Hunter

I awoke to a soft, blue light in my left eye. It seemed to get brighter until my eyes fluttered open and then the light was suddenly gone. I sat up and put my head in my palm to clear away the blurriness in my vision. Suddenly, I sprang up and looked around wildly for the bear that had attacked me. Seeing nothing around, I put a hand up to the left side of my face where I was struck. There was nothing there so signify any impact of any sort. No soreness, no cuts, bruises, broken bones, not ever so much as a scratch on my face.

I shook my head in confusion as I mounted my ATV again and then looked up at the sun. It hadn't moved much since I last saw it which meant I wasn't out for very long. Either that or I was out for a whole day, but that was unlikely since I would have frozen to death over night. I revved the engine to the ATV and headed out back to where I had made my kill.

The farther I went into the forest, the less familiar it looked, which I thought to be rather odd, because I knew these woods like the back of my own hand. I could find the dear anywhere, which most likely meant that the bear had found it and taken it away before I came to, or I was lost, which was highly unlikely, since, as I said, I knew these woods and I also knew what direction my hunting grounds where. Suffice it to say, I was a little disturbed, but then decided to attribute the unfamiliarity with my own forest with a head injury. So I then turned around and headed back to came to pack everything up and head home.

"Ugh, that's aggravating," I grumbled through clenched teeth as I dismounted the ATV to pack up my equipment.

I made it home with my bow, crossbow, and many arrows in my prestige, frame pack. It looked like I would have to move to tree blind to the west of the house. Losing track of the buck also meant I had lost my only salt block. I guess it serves me right for not taking it back with me when I went for the ATV.

With a sigh, I headed inside my house. I always had the dream of living in a massive, log made mansion with extravagant windows from top to bottom, but there was no way I could afford something like that, nor did I have the time and patients for that kind of thing, so I went with a nice, cozy, log cabin crafted by my own hands. Of course, it wasn't just timbers, because I still used a bit of drywall in places, but it was quite a house from the outside and inside alike.

I decided to resort to my refrigerator for lunch and dinner before I headed back out tomorrow to the west. Before digging through my store bought goodies, I put my bows and arrows under the little shelf I had with my clothes rolled up in nice, neat, triangular stacks. I was going to get myself a dresser, but at the moment, it didn't matter that much to me. I hung my sweatshirt up on a coat hanger in my closet, put my mask and gloves on the second shelf of my dresser/shelf, and went to the bathroom to wash myself up. My hunting clothes would have to be washed later, but I was too hungry to dwell on that at the moment.

I turned on the faucet, only to receive a few sputters in return until it stopped pumping water all together. I scowled as I got my boots back on and headed out to the lakeside behind my house. As I expected, the intake filter was nice and gummed up. I reached down into the cold water and unscrewed the culprit of my sink problem. I thrashed it in the water until the algae had been taken away, and re-screwed the filter to the pump.

Taking little time as possible, I jogged back to the front door of my cabin and went inside, taking my boots off at the mat as I did so. Returning to my bathroom, I turned the sink back on. Nothing.

I sighed as I flipped the light switch to the bathroom. Nothing. I looked at myself in the mirror for a bit with a forced smile before going down to the basement to start the generator. Suffice it to say, I've had to use the generator more times that I would like. The machine revved up quickly and several lights about the house fluttered on.

Satisfied that the water would work now, I went back upstairs to clean up. I turned that faucet back on and it sputtered for a few seconds before it ran out a bit of murky water. I let it run the dirt out until I got good, clean water to wash my hands and face. I took a look in the mirror after splashing my face. Recalling the memory of me being pawed by a bear, I noticed there was no swelling, blood, or bruise marking my face. I shook my head as I pushed it of once again.

I finished up with washing and made my way to the kitchen to make myself a simple ham sandwich. Tomorrow was Sunday, but it didn't look like I had time for church that day. It was a good thing Pastor Merkle recorded his sermons. Unfortunately as well, Monday I had to get back to work, so Sunday was the last day I had until Saturday next week. I lived in the forest just north of Deary and east of Bovill, which made Moscow only twenty more minutes away than it was in my hometown where I grew up if I went by truck. I mostly used my ATV to get to either nearby town, but getting to Moscow was a different thing, Moscow being the place I went to church at. I sighed as my frustration built. I didn't like missing church, but I especially didn't like going hungry. With my mind made up, and a plan set for my Sunday, I decided to go chop some wood for a while.

I had only been out chopping logs for about ten minutes before I heard something out in the trees I always hated. Rustling bushes and low growling is what had my attention. With hardly a moment's hesitation, I quickly whipped out my .45 ACP and quietly ran behind the corner of my house. Coyote packs had been frequently visiting my cabin recently, and I could understand why, but it had begun to be a weekly routine.

I peeked out from the corner of my house and looked to where I heard the growling. I was ready for an easy wolf killing. What I wasn't ready for was to see several wolves either covered in wood and foliage or made of wood and foliage. I really couldn't tell. Either way, it was disturbing.

I realized that my mind was drifting and I wasn't paying attention to the wolves anymore as I was thinking about the impossibility of them being there in the first place. I was the kind of person to think about weird things and ideas at the most inappropriate times.

Coming back to my senses, I quickly lifted my sidearm to peer down the sight only to realize that there wasn't anything there anymore.

"Curious," I said to myself as I furrowed my eyebrows. "I could have sworn I saw...wooden wolves...well, I was obviously just seeing things."

Deciding to shake the odd sighting from my head, I went back to chopping logs. It wouldn't have been the first time I thought I saw something that wasn't there. After all, my far sight vision wasn't all that great. Yeah, that must have been it...or was it?

Twilight stood on her balcony from her crystal castle that was equally as lavender as her own coat of fur. The little alicorn looked out over the tops of the trees of the nearby Everfree forest, searching with a scrutinizing eye.

"Great. Well, that was a fail," she said disappointingly.

Pinkie Pie bounced over to her purple friend and replied, "Practice makes perfect! Maybe if you tried it with something a little smaller. After all, an ursa minor is pretty big to just teleport back into the Everfree."

"That's true," Twilight thought allowed, feeling quite weary from the task.

Just five minutes previous an ursa minor had waddled out of the Everfree. However, it wasn't quite so much of a threat. It was actually injured; it's belly had been torn up quite badly and it was looking for a place to lay down. The townsfolk were not too keen on a giant bear coming to town, of course, so it certainly cause quite the uproar. However, before it came within the city limits, the massive beast lay down, just outside the forest. For hours it lay there, not moving one bit. When Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight went to go investigate the matter, they soon realized that the ursa was getting ready to die right there outside of town. Twilight then took it upon herself to remove the bear from the sight (but not before Fluttershy dispensed a good amount of tears for the poor creature), and tried to teleport the beast back into the Everfree. The thing is, she did manage to teleport it, but not back into the Everfree, as far as she could tell anyhow. Actually, no pony really knew where it had gone, which was the problem.

Twilight sighed and entered back into her castle, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie accompanying her. Closing the doors to the balcony behind her with her magic, she decided that if the ursa minor was gone and if it wasn't going to come back and still be a problem, it wasn't something worth worrying about.

There was a sudden quake that shook the ground. It was quiet and gentle, but it reverberated through the earth, making the castle quiver ever so slightly. The three ponies stood very still for a moment, but nothing happened.

"What was that?" Twilight asked, being quite confused.

"Perhaps a far off earthquake?" Fluttershy suggested.

"I don't think so. If that-" Twilight was cut off by another tremor.

They waited again, and a third time the ground trembled, but on barely. After that, it stopped. Twilight looked to her two friends with concern etched into her countenance, "That can't be good. We should probably get out of here in case there actually is an earthquake."

Pinkie and Fluttershy hastily agreed as they followed her out of the giant, crystal castle and out into the streets of Ponyville. Once outside, they saw that they weren't the only ones worried. There were ponies all about the streets and markets, but not a single one of the dared to move. The entire town was utterly silent. Even the birds stopped chirping.

Something wasn't right. In fact, something was terribly wrong.