//------------------------------//
// Hunter Meets Prey 
// Story: The Pale Condition 
// by Lazy_ 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy's eyes opened slowly to the familiar site of the clinic as she awoke feeling a little heavier with the added weight of a pistol and a saw cleaver attached to her body. Pushing herself to her hooves she bounced and rotated her hips and shoulders in an attempt to make the new accessories sit more comfortably on her body. Fact is, carrying a pistol and a saw cleaver around added a lot of weight. Looking around she noticed something a little out of place in the room.

A lantern sprouted from the ground, a small squad of the little white skinned messenger crowded at it's base. They rubbed their hands together near it like it provided some sort of warmth for them. Fluttershy walked over and flicked a small piece of rubble against a shard of flint on the frame. The spark ignited a shred of cloth nearby and the flame travelled up into the centre where it continued to burn. She noticed it didn't provide much light, however when lit it seemed to radiate with the feeling of magic. Fluttershy was no unicorn, but she knew the arcane when she saw it.

"Hmm. That must lead back to the dream." She said quietly to herself. "Handy."

Fluttershy unclipped the cleaver attached to her garb and looked it over. It's design was... made largely with function in mind over any sort of fancy adornment. A curved handle using ripped cloth as a grip led down to a lever operated hinge where a thick double edged saw-blade was connected. She brought the weapon up, ready to give it test before sending it back down with a small amount of pressure on the lever. The hinge split and the cleaver opened up. This transformation put most of the weapon's weight in-front of her, so she guesses it was used for larger opponents. She shuddered at the thought. That something more monstrous than the thing that had killed her could exist. She put the thought aside for then and flung the cleaver back in the same motion, using the lever to pull back the cleaver. It did as designed and folded back up into it's more compact mode, before it was clipped back onto her body.

Then she made a mere glance at the pistol. A pistol was a pistol, and besides, she had no bullets to fire so why use it? Equestria had never been fond of pistols, though Fluttershy never knew why. All that mattered to her before she came to Yharnam was that it caused death when fired at somepony. Why the Day Guard preferred crossbows instead was never in her interest. Though she wondered if Twilight knew?

Turning to the doorway which once led her to her demise, or so she thought, she inhaled in preparation. The lowering sun projected a faintly orange glow through heavily dirtied glass, barely illuminating anything. She began her walk down the stairs, her heart beginning to pick up a pace, slowly. Reaching the bottom, she peered around the corner at the blood puddle in which she had slipped on before. How could she have missed it? It was huge! That and the sounds of ripping flesh. She must have been so filled with joy she zoned out of reality completely.

The thoughts led her to the beast. It was still in the next room, feasting on some poor pony who had run afoul of it's lethal jaws. And she was going to kill it, her first beast. She strode out into the landing and looked at her surroundings. There was nothing in the way of cover, there was no way of ambushing it from the side or behind. If she was going to hunt the thing it had to be in the open. Taking another deep breath she wandered to a nearby wall, as quiet as a mouse. Her stealth and light hooves was something she was used to, as her shy nature had brought her up to have. Though she found that nature degrading not only as her friends brought her out of her shell, but as she realised not everything could be solved by waiting in the background.

"-On the count of three...-" She steeled herself. "-One... two... three!-"

She rounded the corner like a filly into a playground, quickly but noisily. She pulled out the cleaver and raised it high, being careful not to slip on the pool of blood. The beast's ears pricked up and then it's head rose to follow, only to see a familiar pony ready to bring the smack down on it. The saw teeth ripped through it's skin as it dodged back, tearing into it's muzzle and causing it to hiss in pain. It backed itself up into the wall behind it, before looking upon the mare in confusion.Had it not just killed this one before? 

Fluttershy found herself at a loss, her mind gone blank. She had no clue how to react, now her advantage has gone. She stood on her hinds grasping the saw cleaver tightly, ready for a comeback she couldn't build up.

"Well... now what?" She asked herself. The question dissipated as another forced it's way to the top of her priorities. The beast was retaliating, all claws blazing. It swung wildly at her head and she ducked in response, letting out an 'eep' as she dropped to the floor. Seeing the beast was still recovering from the force of it's missed swing, she took her chance.

Fluttershy leaped at her adversary and brought her cleaver down upon it's body. The saw hacked into the beast's body and it let out a screech of pain. But Fluttershy wasn't done. Adrenaline still fresh in her arteries she slashed once more at the same spot and cut through the beast again, causing it to pull away and flail it's claws wildly. The butter yellow pegasus was catapulted off and onto her back, forcing her to roll back onto her hooves. As she regained stability, she noticed the beast screaming in agony and thrashing around in a panic, this was her chance. She jumped up and walked slowly towards toward the unaware creature.

*Crank*

Fluttershy engaged the hinge of her weapon and it transformed into it's intimidating cleaver form. She jumped forward and swung her weapon diagonally at her foe who was still trying to manage it's injuries. It couldn't avoid the blade descending on it's neck, and it was too late to dodge out of the way. The sickly sound of flesh being split and vertebrae cracking apart resonated through the room as the once reluctant mare took her first beast. The force of her blow pulling the beast to the ground as one final breath escaped it's lungs.

Then there was silence.

Fluttershy stood there, leaning her weight onto her weapon as the anger inducing hormones wore away. Her breath was drawn raggedly and she stared down at the lifeless corpse below her. All of a sudden she felt her blood introduce her to a feeling of elation, the Echoes of souls being transferred from prey to hunter. This brought a new sensation onto her body. It was like a feeling of pleasure... some form of content flowing through her. It was... was...

Vengeance.

She raised her cleaver, eyes looking down on the already dead and gone beast that once tried to prevent her from seeing her home and friends ever again. She smashed her weapon down onto the former beast again... and again... and again. She began to laugh maniacally as if she had lost her mind.

"Hahahaha... hahaha! Hahahahaha! Hahahahahahaa!" She couldn't stop herself from enjoying the moment, as if it were some sort of twisted fantasy. Cold and sweet, revenge fuelled her wrath as she mashed and mutilated the corpse into pulp. 

Eventually though, her muscles grew weary and her breath short, forcing her to stop her motions. And with her final hack, the laughing died away.

What replaced it was a continuous sob, growing in volume. The manic laughter turned quickly into tears of confusion and sorrow. She used the last of her strength to pull the cleaver away from her prey. It's weight dragged her back and she began to stumble, before she hit one of the clinic's walls. Staring at what was left of the beast, she slid down the wall and slumped over against it, drowned in tears.

She had just killed something... taken a life. What would her friends think of her now? Questions she could not answer flowed through her as she sat in her bloodied garb, crying away. And if this was to continue... she didn't know what it might do to her. What it might mould her to be.

"C-Celestia h-help me..." She managed to rasp out between sobs.



The sun lay low in the skies of Yharnam, as the night of the hunt began. Ponies, griffons, donkeys and all sorts of creatures wandered the streets. Their deformed bodies moulting away all their colour and replacing it with greys and blacks. They patrolled back and forth, hoping they could hunt their path to a redemption before it was too late.

The night was going to be long, this time.

An old griffon pulled back from the window, her aged body still retaining some form of agility and stealth. Her cloak of crow feathers rustled down her body as she turned away from the mare sobbing on the floor below. Then she gazed down upon the denizens of Yharnam wandering aimlessly among the gothic streets.

"I may not have been born here..." She started. "But if this is what I'll be working with on this night, I might just end up dyin' here." Her foreign accent was, along with her unique garb, a signature sign of her profession. A warped blade attached to a belt around her waist. She looked back to the mare. She was no longer sobbing, but she sat in silence. She couldn't tell if she was sleeping or if she was just deep in thought, but one thing was for sure. She was either going to be the worst hunter Yharnam had ever seen.

Or the best.