Scarlet Dusk was not having a good day. Or rather, night. Or any night, for that matter. Her job sucked.

Her accomplices in the night guard certainly didn't make it any better. With the lowest score in every class, just above failing, -except for combat class- and the newest member in her squad, meant she got stuck with the worst jobs. All the past month after she had graduated from the academy she had been pulling the longest shifts and the ugliest jobs that could be assigned. Grunt work, for the guards that the higher-ups decided weren't real guards.

It was all the work that never got checked over by anypony willing to give her good marks. It was always the pony just barely above her, and the stuck-up colt would never allow their places to switch, from air conditioned hallway to deep dungeon midnight watch. So, any hope of promotion was sucked down the drain the moment that royal-blooded foal was assigned a single rank higher than her.

Scarlet groaned and shifted her weight again to ease her aching hooves. There wasn't even a single chair down here, let alone any prisoners these days, so why was she even down here? She had had half a mind to march straight to the Night Guard Captain's quarters and at least get a reason for her deathly boring watch in front of the only door to the lower dungeon, but that could also just as easily get her fired. The noble-to-be constantly gave her bad marks, so she was not in the best of graces with the Captain, and usually tried to avoid him.

At least there was a single torch by the door to give her some light and warm her freezing bat-like wings. Granted, it didn't go very far, but any light was a godsend to a thestral. With natural night vision, they could see as far in the dark as a regular pony with only a bare minimum of light.

Anypony else would have quit, but Scarlet Dusk was a Thestral!

... Yeah there was basically no job for a Thestral other than the Night Guard. At least it payed the bills.

It was barely a fraction into the eight-hour shift ahead before the door behind her creaked open and a familiar and infuriating face poked through it. The brown furred, blue eyed, blond mane unicorn she had come to know as Perfect Gem was anything but true to his namesake. How and why a day pony managed to get into the night guard she never knew, least of all how he managed to stay in it. He was out of uniform any time he could, and had somehow managed to keep his normal sleep schedule despite being in the NIGHT guard.

He had on a shit-eating grin as he spoke just how you would expect him to: sickly sweet, and oh so fake.

"Hello Dusky~ How are we this lovely night? Just thought I'd drop in and fill out this report before I turn in. This paperwork is so exhausting to lug around you know. Doing fine? Don't care. Let's see... mmm... scuffed up armor, that's a bad mark, blunt spear, Check! Disrespectful posture, and refusal to salute a superior officer? Check, check! What else...? Oh, I see it now. Tipsy on the job, eh? Oh, I understand completely dear. So stressful to be down here all the time. Sadly, I'll have to report that. Can't be lying to the captain, now can I? I could be demoted if I covered for you, and worse, fined! You simply must get your act together dear. Ah well, chin up, I'm sure you'll get that promotion one day. Goodnight~!"

He departed with a haughty laugh and his flimsy little clipboard.

Scarlet Dusk sighed and glanced down at her perfectly polished armor, statuesque guard stance, and wickedly sharp spear. Perhaps the only thing she was guilty of was the salute thing. She would never salute that bastard for as long as she lived.

She also knew for a fact that there wasn't any alcohol in her system, but as she grabbed a hidden pouch from under her wing she smiled grimly and chuckled a bit.

"Just because I'm not drunk doesn't mean I'm not high."

In Scarlet's defense, she was the model guard in every other way, and she hadn't taken up "Nightsmoke" until long after Perfect Gem had slashed any chance of bettering her life. The fine blend of herbs calmed her and had kept her from assaulting her superior many times over. While there was a huge misconception among most ponies that the stuff caused hallucinations, if used in the correct doses, the worst it could do was just slightly dull the senses in terms of negative effects.

Scarlet was actually under the opinion that it made her a better guard, because while other ponies asked for vacation days to alleviate the "Intense" stress of being a guard (probably nobles, rich bastards), Scarlet had never asked for a day off, and always came out on top when the monthly stress checkups went around.

She really didn't see much point in not smoking the stuff while she was down here. No pony else was anywhere near her, let alone smell it through the door, so she breathed easy as she puffed away, leaning on her spear.

She was still standing the exact same way a few hours later as a faint noise echoed through the otherwise quiet hallway.

Scarlet instantly perked up her ears, swiveling them aggressively as she spat out the blunt and stomped on it with an armored hoof. She peered into the dark tunnel ahead, searching for any sign of movement. She flinched as a rat suddenly skittered around a corner, running towards her. She sighed in relief as she saw it was just a harmless vermin and began wondering what scared it so badly.

SQUEA-!

It's tiny cries where suddenly cut short as a large blob suddenly darted around the corner, far faster than the rat, and abruptly closed slimy jaws on it.

Scarlet Dusk nearly tripped in surprise at the sudden appearance of an actual monster, but recovered and readied her spear, eager to do battle with an actual monster. She recalled her monster identification course better than others, though she somehow managed to get bad grades anyway, and was able to identify a shadow slime pretty easily.

She held her ground warily as it slowly rolled into the light of the torch, revealing two big white streaks of white almost like eyes adorning its front. She only grinned wider at this. A slime with a unique marking or coloration outside of the norms was identified as a Titan Slime, a proper mid-tier monster. If she could manage to slay this little beast, and show her work to the Captain, she could earn an instant promotion and be away from her little nightmare of a superior.

"Come here little titan slime~ Come to Scarlet~"

It surprisingly stopped at her words, and she could swear the streaks actually squinted at her. This gave her some pause. Everything she had read about slimes depicted them as mindless food seekers, consuming what they could to get by, but this thing had completely halted and seemed to be... staring at her, somehow.

She shook off her hesitations after a moment and flapped her wings, boosting her speartip forwards, centered on the slime's body. A single good jab at a slime usually killed them, and while a titan was certainly tougher, a full stab through the middle killed any variety.

She blinked once in midair, and somehow missed the sudden build of magic on the slime as a white energy blast completely shattered the upper half of her spear. She landed again and threw aside the useless stick before drawing her sword and lunging forwards. The slime simply vanished from her sight in an instant in a blur of speed and her sword banged painfully off the stone floor. She reflexively dropped her sword in pain and rolled away to put some distance between her and the woefully underestimated and incredibly dangerous titan slime.

She popped up to her back hooves, ready to beat the thing into submission with her bare hooves, only to realize that her helmet was missing. She gulped as she watched the slime very slowly and deliberately collect her fallen sword and helmet and consume them before her eyes, as if daring her to stick a hoof in it. She instinctively took a step back from the apex predator in the room, and it almost seemed to nod appreciatively before abruptly slamming itself through the door behind it, shattering the old wood easily and vanishing into the outside hallway.

Scarlet could only think of one thing to say.

"...Did I just get owned by a BUCKING SLIME!?"

She turned to grab her spear before going off in pursuit, but caught sight of the now useless stick and groaned before flying through the open doorway empty-hooved and hot blooded.

"I'm SO bucked when the Captain finds out about this..."

Author's Note

STATS:

Shadow Slime
Lv. 02
Health: 180/150
Attack: 30
Defense: 50
Speed: 55
Magic: 7/10

SKILLS:

Consume -- The Power to Assimilate any object or creature and enhance the user with its properties.
Mimic -- The Power to recreate the parts, abilities, magic, and form of any creature consumed by user.
Unlimited Potential -- The ability to grow stronger.
Omni-Sense -- All Available Cardinal senses significantly boosted. (Includes Magic Sense)

MAGIC:

Magic Shot -- Raw magic with no elemental affinity capable of mild destructive force. (3 Magic to Cast)

SPECIAL:

Physical Resistance -- Basic buff - Additional Defense against physical attacks.
Weak to Sunlight -- Race Debuff - Take gradual damage in direct sunlight despite any Defense Stat. Effect cannot be nullified with Mimic Skill. Indirect sunlight does not cause this effect, refracted light though glass the sole exception.