Frostpony: Of Hounds & Horses

“A-Are ya serious? Like, somecreature is actually watching me door?” He began, ready to shut at a moment’s notice.

“Gale, why the dime would I lie about that at a time like this?”

Rini looked on, staring into the alley where she’d seen that fading glimpse of something. It was little more than a flash, but enough to announce another’s presence. Thankfully they’d been quiet so she doubted they’d overheard much.

Still, going home was going to be interesting.

“Back alley, there’s a fence you can jump.”

Rini merely shook her head in the negative.

“No good, spent all day crawling through an overheated garage with treads, they’d smell me for miles away.”

“Well…what then?” Gale opened the door some more, now looking at her with both eyes.

“I donno, but I’ll figure something out.” Rini turned to him and opened up her coat, pulling out the overtime payout she’d unintentionally earned. “You take this but don’t pay any bills with it. Bank’s probably already coughed up everything to your name.”

Gale nodded and closed the door, money underhoof. Now left to her own devices Rini descended from the stairwell and made a run for it.

Snow was kicked up from under her as she dashed through the alleys and across the street. Now devoid of of anycreature save for whoever she saw.

“I can’t let them follow me home,” She thought, “Need to lose 'em or deal with' em, how though?”

Her shadow emerged and disappeared upon windows and walkways as she sped under every street lamp. Keenly conscious of the tracks she was leaving in her wake.

“How the crap am I going to mask my scent? I must smell like a half gallon of sweat and engine oil. Oh forget that I ain’t loosing them without a change of boots!”

Street corner after corner she continued, pacing herself to prevent exhaustion from slowing her down. Never before had she felt more aware of her surroundings as she did now, and cringed at the darkened corners where she couldn’t see.

It seemed every few paces revealed another spot she’d expect to see a pair of disembodied eyes staring back at her. Another place for something to leap out and snatch her away, or rush out to give chase.

Occasionally she’d glance over her shoulder, taking snapshot looks at the street with its many gaps. Every time she’d only find an empty snowy road, still littered with remnants that hadn’t yet been cleared.

Yet she knew something was watching her, stalking her, waiting for her guard to drop. Almost…like a wolf.

And these ones were smart, she'd thought. Smart enough to follow their prey back to their burrow, that way they wouldn’t have to be content with just her. No, they could take their fill upon the whole family waiting for them.

This rabbit however was a clever one, and the moment Rini turned a corner and saw the half-demolished ruins of the town church, she had an idea.

It’d been walled up with fences in the time being, with the front gate claiming it as a de-construction site. The front gate was locked of course, but every problem had its answer and Rini sure had hers.

It was called a pipe wrench.

With one strong strike to the cheap padlock’s side, the metal snapped and the chain unbound. Inside, she found the site adorned with all manner of equipment. Toolboxes and wooden flanks, buckets of bent nails and salt. There was even a small crane with an iron girder hanging from its grasp.

Rini walked inside and spun around, looking at the broken wooden walls and half disassembled pews. Bags filled with the remains of a building many held high, their visages and emblems of the sun torn of all their worth and thrown away.

A solemn scene, as though even the gods themselves had long forsaken this place.

By no means was Rini into that kind of stuff, it was never her belief to follow, but seeing it be so blatantly rubbed away sparked something. The same rise she felt the day prior reading Gale’s bills, and earlier tonight seeing his place get trashed.

A slow, vengeful fury rose within Rini’s core. Stocked by the flames of her friend’s suffering and furthered by her work day frustrations.

It climbed and climbed, before combusting into a grand pyre.

“You know what? No, screw running. Wasn’t helping anyway.” She pulled out her pipe wrench and looked at it, adjusting a few bolts and nobs. “If they wanna play foul so badly, damn let them. I’m gonna at least knock some teeth out before I go down.”

Sure enough, It wasn’t long until she had company. Her stalkers were likely hot on her trail as she entered the site, yet slowed their pace some once they were sure she was cornered.

A pair of mutts walked in at a brisk pace, smiling as they waltzed through the half-broken archway entrance. The bigger one was a Husky with bright blue eyes, the other a lanky Boxer with a bandaged neck, and both notably larger than her.

And both of them were eying her with obvious malicious intent in mind.

“What’s the matter lil’ bitch, ya lost?” The Boxer spat, showing a toothy grin.

“Nah, I think I'm exactly where I need to be.”

“You sure? Girl like you walking alone on a night like this? Could use some protection goin’ home.” The Husky spoke, a sinister smirk on his face.

“Oh, not me, mom didn’t raise no Abyssinian.”

While the Boxer seemed to anger at her retorts. The Husky rolled his eyes and pulled up his sleeves, showing no interest in banter. “Save it, we’re gonna show you what happens to ponylovers in this town.”

“Oh? What’s wrong with liking ponies?” Rini jabbed, if only to annoy him.

But the blue eyed Diamidian ignored her comment and the two started approaching her. The more Rini watched the more she made out, and quickly she noticed a couple things. First was their age, they didn’t look like teenagers but rather young adults, younger then her perhaps. Secondly, they simply could not sit still.

They’d masked it well with their movements but she’d seen that kind of involuntary twitching before. The flicker of the ears, the sporadic swish of the tail, and the sudden but rapid contraction of their facial muscles.

The realisation almost hit her like a truck.

Probably because the Husky had almost hit her.

“Oh shi-” Rini ducked away as he lunged, raising her pipe wrench in self defence. Being high on bravado was one thing, but actually having to deal with the duo was another, and she quickly became allergic to the idea of pain.

She turned towards the exit but found only the rushing weight of the Boxer charging her. She tried to move away but couldn’t quite evade, with her leg getting caught forcing her to the ground.

As the mutt moved to pin her down however, she twisted around and smacked his jaw with the pipe wrench. An act that only seemed to throw him off balance more than harm. So she switched targets and in a move many would take as crude, extended her leg out. With her steel-paw capped work boot she assaulted the mutt’s family jewels.

A loud crack echoed through the silent church.

There was a brief moment of quiet as the Boxer’s eyes reached the size of pinpricks and his face slowly contorted, before releasing a shrill howl and falling over clutching his battered gems.

The Husky however kept up the pressure, and Rini scrambled away on all fours trying to evade the larger dog. Jumping over paint cans and broken pews. She thought she might be able to make a move for the exit but the Husky was wise to the idea, and the two quickly found themselves at a stand still.

A jerk to either direction was mirrored by the mutt, and a smile grew as he blocked her off.

“No running away this time little lady. Might as well lay down and give up.”

Soon though, Rini echoed the smile right back as he looked behind him, seeing what he couldn’t.

Pipe wrench in paw she levelled it into a throwing stance, and the Husky easily evaded the projectile as it flew by his side.

That however wasn’t what Rini had aimed for, and as the Husky began approaching a wood plank came undone. Buckets of salt materialised from seemingly nowhere just in time for him to notice, and get clobbered to the ground with a pained whine.

Now the Boxer was recovering and climbed back to stand towards her. His legs crossed and his face twitching from pain (assumedly) he glared angrily at her, pulling out a knuckle duster thick enough to embarrass a claw hammer.

As if to answer him, Rini turned and took a nearby shovel from a wheelbarrow and kept her distance. Pointing the shovel head toward him as if it were some kind of spear.

The attempt to threaten the mutt might’ve worked on a pup, but not him and he rushed forward, managing to grab the shovel’s shaft when Rini tried in vain to smack him. With his free fist he struck Rini’s chest and yanked on her collar, pulling her back in for a repeat strike to the face.

With an audible crack her muzzle exploded in pain and she fell. Hitting the ground back first, she felt the trickle of something warm dribble down her face, and a small, tiny object swimming around her mouth.

Despite the hard blow, adrenaline kept her going and she turned to look up at the Boxer, who’d again grabbed her collar and cocked another punch.

A glance at the loose floorboard under her however gave way to action. Raising her own arm she came down hard on the nailless wood, and the opposite end shot up right between the Boxer’s legs.

If Rini’s previous strike was akin to cracking a window, this was shattering it.

“T-That…h-hurt.” He quietly squeaked, his quivering lip forming a frown as the Boxer fell to the side clutching himself.

Getting a grip with herself, Rini got up just in time to see the salt covered Husky doing the same. She looked around for anything of use and saw that crane again, along with a bucket of beer bottles filled with ice, and that discarded shovel she now re-equipped.

Standing tall and with bloodshot eyes, the Husky turned to her as she repositioned.

“You know, for a yokel, you’re a real pain in the neck!”

Rini smirked and glanced at the proned Boxer. “I donno, ask you’re friend. It’s not his neck he’s clutching.”

“Oh you smug little bitch.”

“I aim to please!”

He charged towards her and Rini made her move. Slamming the girder with the shovel sending the other side spinning towards the Husky’s back. He saw it coming and prematurely ducked, only for the ice bucket to be smacked instead and spill its contents across the ground around them.

With the floor now covered in ice and broken glass, both came to a halt to prevent slipping. Rini made use of her shovel to clear a path whilst the thug had to deal with the cards he was dealt.

He moved slowly and methodically trying to avoid both hazards, giving Rini plenty of time to get away.

Now Rini could have left, she could have just walked away and went home.Sadly, she’d have to deal with being stalked again, and she didn’t want that. Also these assholes damn near broke her nose and she was confident they’d dealt some dental damage.

Retribution was needed.

So instead, as the Husky was busy trying to navigate the dangerous ground, a shovel suddenly flew and struck his side. Closely followed by a plethora of small objects Rini had found.

Wrenches and hammers, screwdrivers and hoofdrills, before eventually the toolbox itself was lugged at him.

He struggled to maintain balance as the toolbox slid under him, and for a moment it seemed he’d regain it. Only for a cinderblock to prove the final straw and throw him over.

He looked up to see her standing by the crane’s controls with a wooden two-by-four, but seeing him grounded she set it aside as she worked the controls. The metallic girder hovering above him.

“Mercy?” He pleaded, all prior bravado long gone.

Rini looked at him briefly, before she wiped some of that liquid off her face and stared back at her own paw, now tinted a crimson red.

“Uh, no.” She replied, placing a paw on the chain release lever. “How’s this for a ponylover?”

With a shrill cry the chain went loose, and the metal beam crashed against the Husky pinning him in place.

Now left to herself, Rini let out a deep, exhausted sigh as she hopped from the crane. Spitting out a bloody tooth and feeling a cold chill running through her form.

“Mom’s gonna kill me…”