Chapter 1: Ember

If one were to say that Torch Management was an actual job title, they would often be laughed at and left in puddles of embarrassment. To light the torches along the street of a city or a town was a job often simply left at the duty of the guards, and it was absurd to think that society would waste bits for a job specificly for that. But the city of Windhoof thought differently.

Being one of the most prestigeous cities at its prime in Equestria, Windhoof had plenty of twisting streets lined by many torches that had to be relit at every evening. From its rich district that housed some of the highest class in all of Equestria, to the commoner districts, and even to its collective slums, Windhoof was no small city. And its guards as of late have had more than a hoof-full to deal with.

For hundreds of years, dragons had been thought as lost entities among stories and legends. It was only until recently did dragons make their return, causing havoc all across the land of Equestria despite the turmoil state it was already in. Ponies from nearby defenseless villages within the same hold as Windhoof have sought to refuge in the walled city, unfortunately only to end up cramped in its already crowded and neglected poverty-plagued areas. Rumors of a Dragonborn warrior to combat the rising dragon threat have been popping up, yet the hold around Windhoof had seen no decrease in dragon attacks. Most dismissed the living legend as a false hope, and mustered up to combat the dragons as best as they could themselves.

Despite the dragon infestation, Equestria was also in civil war; the rebellious Stormcoats have been fighting the ruling Imperials. Leading the Stormcoat rebellion was the Jarl of Windhoof himself, Ulfric Stormcoat. The war was taking a slow period of progress at the arrival of dragons, but the guards of Windhoof were nonetheless at edge of all times between the two different threats. Windhoof was seen as the capital of the Stormcoats and proved to be vital in the war.

So, the city could afford to lift the annoying burden of torch-lighting off of its currently over-worked guards, and put it into the hooves of the Torch Management team. Or more specificly, Ember.

"Ya ready, Emb?" asked the guard as he did every evening at the beginning of his shift. Moments ago, he had knocked on the door to Ember's quarters in the guard barracks with only the response of the sounds of some things falling off of tables.

"Y-yeah, Cal, I'll be out in a moment," the mare replied from inside her room. She lived a very simple and boring life, her job only to light the various torches around the market and rich districts every evening. She was paid handsomly for the, what some would say, meaningless duty. But only enough that she could have a decent enough living.

However, she longed to get out of the loop she was in. It was undeniable that she could be set for life if she stayed, but she eagerly itched to leave the dreadful place. If she could, she would perhaps leave Equestria itself in its state. Yet her inexperience outside the walls of Windhoof proved a problem; the world seemed too big sometimes! Windhoof was positioned between two great mountains, one at its back and another across a river in front of it. Whenever Ember would gaze at the outside world, she would feel lightheaded soon after... She didn't think herself a strong pony.

"Alright then," replied the guard named Cal who shrugged and walked away.

Moments later, the door to her quarters opened and the earth pony mare of the hour emerged. Her coat was a pale red, complimented by her fiery orange eyes and bright crimson mane. Tattooed on her flank were two slightly crossed wooden logs that housed a small flame, the logs already partially succumbed to the heat and glowing as embers. Despite her fiery looks, she never thought herself as ambitious enough to even believe she'd set hoof outside of Windhoof.

Sighing and pulling on her ugly, brown cloak, she closed her door and made her way down the hall to the lobby of the barracks where she would pick up her torch. All along the walls of the building, Ember could hear the harsh winter winds batter against stone and wood. Windhoof was far north in the land of Equestria, and suffered nearly six months in snow.

"Ya know... It's been a week since the last murder," whispered a guard stallion to another who shared a table with him in the lobby.

"Has it, now?" his partner replied in a very relaxed but rustic accent, a unicorn who levitated a cup to his lips.

"Yeah, they've been takin' place a week apart, each. Haven'tya noticed?" the first guard told him. Ember walked to the fireplace nearby the table of the two conversing stallions to pick up her torch.

"Aye... Maybe we should alert the cap'n?"

"He already knows, and he briefed the current shift and the shift after. "

"Aye," remarked the unicorn guard passively, the anxiousness in the monotoneous pony already gone.

Ember made her way to the exit of the barn, her specialized torch in mouth. It could be described as a very long and thin stick, the end of it curved sidways to allow leverage the Torch Management team needed to light the high street lights.

True to what she had heard the guards talk about earlier, there had been reoccuring events of murders within the city. Every week for the past three weeks, a young mare would be kidnapped during the night and found dead the next morning, brutally mutilated and bloodied.

"Ey," said Cal the guard as he re-emerged beside Ember, who had just exited the building.

"Oh, hrerrwow," she mumbled through her torch. The hood of her cloak covered most of her head, but even then, the cold breeze of the winter wind still made its way to her skin.

"Ain't safe for a mare to be out durin' the night, nowadays. Guess I'll keep ye company for yer shift, aye?" Cal said.

"Thar'll bwe fwantrastick, thrank yrah!" she thanked as best as she could. Despite her boring life, she always tried to make things seem more exciting. She always found that lighting the torches for the night brought in more than just light to the city, but comfort and hope among other things. Fire was somehow her special talent, but she never entirely understood what her cutie mark represented, even through her various self-given meanings. Fire itself symbolized many things afterall, from life to destruction.

Nightlife in Windhoof was dull, but Ember always liked to believe that every torch she lit brought a smile to somepony nearby. Corny, yes, but it kept the mare going.

Ember and her accompanying bodyguard made a round through the market district, Cal keeping a look out while Ember lit each torch in silence. Despite it being her everyday job, she still had trouble with the highest torches which some often found entertainment in watching. Ponies were already beginning to pack up their various market stalls and goods; the arrival of Ember often represented the end of their day of sales as the sun's rays of light began to disappear. The sky was darkening, and no pony liked to be out during the night in the middle of winter.

But then came the part of the city she hated most: the graveyard. The small opening separated the market and rich districts, but it was often empty of ponies and left Ember very paranoid when traveling through. There were three torches she had to light in the graveyard, but thankfully she had a guard by her side. She wouldn't normally go to the graveyard until a guard's patrol led him to the place anyways, but it proved a very secluded area. If it wasn't for the fact that it was a good ambushing spot, it was the crumbling and neglected gravestones that were semi-orderly placed along the main cobblestone path through.

The two cautiously made their way down the path after lighting the second torch in the area with Cal in front, but they soon neared the third and final torch. It was left in the darkest area of the graveyard which rested against the city's western wall, sunlight long gone from that part of the pathway since late afternoon.

The howling winds of winter and the dark shadows were barely enough to cover the sound and sight of Cal being knocked unconscious, but the sound of his armoured barding clattering against the stony floor made it to Ember's ears.

Before she could even react, Ember felt an object hit her head with enough force to knock her unconscious.

-----

"Delightful... Delightful!"

Ember groaned, her head pounding from the force of the impact that left her world blank. She felt her body resting against a very cold and stony table, and soon found that her limbs were strapped down in spread-eagle position.

"Ah, you're awake," spoke a very creaky and energetic voice. Shock engulfed her body as she felt something very sharp graze her belly, causing her to finally open her eyes. "I was wondering when you were going to come to."

Standing before her was an old unicorn stallion, his mane a white grey and his coat a darker shade. He had a short beard, and his eyes were bright yellow. His horn glowed a very dark purple, and some sort of knife-part-chisel was levitating above her belly.

It was then that she noticed a lot of dried blood around the surface of the stone table and various bones of ponies placed on runic symbols on the floor. She cringed, also noticing all the disgustingly shaped metal tools on the table behind the old stallion standing before her.

"Wh-what... Who th-the hell are you!" Ember stuttered. She wanted to scream.

"Who I am should not concern you. But you are going to be the right one this time... I know it!" the old stallion spoke with a sort of bitterness.

"S-stop... Please... P-please don't..." Ember whimpered, water already fogging up her eyes. She wanted to scream, but she knew it would be hopeless. The stallion grunted, paying no heed to her as he levitated up a black-covered book in front of him.

"Um... I'll... G-give you whatever you... Want...," she hopelessly offered. Her heart was racing, and she blurted out whatever came to mind which she thought had a chance of getting out.

"Quiet, I am reading! No pony never understands - why does no pony understand? - that I must concentrate when reading!" he shot out, his insanity evident. Ember's eyes traveled wildly around the room, looking for any means of escape. But all she saw around the room were shelves of various magical tomes and a table littered with pink gems. Behind the grey stallion was the table holding the various tools he possessed, excluding the one now lying innate against her stomach as if the stallion had forgotten he was levitating it. He was mumbling to himself as he read the book, which was almost literally pressed against his face.

Subtly, she twisted in her spot and felt that the leather straps were actually rather weak. She could break through these easily!

"Alright. Now, you see, I have to go get some void salts. Be a good pony and don't move," he spoke while levitating the book to the table beside him. Before Ember could even respond, he was already out the door of the room.

"What..." Ember muttered to herself, taking a moment to furrow her brow at the oddball of a serial killer.

With a sharp thrust from each of her forelegs, the leather straps gave way and she moved to work on the straps at her hind legs. As she sat up, the strange knife-like-chisel that was on her stomach clattered onto the table. There was a ribcage and what looked like two fore-leg bones set on the floor in such a manner that it was as if they formed an arrow, pointing towards Ember. There was dried blood stained all around the surface of the floor near her as she hopped off, minding not to step on any of the bones. She cringed when she noticed a bucket full of various mutilated pony body parts resting to the side of the sacraficial altar she was previously on.

Clink, clink.

Looking up from the gruesome scene around her, she saw the old stallion at the doorway who had just dropped two bowls of what looked like a brownish powder. Rage engulfed her then.

Without hesitating, she grabbed the knife-chisel that was on the table and charged the old stallion. She screamed as she drove the sharp point of the tool into the side of his neck, blood gushing out shortly after while the stallion let out a wail of pain. Rearing up on her hind legs, she sent both of her forelegs into the shocked face of the unicorn in front of her, causing him to stumble backwards until he hit the wall opposite of the doorway.

Ember had never killed before, but she felt no remorse for her first time.

The stallion lay twitching on the floor and against the wall, his eyes wide but still with shock. Ember approached his body and wanted to end his life there, rising her right forehoof to bring down onto his head. But seeing the stallion in such a helpless state froze her, her raised foreleg stopped in mid air. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she stumbled backwards a few steps, finally collapsing onto the ground.

Ember wept for a few moments, paying no heed to the airless grunts from the incapacitated stallion until he made no more noise. The smell of books mixed with a heavy scent of iron stained the air, causing her to rise up from her spot to gallop out of the house. She wanted to be away from the place; it was a place that seemed tainted with death.

But as soon as she left the house, a bag was pulled over her head and she was once again knocked unconscious.

-----

Ember awoke, her head not in pain but instead generally groggy. Her whole body felt somewhat limp, but she was not bound in leather straps against a cold stone table. She was not in any way incapacitated, and the air around her felt very cool and dry. Opening her eyes, she first found that she was in some sort of shack. The familliar howling of winter winds was still present, and a window to her right was smashed only to let piles of snow inside. The view was only of a wall of snow; presumably a mountain of collective snow had built up against a whole side of the shack.

"Awake, I see," said a female voice to her left. "Don't worry, the concotion I fed you should be very weak now."

Startled, Ember turned to see a hooded earth pony, sitting in the corner of the shack with a single lit candle beside her. She was clad in very bizarre barding, seemingly black leather armour with red leather straps and patches. Her hood was black, and a red face mask covered her muzzle but left her eyes and forehead visible. The mare had green eyes and a coffee-tan coloured coat. Eerily, she was equipped with many various small blades and daggers that were sheathed on various leather cases, mostly along her forelegs.

"W-where am I?" Ember asked, standing up quickly.

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to know what happened," the hooded mare asked.

"Wait... Who are you?" Ember asked hesitantly. She was in an unfamilliar place with an unfamilliar mare, seemingly just after her encounter with the crazed mare-murderer. "How long have I been out?"

"Long enough for me to bring you here. And I? I'm merely a pony who wants to know you better," the mare spoke slowly, standing up and leaning against the wall next to her.

"Where am I?" Ember asked, breathing heavily.

"Answer my question first," she spoke back sternly.

"I-I was doing my torch-lighting rounds for the evening and... I was kidnapped by a crazy stallion who wanted to k-kill me," Ember answered uncomfortably. It proved difficult for her to recall the dreadful events in speech.

"So, this stallion, I hear he was killing various mares around Windhoof?"

"Yeah... Every week, there would be a missing mare who would end up dead next morning."

"Ah. And you happened to slip out of his grasp somehow," the hooded mare spoke, moving away from her wall and towards Ember who stepped back hesitantly. Ember whimpered.

"Heh, it's just that I was hired to kill that stallion," the hooded pony spoke. "And now, I am without a kill."

"P-please... Don't...," Ember stuttered, shrinking to the floor as the mare slowly stepped closer and closer. As opposed to the insane stallion who kidnapped her, this mare seemed to be a much smarter killer. Ember felt that she had absolutely no escape, even if an opportunity was presented to her against the cold and calculating mare. But before Ember could mould herself into the floorboards of the cold shack, the hooded mare dropped a small dagger in front of her.

"Look behind you," the mare said, Ember slowly complying. What she saw shocked her: four ponies sat along the back wall of the shack with their forelegs strapped and a bag over their heads. There was a rather big stallion who was clad in basic leather barding, a scrawny and younger looking stallion who was dressed in brown robes, a mare who was dressed in somewhat elegant clothing and another stallion who seemed to be much more still than the other three.

"Kill one," the mare who was now behind Ember spoke dismissively.

"W-what?" Ember asked, turning to see the mare had walked back to her corner. The dagger was still where she left it, on the floor near Ember.

"The only way you're leaving this shack is if you kill one of those captives, or you give up and I kill you instead. Don't worry, you have all the time in the world - just make your choice. You can talk to them," the mare said, sliding a rather large dagger out of one of her foreleg straps and clipping it into some sort of holder on her hoof. She poked and played around with the blade, making sure to prove a point that Ember had no choice.

Trembling, Ember picked up the blade before her with her mouth and turned to face her victims. She could feel the hooded mare's eyes stare at her from behind. Slowly, she walked up to the first captive to her left: the big stallion in leather armour. For a moment, she didn't know what to say. How should she introduce herself to someone she may potentially kill? It's not like she could just say "Hi, I need a reason to kill you." She had only killed once, and that was from self defense at best. Slowly, Ember lowered the knife onto the ground to free her mouth so she could speak.

"You," Ember finally spoke with a surprising amount of confidence. After that, however, she didn't know what to say and stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Hmph," gruffed the big stallion, causing Ember to flinch. She was glad he couldn't see her. "I kill for a living. What I don't understand is why the Dark Brotherhood would want you instead of someone but me, but sure. Just get this over with quickly."

Ember stood surprised; it was as if the stallion was less scared of the situation than she was, even though she was the one who had a choice. Deciding that was enough from the first captive, she moved to the next: the scrawny stallion dressed in brown robes.

"You," she said again. It was the only thing she was confident in saying at the moment.

"If you choose me, then it is the Goddess' will," said the stallion, slowly but with a voice that sent chills down Ember's spine.

"That one tortured those who, he deemed, unworthy of the light of Celestia," spoke the hooded mare from the other side of the shack. Despite having a bag over his head, Ember could have sworn that the stallion smiled. She moved to the next captive, who was the mare dressed in fancy clothing. Before Ember could speak her confident "you", the hooded mare spoke again, "This one cheated on her husband."

"That's it?" Ember squeaked, her voice drained despite not speaking much.

"Yeah. And stole half of his livelihood, causing him to commit suicide."

The cheating-wife mare seemed to be trembling, but she did not speak. Ember knew her backstory already, and she moved to the final captive: the unclothed but eerily still stallion.

As she approached him, Ember could swear the area around him felt dead. The stallion had a light grey coat, but there was a strange marking on his neck. Moving closer to the stallion, Ember could make out the marking as three wavey lines protruding out from the center. Between each line near where they connected was a dot, effectively being a symbol made out of three lines and three dots.

"That one does not speak. Trust me, you won't get him to talk. He was in jail for murdering a whole family, and he refuses to say why he did it," the hooded mare said. "As you can see, all four of these captives are killers. Just like me, just like you."

"I'm not a killer!" Ember retorted, instantly wanting to take it back after seeing the hooded mare flash the blade attached to her hoof.

"Just make your choice."

Ember gulped.

Stepping back to have a better view of the four captives, Ember found it hard to decide which life of the four she would end. Quickly, she ruled out the mare because she was not directly a murderer, especially when compared to the others. The priest was blinded by beliefs, and despite committing very wrong crimes, Ember decided that he was misguided as opposed to the bandit stallion who killed for money. Even then, the bandit was not something new in the land of Equestria, much less to the ears of Ember. As for the silent stallion, she decided that she did not know enough to simply kill him, so she made her choice.

Slowly, Ember approached the stallion in leather barding; the stallion seemed to have heard her approach, and he visibly let his previously confident posture slump. It almost made her want to back off, but before she knew it, Ember had stopped in front of him.

"I'm... I'm so sorry," she mumbled as the stallion bowed his head. Ember bowed her head to pick up the knife where she left it, her head feeling much heavier than only moments ago.

Hesitantly, she approached the stallion with the blade trembling in her mouth, until she could not take it anymore. Quickly, yet gently, she stuck the blade into the side of the stallion's neck and slid it across the front of his throat. The motion was very quick, but the big stallion was effectively on the floor gushing blood from his neck. Ember dropped the knife and turned to look at the hooded mare, quick to take her eyes off of her victim.

"Ah, the cold hearted bandit, I see," the hooded mare spoke as she approached the now trembling Ember, who had tears welling up in her eyes. The mare had already taken the dagger from her hoof and put it back into its strap, as she lifted her hoof to bring the face mask of her hood down, revealing her coffee-coloured face. Without her muzzle behind her face mask, she said, "You can call me Astrid."

Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Family of Insanity Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes