//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Virtuous Desperado // by Dumakey93 //------------------------------// It was a very stormy night as the townspeople went to their dimly lit shacks. The town itself was quite small, only having two homes, a saloon, a schoolhouse, and a sheriff's office. The whole town slept in while the sun disappeared from the sky, making it night. In this night I had traveled, wandering the towns of the desert, trying to escape my inevitable fate. A man of about my height stood near the doors of the saloon, chewing a bit of tobacco. Spitting the brown mixture out, he stared at me with indifference. He began to step forward and motioned for me to follow him. I saw nothing amiss, so I went in to the saloon. Seeing the man up close, I could see his ragged features and torn face. He had white eyes, and both were bloodshot and sporadic in their movement. The clothes he wore resembled a beggar, but seeing this man once made my blood run cold. With a frown, he pointed his finger to me and asked only one thing, "Poker?" I've had no experience with poker as a sport or game. Where I came from there was only a game that involved acts of vandalism and arson. Which ,in fact, weren't really games in the first place. Poker itself is a game of luck that always seems to have much more losses than wins, many incorporating public shootings. Nevertheless, I made my way to the dimly lit table, marked with knives and bullet holes. The poker game lasted for only a few minutes, as I was getting extremely bored. I somehow beat the man at poker, through some miracle, giving me the incentive to leave. As I set my cards down, the man cackled and wheezed as he pulled out four aces in his hand. The mere fact that he pulled the cards out now was a sign, that this game wasn't over. I also noted that he had what appeared to be more cards stuffed near his wrists, a sign of a cheat. I reached for my gun, which was in my holster, but it seemed to have vanished. The man I sat with smirked and drew my gun out of his shirt, and cocked back the hammer. His fingers moved slowly, as he savored the thought of killing me with my own gun. The only sound that came from the gun was a slight click, as the man's face turned white. I smiled at his rookie move, and snapped my fingers as I spoke, "Did you really think that I would leave bullets in my gun at all times? That's like asking to shoot yourself in the foot, but it was a nice attempt." I took out a knife from my belt, and began stabbing the man. His face was still plastered with shock, having been defeated with logic that was higher than his own. I left it in his stomach, as I slowly twisted it to increase the man's pain. I grabbed my gun from him, and made him watch as I slowly loaded the gun with one bullet. Spinning the chamber, I flicked it shut and raised it to his head. I cackled like a demon, as I fired a single shot in the stormy night. I gathered both of our earnings, and pocketed them, not taking notice of a single shadow watching me from a distance. I stood up on my feet, and looked at the now dead man across the table. The blood flowed from the hole in his head, as slowly as a canal flows downstream. There was nothing of real value on him in the first place, except a scroll, with a golden symbol on it. It was bound by a red string, and it seemed untouched by the blood dripping from him. Something about the scroll seemed otherworldly, like it did not belong there. As my hand wandered closer to the scroll, it quivered slightly, and began to float. I did not expect it to do such a thing, as I was taken aback by the magic flowing from it. The magic did not have an evil aura to it, but was rather innocent and holy. The scroll began disappear into tiny purple fragments, as I just stood and watched it go. I had seen many things in my short life, but that one moment was perhaps the strangest thing in quite a while. I blinked a few times, then I resumed searching the dead man. After I lifted a cigarette from my pack, I brought the lighter to it. Flicking the lighter several times, I had it lit. Smoke lightly drifted from the cigarette, as I began to drift off into my happy place. Hearing movement outside, I broke free of my little daydream, as I dashed against a wall next the entrance. The sounds began to get louder, as my breathing began to quicken. My pulse was racing, I was ready to kill, when the sound seemed to be next to me. I turned and pointed my gun, at a tiny mouse, who had stolen a chip from the table. "Damn...you almost scared me..." I said through gritted teeth. I was never right in the head to begin with, as the stress of being caught waned on me. I was paranoid from memories of my childhood, which were stained with darkness. I didn't want to die, is what I kept saying to myself. The aura of that night seemed dark and grim, as I was about to find out why. The cigarette still dangled from my lips, as I headed outside. It had started to rain, which made my fears that much worse. I started to drift off into a daze, as I gazed at the dark and gloomy skies. I slightly remembered the screams of people who were once my comrades, and it brought a single tear to my eye. I sighed heavily, as I heard a clicking of a gun, the dark feeling began to rise again. Cold hard steel touched my temple, as I uttered no words from my lips. The pain was over, as I crumpled to the wet ground. I drifted off into eternal rest. Wake up... You're not done just yet, you still have things to do... My eyes opened, as I found myself in complete darkness. I tried to gather my surroundings, but I couldn't sense anything. No. This isn't what Hell is like...but it is pretty close. "Who the hell are you?" Me? I am just a simple tool that He uses to bring worthy and unworthy people back for His own amusement. I have no name, much like you do not have one at the moment. I am a servant of the Devil, I have come to send a message to you. "What kind of message?" It involves the idea of selling your soul to Him, in exchange for living again. "Why does he want me? I am a man, can't he just assign a demon to do his bidding for him?" Shut up, you talk too much! The point is, you get another chance at life! Don't you get it? You get to live again, and take revenge on the man who killed you! "I have no reason to go back, for my life has been taken in an appropriate fashion." He wants you to kill a ruler of a distant country, so that He can rule it for Himself. "I said I don't w-" Flames began to rise from under me, as I saw a large figure in front of me. It was the most hideous thing I had seen in my entire life, who's description is hard to even imagine. Hello. I took out my gun and fired six shots in his head. They all hit him, but they made no damage whatsoever. That's not a very nice thing to do to the person who wants to give you another chance, now is it? My hands, no, my entire body began to shake at the demon's power, as he grabbed my throat and threw me to the ground. I landed on my back, as I felt it snap from the impact. I gritted my teeth, as a sharp pain ran through my body. Now you see, that you cannot win. Would you care to listen to my proposition? "I..would rather not..." His face suddenly snapped to an inch from mine, as I saw the evil in his face. Even thinking about it makes me sick... You must kill a certain alicorn, for she is destined to defeat me through her pupil. I want her pupil to see that her dreams can, and will, be shattered. So that her pupil will never rise to power, her teacher must perish. I simply stared into space, as the demon formed a portal with a snap of his fingers. The amount of power that he had was unimaginable, so much that I couldn't resist his request. I staggered into the portal, which contained a bright and blurry image of a library. Stepping through it, I felt a flash of warm fire in my body. The portal closed as I got out and brushed my shoes free of dust. I was in front of a tree, one that seemed hollowed out for a living space. I saw that there was no one around, so I politely knocked on the door three times. "Hold on! I have to set these books up properly...there! Good, that's another row organized." I heard four footsteps at the door, as it opened it appeared that no one was there. "Ahem, down here." I lowered my gaze to find a purple unicorn staring at me. "What are you supposed to be? I've never seen a creature like you in Equestria before!" I then saw a stack of scrolls similar to the one that I saw before, all neatly stacked and wrapped up. I continued to look around the library, paying no mind to the unicorn who kept asking me questions. "Who are you? Are you some sort of animal hybrid? Can you use magic? Where are you from? Why do you hav-" Enough was enough, it was time to make her shut that mouth of hers. "Listen! I don't care about your questions, you don't need to have me answer them. I am a human, I have no name, I am from Earth, and I don't have time to answer any more of your questions!" The unicorn tilted her head in interest, and placed a set of glasses on her face. She then put me on a couch and she sat down on a nearby chair. "Interesting, tell me more..." I could tell, that this adventure was just getting started...