Hunter/Prey

by UnluckyReaver

Chapter 5

Celestia pushed the door to Luna’s terrace open and stepped through. The white alicorn moved gracefully trough the small garden until she found Luna sitting on the grass staring into the small pool with a dejected look. “Sister, whatever is the matter? I thought you were going to spend the night with Hunter.”

Luna ran her hoof through the water. “I don’t think that we can be friends with the human.”

“Why?” Celestia asked as confusion spread across her face. “According to Stargazer you couldn’t contain your excitement when she told you that Hunter was interested in the stars. What happened?”

“We harmed him.” Luna said as tears started to fill her eyes.

“What do you mean by ‘harmed him’, sister? Did you strike him, or use your magic on him?” Celestia moved next to her sister and sat down next to her.

“It is nothing like that, sister.” Luna moved so the head was no resting on Celestia’s shoulder. “It’s just that we... us... alicorns are poisonous to humans. Our very presence harms them. When I stood next to him he was struck by an almost unbearable amount of pain; he could barely speak or move. Tell me sister; how can any creature befriend something that causes them such agony?”

Celestia place her wing over Luna. “I am unsure, my dear little sister; but I do know that the magic of friendship is powerful, and if it is meant to exist it will find a way.”

---

Stargazer hurried through the cave network her thoughts completely focused on the conversation she had just overheard. She rounded the last corner and skidded to a halt a moment before running into one of her accomplices. “We... have a problem,” She stammered out between breaths. “It’s the human; he’s not behaving the way we want him to.”

“Explain.” The deep voice from Stargazer’s accomplice nearly echoed through the room.

“He’s not befriending the moon.”

“Is he chasing the sun?”

“No, he’s not; he may now try to avoid both altogether.”

“Why would he do such a thing?”

“It’s their magic; it’s seems to be toxic to the human. If he gets too close to either the sun or the moon he may die.”

“We’ll have to find a way to remedy the situation, lest we are forced to change our plans once more.” The deep voiced one raised a white furred forelimb and pointed towards the exit. “Now, go keep an eye on the human; I doubt the night would be so easily dissuaded.”

---

Prince Blueblood stared across the table his jaw hanging open, unbelieving what his father had just said. “Are you sure father? The princesses are as popular now as they have ever been, if not more so.”

“Popularity has nothing to do with it, boy.” Blueblood’s father, Royal Blood, scolded. “They are letting the kingdom fall to pieces. The discord incident, then the disaster that was Princess Cadence’s wedding, not to mention that she married some low born guard and not one someone from one of the noble houses.”

“However true all that may be, father, we are not ready to move against the princesses yet. We need more time to prepare. Furthermore, the human complicates things; we have no idea how he’ll react.”

“Then it is your job to win him over, boy. Getting an unknown like that in our corner or at least out of the way would be very beneficial. I don’t care how you do it, bribe him, promise him wealth and power, your sister’s hoof in marriage; I don’t care even if you have to offer him your own hoof, just get him on our side!”

“Y-yes, father, I’ll talk to him after the ceremony tomorrow.”

---

Shining Armour sat next to his wife, his foreleg wrapped around her. “Are you going to be there tomorrow?” Shining asked. “At the ceremony that Celestia want to hold to welcome the human.”

“Yes, I’ll be there.” Cadence answered as she nuzzled her husband. “From everything I heard, both from you and my aunts, this Hunter seems like a decent pony... human... did you ever find out how he referrers to his own kind?” Shining shook his head in response. A determined look came across Cadence’s face. “Very well, tomorrow I will ask him. Oh, and I should ask him all about his culture's courtship and marriage rituals. Are they the same as ours? Are the different? I’m really looking forwards to this now.”

“Only you would get this excited talking about love, my love.” Shining said with a smile.

“Well, I am the Princess of Love, and it is my duty to spread it where ever I go; and I can hardly do that if I don’t understand it, now can I?”

“No, no my dear, you certainly cannot.”

---

Shrouded Armour pushed the doors to the castle smithy open; the dark furred unicorn could feel the heat from the forge as he entered. The ringing of metal striking metal filled his ears as Shrouded made his way through the smithy to find the forge master. He passed by the last furnace, he found a steel grey earth pony. “Fire Forged; I need you to make something.” Shrouded Armour said as way form greeting.

“And hello to you too Captain Shrouded Armour. What brings you down to my forge?” Fire Forged asked with a smile.
Shrouded Armour produced a book and flipped through it until he found the page he was looking for. “I want you to make this.”

Fire Forged studied the page for several minutes before looking back up at Shrouded. “You want me to build this? Are you sure? What will the princesses say?”

“Don’t worry about the princesses, I’ll handle them. There is more; I don’t want it made from steel.”

“If you don’t want it made from steel, does that mean you want it forged from...?”

“Yes. Yes I do.”

“Alright, it will take several days though.”

“That’s fine, just let me know when it’s done.” Shrouded Armour told the forge master. Fire Forged took the book and headed off to find the material he would need, leaving the captain of the night guard alone.

---

Valiant Heart quickly read through yet another book before tossing into a pile with a dozen others. “Another dead end!” He exclaimed as his frustration built. “Why do none of these books have the answers I need!”

Valiant stared at the pile of books he had amassed. Not one of them contained any story or legend about humans interacting with alicorns. “There is several on unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, but none about alicorns, and all take place before the founding of Equestira.” Valiant thought aloud, then paused as revelation dawned on him. “Of course! Alicorns weren’t a part of pony society until AFTER Equestria was founded, so they would never have had a chance to interact with a human!”

The raspy voiced unicorn began to pace back and forth. “But what do I do about it now? If there is nothing to go on from the past... wait, is it alicorns themselves that are the problem or is it the amount of magic they have. He did say that there is no magic in the world he’s from; and the princess had to do something to him too keep him from being killed by the ambient magic in the atmosphere. If it is just the quantity of magic that is causing the problem...”

Leaving the book scattered around, Valiant Heart exited the archives mumbling to himself as a plan slowly formed in his head.

---

Hunter sat on the balcony that was attached to his room, his back against the railing; the day’s events raced through his head. The pain in his head had faded as he moved away from Luna, but he still felt conflicted about how he handled the situation. At the time he felt an uncontrollable need to put distance between him and the blue alicorn; however now he was unsure if simply walking out on her was the right thing to do. A sense of dread slowly crept over him as he realized that he was supposed to appear in the court session the next day for his official royal welcome to Equestria. It does seem to be proximity based, though; maybe it will be alright. He said to himself. The hall is pretty big; if there is enough distance between us it shouldn’t be a problem. And hopefully I’ll be seeing that pony doc soon, and maybe we’ll get to the bottom of this whole thing.

Still sitting on the balcony, his thoughts eventually slowed and he drifted off to sleep.

Sickly yellow eyes staring out from the darkness.
Long clawed hands wrapped around steel bars.
A cage set behind a dark throne.
A maiden with flowing golden hair all inside an ivory tower.
The sun slowly setting.

Hunter slowly woke as the morning sun filled his eyes. “And still with the strange dreams.” He muttered to himself as he slowly stood and stretched. Looking around he realized that he was standing on the balcony. Working out the stiffness in his joints he prepared himself for the day.

---

The grand hall will filled with ponies; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood at the far end, looking over the crowd from their thrones. Along the wall to their right a large group of ministers and noble born ponies were standing; on the other side of the hall were members of the military and prominent business owners. At the back of the hall a large crowd of common ponies who had caught word of what was happening and managed to get into the palace before the gallery filled. In the center off the hall stood the lone human; Hunter.

From his position next to the minsters and the nobility ambassador to the Griffon Kingdom; Kruger watched as Hunter spoke with the princesses. The griffon was forced to admit to himself that the human was doing far better than he expected; everything from the way that Hunter stood, to how he moved his hands, to the tone of his voice showed that he had a fair amount of self confidence. Yet, his voice remained nothing but respectful as he addresses the rulers of Equestria; not once did he speak down to them, however by the same token, neither did he address them as if he was one of their subjects; although he used their titles and honorifics, he spoke to the princesses as if they were equals.

As the conversation between the princesses and Hunter came to a close, the human gave a sweeping bow. “It would be an honour, privilege and pleasure to not only stay within your fine country, your majesties, but also within your palace.”

“Then we welcome you to our kingdom, Hunter, first human visitor from Earth.” Celestia spike with a regal tone in her voice.

“Welcome to Equestria, Hunter.” Luna added, her voice sounding slightly less confident than her sisters.

The next hour became a blur for Hunter has he was quickly introduced to dignitaries, nobleponies, ministers, representatives, reporters and guests. By the end of it, Hunter could barely remember the names of all the ponies he had met, and matching them to faces seemed impossible. The crowd eventually began to disperse; the photographers took a few last minute shots before they too left. Finding himself free of the giant pony mob, Hunter exhaled slowly as he sunk into a chair.

“So lad, seems that you were quite the attraction.” Ambassador Kruger said as he walked up to the human. “Was your first ‘official’ day in this her pony land everything you expected it to be.”

Hunter shook his head and gave a small chuckle. “No, Ambassador, it was not. For one thing I didn’t expect the turnout to be so... large.”

“Well, that’s them ponies for you;” Kruger smiled, “Once they got wind of you, they couldn’t just keep away.”

“Makes sense, if a unicorn showed up back home people would come out in droves to see the thing.”

“Well, hang in there lad; it’s probably only going to get busier for you from here. Now that the princesses have made your presence known to the world a lot of creatures are going to take an interest in you. I’d hate to tell you this, lad, but there might come a time when you are going to have to make a choice; and it’s not going to be one that I would want to have to make.”

“Great.” Hunter said as he closed his eyes and his head flopped backwards so it was resting on the wall. “As if this wasn’t complicated enough; ‘oh, by the way, before you get too comfortable here, you might be forced to move to a new land, is that ok with you?’”

“Relax, lad. It might not be that bad; you might not be force to make that choice at all.”

“Yeah, probably; there’s no sense on worrying about something like that now.” Hunter’s eyes opened to face the griffon once more. “Deal with that when the time comes.”

“Good lad.” Kruger said and used a talon to pat the human on the back. “Keep your beak sharp, and your eyes keen, and you can make it through anything. I got to get back to it, but best of luck to ya.”

“Thanks man; that was actually kinda helpful.” Hunter said smiling.

The griffon laughed as he walked off, leaving the human alone. Hunter stood, taking a quickly look around himself as he tried to figure out what he should do next. However, his thoughts were interrupted when a voice called out to him. Turning to get a look at the speaker, Hunter found himself looking at a white unicorn with a blond mane, was wearing a suit and had an eight pointed star that was gold and silver. “You’re... Prince Blueblood, right?” Hunter asked as he studied the unicorn in front of him.

“That is correct.” Blueblood replied. “I supposed that it is as much of an honour for you to meet me as it is for me to greet the first human in Equestria.”

And that title is never going away now. Hunter said to himself. “So, prince, is there something you needed?”

“I was just curious about what you intend on doing her in Canterlot. If you are going to stay here, eventually you will need to align yourself with one of the noble houses. It is just a tradition, of course, but in order to live or do business here in this city, you need to be associated with one of them.”

“And I take it that you are taking the time to tell me that being the personal guest of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna is not enough; and, for my benefit, you are offering me an invitation to ‘associate’ with your house?”

“You are as clever as they say you are. Yes, this is an informal and unofficial invitation to become an associate with my house. Just think, the first human allied with the Royal Bloodline family, the prestige for such a thing would be unmatched.”

Hunter remained silent for several moments as he slowly thought about what Blue Blood told him. “Sorry, you highness.” He final spoke, “For now, I feel it is probably best that I refuse all invitations; at least until I get better acquainted with this city and those in it.”

“Fair enough, but remember my offer still stands.” Blue Blood said before he gave a small bow and left.

“And what offer is that?” Shrouded Armour asked as he approached the human.

Hunter shook his head. “Probably nothing that important; something about wanting me to join his house or something like that.”

“Ah, so they’ve started already.” Shrouded said with a small sigh.

“What’s this now?” Hunter asked becoming more and more confused at what all the ponies around him were talking about.

“Well, he’s probably told you that you need to ‘associate’ with one of the families to like and work here, right?”

“Yeah.”

“While it’s not an actual legal requirement, it’s something the nobility came up with. Think of it as a way for them to show off just how important they are; they uses the list of businesses and associated names in their little games as they attempt to get more power over the other families. Of course, the princesses stop them from acquiring too much power by declaring certain things off limits to them; such as weather control and the various utilities.”

“So, why do they do it then? What about the guard, do they associate with one of the houses or are they considered a separate entity? And what does any of this have to do with me?”

“Wealth, power, bragging rights, or maybe boredom; I really don’t know why they do what they do. As for the guards, although there are those that were born or previously associated with one of the houses, upon entering their ranks, a guardspony must swear an oath to protect and serve Equestria and the Princesses before serving any house. If a pony is caught placing house interests before Equestian interests it can become a very serious scandal, and can reflect poorly on that pony’s house.”

“And me?”

“Not only are you new, and the first-slash-only human here, by being a guest of the Princesses it makes you important; you’re that brass horseshoe that everypony is going to try and grab; they’re not going to stop until you pick.”

“So, what am I supposed to do? I have no interest in being some trophy for some random pony family.”

“You might want to considered looking at one of the small houses; such as House Lulamoon, they’re an older, well established, family but rarely get involved in the day to day politics and games the rest of the houses play. If not them maybe Twilight Hall is more your thing; fairly small family, but are up and coming, and have yet to show any real political ambition.”

“Lulamoon, Twilight Hall? If you hadn’t just told me that the guards are supposed to be politically neutral, I would think that you were playing favorites.” Hunter grinned.

“No, nothing like that.” Shrouded waved one of his hooves dismissively. “We Night Guard are completely neutral in the area of house politics, regardless of any... coincidental naming of them.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.”

“But is that really it? Join some house, or leave the capital and still get chased down by all these families just so I can be some kind of trophy?”

“Well, if you can get yourself a neutral position like ambassador...”

“I don’t see how that would work, since I can’t even talk to the people back home, let alone be considered an ambassador.”

“Your other options are to join a different nation...”

“And have the same problem there that I’m having here?”

“Or to join the Royal Family. But, that is implausible; only one pony has ever joined the royal family; and if it is that hard for a pony to join, it would be next to impossible for a non-pony to join.”

“You are no help at all.” Hunter deadpanned. The two of them silently stared at each other for several minutes before they both started to laugh. “Anyway, you must have had some reason to come find me other than to give me hopeless advice.”

“It might not be as impossible as I made it out to be just next to impossible; and yes, I’ve received word from Dr. Triage, she’s ready to see you.”

“Well, maybe this will make one of my problems go away.”

---

Several hours later, Hunter found himself sitting, exhausted, in Dr. Triage’s office. The green unicorn doctor had run every scan she could think of, and ran ever test possible, plus one or two more that she had just invented, on the human; as well as drawing more blood than Hunter was comfortable loosing. “So, doc, after all that; did you actually find anything?” Hunter asked.

“Well, we have to wait for your blood work to be done, but... no, I couldn’t find anything physically wrong with you.” Triage said, her head hanging slightly. “Whatever is causing the headaches that you are experiencing is not rooted in a physical cause. More likely, since you are a non-magic creature that has been forcibly injected into magic rich world, your body is having a hard time adapting. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to go about treating this.”

“So, what do I do?” Hunter asked, concern coming through in his voice. “Avoid the princesses forever and hope that it doesn’t get any worse?”

“I don’t think it will come to that. I’ve talked to Princess Celestia and she assured me that she would send for somepony that specializes in magical problems; with any luck, this pony should be able to figure out what the problem is and help you fix it.”

“I guess that’s something. When is this specialist supposed to arrive?”

“My understanding is that they do not live in Canterlot, so they should be here within the next few days. For your convenience, the Princess will be arranging it so that they will be meeting you at the palace.”

“Well, thanks doc, take care.” Hunter thanked Triage as he stood and moved towards the office door.

“Take care of yourself as well.” Triage said, then as an afterthought added; “Oh. I’ll let you know when the test on your blood is done. I’m curious to see what they’ll say.”

Hunter left the doctor to her work and exited her office. Slowly making his way down the hall, Hunter could feel his exhaustion was starting to overpower him. “Alright, just get back to your room and you can sleep until that specialist pony arrives.” He told himself, trying to gather strength to make the rest of the trip.

“If you are feeling that unwell, I could have somepony assist you.” A strong, yet kind voice spoke up.

Hunter lifted his head, and found Celestia standing several feet away from him. “Princess Celestia; sorry, I didn’t know you were standing there.”

“It is quite alright, Hunter.” Celestia replied. “I was hoping to speak with you; I understand that you’ve had quite the eventful day, but my sister and I was hoping that you would be willing to join us for dinner.”

Hunter hesitated for a moment before answering. “Although it sounds nice, I’m not sure if it’s really a good idea.”

“Do not worry; we are arranging the dining area so that you do not need to worry about your health.”

“Then... that seems alright.”

---

Tears started to form in both Shining Armour and Shrouded Armour eyes as they laughed; while Princess Cadence let out a small giggle, Princess Celestia smiled, but managed to suppressed her laughed, Luna on the other hand stared wide eyed and mouth open. Hunter, at the far end of the table, and a safe distance away from the three alicorns continued his story between bouts of laughter; “...and he had no idea it was there. He walked around for over an hour with that thing on his head.”

“Oh, that must have been quite the sight.” Celestia said from her end of the table. “I can’t believe that he never noticed. Was he never told it was there?”

“No, no one ever said anything; I’m still amazed that he never realized that it was there.”

“It is truly a marvel how such a thing could go unnoticed upon one’s head.” Luna finally spoke, her expression changing into a soft smile. “It brings back memories of our own youth, does it not, sister?”

“Yes it does sister.” Celestia answered. “Like the time we both tried to switch the others shampoo with hair dye; and the disaster it turned out to be?”

“Of course I remember; over half the courtiers began to paint stripes on themselves.”

“Aunties, I can’t believe the two of you would do something like that.” Cadence said with her mouth hanging open.

“Well, we were both quiet young at the time.” Celestia said in way of explanation.

The conversation, stories and laughter continued on though the evening; eventually, however, it began to fade. Princess Cadence and Shining Armour were the first to bid the other ‘goodnight’ before leaving for their own room. Shrouded Armour was the next to leave, saying something about keeping the new recruits in line. After a few more minutes had passed, Princess Celestia declared that is was now time for her to retire for the day, and left Luna alone with Hunter.

“Princess... Luna, I just want to thank you.” Hunter said as he rose from his chair.

“Thank us? For what?” Luna asked, tilting her head on a slight angle.

“For this, tonight. Tonight was the first time I felt that I could somehow fit in with your kind; not just live amongst them, but actually live with them. If that makes any sense.” Hunter explained. “So, thank you.” Hunter gave a small bow and left the dining room intent on finding his bed.

As Hunter slowly made his way down the last hall to his room, he was surprised to find that there were no guards standing outside the door. Deciding that he was too tried think about why they weren’t there or to do anything about it, he pushed the door open and entered the room. As the door closed, a figure wrapped in dark clothing slowly slunk around the corner. Its sickly yellow eyes narrowed as it stared at the door the human had just went through.

Comments

[Perception Filter]

Dun dunnnnn. TACTICAL PLOT DEVELOPMENTS INCOMING!

TAKE COVER!

[ArtyTheReader]

Such a great story!! Why must you cliffhang it here! D:

[Dynomutt]

"Align yourself with a house"
It's just like Morrowind all over again.

[NmB]

My god, half equestria is against the royal princesses