When I was a foal living in the outskirts of Dise, I used to hunt radroaches in ruined buildings. When those got too easy, I moved up to scorpions in the tunnels underneath the city. I knew my calling. Of course, I couldn't stay hunting small game in the city; I had to go out, to conquer the wasteland. For the most part I did a good job, clearing out geckos to the north and cazdopplegangers to the west. I even managed to take out a few young landsharks when a village was worried they were trying to move out of their canyon nest; and what a ripe mess that would have been.

So when I was contracted by Roy Mustang to head down to a newly established hellhound den based in an old quarry to kidnap a few cubs for some special “training,” I jumped at the chance. I’d never really heard of a hellhound before, because apparently they were native to Equestria to the north, and figured I'd taken on worse things in my tenure.

I was wrong.

I barely made it a couple hundred meters into the quarry before I felt a slight rumbling in the ground. I didn't know what it was, but something in my gut told me to jump out of the way.

Thank Celestia I did. The great brown beast tore out of the ground in a flurry of dirt and stone so fast and hard even jumping away couldn't save my tail from being severed.

“Pony go away!” it roared as I backed up.

BANG BANG BANG

My .308 rifle cycled through it's entire magazine. My smirk grew larger and larger as each bullet slammed into the creature’s chest. This was going to be easier to expected.

Until the hellhound looked down at it's wounded chest for only half a second before charging at me.

So much for an easy job.

The hellhound was catching up. I could hear it's claws scraping against the ground behind me. I had to think quick. Luckily I was a unicorn, so I had a whole bag of tricks. I squeezed my eyes tight and...

KABOOM

An old trick I learned when I was young, a simple loud burst of sound and light. I used to use it as a distraction before, but as I got better at it, I found it worked best for incapacitating tricky beasts. A touch of genius you might say. I didn't bother looking back at the creature or trying to shoot though, it was clearly too tough for my rifle and I wasn't confident my trick would hold it off for long.

My eyes scanned the quarry quickly. Rocks, rocks, rocks, rock crusher, more rocks, ah a crane! I charged towards it, hoping to climb to the top and get something resembling the high-ground, from there I could change to my more potent AP ammo and rain death from on high.

I might have over estimated the difficulty of the mission, but I was nothing if not resourceful, so success was still inevitable.

I reached the massive crane, and when I looked back the Hellhound was just starting to shake away the effects of my spell. It wasn't the only spell I knew of course, and I quickly concentrated to teleport on top of the operators cabin of the crane.

Describing teleportation is really kind of difficult, it's sort of like jumping, but with your mind. I supposed you'd have to be a unicorn to understand.

From there I made my way up the lattice, all the while reloading my .308 with some sweet sweet armour piercing rounds. By the time I reached the top the damnable hellhound was already climbing up the cabin towards the lattice I was perched precariously on.

I weighed my options quickly. I could probably take out the creature from where I was, but if it climbed up here my limited teleportation skills wouldn't take me anywhere safe. I also wondered if maybe climbing up here was a bad idea, but quickly abolished the notion from my mind. I decided to use another flashbang to slow it down. While I was a master of many spells, I didn't have the endurance to cast many in such a short period, and if there were more of those creatures nearby, I would want to be as powerful as possible.

I decided that safety now was a much better possibility than safety later. Closing my eyes, I unleashed another burst.

The lattice shook beneath me, forcing me to open my eyes and brace myself. With a startled gasp I looked down to see the hellhound, half-blind and roaring in pain, swinging it's gigantic claws in a panic towards the bars that kept me afloat. With seemingly effortless ease the creature severed the scaffolding from the cabin, and suddenly I was flying.

I had always wondered what it was like to be a pegasi.

I barely had time to react. The rocky ground getting closer. My heart was in my throat. For a moment I lost all confidence.

Only for a moment.

My horn glowed a magnificent purple. Below me I cast one of my patented shield spells. A straight plane of glowing magic appeared below me. Not parallel to the ground (because that'd just kill me sooner) but diagonal, so that when I hit it I would-

“FUCK!” I screamed involuntarily as I slammed into the shield shoulder first. Before I had the time or wherewhithal to find more curse words, I slid down the plane and landed in a heap in the dirt, a large pointed rock stabbing me in the spine.

“Fuck.” I repeated, trying to ignore my throbbing shoulder and back. Okay, so maybe I was just a little overconfident, but I had setbacks before. Just ignore the pain and...

The creature roared.

I didn't even bother swearing again, I just scrambled to my feet and took off like a mad pony. When I was a colt I had always won all my childhood races, but my unusual speed didn't seem to be as useful as I would have liked. The damnable beast was simply too big, and it's strides were far longer than my own. It was catching up. I had to think of something...

There, the answer to my problems. The hellhounds had chosen a quarry, and that would be their undoing. There in the middle of the gray excavation site was a rock crushing machine, that had two conveyor belts leading up to it from either direction.

In the past the conveyor belt was used to carry rocks up to be dumped into the top of the crusher, but now it was just carrying me. I managed to reach the top in record time, and quickly turned around to see the Hellhound precariously close behind my. Nervously I looked behind me to see the machines gaping maw far below, ready to swallow me whole if I messed up. But I wouldn't mess up, I had this.

Just one more spell. One more! My horn was starting to get tired, and I could feel my horn burning my insides from the sheer amount of spells I had already used, but all I needed to win was one more. One more, and I had this.

The hellhound lunged at me, flying through the air. A weaker pony would have given up, but I just focused on my horn.

I vanished and reappeared on the conveyor belt on the other side of the rock crusher, confident in my victory. The hellhound screeched, but without me there to stop him he went soaring into the machines innards. Now all I had to do was push the on button and victory would be mi-

ZAP

Something hot slammed into my chest. I stumbled for a second, trying to steady myself, but one of my hooves slipped off the narrow conveyer belt. I felt myself falling, my jaw slammed into the belt, and I was flipped head over hooves off.

I didn't have time to cast a shield this time. I hit the ground hard. So much pain. I couldn't even swear. I couldn't think. All I could do was gasp for air. All I could think was: What the fuck hit me!?

The answer became obvious a second later when a second hellhound appeared in my blurry vision, blocking out the clouds above. In it's massive claw was a MEW rifle...

My telekinesis searched for my rifle, but it was nowhere to be found... I wasn't even sure where I had lost it.

The dog bared it's teeth in a macabre imitation of a smile. It's gun was pointed at my head. Oh.

My horn lit up. One last spell, I just needed one last spell, I could do it. They were just hellhounds, and I was the best hunter in Dise. Just a setback.

The green bolt of magic slammed into my shield wall, shaking but not dispersing it. I could still win. I had magic and-

The hellhound slammed it's claw through my shield shredding it into wisps of purple.

“Oh.” I said when I realized the creature's claw had impaled my torso. It didn't hurt... I couldn't feel it... I couldn't feel anything but inevitability.

The hellhound pointed it's MEW at my head one more time, and when it pulled the trigger all I wondered if maybe ponies were never meant to be hunters. If maybe we were the prey, not the predators.