"Are you sure this is safe?" Minty asked Blue Moon.
The two were newly weds. She'd begged her new husband to take her camping for their honeymoon. He had refused at first, insisting that it was an odd request and unbecoming of unicorns that were as rich and well bred as they were. Blue Moon had insisted that they honeymoon in Las Pegasus, or at least Manehatten.
Still, she was insistent. She'd always loved sleeping out under the stars and exploring the great outdoors with her family when she was younger. Before her father Cool Mint had made his fortune in his private equity firm. Despite the wonderful life it had meant she'd gotten to live in Canterlot, Fresh 'Minty' Mint had still pined for the simpler days. Now more than ever since her father had regretfully passed on.
That was why Minty was thrilled when her then fiance' had at last relented, and promised to take her camping after they were wed. The only problem was, she hadn't expected her new husband to bring her all the way out to the Everfree Forest!
"You said you wanted to camp in the wilderness, didn't you dear heart?" replied Blue Moon, his voice as thick and sweet as honey. "It doesn't get much wilder than the Everfree Forest. I thought you wanted adventure?"
"Well, yes," admitted Minty. "But they say ponies go into those woods and they never come back out."
"You don't seriously believe that?" asked the blue unicorn, rolling his beautiful eyes beneath a curled shock of his gorgeous mane.
"I suppose not," replied Minty. "It's just that I was kind of hoping for an adventure that involved white water rafting, or spelunking, or maybe hiking the trails through the Appleloosan canyons. I wasn't exactly expecting the kind in a dark, scary forest where the weather and animals do whatever they want."
"Come, come dear," tutted her husband as they continued to move down what passed for the trail through the forest. "These woods may be a little bizarre, but they're hardly scary. Yes there may be a wild animal or two to keep a look out for, but these woods were once a very important part of Equestria. The ruins of the Castle of the Pony Sisters are said to lie near the heart of the Everfree Forest. Wouldn't exploring those be exactly the kind of honeymoon you were hoping for?"
Minty's face lit up,"Oh it would! I remember when I was little and we took a trip to Galloping Gorge. That was back when I was a junior horn-scout. I uncovered this old mine that actually hid the entrance to a natural cave that the early settlers of VanHoover had used to store their valuables and..."
"Yes yes, that all sounds very droll," interrupted Blue Moon, waving a hoof dismissively. At one irritated look from Minty, however, his voice mollified to pure sweetness and light once more, "I'm sure there will be time for you to tell me all about it as we're setting up camp, my love."
"We're camping here?" asked Minty in disbelief. It was true they had come to a small clearing, however it seemed way too early to set up camp. "But we're barely in the forest at all. We've only been walking for maybe half an hour. We could have probably just stayed in Ponyville for the night."
"Ah, but that would have ruined your quaint idea for a camping trip honeymoon," gently chided her husband. "Besides, we should set up camp before it gets dark. Just because the forest isn't as scary as the old pony-tales would have you believe, that doesn't mean they are any less dangerous after the sun goes down. We should have our camp set up and well supplied to make it through the night. After all, the weather could change at any moment, or we could find ourselves beset by timber wolves. Better to be safe than sorry."
Minty couldn't fault that kind of thinking. It was exactly the sort of thing her father would have said. Still, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that they should make more progress while the sun was up. Even so, she had to admit that beneath the thick canopy of the Everfree Forest, they were already in a preternatural twilight. If she didn't know better, she'd say the sun was in fact already close to setting. Was it possible that time passed differently in the Everfree Forest? The thought sent a chill down her spine and set her teeth to chattering. Minty was no coward, but a place like the Everfree Forest could unnerve even the bravest of ponies. Indeed, maybe it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Alright then," she relented, "We'll set up camp here. Since we haven't gone very far we should still be good for food and water. If you can handle gathering wood for the fire, I'll pitch the tent and start setting things up."
"A most splendid suggestion my dear," replied Blue Moon. "I shall gather enough wood for an inferno the likes of which will drive back even the most black-hearted of beasts! Why, I dare say when I am through that the timber wolves wood be positively petrified with fear of our little campfire."
Despite herself, Minty found it hard not to laugh at her husbands bad joke. Sometimes she wondered what she saw in him, or him in her for that matter. They seemed so different. Him, a suave Canterlot socialite, and her the daughter of an investment manager who just happened to make it big. She didn't know what she would have done without him. But sometimes, Minty had no idea what she would do with him either. "Go on you. Don't try to gather more wood than you can carry."
With a regal bow Blue Moon set down his traveling pack and took up a small axe, that they had brought specifically for chopping wood, and set off into the forest.
That had been hours ago.
True night had fallen more quickly than Minty had thought possible, and she had been forced to gather a few fallen leaves and twigs around the campsite to build a fire for warmth and comfort. As the gloom had deepened into pitch blackness, the temperature had plummeted right along with it. The warmth was welcome, but Minty had to admit to herself that the fire was mainly to provide some sense of safety. The strange sounds of the nocturnal creatures of the forest awakening and going about their nightly hunts was more than a little agitating for her. Every now and again the pop of a splitting timber in her campfire would make her jump and scan the circle of smokey light for any would-be intruders... But the light of her little fire barely reached to the surrounding treeline. Earlier it had seemed like the newlyweds had barely entered the Everfree Forest before they had stopped to make camp. Now it felt like Minty was in the middle of a vast wilderness, cut off from civilization, and very much alone.
Minty had never camped alone before. She hadn't expected the first time to be on her honeymoon. Where is he? she thought to herself furiously. Just how much wood does he think we need!?
As time continued to pass, the irritation faded as her thoughts turned to worry. Blue Moon himself had said that the Everfree Forest was dangerous after night fall, yet so far he had failed to return. There was no way that he would have stayed out this long if he had a choice. Had he somehow become lost? Was he trapped somewhere? Was he hurt? Minty's mind riffled through all the possibilities, each worse than the last. Had he been swarmed by parasprites? Chased by timber wolves? Mauled by a manticore? Drug to a watery grave by a cragodile? Minty knew that there were rumors of a hydra taking up residence in Froggy Bottom Bogg, which wasn't far from here. Could he have been crushed by the colossal tread of that awful beast with her somehow failing to hear it?
The tiny green unicorn's ears strained, but the sounds of the Everfree Forest were so unfamiliar to her, she couldn't separate the safe noises from potentially dangerous ones. She knew that it would be a bad idea to abandon the camp to search for Blue Moon. There was still a chance that he had just gotten... delayed. That's right, unaccountably delayed. That would be just like something he would say in that suave manner of his, and then he'd come sauntering over to her with his warm smile and those sparkling eyes. And then she wouldn't be alone in the middle of the woods that ponies entered but never returned from!
So she only had three choices that made any sense. She could gather more dried twigs just beyond the circle of fire light to keep the fire burning all night until sun up, so that Blue Moon could find his way back, and perhaps more importantly so nothing would potentially sneak up on her in the dark. Or, she could extinguish the fire and climb into the relative safety of her tent and devote herself to searching for her husband in the morning. Or, thirdly, she could admit how terrified she was, tuck tail, and run all the way back to Ponyville and send a search party out to find him.
These thoughts were going through her head as she heard a sudden crack.
This wasn't the pop of charred wood breaking apart in her campfire. No this was the sound of a twig snapping. Minty's eyes swiveled towards the sound. Sure enough there was a patch of darkness that seemed somehow deeper than the shadows that danced jerkily in fire-light. More than that, there was an unmistakable wall of silence and stillness that seemed to block out the other ambient sounds of the Everfree Forest. Exactly the kind of silence that would be made by someone standing very still and trying to be very quiet amid the cacophony of the nocturnal sounds. Minty's magic wrapped itself around the only weapon she had, a few spare tent spikes that she had brought in case one of the others broke or were lost.
"Who's there!?" she called out to the dark, sounding braver than she felt.
Minty almost melted with relief. A masculine silhouette of a stallion holding an axe was limed by the fire-light. "Oh thank goodness, Blue Moon! You gave me such a fright!" Minty's relief turned quickly to fury, "Just where exactly have you been, huh!? I've been sitting here, shivering in the dark for hours wondering where you were! I don't know what you thought you were going to get up to with me tonight mister, but you can forget about it! I'll be sleeping in the tent, you can sleep out here with all that wood you gathered!"
There was no reply. No suave apology or bad joke designed to defuse the situation. There wasn't even an explanation, or an angry rebuttal. The pony stood stock still, just beyond the fire light. As Minty studied his silhouette, it was as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her fury. Every ember of righteous anger hissed out in a wave of cold dread. She didn't see any bundle of fire wood.
Had Blue Moon always been that tall? And why was he holding the axe crooked over one shoulder in the manner of an Earth Pony instead of with his magic? And more than anything, why didn't he answer her? It wasn't like Blue Moon to not say something. The stallion was practically in love with the sound of his own voice. Minty had half expected, when he had knelt down and presented the ring, for him to be proposing to himself with her as a mere witness.
She raised her tent spike again, "Well? Say something!?" her voice cracked on her last word, betraying her fear.
In answer, the pony stepped out of the shadows and into the smokey, orange light. He was taller than Blue Moon. He was probably one of the tallest Earth Ponies Minty had ever seen, though his limbs were on the rangy side, not as muscled as you would expect from his impressive frame. His coat and scraggly curled mane were a shocking pink rather than the deep midnight blues of Blue Moon. While his axe was the same as her husbands, for clothes he simply wore a dingy green jacket rather than the vest and ascot Blue moon had insisted on sporting despite the impracticality of such formal wear in the outdoors.
What was perhaps most striking of all, however, was the chilling white mask this newcomer wore. It seemed as though it had been carved from a single piece of ivory or bone. There were cracks in the yellowing curves, but otherwise it looked remarkably new. There were holes here and there that gave the suggestion of a mouth and a nose, and from them the steam of the stallions breath boiled into the night air. The two gaping sockets that were intended to be eye-holes would likely normally hide the wearers eyes in deep shadow; In the fire light, however, they gleamed like two crimson marbles, alive with cold animal malice and fury. She might have mistaken him for a logger returning home late from work, or even a fellow camper who'd gotten lost and wandered towards the light of her campfire, were it not for those burning crimson eyes.
It was looking like option three was Minty's best bet after all.
She let out an ear piercing scream and hurled her tent spikes with all the force her magic could manage. She didn't even pause to see what effect this might have, before galloping away at top speed back towards Ponyville.
Minty tore through the woods as quickly as her legs would carry her, darting and ducking to avoid the grasping limbs of trees and their tangling roots. She only had the light of her horn for illumination, and she took no comfort in the twisted shadows the ghastly green light tossed about her as she fled, her eyes brimming with tears.
Why her? Why now?
Minty galloped through a thicket of bushes and splashed through a narrow brook she didn't remember passing earlier. While she had set out towards Ponyville, her headlong rush into the dark had taken her far from the trail that she and Blue Moon had followed earlier. Minty had no way of knowing if she was going the right way or not anymore, and she didn't dare slow down to make sure. She was certain she could hear hoof steps just behind her, and the labored breathing of her otherwise silent pursuer. She could be running towards the heart of the Everfree Forest for all she knew, or into the jaws of some waiting monster. All she knew was that she had to get away. Every nerve was screaming at her to run as far and fast as possible. And don't look back. Never look back!
She looked back.
As she did she smashed into a hard, immovable object. Her momentum was such that she went skidding to the side, sprawling in the fallen leaves and dense underbrush beneath the towering trees. The light of her horn winked out as she looked around, dazed. It was by soft moonlight that was just barely managing to pierce the dense canopy that she saw him. He towered over her, and she couldn't suppress a whimper. There was no way she could get to her hooves in time, no way she could run. She was frantically looking for something, anything to use as a weapon... When a soft blue glow washed over her. It came from the horn of the unicorn that stood over Minty, his face drawn with concern.
Blue Moon.
Minty was so relieved to find her husband that she broke down in sobs, wrapping him in a tight hug as she buried her face in his chest. His silly ascot soaked up the majority of her tears and muffled her cries, but even so she managed to say, "I was so scared! Blue Moon! There's someone else out here! There's some masked maniac in the forest! He chased me!" She looked up into his uncomprehending face.
For a moment a stormy look clouded his features, and for some reason Minty thought he was angry with her. But the,n like the sun gliding from behind a storm cloud, a smile broke out on his face. "What's all this about? I take a little extra time to fill the canteens and you concoct a boogieman as an excuse to come rushing to my side?" Blue Moon laughed, "I'm sorry if I left you alone for too long dear, but there's no need for you to make up such stories to come find me."
She was dumbstruck by his response. Couldn't he see she was serious!? "No, no you don't understand! He was right behind me! He was chasing me!"
Her husband turned to face the direction she had come from, his eyes scanning the forest, "I'm afraid I don't see any 'masked maniacs' heading our way dear. Are you certain you didn't imagine the whole thing?"
Minty turned wild eyes back from whence she had come... But it was true. There was no one. She didn't hear the sound of distant hooves or the crashing of a large body through underbrush anymore. She didn't hear that heavy, rasping breath that she could have sworn had been right beside her ears at one point. All she could hear were the sounds of the Everfree Forest as the wind sighed in the bows of the trees and distant night creatures shrieked and called as they hunted and prowled. "Y-y-you think I just imagined some psycho was chasing me through the woods?"
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time such a thing has happened to some pony," reasoned Blue Moon, "I confess I blame myself. Leaving you all alone in an unfamiliar environment, in the dark, your mind was bound to play tricks on you. You were probably looking for me to return, and the shape got so stuck in your mind you started seeing it out in the tree line. Of course it could never be as handsome as myself, I must say, so it's not a wonder you ran away."
That last bit was obviously meant as a joke, but her husband was the only one laughing. Minty was still shaking, both from fear and exhaustion. It had all seemed so real. It must have been real. But then why would her pursuer have stopped chasing her now? Was it because her husband was here? Was he waiting somewhere just beyond the light of their horns? Watching them? "Honey, I don't want to stay here. I don't think it's safe. You were right. Camping was a stupid idea. Lets head back to Ponyville," Minty pleaded. "We can go back to Canterlot in the morning and then we can plan that trip to Las Pegasus, like you wanted!"
"No!" the suddenness, and violence of Blue Moon's rejection of her suggestion made Minty jump. He smiled, and mollified his tone till it was sweet and smokey again, "No dear. We're here now. It would be more dangerous to try and head back to town with it dark like this. Let's just head back to camp. I'll keep watch while you try and get some sleep."
She hated that idea. She really, really hated that idea. "Sleep? How can I sleep at a time like this? And where were you anyways!?" she demanded. Now that the immediate threat seemed to have passed, her fear was quickly transmuting into anger again. How dare he act so flippantly? How dare he be so dismissive of what she said? It was his idea to come out to Everfree instead of going somewhere more sensible like Neighagra Falls! She was just so mad that she couldn't help herself.
She let him have it.
The sound of the slap, as her hoof connected with the side of Blue Moon's condescending face, echoed loudly through the forest. His own hoof rose to his face and he turned away from her. She immediately felt guilty. Yes he had been a cad for leaving her alone for so long, but whatever had happened to her, he had not been there when it happened. He hadn't seen what she had seen. It wasn't a surprise he would have a hard time believing her story. Some other pony, out here in the middle of the woods, had just chased her? For no reason? It didn't make any sense to her either, and she had been there!
"Oh... Oh dear. Oh honey I'm so sorry," Minty reached out a hoof tentatively to touch her husbands shoulder, but he recoiled at her touch, turning further away. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you alright? You're not bleeding, are you?"
"No, 'honey'," answered the unicorn in an uncharacteristically blunt voice. "I just didn't want you to see my smile."
Those words were the last thing to go through Minty's head before a wet thunk made her vision go funny, making it look as if there were two Blue Moon's standing in front of her. Well, that's not entirely true. The last thing to go through her head was actually the axe-blade that had split her skull in half. She never had a chance to realize what had happened, but her body figured out that she had died on its own. She slid slowly into a crumpled mess of limbs at her husbands hooves.
And indeed Blue Moon had been smiling, as he said, but as he looked down at his clothes stained with his former wife's blood his lips quickly twitched into a frown. "You utter moron!" he roared, all pretense of cultured refinement and silky smooth words stripped from his ugly voice.
"You utter, utter moron!" Blue Moon continued, stomping like a toddler throwing a tantrum. "Just look what you have done!"
"Mah job," came a gruff, scratchy and sand-papery voice. The masked pony that had indeed chased Minty stood on his hind legs behind the unicorn's crumpled corpse. He'd snuck up silently behind her as Blue Moon distracted her. Gripping his axe with both hooves, he'd ended her as quickly and cleanly as he ever had any other creature. If he'd done it a little more brutally than he had intended, well, that's just what she got for making him run. Or, more likely, repayment for the tent spike jutting out of his shoulder. As he settled back down on all four hooves, he lifted his mask just enough so that he could get his teeth around the end of the spike and jerk the spike out. He didn't so much as groan as the trickle of blood from his shoulder turned into a torrent, but he did spit the offending length of metal onto the ground with more than a little anger.
"No you foal! My clothes! You've splattered her blood all over my clothes!" the unicorn roared his displeasure. "Do you even remember what the plan was here!? I was supposed to be gathering wood, while she was suddenly attacked by Timber Wolves! I'd rush to her aid, but seeing there was nothing I could do, I'd run for help. Then, in the morning, the good authorities in Ponyville would confirm her mauled body was indeed the cause of some savage animal attack and I would be free and clear to stake my claim as the soul beneficiary of her estate!"
"Yeah, so?" asked the murderer as he slipped his mask off his face to rest on top of his curly hair. In the moon-light, his features were stoic, almost handsome if it weren't for the deep scars that crisscrossed his face. Though most were old and long healed, a few were fresh. A particularly deep scar was gouged over the eye-socket on the right side of his face. The useless orb within was clouded with blood while his left eye, a dark scarlet and orange iris, was alive with barely contained malice. Even so, both eyes were heavily lidded and sunken in the shadow of his brow. To a casual observer, the fact that his eyes were cast down to the ground might look like deference.
Someone that was actually paying attention would see that his eyes were locked on the dead mare at his hooves.
"So!? So!?" howled Blue Moon. "So, you addlepated twit, her blood all over my clothes says that I was not out gathering wood when she was suddenly attacked! It says I was there, by her side, where I most certainly should not be if I am to convince anyone that I escaped with my life because I ran!" He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. He was trying to calm himself and failing miserably. "And then there is the manner in which you have done the deed. Tell me, do timber wolves usually split their victims skulls in half!?"
"Can't say for certain there, slick," replied the Earth Pony flippantly. "It ain't like they especially need to eat their kills. Critters like them seem to just enjoy chasing any thing that runs and rippin' it ta shreds when they catches it."
"Are. They. Even. Capable..." asked the enraged unicorn, emphasizing each word. "Of splitting a ponies skull with their wooden fangs and claws!?"
The killer seemed to take a moment to consider it. "Ah suppose not," he admitted, spitting into the dirt as he reached down and pried his axe out of the mares skull. It withdrew with a damp pop, bits of her college-educated brain matter sliding gently from the sides of the bloody wedge. "Though they can probably crush a ponies skull in their jaws. Gimme a few minutes with mah axe here and no pony will be able to tell the difference." With a sudden cruel smile, he raised the weapon and buried it into her head a second time, sending a spurt of blood and brains sloshing over Blue Moon's hooves. His grin only widened as the city pony back peddled away from his victim's corpse and nearly landed on his backside.
"Stop that! Stop that now!" cried Blue Moon, his eyes blazing. "I knew I should have listened to my father. He always said if you wanted something done right you should do it yourself, but I had to go and hire a 'so-called' professional! As if there's anything professional about you Knackers! Pah!" It was his turn to spit into the dirt, though what he actually spat on was the Knacker's hooves. "Degenerates the lot of you! It's not a wonder your so called 'profession' has all but disappeared from Equestria. The sooner inbred filth like you fade from history entirely the better!"
That made the pink pony's smile fade quickly to an angry sneer. But he held himself in check. It wouldn't do to go losing his temper just because his client was being a pain. Even if what he really wanted to do was take the prissy city slicker back to the Knackeryard and show him just how 'degenerate' he could be. That thought made his face twist back into a grin that he decided to try and pass off as a gentile and deferential smile. "Right you are sir! Right you are. Ah'm sorry for my tactlessness. Ah may have gotten a little over agitated when the little lady here managed to bury a tent spike into mah shoulder. Ah was given to believe that she was to be alone and unarmed, but Ah suppose mistakes happen. Ah'm sure a cultured pony like yourself understands these kinds of things. Ah will take all the necessary measures tah make this right."
"See that you do!" harrumphed Blue Moon, turning up his nose. "I suppose I shall have to wash these clothes off. Perhaps tear out the patches that you have soiled. A little realistic battle damage could do my story good anyways."
"Right, right, you do that," said the Knacker, taking up his axe again with another wet pop. "But before ya go runnin' off, there's the little matter of the other half of mah payment. Ya did remember ta bring mah bits, right?"
The unicorn laughed, "Unbelievable! After this debacle you still expect to get paid!? You should count yourself lucky that I don't report you to the authorities! Standing there drenched in blood, you'd do well to throw away those rags you wear for clothes. The nerve of some ponies." With that, Blue Moon's horn flashed blue, and without much effort at all the Earth Ponies axe was torn from his grip and sent spinning off into the woods. A few large rocks floated into the air and, without any fanfare, began pummeling the masked pony. "As if I was ever going to pay you, you filthy mud pony! That some psychopathic Earth Pony attacked my wife, killed her, and then was killed in turn by me in self defense will make a much better story! Besides, why should I leave behind any witnesses? Die in the filth where you belong!"
Blood started to drizzle down on the forest floor, the murderer's crimson flow mixing with those of the mare that he had killed. The Knacker raised his hooves, thinking he might break the rocks with his strength, but they moved too quickly. The rocks buzzed about him like a swarm of angry wasps, battering and bruising him, sending up a vermilion spray like some sick fountain. The Earth Pony couldn't do anything to stifle the blows, but he reached up and slid his mask back over his face. He turned his masked visage up towards his tormentor, and his eyes flashed a bright red in the moonlight.
"Oh please," chuckled Blue Moon, "Is that little Nightmare Night mask supposed to scare me?"
"Nah," the Knacker gave a laugh of his own, before glancing over Blue Moon's shoulder. "Ah just didn't want ya ta see me smile!"
The unicorn froze. Having the last words he had said to the wife, who he had married only for her fortune, thrown back in his face shouldn't have been enough to give him pause. The implication, however, that somepony might be creeping up behind him was more than enough to send a chill up his spine. Was it possible that this provincial hick had been smart enough to not come alone? Surely he was too dumb to realize Blue Moon had planned to double cross him from the beginning?
He couldn't take that chance.
Blue Moon never realized his mistake. As he turned his head to face whatever threat the killer's gaze might be indicating, his divided attention caused the rocks to hover uncertainly in midair. That was all the chance the masked pony needed, as he scooped up the filthy tent spike from the dirt and charged the unicorn. He buried the metal in the side of the Blue Moon's exposed throat, spurting a torrent of blood as the unicorn's life giving artery was ripped open! But the carnage didn't stop there. Using all his strength, the Knacker gouged a rough channel with the blunt spike, opening a groove in the ponies throat all the way up until the metal spike was buried in the soft flesh under his jaw. There was a high pitched squeal as the Earth Pony rammed the spike up through Blue Moon's tongue and soft palette and into the underside of his brain pan.
The floating rocks fell with a soft patter, one by one, as Blue Moon's magical grip over them faltered. As the unicorn crumpled beside his slain bride, the light of his horn flickered and fizzled out. In the sudden darkness, a set of crimson eyes glowed brightly.
"Bucking two faced city slicker!" the shape grunted, "Calls me a bucking moron and then falls for the oldest trick in the book!" With a sudden surge of violence, the hired assassin kicked the stump of the tent spike that still protruded from the bottom of Blue Moon's jaw. The blunt metal shot up through the cooling meat and shattered the top of the unicorn's head in a spurt of brains and blood, giving the Canterlot pony what looked like a second horn. The Earth Pony lifted his mask slightly as a he spat a wad of bloody phlegm in the dead pony's face. It was bad enough the unicorn had tried to kill him, but what he was really angry about was not getting the rest of his payment for murdering his wife.
That was fine though. Both of these ponies were young. Sure there had been some damage done to their skulls, but the rest of their pelts and meat should be fine. He'd take the rest of his payment out of their carcasses. He'd drag them back to the Knackeryard and make short work of salvaging of their bodies.
The Knacker stood there panting, taking stock of the situation. He was breathing heavily, his breath curling into steam as it drifted from behind his mask. His front was soaked in blood. Most of it wasn't his, thankfully, but that hardly mattered. In the distance, there was the unmistakable howl of a Timber Wolf. The pack would have already caught the scent of the carnage spread at his hooves. They'd be on the prowl, as would more dangerous things that wouldn't give the same courtesy of announcing their intentions the way the wooden wolves did. The gore soaked pony raised one hoof to his mask, giving the delicate ivory a bloody hoof print.
"Well ain't that just perfect," he drawled, his words fading to bitter laughter. He turned into the woods and went to retrieve his fallen axe.
He'd need it.
It was going to be a long walk back to the Knackeryard.
