Hunter's Salute

"Number one you lucky girl! I say, get up!"

It was dark. And cold. It was dark and cold, and the floor was hard. One pony, lost in the bleak confines of nowhere, stirred. Indeed, she had been labelled as number one.

"Speed is of the essence! Make haste!"

The voice came from a grate in the ceiling, which also served as the only source of light. What little sunshine spilled through was wasted on a spot on the bare floor, only enough to show those within that the room was likely made of solid concrete. 'Number One' could tell that she was not alone, though she was the only one awake.

"Do not make me come get you myself."

Whatever it was that he wanted, it was urgent. Feeling the very last bit of the sedative work through her system and desolve, the confused and labelled pony stepped toward the door. The frame was barely visible, but she walked in the direction that felt about right.

"Can you not see straight?"

"I... I can sir... Who are you?"

"Unimportant! At least for now. Proceed through the door, I await your presence."

Her memory was foggy, at least from last night. She did feel as though she had been asleep for longer than a night, but she also didn't remember falling asleep. Wherever she was, it wasn't home.

The door led to only another dark room, but a mechanical scraping came from the door frame behind her. A large metalic slate closed over the opening, and the room began to move. It moved upwards. She was on her way to the surface.

And on the surface, the light flooded into the abysmal darkness that once enveloped her grey coat. She found it particularly hard to stand, her hooves quivering from the crippling weakness that held her in such low spirits. Her wings couldn't even hold themselves up, causing them to drag along the ground as she stepped forward.

"Good show! I suppose you're wondering why you're... Er... Your eye... Is something amiss?"

"Who?"

"Ahem! Yes, of course!" The dashing stallion before her tipped his hat in salutation. "You may call me Fancy Pants! My colleagues insist on using 'Sir', and 'Mr.', but I find it to be dreadful. And your name?"

The disoriented pegasus tried to focus her vision, but from the sudden shift in lighting and the strange state that she was in, it was incredibly difficult. "My name," she began, unsure of even that.

"Oh but where are my manners! I haven't forgotten you!" Fancy Pants placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder, as if to keep her balanced. "You are the one they call Derpy, are you not? The mail mare of Ponyville, how very noble!"

"Ditzy actually... Why am I here?" Ditzy found a bit of purchase on the ground and steadied herself.

"I do apologize. Ditzy it is then! And as for why you are here," Fancy Pants said as he motioned out towards an open expanse. Bordered with a thick forest on one end, and a swamp on the other, it was a magnificent wonderland of nature. "You are to run free among my property!"

That didn't sound right. Ditzy scrunched her nose as she attempted to focus again, hoping to see what was really going on. "You want me to run around on your property? I don't get it."

"I fear you are looking too much into this my dear. I simply wished to share the land with deserving young ponies, such as yourself!"

"If you say so..." She was still very uneasy about the whole thing, but perhaps this wealthy gentlecolt really just wanted to enjoy some company in his back yard. The loss of memory was really what had her worried. "Excuse me Mr... I mean Fancy Pants."

"I insist you call me whatever makes you comfortable! What's on your mind madame?"

"How did I get here?"

The sounds of birds and crickets chirping filled the silence, though Fancy Pants' smile never wavered. He looked her dead in the eye, gentle and inviting as always.

"Enjoy yourself out there!"

"You didn't answer my question..." Ditzy averted her gaze, and tried to hide the fear in her voice. There were just too many details that didn't add up.

"Run my dear girl!" The affluent stallion motioned outward with a wide smile. "Run free and feel the wind at your back!"

Still unsure of her standing, Ditzy struggled to force a hoof forward, and then another. Fancy Pants motioned his hooves forward, as if to push her along. He raised his eyebrows, giving her a look that seemed fatherly, and expectant.

'He seems trustworthy I guess...' she thought, as her pace picked up. Each step became easier as she convinced herself that the circumstances only seemed odd, and it was in fact safe.

"The hunt is on! Tally ho!"

It was at that moment when Ditzy Doo felt her heart stop. Second by second, she felt each beat down to it's very last, and then to start again. Did she just hear him correctly?

The sound of hunting horns resonated from behind her, and her fears were confirmed. Her heart picked up fast, each beat coming faster than the last. One final glance over her shoulder, and her frozen state was broken. Fancy Pants stood there still, only his gentle smile was replaced with a competitive grin.

"What did I tell you?" He produced a large knife from one of the many pockets in his hunting vest. "Run."

She didn't have to be told a third time. Ditzy took off at a sprint, moving her hooves faster than she knew she could. The wind raced by her as she scrambled to think of how to get away. Of course, that didn't take long, for she was in an open field. Unfurling her wings, she lifted herself into the sky. Tears flowed from her eyes in fear, but she had hope. She could fly, and he could not.

But that didn't get her very far. Once she felt that she was at a safe distance, she felt a strange shock. It was minor, nothing crippling in any way. That is until she reached a higher altitude, and she felt an intense volt of energy shoot through her body. This shock caused her wings to lock up, sending the poor mare plummeting towards the ground. On her way down she finally gave notice to the source of this shock. She had a collar around her neck, and it seemed to be probing her with two small metallic nubs.

"Shock collar my dear lass! Capital invention!" She heard the voice of her predator in the distance. He was far from sight, but not far enough. The impact with the merciless grass gave the grey pegasus a shake, making her feel as if she had been crushed under an anvil, or a piano. Every bone in her body ached, but pegasii did have rather thick bones. Nothing immediately struck her as being broken, but every inch of her sleek frame was sore.

Scraping herself off of the ground, she began to run again. That was all that seemed to make sense to her at the time. Her mind raced for a new getaway plan, and all that she could think of was to run for the forest. The cover of the trees and the shade was much more inviting than staying out in the open at least, so Ditzy redirected herself towards the thick woods to the East.

"Hmm, feisty young mare isn't she," Fancy Pants mentioned to himself, partially in awe of her ability to run after that crash. "This shall be a good hunt." He watched as she became a speck in the distance, sprinting desperately for the trees. "Though I can't say I would have chosen the woods. Quite a daring move, Ms. Doo."

At the edge of the woods, Ditzy allowed herself a chance to breath. Leaning hard against a tree, she wheezed for air while her mental state tried to catch up with her. Her instinct was to run of course, but she still hadn't truly grasped the situation at hand.

"Why," she asked herself, looking for any answer that made sense. A quick glance back reassured her that she was alone, and the open field looked quite nice. The forest, on the other hand, was dark. With her already impaired vision, and the adrenaline pumping through her body, navigation would be nearly impossible.

The pieces began to fall into place, as the smallest bit of memory came back to the poor girl. She remembered falling asleep the night before, or perhaps it was a couple of days ago, and she remembered hearing footsteps. She had been kidnapped, that much was clear. She was not the only one, this she knew for sure. Presumably, she was the first based on the tag on her ear, and if this was any indication then they too are to be hunted.

Hunted. That word struck Ditzy more so than any other in her mind. She was being hunted, but for what reason? This stallion, she recalled seeing him in Ponyville before, was known over Equestria as one of the nicest gentlecolts who ever lived. What reason did he have to want to kill her?

And at that thought, her heart rate began to increase again. If she didn't escape, she was going to die. Her eyes raced back and forth to find a more secure place to hide, her hooves scrambled on the ground to try and decide on a direction to run in. Eventually, she gave up hiding, and rather focused her energy on the shock collar around her neck. If only she could get rid of it, she could fly away.

Ditzy pulled at the collar every way. Up, down, forward, and back, nothing worked. It was a tight fit, resting snug against her throat. With one particularly desperate tug, she found herself on the ground in a fit of coughing. Too much strain and the electrical menace would cut off her breathing altogether. Either way, she continued to pull on the accursed thing, her vision bordering with black as rage and terror flooded her senses. Tears began to flow from her eyes once more, but in waves upon waves more than before. She felt as her throat became sore, not realizing that she had been screaming, crying, and cursing the entire time.

Eventually, she was out of energy. It was all that she could do to keep her hooves moving, but that soon failed as well. She laid upon the expertly groomed grass, feeling little but the rise and fall of her heaving chest, and the mental anguish of a scared prey.

"Why..." she whimpered to herself, forcing her eyes closed to block the tears. Images of her life flashed by, trying to fill her memory with happy things and not the impending doom that chased after her. This time, a more calming image caught on. It was of her daughter. She saw the image of her daughter smiling, laughing with her friends. She imagined herself watching from the kitchen window, baking some muffins and feeling an overwhelming amount of love for the little unicorn. Dinky would run inside and Ditzy would allow her to pull the muffins out of the oven. Together, they would eat and play games and draw pictures, and at night Ditzy would read her a bed time story and kiss her little forehead.

And now, it seemed like she might never get to see her daughter ever again. The tears forced through her sealed lids and soaked the grey fur on her contorted face.

"Why?" Her eyes attempted to open, but they stung with tears and quickly closed again. "WHY?!" She screamed as loud as she could, slamming her hooves into the dirt. It seemed so unfair. Why was she there? Why was she taken? Did he take Dinky?

Just the thought, the idea of that monster touching her daughter threw her into a full on rage. She rolled, thrashed, flailed at everything and nothing at the same time. She continued shouting, half hoping that Fancy Pants would hear her. That was very possible too, as she soon heard hooves pounding at the earth. He was running, and each one sounded closer and closer. She wanted to fight, but knew she couldn't. All that she did know was that she had to survive. She had to escape somehow, and make sure that Dinky was safe.

Ditzy found her way to her hooves and forced them to move. Each step was painful, having used up all of her energy in her fit of anger seconds before. Regardless, they complied, and carried the frightened mare deeper into the forest. Sure enough, she found it futile to attempt to navigate. Instead, she simply relied on her senses, and reacting as fast as she could when something came into her line of sight. Her good eye would spot trees, branches, rocks, and everything else just in time for her to jump to the side, or redirect herself completely. It was unusually dark in the woods, Ditzy noticed. It was certainly day time, being that the sun was visible just moments ago in the field, and yet it felt is if it were night amid the trees.

And of course, that final burst of energy didn't last forever. Adrenaline can only get one young pony so far, and she found herself tripping over her own hooves. Her mouth erupted in pain as she felt every tooth within her jaw grind against each other. Her chin felt as though it had been bashed in with a hammer. Upon investigation with a hoof, she found that she had landed on a particularly jagged rock. When her mouth opened, her fright was only added upon.

Blood pooled in her mouth at a dangerously quick rate. She had bitten through her tongue. After spitting a large pool of blood onto the ground, she was able to determine that it was only the tip. Still, the pain was immense, and Ditzy cried as quietly as she could while trying to figure out how to stop the bleeding. Eventually she took a single leaf from the ground and shoved it in her mouth. With some maneuvering, she was able to encase the wound with the leaf. It wasn't particularly sanitary, but it would save her from blood loss for long enough.

Ever determined, she was unwilling to give up, and so she extended her wings to their apex. With one strong flap, she was up on her knees. Another beat of her wings, and she was up on her hooves. Another and another, she floated just inches from the ground, and allowed her hooves to dangle beneath her torso. They were shaking, numb, and splintered from the rugged forest floor. She started forward, slowly now to calm down just a little. The last thing she wanted now was another accident. Her mouth was still in pain, and still bleeding, and on top of that she was aching all over. Another spill and she feared that she might be done.

Navigation at a slower pace was much easier than at a frantic sprint. Her hooves knocked against a large root and dragged along the top, creating two round trails across the waterlogged wood. Ditzy could tell that she was drooling, but that was the least of her problems. She could care less right now that she was leaving a long trail of blood behind, there were more important matters at hand. For one, she had to figure out how to get the collar off of her neck. First and foremost, she had to remove that little inhibitor.

"Without this thing," she muttered to herself around a swollen tongue and a blood soaked leaf. "Without this thing I can get home. I need something sharp." A twig snapped, causing her ear to twitch. She was startled at first, until she realized it was only a branch that had caught on her wing. "Still safe... He's not here Ditzy, he's not here. Just focus on getting away. He's not..."

"Here? I dare say that I am!"

The unicorn, who until now Ditzy had never realized was rather large, stood face to face with the startled pegasus.

"Though I suppose if you wish to tell yourself otherwise, I can't stop you."

"Get away from me!" Ditzy yelled angrily at her oppressor, hoping maybe she had gotten close enough to civilization to be heard. She also sprayed a small amount of blood on his face. "How did you find me?"

Fancy Pants produced a hanky from his pocket and wiped off his face. "You aren't particularly hard to track you know. You've left a trail of blood from that drooling maw of yours!" He stuffed the tissue back into his pocket and replaced it with his large, deadly knife. "Now this hunt hasn't lasted as long as I had hoped. It feels hardly fair of me to finish you when you're already down."

"You mean... You're going to let me go?" Ditzy had allowed herself to fall back to her belly, feeling helpless and unable to run. Her ears flattened against her head and her wings laid limp, one of which dipped into a small puddle.

"Unfortunately, I can't do that." The grey mare winced at that admission. Her hope of escape faltered greatly, but she was still dead set on living. "You see, now that I have you it wouldn't sit well with me to have you running about."

"I have a daughter... Where is she?"

For once since the start of this game, Fancy Pants dropped his guard. He looked genuinely sorry for his actions. "You have a daughter," he said, a hint of remorse in his voice. Maybe this was the leverage that Ditzy needed to win her life back.

"She... She means everything to me." A tear rolled down her cheek, but this one was different than before. This one was filled with love, and not the desperate rage from before. "I just want my little muffin to be safe... Please don't hurt her..." Her voice wavered and her throat knotted up in an instant.

Fancy Pants placed a hoof over his heart and smiled warmly. "I solemnly swear on my honor as a huntsman that I shall not lay a hoof on your daughter."

"Thank you..."

"Of course, that does not mean you are free to go."

He raised the knife high above his head, his features turning to stone as he prepared to end the mare's life. Her appeal to equine emotion didn't work, and rather just made him more serious about it all. This was after all no longer some silly looking mail mare, this was somepony's mother.

"No!" She closed her eyes and screamed, facing the final moments of her short life. As a gut reaction, she flapped her wings upward, sending a spray of muddy water from the small puddle next to her. A bit of the murky mess found its way into Fancy Pants' eye, causing him to flinch backward.

"Oh poppycock! You're going to get it now!"

She began beating her wings urgently to raise her weakening form into the trees.

"There's that fight I wanted to see! You won't get away from me though!" The white unicorn entrapped his knife in an aura of magic and jettisoned it towards his prey. Ditzy disappeared into the foliage above, but not before the knife embedded itself into her shoulder. "Oh bollocks, there goes my best knife. No matter, I shall retrieve it in due time."

Weaving through the tree tops with a body full of anguish and a shoulder full of knife was not particularly easy. Add that all to a head full of terror and you have Ditzy, ducking and dodging around branches and leaves. She swayed violently to and fro, grasping at her own consciousness with everything she had. Her vision blurred and refocused, unable to maintain stable balance while her own blood stained her face and her hoof. She was a mess, and what was left of her was going fast.

Finding a spot, far far away from her near defeat, Ditzy laid down in a bed of leaves on top of a fairly tall tree. She fought herself to stay awake, for resting and forgetting her pain sounded a little too good. Of course, that would surely mean defeat.

Her jaw hung slack to allow her tongue to loll out and relax. The cool, moist air around her felt rather good on the healing muscle, but that was at this point the lesser of her injuries. What she needed to focus on was the knife in her shoulder. She craned her neck to see the weapon protruding from herself, which sent a wave of sickness to her core. It had done some damage on entry it seemed, as the gash was much longer than the blade was wide. A dark, sticky red flowed modestly through the open wound, covering the entirety of one side of her left fore hoof.

'Just pull it out,' she thought to herself, trying to work up the will to remove the offending object. Reaching over with her right hoof, she took hold of the handle. One breath in, one breath out. Two more breaths, in and out, getting longer and steadier as she centered herself mentally.

'One.' She tensed the muscles in her good hoof, preparing to yank her torture free in one go.

'Two.' Her brow furrowed, forcing her mind to concentrate on the important task at hand. Letting the fear of pain stand in her way would only inhibit her ability to succeed.

'Three!' She pulled. She pulled as hard as she could, but something was wrong. The blade only moved about half an inch, but the pain that she felt was easily double that of the initial entry.

She let out a scream, filled with anguish and fear. She felt it in more than just her shoulder. The sharp sensation of cutting and tearing went all the way down to her gut, which wretched violently. She immediately felt the contents of her stomach rise, emptying on the leaves around her. The speed at which she vomited had reopened the wound on her tongue just enough to stain her bile red, which caused Ditzy to panic.

'I'm going to die,' her mind told her, quite convinced that this was the end of the line. 'I'm going to die out here and I'll never see my friends or Dinky ever again...'

After a few heaves, she found that there just wasn't anything left to evacuate from her stomach, and steeled her nerves the best she could. If she was to survive, then she had to be strong. She had to survive, there wasn't any question about that. She had to live to protect those that she loved from this evil. Her hoof found itself back on the knife, and froze.

'I can do this... I can do this!' Again, she stopped to breath for a moment. Her throat stung from the acidic contents of her innards, and each breath she took felt dry and abrasive.

'One.' Once again, she put every bit of energy she had left into that leg, convinced that this time it would work.

'T-two.' She doubted herself, squinting her eyes as she looked away, not wanting to watch. She knew it would hurt, and she knew it wouldn't be pretty.

'T-t-three!' She pulled, and again made no progress. This time, however, she didn't stop. She had to live. She had to make it out of this alive, and the first step was to remove this thing from her body.

"RrrrrrRRRRAAAAAAAAA!!!!" She let out a primal yell, crying out as she pulled at the knife. She could feel it catch on the muscles of her shoulder, attempting to pull it right out with the blade. It was evident by now that one side of the blade was notched for this very purpose. Blood sprayed from the opening onto her hoof like a geyser as she tore at it, letting her instincts overtake her consciousness. Bit by bit, the steel blade slid out. She felt the metal scrape against her shoulder bone, and noticed that all feeling in her left hoof had officially gone. She could hear the bone splinter, feel the marrow strain and the sinew tear as she forced her way through the torture.

There it was again, that feeling of absolute disgust. She couldn't take it any more, and her stomach lurched once more. Nothing came of it, only painfully dry coughing, so she continued to work at the knife. Her lungs were on fire as she screamed louder than before. If Fancy Pants was still in the forest, he would no doubt have heard her, but she didn't care. With that outburst, she tore her hoof outward with all of her might, and the knife came free with it. The sensation that came with it was the worst that she had ever experienced.

Ditzy fell to her belly as it felt like a scalding iron worked its way under her skin, and through the entire left half of her torso. Shockingly, her left fore hoof was not included in that. Looking at the knife only proved to worsen the anguish in the scared pegasus' mind, for it had brought home a souvenir. Hanging off of one of the serrated notches on the blade was a sizable chunk of torn, veined muscle tissue. She felt herself flickering out, losing blood at an alarming rate. At last, she allowed herself to close her eyes.

That awakening was unpleasant in many ways. The first thing that struck Ditzy as disappointing was that she had not in fact been dreaming. She was still laying in her leaf bed, covered in vomit and blood. The next thing that struck her was the still unfealing state of her left hoof. Upon trying to move it, nothing came.

"Oh no..." She focused hard on lifting her left fore hoof, but no matter how hard she tried it just wouldn't budge. All that she did manage was to reignite the pain in her shoulder. Reallocating that energy into her right hoof, she clutched at her still open wound.

Strangely enough, she had actually survived for however long she had been out. She seemed to have eluded her predator, and the bleeding must have slowed enough for her to not dry up. Speaking of which, she was beginning to feel a bit dehydrated.

Through all this darkness, one ray of sunshine peeked through. The knife was still there, crusted with dried blood, and free from any confines.

'How did I never think of that before!' Lifting the knife, Ditzy inspected the edge closely. Sharp, just like a knife should be. More specifically, it looked rather capable of cutting through just about anything within reason.

"And I suppose that this could cut off this collar! Haha! I win!" Without hesitation, she lifted the knife up to her neck. With only one hoof available, steadying the blade was difficult. Carefully sliding the tip under the collar, she noticed something that could be problematic. Both sides of the knife were bladed, and there wasn't much room between her neck and the collar. If she were to pull this off, it was likely that she would have to inflict yet another injury on herself.

Ditzy prepared the knife as best she could, holding the tip just under the collar. She bit lightly on her lip in anticipation, now subconsciously afraid of the steel nightmare. Pushing slightly, the knife slide carefully, though dragging the smooth blade across her neck. A fine drop of blood dripped down to her hoof as she continued to soldier through the pain. This was much more bearable compared to recent events, but her hoof was beginning to shake more and more with each passing second. Progress stopped as she took a moment to recollect herself. A slick feeling seemed present between her hoof and the hilt, but Ditzy dismissed it as sweat. Ignoring it proved to be a mistake soon enough.

Pushing once more to continue slicing at the collar, her hoof slipped. The knife fell the moment it left contact with her hoof, deepening the slice in her neck. It dropped, penetrating through the leaves and down to the ground level.

"No! No no no!" Ditzy shouted angrily as she covered the fresh cut in her hide. It wasn't bleeding too much, only enough to be an annoyance, and it did sting rather badly. Peeking her nose down through her cover, she tried to spot where the knife had fallen. There it was, embedded in a tree root, teasing her from below.

"Alright... I just need to get down there and-Ah!" Ditzy lost her balance, causing her to slip and fall from her safe haven in the trees. She shut her eyes, expecting a rough landing on the ground, but that didn't come. Instead, she found herself suspended. She was also hanging upside-down. Her right hind hoof had gotten tangled on a branch.

"Oh thank Celestia..." She wiped her one good fore hoof across her forehead. "Now I just need to get down."

She lunged forward as hard as she could, hoping to reach her trapped limb. Using her wings for extra force, she swung back and forth until she could almost take a hold of the branch. As soon as her hoof touched the branch, she gripped it with intent, twisting it to one side. With a sharp snap, the branch broke and her hoof was free. She hadn't planned any further than that.

Now with her back to the floor, her wings proved little help at that short distance. Ditzy fell with each available limb flailing to right herself, but nothing worked. She continued to fall, picking up speed as she took note of just how high up she was. It seemed like forever, like she was suspended in a constant downward motion. All this, and she had forgotten that there was a knife directly below her.

To her benefit, the knife was still embedded in the roots of the tree. Ditzy smashed into the ground, knocking her head back and bouncing it off of the hard wood of her new bed. She felt her brain rattle in her skull, fearing that she had cracked her head open. There was a crunch, or a snap accompanying her landing, and she figured that must have been it. Her hind hooves reared up to allow her to tumble upright.

"I'm sorry hooves, did you misunderstand me?" Sure enough, her hind hooves did no such a thing. Rather, they stayed put, refusing to follow instructions. "Don't tell me..."

She looked around her own chest, which blocked her view of the rest of herself. Sure enough, she had landed on the hilt of the knife, driving the flat end of it directly into her spine. Her back had folded over it, placing the very unfortunate pegasus at an almost 90 degree angle. She tried to move her hooves again, but failed. It was as if the entire bottom half of her body was gone, feeling nothing below her rib cage.

"You've got to be bucking kidding me!" That was the final straw. She had tumbled through this abysmal forest for too long, and it seemed like every turn just crippled her more. Ditzy was all out of tears to shed, and just wanted an explanation.

"What did I do?!" She screamed at the sky, which she still couldn't see. "Please Celestia tell me! What did I do?!" She wanted to swing at everything, break anything in her reach, but all she could move was her right fore hoof, and oh did that hoof flail.

"Why me?! What did I ever do to deserve this?!" She heard hoof steps closing in on her, but didn't even care anymore. She kept right on screaming. "Is it because of my eye? Am I not pretty enough?"

The other pony nearby got closer still, having a bit of trouble pushing and cutting through the foliage. Ditzy finally decided to pay attention to the fact that she was likely going to die within minutes.

"I'll change! I will!" She hoped that she could reach the princess. "I'll never mix up the mail again! I'll eat healthier! No more muffins, I swear I'll be a better pony! Celestia please!"

No answer, only the thumps of hooves against leaves and roots growing louder and louder.

"Luna! Please somepony! Cadence, Discord, whoever's out there help me!"

"No such luck you poor, poor girl." Fancy Pants stood above the crippled mare with a look that conveyed pity like no other she had ever seen. "Though I can see your luck hasn't been with you this evening. You've managed to bypass all of my traps, and yet you are still in this dismal condition. Shame, an escape could have been very entertaining!"

"Get away from me you monster!"

"Or what? You seem hardly in any condition to fight back."

"I just want to live... Please..."

The white stallion blew a lock of blue hair out of his eye. Climbing through the woods did terrible things to an expertly groomed mane. "You would like to live? Like this?" He felt a warm sensation on his leg, and looked down to see that he had parked his hoof between Ditzy's hind legs. "Are you relieving yourself on me?"

"I don't know..." Her face lit up as much as her limited blood supply would allow, still able to feel shame. "I can't feel my legs..."

"You poor, poor thing. I should think I'll be doing you a service in dispatching you."

Ditzy let out a soft sob, accepting her fate. This would have to be the end. She couldn't fight any more, and even if she escaped all she had left was one hoof and her wings.

'My wings!' It dawned on her that as long as she could fly, she could still get away. Using what little energy she had left, she pushed herself off of the knife with her remaining hoof and landed on her belly.

"Oh jolly good! My knife! Just allow me to retrieve it and this shall be over momentarily."

With a mighty flap, Ditzy launched herself off of the ground. All of the dead weight of her body made it hard to maneuver, and she was slowed down considerably, but she was up. Fancy Pants dislodged his knife from the root and pointed it at his victim.

"Oh stay put you ninny, you've lost! A proper lady should lay down and admit defeat with grace!"

"I peed on your leg! I'm not worried about grace!"

Her rebuttal surprised even her, but she still didn't have the physical capability to back up her attitude. She wouldn't be able to outrun him, and he had his knife back. Her shock collar was still in place, and she was still lost in the thick of the woods.

"And I was willing to forgive you out of pity, but because you put it so bluntly I have no remorse in eviscerating your barbaric throat."

"Then do it! Kill me! If you want me dead then why are you standing there! I have nothing left, if you're not afraid of murder than finish it!"

"I shall not tolerate your sass! Have at you!" Fancy Pants lunged forward, thrusting the knife forward with intent on lodging it between the grey mare's eyes. Again, Ditzy hadn't planned past that, she let her mouth run itself and only ended with an enraged sophisticate with a knife. She flinched away, but her cumbersome weight worked against her. Her vision deteriorated into shades of red, and then went mostly black. All she could see was the blur of her surroundings at an unfortunate angle.

"Shame, that was your good eye wasn't it?"

Sure enough, the knife was once again embedded in her body, but this time it protruded from her good eye. Once more, she felt her self awareness falter, sickened by the mere concept of her eye being cut nearly in half, not to mention recollecting the experience of removing it from her shoulder. She attempted to propel herself back with her wings, but she couldn't. The knife had caught a hold of her skull, and she was stuck fast.

"Gruesome business isn't it? Lucky you, I seem not to have hit anything vital. The next one will not miss!"

He focused his magic on the knife, giving him the extra strength that he needed to remove the blade. Ditzy's face exploded in red as most of her eye came free of it's socket with the knife. At this point, pain wasn't an issue. Fancy Pants suspected that she wasn't even still awake. She seemed to be a zombie, just trying to escape on pure instinct.

"Pitiful. May your soul rest in peace."

He swung the knife at his prey, aiming for her throat. Just then, Ditzy jerked herself back and dodged the attack. The knife didn't miss completely though, as it sliced directly through the collar that held her in this death trap. Feeling the corded restraint fall from her being, a new sense of hope flooded into her mind.

She flapped as hard as she could, lifting herself high into the air. Fancy Pants looked on impatiently, knowing that she couldn't get far. Neither of them even noticed that something had been caught in Ditzy's tail.

'I'm free... I'm free and I can fly to the hospital and see my daughter... I'm going to-' Her movement snagged, as her tail pulled taught against the earth. A rope, hidden below the leaves, had weaved itself into her tail hair.

"Fair thee well Ditzy Doo, you proved a most wonderful target."

"What do you-" Her question was cut off by a large mesh of branches, which fell from the tree above. The very canopy that she used as a safe haven collapsed down upon her, but it surely was no canopy. This was a falling spike trap, impaling her in several place, and trapping her to the ground. Her wings had both been pinned, and her remaining hoof had been crushed by the impact. Her breathing became impossible, losing any air through her punctured lung.

Fancy Pants stalked over to the nearly dead pegasus. It took everything her body had to keep her heart beating, and that wouldn't matter soon enough. The dapper huntsman placed the tip of his knife on Ditzy's chest, pushing in to make an incision. He cut and tore through her skin, cracking her ribs as he circled around the source of her life. There it was, the heart of his prey. The perfect souvenir for his trophy room.

With the very final inch of life that she had, Ditzy opened her mouth to speak.

"W-why..."

"All in the name of sport Ms. Doo."

He severed the arteries connecting her heart to her body and pulled it out. The last shred of life faded from Ditzy's remaining eye, and she lay there still under her bed of razor sharp spears.

Fancy Pants placed his hoof over her face, forcing her eye lid shut.

"Waidmanns heil mein frau."

He began making his way back home, intent on washing up and restocking his tools. There was another hunt to be had later that week after all.