“AAAAHHHHH!!!!”, Sweetie Belle screamed. She dropped her torch and backed up against the slimy wall, shivers sprawling across her body, “What is it! Kill it! Kill it kill it kill it!” A small, pale little creature, that was basically a white blob with a mouth full of sharp teeth, tried to shimmy its way towards her. It brought its mouth up and prepared to jump when somepony else smacked it with a torch.

“Sweetie, calm down, it was just a Giggi. They might leech off of you, but it's hardly noticeable and they're easy to get rid of”, Scootaloo said. “They're not even that hard to fight off. You don't even need a weapon.” She smacked the Giggi again and it slumped to the ground and died. “Only thing they're here for is they're velvety skin. Otherwise, you can basically ignore them.”

“But it's so wiggly and slimy and gross!”, Sweetie complained.

“Look, you said you wanted to join us on our hunts. You're literally going to be pulling the guts and bones out of other creatures. You can't be afraid of a little overgrown maggot.”

“Are ya'll finished play'n with yer worms?”, Applebloom called out, “Babs an' I got enough ore to give to the blacksmith fer Sweetie's weapon.” Applebloom came into sight, wearing a jaggi leather chest-plate and jaggi leather kilt over her farm clothes. Scootaloo sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose. “What?”

“You're armor”, Scootaloo sighed, “It's just so... small.”

“It's your armor, Ah'm just borrowin' it 'til the smith is done repair'n mine”, Applebloom pointed out.

“Yeah, but I had dozens of other sets you could choose, plus, you're not even wearing boots, I mean seriously, I know I had at least one pair that'd fit you.”

“They were purple. Ah don't like purple.”

“So what? Have you seen what I'm wearing? This Rhenoplos armor makes me looking like a frickin' sumo wrestler, but it's the best I have. At least it helps me eat faster.”

“Um... girls”, Sweetie whimpered, but Scootaloo kept going.

“And you also choose to come here without any useful items, I mean seriously, not even an herb. The only thing you have, other than the armor, is a bone greatsword. I know it's your starting weapon, but I have the material to upgrade it at least once.”

“Girls!”, Sweetie shouted, catching everyponies' attention, then threw her torch behind Applebloom. The cave floor was covered in Giggi.

“So what? Applebloom can just swipe them away with her greatsword, they're not that strong”, Scootaloo said.

“Ugh, look at the wall!”, Sweetie fumed, pulling out her sword and shield made out of a special combination from elder wyvern bones and the scales of a Rathalos. A special gift from Scootaloo.

Everypony looked at what seemed like a pale wall when they realized that it had veins. The creature was bulbous and unsightly. It had no eyes, small wings, and a small tail, but it's neck and tail were quite stretchy.

“Crap, it's a Kehzu!”, Scootaloo said under her breath, “Run girls! This is not a fight for us!”

“But I thought you've fought these before”, Babs asked, pulling out her hammer.

“Look at its head!”, Scootaloo said, reaching her belt for a dung bomb, “It's got scars and circular bite marks, plus its veins are purple, a clear sign its been poisoned. There's only one other creature hear that has those bite marks and poison, and its a Gigginox. I do not want to fight a Kehzu and a Gigginox. Ugly sons o' bitches are annoying enough as it is.” Scootaloo chucked the dung bomb at the Kehzu, hiding their senses so it wouldn't smell them. “Run!” The crusaders charged as fast as they could out of the cave, away from the imposing threat, when a slimmer version of the Kehzu dropped down in front of the exit. It made an ear-piercing scream that only affected Sweetie Belle, the only one not wearing sound absorbing earrings.

“Out of the way you poisonous, blood-sucking, overgrown leech!”, Babs shouted, running to knock the Gigginox to the side. Scootaloo whipped out her bowgun and shot Babs with a might pellet, giving her the strength to do so. The Gigginox went flying to the side, against the cave well, temporarily stunned. The girls headed out of the caves and into broad daylight, but not stopping until they reached camp.

“Why did those things have to exist?”, Scootaloo panted, falling to the ground. Sweetie Belle went to sit by her, with her knees up to her chest. Now that the girls had stopped running, they could observe the beauty of the sea in front of camp. The water was so clear, you could see the fish swimming around from a mile away. Off in the distance, she could see a large rock spire sticking out of the water where an old Lagiacrus usually slept. It never seemed to bother anypony, and nopony tried to bother it.

Sweetie Belle used to think that monster hunting was just about attacking random wildlife and getting paid for it. That is, until Scootaloo showed her that it was more than that. Being a monster hunter meant protecting your village from immediate monster threats, like a wyvern attacking a farm, or collecting food for the village when most the villagers couldn't fight off monsters. It wasn't about hunting, it was about protecting, and since Celestia and Luna have passed new laws about capturing monsters, the quests have been becoming a little more about just trying to survive than keeping a monster for a pet and collecting from it.

“Watchya think'n about girl?”, Scootaloo asked Sweetie.

“Whether or not I'm cut out for this”, she sighed. Scootaloo sat up and gave Sweetie a shoulder bump.

“I told you, we're not just mindlessly hunting other living creatures, we're helping our village from getting trampled over. That's another reason I didn't want to attack that Kehzu and Gigginox, because they weren't doing any real harm to our home. Besides, this isn't even a hunting quest, we're just out mining for material. I would say to head back now that we're done, but the dragon younglings just sent a message to camp to send a boat to pick us up. It's not gonna be here until nightfall.”

“It's none of that”, said Sweetie, “You saw me in that cave. I couldn't handle a single Giggi.”

“You just have a phobia of gross little squirmy things.” Sweetie giggled a little. “C'mon, let's set up the spit for dinner. Running for my life really builds up an appetite.”

Author's Note

I feel like i rushed this a little, but idk, i'm not good a judging my own stuff.