Hunter of Zones

by zone-hunter

Chapter 3

"Big Mac?" The two of us had been out in the apple orchards that day, filling baskets with apple that had just reached the peak of ripeness.

"Yup." He drew the word out slowly like he always did.

"Do you ever feel like there is more to life than just working the farm?"

"Nope."

The answer made my heart sink a bit, but I quickly pushed that off to the side. After all, Big Mac had always struck me as a pretty simple type of pony. He was the type who really appreciated the small things in life and not much really seemed to bother him. I doubt he ever thought of anything other than working on the farm until the day he died.

I reminded myself of all of this in order to gain a bit more courage to continue on. "Well, I've been thinking of doing more than just staying here with all of you." I paused, waiting for a reply of some sort but never got one. "I mean, I really appreciate your family being so accepting of me and helping me out these past few years. But I've wanted to see more of the world."

Big Mac just nodded silently. He trotted up to the trunk of one of the trees and slammed his back hooves against it. The tree shook violently, raining down apples all over the ground. Still in silence he picked up the apples one by one and threw them into a whicker basket.

I was just about to give up on the subject when the red pony drawled out, "Well, you seem to think adventure is fun. And if you think leaving will help you find adventure, then I guess that's what you should do." He paused and gave me a soft smile. "We'll miss ya, bud."

Later on that week I was all packed up and ready to head out. I had already explained myself to Granny Smith and Applejack, letting them know why I felt like leaving would be the best thing for me. Granny seemed to be fine with it just like Big Mac was, but Applejack did not seem very thrilled with me leaving. In fact, when it came for me to head out Applejack refused to see me off. I saw the young pony as a little sister and I knew she saw me as an older brother, so I could understand why she would be upset with me.

While I was wanting to leave for adventure, I had very little idea of where I would be finding this adventure. The only places I had ever know were Everfree Forest and Ponyville, the rest of the world being a complete mystery to me except for in books. I debated heading back into the Everfree Forest, but in the end I decided that I did not want to revisit a place I had already been to. I decided just to go wherever the road happened to take me.

I trotted along for who know how many days until I began to smell the salty scent of the ocean. Checking a few road signs told me that I was close to the port city of Baltimare. This excited me greatly and I picked up speed so that I arrived in the city just before nightfall.

After a bit of roaming I was able to come across a small inn near the ports. I rented a room for the night and joined the rest of the patrons down in the dining area for a late dinner.

The dining area had been filled with colorful characters. They were a rowdy group, but everyone seemed friendly enough. After a bit of asking, I learned that the inn was mostly filled up with the crews from various ships that had just docked for the night.

"It must be so amazing to be able to sail around the world," I sighed happily to a scruffy looking pony with an eye patch. "Being able to meet so many different ponies, seeing so many different places. I would give anything to be able to join a ship crew."

The pony next to me chuckled. "Well, it just so happens that I have an opening in my own crew. One of my mates won't be able to join me on our next adventure, and I'm in need of an extra pair of hooves to help out on deck." He smile warmly at me, offering me one of his hooves. "If you're still interested, I'd be more than willing to take you on."

I stared down at his hoof for a good minute, trying to make sure that this was not a dream. "Yes, I would love to!" I took his hoof in both of mine, shaking it vigorously as I continued to thank him throughout the night.

Two days later I set sail with a crew of ponies that I did not even know, but that did not matter to me. I was just so excited about being on my way to adventure that I did not care about the ponies around me. I was leaving behind the only life I had ever known, and I was surprisingly alright with that. A part of me knew I would be returning to Equestria one day, and when that day came I was going to be a better pony.

I was on Captain Stargazer's ship for a good five month before we ever saw land again. Many of the other crew members began to complain about the long journey and their longing to see other ponies besides the ones on the ship, but I was perfectly happy with everything. It was wonderful knowing that we were headed somewhere new, some place that I had never laid eyes on before. Every night I went to sleep anticipating our destination and when it did not come my excitement was only heighted all the more.

There was plenty of work on the ship to be done. Having spent years on the Apple family's farm I had no problem doing the grunt work that had first been assigned to me. I would peel potatoes, scrub floors, and empty bathroom pots without any complaints. It did not take long for the Captain to see my potential, but I never got to move as far up in the ranks as I would have liked. Captain's first mate, a scruffy pony known as Keg, did not like me too much and the two of us ended up in a heated debate more than once. This made it impossible for the Captain to give me a high rank while still keeping the peace on board, but at least I was able to graduate from grunt work.

I started to work up on deck, helping out wherever I was needed. At this time I began to talk more with the rest of the crew. They would tell me about their lives, their families, how they were hoping for a few years of hard work on the ship and being able to easily retire early on. A few of them asked me about my life, about why I was here on the ship with them. All I could do was shrug and tell them that I just wanted something to do, somewhere to go. I could never answer their questions about my family or where I grew up. The Apple family taught me just how strange it was for me to have grown up in Everfree Forest and told me to keep my past a secret to keep things simple. So that was exactly what I did, but it made me feel a little empty inside.

I had never really given much thought to family. I suppose that the Apple clan was the closest thing I would ever come to having one. After all, I knew nothing about my mother or my father or why I was left to fend for myself in the forest. Hearing about everyone else's family made me feel as though I might have missed out on something when I was growing up. I did my best not to dwell on the subject, though it was hard not too when everyone else kept bringing it up.

Some times I would lay in my bunk late at night and think not about the family I never had, but about the family that I could have. I would imagine meeting a sweet young pony, one that was gentle and loving but could also handle herself if trouble ever came her way. I would imagine us dating for a bit before asking her to marry me. Then we would be married, buy our own little house out away from people, and have a few children - two colts and one filly.

It was always a silly thing to imagine, I knew that. But it was still something that I would always go back and think on when I was feeling down or bored.

One morning I had slept in earlier than usual, dreaming about my future family once again. In the dream I was teaching my children how to fight, showing them how to kick up their front hooves and attack a pretend enemy. It was a silly dream, but one that I was enjoying when some pony decided to start shaking my bunk.

"Hunter! Hunter, get up!"

I groaned and rolled to look over the edge at one of the crew members. He was bouncing up and down a bit, his excitement so great that not even my glare brought him down.

"We've seen land!"

Those three words were all I needed to shake off the remains of my dream and bolt out of my bed. I trotted up the stairs behind the other crew member up to the deck. It seemed as though the entire crew had the same idea as us. Everyone was hanging off the edge of the boat, eager to get a peak at the new land we were about to land on. I joined them, squinting my eyes to get a better look. So that was the land where griffons lived.

"All right, men!" Captain Stargazer shouted. "Get your eyes back in your heads and your hooves back to work. I know it's been a long journey, but that's no reason to get all excited. It will still be another week or so before the ship can reach the docks."

The rest of the crew all muttered and slowly shuffled back to their jobs, but I remained at the side of the ship for just a bit longer. Deep in my heart I felt as though I was finally going to accomplish what I had always wanted. I was finally going to find a new adventure.

Comments

[litestardt]

Ok I like this ending better glad you combined the two chapters together.