Scarred

by TheGentlecoltAlex

Prologue

Scarred
by That Hooded Fella

***

Prologue
20 December, 1504

The cold December wind howled through the forest as the mare sprinted between the trees and through the snow, breath coming in ragged gasps. Behind her, at about fifty feet, a large mass silently galloped after her, making no sound except for the steady inhale and exhale of their breath.

The chase had been going on for almost twenty minutes and the young mare was beginning to show signs of exhaustion, stumbling every few steps as she ran. The large beast behind her smiled grimly. Good, he thought, a few more minutes and this will all be over and done with.

The stallion's heart-rate was normal, his breathing steady, and his eyes yielded no emotion. The nervousness and adrenaline that came with the art of stalking one's prey had lost their potency long before now. He used to run when they ran, so he could catch them quickly and finish the deed before he could think of what he was committing.

Now though, he took his time, content on being incognito and simply letting his intended target wear themselves to nothing before he struck. He used to think if he ran fast, caught fast, and killed fast, the dragon would let him be done with the foul work he had forced upon the stallion.

That was a vain hope, however, and he had given that hope up after the first two months. The foul creature wouldn't let him stop, nay, did not want him to stop. For some unknown, horrifying reason, the one who forced the stallion to stain himself with the blood of innocents, seemed to relish in the torments he put his captive through.

So, now, the callous stallion was simply complacent, unfeeling, uncaring. His single thought was of protection: for his family, his love, and his country. He was saving it, his deranged mind thought. The first time he had resisted his cruel master, the sadistic bastard had gone into a rage and burned an entire village to the ground.

On his own, in less than an hour.

After seeing what would happen if he was disobedient, he had followed his orders to the letter, no matter how much he hated what he committed.

That was why he was out tonight, chasing yet another one of his helpless victims. It had been simple really; send the mare a letter from a 'secret admirer' asking to meet him at the outskirts of the city at midnight, go to the intended spot and wait for her to arrive.

The mere fact that the mare would come in the freezing weather the middle of December only proved his suspicion of her desperation. City-folk always were the most attention depraved in his opinion. They were also short on endurance, as the stallion could see that the mare had finally collapsed in the snow and was struggling to get up.

The grim smile appeared once more on his muzzle as he finally closed the distance between them and slowly walked up to his victim. Tears were beginning to pour down her cheeks as she sobbed, unable to regain good footing due to her fatigue.

The stallion stood about two feet from his victim, staring into the blood shot eyes of the unicorn with a broken horn, as she in turn stared back into his. The stallion before her was one of the biggest she had ever seen, with a grey coat, a soot black mane, painful looking scars running the length of his body and a branded burn mark in the shape of an M on the right side of his neck.

His most prominent features, however, were not his scars, or burn mark or size. They were his eyes. When she looked into them, a thought dawned on her that made her heart almost stop and her blood turn to ice.

He felt absolutely nothing.

The young unicorn began to whimper as the stallion began reciting to himself the monologue that had been drilled into him the first weeks of his servitude, while being tortured by the empty being that would become his master.

"Through death I will prosper, through pain I will prevail;
Through suffering I gain strength, through torment my enemies fail;
Through harm I am calmed, through loss I am at peace;
Through cries I hear triumph, and through screams I hear victory;
Drong Waph Levnim"

As the killer recited his chant, he activated the mechanism that had been forcibly installed into the top his left hoof. A short, gleaming blade of steel shot out and embedded itself inside the leg of the poor mare. From the way she cried out in agony, it was clear she wouldn't be trying to take off again.

The young unicorn continued to wail as the killer moved in for the final moments. The amount of howling she did was irrelevant, nopony would hear her now, nor ever again for that matter. He stopped as he closed the small distance between them, counting to two before lunging forward.

The mare had been sitting up in the snow, cradling her bleeding leg as she sobbed. She didn't see him lunge for her, only felt as he slammed into her, mouth clamped around her throat, though not tight enough that it would kill her. At least for the moment.

Almost done, he thought. Just a little more pressure around her windpipe and artery, before gently pulling back and-

"Stop!"

The sudden shout broke the stallion's train of thought and concentration. All around him, unicorn horns lit up, as the sounds of swords being drawn by earthponies and the flap of pegasi wings filled the air. Multiple magical flairs shot into the sky, illuminating the area.

The brief moment of relapse gave the nearby unicorns an opening to grab the injured mare from the stallion's sharpened teeth, as his jaw had relaxed for a moment. Seeing as he had no reason to keep his head lowered like a blubbering idiot, the grey coated stallion lifted his head and looked around.

He was surround in a circle by what looked like two hundred of the finest soldiers the Equestrian National Army had to offer, all who had their faces set in various amounts of hatred.

"Kamati di Malsvir!"

The stallion, Kamati, let his expression slip into relaxed complacency as he turned his head straight and saw Princess Celestia walking toward him, with Princess Luna on her right and Princess Twilight Sparkle on her left. All were dressed in their royal regalia, polished and shined for this very occasion.

The princesses stopped five feet from the fugitive, horns glowing in union as their magical auras enveloped him, holding him in place. The scum would not get away this time.

Princess Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, a sheet of parchment outlined before her. She began to speak in a voice reserved solely for those who were receiving the death penalty by either hanging or torture. In her short time as a princess, only one had ever been spoken to as such.

"Kamati di Malsvir, you are hereby charged with one hundred twenty-five counts of homicide, one hundred seven of which are First Degree Murder and eighteen of which are Voluntary Ponyslaughter. You are hereby also charged with four counts of Arson, two counts of Kidnapping, one hundred twenty-five counts of Conspiracy, one hundred twenty-five counts of Aiding and Abetting, twenty-five counts of Bribery, and seventy-five counts of Stalking. Now, will you peacefully give yourself up and be subject to these charges or must we drag you to justice by force?"

Kamati kept his expression the same at her words, even as most of the soldiers noticeably tensed, ready for anything he might do. He was a deceitful, cunning one, he was.

He spoke barely above a whisper and yet his empty voice carried across the whole assembly. "No need to be so formal Twilight Sparkle, we did know each other once. You might have even called us friends, though not close as you might have wanted. Why must you use the name my master has forced upon me? The rest of these might know me as such but I know that you remember who I really am. I will go peacefully but I would beg to hear my name once more from another but myself."

The princess' jaw clenched as she answered curtly, "You will not hear it. Whatever name you had before is gone, as is the pony who bore that name. All that is left is what stands before me now." Glancing toward the officer who had accompanied them, she commanded, "Seize him."

The earthponies and pegasi rushed forward with steel bindings and chains, while the unicorns and princesses stayed back and held him in place through magic. The stallion did not resist. He went willingly, almost as if he relished the fact that he had finally been caught.

The princesses watched as he was taken away, both relief and sadness inside of all of them.

For you see, they had just apprehended Big Macintosh of the Apple Family, the most notorious serial killer Equestria had ever encountered in over two-thousand years.

Author's Note:

Comments and constructive criticism welcomed and appreciated.

Comments

[TheGentlecoltAlex]

This story has, in 1,550 words, created more drama, questions, and story so far than a lot of stories I've read before. I am very eager to see where this goes and how it develops. The use of italicizing the story did help emphasize the dark nature of itself, whether that was intentional or not. Hope to see more soon.

[PinkAndYellow1025]

More plz

[Ice Star]

This story has a gripping start, but the haphazard nature of just using the 'other' tag was admittedly a bit off-putting and misleading. It's meant for canon characters, MLP, irl people, or other franchise characters that lack tags. Not the whole cast you can't fit due to the tag limit. This made me think a character who lacked a tag would be a foe or part of the central focus. That doesn't appear to be the case.