Author's Note

Welp, this is a first for me. Been wanting to do something like this for a while, but only now got the courage to write it, so here ya go.

As stated in the description, this will be written alongside Dogs of War, though there's no direct correlation between the two (I just feel like writing this now before I forget where I'm going with it, since ideas for Dogs of War are coming along slowly)

Feel free to comment, ask, or correct any errors you see! Or just say hey!

Chapter 1: Muscle and blood and skin and bones

~The Mark of the Butcher~

Empty, dark, and quiet.

These words were synonymous with the streets of Manehatten at night. Few ponies had reason to be out, since most shops had closed up for the night, and the ones that did were usually either partying up the place or occupying the neighboring alleyways...though one particular duo was much louder than the others out that night.

"C'mon, Ripsaw! Your barely lifting him at all!" A orange furred pegasi hissed as she supported a big black bag on her back while trying to style her mane back into place at the same time with a wing.

"Don't snap at me, Dragonfly! It's been too long a night for me to be taking smack from you!" A stout earth pony, clad in a black vest that clashed with his pink fur and green mane, snarled back as he supported the bag from the back with his two front hooves, being forced to walk awkwardly the whole time they had been out.

The odd pair turned down several alleyways and corners, garnering odd stares from the occasional beggar, before stopping at a large metal-plated wall that stood tall among the rickety doorways and gloomy windows it had as neighbors.

"Home sweet home at last!" Dragonfly exclaimed with a smile as she rapped her left hoof against the door three times.

"Alicorns fade, Queens fall, and Kings die...so where does one find purpose? A voice echoed out among the darkness, making Ripsaw shudder slightly as his pegasus companions smile grew even wider.

"Where else then in the Wings of the Eternal Night?"

A loud, echoing clank resounded off the nearly empty alleyway as an opening in the wall appeared within a green glow.

"Can we hurry it up, this bastards as heavy as the sun!" Ripsaw grunted as he adjusted the black bag in his hooves. "I felt the bugger start to move as well, so we need to get the poor sod inside now before he wakes up!"

"You could at least try to respect tradition, Asshole." The pegasi grumbled as they made their way through the open crevice, hearing it dissolve behind them as they entered through the plain exterior of the building.

Though while the outside looked to be rotting and losing bricks with each passing week, it was like this purely to hide the fanciful and well kept inside from prying eyes and nosy royals. Entering into the spacious front room, the duo were met with quite the sight.

Both the rooms walls, floors, and carpeting were a mix of blue and black, but had green lights and candle-lit chandeliers posted around to compliment the dark backdrop. There were several banners on the walls that depicted an alicorn dark as night standing proud with a crescent moon behind her.

Looking to her left, Dragonfly couldn't help but smile as her eyes danced from bottle to bottle that lined the cabinets that were behind the bar.

"I've got to grab a bottle after my shift is done." Dragonfly muttered to herself while her partners eyes were drawn to the casino tables that lined the right side of the room, along with all manners of ponies, griffons, and changelings standing around them having the time of their lives.

"Buuuck the servers are on it today!" Ripsaw drooled as a rather attractive griffon waitress waltzed by and ran her tail across his nostrils, causing the stallion to sneeze and nearly drop the bag in his hooves.

"Watch the cargo!" Dragonfly hissed at him before continuing forward, forcing the stallion to play keep up as they made it to the edge of the room and approached two armoured changelings that stood in front of a black circle on the ground.

"Identify yourself, then state where your traveling to." The left changeling, one with red eyes and fins, ordered as Dragonfly whipped her hair back with a wing.

"Assailents Dragonfly and Ripsaw checking in, and we've got the poor sod that ran the daycare down on Marewell Avenue." The mare gulped nervously before continuing. "He's got a date with the Butcher." She answered as the changelings eyes widened before standing aside.

"O-Of course, right this way! That poor stallion..." The changeling replied, muttering quietly before his horn glowed green, activating the circle behind him and causing it to glow an eerie light. "Step into the circle and drag his sorry flank to his death."

Nodding hesitantly, Dragonfly and Ripsaw entered the circle with their cargo. After a brief flash of light, they found themselves in a dark hallway that had a blood red hue coming from the glowing rocks planted above numerous cell doors that lined the hall.

"W-Where is this?" Ripsaw stammered out as they slowly made their way through the hallway, glancing at each cell they passed and averting their gaze if they came across any bloody messes from the last victim brought down here.

"This is the Butchers domain...I've never been down here until now, wasn't trusted enough to do this job until I rose through the ranks." Dragonfly shook her head. "And you shouldn't even be involved in this yet, rookie...but we had no one else available for this job and it needed to be done today."

Tearing his eyes from a skeleton that really looked like a foal, the stallion couldn't help but feel tremors begin to wrack his body as the pegasus in front of him continued on talking.

"And the Butcher? They say he has no fur, only skin as dark as the coal that lights the fires he makes, and that he weilds a bloody cleaver with zero regards to who it's used on, no matter the species." Dragonfly continued with a hushed tone, as if telling a story by the campfire, causing Ripsaw to nearly drop the bag and run in terror.

"S-Stop it! Y-Your not funny ya know!"

But the mare wasn't done, and decided to put the final nail in the coffin.

"And lastly, they say that instead of dumping the bodies like most butchers do, he EATS their corpse! Cooks them and cleans them up like a griffon would to a fish!"

Dragonfly turned to her companion, expecting to see him run or scream in terror, but instead he was looking above her with eyes so wide that they looked like dinner plates.

It was then that Dragonfly realized that there was a shadow looming over her. Her legs failing her and her wings refusing to even move, all she could do was slowly turn her head back around and look up with a face that mirrored her partner exactly.

Standing as tall as any alicorn was a behemoth of a being. He wore a white chefs apron with a white shirt and black pants, though the white was barely distinguishable from both the red lighting and the stains on the apron. The thing had no hair, and had skin that seemed to be on par with the ash that lined a campfire, though he had crystal blue eyes that reflected against the light.

"Don't stop on my account. You haven't even began to talk about my origin story." The beast said, his voice as rough as a boulder as he let out a hearty laugh and turned around, walking into the next room. "Come on in, I can't wait to see what you brought for me today."

Gathering every ounce of courage in her, Dragonfly shakily began to follow the Butcher, noticing that while her partner did the same he hadn't taken his eyes off of the big thing yet.

Guy must be scared out of his mind...though I cant talk, this thing lives up to everything I've heard about him!

Entering the dwelling space of the Butcher, Dragonfly was able to make out several counters that ran the walls, coming short of a fireplace that what looked like a pot sitting over the fire by use of a stand. In the middle of the room stood the Butcher, who looked at her from behind a decently sized square table with multiple tools hanging off an overhead holder, though he held the infamous cleaver in his right.

"Drop him on the table for me, will ya?" The Butcher asked rather politely for a monster, causing the duo to relax a bit and do as he asked, the bag dropping on the clean table with an audible thump.

"Suprised this place looks so clean, considering what you do." Ripsaw managed to courage to comment as he took notice of every counter and crevice being nearly spotless, though the area around the fire place seemed to have a puddle of...something coming from the pot. Along the back wall was a couple of sinks, a fridge, and some sort of odd machine that had an opening to put stuff in.

"A man's place of work must always be well-kept, at least that's what my pops would tell me while would carve up the deer he caught." The Butcher responded, making the stallion flinch.

"Deer? You eat deer too?!" He asked in shock as the Butcher smiled a toothy grin.

"Of course. I eat anything and everything under the prey category. Deer, Buffalo, fish, bird and even..." The man (is that what he called himself earlier?) trailed off as he opened the bag, revealing a gagged stallion unicorn that looked up at him in absolute terror. "Ponies."

This comment caused the duo to take several steps back from the table, causing the Butcher to let out another laugh.

"Aw, don't let that scare ya away. I don't just go cooking up any of you adorable little horses." The Butcher responded as he motioned to the unicorn on the table with his free hand, who tried to cast a spell only to have his horn swiftly cut off by the cleaver and his face slammed into the table. "Nah ah ah...prey doesn't get to fight back." He sang softly as the Butcher returned his gaze to the duo, ignoring the muffled cries of the stallion. "I only cut up whatever you bring to me, after all. Any of you Nightmare ponies or whatever your group is called are off the dinner menu, per the bosses order."

At the mention of their boss, Dragonfly's eyes widened in realization as she turned to her partner.

"We need to go get our pay! If the boss nods off before we do well have to wait till tomorrow to be relieved of duty!" She exclaimed as Ripsaw shook his head rapidly.

"Oooooh no! I am NOT missing my paycheck after hauling that fat ass across the city." Ripsaw remarked as the two ponies galloped away, leaving a sobbing unicorn with the Butcher.

Looking down at the pony, he couldn't help but once again notice the gag in his mouth.

"Let's remove that, shall we?" He stated as he removed the gag with his free hand while keeping the cleaver on the neck of the stallion, who breathed deeply with a sob as he looked up at his persecutor. "Now, what's your name?"

The stallions eyes went wide as he shook his head, making the blue mane rattle back and forth on the table while the Butcher began to stroke the pony on his neck, taking in the yellow fur that was his coat.

"G-G-Gold D-D-Digger..." The stallion whimpered out, causing the Butcher to look at his flanks and notice the gold bag that was adorned there.

"In the money business, huh. Well, considering your here you must've cheated someone out of a deal." The Butcher stated as the stallion tried to get up again, only to howl in pain as the man responded with chopping off his right hindleg with one fell swing.

"Strike two, Goldie...mind if I call you that?" He asked the stallion, getting no reply as he continued to scream out in pain, kicking back forth before he began to squirm violently, falling off the table and beginning to crawl towards the exit in the vain hope of escaping.

Sighing to himself, the Butcher walked over to his prey and swung the cleaver once more, this time removing the head clean off the body. Picking up what was still attached and carefully placing it on the table in the center of the room, the Butcher grabbed the boning, breaking, and butcher knives from the hanging tools above him and placing them on the side.

"Alright, enough dillydallying. Time to see what you've been packing under that fur coat."

Grabbing the breaking knife, the Butcher began to slowly cut the fur coat away from the remaining leg as he started bobbing his head left and right.

"Some people say a man is made out of mud, A poor man's made out of muscle and blood." He began to sing as he switched to the Butcher knife and began to cut away at the joint of the hindleg. "Muscle and blood and skin and bones, and mind that's weak and a back thats strong."

"So, you've gotten started already?" A voice called out as a changeling walked into the room, making sure to step over the head on the ground. "Couldn't you have ended him a bit cleaner, Louis?"

Louis shook his head as he continued to work, beginning to move the fat from the leg. "This one was a fighter, tried to blast my head off before I cleaved his horn. Besides, what fun would it be if I didn't try to talk to em first?"

The changeling shook her head, causing her blue armour to shine in the eerie light as she casted a humored gaze at the man with purple eyes.

"I forget how much pleasure you get from doing this...then again, that's why your the best at it. Our last Butcher refused to even touch ponies." The changeling remarked as she motioned to the cells behind her in the hallway. "However, you show up right as we fire him and proceed to show us just how much better a job you could do."

Louis stopped working for a moment to point a knife at the changeling as he smirked.

"That's because if a man is good at anything, it's prepping and cooking meat. It's like its hardwired in our brains to master the art of a perfectly smoked, Cajun seasoned steak or burger with all the fixin's attached to it." His mouth seemed to water as he explained his craft, his eyes returning to his hands as he continued working on his latest masterpiece. "Besides, your boss gives the the essentials and a hefty allowance of this wacko lands currency to get rid of your...undesirables, so I get two birds for the price of one!"

The changeling tilted her head slightly as she took in what he said.

"Don't you feel any guilt doing this though? I mean, these are sentient creatures after all?" The changeling asked innocently, causing the man to give her a stare that made a shiver go from her neck to her nethers in all the right ways.

"Don't matter what or who you are, back on my world humans were the only sentient species." Twirling the bresking knife around he sunk it into the flesh of the stallions stomach and began to tug at it, causing a squelching sound to fill the room. "Meaning that anything was fair game...as long as it didn't speak and think for itself."

Of course, eating horses is frowned upon back home, along with any endangered animals...but they don't need to know that.

Turning his attention back up to the changeling in front of him, the man couldn't help but glance over the holes that adorned her body as he spoke.

"But here? Turns out everything I was used to cutting up could talk! And then I find out magic and shit exist too, I nearly went insane!" Louis sighed, looking to his cleaver as he recalled the sad state he was in two years ago. "I'm lucky that boss of yours gave me this job, I don't think I could do what I do for yall in the open around these damned ponies."

The changeling smiled widely and trotted over to the man, flying up and nuzzling his blood-stained cheek as she shot him a wink.

"Like the boss would let someone like you slip from his hooves. Besides, you help our business clean up loose ends, and make trades with griffons go by much smoother by selling them your culinary creations, keeping us from wasting bits on smaller deals and jobs." The changeling flew towards the exit before landing on the ground and turning to face the man one last time. "Just make sure to be careful when you go out during the day. Most ponies may believe that 'Trader from the South' gag you have running, but all it takes is one small slip up to have the royal sisters crack down on you."

Waving the changeling off, Louis returned to his work, barely even paying attention anymore.

"Yeah yeah, stay safe and don't get caught by the fuzz, got it." He answered as he waved again with a free hand, the other currently inspecting the horn that he had removed. "See ya, Delilah."

Delilah shivered again as she turned from the man and trotted down the hall, looking over her shoulder only to see her tail flagging high.

"That damned man...why does he work me up so easily?!?" She muttered as she stepped on the teleport circle and activated it with her horn, disappearing in a green flash of light.