as if her own child had just told her that he wasn't going to school today like he was supposed to. “No still means no I believe.” Hunter said gruffly, “Or did No start meaning Yes without my knowledge.” Well that was rude. “Well.” Rainbow was unsure how to respond, she was still shocked by Hunter's outright rudeness. “You should get up anyways, sometimes work is something you have to do even if you don't want to.” “How philosophical.” Hunter quipped, and left it at that. Now Rainbow was getting annoyed. “C'mon now! Out of bed, it's almost time to go to work!” Hunter snorted, but otherwise didn't move a muscle. A growl emanated from the rainbow clad pegasus and she stomped over to the bed. The blanket was thrown to the ground, and Hunter was given a good karate chop to the side. The blond stallion had no more of a response than the wind getting knocked out of his lungs. Then a gray hoof shot itself up towards Rainbow Dash, moving quickly in retaliation before it stopped abruptly by her face. Dash hardly noticed it until the gray hoof rested on her shoulder. “Help me up then,” Hunter coughed, “Since you so kindly got me going.” With a couple more coughs and a pull from Dash, Hunter stood teetering on his floor. “Now come downstairs.” Rainbow commanded, “Michael is trying to make breakfast for us.” “I guess I better get down there before he poisons us.” Hunter sneered, and then walked slowly into the bathroom. The cyan mare stepped down into the living room. “That joke would have been funny if he hadn't actually been serious.” She thought, before going into the kitchen to tell Michael that Hunter was going to be preparing breakfast instead. Michael let out a sudden sigh of relief as he set the rest of his gathered ingredients on the counter. He had collected a random variety of foods, but he didn't really have a plan to make anything, the black dragon was counting on Rainbow getting Hunter up to cook for them. Dash and Michael chatted idly at the table until Hunter slowly drudged down the stairs, walking into the kitchen without a word. Once there however, he had plenty of things to say. “Why is this sink full?” Hunter asked, hints of frustration in his voice, “It was clear just last night.” “Well, we did have breakfast this morning.” Michael said, as if it was obvious. “Well you should have cleaned it up this morning. Why'd you get out all this food?” All traces of any kind of humor were lost in Hunter's tone. “Well I was 'going' to cook breakfast, but seeing as how you were kind enough to get up I figured you would fix us something.” Michael said, getting a little annoyed himself. “Thank heavens you didn't attempt it, the house would've burned down.” Hunter said seriously. “This house is made of water, you can't burn it down.” Rainbow said, trying to help Michael out. “That's how bad at cooking Michael is, he would've burned down a house made of water.” Hunter said, again serious and insulting. “Look, can we just get some breakfast please?” Michael sighed, leaning his head over the back of his chair in frustration. “If you must.” Hunter responded. After putting most of the ingredients away the alicorn started something, not even bothering to consider what his guests actually wanted for their meal. Soon enough smells filled the room and Michael was salivating only a little less than Rainbow Dash was. Hunter made scrambled eggs, pancakes with apple chunks, hot chocolate, and some tofu strips. Rainbow Dash was waiting in hungry anticipation for the glorious feast she was sure would be set before her. Hunter walked out of the kitchen with two bowls in his hooves, setting a measly bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar in front of both Michael and Rainbow Dash. Then he walked back into the kitchen where he deposited all the dishes he used into the sink, and retrieved his breakfast. The heaping plate of food was almost hard to carry with his other hoof holding his hot chocolate as he made his way up to his room and closed the door to eat in privacy. Rainbow Dash felt like crying, “Is this is some kind of cruel joke?” “I don't think its a joke.” Michael said plainly, getting spoons for each of them considering his gray friend had forgotten them, “It certainly isn't funny.” ><>< Rainbow Dash had no real issues getting Hunter to show up for work detail. Although he lagged behind or was just slow in general he managed to get to his post on time. A rogue band of clouds had made their way over ponyville from over the Everfree, and it was the job of every pegasus on the cloudbusting force to get rid of most of them. The days had been sunny lately, and Mayor Mare thought that today would be nice with at least a couple clouds in the sky. So Hunter followed Rainbow around, letting her direct him in his job getting rid of the smallest clouds and letting the colossal ones fly free. The alicorn was glad for the work in fact, he was glad to be given something to do that would actually help out, and he was glad that it was something that he was kind of being forced to do. Otherwise he knew that he wouldn't do it. The work was taking forever, and Hunter was exerting effort. This is not exactly how the blond stallion had planned his day out. “Is there any way this work can go faster?” Hunter complained, pausing his work to ask Rainbow Dash. “Not unless we pay every pegasus in ponyville to come help out, and I don't think the company is ready to do that.” Dash replied. Hunter mulled over his options; He could stay here for hours and bust clouds all day, or... “Stand back I wanna try something.” Hunter spoke up, alerting other pegasi in the area as well. Rainbow stopped mid kick and watched the blond alicorn, curious as to his intentions. At least five other pegasi in their team also stopped to watch Hunter, and this accounted for the entire team but one. Hunter's green eyes turned to slits as he concentrated on a far away cloud, focusing his energy into a small sphere in his hoof. His aim had never been the best at such long distances, but he had to concentrate. His gray right foreleg propped itself up on his left one and he aimed down his 'sights' at the cloud. “Don't you think that's a little dangerous?” Cloud Kicker spoke up from next to Hunter, “You could hurt somepony.” “Has anyone seen Blossomforth?” Thunderlane spoke up, now realizing that she was unaccounted for at the mention of something dangerous. “Hunter wait!” Rainbow yelled. It was too late, the alicorn released his ball of green energy and it flew at high speed towards the distant cloud. Cloud after cloud disappeared behind the one Hunter had aimed for. Somepony was behind that cloud, and it was most likely Blossomforth, their missing team member. Several of the others had noticed this and gasped, hoping that their friend didn't go near the cloud in question. The ball grew closer, and another cloud was gone. It soared forward and another cloud disappeared. The energy blast was almost all the way there when the second to last cloud was busted. That left only one cloud in that vicinity. Hunter's target. The green energy blast didn't even have a chance to touch the cloud before it vaporized, revealing a pink and green maned pegasus. Blossomforth had no time to react before the ball blasted her in the side, knocking the wind out of her, and making her unable to fly. “NO!” Thunderlane yelled, flying speedily away to keep his mare friend from hitting the ground. Hunter looked on in horror. It was his fault again, he had harmed somepony he hadn't had a reason to harm. He had hurt somepony nice, somepony that was his friend. The blond alicorn gave a quick glance around to look at the horrified faces of his team mates, and the saddened face of Rainbow Dash, all looking at him. They were disapproving looks, hateful looks, evil looks. Rainbow tried moving forward to console Hunter, tell him that it was an accident, anything, and she could tell from the concerned look of the entire team that they wanted to try and do the same. Hunter knew they were going to hate him, scold him for doing something so dangerous. He had to get out of there, he couldn't handle what they were going to put him through. With a wipe of his eyes to clear the tears, he took off as quickly as he could towards ponyville. As he passed Thunderlane, who now had Blossomforth safely on the ground, the black pegasus called to him. “Hunter wait! It isn't...” Was all the alicorn heard as he zoomed towards ponyville. ><>< A moment. That was all he needed was a moment, to himself, for a long time. He couldn't go home, Michael would be there to interrogate him, and Rainbow would probably search there for him soon. He really had no other places that he could find comfort, so maybe he would make his way to Twilight's library, a good book would calm his nerves. Hunter walked down the street towards the tree in the distance, shielding his eyes from the bright bearing down of the sun. Sunglasses should have been a must when he left home this morning, but they had slipped his mind and now he suffered for it. Ponies on the street seemed conscious to avoid him, few actually giving him a wave or an hello at all when they passed by. As soon as the alicorn found himself in front of sugar cube corner however, he was greeted with more than anypony would have wanted when in the best of moods. The blond stallion stopped to watch as balloons flew from every window of the bakery, confetti burst from the door followed shortly by a pink mare with multiple cannons. Hunter stood up on his back hooves and charged tiny spheres in his hooves, the balloons suddenly started making their way towards him, as if controlled by some kind of remote targeting device. Hunter stood firmly rooted on the spot in front of the store, and began releasing shotgun bursts of energy at high speeds. Balloon after balloon exploded at the hooves of Hunter's energy onslaught. Pinkie saw what Hunter was doing and brought in her artillery, setting off multiple party cannons. Confetti flew at the alicorn and he barely had any time to react. A quick step to the left was all it took to dodge the first ball of fun, he jumped over the next one, using his wings to maneuver to the right midair to dodge another. After dodging all the confetti Hunter continued down the road as if the entire ordeal hadn't taken place at all. Pinkie wasn't going to let him get away that easily. The pink mare ran full speed at the alicorn leaping into the air to tackle her friend with a big hug. Hunter could have just let her hit the ground, but that wouldn't stop her from assaulting him. Instead he did a back flip, kicking Pinkie right in the face. Pinkie's hair deflated before she even hit the ground. Fluttershy had been hiding in some nearby bushes, the sound of Pinkie's cannons giving her the idea that a war was on. By the time she had stopped diving into the leaves and was able to see out of her small natural hiding place, she was watching Hunter as he dodged the confetti, and watched with horror as the blond stallion that she thought was her friend kick Pinkie Pie as she tried to hug him. The yellow pegasus flung her self quickly from her hiding place to assess Pinkie's injury, letting out a quick, “oh my goodness!” before making it to Pinkie's side. Not only had Hunter kicked her in the face, but the pink mare had landed hard on her back, a gray hoof causing her to flip quickly backwards to hit the back of her head on the pave-stones. “Are you alright Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked, moving her friend's straight pink hair from her face so that she could see where Hunter had hit her. Pinkie sat up quickly, rubbing the back of her head gingerly and looking at the hoof that had done so. Fortunately there was no blood upon it, but her head hurt nonetheless. Her hoof then reached up and felt her nose, attempting to reassure herself that it wasn't broken. “You might not want to move so much Pinkie.” Fluttershy suggested, “You might have a concussion, so you should sit here a while.” Pinkie instead made her way onto her hooves, slowly making her way to Sugarcube corner, but with a strange urgency. Fluttershy watched tears hit the pave-stones as her pink friend evacuated the scene. “I mean... if you want to...” ><>< Fluttershy decided she should follow Hunter closely. If he was willing to assault Pinkie Pie so openly, he might cause more damage. The yellow pegasus followed the gray alicorn for a long while, watching him stroll slowly through town. In the beginning she would dive behind buildings and hide behind barrels, but Hunter didn't even look forwards most of the time, let alone taking a glance behind him. Fluttershy then took to walking a good distance behind him instead, giving her full view of his actions. Mostly he just walked. Fluttershy wasn't much for having fun like Pinkie Pie, but she was actually getting kind of bored following Hunter around, and actually a little depressed watching him hang his head all day. Half of her wanted to see what was wrong, and half of her thought that he would probably punch her or something if she tried. Eventually Hunter made his way out of town, instead walking slowly through the park on the edges of Ponyville. Fluttershy saw Apple Bloom out in the distance, the rest of the crusaders tossing a ball around on the plush grass of the city park. The alicorn she was following was on the other side of the park and would take a long time to get to them, and was actually headed in a different direction. Fluttershy was glad that Hunter wouldn't pass by the children, imagining Hunter hurting them in some random outburst. As they walked however, she noticed that Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, two of the crusaders friends were walking up to the three playing ball. The yellow mare had no idea what the girls were saying from this distance, but for some reason, the faces of the crusaders turned sour and they all seemed angry at Silver and Diamond. Hunter heard their chatter from a distance, and his head rose to acknowledge who was speaking. As soon as he saw the bullies at their work, he changed directions and headed for the group of foals. Fluttershy followed silently in worry, hoping that she would not have to intervene. The faces of the crusaders switching from anger, to a sad look, back to annoyance. Maybe they weren't friends with Diamond and Silver after all... The conversation between the girls could now be heard as they got closer. “Tossing around a ball like children isn't going to get you your cutie marks.” Silver Spoon sneered, “Or maybe your whole adult life will be spent doing something childish!” This sent Silver and Diamond into a giggling spree before Tiara continued. “I mean seriously, how hard can getting your cutie mark be?” Diamond asked coldly. “Maybe ours is harder to get because our talents are more special than yours?” Scootaloo suggested, confidence building up against the bullies. “How can your talent be more special than ours?” Silver Spoon asked, “Mrs. Cheerilee said that noponies special talent is more or less important than anypony elses.” Seeing that they had been beaten by reason, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, all hung their heads in sadness. “It isn't entirely impossible for your teacher to be wrong.” Hunter interjected. His gruff tone leaving him after the first few words. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara jumped slightly at the appearance of another voice. They turned to take in the sight that was Hunter, his wings spread for the purpose of intimidation. Silver Spoon stood frozen at the sight of the alicorn, but Diamond Tiara wasn't about to be bested like that. “Are you saying that they're more special than we are?” “Well if you judge the level of special by how long it takes a pony to develop their skills to better help pony kind, then yes, I am calling them more special. Not only because it is taking them longer to find their talents, which means they will be incredibly special, but because your talents didn't take long at all to find, and they certainly don't attribute to the betterment of ponykind.” Hunter finished his explanation with a huff, and folded his wings, staring down the two bullies instead. The crusaders watched on in awe. “It's not hard to get your cutie mark when your special talent is being a snob.” Hunter added. “I... You!” Silver Spoon yelled, getting angry at Hunter's insulting words. “I'll tell my father what you said, he's a powerful pony, he'll put you in your place!” Diamond Tiara almost squealed, trying to suppress a yell to keep her cool, and sounding like an angry mouse instead. Hunter quickly charged an energy blast and exploded a nearby boulder, blowing it to bits and raining shards of stone upon the entire group. Fluttershy barely managed to suppress a squeak as she dived from behind the rock she was hiding behind that Hunter had just destroyed, and into a bush. “That was too close, I hope he didn't intentionally shoot at me like that.” “I dare him to try it.” Hunter leaned close to Diamond's now paled face as he spoke, glaring into her petrified gaze. Silver Spoon had been backing away and fell back onto her rump, holding a hoof up to her face as if to block a light that Hunter was emanating. “Boo.” At this Diamond turned quickly around, screaming as she ran with her eyes closed. Tiara promptly tripped over Silver Spoon. After a few seconds of stumbling on her friend Diamond shot off, eyes open this time, towards the city. Silver Spoon had to take a moment to recover from being trampled, and then shot up off the ground yelling after Diamond Tiara, “Wait for me!” Hunter righted himself, and was glad to hear Scootaloo laughing. Soon enough her two friends joined with her and they were on the ground, rolling in the grass until their giggling came to an end. Scootaloo was the first to acknowledge Hunter before his smile disappeared. “That was amazing! The way you showed them, and blowing up that rock, it was like: I'll tell my dad! Boooooooom!” The orange filly laughed some more to herself at the thought of it. “Thanks so much mister!” Apple Bloom chimed in, “They were giving us a real hard time about our blank flanks again...” At this the three turned towards their rears, where their marks should have been blazoned. “Well I'll tell you what.” Hunter said, walking towards their group and kneeling down to be at their level, “What I said was true, it takes you longer to get your marks because they must be the most special a talent anypony has ever seen.” The three of them listened to his words intently, and looked on at him in awe. Then Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “Have we met mister?” “I've been over to Rarity's a couple times actually, I'm the alicorn who got his clothes mended.” Hunter remembered, standing up tall again as he addressed them. Fluttershy gave a big sigh as she realized that the gray alicorn wasn't going to hurt any of the foals. Why did he kick Pinkie one moment, but seem to happy the next? What was going on? “Oh yeah! Now I remember! Rarity said your clothes were the strangest she had seen ever!” Sweetie Belle said, excited that she had remembered. “I can see that...” Hunter rubbed his chin, imagining Rarity working on human made clothes. “Well I haven't met you before!” Scootaloo said, throwing up her hoof, “My name's Scootaloo, it's nice to meet another awesome pony.” The blond haired stallion grinned as he completed the hoof shake, “and my name's Hunter,” He then turned to Apple Bloom, “and you're Apple Bloom I believe?” Apple Bloom beamed at Hunter knowing her name before hand, “That's me! How'd ya know?” “Your sister talks about you a lot.” Hunter lied, shaking her hoof as well. “I must say I am a big fan of your movement, crusading for cutie marks is a great idea, and it gives confidence to those late bloomers to keep trying!” The three crusaders let their jaws loose. “You've heard of the crusaders?!” Scootaloo spoke up first. “Of course, how couldn't I have? You girls are rather popular around town for all your adventures.” Hunter hoped that his lies weren't going to give the crusaders a giant ego. “You hear that girls?” Sweetie Belle beamed, “we're famous!” Nailed it. Before they went back to playing their game, Scootaloo addressed the gray alicorn, “Thanks so much for getting rid of those bullies!” Hunter responded with a quick “anytime.” before walking back to the path he had been walking, taking the pace of a normal walking speed, rather than a slow trudge. A certain yellow pegasus waited a few moments before popping her head out of the bush she had been hiding in, and to her surprise she found Hunter almost back in town, almost an ant in the distance. With an “eep!” she bolted off down the path, the crusaders watching her curiously as she bolted after Hunter. “Is she following him?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Sure looked that way.” Apple Bloom replied. “I wonder why.” Scootaloo pondered, before tossing the ball into Sweetie's side to start up the game again. ><>< Seeing as how Hunter had accidentally passed up Twilight's house entirely, he now had his head up, glancing around the town to search for the towering tree. Fluttershy now had to hide behind buildings, almost unable to follow the gray stallion at all without being spotted. As soon as the top of Twilight's tree was within view, Hunter made his way towards it, now taking a slow pace rather than a normal one, his head lowering, making Fluttershy's sneaking easier. Soon enough the alicorn reached the doors to the library. Fluttershy acted fast, running quickly to the doorway to stop him from knocking. Hunter was stunned as a blur of yellow crossed his path and turned him around without much force. The gray stallion took a few steps away from the library before he realized what had happened. Hunter lifted his head to see Fluttershy standing guard in front of the library, giving him 'the stare'. “Fluttershy, what are you doing?” Hunter asked, a bored smirk on his face showing that he didn't take her very seriously. “I'm keeping you out of the library.” Fluttershy responded, her confidence betraying her personality. “That much is obvious, but why?” Hunter asked, now curious as to why he didn't have free access to a public library. “You've already hurt one of my friends today, and I'm not letting you hurt another.” Fluttershy said strongly, blinking and refreshing her stare. Hunter stared back at her for a moment, waiting for her confidence to break. Soon enough Hunter's stare was getting to her, and the yellow pegasus closed her eyes, stepping back into the door. “You can't... Don't go in there, please” “I just want to read a book Fluttershy, nothing else.” Hunter assured, now walking forward to knock on the door. “After what happened to Pinkie, are you so sure you won't hurt Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, piercing Hunter suddenly, causing him to stop midstride. After what happened to Pinkie... Hunter remembered what he had done to Pinkie now. His mind had put him through the motions, and then blocked the memory immediately. Suddenly Hunter didn't feel too strong on his feet. Slumping to the ground, Hunter's eyes looked haunted, they were filling slowly with tears, and the stallion was now talking to himself quietly. “What have I done? It was my fault again, why must I keep hurting ponies? I just won't stop. I won't stop until I hurt eveypony will I?” As Hunter rambled on, Fluttershy peeked above her hooves from the ground. All she could see was some very confused passersby and the blond alicorn now a heaving heap on the pave-stones. While she had achieved her goal of keeping Hunter from the library, she now felt terrible that she had made somepony cry. Against her better judgment from earlier, the kind that told her that consolation would only lead to an attack, Fluttershy walked slowly over to the gray mess on the ground and lay down next to him. Her wing extended to cover him and her hoof wrapped itself around the stallion's head. “It's alright, you're just going through some stuff right now.” Fluttershy said, her tone staying quiet and comforting. All the ponies on the street that had been watching the scene play out now continued on their way, realizing that this was a moment that should be ignored by the public. “It's no excuse.” Hunter cried, “My problems shouldn't hurt others, especially those trying to help.” “That's true, but it doesn't mean we should push you away either.” Fluttershy explained, “You should be near your friends when you feel the most alone.” Hunter sniffled rather than sobbed, calming down in Fluttershy's calming embrace. Soon Hunter wasn't crying anymore, just sore. Depressed, sore, and warm under a familiar yellow wing. “Thanks Fluttershy.” Hunter said. The stallion moved Fluttershy's wing off from him and stood up off the ground, stretching his limbs from the soreness of lying on the hard stones. Fluttershy stood up as well, a big smile on her blushing face. “It's no problem at all.” Fluttershy said softly. Hunter then proceeded to knock on the library. There were still books to be read, and that sci-fi section was calling his name. Fluttershy no longer protested, instead trotting off down the street. “Wow, making ponies smile really is an awesome feeling. No wonder Pinkie does it all the time.” The bright yellow mare thought, having an equally bright smile on her shy face as she trotted into town. Spike opened the door to the library, a happy face come to greet a customer, that quickly switched over to one of surprise and a little caution. “Hi Hunter, come inside,” Spike stepped to the side, waving the stallion on his doorstep inside, “can I help you with anything?” “I think I'd like to be left alone to peruse the selection of science fiction if you don't mind.” Hunter told Spike honestly. The blond alicorn came to check out a book or two and read them, not to be bothered. Spike put two and two together, realizing that Hunter probably still hadn't gotten over his loss of Jordan and that he could still see pegasi busting clouds, meaning that he had probably left early for some reason. “Alright.” Spike responded simply, closing the door and watching Hunter as the alicorn walked to the shelf with his favorite genre resting quietly waiting for him. The dragon then walked into a side room that Twilight kept her new... doohicky in. Spike closed the door quietly behind him and addressed the purple mare seated in front of the desk. “Hunter is here.” Spike said, hoping that she could hear him. “Take care of it for me Spike.” Twilight said, her eyes not leaving the monitor screen. The purple dragon walked over to where he could see Twilight's face from the perspective of the screen. Purple eyes wide, Twilight hadn't blinked in hours. Spike waved a claw in front of Twilight's face, attempting to get a response. “Spike, I'm trying to see, and you aren't helping.” Twilight protested. “That screen is the only thing you've seen for the past few days.” Spike exaggerated. Twilight blinked a couple times, her eyes resting instead upon the purple dragon in front of her. Then she glanced back at the bottom right of the screen to see the time. “Nonsense, I saw that breakfast you made me just an hour ago.” Twilight reasoned. “Barely,” Spike scoffed, “You only looked down at it to make sure it was on your fork. Even then it was only a glance.” Twilight sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Maybe you're right, I should take a break. What did you need?” Twilight asked, now giving spike her full attention. Spike walked towards the door back to the main library and opened it so that Sparkle could see out. “Hunter's here. He just wants to read a book he said.” Spike explained, waving his arm out the door to show a gray alicorn perusing the shelves for something that caught his eye. “Sounds fine to me, why did you need my help with that?” Twilight asked, using her magic to absently turn off the computer monitor behind her. “Don't you think it a little odd that Hunter is at the library now?” Spike asked, trying to get Twilight to reach the same conclusion. “Why not now?” Twilight tilted her head, rubbing one of her eyes with a hoof. “Because everypony is at work.” Spike stated, circling his arms as if trying to spin the gears in Twilight's head a little faster. “Yeah so?” Twilight gazed at her assistant, eyes glazed slightly from the minimal sleep she had achieved last night. Spike face palmed, dragging his claw down his face and making his eye sockets and mouth droop low before he released it. “Look. Hunter has a job cloud busting. The rest of the pegasi are off doing their job right this minute. My question is, why isn't Hunter at his job right now?” Spike explained as plainly as he could, his arms lifted to his sides in frustration. Twilight blinked a couple of times, shifting her eyes from Spike to Hunter for a couple minutes. “Ooooohhhh.” Twilight finally understood. “Maybe he got some time off?” Spike sighed, “Dash told me the other day that she was worried about getting Hunter back to work because his time was almost up. My guess is its up by now.” Twilight hopped down from the chair. “So what are you saying we do? Stop him from relaxing and force him to go back to work? That doesn't exactly seem like the right thing considering the recent circumstances.” “He has been away from work for quite some time now.” Spike reasoned. “I think it would be best to get him out of this funk and back to work. Twilight and Spike watched as the blond stallion perusing their sci-fi collection found a book and, after a bit of effort, retrieved it from the shelf. Hunter looked around and found a couch. Soon enough he was sprawled on it, making himself comfortable for his read. As soon as the alicorn was resting comfortably on the couch, he attempted to open the book. He reached his hoof to the front of the hard cover book and lifted it up, opening the book to the title page. It was transcribed in letters he was familiar with, just as the title and author name had been. Then his gray hoof tried to turn the page. It slid slowly across the slightly rough paper, but the page barely moved. Hunter attempted the motion again, trying to get the page to bend at the binding and open, but to no avail. Then the alicorn tried using his hoof with precision, trying to grab one page of the book from the side so that he could turn the page. He ended up grabbing thirty pages instead and tried again. The second time he grabbed even more, grabbing almost half the book in his insensible grip. Hunter then picked the book up with both hooves, getting frustrated at this point that he couldn't even turn the page. His hooves lifted the book to his face and he blew on the pages. The paper fluttered for a moment before flinging themselves against the side of the hard cover, effectively opening up to the first page of the book. Careful to keep the book open to the correct page, Hunter lowered the book back to where he had it, and looked at the first chapter. It was written in pony, hooves and hieroglyphs covering the page the chapter heading clearly visible from the main text, but neither readable by Hunter's limited knowledge of the pony written language. Hunter's face went to one of deep disappointment, and then his eyes went dark and his face angry, “Never mind then!” He yelled, tossing the book on the ground and burying his face in the couch pillow the book had been resting on. “I didn't want to read anyways!” The stallion yelled, muffled by the pillow. Twilight darted out of the study she had been in, and was quickly near the couch that Hunter was laying on. “Is there something wrong?” She asked, unable to see Hunter's reasons for throwing down the book from the distance between the study and library couch. Hunter lifted his head from the now damp pillow, “Of course there's something wrong.” The alicorn wiped his eyes, “I just wanted to read this book here and... and...” Hunter was sobbing uncontrollably, he felt like a child, and he hated himself for acting like a 5 year old, but he couldn't stop himself. “And what? Why can't you read it?” Twilight asked calmly, laying on the floor next to the couch to attempt to console Hunter like she would a foal. “Well...” Hunter said, finding it hard to speak through his emotions, “I never thought I'd say this but... I can't read.” Twilight suppressed rolling her eyes at his childlike actions and instead tried calming him down. “Why don't we fix that?” Twilight suggested, “I could teach you how to read.” “I know how to read fine.” Hunter said defensively, and then realized what he said and his head drooped with his ears, “just not your language.” “I see.” Twilight said, standing up. “Well we can give you lessons at some point.” “Thanks Twilight.” Hunter sniffled, “I assume I'll have to pay you back somehow for all the time you spend teaching me?” “Well,” Twilight thought it over, “Yes, but I don't think I'll have you pay me in money.” Hunter glanced up, surprised at the oddity of the statement, “uhhh, what did you have in mind then?” Hunter asked, and hoped to god it wasn't what he was thinking. “I'll just have you pay me back in food!” Twilight smiled, her eyes closed in an effect that completed the happy grin with her hooves clapping together once as she sat on her rump. “Oh...” Hunter sighed, “Okay that's fine.” He was happy it wasn't what he had been thinking. “Right, but I think that you should come to me after work, I hear that your time off is over?” Twilight asked, taking the book that Hunter had taken down and replacing it on the shelf. Hunter's head perked up, “That's right!” and then it fell again, hitting the pillow with a thud, “That's right.” Twilight giggled, “C'mon, your job can't be that bad.” Hunter curled into a ball, flipping his head so it faced the inside of the couch and grabbing his knees. “It was fine until today...” “What happened today?” Twilight asked curiously, looking at Spike with a glance that shot him the same question. Spike shrugged just as Hunter responded with, “I don't wanna talk about it.” Twilight was thinking about what she should do at this point, listening to Hunter's sniffles from the couch, as the door to the library swung open, a little more forcefully than was necessary and revealed the rest of the mane six led by Rainbow Dash. “Heya Twilight. Have you seen Hunter anywhere? He dashed from work and we've...” Rainbow Dash started, but was interrupted by Twilight's motions. The purple unicorn was dragging her hoof across her throat and shaking her head, and then pointed to the nearby couch. The back of the couch was facing the door, so it would've been impossible for anyone entering the library to see anypony laying on it. “Actually he's right here!” Twilight said, blowing off the rest of Dash's sentence, lifting Hunter by magic and setting him gently on the ground in front of the couch. Hunter had extended his legs so that he could stand as soon as he was set down, and now looked face to face, teary eyed at Rainbow Dash. “Why'd you leave?” Dash asked, “The whole team was worried about you.” “Even Blossomforth?” Hunter asked. “She's fine, a small burn, but it isn't any worse than a sunburn. Everypony knew it was an accident.” Dash reasoned. “No. I've been hurting everyone. I'm not fit for work.” Hunter said, turning away from Dash's gaze. “What are you talking about?” Dash questioned. “It was just a one time accident, you didn't hurt anyone else.” Hunter opened his eyes to look up at Pinkie Pie. “Blossomforth isn't the only victim today.” Pinkie had been covering her nose the entire time she was in the library. Either trying her hardest not to sneeze, or hiding something. Dash and the others took a moment to follow Hunter's piercing gaze to look at Pinkie. Then they looked back at the alicorn confused. “Let's see that nose of yours Pinkie.” Hunter said coldly. Now everypony in the library was curious. Twilight and Spike were the only ones who hadn't seen Pinkie at all today, so the rest of the group had their ideas. Reluctantly Pinkie Pie dropped her hoof, revealing a bandage covering a purple spot on the pink mare's nose where Hunter had almost broken it. “My goodness!” Rarity exclaimed, “I thought you said you hurt yourself bumping into a counter!” “Covering for me?” Hunter asked, “You shouldn't have. Everyone should know what I've done, should know that I'm a danger.” Hunter was once again speaking in a cold, malicious tone, as if angry at the world, but in reality hating himself. “I should have known you weren't in the mood for cheering up.” Pinkie said sadly. “Hah!” Hunter laughed, “Don't you think this is the perfect mood for cheering up? This is the mood that requires cheering up. If anything, I should be happy that you care for me enough to try and make me happy, but no. What do I do? Instead of accepting your friendliness I go and belt you one. What kind of a pony does that?” The room was silent for just long enough for Hunter to answer his own question, “A dangerous one. One that deserves to be locked away, left at home, kept in solitary confinement. A place where I can't hurt anyone anymore.” “You're not dangerous.” Fluttershy uncharacteristically interjected. “I was outside this library with you just moments ago, you're still as gentle as ever.” “Take a good long look at Pinkie's nose and tell me that I'm still a gentle pony. You saw what happened, you know why Pinkie's face isn't so pink anymore!” The rest of the ponies were taken aback by Hunter's sudden outburst at Fluttershy, and the yellow pony whimpered as she hid behind her hair. Hunter snorted and sat down, crying now on the floor. “I'm sorry. I keep hurting everyone. Blossomforth, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy. I'm sorry. Just get me out of here. Leave me alone.” Hunter was mumbling to himself, so the last few words he said weren't heard by anyone. Applejack had taken a defensive stance in front of Fluttershy, trying to block anymore verbal assaults from hitting her as if they were physical objects. “Hunter, you're hurting everyone because you're hurting inside.” Twilight said, walking over and setting a hoof on his shoulder. “We know that you still mourn for Jordan.” Hunter left his head hung but replied, “I barely knew the guy, I barely knew him and it hurts me anyways. I didn't cry this much about my own father, and I didn't hurt this much, but this guy I barely knew. Why does it hurt Twilight?” Hunter clutched his chest as best he could. “It hurts so much.” “It's because you blame yourself Hunter, you say you killed him when it wasn't really you.” Twilight reasoned. The others all sat in a small half circle in the library, they faced Hunter and Twilight who themselves sat near the couch on the edge of the room. “It was my fault he's dead though.” Hunter used his front legs to hold up imaginary choices, “I could've found another way, something that I couldn't see at the time. There must have been something I could have done.” Spike just then burst into the room from the front of the library. The purple dragon had apparently gone to retrieve another dragon to see if he could help in this situation and Michael entered the room shortly afterwards. The semi-circle of ponies turned to see who was intruding and when they saw the two dragons they went back to looking at the pair near the couch. Michael walked up behind where Rarity was sitting and Spike closed the door, hanging a “Temporarily closed” sign on the door. “There were other options, but none of them were available at the time. Well, other than using the elements.” Twilight said factually, completely forgetting she was trying to console someone. “The elements?” Hunter asked, raising his head up so that everyone could see his now crazy eyes. “Oh yes, of course, the elements, why didn't I think of that?” Then Hunter turned his wrath at the purple unicorn next to him, “Oh yeah! Because we tried them already!” “You could have helped us to use them!” Twilight answered back, not taking kindly to being yelled at, “If we hadn't resorted to killing him then Jordan wouldn't be gone and it wouldn't have mattered!” Michael was going to run forward and stop this argument now before anyone's feelings got hurt, but Rainbow Dash interjected before he could take a step, “Twilight, you gotta be kidding! He wasn't like Discord who wanted to cause a little chaos, he wanted to kill us, Ponyville, everyone!” Twilight gave a rebuttal in kind, “That doesn't mean we had to respond with the same violence!” “Really?” Hunter said quieter than he had recently been speaking. “You really think, that he would have just sat around with a cocky attitude like Discord and let you defeat him? He had obviously taken precautions against the elements! He had an apparent previous knowledge that they existed!” Hunter was on his feet, leaning over the purple mare as she cowered slightly at his anger. “Now really, is there any reason to get...” Rarity protested, but was stopped by Michael laying a claw on her side. The white mare looked over and saw the dragon shaking his head. The red dragon wasn't sure why he would stop Rarity from interjecting, but he felt that he should let the argument continue without interruption. “Do you seriously think, with that vast intellect that we all hope you have, that while you charged your overrated jewelry, that he was just going to kick back and wait for the end?! He was planning to kill you! He was planning to kill everyone here!” Hunter was now standing over Twilight as she leaked tears on the floor behind her head. “I did what I had to do for Ponyville, for you, for Equestria! If there was some other option available other than killing Jordan, I would've damn well taken it!!” Applejack was getting frustrated that Spike was keeping her from attacking Hunter then and there, Rarity was aghast, Fluttershy was hiding behind Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie's hair had deflated once again and she had her head hung low to the floor. Michael was trying his hardest to keep Applejack from attacking as well. Rainbow Dash was shocked as well, she wasn't thinking that Hunter could be this aggressive. Hunter panted through his nose a few times, as if snorting. Gave a final huff in Twilight's face and walked to the front door of the library, opening the door and then slamming it hard behind him as he left. Twilight collected herself slowly and picked herself off the floor. As soon as her legs reached normality she ran quickly to her top floor room, opening and closing the door quickly with her magic. Applejack threw Spike off her front, and Michael quickly released her back. After a few threats that she was going to buck Hunter's face in the first chance she got, the orange mare sighed, and instead gathered her anger inside for later, and calmly left the library. Hunter stood like a statue in the middle of the road in front of the tree and heard Applejack say something about how lucky he was she didn't hurt him right now, and then watched her pass by. The rest of the ponies in the library were only just then getting over their shock. “My goodness.” Rarity finally said, breathing normally again. “I can't believe he just said those terrible things! Poor Twilight, nopony deserves to be verbally assaulted in such a manner!” Rarity was pacing as she spoke, the rest of the ponies watching her move around the centerpiece of the library. “I'll go check on her.” Fluttershy said quietly from behind Pinkie Pie, before she flew over top of the pink mare. Fluttershy went to enter the room to find it locked, and exited the library by one of the nearby windows to try the bedroom windows instead. Rarity paced and Pinkie got up from where she had been sitting. “That Hunter is just a big meanie. Nopony makes Twilight cry unless they wanna deal with us girls!” Michael spoke up, “Please, don't scold him.” “Why shouldn't I?!” Pinkie yelled, “He's been doing nothing but hurting us today! He deserves some kind of punishment!” “Don't you think the guilt he feels is punishment enough?” Michael asked coolly, looking Pinkie in the eyes. “Well...” Pinkie was hot and ready to blow until Michael said that statement. “He doesn't want to hurt you guys, you've been nothing but caring and friendly since we got here. Since Jordan died however, he seems unable to control his emotions and his anger. So please, I beg you, just let him deal with this as best he can. If you can, help him, but don't think that hurting him will correct his behavior.” Michael sighed and walked to the door. “How about we all go about our business?” Pinkie went out first, turning immediately right so as to avoid Hunter completely. Rarity then evacuated the library, turning left instead to make her way to the boutique and avoiding the gray alicorn at the entrance of the tree as well. Rainbow Dash flew out a nearby window, leaving to continue the job she had put on hold to search for Hunter. Outside she was calm, just as she always was, but inside she was angry, confused, revengeful, pitiful. Above all she didn't think she knew Hunter at all, and wished that she had waited to see this side of him before making any kind of commitment. A few silent, almost invisible tears slipped from her face as she sped towards the sky. Rainbow hated Hunter, hated him to the core, but deep in the back of her mind, she had a suspicion that it wasn't him the hatred was directed at. That somehow it was someone else. This just couldn't be the stallion she knew. This just wasn't him. Spike stayed inside to clean up the mess he had made, in the library, and in Twilight's emotional state. Michael gave him a sad look, which was returned in kind, and then closed the door. Hunter merely stood looking out into town, ponies passing as they walked to many different destinations. Those that looked at the alicorn looked worried by the stern gaze he was giving the world. “Come on. Let's go.” Michael said, “I think we should stay home for a while, I have a feeling we've outstayed our welcome for a while.” Hunter grunted in agreement, and spread his wings almost robotically. Michael hopped quickly on Hunter's back and they were off. Michael barely had time to get a hold before he was thrown off. The alicorn's tears made sparkles in the air behind him, and Michael tried his best to calm him down as they flew. Once home Michael jumped off of Hunter's back and stood sadly in the living room as his friend stormed up to his bedroom, hearing the door slam as his friend reached it. “What am I supposed to do?” Michael asked nopony in particular. He wasn't surprised when he didn't get an answer, but he was still disappointed.