Something seemed off today. I awoke in my cave as usual to see a humming Glib with an apron on attempting to cook. It was horrible as the smell of burnt food quickly filled the air. I covered my mouth with a hand and walked past Glib without saying anything but of course he wouldn't just let me leave like that.

"Wait i'm cooking breakfast for you J, don't you at least want to try?" He asks me with a smile.

"I'd rather not risk it, throw out that burnt crap while you're at it." I swiftly retort hoping to get as far from the burnt cave as possible.

"Won't you at least try to eat it?" He asks pouting at me.

"No, thank you." I immediately answer. I grab some clean clothes and some daggers just in case. "Why don't you clean up the mess you caused while I wash out that terrible smell in the river." I wave behind me to Glib and ignore his last comment on sticking to making grilled cheese. It was a short walk to the river so I enjoyed the brief walk by singing softly to myself a familiar tune. I was so lost in the tune that I didn't notice I had an audience until I finished and the sound of hooves clopping together shocked me from my reverie. I turned to see that I had reached my destination and there by the river sat Fluttershy smiling at me.

"Fluttershy, what a pleasant surprise to see you here. What brings you to my neck of woods?" I ask feigning a smile.

"Oh I was just walking Angel when I heard you singing it was very beautiful by the way." She compliments me with a smile that could melt butter.

"Why Fluttershy flattery will get you just about everywhere." I reply with a toothy grin as I slowly advance towards her as if she were my prey. "Such a compliment deserves a reward. How about we bathe together?" I ask as I finally approach her and slowly circle her while gliding my fingers across her wings. Her face turns scarlet from the comment and the attention to her wings. I see her wings flutter weakly enjoying the attention my fingers gave. "I could wash your wings for you, or maybe something more sensual perhaps." I end my statement with pushing down gently on her wing receiving a sharp gasp from her. I then feel teeth dig in to my finger. I look to see a small white bunny hanging on my index finger.

"Angel you shouldn't bite others." Fluttershy chides him and pulls him away before I could turn him into bunny stew. "Oh i'm so sorry for Angel, J he's not very good with strangers." She apologizes for her bunny her face still flushed as she bows her head meekly.

"No harm done I suppose, now if you don't mind a certain river is calling my name." I say as I take off my shirt and throw it on a nearby tree. I turn to see Fluttershy still staring at me her eyes glued to my chest, her face turning a deep scarlet. "Unless you want to join?" I ask teasingly.

"eep!" is all I hear as Fluttershy dashes off back into the woods. A shame I could use help cleaning my back. I quickly take off the rest of my clothes and jump into the cold river. I take my time cleaning myself of dirt and grime, relishing in the cold refreshing water. When i'm done I grab my clothes and clean them in the river as well. Hanging up the wet clothes and finding a tall branch to nap on I quickly find myself dozing off.

"Jay you'll protect me won't you?" I hear a small girlish voice ask me. I turn to see a little girl no older then 9 looking up to me. Her fair skin seems to glisten in the sun, she's wearing a red dress that almost touch her ankles. Her hair is in ponytail and a necklace of a Cheshire cat hangs from her neck. I can feel the tears in my eyes build up just from seeing her familiar face.

"Of course Elise, no one's gonna hurt you as long as i'm around." I say with a shaky voice. Then suddenly she smiles at me as blood slowly pours down her head ruining her fair face. The tears come down my face in a constant stream as she speaks again.

"Why didn't you protect me Jay?" She says as her legs slowly start to fade away slowly to my horror. I fall to my knees and hug her close to me. Sobbing loudly now unable to hold in the torrent of tears.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wasn't strong enough." I say weakly trying to hold her tightly in my arms.

"Sorry isn't good enough Jay." She replies hurting me more than any wound i've suffered. "You failed to save me." Her statement rang true in my ears as she faded away from my grasp leaving me wallow in my greatest failure.

"Elise!" I scream to the heavens in anguish. I pound the ground with balled fists with hatred at myself. Pain fills my body as I curl into a ball and mumble her name over and over again. I hug my knees to my chest unable to reason with anything. I can almost feel her cold limp body in my arms. I could almost see her face of sorrow as she died in my arms. I can feel her blood on my hands as she slowly drifted away to death's embrace.

"Elise!" I scream as I awaken with tears in my eyes and jump to my feet. Forgetting that i'm on a branch I swiftly fall to the ground and lay there trying to forget her pale eyes staring at me. I slowly rise from the ground and allow a single bloody tear to fall from where an eye used to rest. I wipe away the tear and redress myself. I make my way to town in a solemn mood unable to suppress all of my conflicting emotions. Instead of going to the nearest bar like I want to I instead go to the park. There I sit on the bench and with a pained expression on my face I try to forget the dream with little luck. Suddenly I hear someone shouting.

"J!" I turn to see Spike running towards me with desperation on his face. I wait till he's near to hear what he has to say. "Rarity ponynapped by dogs" He finally manages to wheeze out. Perfect this is just the thing I need. I sigh and tell him to lead the way. He leads me to the Everfree when I tell him to wait. He looks at me impatiently as I walk to a hallowed out tree and move the bark to revel a hidden weapon cache. I take my recently finished repeating crossbow. The crossbow is wooden with metal plating and has a cylinder drum that holds the bolts. Each drum holds 15 bolts. It shines in my grip, still unused. I grab four drums and a black falchion that I looted from the dragon's horde. I strap it to my belt and cover the tree again.

I turn back to Spike and pick him up and run towards the caves. It doesn't take long till we get there. I see holes all over the clearing. I set Spike down and look him in the eye. I can see he wants to come with me.

"I'm going in there alone." I tell him strongly leaving no room for debate.

"They said they were going to make her work digging up gems for them. If I didn't run they were going to make me their slave too." He says sadly as if trying to defend himself. However one word stuck out that made my blood boil.

"Slave?" I ask my voice wavering slightly trying to control the hatred I felt coursing through my veins.

"Yeah." he says simply but it was enough to set the flames burning within me.

"Go get the others and wait for me outside the cave. I will save Rarity first then I will make them pay." I say menacingly.

I turn away from him not hearing his response. I walk to the entrance and slip into the shadows hiding my presence from everything. I silently walk down the cave for a minute before I hear the padding of footsteps. I walk further to see the path split into three separate directions. I stop and wait for the enemy to approach me. It isn't long before I see a mutt turn the corner its a tall bipedal dog wearing crudely dented armor and wielding a spear. My anger gets the better of me as I grab my falchion and before the dog knows it impale him in the gut. I drag my sword upwards and grab his intestines ripping them out violently. The dog howls in agony making me smile dementedly at him. I give in to my bloodlust and shove his intestines down his throat forcibly choking him. His muffles of pain are like music to my ears. I leave him there to bleed out painfully or die from lack of air.

I continue down the path the dog came from sheathing my sword and opting for my crossbow instead. Before long I reach what appears to be the armory as two dogs sit down near a table and talk unaware of my presence. One wears a helmet and has a sword while the other only has leather armor.

"New pony so loud. She hurt ears badly." says the one with armor.

"She bad news better off killing her." replied the one with the helmet.

"Boss wants her for matin I hears." By then I had heard all I wanted to hear. I aim at the one with only armor and with a tug of my finger my arrow finds his skull. He falls to the ground dead. Before the other can say anything i'm on him. I punch his throat with a quick punch ensuring his silence. I follow up by grabbing his head and kneeing it hard enough to daze him. I aim the crossbow and shoot his left arm. He screams silently and I pick him up and force him to look at me.

"You will lead me to the prisoners and maybe i'll let you live." The dog quivers beneath me in fear and I can hear the sound of tinkling alerting me that he's pissed himself. He nods quickly and I let him up. "If you think of leading me anywhere else.." I trail off and grab his balls and clench them in my hand. "I will chop off your balls and force you to eat them, you understand?" I say. He nods his head furiously eager to escape my grasp. I let go of his filthy sac and rub my hand on his fur. "Lead the way." He quickly leads me down several different tunnels to which we surprisingly don't run into any dogs.

Finally we reach the cages holding numerous prisoners. I hear grunting nearby one of the cages and I tell the dog to stay by the entrance and not to move. I hear the slapping of flesh on flesh I dig my nails into my palm as I quietly stalk forward crossbow in hand and what I see next disgusts me. Several of the prisoners are crying softly to themselves and covering their eyes from the sight of a dog raping a mare in one of the cage. Rage blinds me as I toss the crossbow aside and grab the dog and toss him to the other side of the cage. It disorients him long enough for me to grab his head and bang it against the bars over and over again. Then I shove my thumbs into its eye sockets crushing his eyes. The dog wails in pain. Then I grab its still erect member and rip it off its body. The dog screeches in pure agony then I shove it down its throat violently. Still lost in rage I stomp on the dog's face repeatedly until it's nothing more than mush beneath my feet. I breathe heavily trying to regain my control. I walk over to my crossbow and pick it back up and call the other dog.

"Unlock the cages. Now!" I yell at the dog delivering a swift backhand when he didn't move fast enough. The dog yelps and swiftly unlocks the cages. The ponies hesitantly walk out of their cages. An earth pony approaches wary of me. This pony has a dirty blonde mane and a cutie mark of a silver crest.

"Who are you?" She asks me in a girlish voice.

"Your savior and you are?" I ask slowly calming myself.

"Silver Crest of the Royal Guard." She salutes me.

"Good then your in charge of them. They'll listen to you more than me anyway. Dog lead them out of here and run as far away from here as possible." I say turning around.

"Wait aren't you going to escort us out of here?" A cerulean pegasus asks me.

"No i've got slavers to kill and you are?" I ask again not really caring about they're names.

"Misty Haze at your service and we need your protection to get out of here alive." She replies looking at me defiantly.

"I'll lead you to the entrance no more." I say giving in to the mare's demand knowing that she isn't wrong.

We slowly make our way out into the confusing tunnels. The dog leading us quietly and the ponies following silently. I grip my crossbow hoping to find more enemies along the way unfortunately fortune has different ideas in mind. I hear one of the ponies approach me and pay it no mind until she decides to speak to me.

"So you never did answer who you were." I turn to see that Silver is addressing me I pretend to not hear in hopes that the question will be dropped. However i'm not so lucky. "Hey, i'm talking to you, monkey." How immature insulting someone because they don't answer a simple question. I stop and glare downwards at her. She returns my glare as if challenging me.

"It's bad luck to insult your savior." I say continuing on intent on ignoring the pestering mare.

"What's the worst that could happen?" She replies jinxing all good fortunes and asking for something bad to happen. Suddenly a howl fills the air as I turn to see a dog alerting his pack mates of trouble and receiving a bolt to the face for inconveniencing me.

"Speak of the devil and he will appear." I respond glaring at the mare who could only give me a sheepish look in return. "Hurry to the entrance! It won't be long till reinforcements come." We hurry to the entrance that's just ahead of us. I hear another howl that sounds to close for comfort. I stop and prepare to face the oncoming wave.

"Aren't you coming!?" I hear from a rather irate Silver.

"No I still have someone else to look for a unicorn by the name of Rarity." I reply hearing the padding of multiple feet getting closer.

"I heard they had her at the throne room." Silver tells me something useful finally.

"Looks like I get to have some fun then. Go and bring some guards by the time they get here I should be done." I say arrogantly. I turn and shoot the first muzzle I see turning around the corner and slowly walk forward embracing the tidal wave of dogs. I grab the nearest dog with one hand and fire off four bolts in quick succession each finding a different dog. I then snap the neck of the dog I have in my hand eager to kill more. Three dogs try to bum rush me only to find my leg sweep the three of them away into another group causing chaos among the dogs. I take advantage of the chaos to empty out the rest of my drum on the dogs and pull out my falchion when it empties. With a crazed smile I hack away at the onslaught of dogs cutting off limbs and heads and ripping out guts and intestines along the way. My lone eye fills up with a familiar red glow pumping adrenaline and blood through my veins at an increased rate. I let the rage and blood lust consume me in a blood frenzy hacking away with near impossible speed and zeal. As the bodies build up around me I laugh maniacally as blood fills my vision and body. Soon enough there are no more dogs left alive, my shirt is torn into shreds and scratch marks and bite marks fill my body but it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

I roar in triumph and step over the dead dogs untiringly still feeling the rush of battle I charge onward following the scent of more blood yet unspoiled by me. I quickly pop the empty drum of my crossbow and replace it with a fresh one while running. Soon I come into a large room with a throne in the middle. A big dog sits on the throne with a leash in his hand. The leash belonged to none other than Rarity looking pitiful with her disheveled mane. Upon seeing me she looks hopeful and disgusted.

"J!" she shouts happily at me but is quickly silenced by a tug from the alpha dog on the chair."Quiet slave!" He yells at her. I aim a bolt and shoot the chain breaking it and shoot another hitting the alpha in the right eye. He roars in pain and Rarity quickly runs over to me.

"Get out of here take the first left you can and go straight from there that should lead you out of here. No time to say anything more GO!" I yell at her and slap her flanks making her yip and take off. With her gone I can fight freely. However the alpha seems pissed now and now him and the hundreds of other dogs I somehow didn't see running in here look ready to kill me. If only they knew who they were dealing with. "So who's first?" I say haughtily eager to begin the bloodshed. The alpha roars and charges at me. I unleash the rest of the drum on him each bolt finding its mark with deadly precision riddling the dog full of bolts. He falls right at my feet and I stab the falchion into his thick skull ending him permanently.

That was all the motivation the other dogs needed surging forward I yank the sword out of the dog and put myself in a wide stance. As soon as the first dog reached me I began my dance of death. Bobbing and weaving in and out of dogs slicing and cutting anything within range. Every time a dog almost hits me I duck into the blow and end the dog and never stopping for a breath and moving erratically. Blood fills the ground and I start to get creative as I start throwing limbs and organs at the ceiling making it rain blood. I even started throwing head at the ceiling so that the splatter of blood and brain matter leave a nice coating for the next inhabitant of the cave. Soon enough there's only one dog left standing. He looks at me covered in head to toe with blood and starts to run from me. I laugh and chase after the dog enjoying the thrill of the chase. I quickly load another drum into my crossbow and shout out tauntingly.

"Come back and die look a good doggie!" Laughing all the way as I chase the dog to the entrance. I fire off a few bolts so they graze him and scare him into running faster. Just as he runs out of the cave into the clearing I shoot two bolts into both of his legs causing him to crash into the ground. There are dozens of ponies standing there in golden armor spears at the ready when they see the dog. However when they see me emerge from the cave most of the start to hurl at the grotesque sight of me covered in blood and stomach acid. The dog crawls to the ponies hoping they will save him but I reach him first and stomp on the bolt in his legs causing him to howl in agony. I stomp on the wound repeatedly with zeal stomping harder and harder with sick pleasure. Laughing as I do so enjoying his screams of pain. I hear more ponies heaving at the sight unused to such things. Just as I about to end its miserable life I hear a voice.

"Enough! You have proven your point to it." I look up to see Celestia looking at me with disgust.

"Have I? I don't think I have, slavers deserve a fate worse than death." I say with a scowl and stomp on the dogs head squishing it beneath my feet with a satisfying crunch. At this the guards who weren't puking were now and those who had suddenly found room for more puke. Celestia looks at me with a disappointing frown unamused by my execution. "What can I say old yeller needed to be put down." I say with a disturbing smile.

Author's Note

We're just getting started