This story is a sequel to The Hunter and the Hunted
When a prison transport comes to a violent conclusion near Canterlot High, three dangerous convicts inadvertently escape through the school's portal and into Equestria. Taking on powerful new forms to compliment their already deadly nature, Twilight turns to Sunset for help in dealing with this foreign threat. Sunset quickly realizes the scope of what they are dealing with and calls upon Hunter to help her save her original world from these dangerous new enemies. Along the way, Sunset begins to realize just how human she has become and sees the fallout when the human world and Equestria collide.
Chapters (16)
Looking forward to more.
“I am the Princess of the night.” Luna proclaimed.
"Sounds awesome, you’re in.” He gave her a thumb up.
I'm dead
And just like that, I want to know what happens next
YEESH! I wonder what terrors the other 2 became?
*claps like Shia Labeouf* Now give me more
This is good, a lot better than I expected for some reason. I want more
You did a very good job doing what you were trying to do
I study military history and genocide for my profession, and have done so for many years. Coming from that background, and the moral considerations that accompany it, I do have a couple points that I can't help but make.
1) The Royal Guard of Equestria carry spears and other weapons. Those have one specific purpose - stabbing people fatally. I can understand them being leery of him executing a captive, but their objections seemed to be more about killing in general than about execution - maybe that wasn't intentional, but that is how it came across.
2) This may well be deliberate a deliberate misunderstanding of the morality of the situation by the characters, and if so it makes perfect sense, but it is incorrect for Hunter's couple pony supporters to note that he is becoming the 'worst' of what humanity is capable of by killing here. False. Hunter did a good thing, odd as that may seem to say. What Hunter did was grim and bloody, yes, but in no way morally evil. When there are no other options for safeguarding the lives of the innocent, killing is not only morally acceptable but, at times, even morally advisable. Ethicists all over the world have discussed this, but I particularly think of Augustine's and Aquinas' commentaries on justifications for war and violence. Aquinas in particular noted that, when it is truly necessary to defend the populace and stop evil, violence may be the best option, both practically and ethically. I remember after the Orlando shooting some years ago, a priest who was holding a prayer service for the victims noted that mercy and justice are allies - strange as it sounds, when the police shot the shooter, thereby preventing further murder, they were acting with justice and mercy by preventing further evil from occurring. Is it regrettable when there are no other options? Yes. But that does not make the action evil, and it certainly does not make Hunter someone who becomes the 'worst' to protect people.
I want to be clear that I'm not trying to take a dump on this story - I really enjoy it. The myth that justified killing is somehow a 'necessary evil' just gets under my skin because it leads to a lot of good, heroic people being incorrectly perceived as somehow monstrous for the alleged sin of doing the right thing.
Anyway, moral monologue over. I do enjoy this story and I had a fun time reading Hunter's plan. This is a fun read and I look forward to seeing more.
Nice
9730449
Thanks for the feedback. When it comes to the impasse that the characters are having, I'm working to ensure that they are following their own logic from their own standpoints. Firstly, I know that logically creatures have been killed in Equestria at some point; but to me, the show makes it clear that killing in the eyes of an Equestrian would be something abhorrent. Friendship is literal magic and even against their worst enemies they seek to find the good in them, appeal to it and help them 'see the light' as it were. When it comes to Hunter, I agree with you that what he did was right; but we know that because we live in the real world. Given the nature of Equestria, the philosophy of Celestia and the way they approach villains, I don't think that they would see it that way. I think that they would be resistant to the idea of outright killing because they haven't yet been faced with a situation where it was truly necessary; which is what this story is partly about. Hunter knows how different this world is and tries to show that these villains aren't like what they're used to and their philosophy, as much as he wishes it could, simply doesn't apply to them. As for them saying Hunter represents the 'worst' as well as the 'best', again, he represents the potential worst from the Equestrian point of view. Even Hunter says that they 'haven't seen the worst yet'. I'll stop here because if I keep going I'll spoil stuff. I hope that makes my intent clearer and I'm very glad you're enjoying the story.
9730100
Thanks. The philosophy in all this can be really 'hit or miss', so it's good to know that it comes across well.
9730808
Thank you for clarifying.
Well now I know where they got the idea for Archeops in Pokémon
I was wondering if she existed in this world
If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?
9736813
I always imagined Hunter having a smooth, confident voice with a naturally sarcastic inflexion. The closet approximation I could give would be something like Nick Wilde from Zootopia.
Still loving this. Quick question; was that Starlight’s village?
9748703
I would also like to know
9748703
No, I've got them in an area where canonically, none of the characters have truly visited.
9749498
Aww. I was kind of hoping to see Starlight and Sunset interact
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Gotta give credit to Hunter for being the hero here. I would have just said, "Fine, do it your way, and get back to me when the body count gets out of hand."
Not a whole lot a commentary this time, other than I still hope Starlight comes into play later in the story
Who would've guessed that Def Leppard’s “Comin’ Under Fire” would make the perfect soundtrack to this
Nice way to continue. Not gonna lie, the Sunset x Hunter ship is my favorite part of the story so far
I feel like you need to add the Romance tag
9797527
It only lets you have three for whatever reason.
I really like your story.
9797868
Much appreciated. Glad you enjoy it.
Nice!
Calling it right now, Hunter quits his job on Earth
Yes, yes! Give yourself to the snark.
Eager for what I'm assuming is the final chapter
Glad this is finally complete. Took me a while to bother to read the first story, but now that I've read both, I'm glad I took the time to do so. Looking forward to seeing Hunter again
So question, will Sunset go by the Equestrian gestation period of 11 months, the human one of 9, or split the difference and go 10?
9834218
Thanks. You've stuck with me the longest on this one and I appreciate it.
9834246
I was actually dealing with that idea concerning another story I wrote about Starlight, Trixie and Thorax. The question being, does magic alter your genetic structure. I'm on the side that when Sunset passes through into the human world, she fully changes into a human on a biological level; so a pregnancy with her would be a typical human one. I touched on that with Hunter, noting that in his hippogriff form, he had trouble adapting the muscle memory skills he learned as a human because his body was biologically different.
If you decide to make a slice of life one-shots based off of hunter and sunset’s relationship, I wouldn’t mind seeing a point in which sunset uses her empathy to help those ponies and how both Celestia and Hunter feel about that. Great story
Reading this again, I can't help but think, where was Discord during all of this?
9869354
I considered using Discord and even had scenes with him planned out, but I decided to cut him because I wanted to utilize other characters who don't get as much attention; like Spitfire, Starlight and Maud. Plus, Discord is a difficult character to use in ensemble stories because of his ridiculous power; I feel like when he's around the natural thought for a reader is 'why doesn't Discord just end this in 2 minutes'. In the show, he has demonstrated that he keeps himself out of conflicts like this because he doesn't want the world to come to rely on him, only stepping in when Fluttershy is shown to be in mortal danger which is why I kept her out of the heavier fights; to avoid the 'why isn't Discord coming to save her argument'. Moving forward, maybe I can find a place for him in a more 'slice of life' story with Hunter and Sunset.
Great and amazing read.
Thank you!
9939677
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks.
This has been ranked here
There is a good chance that he is going to be a pony. Griffins, yaks, donkeys , diamond dogs, abyssinians, minotaurs, dragons represent some sort of racial stereotype
I knew that escaped criminals are going to be some kind of extinct never before seen monsters.
Ridgeback does sounds like a dragon name, so why can't he just be a dragon?
10090092
The name is a combination of the ideas that went into his design, primarily the silverback gorilla and a wild boar. There are some regions that refer to certain types of boars as razorbacks or ridgebacks, because the hairs on their bodies are so rough they are like spikes.
9737009
Like I said in the last story, Josh Hutcherson using a smooth-talking tone of voice for casual moments and a serious tone for darker or more mature moments.
9791878
Same here, I'm really enjoying Sunset and Hunter being a couple together.
I'm really liking this second story and look forward to the 3rd one once I'm done with this one.
Do you got a source for the pony pic used in the cover image? Would like to add it to my collection.