Of Corruption and Sacrifice

Prologue

I Almost Die… Why Only Almost?

This is where I belong. I thought to myself, as my blade sank home. Equestria is better this way. With a degree of anger unnatural to me, I twisted the dagger. The corrupt manticore that had my dagger in its back let out a cry of pain, which only served to remind me why I was here, and not among the ponies... I was a danger.

            Taking mercy on the corrupt beast, I ripped the dagger out of his back, and shoved it into the back of his head, ending his life immediately. I sighed. Only three months in this new world, and I was already poisoning it, in ways its true inhabitants couldn't imagine.

            I had woken up six months ago, to the sight of three ponies standing above me. They spoke English flawlessly, were extremely kind, and wouldn't have known I was a human if I hadn't told them... They had never heard of humans... They told me this land was called Equestria, and it was ruled by an alicorn named Princess Celestia. She was a good and just ruler, and it was a land of harmony. Equestria had its troubles, but where I was from, they seemed like nothing. Oh, that's something else; I had no memory of myself. I knew I came from Earth, I knew of humanity, and I knew that, where I was from, there were no talking ponies. I knew of Earth, its people, its cultures, and its troubles, but the only things I knew about myself, were my name, and my skill with my saber and dagger. I had no idea who I was, or what I was doing here.

            I stayed with the kind ponies for a month, then things started going wrong. They lived on the edge of the Everfree Forest, and were used to the occasional monster attacks, but after I arrived they grew in frequency and ferocity. The monsters seemed to target me specifically, and they started looking different. Mainly, they looked darker. Their teeth became longer and sharper. In general, they just became more dangerous and evil, both in how they looked, and how they acted.

            I dismounted the corrupt manticore I had just killed, removed my dagger from its head, and cringed. No matter how many of these creature I killed, two things remained the same. First, I hated it. I hated having to kill, and only my self-preservation instinct could make me land a death blow on another creature. Secondly, I hated blood… and brains… and mess… and mud… Yeah, I was a little prissy like that.

            Wiping my dagger blade on the creature’s mane, I looked down at myself… And cringed again. From head to toe, all five feet, nine inches of me were covered in blood… and mud. My pale white skin and tight black leather armor was turned red and brown from the blood and mud. I could feel the mess my brown hair had become. Now, I was never very concerned with looking nice, but I hated feeling messy… And it was taking all my self-control to not have a fit over how gross I felt.

            Turning toward my cave/home I had found in the forest, my thoughts turned toward the bath I was going to take when I got back. Beyond the blood, mud, and organs the beast had gotten on me, I knew that the mess I was, wasn’t just the manticore’s remains. The beast had managed a few hits on me it the tussle. Nothing overly deep, and defiantly nothing to worry about. They were just minor annoyances, except for one slash it had gotten on my right forearm; that one actually hurt. The armor on my right arm was probably ruined, and the rest of it was just managing to not fall apart. I probably only had a few more fights left in me before I died.

            I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn’t sense the approach of the reaver until it was upon me.

            Reavers were small, dark skinned humanoids, with two legs, two arms, and three fingers and three toes at the end of each limb. The inside of each finger and toe was as sharp as a razor. Their eyes looked like a cross between a bug’s eye, and a gemstone. Their mouths were too small to be used as a weapon, so I never paid them much attention. They were a surprisingly stealthy lot, considering their claws.

            As I felt his claw shred into my back, I let out a curse, and twisted into a forward roll, coming up facing the direction I came from, and in self-defense mode. In my self-defense mode, everything seemed to move slower, everything seemed to have enhanced detail, and only the most extreme pain got through. I had no idea why my perception of the world seemed to change like this when I was in any perceived danger, but I didn’t question it. If it wasn’t for this perception change, I know I would be dead, at least twelve times over by now.

            As I came up in a crouch and turned to face my attacker, he was nowhere to be seen. I knew what the sneaky bastard had done half a second too late. Another wave of pain burned across my back, as the reaver, who had followed my roll and stayed at my back as I turned and came to a kneel, took another swing with his razor like talons. Knowing another roll would produce the same results, I took my second option… Which was an option that I knew would have my fighting instructor (whoever he/she was) turning in his/her grave, and (with my back slashed open) would have every doctor in existence cringing.

            I went into a backward somersault, which I ended halfway through by propelling myself into the air with my arms, causing me to flip right over, and land behind the surprised reaver.

            “Bitch” I muttered to myself, as I rammed my saber into the base of its neck, and down its spine. The things head snapped back as it’s whole body went ridged and died almost instantly. That was the nice thing about reavers; they had no voice box, so when they died, they wouldn’t yell and attract other monsters.

            I grinned to myself. Normally I didn’t like killing, but these things were just pure evil and needed to be put down. Then my grin turned into a grimace and loud curse as my adrenaline faded, and I truly registered the pain from the damage the creature had done to my back, combined with the damage the manticore had caused, and my own unorthodox movements which had caused those injuries to become exponentially worse.

            I fell to my knees from the pain. “Damn bastard,” I muttered to myself. I didn’t care so much about dying, as that would actually be a boon to this peaceful world, and would be more than worth it for the good my death would cause the ponies. No, I didn’t care that I would die, I cared that dying hurt so damn much. Against the advice of every doctor on the planet, I decided I would try to move. After all, if I got to my cave, my chances of being eaten alive were smaller… And THAT would be an even worse way to go, I’m sure.

            I made it about twenty feet, and then collapsed from pain and exhaustion, letting out a loud “SHIT” as I did so… Well, I thought to myself, my sarcastic sense of humor coming out, THAT’S not gonna happen, I guess I didn't have a couple more fights left in me… At least it’ll finally be over, and I won’t hurt this perfect planet any longer. As I lay on my stomach, my lifeblood beginning to pool around me, I realized it was funny how my last thoughts before I was going to die, were for ponies I never even knew… But of course, fate’s a bitch, and wouldn't let me go that easily…