Marked

I paced down the dimly lit tunnel, barely seeing where I was going... I was too busy trying to force the anger down. I still caught a glimpse of the diamond dogs... Oh Celestia, were they still arguing? They hadn't even gotten the net off! This was going to be easier than I thought... wait. That's only three. There were four in the net.

"So where's the fourth one?"

"Behind you."

I let out a quiet "eep," spun around, and got clocked in the face by that mutt's fist. Forget angry. I was MAD. I grabbed the woodcutting axe from where it was tied to my left... I'm just gonna call it an arm, okay? Anyways, my left arm, and untied it as quick as I could. A sharp pain in my tail let me know I wasn't quick enough. While he was... occupied with my tail, I poked his eyes. He'd be having trouble seeing for a while, dunno how long... long enough. I was going to make him pay. For the punching, for the slaves, and even more... there's no law out here. Hiding somewhere where there is no law is almost as bad as hiding within the law. I grinned, a grin that most certainly wasn't happy, and pried open his jaws, removing my tail. The adrenaline was keeping my tail from being much more than a faint sting at the back of my mind.

"Eenie, meenie, minie, moe..." I circled around behind him, disturbing some loose gravel.

"Catch a doggie by the tail..." I grabbed the brownish-gray tail and dug my yellow-goldish talons in as far as I could. The dog howled in unexpected pain.

"If he hollers, let him go..." I took the axe and cut off the tail. The dog ran, kicking up rocks and dust, obscuring my vision. I put down my flight eyelid and tried to give chase. We tumbled into a stalagmite.

"Eenie! Meenie! Minie! MOE!" The mutt got a good blow into my face, but he was still blinded, and couldn't do much. I raised  up my axe and removed the dog's head. The other three were staring at me. I looked at them. "Well? You want a go?" I raised up the head of the previous dog. He might have been some kind of leader, but he was no alpha. I grinned at them, and showed them my axe. "Sooo... fancy losing your tails? Nah... I just did that cause I was mad. But I'd still do my best to get your heads." I batted my eyes at them, looking every bit the pretty lady... holding a bloodied axe. I sighed. "Look, release the slaves, and I won't kill you." Probably. I sighed. "Look, the slaves and some gems, and you get to keep your heads. That's a pretty. Good. Deal." I tried my death glare on them. They looked at each other.

"Fine. Slaves there. Gem storehouse there."

The Ddog pointed his paw towards a spotted griffin and a hot pink pegasus with a cutie mark of a smooth stone. The Ddog then waved the paw towards a clean gray tunnel, with many manycolored stones in the distance. I looked at the Ddog. A beaming grin spread across my face.

"Good enough." Sting arrived in the tunnel just at that moment. The grayish unicorn's jaw dropped when he looked at the Ddog.

"You, huh, it, dead?"

I smiled at him, a real genuine happy smile, and said, "Close enough. Let's get the gems and go?"

He smiled back. "Okay, but whattabout them?" He pointed a hoof toward the griffin and pegasus.

"They can come with if they want. Can stay here and get some more gems before they go, can take out the dogs and live here, I don't care."

Sting draped a hoof across my shoulder, like friends do sometimes. "Let's go, Claire dudette."