The Legend of Lunar: The Pony Hunter

by BattleSwine

Chapter Four: In Which Lunar Dances With Babes

Flannery could not escape her mayoral duties for long. About a quarter of the way through a bottle of Mortha's finest scotch, a runner called her back to the town hall on urgent business. Mortha, of course, had a business to run, so she couldn't converse for very long. After a while, she was called away, leaving Lunar alone.

The Pony Hunter may have been a resident of Ponyville at one point, but after wandering for almost a decade, he was now an outsider. No one approached him as he drank alone, the silver spurs on his boots jangling as he lightly tapped his foot to the beat of whatever song the band happened to be playing at the moment. Robin kept the golden liquid in his glass at a reasonable level. For the longest time, Lunar sat alone. By himself.

Just as Robin was refilling his glass a fourth time, the door opened with the pleasant chime of a bell, and the inn grew quiet. The Hunter turned to see the strange purple-haired girl who was on the brink of execution when he arrived. She'd cleaned herself up and put on a nice dress, looking far more composed than when he'd seen her last.

She sauntered up to the bar and ordered a girly drink, taking a seat on a stool two down from him.

Lunar slammed the rest of his drink, threw some coin on the bar, and hustled out.

In the stables, Polaris whickered at her rider.

"I panicked, alright? What was I supposed to do? Wait for her to talk to me?"

The pony kicked the stable wall and snorted.

"Honestly, I'd rather be rude than have whatever conversation we were going to have. She was either going to thank me for saving her or berate me for stuffing my head under her skirt in front of the whole town. Maybe both. Either way, it was Tedi's fault for trying to solve the pony problem with a public lynching. No grasp of subtlety, that one."

Polaris shook her head and laid down. Lunar sat next to her and unfolded his cannon, propping himself against the wall so he could have a view of both doors.

"Besides, you didn't see her. She was gorgeous. How is a guy like me supposed to talk to a girl like her?"

The horse blew out a long breath through her nose and fell asleep. Lunar sat and closed his eyes, and listened to the sounds of the night.

In the morning, he purchased a pumpkin. He also purchased three bushels of apples, a bushel each of carrots and cabbage, and leased a cart to carry them with. Then, he rolled them down the Sheriff's office and paid Tedi a visit.

"I really could give a flying rat's ass what Flannery wants, those kids are my investigation, and if she thinks that she can just march some virtual stranger into town and expect me to just hand over all my work... Hey!"

Lunar had stopped listening and begun digging through the evidence files, which Tedi had left out on the desk. They were notably bare. "This is it? Kids have been going missing for months and this is all you have?"

"I'm not going to make excuses. You know better than I do what we're up against." The sheriff threw up his hands and stood, going to the liquor cabinet. "Fine. You've already been paid out of the good people's pocket, I might as well get some use out of you."

He poured drinks for the two of them and leaned back in his chair. Lunar took his politely and continued to sift through the parchments. "These curfews aren't going to help anything. Ponies work by day, in plain sight. They avoid staying in towns overnight, prefering wooded or wild areas."

"What if they have sympathizers, or thralls?"

"No chance. They hate our kind more than we hate theirs." Lunar looked over the maps. "Why haven't you sent any riders into the Everfree? That would have been the first place I looked.

"You haven't heard?" Tedi poured himself another drink. "Figure'd you'd already talked to Brother Patch."

"I stopped by on my way into town. The Quilt was empty." After Lunar was found wandering in the woods as a child, he'd been given to the Quilt. Brother Patch had given him his schooling, his Patchwork Knights had taught him how to defend himself and conduct himself with honor. When he'd left Ponyville, the Quilt had been the home he missed.

"You woudn't find him there. The Knights have set up a temporary Quilt down by the Quiet Cottage. The Forest has gone berserk. Timber wolves and worse have been hitting the farms out there hard. Apparently the last expedition in didn't go so well, either; twenty Knights ventured into the fog, one came back."

This caught Lunar's attention. "Really? Where is he now?"

Tedi shook his head. "Six feet under, now, poor bastard. His hands were cut off, and he had a crack in his head so big I'm surprised his brain didn't fall out on the way back. He didn't have any information, either, he'd just keep babbling about how the moon was too bright, and every once in a while he'd start screaming for no reason. Patch did what he could, but apparently he died in his sleep a day later."

"You're sure they were cut off? Not bitten or ripped off?"

"I dunno, I just saw the body, but if I had to guess, I'd say they were smashed, with a big rock maybe. But, you should ask Brother Patch about that, I'm no flesh-tailor."

"Well, it definitely sounds like ponies, but I'm not gonna file any reports until I have something solid. In the meantime, I suggest you lift the curfew and set up some checkpoints. Check for unfamiliar faces, people travelling alone, but don't arrest anybody yet. People with odd hair or eye color are suspicious, but not automatically dangerous."

Tedi rolled his eyes, pouring himself yet another drink. "Any more helpful tips to shower on us mortals, O Wise One?"

"Maybe go easy on that stuff." Lunar pointed at the whiskey. "Other than that, I'm sure you can handle it."

"It's not like it's my job or anything." Tedi shook his head again. "Remember, Lu, these are my people, I care about them."

"I grew up here, too, Tedi."

"But you've been gone a long time. Things change. People change."

"...True. Take care of yourself, Ted."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, believe it or not, that it's good to see you again after all this time." Lunar stood and moved for the door.

Tedi grunted and waved dismissively, turning his attention to his reports. "Get out of my office, Lunar. Don't come back until you've got some ponies. You're on the clock."

"Well, fuck you, too."

"What was that?"

"I told you to go fuck yourself, Tedi."