Chapter 4
Luna paced around her room muttering to herself, the incident in the hedge maze still fresh in her mind. “Why does nothing ever work out the way it should!?” She demanded. “Why can’t anything ever be simple?”
“I take it that you are referring to the human?” A melodic voice came from behind Luna. The blue alicorn turned to face the speaker and found a dark blue unicorn standing there. “Oh, Stargazer,” the princess said, “thou… you had startled us… me… confound this new dialect.”
“You are improving though, at least this time you didn’t use the royal canterlot voice.”Stargazer said with a sympathetic smile. “But you are referring to the human, correct?”
“Yes, Stargazer, we are;” Luna nodded, “it seems that every time we make progress in befriending him something happens to undo the work we have done.”
“Well, if it is alright to ask, what have you talked with him about?”
“We spoke about humans in general, and about his world; in return we told him about ponies and our world.”
“But you didn’t speak about him or yourself?” Stargazer asked, he melodic voice soothing the upset princess.
“N… no, should I have?” Luna replied while hanging her head.
“Maybe, you see in order to make friends you must get to know that pony, or in this case, human on a personal level. Find an interest that you have in common then start a conversation on that topic.”
“We do not know any of Hunter’s interests.”
“Well… it just so happens that a few days ago he asked for a book of constellations and star charts. Since then, he has spent most nights looking up at the stars.”
“Are you saying that he has an interest in astronomy?”
“That would be a safe assumption, princess.”
“Huzzah! Then tonight we shall find him and spend it talking with him about the stars!”
“The whole night, princess? Are you sure that’s wise?”
“Of course it is! This plan is so simple that it cannot possibly be doomed to fail!”
“What would you suggest I do?” Celestia asked staring out her window over the castle gardens. “He hasn’t done anything wrong, but the mere sight of him caused a panic.”
“My recommendation would be to publicly recognize him.” A white earth pony with a raspy voice answered. “He has yet to leave the castle grounds, and nopony, other than the staff, know about his presence here, let alone know what he looks like. As long as ponies don’t know about him, incidents like the hedge maze will continue to happen.”
“That is… reasonable. I suppose there is some benefit to not having everypony panic at the mere sight of him.” Celestia admitted. “Ask him to attend court tomorrow, and we will officially welcome him into Equstria. And thank you Valiant Heart, that will be all.”
“Of course, princess; I’ll see to it immediately.” The white pony bowed and exited the room. Celestia turned away from the window and levitated the ancient book towards her. The pages filled themselves to where she had left off. But what does it mean; ‘one truth, one lie and one uncertainty’? Celestia asked herself. Do they tell the truth? Do they lie? Do they give three answers for every question they are asked? “And what do they mean by ‘uncertainty’?” She asked aloud. “The stories aren’t any help; they go from humans are kind to humans will hunt down and kill all of ponykind. This book is absolutely no help!” Celestia flung the book across the room. “No, I need to get answers directly from the source.”
After Valiant Heart left he calmly made his way through the castle to Hunter’s quarters only to find Shining Armour standing in front of the door. “Captain Armour, I didn’t expect to find you here.” Valiant Heart commented. “What brings you all the way up here?”
“I heard that Hunter had woken, and…” Shining Armour trailed off.
“You wanted to apologize for the way your subordinates acted?” Valiant offered.
Shining lowered his head. “Yes. I know that he’s likely to accept it, but I’m still having trouble facing him.”
“Are you sure it’s Hunter you can’t face, or yourself?” Valiant asked. “In order to apologize you have to admit that a group of guards under your command acted... rashly; it could be that you have having more trouble accepting what happened than the human is.”
Shining Armour exhaled slowly then knocked on the door. A simple “Come in.” was spoken from the other side, and Shining pushed the door open. Entering the room, Shining found the human sitting on the floor, the table in front him was covered in books and papers; Hunter seemed to be busy writing something, “Captain Shining Armour, something you need?” The human asked, barely glancing up from his work.
“Yes; I was wondering if I could talk to you about the incident in the gardens.” Shining said moving so that he stood across the table from Hunter.
Hunter lowered the quill, and looked up at Shining Armour. “Alright; talk.”
“About those stallions under my command... did you hear about what happened on my wedding day?”
“I have.”
“Since then most of the guard have been a little on edge, so when they heard about a monster in the gardens...”
“Look, Shining, I don’t care about what happened in the gardens.” Hunter said as a friendly smile came over his face. “A lot happened to your country recently, I get that the guards are on edge. If a pony ended up back on Earth, and startled civilians there, I’m fairly certain the police would handle it the same way your guards did. As for me, they didn’t do any real damage, so there’s no point in holding any kind of grudge.”
Shining Armour stared at Hunter blankly; the unicorn suspected that the human would forgive, but he never imagined that Hunter would brush it off like it never happened. “You’re just letting it all go, just like that?”
“I don’t really know what you were expecting me to do.” Hunter gave a small shrug. “I’m apparently stuck in a new world; one that’s filled with things out of all my people’s myths and legends. I have far too much to see, and do before my time is up to be hung up over some misunderstanding. So, there you have it, Captain, apology accepted.”
“Thank you, Hunter.” Shining Armour said with a bow. “I will leave you to your work then.”
“You’re welcome. Oh, and you can send in that other pony who was at the door.”
“How did-?”
“I have good hearing; and whoever told you that hooves on stone flooring was quiet... lied.”
Shining smiled, gave his head a small shake and exited the room. Valiant Heart, who had remained in the doorway for the conversation gave Shining a respectful salute, then entered Hunter’s room. “Hunter, sir, I’ve been sent with a message from Princess Celestia.”
“I don’t think we’ve met.” Hunter said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studded the white earth pony; his mane was a deep purple, and his cutie mark was that of a gold shield with a heard embossed on it. “You are?”
“Sorry, sir; the name is Valiant Heart.” Valiant said with a smart salute.
Hunter shook his head; “Don’t salute me, and don’t call me ‘sir’; I’m fairly certain I’ve done nothing to deserve either.”
“Sorry, sir; won’t happen again.”
Hunter let out a quite sigh, “You said you had a message from the princess?”
“Yes, she request that you attend court tomorrow; you are to arrive at ten in the morning.”
“Alright, I’ll be there.”
Three pegasi laughed as they made their way down the street. “I can’t believe he didn’t even try to fight back!” One laughed.
“I know!” The second added. “It’s like he saw us, realized how tough we were and just gave up!”
“Yeah, but then old Shrouded had to go ruin our moment of glory.” The third complained.
“Just because he’s the captain of lunar guard he thinks he can tell us off.”
“Not just us; did you see the way he treated the Captain?”
“Hello gentlecolts, how are you today?” A voice no louder than a whisper addressed the three guards.
“Who’s there?” They demanded as the turned to face the speaker. “Oh, it’s you.” One of them said when a cloaked figure came into view. “We did what you wanted, but he didn’t even try to fight back.”
“I know.” The figure replied. “How it reacted, however, is irrelevant. You have completed the task we have set out for you; this is yours.” A sac landed in front of the three pegasi with the distinct sound of jingling coins. The pegasi looked down at the coins then back up towards the figure only to find that it was gone. “As thing progress we may call upon you again.” The voice said from the shadows.
Standing on the balcony, Hunter watched as the sun slowly dropped over the horizon. Today was eventful. He thought to himself as he reflected on the day’s events. I know I told Shining I’d let it go, but something’s not right; why would the guards, ponies who know who I am, attack on sight. Maybe I’m over thinking this; maybe it was just a misunderstanding. Exhaling slowly, Hunter tried to put any lingering thoughts out of his mind.
The sky grew darker as any remaining rays from the sun faded. As the moon began to slowly rise over the horizon, someone knocked on Hunter’s door. Taking one last quick glance at the moon, Hunter walked over and opened the door to reveal a tall, dark blue pony with both wings and a horn. “Luna? What brings you here?” Hunter asked then quickly added “Sorry, that didn’t really sound the way I meant it to.”
“It is alright, we have taken no office.” Luna said warmly. “Stargazer has told us about your interest in the night sky, and we... no, I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me in gazing upon the stars tonight?”
“Alright.”
“Excellent, follow me!” Luna exclaimed then rushed down the hallway, leaving Hunter standing there. The human blinked in confusion a few times then looked down at the lunar guard who was stationed there. The stallion gave a synthetic shrug and pointed in the direction Luna had left in. Hunter sighed, pulled the door shut and set off down the hall.
After several minutes, Hunter finally closed in on Luna; the blue alicorn was waiting for him in front of a large door. Giving Hunter a friendly smile, Luna used her magic to push the door open. Stepping through Hunter found himself standing on a large terrace. “Luna where... what is this place? Hunter ask in amazement as he tried to take everything in. The terrace was darker than the gardens, as if shielded from the castle lights. Hunter could make out a small pool that seemed to glow in the moonlight; off to the side was a vine covered gazebo; several flowed beds could be seen and the whole area was covered in a lush grass.
“I come here when I wish to gaze upon my sky. I enchanted this place so that the lights from the city below do not interfere with the light from the stars.” Luna explained as she moved deeper into the terrace. As Hunter followed the large door gently closed. His focus changed from what was around him to what was above him when Hunter looked up and saw the stars. “This is so much better than standing on my balcony...” he commented.
“I am glad that you enjoy my night sky.” Luna said with a smile as she moved closer to the human. However, her smiled faded as she saw Hunter’s face change from amazement to that of pain. “Hunter, is something the matter?” She asked extending a hoof toward the human. To her surprise, the human moved away, trying to get distance between himself and the alicorn. Luna tried to take a step forwards but halted when he suddenly yelled at her.
“Stop! Just... Just stay there...” Hunter commanded. “Just stay back.”
Confusion spread across Luna’s face. “Have I done something wrong?”
“No it’s... it’s not what you’ve done... it’s what you are.” Hunter said his face twisted in pained concentration.
“What we are? Are you saying you have a problem with ponies?”
“No, it alicorns.” Hunter tried to explain as his fingers began to twitch uncontrollably. “I can’t be near alicorns. They make... pain, like my head is in a vice.”
Luna stared at the human for several moments then hung her head. “I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be... it’s... not your fault.” Hunter said as he tried to fight through the pain. “I should leave.”
Luna watched in silence as the human staggered towards the door; her inner conflict slowly rising. She wished to help Hunter, but she also knew that if got any closer to him it would only make things worse. Hunter opened the door with an audible groan and stumbled out into the hall. As the door swung closed, Luna could see Hunter using the wall to brace himself as he traveled down the hallway.
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poor poor girl
crap missed first by 31 sec
1842162
How so?
Pretty great story, and while I feel the definition of the humans is... slightly harsh, I guess it applies, somewhat. While it is harsh, I absolutely love it, as it makes humans sound quite evil.
1842506
ah luna trys to get closer to the man but the head pain will make it all harder to be friends
Well this is going to be a welcome monkeywrench in something's nefarious plans, actually trying to throw Hunter and Luna into each other's arms as a distraction. Foals!
Kinda hard to start a forbidden romance when they cant even touch. 
Hopefully this is going to give him some breathing space to see the other machinations centered on his person...