Eventually we slept again. Silver Spoon cried herself to sleep, and I was exhausted enough to close my eyes. We awoke to the same bleak surroundings as before, except this time Rough Voice was sitting at the table writing something. When he heard me moving, he looked at me.

“Good morning, little Diamond. I have news about your Daddy,” he said.

A surge of hope filled me, but I quashed it before I could feel too excited. He wouldn’t be telling me if it was the news I wanted, he would have just throw me outside once he got the money. He wanted to gloat about something or punish us for some reason.

“Oh, don’t give me that look. It’s not all bad. Your Daddy has the money, but he’s trying to barter while the Royal Guard hunt through the forest.” He held up a piece of paper that I recognized as Daddy’s letterhead. “Let’s see here…”

“While I understand your desire to have the bits as soon as possible, the amount you’re asking for will require me to spend time liquidating assets to acquire the money in cash. Please understand that nopony has money equaling one-hundred thousand bits sitting around in hard cash.”

He lowered the letter and looked at me. “Now, your father was offering a reward, but it was far too small, so I asked for more. He didn’t take it well. Just this morning a platoon of guards flew over the forest again, and I don’t really fancy getting caught red-hooved,” Rough Voice said.

“So, what, are you ‘done’ with us?” I asked. I tried to keep my voice steady, but it wavered.

He tapped a hoof on his chin as if thinking about it. “Not quite yet. I just need to make him understand that we mean business, but if I hurt you, he might get uppity.” He turned to look at Silver Spoon with an evil grin, and drew a knife.

I gasped in horror, looking at Silver Spoon, then back at him. “Don’t you dare! Take my tiara! He’ll know you mean business then!” I pleaded.

“No, that doesn’t send the right message.” He advanced on Silver Spoon, who tried to retreat into a corner. The chain attached to her good front leg clattered as she tried to shield her damaged leg from him.

“Stop! Cut off some of my mane! My tail!” I tried to leap at him, but the chains holding me to the wall held me back. “Leave her alone! She’s had enough!”

“No, and no. If I damage you, he’ll get upset. He’s the one with the money. Silver Spoon’s parents don’t have enough to guarantee the safety of their daughter.” He bent down over Silver Spoon and grabbed her head in a hoof. “Now hold still dearie. This is going to hurt.”

Silver Spoon cried and struggled, but he was much bigger, and much stronger. He brought the knife up to her head and hesitated. I thought he was debating cutting her, but no, he was just choosing the left or the right. In the end, he chose the right ear and brought the knife right up against her skull, then slowly began slicing.

I screamed at him as hard as I could. My ribs ached and shot pain through me, but I screamed anyway. Silver Spoon tried, but he was holding her jaw shut as his knife cut through her flesh, and all she could manage was a strangled whine. Tears poured down her face and soaked into his shirt, along with some of the blood from his cutting, but he didn’t seem fazed by it.

When he was done, Silver Spoon’s right ear plopped to the floor, and he tossed her to the side. She struggled to get away from him, clutching both at her head and her leg, but he just ignored her and picked up the severed ear from the floor, then walked out of the room.

Silver Spoon and I were left crying in the dark when he took the lantern with him, but the darkness did little to hide the sounds of sadness. I tried talking to her when I had recovered, but Silver Spoon was inconsolable. She had just lost an ear, and it was likely if we weren’t found soon she was going to lose her leg. She cried herself to sleep and wouldn’t talk to me. I couldn’t blame her.

I was always treated differently because of my status, and at school Silver Spoon followed me because she wanted to keep some of that status. I knew it, she knew it, everypony knew it. Now it was backfiring. She was being used to cajole me into doing what they wanted, and to help get Daddy to do what this pony wanted. It was killing her. Bit by bit, they were killing her to get to me and my Daddy.

Silver Spoon eventually cried herself to sleep, and I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes. I was terrified that I would wake up and Silver Spoon would be missing more of her body. As it turns out, I wasn’t far off.

In the middle of Silver Spoon’s sleeping, heavy hoofsteps lumbered down the steps. I could tell it was Dumbell by the weight each step had, and I knew what he was coming for. As soon as the door opened and his ugly head peeked around the edge, I beckoned him over. He motioned to himself with the stupidest and ugliest grin I’ve ever seen while looking at me. It was almost endearing, if he weren’t a horrid cannibal who had bit a chunk out of Silver Spoon’s arm without batting an eye. But I nod, and he walks over to me.

Silver Spoon was still sleeping, so I spoke quietly. “Look, Dumbell, you want to eat something off me instead of her, so I have an idea; go get some scissors, come cut off some of my hair, then eat that. If you take small enough chunks, nopony will notice, and you’ll stop biting my friend, okay?” I finished with a hopeful smile. I didn’t want him eating any part of me, even my hair, but I had to try to spare Silver Spoon somehow.

Dumbell shook his head vehemently and grunted. He put a hoof to his head, and I could see a fresh bruise. I didn’t feel sorry for him, but I think I understood. That didn’t mean I wanted him to go biting Silver Spoon any further. I nodded just as vehemently.

He shook his head back at me and grunted some more. He started to shuffle toward Silver Spoon. I was losing him! I need to do something, fast!

I was out of options. I grabbed a chunk of my own mane in my hooves, and I yanked. I pulled and tugged and jerked on my mane as hard as I could. It hurt! So much! I could feel my hair ripping out of my scalp, and when it finally gave, I screeched in pain as some of my scalp came with it.

Silver Spoon woke up and looked over at me, then at Dumbell, and pulled herself into a ball. She didn’t say anything, and just tried to hide.

For my part, I stared triumphantly at Dumbell. “There! Now, you have two options; you can eat this, and leave Silver Spoon alone, or you can bite Silver Spoon and NOT enjoy my hair. Either way, you’re getting a beating for this, aren’t you?” I grinned, because I knew I had him. He stared at me in terror, but he took the clump of proffered hair, then bolted back upstairs, heavy hooves clumping away from us.

The next day seemed short, despite the pain in my head and ribs and Silver Spoon’s quiet brooding. I wanted to talk to her, but I didn’t know what I could say. Nothing I could think of would be enough to make up for the pain I was causing to be visited upon her, so I remained silent.

Rough Voice came down to visit, but we didn’t talk. He saw the wound on my head and went right back upstairs. I took a bit of grim pleasure hearing him yell at Dumbell. Even the strikes I could hear from him hitting Dumbell made me happy in a way. It didn’t solve our predicament, but I still enjoyed knowing the ugly cannibal was getting disciplined because of what I had done.

It meant I could control him.

Silver Spoon did not share my satisfaction, however. She was too distraught over being maimed like she had, and was worried about her wounds becoming infected. We tried to wash her leg with the water we were provided, but it wasn’t enough. We needed some sort of disinfectant, and that meant getting out of here. That part I still didn’t know how I would solve.

When our final meal of the day was done, the lantern was taken from the room and we were left in darkness. I was exhausted, so I actually slept this time, and woke in the morning.

I immediately called out to Silver Spoon to make sure she was still there. Dumbell might be getting vindictive, and I must admit, I worried he would come down one night and devour both of us, Rough Voice or no. Thankfully, we were both still alive, but Silver Spoon did not look very good.

The hoof on the end of her leg was starting to itch. I was no doctor, but it couldn’t be good. She said it was starting to smell, and I knew we didn’t have much time left. We needed out.

Rough Voice came downstairs soon after we woke up, which was right on schedule for him. He didn’t look happy. “Alright, mares. Things aren’t looking good. Your Daddy obviously doesn’t care about you, because he’s still stalling. Says he only has half of the bits and is asking me to wait a little bit longer. Unfortunately for him, I am not a patient stallion.”

He waved out the door and Dumbell’s lumbering hoofsteps came down. They sounded louder than usual, and I could see why when he hove through the door.

He brought in a wooden chest, complete with lock, and dropped in onto the floor. It crashed down and he opened it up, revealing that it was empty. It was just big enough to fit a single filly inside, and I swallowed a lump in my throat.

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

“I’m very serious. Thankfully, it’s probably not what you think,” he said. “Dumbell?” He motioned to the ugly beast, then pointed at Silver Spoon.

“Wait, what?” I said.

I could only stare in shock and horror as Dumbell stomped over to my friend, then casually snapped her neck. She gurgled and twitched while I screamed.

“No! No, no no! Why would you do that? What is wrong with you?” I was crying, and my ribs hurt so badly, but I couldn’t help it. He unlocked her from the wall, then casually tossed her body into the chest like so much trash.

“No offense, little filly, but she was a liability, and was only going to get worse as time went on. I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure that leg of hers was gangrenous.” He slammed the chest lid shut, then locked it. “This way, I get to send a message, and save some food for the rest of us. See you tomorrow, girly. Try to get some sleep.”

I cried in the dark for quite some time, but I determined then that I wasn’t going to let him get anything from my Daddy. Even if I died, I would die just to spite Rough Voice and his ugly son. He wasn’t going to get a cent from my Daddy, by hook or by crook.

Throughout the night, I pulled and tugged at my bonds. They were solidly attached to the wood of the wall, but it was still wood. That meant it had far more give to it than the chains themselves.

Unfortunately, no matter how much effort I put into tugging and pulling, I didn’t actually feel like there had been any give whatsoever. I felt the spot where it attached to the wall and it didn’t feel like it had moved. I tried tugging it at, but that didn’t accomplish much. I needed some other plan.

I felt the chains all the way from the base to where they wrapped around my hooves. They were tight on my limbs, but they still had some give. I had very little time to work with until he tired of me, or Daddy gave them their bits, at which point I didn’t trust them to let me go. They didn’t seem like those kinds of ponies. They would probably kill me and feed me to Dumbell, then abscond with the money.

So, I pulled.

I yanked on the chains with all my might, I went to the end of how long they reached, then dug my hind hooves into the wood and tried to yank my hooves out of the shackles. They bit into my flesh, but there was motion. I might lose some skin and a little bit of hoof, but it would grow back. I just needed to escape, and flesh was worth it.

“Nnnnngh!” I yanked as hard as I could. I could feel blood running down my legs as I tugged on the chains. I felt something give, and a sharp pain, then my right hoof came free and I twisted left.

I stopped pulling and clutched my hoof to myself. I couldn’t see the damage I had done, but there was a ring of burning pain around my leg and my hoof didn’t feel like it was the same shape anymore. I didn’t worry too much about it. I was halfway freed! I bit my lip and started tugging on the other one.

I reached up with my right hoof and tried pushing and pulling at my hoof. I wiggled my left leg as I tried to get some sort of give in it. It didn’t want to come free.

I pushed my left leg further up it, wiped blood up and down my leg and hoof, then yanked as hard as I could. I felt another sharp pain, and actually felt something crack, but my hoof came free!

I didn’t want to see what I had done to myself, so I tried not to dwell on it. I limped away from my shackles toward where I imagined the door should be. I was slightly off, but I found it, and it opened easily. They hadn’t ever locked it. Why should they? I was supposed to be chained to the wall out of reach.

I crept up the stairs, keeping my ears perked for any thumping noises or other unexpected sounds. I had to worry about dogs, Rough Voice, and Dumbell. All three of those things could stop me if they found me, so I just needed to find them first. Nopony was going to get away with foalnapping me then killing my best friend.

I could see in the darkness up here. There was moonlight coming in the windows which kept things quite dark, but I could make out shapes in the darkness. I crept through the house looking for something, anything, to use as a weapon.

I eventually found the kitchen, and grabbed a knife from the counter. I winced at the hissing noise the metal made on the stone countertop, and held still. I heard nothing change, and continued on my tip-hoofing journey through the house.

The waterwheel creaking was my constant companion as I went, but I could smell something rank coming from one portion of the building, so I went in the opposite direction. I didn’t know what it was, but I was just going to assume that anything that smelled that bad was probably Dumbell.

I passed by the room that smelled and went carefully through the other rooms looking for Rough Voice. I was thankful that the dogs hadn’t been alerted, and only had to hope that they were left outside at night to guard the place.

I peeked into another one of the rooms, and this one smelled of onions and alcohol, similar to Rough Voice’s breath the few times he had gotten too close to me. I could see the outline of a bed with a body on it on one side of the room, so I hoped I had the right pony. Rough Voice would be much more dangerous than Dumbell, because Dumbell could be controlled mentally, if not physically.

I crept next to the bed and reared up to see who was on it. The body wasn’t as big as Dumbell, and he didn’t smell as bad, so I hoped and prayed to Celestia that it was my target.

I lifted the knife, located the pony’s unsuspecting throat, and didn’t hesitate. I brought the knife stabbing down and into the side of his neck.

I knew he would bleed, but I wasn’t ready to see just how much of it came out. He gurgled quietly as lifeblood spilled out of him and onto the bed. His hooves came up to where the knife had entered his throat and grasped feebly at it. He tried to turn to look at me, but I put a hoof on his head and prevented him from moving. I didn’t want to look into his eyes as he died.

His movements slowed, the spurting blood coming out slower and slower, until it was trickling instead of spurting with every beat of his awful heart. I held the knife in a moment longer until I was sure he was dead, then pulled it out. Then I turned and vomited.

I’d never killed anypony before. Sure, I was mean, but I never physically damaged anypony on purpose. I didn’t even beat up Applebloom and her blank-flank friends, I just made fun of them.

The vomit burned my throat and mouth, and I coughed after it was done coming up. I cursed myself for doing so, but it was unavoidable. Thankfully, I didn’t hear anything except the *drip* *drip* of Rough Voice’s blood, and my own labored breathing. Now it was time to go get Dumbell.

Did I need to, though? I could leave. I could probably get past the dogs somehow, then make my way downriver until I found a city or a town. They could help me get home and Daddy and me could bring the royal guards out here and they could wipe this place off the face of Equestria.

No. I didn’t know how long that would take, and Dumbell might get away by then. Rough Voice was awful, but he was calculating in his cruelty, and worked with other ponies to get what he wanted. Dumbell was a monster. If I left him alone, he would kill again because he didn’t know any better. He needed to be put out of everypony’s misery.

I coughed a little as a left Rough Voice’s room. I didn’t know where to find Dumbell, so I stumbled about the building blindly.

I found the entrance to the water wheel, and I found the front door. I realized I couldn’t leave by the front because that was where the dogs were. I could hear them snuffling about, and their chains and collars jingled with their movements. They didn’t seem to detect that I was a threat, but they belonged to Rough Voice, and I wasn’t going to take any chances just yet. I had work to do.

I went back inside, knife in my mouth, and hunted for Dumbell. He wasn’t on any of the upper floors, but I couldn’t find him on the ground floor, and the only basement I knew of was where Silver Spoon and I were kept, so I knew he wasn’t down below. Where would he sleep? Surely not outside, right?

I thought about what kind of pony Rough Voice was, and how he treated Dumbell. Every time I saw them together, Rough Voice used him like a tool. He treated him like he was nothing more than a disposal for ponies he wanted to be rid of, or a device to intimidate ponies. He punished Dumbell for minor misbehavior, and rewarded him with treats when he was good.

Oh, Celestia. Dumbell was one of the dogs.

I returned to the front door and opened it. I heard the shifting chains as some of them turned to look at the door. I could see eyes reflecting light in the darkness, and a quiet *wuff* of warning from some of them. They didn’t know me, but if I was coming from their master’s house, I couldn’t be all bad. But where was Dumbell sleeping? He couldn’t be chained up, because he had come down those nights to chew on Silver Spoon.

I hesitated, but ultimately decided that if I was going to get mauled by dogs, I could at least do it while trying to save other ponies. Waiting for Dumbell to wake up and find Rough Voice dead wouldn’t do me any good. He’d probably just eat me because now there was nopony to stop him. I wouldn’t be safe if I waited.

I stepped down off the balcony, and though a few of the dogs growled at me, none of them had attacked me yet. I put forth my most commanding air, even though the posture made my ribs ache, and walked past the dogs, looking for the huge mound of a pony somewhere out here in the night.

I found him, all alone at the far end of the dog’s pen. He had appeared to have modified one of the doghouses so that he could fit inside it by removing an entire wall and attaching a second doghouse. It didn’t leave him much room, and part of him didn’t fit inside, but he was trying. The problem with his situation was that his head was inside, which meant his neck was unreachable from here. I didn’t trust my meager knife to hit anything vital in his massive torso. I was going to have to climb in there somehow.

I walked around him, the rest of the dogs watching me warily. I checked both sides of the doghouse, trying to pick the side that would give me the most freedom to crawl in. Dumbell slumbered as I moved around him. His massive torso rose and fall with each breath. This mountain of a pony was unaware of me thus far, and I wanted to keep it that way, just until I could get in close and rid the world of this awful cannibal.

When I had finished surveying his sleeping position, I determined it would be easiest to sneak in on his front side, closer to his hooves. While they were large, getting past his back would be much more difficult, due to the rounded hump he had. His hooves would be tricky to navigate, but I could get past them.

I clenched my teeth around my knife and skirted past his hind hooves on the outside of the doghouse. His forehooves would be much more challenging, since one was halfway inside the doghouse, and the other was blocking my entrance.

Being this close to him really reinforced just how big Dumbell was compared to a normal pony. One of his hooves was the size of my entire body. Would I even be able to manage this? Would the knife be enough? I would have to hit something vital for it to finish him off. A single mistake and somepony as beefy as he was would probably just shake it off.

As I stood before the last obstacle between me and Dumbell’s head, my concerns were all dashed when I heard a jingling sound. Then a loud *BARK!* One of the dogs had gotten tired of me getting so close.

Dumbell shifted, and my blood ran cold as he lifted his head. He exhaled and a wave of nasty breath washed over me. Then he noticed my presence.

He grunted in confusion and lifted his head. He cracked his skull on the doghouse, but kept going anyway, tilting the whole thing over as he stood up. He looked down at me, and the dogs all began barking, thrown into a frenzy by their friend’s awakening.

Dumbell smiled at me, drooled a little, then pointed at my mane, then his mouth. “Haaah?”

I couldn’t kill him anymore. He was awake, and he was far bigger than I was, and much stronger. He wanted to eat more of my mane because he found it tasty for some reason, but then what? I give it to him and I leave? He was stupid, but I’m sure even he knew that Rough Voice wouldn’t be happy if I left. He would likely even have been punished for it if I got away.

That was when it hit me. The only thing or pony he was afraid of was Rough Voice. He didn’t yet know that Rough Voice was dead. I could use that.

I held the knife up to my throat, and glared at Dumbell. “Tell me the way to the nearest town or I’ll cut myself!”

He shuffled backward away from me. The dogs scattered around him, but stayed close. I was dead if he wanted me to be. Both him and the dogs could tear me apart, but none of them knew Rough Voice was dead, and I needed it to remain that way. I was covered in his blood, but they didn’t need to know whose it was.

“You don’t want your master to get mad at you, do you?” I taunted.

He shook his head. He pointed down the road that led away from the house. I kept the knife at my throat, but decided it was time to cut and run. I couldn’t kill him. I couldn’t stop him. He would be left alive until somepony found him murdering another innocent, and then that would be that. I didn’t want it that way, but I had failed. For Silver Spoon, for myself, and for my Daddy, I needed to live.

When I was far enough away, I turned and ran. I kept the knife, in case he decided to follow me, but when he was out of sight I knew he was going to go for Rough Voice. He wasn’t supposed to let me get away.

Sure enough, not long after I rounded a bend in the woods, I heard an inarticulate scream coming from the house I had left behind. Then I heard dogs barking. He was coming for me.

It didn’t matter what he was going to do to me when he caught me, though I suspected he was just going to eat me. Without Rough Voice there to tell him they needed bits, he would just do away with me however he wanted.

I ran as hard as I could. My ribs sent stabbing pain through me, and my breath came in short gasps. Stars flecked the edges of my vision, but I couldn’t slow down or he’d catch me. I didn’t know if Dumbell knew how to get the dogs to hunt, but I had to assume he did.

I had a huge headstart, but I didn’t think it was going to be enough. I couldn’t keep running. My ribs hurt too much.

I could hear the river nearby, and the dogs barking some distance behind me. I cut off the road and toward the sound of rushing water. When I found it, the river was impressively large and rather swift. I suspected I would regret this, but getting caught meant certain death, and running wasn’t enough.

I leaped in.

I let the water carry me away. I kept my head afloat, but every movement was painful. The only benefit was that I was moving much faster than running, and I was putting distance between myself and Dumbell. I struggled, holding the knife in my teeth, though I didn’t think I would need it.

My ride down the river was painful, but I didn’t encounter any horrible creatures nor rapids. I washed ashore on a rocky beach somewhere downriver, and was found by a fisherpony. He rushed me home where he and his wife took care of me and helped get me in contact with my Daddy.

I don’t remember much of my recovery, as the strain on my body and my wounds sent me into a fever. I remember arriving back in Ponyville where I had to break the news of Silver Spoon’s death to her family. The chest Rough Voice had put her in never arrived. I don’t know why, nor do I know if he even shipped it.

The Royal Guard was sent out to look for a waterwheel on the river near White Tail woods, and they found it, but there was nopony there. Not even Rough Voice’s body or the dogs.

I still hear about ponies going missing near White Tail woods, and every time it pops up in any newspaper I keep the clipping. It’s my fault, and I know it is. I couldn’t finish the job. I know he’s still out there, waiting and hunting. His favourite prey being ponies. I’ll go back someday. I promised myself I would. For Silver Spoon, for those going missing, but mostly for me. I can never sleep well knowing he’s watching from White Tail woods.

The End.

Author's Note

I don't usually enjoy violence for violence's sake, but this was an attempt at once of those gorey "we've been captured by crazy rednecks" films. Despite the fact that the violence was the purpose, it doesn't seem all that violent. But here it is.