//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Eye of the Hunter 
// by XxXImmortalFoXxX 
//------------------------------//

“Star? Like, Star Streak?” The stallion said, stopping on the stairs.

“The one who was attacked by the things that were outside.” I said, glancing back towards the door.

“The Timberwolves? Yes, we know of a… You’re him. You’re that fox.” He turned to the yellow pegasus, “I told you that fox wasn’t normal!” He said.

“Well, this has certainly been an… enlightening experience.” I said, my form shifting yet again. A quick look at my paws revealed them to be a reddish orange.

The couple had apparently been arguing about whether or not I was the fox from that fateful day. The stallion turned to address me before realizing I was no longer fully white, but instead the same as he would remember from the day his friend… lost his life.

“SEE!?” He said, pointing a hoof at me. The mare turned around to find that I was indeed the same one from her memory.

“Oh… Oh my.” She said, her ears flattening against her head.

“Perhaps I could add a name to thy faces?”

“Oh, how rude of us. I am Fluttershy.” Said the mare.

“And I’m Stellar Eclipse. And you are?” The stallion said.

“While I would love to tell thee my name, I must decline, for I have no name.” I said.

“Wait.” Fluttershy said, walking over to a bookshelf before browsing for a few moments.

“Ah-ha!” She said lightly as she pulled a book down and sat down on a fabric mass.

“No, no, no, no, n-yes!” She exclaimed, reading over the page. “It says here that most foxes live for about two to four years, with some living as long as ten. That... incident happened over thirteen years ago.” She said, choking up at incident. “You shouldn’t be alive.” She said, closing the book.

“Well, as thou can see, I am not a normal fox.” I said, shifting between my different forms between each word.

“Red, Tibetan, Kit, Arctic, Bengal, Blanford, Cape, Corsac, Pale, Ruppells, Swift, and Fennec. He can change into all the true fox species! This is groundbreaking!” Fluttershy said, soaring upwards while doing a little spin.

“Nevertheless, I suppose I am an ageless being. I’ve been around for over seventy moons.” I said, lying down on the hardwood floor.

Stellar closed his eyes, although I could still see his eyes moving under his eyelids as he did some calculations.

“So… You’ve been around for… eight-hundred and forty years, give or take? That’s not possible.” Stellar said.

“Yet here I stand.”

“You were around two hundred years after Princess Luna’s banishment! We have to tell the princesses!” Fluttershy exclaimed, albeit quite quietly.

“Yes, yes dear. Tomorrow we can take him down to Golden Oaks Library. Twilight will get a response much faster than we would.” He said.

My eyes widened, “Twilight, as in the one known as Twilight Sparkle?” I said, remembering a certain blue alicorns words.

“Yes. Why?” Fluttershy said.

“I have no reason for inquiring. I heard some fillies talking about the one dubbed Twilight Sparkle earlier today.” I said a bit too quickly.

“Okay…” She said, turning to walk up the stairs, “We’re going to bed. There’s a bed in the corner all ready for sleeping.” She said, pointing to a bed in the corner beside the fire.

“Thank you, Fluttershy, I appreciate thy hospitality.”

“Think nothing of it!” She said, disappearing up the stairs behind Stellar Eclipse.

I walked over to the bed, curling up and wrapping my tail around my face. Sleep came easily, as per usual.

“I see thou hast met the Element of Kindness.” The voice from earlier said.

“Thee should know that these word hold no meaning to me, a mere fox.” I said, looking at my surroundings. I was in Fluttershy’s house, except everything was void of colour.

“Ah, thou hast a fair point. Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness, the title she gained when she defeated our… Less charitable side.” She said.

“Who art thou?” I said.

“We are not the sun, but instead the moon and the stars, as thee calls them.”

“Thee still has not answered my question.” I said, wrapping my tail around my legs.

“If thou must know, I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of this land.”

“And why hast thee taken interest in I?”

“Well, thou hast been granted a higher intellect than thy kin, and thou hast been around for many, many moons longer than thy kin as well.” She said, “We wish to learn more about thee, and the easiest way to do so would be through the one they call Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic.”

“So I am to be your testing dummy?”

“Nay, thee would be more like… an associate.” She said.

“What benefits would come of being thy associate rather than my life in the woods?”

“Thee would not have to worry of the creatures known as timberwolves, and thee would have access to food, so thee would need not go hungry another night.” Princess Luna said.

“Maybe I prefer the thrill of the hunt?” I said in rebuttal.

“‘Tis understandable. If we released thy food into the gardens, giving thee the opportunity to hunt your prey before thee eats it, will thee be happy?”

“‘Twould be much better than being fed.” I said, my eyes suddenly feeling heavy.

“Our time is coming to a close, fox. We will see thou soon.” She said as my vision faded.

I blinked a couple times as I heard hooves and thumping coming down the stairs. Every couple of seconds, there was another thump. I looked up to see Stellar Eclipse making his way down the stairs, quite slowly.

“Good morning, Stellar Eclipse.” I said, sitting on the bed.

“Mornin’.” He said, yawning.

“I trust you slept well?” I said, flicking my tail.

“Well enough. Yourself?” He said, stepping off the final step.

“It was an odd sleep. More comfortable than twigs, though.”

“Yeah, beds are generally more comfortable than twigs.” He said, walking off towards a room with a whole bunch of strange… things in it.

“You drink coffee?” He said as he stopped in front of one of the things.

“Coffee? I’ve never heard of that. Granted, I lived in the woods.” I said, walking into the room Stellar was in.

“You’ve never had coffee? How do you survive in the mornings?” He said, grabbing a spoon with his wing and stirring a black liquid.

“I generally survive by going on the hunt for a rabbit or two in the mornings.”

“Wait, wha-- He squinted down at me --Oh, that’s right. You’re that fox thing.” He said, wheeling his way out of the room to sit down in the room I had previously slept in.

I looked around the room, noticing all the animals waking. Around the same time, there was a rapid thumping on the next floor, followed by several light thumps, only noticeable to the attentive. The rapid thumping as the light thumps traveled across the upper floor onto the stairs, where a yellow hoof appeared on the first step. 

"Good morning, honey." Stellar Eclipse said as he sipped from his drink. 

"Oh! Good morning!" she said, fluttering down the last few steps. "I had the most amazing dream. There was this fox that could talk and turn into the other species of foxes."

"Really? Sounds interesting." Stellar Eclipse said as she walked past into the room that he had just been in.

"It was amazing! He talked like Princess Luna, and he was being chased by Timberwolves.” She said, walking back out with a steaming cup wrapped in her wing.

“Does that not burn?” I said.

She yelped and dropped the cup, which shattered on impact, scattering shards across the floor.

“Oh! Now I have to get a new mug.” She said quietly, a frown appearing on her face.
“I am presuming that means yes.” I said, examining one of the shards that had landed in front of me.

“Was that you, dear?” She said, looking at Stellar Eclipse, who shrugged and pointed towards me.

“Hello. Thou had a dream of me? I’m flattered.” I said, my fur turning white.

“I-It wasn’t a dream?”

“I’m afraid not, Fluttershy.” I said.

“We have to tell Twilight!” She said, running over to the door and using her wings to place various things on her body before putting something on her hooves and opening the door.

“What about breakfast?” Stellar Eclipse said, slurping his coffee.

“Oh, right! I have to feed the animals!” She exclaimed before turning to squint at me.

“Do you have the same diet as a normal fox?”

“‘Tis depends, does a “normal” fox eat fish, small animals, and invertebrates?”

“I believe so. Would you like some salmon?” She said, walking off into the room they had procured the “coffee” from.

“Oh, no. I do not want to impose. I will just go hunting in the forest.”

“The same forest you got attacked in?” Stellar Eclipse pointed out.

“Oh… right. In that case I think I will have some salmon, if it is not too much trouble.” I said, wrapping my tail around my paws.

“Oh it’s no worries at all. The bears and the foxes are the only ones who eat the fish, and all the bears are hibernating. We have an abundance in the deep-freeze.” She said, pushing the top of a large box up and grabbing a fish from the inside. Once the top slammed shut, she place the fish down on a flat disc and put it in another machine, which beeped several times before making a constant hum. While the machine was doing its thing, she rushed over to the fridge and pulled out a bowl full of leaves and placed it on the floor, where several rabbits ran up and began eating from it. She continued to go through her feeding of the animals, only stopping when the machine beeped several times consecutively. She ran over to the beeping machine and removed the fish from inside, significantly more defrosted than before.

“Sorry, Mr. Fox, you’re going to have to eat outside. The other animals have problems with meat eating.” She said, walking towards the door.

“That’s absolutely fine by me, Ms. Fluttershy.” I said, following about a metre behind her.

She placed the flat disc just outside the door, making a small clink on the ground.

“Thank you, Ms. Fluttershy.” I said, my tail whipping back and forth at the thought of my favourite food.

“It was no problem! Enjoy your meal.” She said, walking through the door.

“Oh, you can just call me Fluttershy.” She said quickly, closing the door to the point where it didn’t latch but still kept most of the cold out.

I dug into my meal, which was slightly warm, causing a slight trail of steam to rise from it due to the cold weather.

Quickly finishing my fish, I walked down into the snow to clean my muzzle. I dug my nose in the snow and involuntarily shivered. I did my best to clean up and make myself presentable before walking back up the slope and pushing the door lightly to open it. Inside the two ponies were sitting at the table eating their food. I lightly headbutt the door closed before lying down on the bed that I had used previously.

“Enjoy your meal?” Fluttershy said as she finished her meal.

“Yes, it was much better than the salmon I’ve had in the past moon.” I said, laughing slightly.

“Oh, I would imagine, considering you can’t even get fish these days, since the ice is so thick.” She said.

Stellar finished soon after Fluttershy did, grabbing their flat discs and taking them back into the other room. Fluttershy stood from her seat and moved towards the door, beginning the process of preparing for the outside, Stellar Eclipse following suit soon after.

“And… I do believe… We are ready… to go!” Stellar Eclipse said as he worked on a thing on the front of this fabric thing.

Fluttershy pulled the door open and we stared into the forest. There was no movement except for the branches waving in the wind.

“Let’s roll!” Stellar exclaimed, wheeling his way out of the doorway.