Hunter

Three days later...

A boy in a white hoodie sat in a back alley of Canterlot, a daily paper in his hands. One of his eyes were concealed by a white eye patch. It was Trance, but the color of his entire outfit had went from black to white.

“Hm.”

He’d flipped through the paper three times, this time making four. He had an unsatisfied look on his face. He mumbled the headings aloud.

“Help wanted...Used carriage for sell...Looking for roommate...Cloudy with a certain chance to snow...Daily drag all around...” He folded the paper and looked at the date. This was certainly this days paper...

‘They haven’t said anything about it...It’s been three days...’

He folded the paper he was reading and tossed it in an open trashcan. He leaned back, feeling the cold brick wall against his sore head. He rested his chin on his hand. Using his other hand, he pulled out a metal broad head arrow and studied it.

‘Do they shrug off hits like nothing...?’

He frowned and mentally slapped himself.

‘Can’t be...Those ponies in jumpsuits went down fair enough...Sure can put up one hell of a fight...Besides...When I first hunted that green pony, a single shot brought him down...It was a bit stringy, but tasted a lot like venison...I wish I wasn’t interrupted when I was skinning the hide...’

He grinned slightly.

‘Heh...Ponies my ass...I’ve never seen a horse fight transitioning from four and two leg stances, much less have a horn and wings...’

He returned the arrow to his quiver and shook his head.

‘Still...It remains to be said that that dark horse is injured...Why hasn’t anyone said anything about it? I saw her go down...That lavender pony near her even cried out her name...’

“Princess Luna.”

He paused.

He stood up and dusted off his pants. He realized what happened, even feeling silly he didn’t realize it right away.

‘This princess was injured, but the injury is being kept a secret. If a nation was to learn that one of their leaders went down, there would be panic, possibly even martial law...That is what this place is scared of: chaos among the crowds. There is no other reason why they wouldn’t state this attack in the papers. Typical. It's not any different than where I'm from.’

He stared at the dirty wall in front of him. He couldn’t help but start laughing. He put a hand to his head.

“Three and a half days here and I already got this place by the ropes. I should give myself more credit...” His hand began to tap the side of his face as he began to summarize what he knew for certain.

‘I came here three and a half days ago. I hunted a pony, was seen by a pale yellow pony, then was chased by others. Night came and I beat three winged ponies in matching uniforms. I stumbled upon a crystal tree castle that I saw from the distant. That ebony princess, Luna, was there. I shot her, uncertain of her status, ran through the edges of the forest, then hitched a ride on a train to this city. Things have been calm since.’

He frowned deeply. He kicked the metal trashcan, denting and knocking it over.

‘Such sloppy work! God I'm a failure...! Why didn’t I make sure I killed that princess? And why did I hesitate when shooting her...?’

It’s true. His bow had an ungodly pull back of 120 pounds. It had more than enough force to pierce two people entirely, and seriously injure a third. It's ability to pierce armor literally classified it as a war bow. That arrow he fired should have went all the way through her.

Trance hesitated and he did not know why. Was it pity that stopped him?

The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. The gnawing anger kept growing. He wasn’t able to stop it. Once again, unbeknownst to him, a dark mist started to flow out from under his eye patch. The eerie mist stopped as quick as it started.

‘I don't care who or what gets in my way. I need closure...I need to see that thing dead.’

He touched the thin chain that was hooked to his pants. He tugged the chain, pulling a small compact mirror out from his pocket. The mirror was made from a dark Bloodstone. It was engraved with many gems; Garnets, red Jasper, and red Diamonds bordered the crystal like mirror.

He looked at the back of the mirror for several long moments.

He still didn’t fully comprehend the power of the small mirror. This world was merely an experiment for a while; a toy that he wanted to play with. He just wanted to see where the mirror took him. However, this world had a surprise up its sleeve.

He didn’t expect anyone here to learn anything about him. However, someone invaded his dreams and learned something dark about him. He wasn’t sure how much they learned. But...

His hand trailed to the large scar near his midsection.

...They did learn enough. It was something personal.

He bit his tongue.

‘I don’t want to return home. Not until that ebony pony is dead...’

He started to taste blood. He stopped biting, not realizing how hard he bit his tongue.

‘Patience is a virtue though. Besides, it has been a eighty hours. The police at home should have calmed down by now...’

The chain attached to the mirror started to glow. The chain started to stretch, becoming several feet long. The glowing length of chain started to wrap loosely around Trance, from the ground to his head. The small mirror suddenly increased in size, becoming a full human sized pane of crystal glass. Trace looked to the castle in the distance: the capital of Equestria.

“Once I get what I need, I’ll be back to kill you for what you saw, Luna.”

The mirror fell on Trance, engulfing him in a blinding light.

In seconds, Trance and the mirror were gone.

A large stack of assorted books fell to the floor as soon as he left. Wide violet eyes stared into the alley way, her mouth in an unmoving circle.

“It was a human...!?”

Twilight Sparkle took to the sky and flew like a Rainbow Dash with rockets.

Being mortally wounded wasn’t all that bad.

In fact, it meant all the dark molten chocolate chip cookie cake that Luna could eat, hoofmade by Celestia herself.

Celestia stood idly by, wearing an apron that said “Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.” An amused grin was on her face as she watched as her sister and counterpart stuffed her face with cake, occasionally slowing down and nibbling a cookie.

“I’m glad to see that your injury hasn’t wavered your appetite,” Celestia said with an earnest smile. Luna chugged half a glass of milk before sighing cutely.

“Of course! Thou hast honed her cooking skills to a fine point over the years.” She began her work on another cake. There was in fact a pyramid of them next to her dresser. It certainly was a wonder on how she didn’t fall into a sugar coma after the first cake alone. One cake had enough sugar in it to send a regular pony to the hospital with type 2 diabetes. Alicorn metabolism surely was an interesting thing.

Though, there was one occasion when a certain Element of Laughter got a hold of one of the princess’s infamous cakes. To this day, neither of them are certain how she survived eating an entire cake like nothing.

Celestia removed her apron and began to neatly fold it.

“This is wonderful,” Luna said suddenly, a small smile on her face. Celestia teleported the apron back to her personal kitchen.

“I’m not sure it deserves so much praise. I’m not that good a cook.” Luna shook her head.

“Not the cake. I mean us.” Luna sat up in her bed, careful not to falter the magical bandages around her chest in the slightest. Celestia had put quite a few enchantments on them. While she remained a bit sore, she was good as she was before the attack. “For the first time in years, I feel as though we are normal sisters.” Celestia blinked at her sister before giving her a smile that almost hid the shadow of doubt in her eyes.

Almost.

Luna sighed, looking as tired as Celestia felt.

“It has been quite some time, has it not?” Celestia dipped her head towards her sister.

“Indeed it has.”

They weren’t talking about their sisterhood anymore. They were talking about the figure whose dreams Luna saw, the very same figure who brutalized the top three Wonderbolts, as well as nearly ended Luna’s own life. They hadn’t brought the subject up since Luna had been attacked. Both of them weren’t entirely sure how to even go about the subject. It had been years, centuries even, since somepony had been attacked and murdered.

“I have heard from Twilight,” Celestia started,“that the one who fell victim to this...hunter was a simple gardener. He was getting on in his ages, but was a humble old man. His name was Hayseed Greenhooves, though everyone called him Mr. Greenhooves. He was apparently attacked on the pathway to Fluttershy’s home. He came over once a week to water her flowers.” She paused and sat down at the end of Luna’s magnificent bed, giving her a moment to digest this.

“Did he receive a proper burial?” Celestia nodded her head.

“The people of Ponyville buried what they could find.” Luna felt the blood slowly drain from her face.

“What doth you mean, ‘What they could find?’” The sun equine shook her head.

“There had been a small fire nearby. Some of him was cooked and eaten.” Luna covered her mouth with a hoof to prevent herself from throwing up. She swallowed very hard, her mouth dry. Luna could look past Celestia’s stoic attitude and see that she too felt equally appalled.

“So he practices Griffin customs.” Luna managed to say. It was no secret that the Griffins were omnivore. Their practices of hunting were mostly done on fish and small game and such. Though, there had always been a non spoken rule never to murder and eat a pony.

“Perhaps. It can be reasoned with that this creature was hungry, thus acted on predatory instincts of some sort. However...” Celestia’s demeanor suddenly turned dark. “...that does not justify him attacking you.” Luna was quiet.

“I suppose...” A void like silence befell upon the two. “I do question what I hath seen in that one’s dreams though,” Luna pointed out. Celestia nodded her head slightly, remaining quiet.

The sound of breaking glass brought both them back to reality as a lavender Alicorn fell through the ceiling skylights.

“Twilight?” both sisters mimicked at the same time, making them give each other a look. They turned back to Twilight. They both noticed that she was panting hard, gasping for breath.

“C-Celestia! I...I saw it ! That figure with one eye! It was here in Canterlot, near the bookstore!” Celestia stood straight up and was about to call for the guards, if it weren’t for the breathless Twilight putting her hooves up. “L-let me finish!” Twilight paused, taking several deep breaths. Luna looked at her funny.

“Why did you not teleport?” Twilight opened her mouth and held a up a hoof, preparing a logical explanation. She couldn’t think of one and found herself facehoofing.

“T-that is besides the point!” She shook her head rush off, her mind processing a little faster. “That thing that attacked Luna and Hayseed was a human!” They both gave her confused looks.

“You mean those creatures you befriend through the Crystal Mirror? The alternative reality of humans with affinities to that of your friends here?” Celestia questioned quickly and knowledgeably.

“Yes, but this one was different. I don’t know what it was, but I don’t think he was from the same place as them.” Twilight shook her head. Her eyes became pinpricks. “He had some kind of artifact. It looked like a smaller version of the Crystal Mirror, but it was different. He used it to teleport away.”

“Away? Away where?” Celestia questioned. Twilight shook her head, but Luna answered.

“To another plane of existence. Another world, if you may.” Luna shook her head. “It does explain why his dream was so foreign to me...” Twilight face drained of all emotion except for fear as she looked at the Princess of the Night.

“Luna,” she said in a voice that was so fearful that she completely captured both sisters’ attention. “I don’t know what you saw in his dreams, but I heard him say that he would be back after he prepared. He said that he was going to kill you for what you saw.” Luna’s face contorted to a look of fear, Celestia’s forming one of shock. They remained like that for some time, muddling in their own mixed thoughts.

“These are grave news indeed,” Celestia muttered out in a weak voice, one that had none of its usual regal power. “We do not know the full extent of what this human is capable of, much less this replica mirror artifact he has acquired.” She turned to the lavender mare. “Twilight, go to the Crystal Mirror. Look if anything strange has happened to it, like if it had been tampered with in any way. Once you do that, see if your friends in the other world can tell us anything about this one eyed figure.” She nodded her head, slightly shaken.

“Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Her horn glowed bright as she teleported away, once again leaving the two sisters.

“Sister,” Luna started. Celestia turned to her. “If we can not apprehend this human soon, we will need to announce his presence to all our citizens. I fear that rumors have already spread from Ponyville to our streets.”

“I know. I worry how our ponies will react.” She frowned as she magically fixed the broken skylights. “I worry more of how the other empires will react. Tensions are strained as things stand.” Luna nodded her head in agreement.

“If one of us is to be attacked again, it shall spark turmoil. If I am to die, we will look vulnerable. It wouldn’t be long after until war would be declared on us and Equestria.”