The Journey

Chapter 1

The Slayer

I was running through the forest, it was just another day of doing same thing. It was dark already, probably after the midnight, but I could see everything clearly like in the day, every leaf on the tree, every berry hanging from bush.

It was the same every day, but I loved it, thrill of the hunt, wind brushing my skin while running after my prey.

And then I finally stopped.

I finally saw it, resting near small lake, this time it was Red Fang, crimson red wolf with black claws, it was much stronger than normal wolfs, luckily it wasn’t adult, this one was only about 3 meters long while laying down, fighting with adult ones almost never ended well. But this risk is what I loved, adrenaline rushing through my whole body.

I took out my steel sword with my muzzle, placing handgrip in my mouth like we always do. After quickly checking my equipment and making sure I had all daggers placed firmly in my leather jacket, I looked back at my prey, it was still sleeping, not prepared for what was about to happen.

I could feel adrenaline going through my veins when I finally made my move and as silent as possibly jumped forward, hoping to end this with one firm slice on his neck.

Red Fang woke up, seconds before my blade met his neck, instead of cutting his head off I only managed to slightly cut left side of his neck, covering my blade in his red blood.

I didn’t have time to think, not caring about his wound red wolf immediately jumped towards me aiming for my head, he was fast, but way too slow, I was prepared standing in right position and right time, just waiting for my prey to come.

And it did.

Red Fang jumped towards me, his fangs bared and his claws sharper than steel aiming for my life. I rushed forward ducking under him and slashing his stomach open while he was in air. He landed with a loud Thud, huge amount of red liquid leaking out from his belly. He was done for, I patiently waited 10 meters away from him, for all the life to leave his body.

He finally gave up, closing his eyes and laying limply on cold ground. I came closer to make sure he’s no longer in this world, after making sure of that I hided my sword into its sheath and used one of the daggers to decapitate the beast.

After taking my proof of defeating the beast I started walking towards my employer, this time it was mayor of small village which was terrorized by the Red Fang Another 500 bits in the pocket I thought to myself while slowly trotting towards my destination.

After some walking through the forest I finally could see wooden walls of the village, there were some smoke hovering over the village, I could also spot some lights it seems that they aren’t sleeping yet, great I won’t have to wait till morning to leave this place.

Finally I stood before the front gate shouting out and waiting for somepony to hear me. After few minutes of waiting finally I saw a muzzle looking down on my from the wall, I could see a fear in his eyes when he looked at what was I carrying.

“Open the gates, I have slain Red Fang, and now I expect mayor to pay me for my job.”

Seems like he heard me, he disappeared from the wooden wall and after few moments gate started to open. I walked in slowly, I enjoyed this moment, looking into eyes of those villagers, all of them were looking at me with either fear or disgust, or both. Some mothers were covering their foals eyes, I just walked towards the mayor office, with stoic expression on my face. It was always like this, ponies always despised us, The Slayers.

We lived in hard times, dangerous beasts were present in all of Equestria, ponies being killed and eaten was a daily basis. That’s why we were created, 300 years ago, our first member going by the name of Food Chain created our organization. We are The Slayers, best hunters in all of Equestria, everypony could hire us, it was of course if he had enough bits.

That was one of the things that made others despise us, we never worked for free, at least most of us, and most certainly I didn’t. My name is Crimson Scar, and one day I’ll become better then Food Chain himself.

After some walking and taking in the hateful gazes of villagers I finally stood before mayor’s house. I knocked few times and after a couple seconds doors opened showing Mayor in his pajamas.

He was rather big earth pony with brown coat and green mane, his cutie mark was a quill and paper, I have been in this village few times already, and as far as I know this particular pony isn’t someone you can easily fool.

He greeted me with a small nod, even though we already met and talked few times he was still quite uncomfortable around me, but I wasn’t surprised, my look was quite intimidating for most ponies, I was average sized earth pony, I had two yellow eyes with cat-like pupils, those were a product of one of genetic changes made in my body, it lets me see clearly in the night, which is a must in this job, most beasts are showing up only at nights. I had short spiky red hair and black coat now stained in blood of the Red Fang. I also had a long scar going through my whole muzzle, I never found out how I got it, but I didn’t care.

We sat down in his living room, he offered me some tea, I declined, I wanted to get paid and leave as soon as I could, leaving earlier meant getting another offer sooner.

“I can see that you took care of our problem, so I guess you just want to get paid and leave right?”

I simply nodded, throwing head of Red Fang on his table, which made him flinch a little. He stood up and walked towards one of his shelves, taking out a small pouch filled with bits, he gave it to me, I quickly counted bits, after I confirmed that he wasn’t trying to fool me, I hided it in one of my leather jacket and stood up walking towards his doors.

“See you next time.”

It was like this every time, they needed somepony to take care of beast, I offer my help for bits, they agree, I take care of beast, they pay me and I simply walk away, not looking back going only forward.

This is how life of The Slayer was supposed to be.