The Hunter
Chapter 2
Somewhere in some dark room, somewhere.
"Did he survive the transporting?" a female voice asked
"Yes, his entire house too. My stallions have told me that he has already discovered Ponyville." Another female voice replied.
"Why did you transport him to the Everfree anyway?"
"A test. If he is to be our assassin he will have to be very skillful."
"Aren't you afraid he'll harm the ponies in Ponyville?"
"Mmm, yes and no. If he harms an innocent, he will fail, and he will be dealt with. If he harms somepony who intends to do harm, he will be one step closer to passing. I fully expect him to steal from the ponies. Theft will also be essential to us."
"I do hope you know what you're doing, sister."
"Do not worry, he is a direct descendant of The Traveler."
Hunter's House, Everfree.
Hunter looked at the message on his phone. 'I'm on TV? How the hell is that even possible?'
"What do you mean?" He typed back, thoroughly confused.
"You've gone missing, along with your whole house." Cody replied.
"Send me a pic." He took a sip from his glass. A few minutes later his phone buzzed again. Cody had sent him a picture of his TV, on it the local news had an aerial picture of where his house should be. His yard looked as though his house and driveway had simply been picked right up, leaving the dirt underneath. In the corner there was a picture of him holding up a fish. A caption read "Young man and house mysteriously disappear."
"Well ain't that some shit." Hunter thought to himself. "Wait, why the hell haven't my parents tried to reach me?" He closed his inbox and pulled up his contacts, scrolling down until he found the one, Mama. He pressed her name and held his phone up to his ear. It rang for a few seconds before he could hear his mother's voice.
"Hunter, baby, are you alright? We're so worried, where are you?" she said through her sobs.
"You know, that's real frickin' nice, not even gonna call me when me and the house have both disappeared, that's some A1 concern right there. I just feel so loved. Jesus Christ, wom-"
"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" His mother yelled through the phone.
"Damn, me and the house are alright, but-"
"You and the house?" His mother interrupted, astonished that he was with the house.
"Yes, me and the house. Hell, I'm sitting on the back porch enjoying a nice whiskey-"
"Where are you?"
"Okay, first off, you're being extremely rude right now. I've only gotten a good four sentences in without-"
"Just tell me where you're at!"
"I don't frickin' know, Candyland probably."
"Candyland? What the hell do you mean Candyland?"
" By Candyland I mean I have absolutely no idea where the hell I am and I'm about ninety-five percent I'm in a completely different universe." He said, moving his phone away from his ear in anticipation of what was to come.
"ANOTHER UNIVERSE? What makes you think you're in another universe?"
"Weeellll..." He then explained to her the events of the day, finding water, the hut, the girls, and the town. "And now I'm sitting here drinking a nice cold whiskey and telling you all of this." He finished, taking another sip of his drink.
"Are you sure you're not on drugs?" She asked.
"If all this was just me on drugs then explain the house."
"Good point." His mother said. He moved the phone away from his face and looked at the time, it was almost four O'clock.
"Listen, I don't know how I got here. I don't know where here is exactly. And I don't even know how or when I'm going to get home. The good news is I'm safely hidden deep in the woods, my natural domicile. I've got to get this place locked down, and quite frankly I'm sweaty, hungry, and exhausted from today's adventure. I'll talk to you later. Alright?"
"Alright, please be careful. I love you."
"I love you too." He said as he ended the call. He sat his phone down on the table beside him and sat back, taking a deep breath. He put his glass to his lips and took a long sip, relishing the burn as it went down his throat. After a few more minutes he knocked back the last of it and went inside, locking the door behind him. He sat his glass down on the kitchen counter and paced about his living room, considering his next move. Houses and people don't just get deposited in different worlds for no reason. He was playing a game of chess against an unknown opponent, and each move had to be considered carefully. "I think I should pay those things a little visit." He thought, but he couldn't just pop up out of nowhere. "I'll wait till dark and then do some recon, but first, I do believe an early supper is in order." Hunter walked back into the kitchen and washed his hands. He opened the fridge and looked inside. On the middle shelf there was a pack of ground beef. He took it out and set it next to the stove. He then looked above the stove to the rack hanging from the ceiling which had the pots and pans dangling from it. He grabbed a skillet and set it on the stove. Then he ripped open the pack of meat and took a good handful of it, kneading it into a ball and then mushing it into a flat patty. He tossed it onto the skillet and turned the burner on high. The rings in the stove lit up a bright red as he opened a drawer and pulled out a spatula. Soon the meat was sizzling and after a few minutes he flipped it over, the meat now slightly browned. He did this a few more times before he took the hamburger and put it on a plate. He got out the buns and some mustard and ketchup. He opened his fridge again and got out a Sprite. He took his food outside and ate looking out as his new home. He sat there for a while, waiting on the sun to start setting. When he decided it was time for him to get a move on he put his plate in the sink and tossed the empty can in the trash. "What am I going to do when the trash can fills up?" He pondered on that for a minute before he decided that he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. He once again gathered his rifle and set out for the woods.
Once again he was laying prone at the edge. It was just past seven. It took him an hour to get here, by his calculations that meant the house was three miles in the woods. The zebra-witches hut was approximately one mile deep. He looked out over the town, watching the inhabitants make their ways home. The sun was just now setting. As soon as it was pitch black he would enter the town. After another hour he could barely see his hand in front of his face. He got up and slung his rifle over his shoulder. "This ought to be interesting"
Twilight's home, Ponyville
It was getting dark outside, Twilight was sitting at a desk in her library, flipping through the tenth book on Everfree creatures she had; which just so happened to be the last.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. Augh!" She exclaimed. "Spike, I've searched through every single Everfree book we have and I can't find that creature anywhere."
"Here Twilight, try this book." The young dragon said as he gave her another. She took it from his hands and read the cover.
"Rare Creatures of Equestria, Spike, it came from the Everfree, I need a book on things from the Everfree."
"Maybe it isn't native to it."
"Maybe," the young librarian thought. She began flipping through the pages. As she got the H's she stopped dead in her tracks. "Spike! I think I found it!"
"Really? What is it?"
"A 'human'. This book says that hundreds of years ago a creature only known as 'The Traveler' was said to wander across Equestria. He described himself as a 'human.' This illustration looks just like him!
"So what now?" Spike asked/
"What now? What now? Oh, Spike! We've got to get the girls together, just think of what we could learn from this traveler. Quick, take a letter!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Twilight, it's past nine. Don't you think we should wait till tomorrow before we go searching?"
"I'm sorry, you're right, Spike. I just got a little bit excited." She said looking out one of her windows, she could just make out the outline of the forest against the night sky, but what she couldn't make out was the human making its way into town.