Hunter/Prey

by UnluckyReaver

Chapter 21

The blinding lights faded and the violent spinning motion slowed as Princess Luna suddenly found herself standing in a ruined castle. At first the lunar princess thought she was in the old castle, the one she and her sister used before her downfall into Nightmare Moon. As she was able to take in more of her surroundings, Luna found that she was someplace else, a place that was simultaneously both familiar and alien to her.

Two of the banners that hung on the wall behind the three thrones were instantly recognizable; her sister’s golden sun, and her silver crescent moon. The third banner, the one with a gibbous moon, was unknown to Luna. Questions and theories raced through the alicorn’s mind as she tried to figure out what this third banner represented.

Before Luna found any answers to her queries, a series of voices drifted up from the floor below her. Reexamining her surroundings, Luna found a large hole in the floor. Moving away from the thrones and towards the hole, the voices became clear and distinct.

“Is he always like that?” a white furred mare asked as she and a similarly coated, but disfigured, stallion walked below the large hole.

“He has gotten a little worse since I told him about the large demon that my father released.” the stallion replied. It took Luna a moment to recognize the voice, but there was no mistaking it; the voice belonged to her rather obnoxious nephew, Blueblood. “I think he feels responsible somehow. As if it is his duty to stop it.”

“Why would he think that?” the mare asked. “You did say that it was your father’s fault.”

“I don’t know; maybe it is because he’s finally found some kind of purpose.”

“Purpose?”

“Like he finally found something he wants to do.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“Well, since his arrival everything he’s done, every action, every decision, has been based on what he thinks others want. I believe that this is his first major decision that he’s been able to make without anyone asking him to.”

“He wants to fight some monster just because no one asked him to?”

“Yes. At least I think so. Well it’s that or he’s trying to impress the princess.”

“Really?”

“The two of you know that I am right here, don’t you?” a third voice called out, and a second later the speaker appeared. His unique appearance and bipedal stance made him instantly recognizable. As the human passed below the alicorn, he paused and scanned his surroundings for a moment before shaking his head and continuing down the hall.

“Are you actually suggesting that he is trying to impress that- I mean, Princess Celestia?” the mare asked.

“No, no, nothing like that.” Blueblood answered. “He want to impress aunt Luna.”

“Still right here.” Hunter announced.

“He has feelings for Princess Luna?” the mare asked, ignoring the human’s comment.

“Thats what ponies are saying.” Blueblood answered.

“Still here, slowly following you two down the hall.” Hunter announced.

“It gets even better,” Blueblood continued, “rumor has it that my dear aunt Luna has feelings for him as well.”

“That is very good to know.” the mare said, with an unusually large amount of interest in her voice.

“Sure, go on, tell the strange mare that we’ve just met everything, it’s not like there’s a demon that can turn people evil by looking at them we have to stop; and I’m totally not helping the situation.” Hunter muttered, then yelled out; “And why does my head hurt?!”

Seeing that this was her chance, Luna jumped down from the floor above. “Hello, Hunter.” the alicorn said with a smile. “It’s good to see-”

“Aunty Luna!” Blueblood called out and rushed towards the princess, and wrapped his forelegs around her. “You’ve come to save us! This is wonderful!”

“Y-yes, that is exactly why I am here.” Luna said, taking a moment to pry Blueblood off of her torso. “Although I was not expecting you to be here, nephew. You must tell me how you came to be here. Nopony knows what happened to your family since they left Canterlot on a secret venture.”

“It is a rather long, somewhat disturbing, and occasionally gruesome story. Filled with peril, wrought with danger, and brimming with heroism. A tale about a single unicorn braving the odds and overcoming the adversity that lay before him. An epic…” Blueblood trailed off and turned to face Hunter. “You can jump in at any time, before I make a complete fool of myself.”

“And interrupt such a fascinating tale?” Hunter replied. “I think not. It’s nice to see you again, Luna.”

“You as well.” Luna smiled, but her expression quickly dropped. “Although I must admit, when you fell I had thought you had met your demise.”

“Yeah, turns out it takes more than a little tumble to kill me.” Hunter chuckled and absently rubbed his side. “Even if I am a little worse for wear.”

“Indeed.” Luna nodded. “It seems that we have much to discuss.”

---

“And that’s when Hunter appeared. I was quite relieved to see him, although my appearance may have suffered from that encounter, he did manage to prevent me from turning into one of those things. As for how he found me, I will let Hunter tell that story himself.” Blueblood concluded his tale as he turned towards the human, only to find him asleep.

“Should we wake him?” the unicorn mare asked.

“No, I don’t think we should… I do believe I neglected to ask you your name.” Blueblood admitted. “I, as you have probably learned by now, am Prince Blueblood; and I can assume that you recognize my aunt, Princess Luna.”

“Oh, yes, of course. My name… umm, Emeraldium Crystal. It’s a… pleasure to meet you, your highnesses.” she said with a small bow.

“Rise, my little pony.” Luna said in a gentle voice. “I do not think we need to stand on protocol in this place.” she then turned to Blueblood. “I must ask, however, why you think we should let Hunter sleep?”

“It was something he said,” Blueblood answered, “I didn’t pay attention to it at the time, and he dismissed it as if it wasn’t important. I do get the impression that he has not slept, or eaten, or even drunk anything since he disappeared. Now that he’s finally been given a chance to rest, I think it would be best if we let him take it.”

“Yes, that is probably for the best.” Luna nodded then turned to look at Hunter. “Yes, definitely for the best. Although, no, nevermind, but do you think… no it’s silly; we should just wait for him to wake. Yes, that is what we shall do.”

“Aunty, if you want to use your dream walking abilities, you don’t have to worry about us.” Blueblood said. “I’m sure that Ms. Crystal and I shall be fine.”

“Thank you, nephew.” the alicorn said as she laid down on the floor.

A moment later, Luna found herself standing in a grove of cherry trees that overlooked a seaside cliff. Making her way forwards, Luna wondered why Hunter’s dreams always appeared the same; but quickly reasoned that it was something unique either to humans in general, or Hunter specifically. Maybe all humans dream up a place where they find a feeling of comfort, and it’s unique to each dreamer. Luna told herself. But, since I have no other humans to compare dreams, it may not be that important.

“I didn’t really want to say this in front of the others.” Hunter’s voice drifted through the trees. “But I’m scared.”

“Scared? Of what?” a female voice asked.

“Of what’s happening to me.” Hunter answered. “Days without food, water or sleep; humans are not build to do that. Three days. Three days should have been my limit. I’ve gone two, three times that by now. Something is happening to me and I don’t know what.”

“It’s alright. I’m sure everything will be fine.” the female voice said reassuringly. “Equestria is a land full of magic, the circumstances of your arrival were anything but ordinary, and we don’t know what is normal for a human in this word. Maybe you feed off the innate magic that surrounds everything, maybe you underwent some kind of metamorphosis and no longer require such things. What ever the reason, good or bad, I will help you discover the truth and be there when you face whatever happens next.”

Stepping past the last row of trees, an array of emotions quickly passed over her. Hunter was sitting at the cliff’s edge, his head resting on the dark furred alicorn that was beside him; the alicorn in return had one of her wings wrapped around the human.

“It can’t be…” Luna managed to sputter out, drawing the attention of the pair. “How? You? Why?”

“Luna…” Hunter said in a neutral tone as he slowly rose to his feet.

“How could you?!” Luna demanded. “Why her? Of all the mares you could dream about why her?”

“Luna, before you do anything, hear me out;” Hunter pleaded, trying to defuse the situation, “I know who she looks like, but this is not Nightmare Moon. This is my friend, her name is Selene.”

“That… that thing has deceived you!” Luna countered steadily advancing towards the pair, “She speaks kind words to you now, but she will turn them against you . That is what she does, fill your mind with lies, then in your weakest moment, she consumes you. She is evil, a force of darkness, bent on destroying everything.”

“No, that was Nightmare Moon, this is Selene. When you first got to this place, do you remember the throne room? Three thrones, three banners?” Hunter asked, as Luna entered arm’s reach.

“A hoax, something she must have prepared in advance.”

“In advance of what? This situation is so implausible that no one could have predicted it. The truth is much simpler, just give me the chance to tell it to you.”

“No.” Luna said, then started charging her horn.

Seeing that Hunter was unable to reason with Luna, Selene jumped to her hooves and began to charge her own spell. The moment before her spell was ready to use, her head was suddenly and forcefully turned towards the ground.

When the dust finally cleared from the spell’s impact, Selene found that Hunter’s hand around her skull, pushing it downwards. At the same time, his other hand was firmly clamped on Luna’s jaw, forcing her head up.

“Enough!” Hunter said sternly. “I have gone for days without food, or water, or sleep. I am not going to let the two of you ruin the first chance of rest I’ve managed to get. You are princesses and you are sisters, act like it.”

“I’m sorry.” Selene apologized. “I thought she was going to attack.”

“I was.” Luna confessed. “However, I am confused; what did you mean when you said we were sisters?”

“Alright, the two of you promise not to try and kill each other again,” Hunter paused, and the two mares nodded their heads and he release his grip on them, “good, now, where to start… I know; Luna, do you know why the moon has phases?”

Author's Note:

Yes, I am back.

This chapter was probably the hardest to write so far, but after several months of writers block I finally got it to the point where I like it enough to publish. I am aware that I did mention that Quite Breeze might make a return this chapter, and as you have just read, she did not. Her return is still on my to-do list, but it will have to wait.

Finally, another shout out to Semicolon, my proofreader/editor guy; who, after months of my silence was ready, willing, and able to lend his time to this once again.

My hope is to get the next chapter out in a shorter time frame, but... no promises.

Happy reading

Unlucky Reaver

Comments

[Charzoid]

I like how you portrayed prince blueblood in this and have had him grow rather then be default mean for the purpose of having to have some default villain in this story.

[BronyofMeddlers]

....Go on.