Chapter 3:

Hunter collapsed as he began breathing once more, 1,000 years of absolutely nothing takes a toll on one’s body. The weird part was, he remembered it all. 1,000 years, like a fleeting dream on the edge of his consciousness, so far away that he wondered if his mind was simply filling the gap with guesses. Either way it was pretty uneventful, only so much happens in the basement of a castle in the darkest area of Everfree forest.

As he looked at his dank surroundings, mainly boxes of the alicorns’ old possessions, he sighted the sleek figure of the night-alicorn in front of him. She looked completely different though, smaller for one. Her coat had become lighter, if only slightly. Her once black coat, blacker than the infinite space she’d filled with stars long ago, had been replaced with a more calming, deep shade of blue. Her mane had “solidified,” or something like that, Hunter didn’t know of any one word to accurately describe it. Instead of being an ethereal mist, it was normal hair. It’s color also seemed to have lost some wickedness, a pale blue in place of a darker shade.

Hunter stood himself up and composed himself, having long since grown accustomed to the imposing presence of the princess. He felt every muscle in his body tense up as he used them for the first time in a millennium. His senses suffered the same deterioration, but he was back to normal after a few seconds.

“Well, I guess our last minute change of plans turned out alright.” The soft but strong voice of the Princess broke the deathly silence.

Hunter simply nodded his head in response.

“Now, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Celestia’s had a thousand years to gain power, while we were both stuck in time. Luckily, she didn’t train much.”

Hunter said nothing, but his gaze showed his understanding.

“We’ll start up your training again tomorrow. Considering how far out of the way this place is, I think you’d be fine staying here.”

Hunter used the pause in the Goddess’ speech to really start taking in his surroundings. First off, it was dark. Cobwebs hung in the corners of the basement, as well as between the many boxes and shelves that seemed to be strewn every which-way. The air was hung heavy with the moisture of the soil that was behind a few inch thick concrete wall, making breathing slightly harder than usual.

The stallion snapped back to attention at the sound of his Queen’s voice.

“So, why don’t I show you to your room, I’m sure you could use some extra sleep for tomorrow.”

“DODGE!”

The Princess’ shout rang through one of Hunter’s ears, the other was ringing from the blow her front left hoof had delivered to it. His head hurt a lot more than he thought it should have, he realized why when he noticed the magical mist surrounding her hoof dissipate, just as she teleported again.

Before her disappearance even registered in Hunter’s brain, she came at him from the right side. The blow struck him just below his ribcage, accompanied by Luna’s word of the day, “dodge.”

The hit sent Hunter tumbling, he redistributed his weight to catch himself mid-roll and remain standing. He watched the alicorn disappear again, and waited for the next attack…

After a few seconds, nothing had happened. Hunter knew it had to be some kind of mind trick, everything the Princess did had a purpose. He liked to call it the “method behind the madness.” He chuckled to himself a bit, but stopped as he sensed a presence behind him. Well, more like the immanence of a presence, like something would be there any moment. He then heard the booming voice of the Queen of Night, amplified to terrifying levels by her magic, “WHY. WON’T. YOU. DODGE?!”

Hunter rolled to his left as the princess crashed down where he’d been, leaving a small crater in the ground. She teleported once again as soon as the dust began to settle. She wasn’t gone long though, appearing just beside where Hunter had stopped. She greeted him with a magically-enhanced right hook, which he blocked by thrusting his left forearm under. He took his other arm, and placed his hoof atop hers. The leverage created by his position allowed him to easily flip her over himself, tossing her to the ground and throwing up more dust.

The princess seemed stunned for a moment, Hunter leaned down to lift her up but stopped when her eyes began to glow. Not good. He thought as she vanished again.

She reappeared across the clearing, perched on a large branch. Her horn glowed as brightly as her eyes as she launched a flurry of magic bolts towards her pupil. The stallion did everything he could to dodge them, jumping, sliding, spinning, diving, but one found its mark. The blast hit his left flank, he winced as…nothing happened. It was a blank.

Hunter turned to the tree and watched his queen laugh her flanks off, telling him how she wished he could’ve seen the look on his face.

“Oh wait,” She spoke between guffaws. “You can!”

Her horn glowed, conjuring an image of them as they were at the moment. Looking into the image of himself looking into the image of himself looking into the image… Well that’ll keep me confused for awhile. He thought as the image began to rewind through their “battle.” Luna stopped it perfectly, right at the beginning. She burst out in laughter again, her chortles even louder this time, as she saw the face again. Hunter quickly waved his front hooves through the image, causing it to disperse.

“Don’t you think we should get back to training?” He asked, trying to hide his embarrassment.

“No, I think that’ll do it for today. That was quite the display of agility.”

“Alright then.”

“Sorry about that laughter.” The princess said solemnly. “I just haven’t had fun in so long…”

“I know, neither of us have. But that’ll change once we take care of this.”

Luna nodded, her head hung low.

Hunter turned and headed back to the castle and his room. As he left the clearing he suddenly felt tired, realizing just how much energy he’d used up. He contemplated his dinner choices as he heard it again.

“DODGE!”

He rolled to the side, bounded upright, turned and assumed a fighting stance. His only response was more laughter from the princess, still laying on her branch. As he turned back towards the castle, he knew that word would haunt him for the rest of his days.