Hunter lay peacefully in his hammock, his eyes looking up towards the stars as he swung slowly. He breathed softly as he spoke to himself, "I hope you're having a great night." His heart still felt as though it were cramping up with every time he thought of the unicorn that had bonded with him over the past week. He knew what the right thing to do was, but he didn't know the right time.

As he lay there, conversing with himself, a loud thud was heard beyond the nearby trees. A thud that sounded too heavy for a pegasus to make and too distinguished for a falling tree to make.

Hunter lifted himself from the bed, brushing the long hair from his eyes and looking around to find the source of the noise. After a few seconds of silence he scratched his beard and said to himself, "Must be my imagination," before leaning back in his bed to resume his peaceful daze.

A deep voice came from the bushes, "How about you explain this?" The voice was so different from the ponies he had been with throughout the week that Hunter had almost forgotten who was speaking.

Startled, Hunter tumbled out of his bed and onto the ground, landing on his shoulder that was still somewhat sore from being dislocated. The pain shook him up even worse, causing him to loudly groan in pain before grunting, "What the hell!" As he lay there, he watched as the bushes began to rustle, his heart quickened when he began to realize who it was that was behind them. When the large black body began to emerge, his heart began to sink, he had always been intimidated by Pinn's physique considering he was almost twice his height and strong enough to lift three times his own weight. Hunter began to panic as he backed up towards the tree trunk, knowing that Pinn could easily flatten him if he wanted to.

The large glossy body emerged from behind the shrubs, standing at almost 11 feet tall, and looking like he was ready to obliterate his own friend in anger. Pinn growled, "I'm gonna be honest, you had me fooled, Hunter, I thought you were in a densely populated area at risk of ruining everything. Instead, you led me to nothing but this," As Pinn stood inches away from Hunter, he stuck out his hand to reveal the blinking communications device, "you know this is illegal, right?"

Shaking in fear, Hunter gulped and stammered, "Y-yes I know..." he did his best to avoid looking at Pinn out of shame and terror. He felt as Pinn's other large hand wrapped around his torso, picking him up off the ground, "I-I can explain everything I swear!"

Pinn continued to lift him with ease, holding him in the air like it was nothing, "The council would like to hear this, then. Your father's gonna be pissed."

Hunter could feel the grip tightening around his rib cages, causing him to exhale in pain, "Please just hear me out, that thing was ripped from my neck."

Pinn growled from behind his mask, "I highly doubt it. Its a shame you had to go like this, Hunter, cause we needed you."

Gasping for air, Hunter let out a faint, "What about my knowledge, huh? What about all the vital and important things I learned." when that wasn't enough to break Pinn's grip, he looked beyond the shiny mask and said softly, "What about us? Remember, friends for life?"

There was a pause, Hunter could feel his friend's grip getting looser and looser, "I... I'm so sorry," Pinn sounded as though he had realized what was going on and his adrenaline fuelled rage had finished, slowly letting his friend down now that he had calmed down.

Hunter, now free from the boa grip, gasped for air as he coughed up his lungs before saying, "First of all, screw you for nearly killing me, second, let me explain what happened."

*****

Hunter and his friend sat against the wall of the cottage, the two of them had been talking about the events that had taken place in the passed week.

Hunter took another deep breath, "Yeah... so I threw myself off the edge of the waterfall with the Barker in my arms, and used the water to break the binding of the joints."

Pinn slowly laughed at the name, "Dude... what did they call it again?"

"Timber Wolves." Hunter chuckled.

Pinn sat himself upright and sighed, "So you damn-near killed yourself so you could save some horse?"

Hunter shook his head, he had a smile on his face now that he was picturing her in his mind, "She's not some horse, man, she's a unicorn. While lots of the other horses seemed hostile towards me, I guess I can understand why, but this one immediately attached to me and cared for me."

"So she took care of you when you were sick?"

"Yeah," Hunter began, looking back at how it all began with him naked and covered in his own fecal matter in a glass chamber, "when I came to, I was in a cold chamber and the virus had gotten worse when it moved to my bowels. Despite how I was, crying, vomiting, and shitting like a baby, she cleaned me up."

Pinn turned his head to face Hunter, "So... she really cares for you?"

"Yeah, I mean like a mother would care for me. I never had a mom so I assume this is what it feels like to be needed."

"We need you, Hunter," Pinn began as he rested his giant hand on Hunter's knee, "your name was changed to Hunter for a specific reason, remember?"

Calmly nudging his friend's hand away, Hunter stood up, "I know, but how many names to I have now back at home? I have Hunter, Jungle-Boy, Mystery Kid, and Phoenix..." Hunter could feel his tears falling down his cheeks as he spoke, "but none of those names really matter, I don't know my real name. I don't know where I'm from and neither do any of you, I don't have a real family either." Hunter turned around to face his friend and show his emotions, "You know what name has stuck to me here? If I'm right, I am called Anthro here, and that name fits... I feel... right. Like I belong here."

Pinn slowly got to his feet too, walking closer to his friend to hold him against his cold armour, "You belong back home with us."

Struck with emotions, Hunter broke free of Pinn's embrace as he said tearfully, "I was being suffocated at home, I couldn't move, I was kept in the dark my entire life from this world. When I'm here, though, I feel free, like I can move. Every time you guys would send me to gather a few things, I felt like I was coming home."

Pinn began to approach Hunter, but this time he didn't want to hug him, "You saw it yourself, this place is dangerous, we aren't ready yet."

Hunter shouted in anger, "YOU AREN'T READY FOR THIS PLACE YET! YOU'RE TOO SCARED TO COME HERE, EATING UP WHAT EVERYONE SAYS ABOUT THIS PLACE! I DECIDED TO QUESTION IT AND I'M HAPPY!"

Hunter began to hear something from under Pinn's mask, it was a soft whimper, "I don't want to lose you... you're my best friend."

For their entire lives, Hunter always looked up to Pinn as the symbol of strength, nothing could ever hurt such a huge beast. This, though, was the first time he ever heard him cry.

Pinn didn't make a move to get closer to him, "What happened to friends for life?"

Hunter wiped the tears from his own eyes, "If you were my friend, you would be telling our superiors right now that I died."

Pinn stood there in complete silence, "I'm not going home without you."

Hunter shook his head, "Yes... you are."

He could hear Pinn's voice slowly changing from his fragile sadness to anger, "You're coming with me."

The boy began to back away from Pinn, he began to feel fear in his stomach as the massive man began to walk towards him, "Its either dead or alive, you know the protocol."

Hunter quickly turned and began to run for the nearest tree as he shouted, "No!"

Pinn chased after him, being the bigger one, he was obviously faster than him too as he growled loudly before shouting in his deep voice, "You know we can't have anyone here for too long. Its for both your safety and our duty!" Pinn tackled Hunter, and being the heavier and stronger one he quickly pinned him to the ground as he growled in anger, "I'm not going home without you!"

The boy began to panic, his mind had begun to race for a solution as he looked in every direction for something to get out of the situation. He could feel Pinn's grip tightening on his ribs again, this time with no sign of stopping. As the death grip tightened and began to crack his ribs, Hunter looked to the side to see a broken tree branch. With his quick thinking and as his vision began to fade, he grabbed the club in his hand and swung as hard as he could.

Having no idea where it was going to land, Hunter only hoped that this swing wouldn't be his last. To his luck, he felt the hardened branch connect with a glass body combined with the sound of glass shattering and Pinn shouting in pure rage. The grip around Hunter's ribs was released, making him see stars and his head hurt with the sudden influx of oxygen. The injured boy made his way to the closest tree as fast as possible, hoping that he could stay conscious long enough to survive. As soon as he felt his hands gripping the thick branch suspended above him, his instincts kicked in and he began to swing himself higher and father away from his attacker.

When he had reached a comfortable distance, Hunter sat himself down and began to cough in pain, a small amount of blood coming out onto his hands as he covered his mouth. As he sat on the tree branch, he could hear Pinn shout in anger, "You little scum! I'll be back, and the next time you're coming home dead! YOU HEAR ME? DEAD!"

As Hunter's vision began to face, and as the sounds of running grew farther and farther, the last thing he did before falling out cold was raise all four of his hands, sticking up the middle finger on all of them.

Author's Note

So hey, new chapter, yeah that's cool I guess. I really have to get you guys a drawing of what Anthro looks like asap.

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