Turns out yes a giant constellation bear can hide pretty well, I searched around the Everfree for hours and didn’t even find a single hair of it. ‘This is impossible, how can they disappear just like that?’Yes the Ursas disappeared in the short time I stayed in Manehattan and now I can’t find them at all.

‘Why can’t I have a marker point like in the game?’ I sighed and shook my head at my own stupidity. I stopped in a cleared area of the woods to think for a bit. Fortunately enough any creature that stumbled on me was either a passive one or didn’t try to eat me so I stood there in peace for a bit.

“You should really start to ask your friends instead of doing everything alone.” The voice of Fluttershy said from within.

“You say it like it is easy for me to do so, I have no friends here. Maybe Fire Tempest, but he is just somebody I know the name of.” I told her.

“That’s not true, you have Sunset.” She insisted, with a care I couldn’t honestly understand that much.

“She hates me, I am a monster, not even a real creature, an amalgamation of thoughts and personalities who thinks are a person. For all I know my-” I stopped.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What doesn’t? Is there something that troubles you?”

“Nothing you need to be concerned about. How would I use Sunset to find these creatures anyway?” I replied.

I could feel she was dissatisfied with my answer, “Use, is the wrong term my dear. We don’t use ponies, we help each other. Harmony is what brings us together, what makes us stronger.”

“Strength of this kind can’t defeat Celly can it?” I said.

“I won’t tell, anyway why don’t you try to ask your other friend if you find the thought of going back that revolting?” She suggested.

“Not revolting, unappealing. I just don’t want to face her now, too much was done in too little time.”

“Maybe that’s wise, but still. Find in yourself to open up to her a bit, to find your strengths one must first pass through the weaknesses.” She finished.

“I’ll see what I can do. Thanks.”

“Anytime dear, now why don’t you start looking for him? He should be much easier to find, no? Just follow the fires.”

I stood up and took flight, it wasn’t long before I saw a plume of smoke in the distance. “Follow the fire it is then.”

WINDY

The first day of being a mailmare was a wonderful one, I got to visit all the city. The ponies were friendly and they even thanked me with some goodies like muffins, I do like muffins. They smiled and waved and they were so happy to see me!

“So how was the day?” Daisy asked from the kitchen.

“It was wonderful! A lot of ponies were there and they were all so nice.” I told her, and she then exited the kitchen with a sandwich..

“That’s nice, so how much did you make?” She asked simply.

“Uhm, something something three thousand bits.” I replied remembering each and every coin I was given, that was weird.

“Thre-” She sputtered coughing from her choking on the sandwich. “Three thousands?” She continued flabbergasted.

“Yup. Not bad uh?” I giggled.

“Holy moly that job is gonna make you rich Windy, you won’t have to live here anymore.” She replied with a tinge of sadness.

“Uhm, nah.” I replied sitting down on the couch. “I like it here, and best of all it is free. Comes with a wonderful friend too.”

“Fine.” She said with a huge grin. “But you better pay the rent.” She then sat on the couch near me. “So wanna try how fast your legs can go tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

The very next day we did just that, we walked to White tail wood and once we were sure there was no one around we started running. Daisy started strong with a paced run to not tire herself out fast, I followed her up close and stood there while she ran. She usually ran very silently. She told me it was because only then could she really feel the world around her. I dared not break the silence. After half an hour of running she finally stopped to get her breath under control, and only then did she speak. We stopped at the edge of a long straight section of the running course throughout the woods.

“Come on Windy, let me see how fast you can go, from here,” She pointed her finger towards the far end of the road. “,to there. Come on!” She cheerfully added.

“Ok, come on legs, let's do it!” I said, pumping a fist in front of me. I crouched down like those runners do, I saw it once on the TV!

DAISY

So, how to explain it? Have you ever seen documentaries about some kind of insects or reptiles? The one where they stand perfectly still and then BAM, they explode into motion?

Yeah something like that, I could see it perfectly. WIndy’s legs kicked off almost twenty centimeters of earth from the ground up in the air, then she sprung up in blur, behind her she only left small holes the size of her feet and Celestia, was she fast. I saw her clear the whole thing in less than ten seconds, I swear I was counting! Those were over five hundred meters!

I stood there slack-jawed, I couldn’t formulate a response to that, how could I? Nothing could move that fast and not while also making holes in the freaking ground. After another second or so I managed to take control of my mouth again only to see Windy smash against the tree on the other end, she collided with the thing taking it down in a shower of splinters and leaves. Her hand shot up from the debris waving at me and then giving me a thumb up.

“Dear me, don’t ever, EVER, pick a fight with Windy. Yours truly Daisy.”

PHIL

I did like Kindness told me to, I started to follow the small but easily spotted fires around the forest. How the whole thing wasn’t already a smoldering ash field I’ll never know. It wasn’t hard to track down Fire Tempest, after the first empty spot I managed to follow his distinct footprints in the green of the forest itself.

It was after a half an hour that I found him resting on a blackened rock, which was also almost ready to finally give up and melt. He saw and immediately perked up. “Hey Hey friendo!”

He said, waving his flaming hand. I jumped up to his rock, wrong move, it collapsed immediately making us tumble down. No damage on my part but I should have considered my weight before doing that.

“Holy fuck!” He shouted tumbling downhill and falling face first into the unyielding ground, he landed with the particular sound of a campfire being moved by the wind, peculiar to say the least. He mumbled something but I couldn’t quite catch it.

“What? I can’t hear you if you speak into the ground.” I told him.

“And whose fault is that I am face first into the ground?” He replied, shooting up and massaging his weirdly bruised face.

“This time I will admit my fault, I did not think the rock was that damaged by your flames.” I told him, showing no hint of real regret.

“Was that supposed to be a compliment about my strength?”

I shook my head.

“You know what? Fuck you, I can’t even be angry if you make that blank face. What do you want? You were quite serious when you told me I couldn’t help you.” He shot back at me.

“I was mistaken, there were unforeseen events that now bind me to ask you for your help. I am in need of your fellow experiments, the one that controls the earth to be specific.” I explained.

He went and put a finger under his chin as if thinking. “Good old Ignus eh?” He said with a chuckle, he then started to hum and most likely think. “I would tell you where he is if I knew that.” He finally said after a bit.

“So you don’t know where he is?” I asked for confirmation.

“Unfortunately, we separated, remember?” He asked, as if I could forget anything. Utterly useless, I wasted my time for nothing. I will have to just search the forest more thoroughly and if that isn’t enough I’ll just make some underground mutants.

I turned back and started to walk away when he put a hand on my shoulder. Not as hot as Celestia’s flames.

“Woah wait wait! I don’t know where he is but I may know a place where he could be.” He said with urgency.

“Explain.”

He made a sour face, he still talked though. “There’s a rock farm not far from here, barely two hours by train from Ponyville, he told us that that’s his farm where his wife lives. If he went somewhere it's there, worth a shot uh?” He proposed.

“Uhm, yes it will be faster than just exploring this whole forest.” I concluded. “Where exactly is this farm?” I asked.

“I can take you there, I know the way.” He said proudly, pointing a finger to himself, “At least I think so, I mean he described the way very well but eh, never went there myself cause… You know, lockdown and all that.”

“Will you be able to keep the pace with me?” I asked.

“I guess?” He answered with a shrug. I morphed my back to allow the sprouting of a pair of wings and started to take flight.

“Take the lead then, I will follow you. If you are too slow I shall instead pick you up and you will give directions.” I said firmly.

“Sure, sure.” His flames bursted up and in a second he was ahead of me, he was very fast and he liked to rub that in my face. I will not forget his mocking grin.

I started to flap my wings and so, together, we left the forest in search of Igneus. The flight wasn’t a long one, nor was it adventurous or anything like that, it was calm, almost relaxing. Of course the sight of Olympus looming over Canterlot really put everything back into the dull light of annihilation.

Ignoring that though the scenery did look quite good. I wondered what was going on on my homeplanet, I would never know.

After a total flight of one hour we finally descended into a dilapidated field, full of only rocks and devoid of any vegetation, in the center of this sad reality was a lone house, big enough for a family of six, once.

Now thought, it lies in ruin, forgotten by even time itself, on the brink of collapse. “Is this the place?” I asked.

“Should be, I recognize the house from what he told me but, I thought his family lived here. I don’t understand, Igneus!” He called out, he called again and again but only after his fourth try did something happen.

The ground started trembling, I sent thousands of hair thick tendrils into the ground to find out if it was a natural occurrence or something else. It was the latter.

A literal monolith of stone arose from the ground, easily well over ten meters tall, looming over the house as if it was just a plaything. The stone then started to get a shape, first were the legs, unrefined, mossy but still looking quite powerful, then it was the torso. It was sculpted to resemble the chest of a pony of this world, the only divergence was the hole where the heart would be.

At last the arms and the head took shape, the arms, as unrefined as the legs. But the face, it was the face of an aged pony, it bore a sad longing expression, his mouth was just a thin line and his eyes rarely sparkled in the sunlight even if made out of gemstone, his mane was a conglomerate of several rocks held together by some kind of string, or fabric. For the standards of the world he would be considered handsome to some and scary to others, with an unreading face and an almost fatherly look.

“Fire.” He pronounced, his deep voice shaking the earth and with it, us. “Why are you here?”

“Igneus dude! I’m glad to see you are still alive, but where's your house man?” Fire Tempest asked, looking behind Igneus.

“Time, time did not wait for me. I arrived too late.” He said, it was a hard and sharp answer, held back by what I could imagine was sorrow. How can a mass of stone and rocks convey so much sadness, it is beyond me. Who am I to talk though, when not even I am alive.

“Igneus.” I interrupted. “My name is-”

“Hunter. Yes, I know of you.” He said, not allowing me to finish. “You were the first escapee, the Magnus Opera of Celestia herself.” He concluded with a wave of his hand. “Thank you for freeing me and my quite temperamental friend here.”

“Yes, to all that. I’m here to ask for your help. Will you?”

“No. I’m sorry but I won’t, I thank you for the freedom you granted me. But too strong is my grief, let me to mourn” He said, he turned around and went towards the house. Fire went up to his face and after not finding any other way grabbed him by his eyebrow.

“Hey, man I-I’m sorry about what happened to you, but we really need your help. He- well I didn’t really ask why he needed your help to be fair but he is hell bent to kill Celestia. Isn’t that reason enough to help him?” He said, trying to convince the giant.

“Revenge? For what? Will it bring my family back? Will it make time reverse and free me from this stone curse? I don’t think so.” He said looking directly at Fire.

“Well of course not, I think. But hey you can at least make her pay for what she did to you!” Fire insisted.

“To go on the path of revenge is to dig two graves. I am already dead.” He responded looking at the house. “I died with them.”

“What is your goal now. To mourn and live like a dead man already?” I asked. “Would they want you to?”

“Do not talk to me like you know me Hunter. You know little, you did not have a family, you did not lose anything.” He replied coming back with thunderous steps, he bent down to look at me directly.

“Why would you care? You are the perfect being according to her, why would you even care about what happens to us? How dare you put yourself in the throne of judgment?” Igneus asked.

“I don’t.” Was my straightforward answer. “I don’t care, I have the morality to follow my own belief without peculiar things like emotions to keep me on the right path. I want to kill Celestia because she is a danger to my survival, for your world’s, she is a problem that I cannot face alone and thus I need your help.”

“Then you admit to being a monster? To be nothing more than a golem, a weapon.” Igneus pressed. He was right in my face.

“A tool.”

“Igneus dude!” Fire shouted, “There’s no need to be that harsh.”

“Yes.”

“For fuck sake dude!”

“I am who I am, I can’t change how I was made. I can only do what I must to survive and to save your world. This I promised, this I’ll do. Help me, if not for you or me, then for them” I proposed.

“For them you say, yet they are gone. Dust to the wind.” He lamented now looking back at the house again.

“I couldn’t find them, you know? I looked for days, yet nothing remains. Not in the mines, not in the house. Not in the cold house and the silent barn. Nothing.”

He slumped his shoulder and sat down with a deep rumble. “I’ll never see them again. What does it matter if this world is naught but done?”

“Igneus…”

“But you could be wrong. They could be still alive.” I said, my voice breaking the silence.

“Don’t you dare play with me Hunter. Don’t you dare!” He angrily responded smashing his fist in the ground making the earth tremble.

“I don’t. You didn’t find them anywhere, yet you believe they are dead. Can’t you see your own flaws? And even if they were truly dead, don’t you think that maybe some of your kids survived? That you could be a grandfather by now?” I stood still in the blazing midday sun. “Would you really let them live in a world such as this?”

“Wow, then you can make actual conversations dude.” The bonfire said.

“Shut or I’ll extinguish you. Bonfire.” I threatened.

“Omg we are already at the fake threat stage! I can’t wait to see how far our friendship will go now.”

Yeah fake.

“Do you really think so? That they could still live?” He asked, no begged to be told yes.

“I do.”

Windy

There I stood held at gunpoint by a maniac who is trying to rob Ponyville’s most prestigious shop.

“Oh but why me every time!” I angrily thought, didn’t I suffer enough? Wasn’t my torture over?

“You all don’t move!” He cried out then pointed the gun towards mr. Rich. “You put the money in and be quick!”

The robber wasn’t much, using a common cloth to cover his face, brown maned, brown furred, the robber was not someone who stood out, wearing a simple shirt with a jacket on top and baggy pants of a kaki like color he wielded the gun, the most unremarkable of the ponies now has the means to end someone else’s life.

“Should I do something?” I wondered.

“P-please let me go, my daughter… She is waiting for me!” A mare tried to plead, moving forward as to kneel before the attacker.

“D-don’t move dammit!” The robber said, startled, he pulled the trigger. The mare fell, a look of horror and fear on her face, mirrored only by her killer.

“I told you to stay put, dammit dammit be quick! Fuck!” He screamed foam at his mouth damping the cloth.

I saw the mare hit the ground in slow motion, it was so sudden, so impossibly sudden. In a moment she was a breathing pony, now she is naught but a body.

How dare he!

“How dare you do this to her!” I screamed in fury. “To a MOTHER!”

“S-s-stand back!” He screamed firing again against me, the shop now crying out in fear and terror.

I thought I would have been a goner. Turns out, I'm pretty sturdy, the bullet entered my body and I could feel it move inside me. Then it stopped and the hole in my chest vanished.

“No.” I moved forward, a bang, barely a feeling, another step.

“Stay back! What the fuck are you!” He cried in horror.

“You did something that can never be repaid.” I raised my hand and slapped him across the face, making him shot down on the floor with a sickening crack, I cringed at that remembering that I’m far stronger now and that I may have killed him. “Way to go idiot, you just chewed him out for killing and you do the same? Fucking hypocrite.”

“Ugh…” He moaned.

I sighed a breath of relief. I knelt down and whispered to him “Now you’ll remain here until we can find the police, ok?” I stood back up and stared at the corpse of the mare that was shot. She had lost so much blood, the store was basically swamped. I did not say anything to her, maybe in retrospect I should have, she will haunt my dreams won’t she? I wanna die.

I walked out of the shop and went home. I cried.

It was late in the afternoon when I finally got distracted by Daisy coming home;

“Hello? Windy? I bought Neighponese!” She shouted in the house, I managed to roll down from the bed not even caring if I hit the ground.

“Not like I’m gonna feel it.” And sure thing, I didn’t. “Great, I’m not hungry” I yelled from upstairs.

“You're not hungry?” She said with skepticism, then I heard her footsteps coming closer to my room. “You are never not hungry.” She opened the door and walked inside. “Why are you on the ground?”

“Tired.” I replied.

“Yeah, sure. What happened? Some douchebag at work?” She asked with a tinge of anger in her voice.

“A stallion robbed the local mart. A mare died. I feel like shit.” I said.

“Oh… OH!” She covered her mouth with her hands, then she immediately threw herself on me hugging me.

“I’m so sorry.” She said. She was so sad.

“...”

We stood like that for some time. It was nice.

PHIL

There we stood in the forest. In the end Ignus accepted to help, he would track down the beast and then I would help him however I could to find his kin.

“Sooooooo….. Hobbies?”

“Hating you counts as one?”

“Nnnnope but at least we can say that you do feel something.” He replied quite happily.

“You are gonna feel my punch if you don’t shut up a bit.” Before he could reply the earth trembled and Ignus appeared. Now much smaller, thankfully he followed my advice.

“They are two kilometers ahead of us, north-northeast. I will guide you there.”

“Make way Ignus.” I answered.

“Sweet we are gonna usurp the constellations!”

The way there was bothersome and distasteful, not the forest. Just the overwhelmingly yapping company. But in the end we arrived at our destination, a lonely cave big enough to contain a three story building.

“How did I miss it?”

“Hard to spot if you don’t know it is there, or can’t feel the earth as if it were you.” Ignus answered. “i found your prey, I shall wait here.

“You are not going with us?” Fire said bewildered.

“You aren’t as well.” I continued.

“WHAAAT? Why not?” He asked outraged.

“My hunt, my prey. I need to do this alone, it is too important and I can't distract myself. If you are in the way of danger I may be unable to kill it.”

“Aw, so you DO care!”

I grumbled into the cave. If I started to ramble away with him I would never go down there to start this job.

The cave was damp and humid, most likely it had a lake in it somewhere. The enormous paw prints on the muddy floor made this easier than I thought, in a short minute I was where I needed to be.

There in the heart of the cave, a giant purple bear laid, and right next to it the blue one. The blue one still sported the beating I gave it.

The Ursa Major was either sleeping or couldn’t care less I was there, or didn’t hear me at all. In any case I pressed on. The cub was the first to see me, he sprung up with his teeth bared and pure hate in his eyes. Shortly after the Mother started to stir.

She wasn’t as I remembered, her face was almost thin, like she was malnourished or ill, this was starting to get strange. Her fur spotted with bare flesh underneath and her movements lethargic.

“Why…” She spoke, she spoke like the words itself hurted. “Did you come here?”

“I am here for your power. For Ambrosia, I need it to defeat Celestia.” I answered.

“Gone… It is not here what you seek. Leave me be.”

“No, I need it, I won't go without it.” I replied.

“Mother told you to go!” The cub shouted with rage.

“Shhh, be calm my child, please.” She soothed the young. “I do not have what you seek, it was taken from me and for that I am dying.”

“Do you think I would deter then?” I asked.

“No, you never will,” She sighed. “Come then, take my last fragments, free me from this curse worse than death. But leave my cub alone, this only, I ask.”

“Mother!”

“Silence my dear. You know what must be.” She told him. “Come now, free me.”

Suspicious, too easy of a target and she won’t even defend herself, it stinks of a trap. Yet I can’t do anything else, either I spring this trap and survive or go back with nothing.

“Very well.” I walked forward, the Ursa outstretched her paw and I touched it, I then started to eat it.

“I am so very sorry.” She said.

Fuck

I couldn’t stop, a weird energy was siphoning me, like a draining that took me away, in a second I was gone.

Am I?

I felt my very being devoured, destroyed. Like a part of me that I never felt was being removed and it felt like my own heart was taken away.

I

Devoured?

How dare it.

I pulled back, don’t know how exactly, I felt the devouring indulging in my challenge, it came and tried to finish me.

But I am the true Hunter. The devourer was bit by bit consumed, first slowly then faster and faster before it could go back it was too late. The very power that sought to destroy me was now absorbed and I understood. Eyoa

I woke up with screams around me, my hand now completely coating the Ursa’s arm, she was screaming and crying unable to pull away

“HOW!?”

“I am The Hunter.” I soon finished her, devouring her very being, not leaving even a molecule behind, it was over and yet it was only the beginning.

“NOOOOO! MOTHER!” The cub cried out in sadness and regret “This is not how it should have gone! WHY WON’T YOU DIE!?”

“I have yet things to do. So it was indeed a trap, as I thought.”

“Don’t speak like she wasn’t even here! You monster!” He attacked with his paw and swatted me against the hard wall of the cave, I shot up and against his chest leaving him breathless, then I followed up with a powered up punch right in his guts.

He keeled over in pain, much more pain than when I first fought him actually.

“How did you… do this?” He asked now panting and being on the verge of throwing up.

“That thing, that thing your mother had inside. What was it?” I asked him. “I saw her drinking it. Celestia gave it to her, now answer me.”

“The poison… the poison to kill you… How could you not die when my mother was!?”

“Answer. My. Question.” I repeated grasping his muzzle with my hand.

“I don’t know! I don’t know, she said… she said it was a poison to kill everything, and that my mom would die. But if she did that I would be spared, she accepted and I could do nothing.” He replied with watery eyes “She’s gone…” Tears streamed down his face, “She…”

They say that when a parent die, it is normal. We all die. Yet how do you explain normality, how do you cope when a bastion of light thought to be eternal, is gone?

The cub wailed his sorrows, to the earth and to the heavens but none answered. In the end I left him alone in the cave to mourn. Maybe later I will come back and visit him again. I couldn’t believe Celestia would stoop so low as to use the mother as bait to get me.

Was she to die? Yes. After all I would have killed her, yet I could see that in another life, in another time she would have passed away with peace instead of fear and anguish. The road to save this world is bloodier than I thought, maybe it is good that I hold no feelings?

“Do you though?”

“What do you believe?” I asked the element.

“That your actions were guided not by kindness but necessity. Yet it would not be my element if I didn’t forgive you. But please, do the right thing for me?”

“How, how can I go back there? He hates me.”

“Yes, yet it is your weight to carry, it is your duty to be there with him. It is the least you could do, let me show you…

For a brief moment I felt it, the pain and the loneliness of the cub as if it was my own. It was too much, so strong… Raw

I fell down to my knees uncontrollably shaking, tears in my eyes and crushing guilt in my heart.

“What have I done?”

I slowly but surely went back, there I found the cub. There I saw not a beast or a god. But a child.

I stood there with him as sad as he was, a killer comforting the victim, how utterly crazy.

Hours passed before I could rein my emotions back, it was only after the cub finally had no more tears to shed and could only now look up to nothing.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“I’ll go if you wish.”

“No. Please. Don’t leave me alone. Stay a little longer.”

“As you wish,”

“Baruk”

Author's Note

Not even 5K words, dang it. But yeah this is another chapter in my boyz t'was a hard year was it not?

Many things changed and the will to write simply vanished into thin air, now I try to come back to make something. Too many people took this story in their lap only to be disappointed, no more. I make a vow to continue, to finish things and to more active.

I will.

If you liked, leave a thumb it helps motivation.

If you didn't then I would like to know, please let me know. Last time I wrote was so long ago after all, I need to unrust.

Although Yeah it is a pretty sad chapter in my opinion, dunno if I made a good job portraing it though. I'll await your opinion for that.

Fire here, have a pleasant day!