//------------------------------//
// Those Silver Eyes 
// Story: A Young Lady's Guide to the Demon Slaying Arts 
// by Protocol 
//------------------------------//

Those Silver Eyes

The wolves didn't even flinch at Scarlet's transformation. "Fear us, little girl. We have killed over a dozen of your kind in Canterlot alone," snarled the alpha. At the sound his roar, all the other wolves all pounced, clawing and snapping at the single target. Spike cringed in fear. He couldn't bear to watch.

When Spike dared open his eyes again, it was because of the silence. There were no more snarls, barks, or cries coming from the wolves. In fact, the room was completely silent save for the panting as the wolves were all looking around frantically, confused at their vanishing target. "Up here!" A snide shout made everyone in the room throw their gaze upwards. At the highest point of the building, they saw a Scarlet wearing her signature smirk, hanging to the building's roof with one arm. "You should see the looks on your faces right now."

"Get her!" the alpha bellowed, and the wolves started climbing up the walls and pillars, their claws digging into the wood columns between the bricks.

"Oh, you don't really want to do that, do you?" Scarlet let go of the ceiling, her cape flapping behind her as she plummeted downwards. A nearby wolf pounced after her. No matter how agile she was, she wouldn't be able to move in midair.

"Scarlet, watch out!" cried Spike. He could only watch in horrified awe as the scene before him played out.

From the side of her belt, Scarlet whipped out a flat red box. With blinding speed, she snapped it to her side. Meanwhile, the box was working magic of it's own, gears turning and parts shifting with a satisfying crunch. Right before the lycan could get her, Scarlet held the back of the handle in one hand and squeezed her finger. And in that one moment, in that fraction of a second where everything looked like it was all over, one thing happened.



All hell broke loose.



With a flash of silver and a sharp boom, Scarlet was thrown to a wooden beam on the side, holding onto it with one hand and both feet. The wolf that had lunged at her fell to the floor with a sickening thud, fresh blood pooling from the hole in its skull.

"What the hell was that?" one wolf shouted.

"She's got a weapon! Be careful, she's a tricky one," replied another.

"Oh, but it's not just a weapon," Scarlet commented, clicking a button on the side of the metal gun. With gears whirring and clicking, the bottom half grew a long black pole as the top half unfolded outwards into three parts, the sharpened blade of a scythe clicking out on one side of the pole and two hooked needles protruded on the other. "It's a damn sexy weapon."

She spun the scythe-gun around, letting go of the support bar to grab the pole with both hands. She pointed the bottom end at another wolf on the ground, and pulled the trigger once more. The bullet shot out from the top of the scythe, punching a hole through the ceiling. The massive recoil shot her downwards through the air, as she kicked off the beam for extra speed and power. The massive lycan was knocked back from the impact, his backside kicking up dust as it skid across the floor.

Scarlet took a step forward, twirling her scythe continuously as the wolf tried to get up. His efforts earned him multiple slash wounds. Her attack chain was effective but predictable. Sensing an opening, the wolf raised his left arm and caught the blade by letting it dig into him, tensing the muscles in his forearm to lock up the weapon. Blood trickled down his arm, but it was a small price to pay to devour the girl who had killed his fellow lycan.

When he roared, cracking open his jaws to bite Scarlet's head off, he failed to notice her still calm composure. What he did notice, however, was the jerk of her arms as she pulled the trigger, freeing herself from the wolf's grasp. The lycan's left forearm fell to the floor, spewing blood. The resulting force of the gunshot had torn straight through; there was no way his bones or muscles could stand up to a force so powerful. Howling in agony, it crumpled on its knees and lay still.

Scarlet grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, pulling in her fist to her face. She looked straight into its eyes, and spoke to it with cold eyes. "You've killed a dozen Canterlot vampires? So what? Fear me, lycans. Because I've killed the rest." Putting the edge of the scythe beneath its neck, the wolf's head was sent flying with the sound of gunshot. Scarlet turned to face the remaining opponents.

She stabbed her scythe blade into the wooden floorboards, and pulled a pump on the side. The remaining half of the used bullet shell popped out, rolling on the floor. Scarlet stood with a devilish expression against the beasts before her. "So, who's next?"

The beasts had taken vampires down together on previous occasions, but they obviously hadn't read the what-to-do-when-encountered-with-a-little-girl-who-wields-a-scythe-gun chapter in vampire hunting class. Clearly, they didn't remember the one word in the rather short section, dismissing it without a thought: Run.

The remaining four circled the little girl, with only slight hesitation as they moved in on the kill. With two more sharp retorts fired towards the heavens, the alpha and a nearby wolf were crushed under a slab of fallen wood and shingles from the rooftop. The others maneuvered their way around the rubble, only to be taken out themselves. Scarlet swung the scythe behind the first and fired another shot, hitting the second wolf in the torso. The recoil caused the blade to cut through the first wolf's body in half, as she shot another bullet to the ground. Twisting, she spun in the air, landing with the pikes of her weapon boring into the side of the staggering wolf's head. The thud against the ground signaled its death. The pack was no more. In its stead, all that remained was a litter of corpses.

However, it wasn't over quite yet. The rubble behind her shifted as there was the sound of a howl. Recovered and furious, the alpha wolf pushed the boards off him and his dead comrade. With speed that made the other lycans seem sluggish in comparison and power that dwarfed his predecessors, the final beast dashed to Scarlet. He would never die to this brat the same way the others did. He was the alpha of the pack for a reason.

Lunging at his target with jaws spread open, he landed on top of pole, stretched out by Scarlet to defend herself. "Oh, you're better than the others were," Scarlet said to him, as the wolf pushed himself against her defences with his claws and fangs. Blocking the blows and slashed made at her vitals with the scythe, Scarlet was pushed back a couple of steps from the relentless assault.

"Sadly, that's not good enough," Scarlet whispered into his ear with a devilish grin. With two more swings of her weapon and two more gunshots, she pivoted back from the wolf, holding its dismembered arm and leg. Before it even had the chance to fall, the marksman dug her scythe into the floor, pumped the reload again, and cut off its remaining leg with three clean shots.

The dead bodies and pieces of five werewolves were strewn across the room, the place stained with blood. The sole remaining lycan made a last ditch effort to escape, pathetically dragging its injured body across the floor with one arm. Scarlet jumped up high in a backwards double somersault and landed with both feet ahead of the lycan, scythe readied behind her back. She took long, slow strides towards it while chanting a rhyme in a chillingly threatening voice.



"On one starry night, there erupted a fight,
'tween the wolf pack of six, and one girl in the mix.
The first made a jump, but fell on his rump.
The girl stayed alive, and then there were five.
The walls were stained red, but the girl never bled.
With a lycan's last roar, there remained only four.
In the beasts' eyes, was a spark of surprise.
For the wolf pack could see, that now they were three.
The wolves lost their vigor; the girl pulled the trigger.
The night air now knew that the wolves numbered two.
The scythe's blade stayed chilled, as wolf's blood was spilled.
The girl had her fun, left with just one."



"Who- Who are you?" the former alpha wolf panted, critically injured and half conscious.

The girl reached the beast, stopping her steps just a hair's breadth away. "I'm your executioner. But you can call me Scarlet." She slowly raised her arm, pointing the scythe between the alpha's eyes. "The last tried to run." They were the last words the wolf would hear, delivered by cold and expressionless silver eyes. One last boom echoed throughout the room as a small wisp of smoke spilled from the tip of Scarlet's weapon.

"And then there were none."













"Haha, Another huge success!" gloated Scarlet. It was so strange to see her acting like this, a normal, cheery girl, after what he had just witnessed her do. Spike walked alone with the psychopath killer/happy-go-lucky girl beside him, for the other vampire child had run off in the middle of Scarlet's fight. "Don't worry about him," Scarlet had said, "he was just scared. Wouldn't hurt a fly."

Spike finally mustered enough courage to speak what was on his mind. "Y- You're a- a vampire," he sputtered.

Scarlet pulled him in with one arm and rubbed his head with the other. "Oh, don't be scared, kid. It's still just me," she beamed.

"Don't be scared. Don't be scared? You just killed like, half a dozen werewolves in one go," replied Spike, a look of sheer disbelief plastered onto his little face.

"Aww, thanks! But really, it was no big deal," Scarlet blushed.

"I'm not trying to compliment you! Well, ok, that was pretty awesome, but that's not the point here! You're a vampire! A real, blood sucking, shapeshifting, garlic hating vampire!"

Scarlet shrugged. "Well, you had it right up to 'real'. Half points for trying, though."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "Wait, so you're telling me that you don't do any of the other stuff?"

"Pretty much," said Scarlet, growing her fangs out and licking them again. "See, vampires eat meat opposed to mainland Equestrians, but that goes without saying for avians, or even cave dwellers, in some cases. I dropped the blood sucking act ages ago. Well, from sentient creatures, anyways. I rarely eat animal blood these days, too."

"Then what do you eat?" Spike asked, curious.

Scarlet leaned down close and whispered into his ear, "Embrey blood."

"Eep!" yelled Spike, quickly dashing behind a flimsy flagpole. Scarlet started to laugh.

"A lot of good that flagpole will do ya. Besides, I was joking, relax!" She reached into her cloak, and took out what resembled a juice pack. She poked the straw in, and slurped up a red liquid inside of it. "Blood substitute," she said, waving it at the dragon. "It's amazing what medical science can do these days."

Convinced, Spike took his place by Scarlet's side once more. "Then what about the other stuff? Turning into bats, hating garlic, not being able to touch sunlight, no reflection, stuff like that?"

Scarlet sighed. "Ugh, honestly. You guys are so outdated on your vampire info."

"Well, it's not like we've had a real one to study from," Spike replied.

"The transforming is usually a trait that the original vampire had. It grew weaker as the disease was passed on through the generations, and it was eventually a lost art, long before my time." Scarlet pulled up a pair of sunglasses as the horizon tinged red, signaling the end of the long night and the start of a new day. "The reason we don't like to be in the sunlight is because we have very sensitive eyes, even when we don't activate our vampire powers. And as for the reflections and shadows, that's because we can control them at will and make them do our bidding, like familiars for witches." Her shadow did a little jig on the castle wall that the two of them were standing by, before going back to mimicking Scarlet.

Spike scratched his head. "Okay, so most of the stuff we know is wrong. Then, what about the stuff we got right?" he asked.

Scarlet seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. "Hmm, I guess some parts of the portrayals are correct. For instance, we have fangs, heightened athletic abilities, and vampirism magic, something no other arcanists can use, and earthbound and airborne vampires can use it as well."

"That reminds me," said Spike, a little more timid than usual. "I know it's a bit personal, but what race were you before this? You don’t have to answer if you don't want to."

"Nah, it's fine," she replied. "I was born an arcanist, so I've always been able to do some basic magic. It wasn't after all the vampire stuff that I was able to do so many cool tricks, like the one way barrier circle you saw me use before."

"Really? My friend, Twilight is an arcanist, too! I bet you two would get along great!" Spike suggested, eager to get Scarlet to meet his other friends.

"All right, sounds good. What do ya say, shall we go over and meet her now?" Scarlet asked.

"Sure! I'm sure you girls are gonna be the best of friends after this," the boy beamed. "Just wait 'till Twi hears that you saved me from a pack of ravenous werewolves!"

"Oh please, it was nothing. It wasn't even a full moon. Stupid move on their part, but it made things a whole lot easier," Scarlet replied. "Besides, it's my job, anyways."

"Your job? What, coffee shop attendee? Vampire? Wolf killer?" Spike asked, confused.

Scarlet giggled. "No, silly. The last one was a little close, though. I'm a demon slayer. Equestria's very first," she boasted, putting her fingers to her puffed out chest and striking a pose.

From the other side of the town square, there came a sharp metallic sound, like a sword being drawn. When Spike and Scarlet looked over that way, they were faced with an armored knight, hefting a great big broadsword in front of him. "Vile witch, I've found you at last!" he bellowed, with fury seeping through his visor.

"Tch," Scarlet scowled, clenching her teeth in anger. Spike was worried. Scarlet had never showed anger, not even when fighting the werewolves.

"Prepare yourself!" the man roared, clutching his sword to the side. His feet were a blur as he charged towards the two of them, tip aimed at Scarlet's throat.

"Sorry, Spike, but it looks like our house call's going to have to wait." Whipping out her weapon next to her, Scarlet's red box elongated to its full size.

"Who's that?" asked a panicking Spike, pointing at the berserker before them.

Scarlet's scowl only deepened as she marched towards the knight. "Equestria's very second."