Act II: The Thorn Stuck in My Side
The doors to the town hall threw themselves open to Princess Luna’s magic, and she carefully guided me in, holding a wing against my back as I slung my good shoulder over her neck. The dizziness was quickly settling back in to take the fading adrenaline’s place, and as we stepped into the ever-tilting atrium, I felt the weight of hundreds of pairs of eyes. I scanned through the wide-eyed crowd, and a revelation dawned on me. There weren’t near as many ponies here tonight as there were a week ago during my welcoming party.
I tripped over my own feet, and Princess Luna quickly shifted to compensate. “Where… Where is everybody?” I asked with a slur.
“This isn’t the only safe area we’ve established,” she said, almost in a whisper. Was she reluctant to break the silence that otherwise smothered the building? “Some ponies have found shelter in the hospital. Fortunately, nopony has yet required its services. The timberwolves appear to be corralling us like beasts…” Her voice trailed, and she thought carefully of how to word the rest. “Until recently, they did not seem to care for hurting anypony.”
The silence swooped in over us, strangling us by our throats as we marched to the raised platform in the back. A thought festered in the back of my head. I felt my lip and brow twitch as something sour crawled up my throat.
“I told you going into that forest was a mistake.”
My words hung over my head like an iron weight. Why did I say it? Why didn’t I care if I couldn’t take it back?
The Princess never stopped as she supported me; she didn’t so much as pause. The only acknowledgement that she heard me was a deeper than normal breath, slowly released as her eyes fell slightly down to the floorboards.
“You did,” she admitted quietly as we reached the stage. I twisted myself out from under her wing and winced as I lifted myself onto the platform to sit. We couldn’t bring ourselves to look the other in the eyes. “You did, and we did not heed your warning. Now it appears we all have to suffer for it, you most of all.” There was a pause, as though she was hoping for some form of a forgiving assurance to dust the guilt off her chest. “It pains me to see you like this,” she said with a shake of her head. “I shall fetch a physician and send them to you. Surely there must be one among all the good citizens here. Do try not to exert yourself.”
I nodded in thanks as she turned and watched as she waded into the sea of refugees. The dizziness was slowly ebbing away, only to make room for a throbbing numbness. My eyelids felt heavy, and the more my breathing began to slow, the more comfortable the small patch of hardwood felt that I sat slumped on. My left thumb massaged the tips of my fingers, trying to get some feeling back into them, but even that felt like it was taking so much energy. Maybe if I closed my eyes… if only for a moment.
“Hunter!”
I jolted awake with a gasp, clutching my beating heart with my good hand. It was no sooner than I remembered where I was that Fluttershy tackled me into a tight embrace. I rocked backwards from the impact, using my legs as a hook against the front of the stage to anchor me in place. My wounds flared as she squeezed tighter. At least I could feel them again, but the pain still wasn’t welcome.
“Ow, ow, Fluttershy!”
“Sorry!”
She gently floated back with a worried look as I tried to massage the soreness out of my shoulder. Past her, Daisy and Applejack galloped to the stage to meet us. The florist had petals arranged around her head to appear like her namesake, and her frightened look clashed with the bright colors she dressed herself in. The farmer’s usual Stetson was replaced with a witch’s hat.
As they slid to a halt before me, Applejack gave me a once-over and let out a low whistle. “You look like you’ve seen better days, partner.”
I tried to force a laugh, but the best to come out was barely a grunt. “I’ve, uh… I’ve had worse,” I dismissed, unsure if it was a lie.
“Zecora told us what you did during the hayride,” she said carefully. “That was mighty brave of ya, risking your hide to hold off them timberwolves. She said if you hadn’t done it, they’d all be up a stream without a paddle.”
“Yeah, it was mighty dumb of you, too,” Daisy cut in. “What were you thinking, Hunter? You could’ve gotten hurt! Well…” Her voice trailed off as she took another look at me, and her mouth moved trying to find the right words. “Well, worse than you already are, I guess. They could’ve… The-They could’ve…” The word was caught in her throat. I tore my eyes away and to the side, before the angry mask she was desperately hiding behind could slip.
“Well, if it’s any consolation for making you worry… I feel like crap,” I offered with a ghost of a smile. She stared at me for a second before giving a weak scoff and shaking her head, and as she rubbed her eyes with a hoof. “Glad to hear Zecora made it, though,” I continued. I shifted where I sat in hopes of seeing those familiar gray and white stripes in the sea of faces. “Is she here now?”
Applejack shook her head. “Afraid not; she and my big brother stopped just long enough to tell us what was going on. We managed to get everypony near the town hall inside, and then they left to try and get everypony else. Ah think the Princess said they’re in the hospital now, ain’t they?”
Daisy nodded. “Yeah, but we still don’t know if they managed to get everypony else. I saw Lily here, and Rose is supposed to be in the hospital, too, but I haven’t seen Lyra all night. I don’t know where she could be.” She hesitated and shook her head again. “Noteworthy and I were spending Nightmare Night together, but after Zecora told us what happened, he ran off to try to find you since you never came back. I thought he would be with you when you came in with the Princess, but…” Her voice trailed as she gave a sigh. “I hope that doofus is alright.”
“Don’t suppose you know where Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are?” Applejack asked worriedly. “Twilight and Rarity haven’t been able to find them since everything started blowin’ south. You were workin’ with them last, right?”
I could feel Fluttershy’s eyes on me again, as though she was hoping that this time I would have a different answer. I didn’t know what to tell her; the last time I saw her friends, I had dropped them off in the same forest the wolves came from. The more I thought of it, my confidence in their chances began to plummet. “I’m not sure,” I lied. “They should have made it out of the forest before this all happened.”
Fluttershy sighed in relief at the thought, but Applejack gave me a strange look, like she was trying to dig deeper for a real answer.
“Well, well… Look who we have here,” an eerily familiar voice mused. I couldn’t remember why it made my heart drop. Behind Applejack and Daisy, a white mare in bloodied scrubs trotted up to us, her eyes pinned on me. It wasn’t until I looked at her costume again that the dots began to connect and I jumped.
“Redheart!” my voice squeaked in dread.
“It has barely been two weeks since you personally checked yourself out of the hospital,” she said threateningly. “Just two weeks since you left me with a ringing headache and more than my fair share of questions to answer for when I woke up. And now, two weeks later, you’re in need of medical attention again.”
I winced under her glare as she pushed past Applejack and Daisy, buried beneath a mountain of repressed guilt. I kept telling myself that I would find her someday before I left, that I would apologize for the events that unfolded that night. Now the day had come, and I had never been more unprepared.
Her harsh look broke with a roll of her eyes, and she gave me a teasing smile. “It’s good to see you’re still in one piece, Mr. Grey, in spite of your best efforts.”
I released the breath I didn’t know I was holding, and a faint grin tugged at the corners of my lips. “Just… Just Hunter,” I reminded her with a weak laugh.
With the tension easing, I finally took notice of the company she had in tow, Princess Luna and… Twilight. Fluttershy and Applejack huddled around them, and the four spoke softly amongst each other. Twilight was trying her hardest to not look at me, save for the few cursory glances. I tried to push her out of my mind and give her the same courtesy. Tonight was rough enough without having to acknowledge each other.
“Look, I’m, uh… I’m real sorry about that night,” I apologized to Redheart. “I swear, I had no idea it was going to turn out like that.”
“Don’t be. I suppose I ultimately have only myself to blame,” she said dismissively. The nurse stood on her hindlegs to get a closer look at my face, resting a hoof on the stage to balance herself. She used a gentle hoof to guide my chin to better inspect the claw marks.
“You sure it wasn’t my Everfree magic?” I offered with a smile. I could feel the gashes in my skin burning under her gaze as I did it. “I thought that was the cover story we were going with.”
She snorted, never taking her eyes off me. “Yes, it was, wasn’t it? I suppose we can both share the blame then. I accept the apology. After all, I did receive some worker’s compensation and a few days off to recover from it.” Her hoof pulled away and fell back down to the stage, and she leaned back a bit. “Well, the good news is that it looks clean for the most part. There’s some minor inflammation, but that’s to be expected.”
“Yeah, Fluttershy helped a lot with that,” I said, nodding to her. The pegasus didn’t hear me, though; she still had her back to me as she spoke with the Princess.
“The bad news is that it will definitely require stitches if you want it to heal properly,” Redheart continued. “And there’s still a high chance of it leaving a scar. You’re lucky it didn’t cut any deeper; any more and it might have taken your eye with it.” I grit my teeth and tried not to dwell on the thought. “Do you have anything else I should look at? I noticed you were rather stiff earlier.”
“Um, yeah, gimme a moment.” I fiddled with my jacket zipper, tugged it down, and carefully began removing my jacket. It felt like it was welded to my skin, along my shoulder and back. I tried to bite back a wince as it got caught along my wrist, hissing in a breath as the sleeve peeled away a dried layer of blood. Redheart blinked in surprise, and though she stared wide-eyed at the bite, she otherwise kept her composure under control. I stared at the dark stains on the front of my gray t-shirt and could only imagine what it must have looked like on my back.
Just like a band-aid, I told myself, tugging up on the bottom of my shirt. I couldn’t find the will to follow through, though. It caught just above my chest, as my shoulder began screaming and that peeling sensation started again, and I resorted to a slower approach.
By the time I tossed it to the side, I could feel more than one pair of eyes staring at me. A numbing static burned behind my temples, slowly spreading behind my eyes as I panted for breath. Redheart’s figure blurred, and she jumped up on the stage with me.
As she studied me, a murmur rose in the building, and I could hear the drumming of metallic hoof beats as one of the Princess’s guards galloped to her.
“Your Highness, the timberwolves brought more ponies,” he reported, sounding troubled by his own news.
“Are Pinkie and Rainbow with them?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
The guard hesitated. “I… I’m not sure. You’ll have to see for yourself, but Princess, there’s something you should know. One of the wolves was… talking. And it was asking for you.”
“Thorn,” Princess Luna spat bitterly. “Very well; if he wishes to speak, then we shall speak. Perhaps this madness can come to a diplomatic end. Thank you, Valiance. As you were.”
The Princess marched to the front door, and the other mares began to make their way to the incoming crowd in hopes of finding their friends, leaving the nurse alone with me. They didn’t get very far before Redheart called after them.
“Twilight, could you come here a moment?”
“Wh-What?”
“What?” I hissed under my breath.
We both hesitated at the nurse’s request, but after a second passed, Twilight reluctantly left her friends behind.
“Thanks, Twilight,” Redheart sighed. “Hunter has a few thorns lodged in his back, and I can’t pull them out in a very sanitary way without any tools.”
“Is that all this is about?” I asked agitatedly. My right hand reached over my shoulder, and I winced as it danced across the wound in search of the thorns. “Just tell me where they are; I can pull ‘em out myself.”
“Hey, cut that out!” The nurse slapped my fingers out of the way. “You are in no condition to do anything like that,” she said sternly. “I swear, you went three shades paler when you pulled that shirt off. I don’t know what happened to you yet or to what extent it did, and I am not about to let you cause any more damage to yourself by rough-handling an open wound! Right now, I need a unicorn that I can trust with her magic to pull these out of you so this don’t get infected; if it hasn’t already.”
With a faint pop and a shower of sparks, Twilight disappeared before me, and a half-beat later a second pop and a flash came from behind me. My skin crawled. “I don’t know about this, Redheart,” Twilight said uneasily. “Hunter’s body could have a reaction to my magic. It’s going to be really difficult.”
“Well, I’m not putting my teeth anywhere near the wound to pull them out myself,” Redheart countered. “That would be unhygienic for the both of us. Please, just try.”
There was a moment of hesitation, and I hoped for nothing more than for Twilight to decline and run off to catch up with her friends. I was still convinced I could do it myself if the nurse would just let me.
“O-Okay, I’ll try.” The unicorn didn’t sound confident with herself, and to be honest, neither was I. Still, short of limping away and hoping for my body to recover on its own, I didn’t have much of a choice. “Um, alright, Hunter… this is probably going to hurt. Are you ready?”
I already had the sleeve of my jacket folded like a rag and clamped down on it with my teeth, grumbling through the fabric and giving her the thumbs up. No amount of bracing could have prepared me for that unnatural sensation of magic, though. It felt like someone hammered an iron nail into my back and slowly began to melt it. Slow breaths hissed out of my teeth as the process dragged on. A fishing line tugged on one of the wooden hooks in my body. Caked blood and healing flesh resisted, trying to keep the tooth buried beneath. And then I felt it move.
My body squirmed, and the tooth thrashed inside my wound in response. I screamed through my teeth and my makeshift gag, doubling over in pain. That was when I heard it, the unnervingly slick sound of wood passing through skin. I wished the ringing in my ears could have drowned it out. A river like lava streamed down my back as the tooth faintly clattered against the stage behind me. I collapsed to my right, the world turning horizontally. It felt like I was holding on to consciousness by a thread.
I spat out the rag and snarled through clamped teeth, “The hell, Twilight?”
“Why did you move?!” Twilight protested. “It was hard enough trying to get a grip on that thorn!”
“Why don’t I stick a hook in your back and tell you not to squirm as I wrench it out?”
“Hunter! Twilight!” We both fell silent as Redheart shouted over us. In the otherwise silent building, our fighting had gathered more attention than I realized. I pushed myself back to a sitting position, trying to shake off their eyes. “Can we at least pretend to act like professionals here?” she chastised us. “What happened, Twilight? You looked like you were struggling.”
The unicorn sighed behind me. “I don’t know how to explain it. It almost felt… slippery whenever I reached out to the thorn with my magic.”
“What’s that even supposed to mean?” I demanded.
“I said I didn’t know how to explain it!” she shot back. “Look, it’s all I can do to just keep a hold of it right now. I can’t even begin to describe how hard it is to pull it out with how your body is reacting to my magic. So why don’t you—”
“So why don’t you both just focus on getting them out,” Redheart cut in. “I need to scavenge around the offices for a first aid kit. At this rate, Hunter’s only going to be losing more blood, and he seems to have already lost enough as it is. Can I trust you two to be alone until I get back?”
I bit my tongue and refused to look at Twilight. Neither of us spoke a word. After realizing that no one would, the nurse conceded with a sigh, hopped off the stage, and disappeared into the offices in the back, her hoofbeats the loudest sound in the atrium.
“Try not to have too much fun with this,” I growled under my breath as soon as Redheart was out of earshot.
“Do you really think I enjoy doing this?” Twilight hissed back.
“Dunno. Maybe in some weird, cosmic sort of way.”
I heard her huff behind me. “Let’s get one thing straight, buster; even with the history we have, even after Princess Luna told me and my friends the real reason the timberwolves are here, I still don’t like seeing you hurt like this. I’m not a psychopath. Nopony deserves to be treated like this.”
I craned my neck back and shot her a glare. “Yeah? What about having an entire town go on a witch-hunt after them or being locked in the basement of a hospital? Does anypony deserve that?”
She returned the look with equally cold eyes. Her mouth opened to speak, but another voice cut off her retort.
“Hey, Hunter!” Through the crowd, Noteworthy waded to us, Daisy close in tow. I wanted to feel relieved to see him, a small part of me was, but my mind was tied to the current company. “Dude, I was looking all over for you! Are you—” He cut himself off as he gave me a quick once over. “Are you, um… feeling any better than you look?” Daisy gave him a fast swat to the back of the head, and he was quick to protest.
“I’ve been better, let’s leave it at that,” I sighed. The world went fuzzy again, and I screwed my eyes shut and blinked until clarity came back. “Good to see you’re still in one piece at least. Daisy had me worried for you. Did you see Lyra out there?”
“Or Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash?” Twilight added, peeking over my shoulder.
Note paused, casting me a curious glance. I returned with a look, hoping to prove I was just as happy as he thought. He coughed into his hoof. “Um, no, I haven’t, sorry. Never saw any of them during the festival, and when Zecora told me what happened to you, I tried to make my way to the Everfree Forest to find you.” He gave a harsh snort and kicked at the floorboards, his eyes downcast. “Fat luck I had with that. The timberwolves caught me by the time I got to the edge of it. Guess I’m not cut out for the adventurous life like I thought.”
“If it’s any consolation, neither am I,” I offered. “I’ll trade you if you want, though.”
There was a pause, and I was the first to break with a faint smile. We shared a dying laugh with Daisy, and he shook his head.
“Hey, there’s… there’s something you need to know,” he said solemnly, chasing away the last of our lighthearted mood. “One of the wolves… it was talking.”
“Yeah, I’m… familiar with him,” I nodded.
“It’s Thorn, right?” Twilight asked next to me. “The Princess filled me and my friends in on a few details,” she offered after seeing my look.
“Did he say anything to you?” I asked Noteworthy, trying to ignore the unicorn.
He shook his head. “Not to me, no, or anypony else for that matter. It only spoke with the other wolves. Talked about us a lot though. We were all locked in this cage, had a couple timberwolves watching us when it came by.” He shivered a bit and tried to blink a thought out of his mind. “Real mean looking thing, didn’t sound too happy either. It talked about moving us around, called us ‘bargain pieces’. Some ponies were taken deeper into the forest. I… I guess I just got put in the lucky group.”
Daisy wrapped a hoof around him and held him close. “I’m so glad you made it out safe. I was so worried when you ran off.”
Noteworthy blushed, the floorboards suddenly becoming very interesting to him. “I… Right. Sorry, Daisy. Didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
“You dare?!”
The Princess’s voice rattled the building, echoing outside like a thunderclap. Everyone inside jumped at the sudden outburst. Nobody made a sound, straining their ears to hear any more of the Princess outside. The silence only made the hoofbeats to my right sound like hammers against the floorboards.
I turned and found that Redheart had returned with a small kit in her mouth, a green cross colored on its face. She climbed up to the stage with me and Twilight.
“Well, it’s comforting to know that all’s well out there,” she whispered sarcastically. “Any luck getting the rest of the thorns out, Twilight?”
“I— No, I’ve been trying to think of another way to take them out,” she said. “Pulling them seems too messy, but I might have another spell that could get them all out at once.”
“And you didn’t start with it?” I scoffed.
“Well, considering your reaction the last time I used it, I figured I would hold off until it was the only option left,” she shot back.
“What? What does that even—? Just get them out!” I exclaimed. “Having timberwolf teeth lodged in my shoulder isn’t exactly my definition of ‘fun’.”
“Ugh, fine!” she grunted, her horn already beginning to glow. “Don’t start complaining to me when it starts hurting, though. You asked for this.”
I opened my mouth to snap back, but my words caught with a cough as something burned in my chest. My hand clutched my heart, which felt like it was on fire. I could feel my blood carrying the embers out of the furnace and spreading through my veins. The world glazed over as my thoughts scattered from my head. Suddenly, there was a flash.
I could feel myself gasping for breath. It felt as though someone had bucked the wind out of my lungs. I was back on my side, struggling to make sense of the colors moving before me. Over the ringing in my ears, there was a faint sound of wood clattering to my left.
“Hey, what did you do to him?” Noteworthy’s voice demanded.
“I teleported him three paces to the left,” Twilight’s matter-of-fact voice replied. “And just as I thought, Hunter didn’t move, but everything else did. See?”
I blinked and tried to focus on her voice. She slowly appeared in my vision, and in her hoof rested three wooden teeth. I couldn’t recognize the look she was trying to give me, and though I knew she was standing next to me, her voice couldn’t have sounded more distant.
“I told you I could get them all out at once, and you didn’t even lose any more blood. How’s that for…. Hey, are you alright?”
The colors around her started to blur, and I could feel myself slipping away from them. My head rolled back, and before it connected to the hardwood, I released my grip and felt my mind go adrift.
<><><>
Something smelled rancid.
My nose scrunched, and I tried to turn away from the source. The wound on my shoulder collided into hardwood, and I shot up to a sitting position with a hiss, carefully cradling what part of it I could without making it hurt worse.
“Careful, Hunter,” Redheart said softly. “You gave us a bit of a scare there. How are you feeling?”
“Like hot garbage,” I grumbled. My hand massaged my face, and I winced as the fingertips brushed against raw skin over the left side. “If I pass out again tonight from anything other than sleep, it’ll be too soon.”
“Here, try inhaling this a little more,” she offered. I heard her slide something across the stage to me. I reached out and found a broken stick of… something. I brought it close to my nose and took a whiff, and the odor punched me in the face with a boxing glove.
I turned away and coughed, but already I could feel my senses anchoring me back in the town hall. The figures around me became sharper. Fluttershy and Applejack had returned, along with the Princess. They had configured themselves in a circle with me at the edge, and I quickly realized I was the center of everyone’s attention. I fidgeted uncomfortably, shifting myself to a proper sitting position on the edge of the stage. No one spoke a word. Something wrenched inside my gut, telling me that they were expecting something.
“So…” I started, carefully breaking the silence. My eyes flicked to the Princess. “Did the talk go well?”
She huffed angrily and shook her head, glancing off to the side. “Nay, it didn’t,” she said sternly. “I’m afraid I’ve learned where our missing ponies are.”
“That’s… That’s good, right?” Even as I asked, I slowly remembered what Note had said. Something heavy hung from my chest, threatening to drag down my heart. Already I could feel a cold sweat forming down my back.
“Thorn is holding them for ransom,” she spat coldly. “He came to me to bargain. Since I stole you away from him, he has decided it would only be fair to make a deal. Twenty souls… for yours.”
My stomach flipped inside my gut, and I doubled over as my body shook to quell it. I was thankful that it was empty; otherwise its contents would probably have been on the floor I was staring blindly at.
“He claims the eight ponies he brought earlier were a testament of his good will,” she continued. Noteworthy gave a faint, guilty cough. “I’ve tried my best to sway him, but he was adamant. He expects us to deliver you by sunrise, and he will release those he holds hostage. If we fail to meet his demands on time… he said he will begin adding his prisoners to the pack.”
I shuddered, thinking back to the guard-turned-wolf. Was that what she meant? If the timberwolves were the reason Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie hadn’t returned yet, that meant most of the prisoners were still kids. The thought didn’t help my already unsettled stomach.
Even still, on the other side of the coin was my own head. This was Thorn’s ultimatum for my life, and there was no doubt in my mind of the fate I would see if the ponies gave in to his demands. Trading one life for twenty should have been a no-brainer, but it rattled my core to think that it ever could have been me.
My fingers combed through my hair, and I let them drag my head back up to face the group. “So… what did you decide?” I asked, my voice barely louder than a squeak.
“We haven’t,” Princess Luna assured me. “We were waiting until you awoke to discuss this. It would not be just of us to come to a decision over this without you.”
“This just ain’t fair,” Applejack grumbled. “We can’t just give Hunter away like that. What are we supposed to do?”
“Nopony is pleased with the situation, Applejack,” the Princess reminded her. “Nevertheless, it is one that must be dealt with.”
“There has to be a way we can save everypony,” Fluttershy said desperately. “Can’t we find the missing ponies and bring them back without trading Hunter?”
This time the Princess hesitated. Her mouth opened to speak, but all that came out was a sigh as she sat on her haunches. “I would like to, Fluttershy. Truly, I would. Time is not a commodity we have on our side, though. We don’t know where to begin searching in the forest. It is unlikely that my few guards would find them before sunrise, and by the time we sent for more guards from Canterlot, it would be too late by the time they would arrive. Even if I did send them now, Thorn would undoubtedly know what we are planning and beat us to the hostages.”
“He never left us alone, either,” Noteworthy added with a vacant look in his eyes. “Even though they had us in wooden cages, there were three timberwolves watching us. There’s no telling how many are watching the rest of them, or if they’re all even in the same place.”
“Hunter, are you okay?”
As Daisy asked, I was already up on my feet. The world seemed to drop for miles beneath my spinning head as I stood. The weight of the situation had finally overwhelmed me.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied quietly with a numb nod. “I just… I’m parched. I need to get some water real quick.”
Redheart stepped to the side as I brushed past her. My fingertips grazed across the top of the stage as I let it guide me to the right, towards the entrance of the offices. I could feel their eyes boring into my open back as I limped. Over the silence that filled the air, I could hear Princess Luna speak softly to someone. “No, let him go. This is a lot to take in at once, and he has had a long night.”
I stumbled into the receptionist’s office, and my thinly held composure finally broke. I collapsed to my knees, pressing a hand against my stomach as though to prevent my innards from spilling out. It might have been a better fate than whatever Thorn had in store for me.
My body curled forward, and my forehead connected to the floor. The gash on my face screamed at the contact, and I used it to anchor myself into the room. How many times had I been here before, just waiting for the daily meetings with the mayor? In spite of the chaos of the time, it almost seemed simpler then, when the only thing I worried about was the walk to Daisy Chain and the looks everypony would give me. I would give so much to pull back the clock and go back to that time… Would I give twenty lives?
The thought made me sick. I fought back the acid that raced up my throat. How could I think that? I didn’t want them to die; I didn’t want the Princess to say no to Thorn, but… but what about me? Was I supposed to just throw my life away? Was there even a choice to be made about it? Twenty friends and children, known and loved by the villagers, against a stranger who appeared less than two months ago, who was considered hostile until last week. Something warm burned a trail across my face through my clenched eyes. I didn’t want it to end like this.
I was a dead man walking. No, a dead kid. Haven’t even graduated high school. Haven’t even seen the real world, just this nightmare of one. My body trembled with my heavy, ragged breathing.
“I’m too young to be dealing with this,” I whimpered.
A trio of knocks rang from the door, and as I sat back up on my knees, I found Redheart standing in the open door with sympathetic eyes and the aid kit in her mouth. I gave a wet cough and looked away, wiping away the tears from my good eye, but I didn’t make a move to stop her as she came in. She stopped and sat next to me, setting the kit down between us and opening it. After a few seconds of rummaging through it, she held out a hoof for my left arm.
I took in a shaky breath and sighed it out, offering it to her. “You know… most people wait to clean the corpse after it dies,” I commented weakly.
“You are not going to die, Hunter,” Redheart chastised. She pulled a swab from the kit with some disinfectant and took my arm in her hoof. “Have some faith in our princess. Luna will keep us safe.”
“I… Right.” It was impossible to look her in the eyes. “Sorry, it’s just… I think I’m just a little scared.”
“I’d be worried if you weren’t,” the nurse offered, turning my arm over. “This is a scary situation we all seem to be stuck in, but those mares out there have been in far worse situations than this, and they came out on top every time. I’m sure right now they’re all concocting some crazy scheme to get all of us out of this mess.”
The disinfectant burned against my skin with that familiar coolness. For a moment, neither of us spoke. We simply watched as she worked. I eventually pulled a rag out of the kit and tried to help, dabbing at the dried blood around the bite. She never stopped me, and I tried my best to not interfere with her work.
“You really trust them?” I eventually asked.
“Of course. Twilight and her friends saved Ponyville more times than I care to count.” Redheart snorted and shook her head. “Why, they’ve even saved the whole world twice. Or was it three times now?” she hummed in thought. “I’ve been hearing rumors of the royal wedding they attended a few months ago up in Canterlot, and even though the details are fuzzy, I’m glad I wasn’t invited. That lot of friends has been through some pretty bizarre adventures, but they’ve always come out on top, be it dragons, Ursas, or even the Spirit of Chaos himself.”
“The Spirit of Chaos, huh?” I echoed with a half-hearted laugh. “I almost want to ask.”
“Oh, it was horrible,” she groaned, pulling two cloth pads and a roll of gauze out of the kit. “He wasn’t even free for a full day, and he managed to turn all of Equestria upside down and inside out. There’s no telling what would have happened if they hadn’t stopped him. Could you hold this here for me?”
“Sure thing.” I pinned my thumb against the gauze, holding it to my arm just beneath the bite. Redheart positioned the pads over both sides of the wound and carefully enclosed them beneath the gauze. The pressure was uncomfortable, and as she clipped the strip tightly at the end, I noticed a few splotches of red beneath it. Still, it was better than having it spill everywhere.
“There; that should hold for now,” she sighed in relief. “At least until I can convince them to take you to the hospital, that is. It’s only a temporary fix, and unfortunately we can’t do the same for both your shoulder and your face.”
She took a cursory glance at my leg. “You were limping earlier,” she noted. “Anything I should know?”
“Um, yeah, a wolf… I got bit in the leg, too,” I admitted, a faint blush of embarrassment burned beneath my face.
“Is it bad?”
“I mean, it hurts.”
Redheart rolled her eyes. “Very helpful, Hunter.”
In the doorway, someone cleared their throat, calling for our attention. Applejack stood patiently in the doorway, along with Fluttershy hiding behind the frame. The farmer tilted the brim of her witch hat up. “Hey, Hunter, think ya have a moment to spare?”
I hesitated, sharing a glance with the nurse before looking back. “Um, yeah, of course. Did you guys… come to a decision?”
She shook her head, and her lips tugged into a confident smile. “Even better. We might be able to give this Thorn feller a taste of his own medicine. If you’d be so inclined to help, we might be able to lay a trap for him.”
“Wait, really?” It almost sounded too good to be true. “How?”
“The ol’ bait and switch,” she said proudly. “Princess Luna reckons she can catch Thorn if given the chance, all we gotta do is give it to her. Since he’s apparently the ringleader, catching him oughta bring an end to this.”
“And I’m guessing I already know what my part is,” I added with a sinking gut.
“We won’t let anything happen to you,” Fluttershy quickly interjected as she flew into the room. She looked torn, rubbing her hooves anxiously across her legs as she hovered next to her friend. “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but if you did it would really be helpful. We would never let Thorn hurt you.”
Applejack tugged on her friend’s tail and gently guided her back down to her hooves. “Calm down now, sugarcube; everything’s gonna be just fine.” Her consoling words did little to help, though. Fluttershy was still shaking slightly, and her worried eyes seemed to want to look at anything but the other people in the room. Applejack sighed and turned her attention back to me. “Now believe me, none of us like the idea of puttin’ you in harm’s way. Ah personally think you’ve been through enough tonight. But it’s gonna be real hard convincin’ this snake to slither out of his hole unless he thinks we’re giving you up. The moment things start turnin’ south, Fluttershy and Ah will pull you out. You have my word.
“Now, nopony’s forcin’ you to make any certain decision; you have as much of a right as anypony to refuse given what you’ve been through. If you ain’t comfortable, we’ll find another way.”
I didn’t answer right away. How could I? It still sounded so dangerous. I looked between them, and between Fluttershy’s worry and Applejack’s confidence, I was receiving mixed signals. My thoughts drifted back to what Redheart had said, though. This wasn’t their first rodeo. Supposedly they had solved worse problems than this. I trusted Applejack and Fluttershy, too; they wouldn’t lead me on and then throw me to the wolves, literally.
“Well… what do you think, doc?” I asked, turning to Redheart. “Think I’m good to go?”
She hesitated, unprepared to be brought into the mix. “Personally, I’d recommend you get some rest,” she said, shaking her head. “But I suppose you know your body far better than I do. If you think you could press on for a little while longer…” Her voice trailed as she looked for an answer, and I tilted my hand back and forth. It didn’t boost her confidence. “Let me give him one last check up,” she said to Applejack. “I’ll patch up what I can, but you can’t let him do anything too strenuous.”
Applejack smiled. “You got it, Red. Ah’ll let the Princess know. And Hunter?” She gave me a brisk nod. “We appreciate this. We all owe ya one.”
I watched as she led Fluttershy out, still unsure of how I felt. Something gnawed on the inside of my head, an unscratchable itch no matter how hard I tried, and it was impossible to pin what it was trying to tell me. I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, turning to the nurse.
“Alright. Let’s patch me up before I can talk myself out of this crazy plan.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,031 users online
2,188,702 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
And here we go again, Hunter just cant get a break.
Torch this Thorn and his entire pack!
no plan survives the first draft so can't wait to see how this goes wrong, also nice to know the timberwolves are smarter then they appear.
ON another note didn't hunter die previously at some point, but he got a mulligan from Discord and someone else or I'm I not remembering things right.
I need this clarified so that I won't think this isn't a no death run type of story along with try to figure out Discord's endgame.
Took a bit but I'll take quality over quantity. I am just really happy that one of the first fimfiction stories that got me into reading and even writing one of my own is still getting updated, you have done a damn good job at keeping me from drifting away from this place. Anyway, this chapter is really good!
10035482
I think you're remembering the time Hunter was petrified by the cockatrice, and he was saved by Fluttershy. I wouldn't consider it as a "death", though; I don't want to tangle with the idea of "hey, here's a free life" in this story
Oh God these CLIFFHANGERS!!! LOL
Update the next chapter soon! The wait is gonna kill me. Xp
He'd better get a medal and title out of this horseshit.
10035856
Several things...
1) Did you read ALL of my previous comment? Because you completely missed my point. The point being EVERYONE acted out of fear of the other, NO ONE was trying to think in a calm rational manner, like the way you described. If they had IT NEVER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THAT BAD!
2) I read and wrote that after being awake for 26 hours, had some issues going on and was, and still am, in a bad place mentally. So i probably could have worded it better.
3) Where TF was Fluttershy in that chapter!? You know the LIVING UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR!? In fanfics anyway.
4) I have not reread this since posting my other comment so it may have been changed since then.
5) Great I went on an emotion fueled rant and now have a migraine, thanks for that, and I was having such a decent day too.
With Thorn taking away ponies and holding them ransom, there's one BIG hole in his logic. Namely that Hunter was in the Everfree forest for a goddamn long time and the timberwolves never did a damn thing to him. If he's some "abomination" and needs to die they should have just killed him as soon as he showed up, instead of farting around and only trying to kill him once he has the town protecting him. All he had was an axe, they could have swamped him easily, but doing all of this NOW feels like an arbitrarily chosen excuse to attack and kill all sorts of people for no reason.
Also Celestia telling him to stay in ponyville was an asshole move, should have gone to Canterlot.
10036390
You need to calm down, let the man write as he wants. There is no formula to writing anything and you shouldn't be mad because it not to your liking. Just find another story to read if it bothers you so much.
10035482
His soul talks with someone(Discord?) over a statue of himself while everypony holds a funeral as they cry crocodile tears. In the Future. In the Prologue.
I say crocodile because I can't see Celestia OR Luna actually giving a damn about Hunter, with what they've done up to now.
10036488
I know, I had forgotten this even existed until now...
And I cannot Stress this enough, POOR MENTAL HEALTH is a contributing factor here...
I was only reminded because of the alert wich i get so very few of. Honestly iwas more upset because it feels like that guy Drasko isn't reading the actual story but just being a d*ck/troll.
And it feels like people only read one line of a comment and focus on that. Instead of fully reading the genuine criticism of THE ENTIRE COMMENT, or even basic fact checking. I even laid it out in a semi professional and nice way, even spell checked every word.
It makes me feel both angry and stupid for having an opinion.
To anyone else reading this comment, the comment i first got a response to was made in JUNE 2018.
This is one of the reasons why I have poor mental health.
10036390
Come on, man. If you got a migraine for going into an emotional rant, it's your problem. You lost your cool when in your moment of anger you could have said: "Ok, I'm gonna cool down, so i won't blow up. I'll focus my mind on other things. I'll get some needed rest, then I'll give a more proper and civil response in the morning in my good judgement. Headache avoided". Don't put the blame on that guy for your migraine. He didn't cause it, you did.
Next time you see a comment that angers you, don't take it personally. Instead, just ignore it, close your browser, take a rest from Internet, and chill out. It's just words on a screen from guys you don't even know. Ignore them.
I am not sure which one is correct.
from hunter to shepherd and deadline and deadends is where I had thought he had died since the timberwolves who wanted to kill him didn't do so for some reason instead of trying to send it back and upon re-reading it I guess he bluffed his way out of it.
It does show that Thorn is doing what he must because this fic needs a villain. He's also the most honest about his motives while Celestia and Luna vary which have me worried.
10036780
Shoot, the first one is. Thanks; should be fixed
10035419
What do you mean? He gets breaks all the time. Broken leg, broken fingers, broken head...
10037551
Well then, Hunter should stop complaining about his situation beacause always gets a break.
Oh boy, here we go, this is where shit goes from zero to a hundred real quick
The timberwolves used to be humans, didn't they? Thorn obviously knows something about humans, so this obviously couldn't be his first run-in with them. And seeing as ponies can be transformed into timberwolves, why not potentially humans. Then again, if this isn't his first run-in with humans, why is he suddenly surprised about humans being... anti-magic? Either his previous encounters with humans weren't as much of an issue as before, or whatever that voice in his head is is somehow related to this anti-magic. But if the voice is connected to the anti-magic, then why would timberwolves have the anti-magic affect as well? Then again, maybe it's just the blood on the surface of the splinters that's making it seem "slippery". So I guess... is there some deeper mystery, or am I just overthinking things?
This situation calls for a Final Solution; Hunter should just kill himself. After setting the forest on fire.
I can hardly wait for the next chapter! This is so great!
10123351
Gotta love it when someone replies to a comment from 2016. That convo died ages ago.
10123869
That's a shame, I stopped reading for awhile hoping it would improve back in 2017
10123353
Dose not matter how long ago it happened it was still a dick move
10036216
He deserves a fucking statue made of gold
10136768
Maybe it was a dick move. I fail to see how that justifies you necroing a several-year-old comment. It was in 2016. Four years ago. That conversation ended a long ass time ago. Everyone moved on, and then you came swooping in and resurrected it without a thought for the fact that literally everyone else had already moved past it and was more than happy to move on to more important and mature things.
If it is all the same to you, let's put that ancient comment back in the dirt where it belongs, as well as this conversation. There is nothing to be gained here, for either of us, from bickering back and forth over something from that far in the past.
10036794
Yeah Celestia let hunter be tortured for a test I trust thorn more then her and like him more then twilight he actually listened to hunter and made a deal that he would have gone through with if the kids didn’t get lost
10035482
Yeah he got turned to stone but the voice in his head got discord to save him
Good chapter amazing job I’m glad hunter finally called Luna out on her bullshit if they didn’t go trough the ever free for the holiday there wouldn’t be as many hostages and others would still be alive also twilight you are a psychopath getting off to hurting a teenager experimenting on him against his will sending everyday civilians into a dangerous forest where multiple beats could kill them and stealing items from the person you tortured for selfish reasons makes you a downright monster