The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapters

Falling, With Little To No Style
Not All Dogs Go to Heaven
Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks
It's Not You, It's Me
Want To Play A Game?
On Your Mark, Get Set, GO...at
Kentucky Fried Griffin Anypony?
Demons You Can't Fight
Wrapping Up Some Loose Ends
Endings Are Just New Beginnings
Change of Pace
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad...Teacher?
Double Standards Are the Best Standards
Your Mission, If You Choose to Accept Is...
The Game is Afoot...er Apaw
Along Came a Wolf
Life of a Hunter: Stalliongrad
Caged Like a Dog
Bringing Up the Past
War
Special Delivery
1 Dog, 2 Dog, Boss Dog, Dead Dog

Falling, With Little To No Style

Chapter 2

~{WWP}~

Freefalling gives a person a lot of time to think. That was my philosophic thought as I descended through the sky. Well, let’s do a quick recap of my day. Get punched into Equestria by a crazy bitch, woke up as a wolf with wings, got attacked by a racist pony, and then dropped out of an airship. Definitely worth it…wait a second, I have wings. With that I spun around and spread out my feathery appendages. Of course I had no idea how to use them properly, but at least I can glide. How hard could that be?

Apparently very hard. I didn’t last more than a second before the strength of the free fall blasted my wings straight up, causing them to flap uselessly in the wind. Well shit, glad to see I managed to last long enough to learn I can’t fly worth a damn. If I was going to fall, I was going to at least do it comfortably with some style. I threw my arms behind my head and did a quick flip and leaned back as if I was on a bed. Just as soon as I got comfortable, I crashed into a bright pink cloud.

So much for style...but on to more important things, like I'm a cloud.

“Ok, looks like I can move clouds and stuff. Sweet!” I exclaimed to no one. Then the more pressing matter decided to kick my brain into gear. Why the hell was a cloud pink? Wracking my brain of all pony information, it quickly came up with an answer that got me even more excited than having wings.

Actually, not really. Wings are still the most badass thing in the world, but realizing you are sitting on a cloud made of cotton candy that rains chocolate milk? That’s pretty awesome in its own right. It also gave me a great idea as to the time frame of me being in Equestria. Just at the beginning of season 2.

“Horse Apples, that means my cloud will disappear in a while. Time to start eating it then.” I Take a huge bite out of it, and give a small gasp as it starts to fall closer to the ground. Looks like I figured out how I was going to get down to the ground.

3 hours later…

Pain, that’s all I could feel. Eating an entire cotton candy cloud was a really shitty idea in hindsight, but I needed to get out of the sky. Damn you stomach and your lack of ability to eat a massive cloud of sugar. Damn you to hell.

After rolling around on in pain for about another 30 minutes, I heard a pair of hooves heading in my direction. Perking my head up, I saw two ponies heading in my direction, and got a nice big scent with them. One was a rather fancy perfume, and the smell of the other was that of booze and sweat. Now that’s the weirdest combination of smells to be traveling together. I tried to get up and meet the travelers, but my stomach had more plans for my suffering. Stupid stomach, I feed you and this is how you respond?

Within a couple of minutes though as the sun started to set, the two ponies are close enough to recognize by sight, and I let out a fanboy squeal. Yes, I had a huge nerdgasm right there in the open when I saw Vinyl Scratch and Octavia approaching me. Yes, the famous musical duo; the proper amber gray coated, light purple eyed cello playing earth pony, and the eccentric white electric blue maned DJ unicorn. Can’t say it gets much cooler than that. Minus my wings of course, that’s been established.

I attempt to get up once again, but the fiendish stomach beats me back down, so I do the only thing a pained wolf does. I whined loud enough to catch the duo’s attention. They stopped and stared at what I can only assume was a pretty bizarre sight in front of them. A winged wolf with cotton candy surrounding his muzzle sitting on the side of the road, yeah I’d keep walking myself.

Fortunately for me though, I can pull off the puppy dog eyes even better now that I am a wolf. Within seconds Vinyl was trotting over towards me. “Hey there pup, you don’t look so good,” she stated with compassionate violet colored eyes. Oh, this could be fun. They don’t know I can talk; time to mess with them a bit. I simply whine again and nod my head for the concerned unicorn.

“Hey Tavi, can we keep it?” the DJ turned and asked her friend “At least for the rest of the trip?” Wait, could that possibly mean that all those crazy shipfics of the two are real? Eh, wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen. I mean I am in a different universe turned into a flying canine listening to colorful ponies talk. Turning my head to the uptight earth pony, I make my best puppy dog face and whine slightly. Octavia is hesitant at first, but no one can beat the power of a puppy dog face. She muttered something along the lines of “fine as long as it gets a bath” before she kept walking.

“Come on pup, let’s catch up before she decides she’s better off without us,” Vinyl said laughingly. She helped me get up and then went to put a cord she had in her saddle bag around my neck. Yeah, fuck that.

“Are you seriously going to try and put a leash on me? Cause I swear I’d rather get thrown out of an airship again then be humiliated by wearing that. Also not my style, kinky yes, but not for me,” I said rather sharply as I swatted the cord out of her hoof. Thankfully, Octavia didn’t hear me, so I still had the ability to prank someone. Glancing over to see Vinyl’s jaw hanging open, I couldn’t help but attempt to stifle a laugh. Waving my paw in front of her face didn’t help either, so I flicked her horn to snap her out of it. “Yes, I’m a talking flying wolf, though I haven’t figured the flying part yet, but deal with it. Now don’t let your little friend over there know. We can still prank her pretty good don’t you think?” Vinyl just nodded dumbly and followed me as we went to catch up to Octavia.

Anyone who hates Rarity but loves Octavia is a hypocrite. Octavia seemed even prissier than I had imagined. Take Rarity and up that a few notches and you got the lovely cellist of Canterlot's attitude. She didn’t bother to look at me when Vinyl and I caught up to her. “So Vinyl, do you like the mongrel that you found? His smell is simply putrid,” the snobby earth pony stated. I instinctively raised my lip flashing my pearly whites and released a nice low growl. I hated dealing with snobby upper class people back home, here was going to be no different. It also didn’t help her case that she appeared to be racist too.

I have to admit though; Octavia didn’t batter an eyelash at that threat. You gotta have a nice set of cojones to not be afraid of a wolf the same size as you releasing a nice death growl. So I decided I would go with phase two of my plan. Nothing like a good mind fuck right? Clearing my throat with a cough got her attention, time to lay the icing on the cake. “I do say my fair lady, tis a lovely night for a stroll, but I cannot fathom why a mare of such high class and standing would be in the company of simple rabble such as a DJ? Or why such a beautiful gem such as yourself would not be in the company of a Prince” Yes, I can do the whole high class snob voice; I went to an acting camp for a couple years.

The desired result was immediate. Octavia almost fainted from shock that should a “mongrel” could compose such a proper statement.

Then she resorted to stammering for having insulted such a proper sounding individual. Finally she got mad after noticing Vinyl and I on the ground laughing at her. “How dare you make such a mockery of me! I am Octavi…”

I cut her off before she could go on to large of a tangent. “I don’t care who you are. If you can’t take a good laugh, then you are obviously too high strung for me. This DJ on the other hand, is a pretty likable pony. So I think I’ll stick around for a bit more. The name’s Zeta by the way, nice to meet ya,” I extended my paw as a sign of good faith. Vinyl extended her hoof and we shook. Octavia hadn’t moved since I cut her off, looking like she was going to kill me.

All of a sudden, I caught a whiff of something different from tree wood floating down from the woods. Perking my ears up, I could hear the breathing coming from the tree line as well. As soon as I was starting to realize what was going on, a pack of six timber wolves charged out to have a nice little feast. I leapt over the two mares and met them head on. That’s when I felt a nice surge of adrenaline and just let my body take over. I don’t need much thought fighting match sticks and natural instincts will keep me safe.

The lead of the pack tries to gash me open with his claws, which I managed to quickly dodge. Spinning my head around I bit right through his extended arm and proceed to go straight for the timber wolf’s throat afterwards. With a slight shudder, the first one is dead. I notice another one flanking me from behind. I flared me wings to boost myself forward and right into the body of a third timber wolf; my claws ripping right through the wooden creature. With a quick back flip, I pinned another beneath my paws as I ripped out a chunk of wood right behind its skull. Three down, three to go.

Looking over, I noticed that Vinyl set-up a barrier to protect the two ponies. Good thing too, because the other three timber wolves were already setting up a circle trying to find a way in. Unfortunately for the wolves, I decided I wanted to get more toothpicks. I charged into two of the wolves with my shoulder, I ripped out their throats before they knew what hit them. The last of the pack just turned tail and ran off.

My adrenaline wore off as I watched the last timber wolf scamper back into the woods. First thoughts to cross my mind after killing 5 vicious predators with nothing but my fangs and claws went a little like this; HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT. Yeah, I’ll say it. I was freaked out by what I could do in this new body, but also excited beyond belief. I've killed stuff before, but this time was different. Doing it without any tools makes all the difference.

A smirk started to grow on my muzzle. Back on Earth I really couldn't do to much with all the shit that had been dropped on me in the past few years. All the commitments and rulings from court battles stole almost everything I had. Here though, was different. I decided right there and then that I was going to be doing whatever the hell I wanted and see what happens.

A cough coming from my left reminded me I wasn't alone. Looking over at the two mares questioning faces, I could only assume how many questions must have been flooding their minds right then. I decided I would answer some before they could yap my ears off.

I had but one answer that would work. “And that was without a single drop of rum.”

Oh Captain Jack Sparrow, how I can quote you at any moment in time and have it work.

~{WWP}~

Not All Dogs Go to Heaven

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 3

~{WWP}~

“What in the sweet name of Celestia are you?” Octavia was shrieking at me, eyes wide and pupils shrunk. My guess was that killing five timberwolves at once, alone, without breaking a sweat is a rare event here. Oh well, guess I can do an epic intro now. Bitches love epic intros.

Jumping forward towards the still cowering mares, I flare my wings out and lifted my head up haughtily with a half confident-half smug smirk.

“Allow me to properly introduce myself, I am the great winged wolf Zeta!” I boasted proudly with a stupid grin, waiting for a response. After a few moments of holding the epic pose, I allowed my wings to drop down and muttered “and that’s all I got for now. But I still have some time to make a name for myself. So um, where the hell are we and where are we heading?” I rubbed the back of my head for this one, smiling sheepishly while cleverly hiding my incisors with my top lip. Somewhat awkward to introduce yourself so heroically and have no idea where the hell you are, or for that matter what you were.

“What do you mean by ‘we’?” Octavia asked in her standard condescending tone, eyes were still darting around the mess that I made out of the timber wolves, panic clearly showing in them. Vinyl just stood there again with her mouth agape, not even paying attention. For some odd reason when I took a sniff in I could smell it, their fear, quite easily. It wasn’t its own particular odor, it just sparked the idea of fear.

“Well, let’s see here. I just saved both of your pretty flanks from a bunch of bloodthirsty timberwolves. It’s also night time and two lovely mares walking down a road could be in danger.” I paused, gauging their reaction. So far, no horrified screaming and in my books that was a relatively good thing.

“So here’s the deal; you let me tag along so you don’t have to worry your pretty little heads about getting jumped again. All you have to do is give me some information, and maybe spot me for a few drinks along with a bed in exchange. What say you?” I threw out my paw in a friendly manner to strike the deal. I figured they would’ve jumped at the chance to have a little protection, but the two musical ponies just stared at me like I was crazy. Perhaps I should stop smiling so widely.

The earth and unicorn pony then started to discuss amongst themselves what to do. It took them forever. I have to say, nothing is quite as awkward as being left hanging. I let my paw hang there for so long I unwillingly began to hum the Final Jeopardy song. After I finished the song for what seemed like the umpteenth time, Octavia finally extended her hoof hesitantly as if she thought I’d rather naw it off with my molars. Actually, at this point that was rather appealing.

“We will gladly accept your offer Mr. Zeta. We just kindly ask you to try not to bring the end of anymore creatures’ lives. That and you bathe the first chance you get.” She fell back into her snobbish tones as she pressed the very tip of her hoof against my outstretched paw, immediately pulling back and wiping it off on Vinyl.

That’s how I got my first traveling buddies. Hesitant travel buddies, but still travel buddies. Once they figured out my payment only needed directions and a rented room, they explained that they were heading to a little port town called Tailton for a concert Octavia had to do.

Vinyl was just tagging along because she had never seen the ocean before and really wanted to check it out. Octavia dug out a map from her saddle bags and pointed to an inconspicuous looking line near a dot. “We are right about here on this road. There is a tavern about a mile up the road we can stay in for the night, and we should be able to make it into Tailton in two day's time. Any questions mutt?” She explained, staying as far away from me as she could, as if I was diseased with some horrible curse. I knew I probably smelt rather rank, but I was a wolf. Wolves don’t bathe, they hunt!

I gestured my paw to let her know I needed to think for a moment, to which she snorted at quietly. I saw that the map showed almost all of Equestria, and it was in the middle of a massive continent that could probably rival Eurasia. To the north had three ragged areas labeled as the Dominion, Gem Fido and Dragon lands respectively. Equestria took up the entire middle portion of the map.

To the south were the Black Marshes, Southern Rainforests and the Volcanic Badlands. Nothing else was labeled except a few road systems and cities in Equestria. Tailton was the south westernmost town in the country of Equestria, with a river running into the ocean there.

“Just one; why is Equestria the only place with named villages? Any that are labeled outside of the country are obviously pony settlements; what else could they be with names like ‘Wethoof’ and the ‘Alamane.’?” I enquired, raising an eyebrow as I rescanned the entire map. She grumbled something about me being an uneducated cretin before sighing heavily.

“Those areas are unexplored or to dangerous to go into for most ponies. The small towns that have popped up on the borders for example, are plagued by various problems. I hear hydras have been attacking Wethoof for a couple of weeks now. But with Discord out and about, no guard ponies can get down there to assist the village,” Octavia answered snidely, as if to ask such a question was foolish and childish. I really hate snobby people with the burning passion of a thousand suns.

The rest of our hour long walk to the tavern was rather uneventful. I attempted to fly a couple more times, with about as much success as Scootaloo would have, amounting to some sore new limbs and a bunch of dirt ground into my coat. This elicited some laughter from the white DJ, but the grey earth pony just kept walking with her nose in the air. I would have been worried she’d trip over a rock if I didn’t want to see that happen so badly. As we approached the ragged looking bar, I noticed two Diamond Dogs standing outside of the door.

Oh, and they smelt like crap. Stupid wolf sense of smell. How do you turn it off?

As we approached they quickly blocked the entrance by stepping towards one another, growling threateningly with their jowls pulled back. Again my instincts told me something new, saying that they were poor fighters and very cowardly.

“No pets allowed,” the larger, and by far the more putrid smelling, one grunted. I lifted my lip and growled lowly at the Diamond Dog in response without realising it. Octavia simply walked past them as if nothing was amiss, even going as far as knocking into one slightly with her shoulder. Did I ever mention she was a snob? I take that back now; she’s a huge bitch of a snob. If I ever got the chance, she was going to feel a large deal of pain.

Vinyl on the other hand stayed outside for a moment before facing the D-dogs. “You do realize he’s intelligent right? He isn’t our pet,” she deadpanned with a confident if small smile. As she was talking I heard something break with a glass-like shatter and a dull thump inside the tavern. Judging by how the Diamond Dogs ears swiveled towards the sound too. Guess a pony’s hearing is worse than ours.

The two Diamond Dogs leaned together and spoke for a moment, then turned to address the two of us, waving his tail a few times in obvious agitation yet his expression held firm.

“Unicorn can go in. I go talk to boss. He will decide if you go in,” the big one told us. Vinyl looked at me, gave a shrug and walked on in. The big one followed, and once the door was closed I heard something break and another dull thump.

Must be some rowdy patrons in the tavern, cracking glasses over another jackass’s head. Plopping down on my haunches, I got a sudden itch behind my ear. I reacted without thinking and leant my head down, lifting up my right rear leg and started scratching like mad. Sweet broiling angels did that feel good.

The D-dog just looked at me funny as my tail began to flop around happily, but fuck him, this just felt too damn good to be ruined by the awkward pose. With the itch gone, I laid back down on the deck, while keeping a relaxed eye on the guard.

After about twenty minutes of staring down the standing canine, another D-dog came out from the darkened interior. He was about the same size as the bigger bouncer, but had miscellaneous vials strapped to his shirt.

“So this is wolf bird that wishes entry?” he grunted out, sneering uncaringly at my gaze.

“Hey, I prefer winged wolf. Wolf bird is degrading,” I snapped snarkily, emphasizing it with a loud, dry, snap of my sharp teeth. The boss D-Dog jumped back at this, eyes wide and ears pinned back defensively. I chuckled at his reaction, musing silently that these D-Dogs who stand twice my height are afraid of the big bad winged talking wolf. Come to think of it, I would be too.

“I apologize winged wolf. Diamond Dogs respect all ancestors of our race. You will get free drink and stay here,” the D-dog boss managed to get out through his sputtering, though I noticed his tail was in between his legs, as was the smaller guards. Oh how I simply love this new body.

“Also, what matter do you have traveling with ponies?” he asked moving towards the door with me tailing him.

“Well, they were travel companions, or more like my charges. They’re paying me to make sure they get to Tailton safely by paying for my drinks and room. Why do you ask?” I realized I didn’t need an answer once we got inside. Bound and gagged in front of me were Vinyl and Octavia, tears streaking down their faces as Diamond Dogs surrounded them. Once they noticed I was inside their eyes lit up with hope that they would be freed.

“Oh, well that would be why you asked. So what are you going to do with them?” I asked the boss dog coolly as if my two new friends were not bondagefied on the floor..

“If you want, they go with you Ancestor Winged Wolf. If not then we send them underground to work in mines for our Alpha,” the boss explained, rolling his shaking paw as if to quicken the conversation.

Wow, looks like being a wolf has its perks. Diamond Dogs thought I was god, almost. I looked back at my former charges, and saw them both crying their eyes out pleading with me with muffled cries through their gags. I honestly had their lives resting in my hands(paws?), Whatever it is I have now. I already had an idea what I was going to do, but I wanted to find something out first.

“Can you take out the gags? I want to ask them some questions real quick,” I stated bluntly, casually leaning from side to side.

The Diamond Dogs did so as soon as I uttered the words, somewhat frothingly following my orders to the letter. The air quickly was filled with Octavia’s mad raving. As expected. Strike out. “What are you waiting for!? Have these fleabags untie us this INSTANT! I will not be disrespected so-” Without hesitating, I slapped her good and hard across her face with a backhand, quickly place my paw under me again to avoid being unbalanced.

Casting a quick glance over at the white unicorn, I found she had seemed to have slipped into a catatonic state. Poor girl. The grey one on the other hand...

As a rule of morals, I avoided striking women of any kind under any circumstance, except for two reason; if they are actively trying to harm me, or this. Sometimes they deserved to be seen on the same level of hostility of men, no biases of forced nicety.

“Damn that felt good. Now listen here Tavi,” I spat her nickname out harshly, fangs bared. She cringed instantly when the shock of the slap wore off, the sheer weight of what she had done finally dawning on her if her expression was of any indication. Point me.

“Our deal ended the moment you went into this building without me and when the boss here gave me a better deal. Besides, I already got all the information I needed from you. The only reason I offered to help you was because I don’t have any money and needed some generosity to help me recover. Maybe if you weren’t being an entitled racist bitch then I’d be a little more willing to let you go. But you were one, even when you could’ve been freed if you kept your mouth shut. Now having you around would just waste my time and be a hindrance; not to mention god awfully annoying. So have fun working in the mines; give my regards to the Alpha if you see him. Tell him Zeta said ‘hi’.” I finished darkly, giving her a sarcastic grin. The Diamond Dogs didn’t give her a chance to respond to me as they tossed her through a hidden trap door. I didn’t react in the slightest when I heard the panicked screaming or the muffled crashes of stone against flesh.

Ok, so maybe that was a little mean, and I should have saved her. But she was just such a snobby bitch. I mean, a little respect for the people holding you hostage goes a long way, and when the first thing you do is call them fleabags your prospects of getting out of the shit you’re in drops. Shifting my gaze towards the disk jockey, I could easily detect the fear in her eyes and her scent.

“Let her go though.” I stated dryly as if merely stating the weather.

The Diamond Dogs cut her loose and tossed her over to me roughly, eliciting a groan in pain from her. They also passed the saddlebags the ponies had on earlier over towards me as well. I knocked Vinyl’s over to her as I started to rummage through Octavia’s. I tossed out the entire musical she had in there, along with a few other knick knacks until all that was left was the map and a bag of bits. “So, how about one of those drinks?” I ask the boss D-Dog with a grin on my face. The rest of the pack in the room howled in response as they started passing out mugs full to the brim with ale.

I hastily grabbed one and downed it in one swing. Ah sweet Celestia, I had beer again. As the Diamond Dog refilled my mug again, I glanced at Vinyl. She was just sitting in a nearby booth crying to herself over Octavia’s fate. I guess that’s technically my fault, but I don’t care. Octavia acted like she deserved everything in the world had to fit the mold she had for it. I thought grimly, silently glaring at the space Octavia had gone through before looking for Vinyl. It reminded me why I hated home so much. Too many people like her. Well fuck those people. I'm free now. Just as I got up to go get another round, the doors got kicked open and five griffins jumped through, attempting to crash the party. Probably. Didn't last to long though.

Before they could finish their team-rocket styled entrance, the boss dog threw three corked vials at once that shattered on contact, emitting a green gas that dissipated around the heads of all five. The griffins dropped to the ground and had a net thrown over them to make hauling them underground easier. Suddenly, the smallest one, who avoided the gas and the net, got up and tried to run out the door, only to have the bouncers grab hold of her.

“N-no! Please let me go!” The obviously young griffin girl cried. I’m going to be honest; a little girl crying gets to me. I always wanted to be a dad, so I got a pretty good paternal instinct to protect children. Unless they are snobbish entitled demon spawn children, then they get what’s coming to them. This girl on the other hand, seemed to be as far from that as possible.

That was crossing the line in my book.

“Put the kid down,” I said in a very cold tone from the bar area, making sure to keep my tone so the threat was all the worse for it. All the dogs went quiet, and I started to chuckle darkly as the revelation came to mind. They really are afraid of me. I wonder why. I noticed that the guard dog holding the trembling griffin hadn’t released her yet.

“In case you didn’t hear me, I said put the kid down,” I growled, curling my lip to show I wasn’t going to let this one drop, be it with words or teeth. Most of the Diamond Dogs got out of my way by any means possible as I slowly stalked towards the guard holding the child. That’s when I heard someone trying to sneak up on me from behind.

I rolled to the right and popped back up on my feet, using my wings to flip over faster. I really needed to figure out how to use them to fly. Oh well, combat now. It was the smaller of the guards who took a dive at me from behind; backing up his compatriot.

I could hear the boss dog giving orders not to attack and the grunts of acceptance from all but the two in front of me. I bared my teeth harder and formed a sentence to attempt to talk them out of it one last time.

“Let her go, or I’ll kill you both and simply take her. She’s nothing more than a child.” I snarled to show off my rage.

Enslavement?

Necessary for survival.

Abusing children?

Absolutely unacceptable.

No exceptions.

The small guard took this as his moment to attack me, frothing slightly as he lunged across the pile of unconscious griffins, pulling back his fist to deliver what equated to a massive haymaker. He apparently was as competent at fighting as Wrecking Ball. So much for having a little fun I bitterly growled inwardly as I leaned outside of the punch.

As the dog missed and kept going forward with the strength of the punch, I shot forward and hit him as hard as I could with my claws fully extended towards his throat. The dog flew backwards, giving the room a nice coat of dark red paint from the force of the blow, leaving my claws with a nice crimson shine to them.

The surge of adrenaline I got after killing my first sentient creature was amazing. I never felt anything like that before. Everything in my body seemed to just pulse with energy. My heart pounded dutifully against my ears, allowing me to feel every beat through the thin tissue. My senses were sharper than ever; I could hear the Vinyl’s slight whimpers in the background, and smell the ale off of the breath of everybody in the room. Muscles coiled and tightened, ready to spring forward with purpose, but my mind was absent thought except for one; to destroy anything in my way.

All the dogs sat in silence as they saw their pack brother choke to death on his own blood. I on the other hand started to slowly walk towards the big guy holding the griffin, cracking my joints with my avian appendages flared for added intimidation. I broke the silence that had sunk over the room with a cold whisper, “I hope you are going to be harder to kill than that meat sack. If you aren’t, then I’m going to really disappointed.” He twitched. I jumped.

He threw the griffin to the ground and lifted both hands up to smash me beneath him. Too bad I was much more agile than him. I dove in between just as his ham sized fists shattered the floorboards where I just was. Slashing out his knees from behind caused him to fall forward to the ground.

Before he even got a chance to attempt to get up, I was his back with the back of his neck caught in my jaws. He shuddered, not daring to move as I cradled his fragile neck between my teeth.

“Good night,” I muttered through my clamped jaws as I shook the Diamond Dog’s head until I heard the nice resounding crack and a twitch through his entire body, signifying I had broken his neck.

I glanced around. All of the Diamond Dog’s sat still, frozen in fear over this beast that just killed two of their brothers with ease. Vinyl sat wide eyed in awe with how easily I took out two opponents twice my size. I snorted and lanced over to where the griffin girl had gotten thrown, and saw her crying her eyes out. Well that won’t do, I just saved her life. I’m not going to let her be upset. Going about trying to wipe as much blood off of my muzzle as I could, I set off forward to talk to the visibly distraught griffin to attempt to cheer her up.

“Hey there. My name is Zeta, what’s yours?” I asked in my most casual tone I could muster. Truthfully I was still in an adrenaline fueled ‘rip-shit-apart’ mindset, but I couldn’t scare the poor girl more. Scaring children was not cool.

“M-maria,” she stammered quietly, stifling a sob. Without warning, she wrapped her claws around me and began crying heavily into my chest. I was slightly taken aback that she would just throw herself at me, but now was not a time to question it.

“The, the other griffins said they’d keep me safe. We just wanted to sleep, but they saw the Diamond Dogs and wanted to fight them... and n-now I’m all a-alone again!” she kept sobbing into my arms all the while, shaking with every breath she managed to draw.

I was taken aback by this development. The only experience I had with griffins was when Gilda showed up in Ponyville that one time, and she didn’t seem to have this side of her. Though she may’ve been just acting tough. If I ever met her I’ll be sure to ask. In the meantime though, I just focused on trying to calm this girl down. Of course she was bigger than I was, but I guess griffins’ bodies grow faster than they mature, she didn’t seem to be more than 10 in the psychological department.

“Shh… it’s ok. No one is going to hurt you now. You’re safe with me. I’m actually going to Tailton with Vinyl here, you’re more than welcome to come,” I quickly reassured her, holding her closely whilst running a paw through her neck feathers in what I hoped was therapeutic for griffins the same way it was for humans.

“Hey Boss Dog, get a room set-up for the three of us, and if anyone tries to disturb us again, I’ll rip their throat out, got it?” I barked over to the Diamond Dog boss who was standing at rapt attention. That snapped him out of his stupor as he ordered the rest of his pack to clean up the mess I made and set up our room. Eventually I got Maria to stumble over to Vinyl, and together the three of us went up to the room in silence.

After the other two went to bed curled around each other in what I could only describe as communal grieving, I hopped in the shower and thought over everything that has happened in my first day in Equestria. I had been thrown out of an airship, discovered ponies are somewhat racist, ripped apart a pack of timber wolves, doomed Octavia and the griffins to be eternal slaves, tasted my first Equestrian ale, killed two Diamond Dogs, and finally saved a young griffin named Maria. A pretty damn good list if I say so myself, compared to what I usually did back home.

Sure today proved Equestria wasn’t perfect, but at least they weren’t forcing anything onto me. Or maybe it was they didn’t have a mold for me, since I am apparently one of a kind? Whatever the case maybe, I only had two things I needed to do now; first was learn to fly, second was get Maria and Vinyl to Tailton.

Then the real fun can begin…

~{WWP}~

Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 4

~{WWP}~

I woke up the next morning after spending the night in front of the door. I wanted to make sure no one tried anything during the night. It’s not like I don’t trust the Diamond Dogs, it’s just that- no, I trusted the D-Dogs about as much as a mouse was expected trust a hungry cat. So quite obviously a large amount.

Stretching out my limbs, I proceeded with my daily morning ritual of cracking as many joints as I could think of. After a particularly loud pop emanating from my lower neck, I noticed Vinyl looking over her shades at me with an eyebrow raised, a hoof curled protectively around Maria whom was still soundly sleeping next to her, snuggled adorably into the white unicorn’s side. I attempted to ignore her, but to no avail. Just as I was about to suggest she take a picture to frame in her bedroom as snarkily as possible, Vinyl finally spoke up.

“Why?” The words were deadpanned, but the meaning held all the emotion necessary. Any more would have sullied the point.

I understood what she meant. That one word held more weight behind it than anything else she could’ve said or done. By asking that, I’d have to tell Vinyl what I had only previously told to only a single soul in my entire life before. Or at least most of it, considering after that soul left the world, my views changed yet again.

“The only reason I’m telling you this is because you deserve to hear it after last night. We’re going on the deck though, I don’t want Maria to hear what I have to say.” I sighed, rubbing the last of the errant sleep out of my eye with a sluggish paw. Lifting my body up, I trudged over towards the door by the deck and let myself outside by giving the unlocked shutter doors a nuzzle. Vinyl managed to get out of bed without waking Maria and she was next to me on the deck rather quickly for how silent she was.

I could tell she was looking at me from the side, but for the moment I just sat there and took in the morning before me. The golden sun rising in the distance, shining defiantly through the rebellious clouds scattered amongst the skies. The smells of dew and the pleasant hint of ozone on all the plants outside, and the chirping of birds mixed into it all. Everything just seemed so peaceful. A shame nothing this calming could last.

Turning towards the mare, I let out yet another heavy sigh, the end trailing off into a resentful growl. “Ok, where to begin. Where I come from is a lot different than here. One of the biggest things my land is proud of is our so called ‘National Dream’ of if you work hard, you’ll be able to achieve greatness regardless of circumstance.” I started, sitting back onto my haunches and setting my muzzle on the railing’s edge, my wings quivering slightly as if to keep my balance subconsciously. Interesting. Should investigate further. She nodded briskly, waiting for me to continue. Pausing for a moment to think about what I was going to say carefully, I returned the nod.

“Well, that’s a huge lie. Now though... you are sort of stuck wherever people with money, therefore power, want you to be. Our schools don’t teach us to learn, but to memorize things. We’re trained to be slaves.” I growled out the last line, baring my fangs at a passing bird as Vinyl herself seemed to be unimpressed, merely snorting in recognition. She didn’t care. Why would she? I just sent off her friend and quite possibly lover down into a Diamond Dog slave mine.

“I spent 18 out of the 20 years of my life being forced into those hell holes that are the excuse for our school buildings, slowly feeling myself by whittled down and shaped. They forced the concept that the only way to be happy was to work hard and get money. My friends followed with their thinking but I didn’t agree. That made me an outsider and something those in charge hated. What they called a ‘Romantic.’” I chuckle at the word, for a moment calling back on the memory when the old fat hardcore catholic bitch of a teacher explained how they were the leach on society. She seems to be getting it, her deadpanned expression slowly turning into that of realization, flicking between wrath and sympathy.

“Nothing is worse than being told you are free to do what you want when in actuality, you aren’t. That’s what those in charge would try and tell us; ‘hard work will get you far.’ I wasn’t one to care too much about it when I was younger. I didn’t like them, but I tolerated it since that’s how the world worked. That was, until those with money decided to fuck me sideways and take the only thing that mattered in my life away. After that, I tried following the system of laws we had in place to at least get some recompense from the offenders. Well they didn’t take too kindly to that and turned the tables on me. I’m pretty sure they then bribed the judge, winning them the case and forcing me out of almost everything I owned, not that any of it mattered after what they took.” I was beginning to shake with a mixture of anger and pain of the memories I’ve been trying to repress with alcohol. Looks like you never really can outrun your past.

I took a deep breath and continued “ Since then, I have an extreme loathing for anyone like those people, and Octavia acted just like them, privileged, demanding, stuck up and rude without fail. All of the things I hated in people back home. I couldn’t do anything there because I didn’t have influence, position or money, and I got screwed by those that did. But here? Here I can finally get payback on those kinds of people, even if it’s not the group that fucked me. I’d apologize for sending Octavia to be a slave, but I’m not really sorry and I’d do it again.” I stated coldly, turning back again to see how Vinyl would feel about everything I just dumped on her. She wouldn't care right?

She just stared into my eyes with her magenta ones, glasses discarded onto the railing. Tears were slowly sliding down the sides of her muzzle as she seemed to struggle with words to send back in retort. I turned away from her. Part of me didn’t like the fact that I had upset her, but the other half of me still regretted nothing that I had done. Besides, Vinyl wanted to know why, so I told her. What I wasn’t expecting though was a pair hooves that wrapped around my neck in a hug from DJ PON-3.

“I’m sorry you had to remember bad times. As for Tavi, the two of us have been friends since we were fillies, and she always did have that sorta air of entitlement and stuck up. Not that it’s any excuse to do what you did. Anyway I understand why you did it, but I won’t forgive or forget what you did either...” She trailed off, wrapping herself around me tighter even during that little threat at the end of her statement.

Holy shit!Vinyl really just forgave me for getting her friend locked up in a mine by Diamond dogs. Was not expecting that at all. Though, I can’t forget that little threat she tagged onto the end of that answer, but eh what’s the worst she can do? Oh, and they aren’t a couple apparently (sorry to the shippers!)

“But that still leaves the question as to why you rescued Maria,” Vinyl prodded as she broke off the hug coldy. This was the part of the story I didn’t want to tell involving those high class people. The pain was still pretty fresh from the event and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back tears. So I did the only thing a normal person would do in that situation.

I lied through my teeth and gave the lamest excuse I have ever thought of..

“She’s a young kid, and hasn’t done anything to deserve that kind of treatment yet. I may not be the nicest guy, but I at least don’t punish anyone without, in my mind at least, just cause,” I muttered out. Not exactly the greatest answer, but hopefully Vinyl will accept it. She just nodded at me before turning back to go inside, apparently accepting it.

That was a load off my boat. There was only one pony that I intended to tell that story if I ever ran into her, but that would also be if all the fanfics about her were true as well. I really hoped that they weren’t true, in the deepest parts of my heart, but only time will tell me that one.

Then I realized there was something I wanted to know, so before she went back inside I stopped her. “Why didn’t you try and stop me last night anyway? Or try and save her now?”

Vinyl just gave me one of those ‘you’re joking right’ kind of looks before shaking her head. “In case you didn’t really notice, you sorta scare the crap out of everypony. That and I’m not exactly a fighter, so I wouldn’t have been much good. Better to go and talk to the guards in Tailton. I wouldn’t do Tavi much good if I got caught.” She then turned and left me alone on the deck.

The rest of the morning went off without another incursion. Maria, Vinyl and I went downstairs after a fair amount of consoling to see that all the blood had been cleaned up from last night, and that the ‘Boss’ set out three plates with breakfast on them with a note next to the meal. We ate pretty quickly and got the hell out of that tavern, with Vinyl taking the name of the place down on a notepad. Turning down the road, we rebooted our trek to Tailton with a shy, bashful griffin instead of snobby grey earth pony bitch.

It was nice to actually have a moment to think to myself for a bit. Maria was too shy to start any conversation and Vinyl was just merrily bobbing her head to some beat she was thinking, so I finally could think some of my situation over a bit more; at least more so than I did last night.

One thing I was just now realizing was how the hell was everything so natural to me? I never did stop and think about how I could move with enough grace to have avoided getting my brains bashed open by the grace of ‘Mr.Wrecking Ball’ after just getting out of a crate in a new body. Literally out of the box one could say. I was even a better fighter than I ever was in my old body. I was always the kind of guy to end things quickly, but the ease with how I took down those Diamond Dogs last night startled me slightly.

Really, the only thing about this body that confused me still without end was the wings. I guess it could be since humans have no experience with creatures with six appendages or my lack of experience with wings. Working with dogs and on the rare occasion, a wolf, has given me intimate knowledge on how they move around, so that could explain how I knew to use my legs already. Wings though, I’ve never worked with anything that had wings, so I had no idea how to take flight.

Flapping like an idiot probably wouldn't work under the best of circumstances.

Glancing over at Maria, I noticed that she kept fidgeting with her wings, as if she were itching to take flight. I couldn’t blame her though, cause I was the same way. I just didn’t know how. Maybe if I saw…

IDEA!!

“Hey Maria, wanna do me a favor?” I casually asked the young griffin, a soft smirk playing forcefully over the edge of my mouth that faced Maria. You don’t need to feel the emotion, just pretend like you do and you’ll get anything with words.

She jumped up, panic setting in as she flapped her wings hard, startled by the sudden noise before floating down softly, blushing like the wall behind a poorly performing magician.

“Um…I guess I can help if you need it, but I’m not exactly good at stuff,” Maria whispered her response, trying her hardest to look in every possible direction but mine. She was just such a cute little griffin kid. Like a Fluttershy that was actually useful in times of stress.

“Well, I just need to get a look at how you take off. I don’t really know how to work these things.” I explained, fluttering my avian appendages out for emphasis. I stood for a moment, suddenly realizing that I had no back up story to tell people that didn’t know about me.

LIE, LIE FOR ALL YOUR FURRY-FEATHERED ASS IS WORTH!

“I was an orphan back home, and no one ever bothered to teach me.” Vinyl was giving me a quizzical look at that one, but didn’t say anything. Thankfully her bullshit meter wasn’t that great, or it’d have spontaneously combusted the second I opened my muzzle.

Maria just looked embarrassed at the request. She was blushing and fidgeting her front claws on the ground. I just barely managed to hear her say ‘Sure... I mean if you want me to, I’m not a good flyer...’ even with my massively augmented hearing. Well that answer is good enough for me. Counts as ‘yes’, right?

“Awesome, take off whenever you want. I’ll be watching. I may ask you to land and do it again until I get it right though,” I told her with a nice broad grin. She blushed even harder So. Adorable... before just nodding and spreading her wings and launching into the air.

[HAD TO STOP HERE, SORRY. PM ME TOMORROW ~MuzzledElk]

It took me a couple times watching her take off before I figured out just how I was messing up. Every time Maria took off, she started with a powerful flap to get off the ground, but she then moved her wings like a swimmer doing freestyle. She lifted the wings up bringing them close to the body before rotating them over and spreading them back out with the down stroke.

I face pawed at how stupid I was. Every time I tried to fly I just moved my wings up and down like an idiot. I always got into the air but quickly made friends with the ground soon after.

‘Well, time to see if this old dog can learn some new tricks,’ I thought to myself. I managed to pull it off the first time, and let me just say I was sorta scared shitless of crashing. Being a couple hundred feet off the ground without anything to catch you but yourself can be a little intimidating. The moment I realized I wasn’t going to plummeting back into the ground below in a horrific crash I did the only reasonable thing a competitive person like me could think of. I started to push myself to see how fast and high I could go.

It didn’t take long to realize that I was a natural at flight. Even though Maria is a much more experienced flier than I am, I was flying circles around her in a few hours. I guess my wing muscles are just more developed than a griffin’s since she told us she wasn’t going to get much bigger. But now I have to wonder if I’m faster than griffins, will I be faster than pegasi; More specifically, a certain rainbow maned mare? I’ll have to put together a little competition in Tailton to find out how fast I was.

Maria landed after about a couple hours of flying in the sky, saying how she was getting tired. I on the other hand just started to feel like I was warmed up. This high up, I noticed my eyes sorta had a telescopic mode that let me see over a mile away. Thankfully I figured out how to control it quick enough, or I’d crash into everything and get massive migraines on the ground. After seeing how far up I could go, I started testing out speeds and some different maneuvers I’ve seen jet pilots do. Nothing fancy like Rainbow Dash does, just some basic flips and rolls. Nothing I’ve ever done before in my life felt as right as did flying that day. By the time my wings became too tired to carry me, the moon was beginning to rise in the east.

I dove back down towards Vinyl and Maria. Our group managed to find a nice place to camp in some trees lining the road. I didn’t want to have any more timber wolves to show up or any uninvited guests for that matter. Getting Vinyl up into the tree wasn’t that hard for Maria and me to pull off. I probably could’ve gotten the DJ into the branches myself if my wings weren’t exhausted from flying all over the place today.

“Good night you two, sweet dreams,” I called over towards them before succumbing to sleep. My dream was plagued by strange visions, all more realistic than any dream I’ve had. Standing behind Princess Luna on a wall, talking to a white coated pink maned unicorn, flying around dragons of different sizes and colors, chasing after a rainbow trail in the sky, shaking hoof and paw with Prince Blueblood, approaching a tree house in an orchard, and finally looking through prison bars were just a few of them.

I jumped awake from that dream, and promptly fell twenty feet to the ground. “Well if have the shit I just saw happens, this trip could be pretty damn interesting,” I mumbled as I got back onto the branch below Maria and Vinyl, slowly drifting into a much more peaceful slumber.

~{WWP}~

It's Not You, It's Me

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 5

~{WWP}~

“Get up already you lazy flea bag!”

I shot up off of the branch I was sleeping on at the shout of one angry DJ. Unfortunately for me, another branch of solid oak was right above me when I jumped and decided it wanted to be best friends with the top of my skull.

CRACK, THUMP

“Well at least the ground is softer this morning…” I grumbled as laid on the ground having fallen out of the tree again. Rolling over, I stretch out and pop as many joints as I can, per daily morning ritual, until an acorn hit my still sore head.

“Glad to see you’ve finally gotten up, I’ve been trying to wake you for over an hour! Can you get me out of this tree?!” Vinyl yelled down to me.

Great, a pissed off mare in the morning that I didn’t even sleep with; just what I needed. I was really tempted to tell her to shove it and go back to sleep, until I glanced up and noticed the two dozen acorns floating in her blue telekinetic aura waiting to get thrown. Not wanting to feel like I’m being attacked by an army of squirrels again (day drinking can get you in some strange spots), I unfurl my wings fly up and get her down to the ground. Maria had gotten up shortly after Vinyl’s yelling, and glided down gracefully landing next to us.

“So breakfast and then we hit the road?” Vinyl asked us. It was more of an order though, because she was already reaching into her saddle bag to get some apples. “Here you guys go, apples straight from Sweet Apple Acres, best fruit in Equestria,” the DJ added, tossing out a ripe apple to Maria and me.

I was drooling when I caught the apple in my paw. I couldn’t believe I got to try Sweet Apple Acres fruit already. I could overhear Maria and Vinyl munching on their apples already, but I wanted to take a moment and remember it all; the glossy red coating, reflecting the morning’s sun off the surface, the perfect apple shape that only cartoons could create, and finally the crisp scent that was teasing my nose. It was all interrupted by a rather obnoxious snort.

Glancing over, I saw Vinyl trying to contain her laughter at my reaction to the fruit in my paw. “You are drooling worse than Spike does over a ruby there Zeta. First time you’ve seen an apple?” she got out in between giggles. She had already eaten her entire apple and was tossing the core deeper into the words by now. “Hurry up and eat so we can get a move on.” She and Maria had already started towards the road, not even bothering to wait for me.

I just shook my head at them. It must be a guy thing to appreciate amazing food before gorging yourself on it. Tossing the ripe apple into my mouth I took the first juicy bite and chewed, letting my taste buds take in the flavor.

*Loading*

*Error 404: Good taste not found*

Never in my life had I ever been so disappointed in the taste of food then just now. Ok, that’s sort of a lie. There was that one time where I tried to make a bacon, jelly, and banana sandwich. But this was definitely a close second. How could such a tasty looking apple taste so horrid?

I spat out as much of the apple from my mouth as I could. The taste was still persistent, so I started running my paw over my tongue to purge it. ‘Zeus almighty, the next time I’m offered an apple, I’m just going to tell them to stuff it up their rear. Or I’ll take it and sell it to someone else. Yea, I like the latter, I free money that way.’

Throwing the rest of the apple into the woods, I turned to go catch up with my travelling buddies but then I heard a stick break in the vicinity that I tossed my apple away. My ears twisted towards the sound, and I started picking the scent up of a rabbit. Instantly, I went full predator mode. Crouching low to the ground, I slowly moved closer to the scent of the rabbit. Gliding my way through the underbrush, I soon found the clearing where two rabbits sat gnawing on the apple I had just tossed over and Vinyl’s apple core. It didn’t take long for three more rabbits to show up.

At this point, my mouth was watering again. I had no idea why, but those rabbits just looked delicious. I slowly prepared myself to lounge when I noticed my preys’ ears swiveling. ‘Could they hear my drool? That’d be pretty damn impressive’ I thought until I glanced down and noticed a nice sized puddle of saliva beneath my muzzle. ‘Or not… It’s like the Niagara Falls of drool. Shit’ in the course it took to think, the rabbits started preparing their escape. Two of them had already ran into the woods. Now or never

I leapt out from behind the bush after my prey. They took off the moment I appeared, but the rabbits’ fates were sealed. I pinned down the two rabbits who were trying to carry the apples away with my paws, and lounged my neck and gaping maul forward catching the final rabbit by its back right leg. The blood seeped from the wound into my mouth and instantly overrode the nasty taste the apple left. Everything made sense now, I was a predator. Fruits and vegetables aren’t suited for my palate. I had always joked with my friends back home that I was a meatetarian, now I can officially say that. Sweet! And now I want a baconator…

I gobbled up the rabbit that I had caught in my mouth, pretending it was covered in greasy bacon, and knocked the other two out. I grabbed a nearby vine from a tree and proceeded to bound and gag them before promptly shoving their unconscious forms into the saddle bags I stole from Octavia. ‘Guess I won’t be friends with Fluttershy. I wonder how Equestrians deal with predatory creatures.’ I glumly thought, taking to the skies to find my travel companies. They were perhaps a mile up the road from where I sat in the sky. Spreading my wings I soared over towards them at a very leisurely pace, letting them know I was going to fly above them. I loved flying too much to just walk. Wings are the best thing ever. Just felt I needed to reiterate that.

About three hours later, I noticed a bridge that allowed us to cross the Baltimare River. According to the map, it made a big ‘C’ shape in the middle of Equestria starting in Baltimare, a port city in the north, and ending down here in Tailton. Glancing down at the bridge again, I noticed a shady looking shack built next to it with a pony, I wasn’t sure of the type, sitting next to it.

‘Vinyl didn’t say anything about a toll bridge. And no way is that an official looking building. Can I get in trouble for robbing a thief? Only one way to find out’ I thought as I dove down to let Vinyl know what was up ahead.

“They may have just put up a new toll to help pay for the extra guards needed since Discord got out” Vinyl stated while shrugging her shoulders. The DJ just kept on trotting towards the bridge. Did nothing get this pony riled up? I dumped one of her oldest friends into a slave ring, made her sleep in a tree, and now she is going to get ripped off by the fake toll booth. Well fuck if I get ripped off, I'm robbing that bastard, guard or not.

“Maria, here are some bits to pay the toll. I’m going to stay a little farther back though. I don’t want you to get in trouble for anything I do. Just stick with Vinyl k?” It was really an order more than a question, but I said it in as kind of a voice I could muster.

Maria just nodded as I tossed her the coins. Did I mention how adorable she was? I nudged her with my nose to get her to hurry up and catch up towards Vinyl. Maria started to jog to catch up, but gave me a concerned look as she went. Yep, it has just been decided that whatever asshole corrupts Maria is going to have a very angry wolf to deal with.

After they got out of view, I dug one of the rabbits out of my bag and proceeded to have a little snack. Rabbit wasn’t that bad actually, tasted better than muskrat did. Yes, I have eaten muskrat before I came to Equestria. My school has a game dinner, what can I say. The rabbit squealed a little bit before I bit off its head, but Maria and Vinyl were far enough away not to hear it. Definitely no way Fluttershy is going to like me, but maybe if I ate Angel bunny…

Strangely, since I’ve been in Equestria, I’ve killed more creatures than I did back home. That sort of took me off guard. I was going in college doing a pre-vet major, so I knew how labs worked. I’ve learned how to put down some animals quite humanely. I’ve killed my fair share of mice and rats, occasionally putting a larger animal I see get hit by a car out of its misery, but never so many. My kill count is five timberwolves, two Diamond Dogs, and two rabbits, soon to three.

The scariest part about all of it though, was that I didn’t care. Back home I always felt a small amount of empathy at least as I killed something. Here I do it without batting an eyelash. Was it something to do with the fact I was now a top predator? But humans were top predators too, except we never acted on our predatory urges like I am now. That was the only reasoning I could think of that made any sense to me.

With my snack now finished, my muzzle clean of blood (don’t want to scare anyone more than I already do) and my thoughts answered, I hopped up and took to the road in my best sober drunken stagger. Thankfully I have been drunk enough to know exactly how a drunken stagger should go, just doing it with four limbs was slightly trickier than I had thought, but by the time the toll booth came into view I was a pretty convincing drunk.

“Stop right there!” the unicorn stallion shouted. He did have the armor of a royal guard, so maybe Vinyl was right about this whole thing. “To help alleviate the cost of the extra guard Tailton required during this time of unrest, Princess Celestia has ordered this toll to put in.” Taking a quick look, I noticed his saddle bag was full of bits that he was collecting.

“Yes, of course. How much do I owe ya?” I asked in an over exaggerated slur, purposely leaning a little too much to one side. The best way to act is to be as real about it as possible; it’s when you try that you fuck up. Luckily, I know exactly how to be drunk.

“The cost of the toll is 5 bits,” the guard stated in a stiff voice. He looked at me with disgust as I reached into my saddle bag to grab the required bits, probably because I was acting intoxicated when it was like, three in the afternoon. Do they not have day drinking here? If not, I’d have to rectify that. I toss him the bits where he quickly catches and puts them away in his saddle bag. “Thank you kindly sir, you are free to move along.”

I simply nodded, stumbled forward a bit spreading my wings and jumped in the air to fly off. I quickly crashed back on top of the guard, wing covering his saddle bags. Another reason why wings are the greatest thing ever, they make excellent cover when robbing someone blind. Working quickly, I sliced the bottom of the bag open with one of my claws and collected as many bits as I could while the guard was cursing at me for being a “drunken buffoon that can’t even fly” not realizing the missing bits weight with me leaning on him.

“Sorry about that had a little too much to drink this morning” I slurred out, stashing the nice new pile of bits I just pilfered into my bags. “Betcha I get it first time now.” With another great leap, I take off and fly quickly away from the guard. Just as I’m out of range for any magical repercussions, I hear the guard cursing up a storm behind me. Grinning to myself, and let off a mighty howl of victory before heading off towards the road, to catch up with Maria and Vinyl.

I caught up to the pair of them just on the outskirts of Tailton. It was just about dinner time and I was really hoping to rip open the last rabbit I had, but first I wanted to clarify some things with my companions. Mainly, we weren’t companions anymore. “Vinyl, I got you to Tailton safe and sound just like I promised. I’m keeping the bags, map, and bits from Octavia since she isn’t around. I’ll see you around,” I briskly explained to the mare as I extended my paw.

Vinyl took it in her hoof (seriously? How do those things work?) and added “Sounds fair. Nice meeting you. I doubt this will be last time we run into each other, so take care of yourself until then. I’m sure Tavi will love to see you again.” With that DJ PON-3 cantered off, leaving me and Maria standing there.

“I think she meant that last part as a threat” Maria mumbled. I just turned and gave her one of those ‘no shit Sherlock’ looks. She just blushed and hid her face from me. My heart almost exploded with the ‘D’AWWW’ which made the next thing I needed to say all the worse.

“Maria, we are going to have to part ways now too,” I started out. I didn’t bother to look at her, but I could smell salt water from her tears and hear her sniffling from saying this, trying to hold back her tears. Apollo almighty I hate myself sometimes. “I’m doing it so you stay safe. I’m going to be getting into a lot of trouble soon, and I don’t want you to get hurt cause of that.”

Maria started openly crying now. She sputtered stuff out like not wanting to be alone again, how everyone she knows gets hurt or caught, and how she didn’t want me to get hurt. I just pulled her in for a tight hug and let her cry for a bit. I really didn’t want to let her off on her own, but being the only winged wolf sort of makes it easy for the guard I just robbed to track me down. I’m actually shocked the town guards aren’t already trying to arrest me.

“Listen Maria, I need you to be brave ok” I said as I let her out of my arms. Taking out the map, I pointed at a farm not even a day’s trek from here by the edge of the Great Southern Forest. “This here is Briarhoof Mill. If anything bad happens in the city, just run to there. And if anything bad happens there, just run into the forest ok? You should be safe around there,” I instructed. It was probably for the best that she left town right away, but I wanted to give her the option to stay in Tailton if she wanted to.

She jumped in and hugged me tight again, her tears dry now, and simply said “Thank you” before breaking the contact. She didn’t know I slipped her about sixty bits into her bag when I returned that hug, but I’m sure it’ll be a happy surprise for her. I nudged her one more time with my muzzle as I did earlier that day to have her get a move on. Watching her run off into Tailton just as Celestia’s golden orb started to take a dip beyond the horizon, the only thought going through my head was the hope to see her again.

I took a moment to eat my last rabbit before heading off into town. Once I got to the gates though, I knew there was going to be a little trouble getting inside. Especially since the first thing the guards stationed there yelled at me was “STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!”

I just face-pawed and muttered “So much for getting a drink…”

~{WWP}~

A/N:
I didn't run this chapter past my Beta Reader (Sorry Muzzled!) because I wanted to get this out by Wednesday and was running a little late. So if you guys see any glaring errors, just let me know so I can fix them. Also, yes I had to throw the "Loading" joke in there, since every single story in this universe seems to have used that joke at least once now.

Speaking of which, there are two more stories in this universe that you guys should go read. Bringing the total up to 6.

From Nobody to Knightmare by JJ Malcolm has the changeling perspective covered, in a singing comedic way that is. Go check it out if you haven't yet.

Through Feline Eyes by Fordregha covers the Cat People that have appeared so far in Griffin the Griffin, and is a good take on their people. Plus a great story. Read that one too!

Also, I finally figured out what species Zeta is, and will name it along with the back story behind it next chapter. I'm still going to use the winged wolf moniker though, cause it flows better. But don't worry, the species will have importance later on.

Want To Play A Game?

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon
Chapter 6

~{WWP}~

Let me tell you a little about the city of Tailton. It’s a medium sized port city with twenty foot tall walls surrounding it from every direction except the sea. There is a volcano looming within half a day’s hike to the south, and a nice calm forest to the north. So besides the wall, it is nothing like Canterlot in the show. This place is a lot dirtier than that too, think of a late 17th century London. The nice areas of the city are extremely clean, pristine, and cater to the wealthier merchants and upper class ponies. The houses in this district are freaking huge, like you’d see them in MTV’s Cribs(that show is still on right?). Huge stained glass windows with swirling archaic designs seemed to be the baseline for these buildings. I’m also pretty sure I saw a pool or two out back occasionally, but I didn’t get the chance to ransack any, sadly enough.

Pretty much every other area in Tailton though is ragtag as hell. Close together apartments on top of storefronts were the norm, with no outside eateries and most of the pubs would scare the average patron from stepping foot inside, with names like ‘The Pounding Skull’ I could see why. Of course it seemed like just the place that I would get a drink from, but then again, didn’t have the time to stop and get a pint. I was stuck hanging on the sign outside the establishment, hiding.

Why was I hiding you may ask?

Surely a badass that I am wouldn’t need to hide.

Well once I had finished with my epic facepaw at being instantly recognized as the only winged wolf in the entire known universe, the guards were on top of me. Instead of going all feral on their asses and ripping some shit up, I just let them tackle me. I really wasn’t in the mood for a fight though; all I wanted was a drink and to get my plans rolling.

After the initial impact and struggle, I managed to knock the unicorn and pegasus guard team off of me, and took bounding off over a nearby wall to away from them without needing to murderize them. I may not have wanted to fight them, but no way in hell did that mean I was going to let them arrest me. Unfortunately for me though, the unicorn managed to use a spell that bound my wings to my sides with rope, dropping me painfully just inside the city limits.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” I yelled at the guards after getting my feet under me and looking at my bound wings. “I just figured out how to use these things and you go and tie them up?! You little fuc-” I didn’t get time to finish my little tirade before the pegasus guard dived bombed my ass into the pavement.

“That’s enough out of you scum. You have committed crimes against the Equestria by stealing a large sum from the toll booth. How do you plead?” the guard growled at me. He was another one of those draft ponies, so based on my last encounter with them he was stronger than I was. At least I think he is. I’m really going to have to figure that out, but not right now.

“How about I give you a couple of bits and we pretend like I never even came to this town?” I asked in the smoothest of voices. Bribes always worked back home, why should here be any different?

“How dare you insult my honor!” ...because they are pretty close to religiously bound zealots.

Great.

I rolled out from under him as he was brought to bring his hoof down where my face just was. He left a nice little dent of a horseshoe in it.

“Holy shit!” I took off running at this point. All I wanted was to get away from the guards and get a beer, but they had other plans. The pegasus took to the air to shout directions down to the unicorn that was actively pursuing me. They were relentless in their chase. Luckily none of the other guards joined in, but all that meant was no one got in the way of these two guards. After running all over the city until well into the night, I managed to hop onto a lone wagon full of hay and started having it roll down a hill, Assassin’s creed style. Grabbing a nearby lantern I lit the hay on fire providing myself a nice smokescreen. When I saw the sign coming up, I jumped up and hid behind it just as the guards were rounding a corner out of the smokescreen. Finally, I could continue in my epic quest of...

Getting a Celestia-forsaken drink.

“Thunder Kick, get down here! I lost him.” The stark white unicorn guard shouted up to his partner that had been helping him chase me around all day. The similarly white pegasus, who I assumed was ‘Thunder Kick’, landed next to the unicorn. “Did you see where the mutt ran off too?”

“No, I lost him in the smokescreen.” Thunder Kick sighed glumly. Thank Athena these two were too stupid to look up above their heads, or they would’ve seen my clinging to the large sign. The two guards glanced inside the pub and around the alley and after no luck finding me, ‘Thunder Kick’ continued with his mindless rabble.

“I mean how could we lose something that smelt that horrible? I feel bad for the bitch that had him, though she was probably uglier than he was. Come on Dark Spark, let’s get back to our station.”

Oh FUCK no did he just insult my mom. Screw getting a drink right now, I’m going to rip these guards a new asshole. Glancing down, I notice that the unicorn, ‘Dark Spark’, was directly below me at this point. Grinning stupidly, I dropped down and kicked his head straight into the road, the impact producing a sound somewhere between a sack of potatoes and a watermelon being abused. Before he or Thunder Kick could even recognize what was going on, I had my teeth around Dark Spark’s horn.

“Don’t even think of using any spells, prick.” I growled menacingly through my teeth at the unicorn beneath me. He was cringing in pain with the pressure I was extertiny by merely holding his horn, poor bastard, I wasn’t even trying yet.

He picked the wrong wolf to piss off. Then I noticed the shadow that was covering me from above. I applied just a bit more pressure to the horn and got a very satisfying scream of agony out of the downed unicorn underneath me.

“I suggest you land Thunder Kick, or I may just make myself a new toothpick out of this horn here.” I threatened, running my tounge over my molars to punctuate my point. He did as ordered with a scowl.

“You won’t get away with this scum. Assaulting two royal guards will wind you in prison for the rest of your flea bitten life,” Thunder Kick threatened. I could see the concern in his eyes for Dark Spark’s safety, and I, being the gentlemen I am, didn’t want him to worry him too much longer about his friend’s safety.

Locking eyes with the glaring pegasus, I grinned madly and bit down hard upon the unicorn’s horn.

Dark Spark screamed the most unholy noise I have ever heard when his horn fractured at the base easily with several spurts of blood and magic splashing against my cheek. After he finished wailing like a banshee with her head cut off, he blacked out and bounced off the ground.

I gnawed on the appendage in my mouth a little as I watched Thunder Kicks reaction with a feral grin. He had pure shock and fear layered over his features.

“Guess I’ll just have to remove the guards from that equation. If you two aren’t around, then I didn’t assault anyone, right?” I informed him as if merely stating the weather, kneading the appendage around with my tongue. There's just something about a calm, collected voice that is so much more intimidating than screaming.

Stepping over his friend’s bleeding body, I spat the horn into the stallion’s face before he could even comprehend what was going on. I got lucky and ended up sending the horn straight into Thunder Kick’s right eye. He reflexively spread his wings to try and scare me off as he screeched in the abhorrent pain that one acquired from losing an eye, but that didn’t help him at all. I lunged forward and slashed at his armored chest with my claws. I know, not my brightest move, but I had to test how strong these babies were at some point.

To my shock, I ripped through his armor plating with a fair amount of strength and pain.

Thunder Kick didn’t let this faze him to much though when he finally regained his faculties. As I was marveling in my accomplishment and nursing my quivering paw, he had regained his composure and threw a nasty right hook that connected with the side of my body. I went flying across the street and crashed through some wooden boxes. My world was spinning after that hit, but I got the benefit of flooding my system with even more adrenaline.

Thunder Kick didn’t let me get up though as he tore the horn out of the now mostly empty socket. He dove down from the sky to get a little more strength into his slam. Luckily his aim was off because of his now missing eye, I avoided the brunt of the hit. I got my guard up just in time to block a couple of heavy hits directed at my face.

I wasn’t even in the thinking mode right now, just reacting. As if in slow motion, I saw Thunder Kick’s next blow coming down towards me and rolled just enough to have it fly past my head.

Acting as only a predator could, I latched onto his fore leg with my canines and placed as much force down on it with as much force as I could muster. The sweetly sickening snapping of several bones echoed into the cold night sky, going mostly unnoticed as I managed to gain control over Thunder Kick’s other foreleg by driving my claws into his shoulder, efficiently cutting off the ligaments that allowed such movement.

With a flick of my neck, I tossed Thunder Kick off of me. I got my paws underneath me and walk over towards him. He was struggling to get up after having both of his legs crippled. The grimace he wore showed how much pain he was in, along with the realization that if he ever did get out of this, he would never really walk again. I had to give him credit though, he was trying his best. I pounced on top of him before he figured out his wings and back legs still worked, digging my claws into the dirt. Maneuvering onto his back and pinning him down just as I did to Dark Spark earlier, this time I had my bloodied teeth wrapped around the base of one of his wings.

“I really suggest you just stay down, I don’t feel like making you an earth pony,” I growled. When he started to fight to buck me off of him, I clamped down harder than before to and he ceased his actions with a pang cry. For all intents and purposes, I had just clipped his wings.

“You won’t get away with this. I can promise you that. I’ll make sure you get the death penalty for what you did here!” Thunder Kick managed to get out through gritted teeth. This guy is pretty damn respectable, real true royal guard member and loyal to his duty. Too bad his duty was a detriment to what I wanted to do.

“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to get rid of the two of you,” and with that said, I smashed his face into the ground, knocking him unconscious. Dragging his body over towards Dark Spark’s, I proceeded to try and figure out what I was going to do with the two bodies. Sure I could straight up kill them, but I had no way to get rid of the bodies. Glancing down towards the water, I saw some small row boats tied to the docks that were probably used for leisure fishing. To the left of me where some barrels that could fit a pony inside…

IDEA!

I emptied two of the barrels of their contents, and stuff the two guards inside of them. I proceeded to roll them down the street towards the docks. Glancing back, I noticed the trail of blood they were leaving, but nothing I could really do about that. Taking a second to make sure no other guards were on the lookout, I dumped the pair inside one of the row boats and cut the rope mooring it to the dock. Picking up the rope, I flew as fast and as far as I could out into the ocean, dragging the boat the entire way with me. After I could just barely make out the mainland, even with my augmented eagle like vision, and a couple of islands were within plain sight did I stop with the sun rising on my back. I just sat down and slept a little until the guards awoke.

The sun was already high in the sky by the time the two ponies were just starting to stir back into consciousness. “Huh, where the hell are we?” Thunder Kick mumbled out. He struggled to stand up but instantly collapsed back onto the deck of the boat. Next he tried to use his wings, but the pain from me almost tearing them off stopped him as well. Dark Spark wasn’t fairing much better. Without his horn, he was probably delirious and in constant pain.

“Well currently you guys are in the Ring Sea. Don’t ask for distances cause I honestly have no idea,” I answered back with a nice long yawn. I proceeded to crack all of my joints as I do every morning, the guards stiffing up at the noise. I really never got why people didn’t like the noise of joints popping, but to each their own.

“YOU!” Thunder Kick yelled, visibly hurting his comrade with the volume of his voice. Guess losing a horn is a lot more painful than I thought it would be. Akin to a consistent hangover. Tough.

“Yes, me. Who were you expecting, Twilight Sparkle?” I retorted with a cruel grin on my muzzled. I knew these guards couldn’t do anything else to me even if they wanted to. “Before you even bother asking it, the reason you are out this far in the sea is because I don’t want you telling anyone what happened. So instead of killing you out right, I’m giving you a chance to live. So what do you say, want to play a game?” I inquired. The pair returned my offer with a death glare that could cut steel, gritting their teeth to hide the pain.

That’s a yes right?

“There’s one oar in this boat, and three locations you can get to. Tailton is really far that way,” I gestured in the general vicinity of the shore. I actually wasn’t positive it was that way, but I doubt they’d make it that far anyway. “Then there are those two islands behind me. One of you can’t use your front legs, and the other can’t even focus on anything. Choose a location and see if you can get there. Oh, and don’t think of flying. In case you didn’t notice I broke that wing of yours.” I informed him dutifully, flashing my sharp teeth that had mauled these to individuals.

“Who are you?” Dark Spark muttered out with a pained voice. Part of me was happy I could make another epic introduction; the other part of me knew it would be a waste on these to, since they were going to die soon enough anyway.

“The name is Zeta the Winged Wolf. I’d tell you to remember the name, but I doubt you’ll live long enough to brag about meeting me. So, live or die… Make your choice.” I added the last bit in my best mimic of Jigsaw, sadistically grinning.

Spreading my wings, I rocketed out of the boat and into the clouds above. Tilting towards Tailton, I began my leisurely flight back to town, humming a happy tune all the way.

About six hours later I landed back on the docks. Luckily there weren’t any guards around, but I could overhear some of the ponies muttering about hearing my little skirmish last night. Well more along the lines they heard the blood curdling screams of the guards. That’s just fine with me. So far no one mentioned witnessing the fight, so I wasn’t involved with it.

But I didn’t really care about any of that right now. My stomach hadn’t started growling for the past 4 hours for no reason. I was hungry enough to eat a dragon. All I wanted to do was find a pub, get some food in me, and a couple of pints worth of beer. Approaching the first pub I saw, I noticed a small sign saying that a semi-famous chef was working there for a week, going by the name of‘Gustave LeGrand’, which rang a bell in my head, but I couldn’t quite understand why. ‘Aw what the hell, I may as well go in here.’

Upon entering the establishment, most of the ponies in the place turned their heads to get a glimpse at the new comer. Needless to say, most of their faces turned from one of curiosity to that of scorn. Fucking racist ponies, am I ever going to catch a break?

Probably not, torturing them is far too amusing.

Taking a seat at the bar, I patiently awaited the bartender to come down to this end so I can finally get a beer. At first I wait patiently, but after half an hour my patience was up. “OY PRICK, get your pony ass down here so I can get a beer already!” I yell down the length of the bar. This got not only the bartenders attention, but most of the buildings.

Next thing I know, a hoof is tapping me on the shoulder. I spin around real quick and come face to face with whom I could only assume was the bouncer for this pub, for he was a massive draft earth pony. “Excuse me sir, but some of the patrons are complaining you are interrupting their meals. I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the bouncer told me.

“How about no,” I send while shooting daggers at all of the ponies in the building, each one flinching at my angry gaze. “Instead I’ll give you a counter offer. I get some damn service already, or I’ll just make your patrons my meals instead. How about that?”

The bouncer made the wrong move of trying to grab a hold of me to throw me out by force. I spun out of his grip really easily, since he doesn’t have hands, and smashed his face into the bar. I raise my paw to give the pony a nice slash with my claws when an unmistakably French voice cuts through the air.

“Stop zis madness zis instant!” I hesitated for a moment before curling my digits into a fist and slamming it into the bouncers face, knocking him out cold.

“I said stop! What part of zat did you not understand?” It growled irritably. Oh this was going to be fun.

Turning to look at the new party was a griffin in the doorway of the kitchen. All of a sudden I remembered where I heard Gustave LeGrand from. He was the griffin from that one ‘cake’ episode, and here he was standing before me. His dark grey coat blended well with his lighter grey feathers that surrounded his head. On his beak was a massive black mustache that twirled at the end. I have to wonder how the hell did hair grow on bone?

“Good, now I seem to have your attention. Please come wiz me to the back room. You shall receive ze finest treatment zere,” the griffin announced to all in the room, flourishing his wing around his arm as if it were a cape. I just stood there looking at him like he was crazy. Here I was, bashing his bouncer into a table, and he is offering me the five star treatment?

“Well why the hell not.” Was my absent minded retort as I kicked the downed bouncer and followed the chef into the back room of the establishment. It was a lavishly decorated room, with only a unicorn couple sitting in the corner of the room. Or they were until Gustave shooed them out of the room.

Turning around to face me, the griffin took over the conversation. “Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am ze great chef Gustave LeGrand. Zis is simply one of ze restaurants zat I work in. And who are you good sir?”

“You can just call me Zeta.” I deadpanned simplistically. “So can I place an order now? Cause I’m starving and need a beer real badly,” I added with a little laugh. It was nice having someone who didn’t hate me for not being a pony.

“But of course, I shall get you ze finest ale and multiple steaks, cooked rare to compliment not only ze ale, but also your carnivorous nature. Does zat sound acceptable?” Gustave enquired stiffly. I just dumbly nodded my head because that was exactly what I was planning to order. Before he left though, he added probably the best news I’ve heard since I’ve got to this world. “Of course, zis meal will be on ze house for ze abuse you received earlier.” And then he was gone.

I only had to wait a few minutes before an entire keg was rolled into the room for my enjoyment. By the time my meal got here I already had four pints, and was working on my fifth. Gustave took the seat across from me, sipping on a glass of wine that he brought with him. We had some idle chit-chat while I ate, but when I finished I had a real serious question that I needed to ask him.

“So Gustave, first off thank you for that meal, it was delicious. Secondly I couldn’t help but notice that you seem surprisingly well off for a griffin in pony turf. The few I’ve seen were always treated rather harshly. How’d did that happen?” I just had to know. Maria told me a little bit about her life as a griffin in Equestria, and how distinctly non-utopian it was.

“I will answer your question, if you agree to answer one of mine. Sound fair enough?” He replied, setting down his glass with a quiet, almost resentful, sigh. I simply nodded my head and waved my paw on for him to answer my question.

“I was born on ze edge of the Dominion’s border wiz Equestria. My parents realized zat ze area we lived in was unfit for a child, so zey fled souz. Zere, my parents educated me as best zey could, and raised me to become a chef. Wiz enough time, and patience, I managed to pull myself out of poverty and make a living for myself. I was an extremely lucky griffin. Now my question for you, what is a cynogriffin doing in Tailton, let alone alive?” Gustave interrogated.

“A what now?” was my instant response. I immediately regretted that answer. Maybe that was the creature that I was but I’ve never heard of it. Well I still have a question to answer, “I’m in Tailton because it was the closest city from where I was, and I’m alive because eat, breath and drink, duh.” When in doubt, smartass your way out.

“You don’t know?!?” To say I ruffled Gustave’s feathers would be an understatement. I was pretty happy he had finished his wine already, or I would’ve been soaked in it flying out of his beak. For my part, I tried to hide my amusement by downing another pint of beer.

Ok, I would’ve downed the pint anyway; it just had the added benefit of hiding my smirk.

“Ok, I answered the question as to how I’m alive and in Tailton. My turn to ask one, what’s a cynogriffin and why were you so shocked as to why I’m alive?” I inquired. If he knew what I was, I wanted to know. If he didn’t answer willingly, things would just have to get ugly until I was satisfied.

“I shall explain, zough it may leave you and I both wiz more questions,” Gustave replied most civilly. Guess that means it’d be rather clean. “I’ll bring in somezing a little heavier for this zough, for it shall be long.” Gustave left the luxury room for only a moment only to return with the biggest bottle of rum I have ever seen. Pouring us each a glass, Gustave cleared his throat.

“Now zis story begins when I was in Canterlot cooking for Princess Celestia. I was allowed permission to scan ze archives for history books to try and find new dishes to try. Instead I found a book of legends zat told of ze Great Creation. When ze Gods created zis world, zey made a Perfect Race to inhabit it wiz ze ozer many non-sentient creatures. No description of it could be found, only zat it was ze most perfect race to ever exist.” He paused, taking a hearty swig of rum before coughing slightly and continuing.

“Now ze God of Chaos could not stand for a being such as zat to be in ze world, so as it was near completion, ze God of Chaos sent a spark into ze being zat none of ze ozer Gods noticed. Zese Gods left after zey finished ze Perfect Race, so zey would never see what became of ze Perfect Race. After many generations of ze Perfect Race, somezing strange happened. When it came to ze Perfect Race to spawn in ze hundredth generation, one third of all ze Perfect Race gave birth to ze race of dragons.”

Gustave paused and took a long swing from his rum again. As he did I took that moment to think of everything that I knew about dragons in this universe. They were the most physically powerful sentient creature in the world. Even Celestia wouldn’t go hoof to claw against a dragon, she would rely on her magic. I poured both myself and Gustave another glass full of rum before he restarted after downing my entire glass at once, wincing slightly as the liquid roughly burned at my throat.

Good stuff indeed.

“Now ze dragons were gifted wiz ze Perfect Races strength and longevity in life. Zey are ze oldest of all ze intelligent races zat live in our world. Ze Perfect Race allowed ze dragons to live alongside zem, but soon ze dragons desired more freedom. Ze Perfect Race allowed zem to leave, citing zeir strength as enough to protect zem. So ze dragons left and grew in strength and population. In ze eons zat have passed since zen, ze dragons have produced few variations of intelligence from zeir species.” He paused, sighing slightly as if remembering a particularly bitter memory after taking another shot.

“Anozer hundred generations passed since ze dragons came into existence. Since each one of ze Perfect Race could only have one offspring, only two zirds remained. At ze two hundredth generation’s birth, anozer zird of ze Perfect Race produced a new race of creature. Ze Alicorn.” Gustave paused again to wet his throat with some more rum. Once he had relieved his parched tongue he once again continued his tale.

“Ze Alicorns were gifted wiz all of ze magic potential and ability to use it as efficiently as ze Perfect Race was. Ze Alicorns, much like ze dragons, wished to separate from ze Perfect Race and find zeir place in zis world on zeir own. Ze Perfect Race allowed it yet again, citing ze Alicorns magic as enough to protect zem. Eons passed, but unlike ze dragons, ze Alicorns were not as fertile, but managed to produce multiple new races in zeir image. Ze earth ponies, ze pegasi, ze unicorns, ze zebras, ze minotaurs, ze changelings, ze donkeys and ze cows all are common descendants from ancient Alicorns. Princesses Luna and Celestia are ze only true Alicorns left, sharing in longevity of ze first Alicorns. Princess Cadence is just a mutation of ze Alicorn gene, allowing her access to all types of magic.”

At this point I had to interrupt his story. “So you are telling me, that Luna and Celestia have all of the powers of every race that the Alicorns spawned?” He was basically laying out the entire history of Equestria to me. I took a glance over at the bottle of rum and noticed it was half empty, and I already killed the keg before the story even started. ‘I just hope I remember all of this, I’m pretty drunk right now.’

Gustave took my interruption in stride. Taking a daintily sip from his rum, he answered briefly “Yes zat is exactly what I’m telling you. May I continue?” I nodded my consent, nearly falling out of my seat as I shifted my balance.

“Now ze Perfect Race was only a zird of zeir original size. By ze time of zeir zree hundredth generation, zey had accepted ze fate to die out. Wiz ze last birth of ze Perfect Race, ze cynogriffins were born. Zey acquire ze speed and agility of ze Perfect Race, but none of ze extended life. Zey did have ze greatest fertility rate zough, so soon ze cynogriffins had a larger population zan ze slowly dying Perfect Race could look after. So zey too were released from ze Perfect Race’s care to spread around ze world. Eons passed and ze cynogriffin race gave birth to ze griffins, ze diamond dogs, and ze cat people of ze Feline forest.”

“For ages, all of ze new races got along relatively well. Zen when ze God of Chaos returned and saw his handy work, he released ze demon ‘Tirek’ into ze world to mix zings up a bit. Ze Alicorns, dragons and cynogriffins, who by now were known as ze Elder Races, stood togezer to combat ze demon. Faust, Drago, and Senmurv were ze leaders amongst ze ‘Elder Races’ at ze time. Faust(oh c what u did thar) led her Alicorns using zeir magic to stay on par wiz Tirek. Drago and his dragons were able to break zrough Tirek’s magic wiz zeir strength. Senmurv and ze cynogriffins were able to use zeir speed to best ze demon’s strength. Unfortunately ze cynogriffins were weak against Tirek’s dark magic unlike ze Alicorns and dragons. All of ze cynogriffins were wiped out except for ze leader, Senmurv, whom sacrificed himself by holding Tirek down long enough for ze dragons and Alicorns to destroy ze demon, zus ended ze threat of Tirek. It also brought ze end of one of ze Elder Races, ze cynogriffins.”

Gustave looked me over for a moment in only a slightly creepy manor before continuing on. “So now you see why I am shocked zat you are here before me. Zat war was over ten zousand years ago. Cynogriffins haven’t been seen since, until now. What is your story Zeta?” He finished with a grimace, staring glumly into the bottom of his now-empty glass for a moment before returning his slightly wavering gaze onto me.

Shit, he just answered my question and now I owed him an answer to his. He just had to ask about my past. When in doubt, go to my fall back plan.

LIE, LIE FOR ALL YOUR FURRY-FEATHERED ASS IS WORTH!

Thank you rum, for allowing my imagination run wild that night. I proceeded to weave a tale of how I was orphaned in a city, how I fled into the woods and hunted for a living. Then I told him that I had hopped on an airship one day to see the world, and after a night of heavy drinking got tossed into a different ship. Then I just gave him a brief rundown as to what has happened since then, leaving out all of the killing and meeting Maria though. The former because he didn’t need to know about the fact I got some guards killed and the latter because I didn’t want to draw any unwarranted attention to Maria.

“Well my friend, zat is a riveting life’s story. Let us retire for ze night. Zere is a guest bed you may use upstairs, free of charge. I will see you in the morning,” Gustave declared, managing to get up and stumble over towards the door that hid the stairs from the common eyes of customers. I just shook my head at how drunk he had gotten.

Reaching over to fill my glass up with rum another time, I was appalled to discover the bottle was empty.

“Why is the rum always gone?” I wondered aloud grimly before deciding since there was nothing left to drink I may as well go to bed. I stood up and made my way towards the door, stumbling about half the way to the door before dropping headlong into the floor and promptly blacking out.

Cold floor is best floor.

~{WWP}~

A/N:
This is the longest piece of writing that I have ever done in my life. And I'm a sophmore in college. Props to my Beta Muzzled Elk, for having to deal with it and doing an excellent job as usual, as well as the epic little ending thing. As always if there are any mistakes either of us missed just point them out.

This chapter really allows me to justify that 'Dark' tag doesn't it. As for the Creation Legend, I came up with that entire idea one night to explain my character and his uniqueness. I was going to use Discord inside of Tirek, but I remembered Echo's back story for Discord, so I had to switch it out.

Don't expect a new chapter to soon, for I have a new project to complete for the Chess Board group that will be taking priority. That and I have my finals these next two weeks so I'll be wasting my life away studying.

On Your Mark, Get Set, GO...at

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 7

~{WWP}~

I woke up the next morning sore as hell. It took me a good ten minutes to even get up. My head was pounding and I could barely focus on anything. I cracked all of my joints and glanced around the room. Upon seeing the empty bottle of rum, I recalled my last statement of the previous night.

“That’s why” I chuckled to myself. I just went over and sat at the table to go over the plans that were still forming in my head. Unfortunately most of my plans involved money of some kind. And with my head punishing me for last night, I couldn’t even think straight enough to come up with a way to make any.

I let out a massive sigh and just laid my head on the table before me. Closing my eyes I tried to force myself to concentrate on something besides the boxing match my brain seemed to be having with the inside of my skull.

After sitting at the table for almost an hour with no inspiration hitting me, I caught the scent of an omelet being cooked in the kitchen in the next room over. Following my nose to the delectable aroma, I found myself outside the kitchen doors. Inside I could hear the merry voices of various staff joking around about their nights. One of them brought up the grizzly scene outside the ‘Pounding Skull’. I smiled knowing my pawy work was still talk of the town.

Finally my gurgling stomach took control and reminded why I came over here in the first place. I pushed open the door to the kitchen with my muzzle. Instantly all noise ceased. To say the atmosphere changed would be an understatement, it felt like the temperature dropped ten degrees. All of the ponies froze their actions and just stared at me.

“What? Is there something in my teeth?” I ask as innocently as possible, flashing my pearly white canines. I lift one of my paws, making sure they all can see it, and start picking around my teeth. Surprisingly, when I put my paw down I had a few tufts of rabbit fur clinging to the sharp claw. “Oh, I guess I did.”

“What are you doing back here mutt?” one of the larger draft ponies asked. He had a solid black coat with eggs and a bowl on his flank. He was the only one brave enough to look me in the eyes, so I met his violet orbs with my icy blue ones.

“I’m back here because I’m hungry. And from experience I don’t get served out in the front, so I came to the back,” I explained in a rather aggressive way. The rest of the ponies in the room just stood by watching the two of us glaring at each other. “Now want to make me something, or should I just pick out one of these little ponies to munch on?” I added, snapping my jaws to show that I would make good on that threat.

The stallion took a small step back when I snapped, but quickly regained his ground. “You even think about harming anyone here, and I’ll beat you upside the head mutt!” He emphasized his point by slamming his hoof into the tile floor cracking it.

The rest of the chefs in the room started to back as far away from the two of us as they could. I could smell the fear off of them, whether it was due to me threatening to eat one of them or fear I’d hurt their friend I couldn’t tell. What my predatory sense was telling me though was that they’d all make for an easy meal.

This stallion in front of me though proved to be an effective barricade for the weaker ponies to hide behind. I took my eyes off his for just a moment to examine him as an opponent. Even though he was a draft pony like Wrecking Ball and the guards, he was much more thickly built. I could tell he would be a problem to fight in these close quarters. Plus my hangover isn’t helping at this point. Even though I’d win, it would take too and then who knows how many guards would be here, and I doubt I’d last through a confrontation with them too.

Returning my gaze to meet his glaring eyes, I countered with my own. I swear you could cook a hot dog with the lightning that was shooting between the two of us. I started getting my claws ready to slash into him when the doors to the kitchen flew open with a very pissed off looking griffin standing in the doorway.

“Where is ze food?! Zat order was placed over twenty minutes ago and ze costumers will not stand for zis!” Gustave screeched at everyone in the kitchen. This got all of the chefs moving yet again. Pleased with himself, Gustave turned to speak with me. Only then did he take notice of the standoff between myself and the black pony in front of me.

“Charcoal, get back to ze stove I want zose eggs ready in a moment. Zeta, nice to see you have finally woken up. I was afraid I may have killed you last night wiz all the rum,” he added with a laugh at the end.

I just kept my gaze on Charcoal as he went back to work, slowly relaxing and getting out of fight mode. “Trust me Gustave; it’ll take a lot more than that to kill me. By the way, what does it take to get a meal here?” I inquire, finally allowing myself to relax a bit. Gustave just laughed and gave me a hearty slap on the shoulder. He led me over towards a refrigerator that was marked with a big black ‘X’ on the door.

“Here is where I keep ze supply of meat for ze rare carnivorous guests. Zey are more likely to be found by ze Pound Skull pub closer to ze docks zan here, but on occasion zey manage to come over here,” Gustave explained briskly. He opened the door and waved a paw in front to show off the stock. “Take whatever you wish from ze fridge and I’ll cook it up for you since ze ponies refuse to touch ze meat.”

My mouth was watering like no other. Even my hangover seemed to pause at the presentation of such a wealth of meaty goodness. He had slabs of steak in the middle, venison lining the walls, and a couple of full chickens on the top shelf. The bottom shelf held a few full hams as well.

“Think I could get an omelet with ham and cheese?” Truthfully I would eat the entire fridge if I could, but I doubt Gustave would be very happy to hear that.

As for my request, Gustave went straight to work with a grin on his beak. He cracked a dozen eggs into a pan, sliced the ham and cheese with his claws, and within minutes my meal was ready. “Let us go to ze private room eh? I don’t want you scaring away my customers,” the mustached griffin stated, carry my plate out to the room I woke up in. I just fluttered my wings to fly after him, entranced by the smell.

“So my furry friend, what plans do you have now?” Gustave asked while I stuffed my face full of golden deliciousness.

I didn’t answer until I swallowed all of my food, it’s impolite to talk with your mouth full of food you know, and gave Gustave the most blunt answer I could. “I have no idea right now. I do know that I’m in need of a large number of bits though. Like enough for a house. Know where I can get some?”

Gustave sat there playing with his mustache pondering Celestia knows what. I didn’t mind though. It gave me more time to feast. After finishing my meal, and excellent hangover cure in itself, I looked up at Gustave and saw him with a sly grin and a glint in his eye as he stared back at me.

“I zink I may just have an idea where you can get a decent amount of bits my furry friend,” Gustave said in a way that did not boost confidence. “I’ll explain on the way my friend.” With that he guided me out the door and into the bustling crowd.

An hour later, I was sitting on a stage in the middle of town while Gustave started signing up all the pegasi and a few griffins that took him up on his challenge. Gustave’s idea was simple as it was boring. When we got to the town square, Gustave hopped up on stage and offered free meals at all of his restaurants for life if they could beat me in a race. It was 50 bits to sign up for the race against me for the prize.

When he told me the idea on the walk over, I was adamantly opposed to it. I have only been flying for two days. Hell I haven’t even had wings for more than a week, how was I supposed to beat people who have been flying their whole lives? Gustave just scoffed at my objections, citing the fact I was a cynogriffin as more than ample reason to con the people out of their bits.

That brings us full circle to me sitting on a stage holding back the urge to scratch my ear in front of the whole town while Gustave collects the bits and signs the people up. You know what, fuck it, since when did I start caring what people thought about me? I tilted my head over a little, lifted my back paw, and beat the crap out of the area behind my ear with the claws on the back foot.

With the ear that wasn’t currently being assaulted, I could pick up little bits of idle chitchat. Most of it was along the lines of laughing at how ridiculous I looked, some were racist comments directed at Gustave since they thought I was just a pet, and then a few of them thought they would win because of how goofy I looked. Whatever, if it gave us more people to scam it was worth it. I have no shame.

Then I heard a lot of excited muttering. Glancing over towards the noise, I saw a huge crowd surrounding a group of three ponies. I couldn’t make anything out from them at this point except their mane colors, which were white, navy blue, and two different shades of orange.

Oh well, I just shoved it out of my mind and lay down to nap. Gustave told me I was only there to show off the opponent, and the race wasn’t going to be for another few hours. Of course the moment I close my eyes the big crowd of excited ponies get closer. Damn wolf hearing…

Lifting my head to glare at the ponies that dared disturb my nap, my jaw hit the ground. Walking up to the sign up table were three Wonderbolts; Soarin, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot to be precise. Gustave seemed ecstatic to have them at the sign up table and was speaking to all of them rapid fire.

This conversation I wanted to be a part of instead of just eavesdropping. I got up and headed over to the table just as the three members of the Wonderbolts finished signing their names and getting their numbers.

“Ah, Zeta my friend, allow me to introduce you to ze Wonderbolts! Zis is ze captain Spitfire,” the fiery maned mare nodded in my direction with a smile on her face. “Zis is Soarin, whose appetite may be greater zan yours,” the stallion just gave me a curt nod. “And zis is the newest member of zeir team, Fleetfoot.” The mare just gave me a nasty scowl. If looks could kill, I would’ve been dead ten minutes ago. The angry looking mare was the first to speak up.

“You honestly want me to race a freak of nature like this mutt? I’m the fastest on the team, this is a waste of my time,” Fleetfoot grumbled still glaring over at me. If she thought I was a dumb creature, I’ll play that card for all its worth to fuck with her.

Spitfire gave Fleetfoot a friendly shove. “Oh come on Fleetfoot, it is kind of cute. And since we are assigned to protect Tailton, we may as well have a little bit of fun. Plus think of all the bits we’ll save from paying for Soarin’s dinner,” the captain of the group laughed.

Soarin’s expression remained unchanging as he continued to look me down. That’s when I realized how serious he was going to take this race. ‘Makes sense, I would take a race where I could win food for life seriously too.’

“Zank you for joining ze race, I’m sure my friend here will be more zan a fair challenge for you all. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go set up ze course. Zeta, would you like to come along or stay here?” Gustave asked, gathering up all of the bits we got into the bag he carried.

Time to mind fuck some Wonderbolts.

“Gustave, I believe I shall remain here and prepare for the race at paw. Perhaps the world renowned Wonderbolts would be willing to offer advice to a, how was it you phrased it Fleetfoot, freak of nature like me?” Spitfire and Fleetfoot’s mouths dropped after this statement. Soarin didn’t let my speech faze him at all though. Gotta respect a good game face.

“You can talk?!” Spitfire exclaimed, picking her jaw up off the floor. Gustave just laughed at all of their reactions as he flew off to fix the course up. I myself was having trouble keeping myself serious. Messing with people is just too easy sometimes.

“Why of course my dear Spitfire, and I must thank you for the lovely compliment you gave me. It quite lifts the spirits to hear such kind words after Fleetfoot’s derogatory comments,” I continued as eloquently as I could. Spitfire’s face flushed red at this one, and even Soarin gave a nice little chuckle.Fleetfoot was the only one that still wasn’t persuaded by my charm. She just sat there glaring at me even harsher than before she knew I could talk.

“So any tips for a flyer before his first huge race?” I asked to the group before me with a sly grin on my face, trying desperately not to smack Fleetfoot’s look off her face.

Just think happy thoughts.

The Puppy Bowl

A warm Philly Cheesesteak

Playing with a Frisbee

Smacking Fleetfoot in the face

Shit. Abort Abort!

So much for that plan…

“Well Zeta, my advice is don’t hold back. You’re going up against three of the best flyers in Equestria. You hold back any, and you’ll be lucky to see our tails,” Spitfire said with such a cocky attitude it made Rainbow Dash seem tame, but it was still friendly.

Spitfire, Soarin, and I joked around for a while more as Fleetfoot just kept glaring at me. About an hour after Gustave left, he returned announcing the course was all set up and ready for the race to be held in a few hours. Fleetfoot and Spitfire excused themselves so they could get ready for the race, while Soarin accompanied Gustave and I back to the pub for a light meal.

“So Soarin do you know why Fleetfoot was shooting daggers at me the entire we were talking?” I inquired over our meal. I had just gotten a loaf of beard while Soarin and Gustave
were eating fruit. Fun fact of the day griffins are omnivores. Who knew?

Soarin stopped chewing his apple for a moment and starting thinking if he should tell me or not. Have you ever asked one of the thick skulled athletes to answer a complicated question and saw their pained face? Yeah, that is exactly what Soarin looked like right now. Apparently the old noggin didn’t get used too much by him.

“I’ll tell you only because I don’t find it right how she treats you. At least now you’ll know why,” Soarin began his explanation, choosing each word carefully. “Back when Fleetfoot was younger, she lived close to Gem Fido in a small town called Spurfield. Her parents were on the ground watching her practice flying when they were kidnapped by diamond dogs.” Soarin paused and ran a hoof through his mane.

“She managed to get away, but ever since she’s hated any type of canine. She even freaked out at an earth pony’s Seeing Eye dog once. The fact you have wings probably unnerves her because that has always been her escape from dogs,” Soarin finished with a heavy sigh.

I just sat there letting the information roll around my mind. So this girl had a phobia against dogs. Well that’s stupid for her to be afraid of me though, I’m a wolf. I don’t even look like a diamond dog. I mean sure I can understand why she’d hate my guts, but it still isn’t cool. And the look she gave me, it wasn’t one of fear but disgust, as if I didn’t deserve to be alive. I was all too familiar with that look back on Earth.

I summed up all of my thoughts for Soarin in a very simple four worded phrase. “I don’t like her.” Ok, technically it was five, but that’s what contractions are for. Grammar loophole for the win!

Soarin spat out the bite of apple he just took as Gustave choked on his. “Wait, how can you say that? You don’t even know her yet?” Soarin yelped, watching me pound on Gustave’s back to get him to cough out the apple core. After a few more pained sounds coming from the griffin, the apple core landed on the table.

“I zink I shall agree wiz Soarin on zis one my friend. Don’t you believe it is wrong to judge someone before learning about zem?” Gustave coughed out. Choking does that to ya.

“Nope. Why should I go out of my way to talk to her if she already hates me?” I retorted. Time to be the ass and reverse their logic on them. “Don’t you think it’s wrong to assume I’m just like the diamond dogs? Why should I be the one to stick my neck out? That and if she gives me too much grief, I’ll just end up wanting to kill her.” I finished casually.

You could hear a pin drop right then and there.

Both Soarin and Gustave were looking at me with complete shock on their faces, that and a little fear in their eyes. The response brought a warm little glow to my chest. “You have to be kidding right? You wouldn’t actually kill somepony?” Soarin asked, his voice shaking the entire time.

“In case you haven’t noticed Soarin, I’m a cynogriffin. Aka a wolf with wings, I am a predator. If I can take it down and eat it, it’s prey in my eyes. I can take down ponies pretty easily,” I coolly explained to my two friends at the table. Of course, I did just refer to both of them as potential meals. Great way to build friendship right? I just went back to finishing my bread continuing. “If my prey pisses me off, I may just kill it in spite though. I have no problems doing that.”

Peering away from the bread I was eating, I noticed the look of shock had switched to that of horror. I guess random killings aren’t very common in Equestria, but where I’m from, if someone didn’t get shot three days in a row it’s considered lucky. I just shrugged the looks off, “Don’t worry, you guys are cool. But back to the topic at paw, I don’t like Fleetfoot.”

Neither of the others spoke for the rest of the meal until Gustave decided it was time to head out towards the race. I already knew my plan for the race, I was just going to tail whoever was in first until the last leg, and then blow past them and win. It’s how Gustave and I planned everything out. If what he told me about cynogriffins were correct, I’d win no problem.

The griffin chef appeared before all the racers, which numbered in about 30 or so, and explained the race. It would be an average ten mile loop, five miles out into the ocean, and five miles back to the stage with three markers, to show when to stop the racers ascent, another to start the descent, and finally one to mark the five mile point in the bay. First one back would win the prize of eating for life at all LeGrand associated restaurants.

I took a starting spot next to Spitfire, whom Fleetfoot and Soaring were next to on the other side. Soarin gave me a quick, cautious look before a quick nod for good luck. Fleetfoot, whom was farthest away from me (shocker right?) just had a scowl on her face eyes locked forward. Spitfire gave me a friendly nudge whispering “Good Luck” before sliding her goggles over her eyes.

I just replied with a quick wink before getting focused on the race. I was just getting the pre-race jitters. You know what I’m talking about right? The feeling you get right before a race where you have like butterflies in your stomach and you can’t seem to sit still with all the pre-race adrenaline flooding your body. Yeah, that’s how I was feeling right then; I just loved every second of it.

Time seemed to slow as Gustave raised a big checkered flag into the air. I extended my wings out their full size and brought them up high up into the air. I crouched down low to the ground to prepare for a massive leap for extra propulsion. I took a big breath of air in and held it waiting for the flag to drop. Gustave pulled down and the flag dropped.

And I was off.

By the time I had ascended to the cloud marker telling us to level off, only the three Wonderbolts and a single griffin were with me. Once we got to the straight away, Fleetfoot took the lead by about a quarter of a mile, while I stayed with Spitfire, Soarin, and the other griffin. All the other competitors were still in the middle of their ascent.

I expected as much from the Wonderbolts, being competitive flyers and all, but this griffin was a new factor I wasn’t ready for. Catching a glimpse of him, I saw he had green face markings. Oh well, I doubt he’d be able to keep this pace up for too, I could already tell he was exhausted and we were only two miles in.

By the time Fleetfoot had hit the 5 mile marker out over the ocean, the griffin had fallen behind. I felt completely fine at this point, it was just a little bit faster than the pace I used to get back from dropping the guards off, so I could handle this for another six hours. The Wonderbolts though seemed to be straining to keep the pace constant. Spitfire and Soarin where using a standard racing method of switching off the lead position every half mile or so. This allowed them to catch a breather while the other racer kept a steady pace. Only reason I stayed with them was because it wasn’t quite the moment to overtake Fleetfoot yet.

After Spitfire, Soarin, and I turned the corner to head back to the stage, I noticed something moving about at the three quarter part of the race. Switching up to the enhanced vision, I saw three little pegasi watching the race sitting on top of a cloud they must have scooted over the sea to get a better view. Unfortunately it was close enough to the race where if someone wasn’t careful, the cloud would burst.

I shouted over to the two Wonderbolts next to me and let them know. They just nodded their consent and kept pushing forward. I gave them a friendly wave before rocketing past the two trying to catch up to Fleetfoot to give her the warning. By the time I got next to her we were about halfway to the cloud.

Before I could even get a word out of my mouth, she rocketed forward to pull ahead, forming the Mach cone around herself. She didn’t even notice the cloud in front of her and blasted past it. The Mach cone tore the cloud to shards, making the kids on top of it start to plummet towards the sea. In case you didn’t know, a mile high drop onto the ocean will kill just about anything in existence, especially three small pegasi. Two of the kids managed to catch themselves, but were struggling to stay in the air since flying over the cool waters is harder than land. The third pegasus though dropped like a brick, screaming the entire way down.

“NOOOO!” I dove and pumped my wings as fast as I could to catch the falling pegasi. A Mach cone of my own started to form, surrounding my body in a white funnel, but all I could think about was how it seemed to be slowing me down. I launched my paws in front of me, claws extended to cut through as much air as I could. As the cone started to tear, the colors of the rainbow stared flashing around me wildly. I gave another mighty flap of my wings and then...

Ka-BOOOOOOM

The Mach cone that was previously surrounding me exploded around the air. I didn’t bother to look behind me if it caused a sonic rainboom or not, I had more important things to worry about. The pegasi was almost within my reach. I pumped more wings even more, and another cone started to form around me. Unlike the last one though, this cone didn’t cover me in white, but blue and seemed charged with energy. I didn’t stop to think about it too terribly much though because the little pegasus was just within reach.

“Got you!” I screamed over the wind as I wrap my arms around the little filly, pulling her close to my chest as I pull up from the dive. We are close enough where the tip of my tail skimmed the surface of the ocean. I feel the pegasi filly wrap her legs around me as tightly as she can while she shakes. I keep pumping my wings to ascend back into the sky, keeping my speeds above Mach 1 while I scanned the sky for her friends. I see that Spitfire and Soarin managed to grab those two, much to my relief.

When I reached a mile up, I looked forward to see Fleetfoot still racing towards the finish line. She had completely ignored the fact that she had endangered three innocent lives! I pumped my wings even harder than before, willing myself the increase the speed. I was closing in on her as the second Mach cone started to form again, crackling with blue energy.

“Hold on tight,” I mumbled to the filly as I shift her over to only one arm. I throw my other out in front of me to cut through the blue energized cone that currently is holding back my speed. I could slowly see it starting to break around my claw when all of a sudden…

Pause for dramatic effect…

Don’t worry the wait will be worth it cause it’ll be legen… wait for it

CRACK BAAROOOM

dary.

It was like the loudest thunderbolt you could ever hear amplified by a hundred. I would later find out that in Equestria, going Mach 1 breaks the sound barrier as normal, but passing Mach 2 speeds breaks a type of magical field known as the energy barrier. This energy barrier is what pegasi use to help with weather manipulation and is the field in which magically transported items run through.

I can tell you that when I did reach Mach 2, the resulting explosion looked like one of those little static orbs that have all the bolts leaving a single point, me. You know the kind I’m talking about these things. Yeah, I was the middle point of it, and as I flew past Fleetfoot I could hear her pained cries from the electric storm that was trailing in my wake now. Looking over my shoulder I see her drop a few hundred feet before catching herself.

I allow myself to grin from her pain. I normally don’t enjoy causing others pain, but she recklessly endanger the filly in my arm, so in my mind she deserves a helluva lot worse. I flare my wings and try and slow down as much as possible, sending the lightning flying forward like a barrage of arrows eventually dissipating a mile outside the town.

I’ll have to think of using that in the future for a fight. Once I lost enough speed, I glided down to the stage in the middle of town setting the filly down. Glancing up I saw all of the spectators and Gustave just staring at me with their jaws dropped to the ground. Must be a pony thing. Then I saw a reporting pony whip out a camera.

“No photos, no comment,” I growled loud enough for everyone to hear me. A small shriek behind me made me turn around. Everyone instantly quieted down and put away their cameras. The little pegasus pony was sitting down shaking like crazy. I got down on my stomach to be eye level and less threatening looking.

“Hi there, my name is Zeta. What’s yours?” I asked in the friendliest voice I could muster.

“Um… I’m C...cotton Cloudy,” She murmured out in her nervousness. She was gradually calming down though.

“Cotton Cloudy? That’s a really pretty name you have,” I say with a smile on my muzzle. I hide my teeth though; I don’t want to scare her any more than she already is. “How would you like some bits to get a treat?”

Her eyes lit up when I mentioned the word treat. She just nodded voraciously. I went over to the pot of pits Gustave had collected, ignoring him and all the others in the crowd surrounding the stage. Gathering a pawful of bits, I went back over towards Cotton Cloud.

“Here you go sweetie. Now don’t go spend it all at once, and remember to share with your friends,” I added, nudging her with my muzzle to send her own her way. I stood back up and she gave me a quick hug on the leg before scampering off.

Three thumps, followed by two other lighter ones let me know the Wonderbolts and the other two fillies arrived. Turning around, I first addressed the foals. “Why don’t you two go find Cotton Cloudy. I gave her some bits so you all can get a treat. Doesn’t that sound fun?” They both gave me huge smiles before running off to find their friend.

I followed them off into the crowd smiling before turning back to the Wonderbolts before me. Spitfire and Soarin looked at me with slight disbelief. I can understand why since breaking the sound barrier is near impossible for pegasi, let alone the energy barrier. Fleetfoot on the other paw wouldn’t even look at me. She was nursing her wounds that she received when I blew past her with lightning trailing after me. I could see the dark burn marks along the side of her suit and on one of her wings.

Time to give her another injury.

Without any warning, I curled my paw and rammed it into Fleetfoot’s face, leaving a bloody trail fly through the air as she dropped to the ground. Everyone in the crowd gasped in horror when they witnessed the strike. Gustave and Soarin for their parts backed away from me, but Spitfire took a step forward and stood between me and my target.

“What was that for?” Spitfire yelled glaring at me. Part of me wanted to smack her out of the way so I could proceed to rip Fleetfoot apart, but the fire in her eyes told me I’d have to kill her to get to her downed teammate.

“Because of her blatant hatred for me, she almost got three foals killed. The only reason one of them didn’t die was because broke the sound barrier. I almost had to go Mach 2 just to save the kid,” I growled at Spitfire. I really didn’t want to hurt her, because she’s been nice to me this entire time, but if she didn’t get out of my way I would.

“Fleetfoot has cynophobia, she’s afraid of dogs and wolves. You showing up next to her probably just spooked her into gunning it. It was an accident,” Spitfire retorted. I laughed in her face when she pulled that defense. By this time Fleetfoot had recovered and was glaring daggers at me again, holding a hoof to her bloody snout.

“Bull-fucking-shit! She may have had a phobia at one point, but now it’s just straight up hatred. I’ve seen the look she gives me everywhere I go,” I bark back at Spitfire, returning Fleetfoot’s glare over her captain’s shoulder. “It’s the look that says ‘you aren’t worth the air you breathe. You don’t deserve to live. I hope you get struck by lightning and die right here.’ I get it all the time, so trust me that’s how she feels.”

Spitfire turned around and noticed the glare her teammate is giving me for the first time.Then she does something that made me want to kiss her right then and there.

She smacked Fleetfoot across the face. Everyone’s jaw dropped for the third time that day as I fell to the ground laughing at the Fleetfoot’s face after the blow landed.

Fucking. Priceless.

“There are many things we Wonderbolts do, but hating ANYONE based on who they are is not one of them!” Spitfire yelled down at her subordinate. “When we get back to base I’m going to request you work with any Diamond Dogs for the rest of your time here until you get over it. Do you hear me?”

“Ma’am yes, ma’am,” was Fleetfoot’s prompt response after getting back to her feet.

“Now get back to our temporary HQ and have the medic look after those wounds,” Spitfire ordered. Fleetfoot left without saying another word, or even looking in my direction, Soarin close behind. Spitfire then turned her attention to me. “You are by far the strangest creature I have ever had the fortune to meet,” she said with a small grin on her face, watching me wipe the tears from my eyes from laughing so hard.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet hot stuff,” I replied with a laugh and a wink. Gustave’s face –claw was audible enough for the whole square to hear.

To Spitfire’s credit, she just chuckled and continued on, “Now Zeta, in all seriousness, allow me as the captain of the Wonderbolts to offer you an apology for Fleetfoot’s behavior. It reflects poorly on us all.” Spitfire extended her hoof, which I shook with my furry paw.

“Apology accepted my friend. I won’t apologize though, she deserved a lot worse for endangering a child like that,” I defended my point.

“I would agree, but I have a feeling your form of punishment may be a little excessive. By the way, you are one hell of a flier. How’d you like to help us Wonderbolts out with a mission? You’ll get paid a pretty good sum of bits.” Spitfire explained rather smoothly.

My ears perked up at that last part. “I’m all ears,” was my simple answer, as the two of us left the stage and headed to discuss the job.

~{WWP}~

A/N:
Awww, Zeta isn't so bad. He's just a big softie when it comes to little kids. How cute.

Special thanks to Thardac for filling in the editor/beta reader roll for this chapter.

Also, I finally have a story with 2 pages of comments! I feel so loved.

To any of my readers who haven't heard yet (which is probably where I got most of mine anyway) there are a lot more stories in this same universe now. I highly suggest checking out some of the other stories. They all have a different perspective on Equestria than each other, and its interesting to see how they all meld together. Give it a shot.

Kentucky Fried Griffin Anypony?

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 8

~{WWP}~

“So before we start with the business end of things, I got something a little more on the personal level I want to ask you about,” I explained to Spitfire as I passed her one of the mugs of ale in my paws. After leaving the stage, we walked back with Gustave to his restaurant to count the bits I won and to hear her proposal. We had some idle chit chat before like the description of the energy barrier and how I’m a supposed freak of nature for being able to go that fast.

When we arrived at the LeGrand Pub as it was named, Gustave lent us the back room where I passed out the night before to use to discuss business, along with free booze. You should all know which one I was more excited for. But before any business got underway I had to know something about the captain of the Wonderbolts.

“Shoot Zeta. I got nothing to hide,” was Spitfire’s reply. She took a massive swig from her mug, letting out a refreshed breath after she placed her mug down. I copied her actions before continuing.

“Why were you so pissed off about Fleetfoot’s racism towards me? Like if you were a griffin, or pretty much anything besides a pony I could get it. But you being a successful pony and all, I just don’t get it,” I honestly wanted to know why. I followed up the question by tilting my head to the side just a bit. Like what dogs do when they seem confused.

It worked like a charm. Spitfire chuckled at my pose before speaking. “It’s not that big of a deal really. When I was younger I grew up in the Dominion under the protection of the Royal Guard. My parents were ambassadors to the city closest to the boarder of Equestria. It was burned to the ground by dragons almost ten years ago now though.” Spitfire took another long swing from her mug, trying to drown out memories probably. I’ve been there before.

“Anyway, being a pegasus in a griffin city is pretty crappy. So I got picked on and made fun of just for being someone different. Ever since then, I’ve hated racism. It is the most ignorant of crimes. That’s why when you pointed out that Fleetfoot wasn’t afraid but racist I sorta snapped.” Spitfire finished up, draining the rest of her mug. She got up to get us both refills (I finished mine almost before she started) giving me a little time to think about what she said.

I couldn’t help but feel she was holding something back, but she did answer my question. I just decided to drop it and find out what kind of job she wanted me to do. As she returned with our drinks though, I heard a disturbance up in the front of the building. Just some shouting and crap along those lines.

Nothing that Gustave or Charcoal couldn’t sort out.

Or so I thought until I saw Charcoal’s body fly through the door and crash into a table. Spitfire jolted over towards him to see if he was ok. I on the other hand decision that someone needed to get their ass kicked. I would kill them, but Spitfire told me that she would have to arrest me if I did, and I didn’t want to have to kill her and escape. So ass kicking it was.

Walking out to the main portion of the restaurant I saw that griffin from the race that managed to keep pace with us for a little bit. He was average size and color for a griffin, with green markings around his face and on his chest. He looked up from the mare he was terrorizing to see me standing in the doorway and a smirk lit up his face.

“Just the dog I was trying to find. Come here you big fur ball you,” the griffin exclaimed with a happy smile, strutting over towards me like we were the oldest of chums. “The name’s Fenix and I have to say that was some crazy flying you did out there today.”

“I know it was. I did it. Now what do you want?” I snarled out at him. He was either the thickest griffin in existence or blind because everyone else in the restaurant was backing away from me as fast as possible. This dumbass was just walking closer.

“No need to harsh man. I just was wondering if you’d be up for a little job I’m cooking up,” Fenix replied. He was within striking distance now, but I decided to hear out this ‘plan’ he was coming up with. It may be good.

“Well, you interrupted another business meeting, so this best be some good job. You got three minutes before I ask Gustave if he’ll cook griffin wings for me,” I curtly replied. Fenix gave a big laugh at this, thinking it was all some kind of joke. I just kept my eyes on the clock above his head. “Two minutes and thirty seconds.”

“Wait you’re serious?” Fenix asked shocked. The death glare I gave him answered the question for him. He nearly pissed himself from the look and attempted to form words in his fear.

“Two minutes”

“Ok, ok, just calm down man. I don’t exactly have the WHOLE plan set up yet. I mean, I got some ideas and all but…”

“One minute”

“Dude seriously calm down. We can be a lot more useful together than separate. What do you say?” Fenix asked with a slight smirk on his face. Apparently he was indeed the thickest griffin in existence. He comes in here like he owns the place, disrupts my business meeting to offer me a proposal, and doesn’t even have an idea other than a partnership?

“Gustave, how do griffin wings taste? Is it possible to deep fry um?” I shouted back as I approached Fenix. He was sweating bullets now as I cracked my joints and prepped to tear his wings off. Then he did the dumbest thing I’ve seen since I’ve gotten to this world.

He tried to intimidate me.

He stuck his chest and head forward, trying to look more imposing as he spat out his words at me. “Listen here pup, I’m twice you size. You’re going to do what I say or I’ll beat you upside the head.” He emphasized his point by poking me with one of his claws.

Before I could even bite off his annoying little claw though, Spitfire popped her head out from the door. “Hey Zeta, are you done yet? I gotta get going soon, and I want to explain the job before I do.” Then she noticed my lips curled all the way back and body tense ready to strike. “Zeta if you kill this guy our deal’s off and I’ll have to place you under arrest remember?”

“Does biting off his claw and a wing count?” I asked through my snarl, not taking my eyes off of Fenix.

“You should listen to hot cheeks over there mutt. She’s savi…” He didn’t get a chance to finish that sentence before he was thrown out the front door twenty feet away from where he was standing. In his place was a very pissed off Spitfire hovering slightly in front of me.

“Now now Spitfire, you mustn’t lose your temper like that,” I fake mocked her. The death glare she gave me afterwards told me to shut up. I promptly followed that ‘suggestion.’ Hell hath no fury like that of a women’s scorn as they say.

Spitfire was fuming as she went outside to finish her little altercation with the griffin. I tagged along because I wanted a nice little laugh at the moron who wasted my time. When we got outside, the sight of the griffin was pathetic. He was curled up in a ball coughing up blood from how hard Spitfire hit him.

Spitfire trotted over to the crippled griffin and placed her hoof on his chest. “Now listen here, if I ever see your face around again I’m going to arrest you for disturbing the peace and threatening Zeta over here. If you annoy either of us even after that, I’ll let Zeta have his fun while I turn a blind eye. How does that sound?” Spitfire growled as she slowly increased the pressure on the hoof.

All Fenix could do was nod his head in between coughing up blood. When Spitfire gave me a free pass to mess this guy up in the future I couldn’t help myself but to wear a wicked grin as I looked over Spitfire’s shoulder.

“Now get going,” I barked at him. Fenix hopped up and ran as quickly has his busted up chest would let him. Spitfire smacked me with her tail as she turned back to the restaurant indicating for me to follow her. Once we got situated again in the back room, I looked back over at her and asked, “Now where were we?”

“I’ll give you the brief version since I’m short for time now. About two days ago a unicorn by the name of Vinyl Scratch gave the Royal Guard information about a diamond dog trap set up in a tavern outside of town. Apparently the dogs have bribed the local guards and mayor off so they ignore the dogs’ activity. Since the Royal Guard is here though, we plan to put an end to this den before anymore ponies are hurt. All of the dogs have a bounty alive of 500 or dead at 250, and the Beta who is in charge has a bounty of 1,000 bits alive and 500 dead. If you helped out, you’d be getting the bounty of any of the dogs you kill or catch,” Spitfire explained calmly. She looked me over once again before continuing “We’d be leaving tonight and striking the hold before dawn tomorrow. Meet by the main gates if you are going to come along.”

Spitfire got up and bid Gustave fair well before leaving me to my thoughts. I knew exactly which tavern she was talking about. Part of me was thankful to Vinyl for not mentioning my involvement. Checking on the bits I got today and the ones I stole from the toll and Octavia, I had about 4,000 bits right now. Based on what Gustave told me a decent sized house would cost around 7,000 bits, and I’d be able to make that easy with this job. Plus I’d be able to get some answers from the Beta that I wanted answered.

Course, why should I play by Spitfire’s rules? I could take down most of the dogs in by myself before the guards even got close to the building. Plus I wouldn’t be able to interrogate the Beta the way I’d want to if I had guards hanging around. They were pretty squeamish. With my mind made up, I stashed my bits in the room Gustave was letting me sleep in and went downstairs to get something to eat before my flight.

Gustave cooked me up a couple more steaks and got me a pint of lager for dinner. Over the course of it I informed him of what was going on and what I planned to do. He just called me a crazy bastard for even thinking I could pull it all off and come out unscathed. After everything was cleaned up I left the building and took off into the dusk. Once I was outside of Tailton, I kicked it up a notch in the speed department and blasted past Mach 1, sonic rainboom and all, to arrive at my destination faster.

In the course of the hour and a half long flight, I thought of the one pony that would probably try to kill me when she saw me. Spitfire didn’t say anything about getting paid to free the slaves though. So I’ll free the slaves that are nice and leave the rest for the Royal Guards to clean up after. Not like the guards would just leave them all there, and the last thing I wanted was for people calling me a hero or any shit like that. I’m in it for the money and that’s about it.

When I saw the tavern approaching, I got the most brilliant idea in my head of how to make a grand entrance. I ascended higher into the sky, pumping my wings harder and harder until the Mach 2 cone started to form. I reached a peak about three miles above the ground and then nosedived, shattering the energy barrier.

With the electrical storm flaring behind me, I dove prepping myself to pull up at the right moment. When there was only half a mile between myself and the roof of the tavern, I threw my wings out to slow my speed, the wind trying its damnedest to rip them off my body. The electrical storm that was following in my wake launched forward blasting into the tavern.

Before I made my grand entrance into the diamond dog mine disguised tavern, I scanned the damage of my new makeshift attack. Out of the sixty or so bolts that were part of the electrical storm, only about twenty actually hit the tavern. The remainder shattered ground like mortar shells in an area surrounding the tavern of about fifty yards in any given direction.

Looks like I’ll only be able to use this if I’m fighting a dragon or an army. Oh well time to make an entrance. I did a quick loop and flew straight towards the front door. They didn’t replace the two dogs that guard the door that I had killed earlier, so that meant I could just fly right on through. Bracing myself for the impact, the door shattered as I propelled my body forward. I landed and skidded across the entire room, avoiding the holes that peppered the ground from the lightning barrage.

Reaching the end of my slide, I spun around real quick and flared my wings out and declared, “I’m back bitches!” in the most masculine of voices. The few diamond dogs that weren’t scorched or pulling out pieces of shrapnel from the explosions turned and looked at me like I was crazy.

“What you doing here?” one of the dumber ones asked me. He had the most confused face on his look; it was border line confused puppy look. Too bad it wasn’t over that line, so he gets to die for the rest of them.

I move my front right paw underneath a pile of debris and take a look around. Out of the thirty eight diamond dogs that were I knew about when I left last time only about fifteen were here. All but five of them were either charred corpses or bleeding out from shrapnel wounds. I didn’t notice the ‘Boss’ amongst the dead, so I assumed he was in the mines right now. At this point the five started to slowly walk towards me.

I took a deep breath to answer the dog’s question. “Well, the Royal Guard caught wind what you guys were doing here. You know, kidnapping ponies and everything for slave labor and all. Turns out they aren’t as receptive to bribes as the normal town guard, so they put bounties on all the heads of you dogs and are moving out to take you done.” The dogs started to panic somewhat at this point.

“What we do wolf brother?” the one that first spoke asked me fearfully. Apparently underlings in diamond dog packs had very little free thoughts. He and the other four approached me until they were all an arm’s length away.

Time to get this ball rolling.

“Just stay right there,” I mumbled to them. I didn’t even give them a chance to look confused. I flung up the debris with my right paw blinding the five living members in front of me. Before the dust settled, there were five more dead bodies staining the ground with blood.

"That’s 15 dead, times 250, gets me 3250 more bits." I mumbled to myself as I headed over towards the trap door. It took me a while to actually remember where it was, and I ended up cheated by smelling out the highest concentration of diamond dog scent in the burnt out place. I’ve slowly been getting the hang of concentrating on a specific scent and tracking it. Once the door was located and I moved the rubble out from the top of it, I threw the door open and dived into the depths of the mine.

The first thing I noticed down in the mines was the smell. It was rank with a combination of filth, death, and unsurprisingly dirt. Next was the lighting of the cavern. All around the cave system, glass jars were positioned on the wall that gave off a slight orange glow. I couldn’t tell if it was oil, tar, or some sort of magic, but the lights did their jobs really well.
Glancing around the lit cavern, I saw that the mine had an intersection of several different pathways leading off in separate directions. I couldn’t really pick out any distinct scents, so I just followed the hallway with the greatest diamond dog smell. After stalking down the tunnel for a while, the stench of death grew significantly.

Rounding a corner, I saw four diamond dogs carrying the body of a griffin towards another cavern. I cautiously followed the group, eventually winding up at a large metal door. The scent of death was almost overpowering almost overwhelmed me at this point, and I could tell it was coming from the other side of that door.

Once the diamond dogs went in, I stealthily jumped through the door before it closed. What I saw after words will scar me for the rest of my life. I had followed the diamond dogs into the room where they throw the dead slaves that are too thin to eat. Or too small.

There were as many dead children in this room as adults and not just ponies. Griffins and diamond dog pups had mountains of corpses too. Hot tears started to pour out of my eyes as I scanned the bodies. I could tell there was over a hundred bodies, and at least a third of which were children.

My shock slowly morphed into rage. Eyes that moments earlier spilled hot tears soon could only see red. My wings flared out as all of my muscles relaxed and prepared for the fight. The hair on the back of my neck spiked as I let a deep guttural growl through my bared teeth. This caught the attention of the four dogs that carried the body into this death chamber.

“Wolf brother? Why you here?” one of them asked me, the fear slightly present in his voice and on his scent.

“I’m here for a very simple reason,” I growled demonically as I slowly approached them. The dogs stank of fear at this point, their pupils dropping to the size of a needle in terror. “To kill you all.”

Screams of pain quickly filled the entire mine…

~{WWP}~

A/N:
Here you all go. Feast on another chapter while everyone else works on coordinating the Grand Galloping Gala. Hopefully it'll help stave off your hunger for the madness that will ensue. I'm just as excited as the rest of you for the event to start rolling as well.

Now on to some not as cheery news.

The chapters may be coming out a bit slower for a bit since I just got home from my study abroad and I need to start working again. I'll still try and have a chapter every week or so, but no guarantees as of yet. Also sorry for the cliffhanger, but I wanted to finish this chapter up before I traveled across the globe and the cliffhanger fit nicely.

Thanks to Thardoc again for helping out with the editing this time around. If there are any errors, as always, let me know and I'll try and fix it up.

and now because I can.

Demons You Can't Fight

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 10

~{WWP}~

Nightmares.

Everyone has had their fair share of them, some more so than others. The worst part about it all though is how it’s not even those that have nice lives that are cursed with theses horrors. No, it’s those that have already lived through enough hell in their lives that can find no peace in their deep slumbers.

I belonged in the latter group of individuals. I didn’t remember going to sleep at all really. All I knew was that the dreams I had over those few nights were some of the worst I had the horror to live through. And unlike most of the other dreams that you forget the moment you wake up, these ones were somewhat burned into my mind.

So I guess they aren’t really nightmares, as much as night terrors. Whatever, you get the point though. Well, you may as well find out what I remember from them.

I was back in my home town, a light rain was pouring down from the clouds above. For some reason everything was black and white, but I didn’t put too much thought into it. I was simply walking down the street, heading to a light when I saw a bright red car shoot by me like a bullet. I didn’t put a second thought to it until I glance up further in the street.

The light at the intersection had just turned red, but the bitch driving the red car was going too fast to stop. Just as she entered into the intersection, a blue mini-van had pulled out. Immediately my heart stopped and time seemed to slow as the impact began.

The red car ripped the mini-van in half, blasting right through it and into a moving van on the other side, flipping it over. It takes me a moment before I recognize the mini-van, and when I do my heart goes from dead stop to nearly exploding from my chest as I run towards the wreckage.

Shifting through the glass and debris of it all, I hoped to God above that I would not find what I already knew was amongst the wreckage. My gut filled with dread as I approached the object of my search, the black and white coloring emphasizing the red pool forming beneath it. I slowly and gingerly flip the object of my search over and unbuckle the strap, my tears dripping down onto the form now resting in my arms.

I kick the offending car seat as far away as possible as I wipe the blood away from the body resting in my arms, my tears helping as much as the steady rainfall to get rid of the red color. The child wasn’t moving at all, not even the steady rise of the chest. I let out a wail into the fading sky that echoed through my mind as the dreamscape shifted.

----------------

The wail quickly morphed into a ferocious howl as I drove through a thick black cloud of bodies. This new scene was in a spot I had never been before, but had seen multiple times on TV. I was flying through Canterlot, but it was all wrong. Little, black, bug-like ponies were raining down on the city, leaving craters in their wake. Most were detaining other ponies, but those stallions that fought back against the bugs were dealt with a harsh sentence.

Soon, more bugs flew after me, which I quickly slaughtered after a few daring moves. Glancing down, I saw another horrific scene forming. Two pony sized insects, and one supersized one were heading straight towards a group of fillies guard by two Royal guard members. I turned to help them, but a wall of black exoskeletons obscured my view of the scene below. I broke not only the first two speed barriers, but a third as well as I outflew the swarm, causing multiple tornadoes in my wake.

For all of my speed though, by the time I landed at the ground of the scene nothing was left but blood splatters and torn limbs. Glancing over, I saw the bodies of the two smaller ones ripped to pieces and scattered about as well, but the large one was sitting in front of me, with a cruel grin while he shape-shifted into a manticore and tossed a screaming filly into his gaping maw. The sickening crunches and terrified screams made me add my vomit to the gore across the alley. I took off, shattering the first speed barrier as I let loose another howl, streaking towards the beast before me as the space between us began to shift another time.

-----------------

The howl of rage slowly became the roar of an angry crowd. Looking around I saw a large mob surrounding another wolf, but this one had horns and seemed to be feminine. She was attempting to talk down the crowd that was slowly surrounding her, but her efforts seemed futile. Soon they had her trapped in the middle of what looked like a hundred different ponies, all of whom had nasty looks on their faces.

Soon the wolf turned towards and looked at me with pleading eyes. She was yelling something towards me, but no words that I could hear came out. For some reason though, I felt compelled to protect her, as if she was deeply important to me. I let loose a vicious sounding bark towards the crowd, and start charging towards the girl. I’m quickly pinned down by multiple ponies though and can only stare on as the mob converges onto the poor girl. All I can hear now are the sickening crunches and pounding of hooves onto flesh, followed by a scream of pain. My vision slowly blurs as I strain my wings against the weight of the ponies.

---------------

The realm of slumbers shifts one last time, the screams of that horned wolf now the whining of propellers on an airship. I’m sitting on the prow of the lead ship, my vision slightly obscured though with a bandana over one eye. Looking over to my right, I see Scootaloo sitting next to me, with my wing over her body and holding her in a side embrace. Something seems off about her, but before I could place it, I heard an ear splitting boom.

Glancing over the guard rail, I see a massive amount of shades, with what appear to be massive bug-like thing acting as artillery for them. I wasn’t quite sure until they started blasting at a few of the ships that were still taking off on the ground. Looking up into the clouds, I see even more shades descending on the other propeller driven aircraft, some of which are still be loaded on the ground. I hear Scootaloo scream something about the “Evac Ships” and I know I have to do something to help.

I lunge into the air, noticing hundreds of pegasi and griffins with a variety of creatures on their backs fly off to meet the threat as well. I bark orders at them for some reason, but the real shocker is how they give me a curt nod and follow through with them.

The airships were taking evasive maneuvers, and raining hell down upon the shades on the ground, but it did very little to deter the attacking forces. The strange thing was though; the shades weren’t attacking anything but the evacuation ships and the individual flyers. The aerial shades were tearing through those of us that were in the air trying in vain to stave off their assault. For every one we killed, another three seemed to take their place.

After dispatching another one of the shades, I took a peek at the last evac ship still on the ground and could see loads of children getting onboard. I then saw a large number of shades diving towards those kids. I jacked up the speed, even faster than I was in Canterlot, and any shade in my wake was sucked into a vortex that my speed created, crushing them into each other along with debris. This cleared the area around the last Evac ship to take off. It was perhaps a thousand feet away when I heard another chorus of eardrum shattering explosions.

Looking towards the ship that had just gotten off the ground, it was now riddled with holes and in flames, plummeting back down towards the earth. My heart froze as I watched the doomed ship, souls and all, minute long descent into the ground, spawning a fireball that wiped out a chunk of the shades ground forces. I blast higher into the air than I thought cynogriffinly possible, breaking three of the speed barriers on my ascent. I could just make out the curvature of the planet from this height.

I pulled a quick 180, and dove back down towards the battlefield, breaking the fourth speed barrier and screaming a massive war cry the entire plummet. A fifth cone was forming around me as I reached the highest clouds, which vaporized as soon as I was close. Once the battlefield was in view, the cone shattered and the world blurred out of existence once again.

My war cry shifted to one of pain and panicked sobs as I woke up from that hell hole of a dreamscape, with the Night Terrors burned into my mind for the rest of my living days.

Once I had managed to calm myself down, I noticed I was in a hospital bed with bandages covering a good chunk of my body. Also that the lights were off and I couldn’t see out of my left eye. A quick check with my paw let me know that the eye simply had a bandage over it. That was a load off of my chest, last thing I needed was to find out I lost an eye.

Glancing over to the window, I can see the sun is just starting to rise. I have a great view of the path towards the tavern, though I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t see a pillar of black smoke rising from the rubble. Guess the Royal Guard extinguished it before the fire spread too far out of control.

“Wait, was there a fire? I definitely remember a fireball though. And why the FUCK is my mouth so dry?!” Yes, I talk to myself sometimes. It helps me think when my mind is all cloudy, like when you wake up in a hospital bed not knowing how you got there.

So I just sat there, mumbling under my breath for the next hour or so until the door opened up by an earth pony. She was yellow, with a lollipop cross for her cutie mark and was wearing a nurse hat. When she noticed that I was staring at her rather crossly, she jumped in surprise.

“You’re awake?!”

Awesome, I’m dealing with a fucking genius right now. I counted to five mentally to calm myself done before I replied. “Why the hell wouldn’t I be awake? Its morning isn’t it?” Okay, next time I should count to ten before I answer someone.

The nurse first looked a little peeved at my response, but her professional training kicked in as she calmly explained to me the situation. “Sir, you’ve been unconscious for about three days now. Spitfire and Soarin carried you and the diamond dog back here.”

My ears perked up at this one. That son of a bitch was still alive? Spitfire and Soarin saved his ass?! I was going to chew them out for that one. Before I could continue my inner rant, the nurse continued.

“You were both in rough shape; you more from exhaustion, but you’ll have a scar over your left eye now. The doctor wants to keep you here for another five days though as a precaution. The Beta though, is in the ICU. His throat was nearly torn completely out, and he had some severe burns on his body,” the nurse paused to think of what she was going to say next. “Smoke inhalation and multiple cracked and broken ribs on top of that. I’m shocked that he managed to live at all.”

The nurse noticed my ears being perked up and must have taken that as a sign of boredom somehow, because than she giggled out “I’m sorry for rambling, allow me to fetch you some water and breakfast. Your friend Gustave is supplying us meat to feed you with.” Then she was off leaving me alone with my thoughts.

My thoughts had two very simple goals; first and foremost recover as quickly as I can, and secondly, find the Azragni.

And then kill him.

~{WWP}~

A/N:

Hello again everyone. I bet you weren't expecting to see another chapter up so suddenly were you? Well neither was I really, but here it is. Truthfully I broke what I was going to have planned for my next chapter in half at the suggestion of some of the other authors so the chapter didn't get to cluttered. Don't expect another chapter so soon though, because it will be full of closure between some characters, and I want to do justice to them.

In other news, Happy 1 Year Anniversary to FiMfiction!! Oh and Mandopony has a new song out, Listen to it!

Also, standard "Point out Mistake" goes as usual. Hope everyone has a great day.

Wrapping Up Some Loose Ends

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 11

~{WWP}~

I’ll spare you all a lot of boring exposition stuff that I could start off with at this point and skip to the ‘in closing’ section.

HOSPITALS SUCK!

There is nothing interesting about hospitals in the least bit. The sterile atmosphere stops any interesting scents, the walls are all painted the same whitewashed dull color, and even with Gustave supplying the staff with food for me they still manage to butcher it. I mean goddess damn I can even eat the meat raw but they still insist on fucking up my meals. I swear Spitfire told them to make my stay here as boring as possible.

Ok, so I lied about none of the expositiony stuff. My bad.

Speaking of the Wonderbolt captain, after the hospital staff gave me my first of many lack luster meals, the fiery mare decided to pop in and visit. Accompanying her was Soarin and none other than Fleetfoot. The latter seemed to be about ready to stab me with a scalpel, while the former had the look about him that he was going to flee the scene of a crime. Poor bugger must be afraid of hospitals.

While the group of three Wonderbolts looked at me with faces that actively showed their confusion, I decided to get the ball rolling already. I had more important things to do like plot out a murder.

“So to what do I owe the pleasure of three prestigious Wonderbolts visiting a lowly old bounty hunter like myself?” I asked with a smug look on my face. As if I didn’t know what they were here for.

Spitfire took a moment to pick out her words before broaching the subject. “Right now is a professional visit Zeta, so if you could avoid the jokes it would be appreciated. The faster you answer our questions, the faster we can get out of your coat and let you rest.”

Ok, out of everything that I was expecting, it was not that. “Fine, you guys are no fun. So what’s the business we have to take care of?” I huffed out. The one source of entertainment I’d probably get all day, and they have to ruin it. Dicks.

Spitfire reached into her saddlebag and pulled out some paperwork. “Ok, pretty much I’m going to need you to fill out these forms so you can claim the bounty while we question you ok?” she answered while placing the papers on my hospital table. “First off with the questions is, how many did you get alive?”

“None that I know of,” was my curt reply. I wanted to play as dumb as possible, so I could get more information about Azragni’s location.

Fleetfoot scoffed at my answer, like a bitch I might add, before retorting back. “Well you would’ve killed them all if that Beta a couple rooms over didn’t kick your ass from here to Trottingham and back.” What did I say, like a bitch. “I would’ve mopped the floor with a …”

“ENOUGH!” Spitfire yelled at Fleetfoot. I guess she was still in some pretty deep shit for all her derogatory comments towards me earlier. With a leer that could shatter anyone’s resolve from her C.O. Fleetfoot shut up.

Now if I played the part of ignorant fool right, I could get more information out of the Wonderbolts before they figure out any ill attempt. “Wait so that cock-sucking piece of shit is still alive? I thought I ripped out that prick’s throat.” But of course my mouth had to run like it was full of a bunch of Kenyans being chased by cheetahs.

All three of them give me such a ‘are you fucking kidding us’ look that I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Course then Soarin and Spitfire just looked at me like I got hit a little harder than they thought I did, but Fleetfoot just started glaring at me instead. I guess loathing is better than thinking I was mentally insane.

Spitfire just shook her head clear of whatever thoughts were clouding it after that little outbreak. “Anyway, yes he is still alive, so you’ll get another thousand on top of everything else. The bodies that the Royal Guard recovered numbered to about thirty-one. Can you confirm this number?”

I placed a paw to my chin and thought it out. After running over each kill in my head, I replied “Add about three more and you have it right on. I sorta went a little overkill with three of them in the grave room.” I shuddered at the thought of all of those kids bodies piled over the room. At least I gave them a proper burial.

Spitfire was about to say something but Sorian put his hoof on her shoulder and shook his head. He must have realized that it was slightly traumatic for me in that room, because he had this knowing look about him. I really needed to have a beer with that stallion.

“Ok then Zeta. So that’s two hundred and fifty, multiplied by thirty-four. That gives you a whopping eighty-five hundred bits. Plus the thousand for catching the Beta alive leaves you with a grand total of ninety-five hundred bits. Sound fair?” Soarin spat out the math real quick. It took me a good minute to double check his math before I gave him a quick nod.

“Thank god you are good with numbers Soarin. I’d be stuck here for another week trying to figure that all out without a calculator,” Spitfire joked. Then her mood changed yet again to one of a business mare. I swear they must have like a switch with how quick their moods can shift.

“The last thing we need to know Zeta, is did the Beta say anything to you about the escaped slaves or diamond dogs?”

“Yes, yes he did. And I am so glad you asked because now I don’t have to give a shit about it anymore,” I exclaimed almost too happy to get his threat off my chest. If I told the guards and the Wonderbolts, than I wouldn’t have to deal with any consequences that happen.

I spent the next hour explaining everything that Azragni told me and answering all the other pointless questions that came with it. Seriously though, I had about as much information as they did by after the first fifteen minutes, so all that really happened was speculation between both groups. Eventually I just got frustrated by the whole thing and let out a low growl to inform them that their time was up.

Fleetfoot jumped a good foot into the air when I did. Spitfire and Soarin just shut up and looked at me for a moment before they caught my hint.

“Thanks for all the help Zeta. We’ll get out of your coat now,” Spitfire declared, taking the now complete paperwork off my table. “I may stop by for a non-professional visit later in the week, but first I have to make sure you get paid.” And with a wink she was off, followed closely by the other two.

Within moments of them leaving the monotony returned, so I tried to distract myself with thoughts of what kind of house I could buy. I figured a nice three bedroom, one and a half bathroom house with a full kitchen, dining room and living room would suffice my plans. And of course I would need a shed in the back yard. OH and I almost forgot the most important part of any home; the man-cave in the basement.

What? Those are a necessity in this day and age.

My day wore on with the same boring shit. A little after another horrendous meal, another visitor showed up. When I heard the knock on the door, I was all excited to finally have something to do besides count the ceiling tiles (there were 48 if you were wondering) but that feeling quickly vanished as the doorknob was enveloped in a blue aura.

“Fuckberries,” was all I could mumble out before the one, the only, DJ PON-3 came trotting into my room. She didn’t look so hot either. Dark bags were underneath her eyes, and her cheeks were stained with what was left over from tears. Her signature shades were pushed up on her forehead, revealing her eyes. Don’t ask me what color they were, because I do NOT feel like getting into that argument. I’ll just let all the fans keep attacking each other about it.

Vinyl lifted her head and stared at me for a bit, the whites of her eyes bloodshot and puffy from crying. It took her a moment before she found her words but once she did, they were just as downtrodden as her appearance. “The Royal Guard didn’t find Octavia, and I was just wondering if you saw her?” she whimpered out. “The Guards mentioned rooms of dead bodies and mentioned she could’ve been in…”

The poor mare in front of me couldn’t even finish her own sentence. I could tell when someone was trying to be strong in front of others, since I’ve done it more times than I could count, and Vinyl was barely holding it in. I let out a long sigh before I answer her. “Yes I did see her in those mines. She was one of the fifty or so slaves that the fleeing diamond dogs took with them towards Gem Fido.”

Vinyl’s reaction was a mixture between depression and joy, if such a thing can exist. Ah, who am I kidding, I know it can exist because it was right in front of me. The joy on Vinyl’s face when I told her I had seen Tavi alive was amazing, almost like how I would smile when I was holding… pretend I never said anything there. But the depression when the DJ realized her friend was still missing and enslaved was just as evident.

“What will you do now?” was all I could ask her.

“Me? I’m going to be heading to Gem Fido to save my friend if I can. Until either Tavi is returned to me or I found out she isn’t with us anymore, I’m not going to stop.” Her resolve on this issue was astounding. As the mare turned to leave, she stopped once she was halfway through the doorway before turning to face me again. “Zeta, I hope that you sort out whatever problems you have and you find some peace. But DO NOT expect me to forget what you did. I leave neither friend nor enemy, but I can’t say the same if Tavi isn’t returned to me alive.”

I was left with a bemused expression as the door closed behind her. Even if she did partially threaten me if Tavi wasn’t safe later down the road, I took it with a grain of salt. There’s not much that Vinyl could do to me, so where is the danger of having her enslaved. Not like a god is going to send someone in with the sole purpose of killing me right?

The rest of the day was spent groaning in sheer boredom and running over facts in my head about killing Azragni. From what was let slipped in front of me, he was in critical condition, which makes sense since I almost ripped his throat out, and he was a couple door down from where I was at. Now I’ve been in a few ICU’s in my life (longer story than this one) and I knew for a fact that they had round the clock nurses on shift in case of an emergency. That put a huge damper in my plans, since I didn’t want anyone to KNOW I was the one to end that son of a bitch.

That meant I either had to kill whoever was on duty, which wouldn’t make it that inconspicuous of me, be EXTREMELY stealthy, which due to my injuries would be pretty tough, or just wait for some big event to distract everyone. All three of those possibilities were highly unlikely. I just slipped off into a deep sleep. No dreams or visions of horror bothered me this time.

The following morning was just as boring as the last with just as horrible food, if not worse tasting. I had no idea how you could make the crap I had yesterday taste any worse, but the ponies in the kitchen were determined. Fucking dicks. I thought ponies were supposed to be tolerant of other creatures, yet I swear the ponies in the kitchen take sadistic pleasure in making the worst food that could possibly be consumed.

My thoughts slowly shifted from killing Azragni to getting vengeance on those that would claim the slob before me was food. Hell, I’d be doing everyone in the hospital a favor if I killed the cooks. Those thoughts were soon distracted when a knock on my door snapped my attention away.

“Come in,” I yelled out. Not like I could stop someone if they wanted to come in anyway. All the damn machines and IVs hooked up to me.

The door burst open and in came Gustave, wing as a cape as always. Man can this guy make an entrance. I didn’t get that much time to dwell on it until the black and gray griffin kicked the door closed behind him and revealed a steak behind his wing.

“I know how despicable ze hospital food can be. Zerefore I decided to sneak you a little steak.” He was exaggerating when he said little by the way. Have you have ever seen Man vs Food and some of the eating challenges he has undertaken with steak? If no then you miss out on some tasty looking food. If yes, then picture one about two times bigger. I swear it was as if Gustave snuck a fucking cow into my room.

After he placed it in front of me, I just kept staring at the delicious meal before me with my mouth acting like a waterfall. About a minute later Gustave spoke up, “Well, what are you waiting for? Eat up!”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. Gustave patiently waited while I stuffed my face full of good food. After a good half an hour of feasting, I finally finished my meal enough to address my guest.

“So Gustave, what brings you here? Also thank you so much for the food. I didn’t know it was possible to mess up food as bad as they do here,” I joked. Gustave just chuckled along.

“Well, I figured you’d do something crazy if you didn’t get some gourmet cuisine in you. So I took ze liberty to bring you zat dish.” I couldn’t find any flaw to his logic. “And I also have a proposition for you, involving your new ‘career’ if you wish to pursue it further.”

This perked my interest. I did plan on continuing my stint as a bounty hunter/mercenary since it was a good source of income and let me cut loose a bit. “How are you going to help out with that?”

“Well, you see I have restaurants all over Equestria, and a few in Gem Fido. Zese places of business don’t always bring in the most ‘friendly’ of crowds if you catch my drift.” Gustave was being very subtle about what he meant, but I understood loud and clear.

“Ok then. So what would be the catch to helping out these ‘clients’ of yours?” I knew a little bit about organized crime and crooks back home, and they were not people you dealt with lightly.

Gustave coughed and glanced around the room. Once he made sure there were no cameras or anyone else that could see, he yanked a single feather from my right wing.

“OWWW!! What the hell was that for?!”

Stuffing the feather into his bag, the griffin slid me a note. “Well, I must be off Zeta. I shall see you when you are released from ze hospital.” Gustave then threw his wing around his arm and proceeded to leave. He just about reached the door when I shouted out to him.

“I need you to find someone for me actually. Her name is Maria, a young griffin. My guess is like 14ish. Tell her I’m in the hospital and need to talk to her. Afterwards I suggest you high tail it out of here, an Alpha is on his way to raze the port to the ground.” Damn I’m good. You guys try saying all of that in a single breath. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Gustave for his part just gave me a curt nod before finishing his exit. And that was the most entertaining part of my day. Honestly nothing else happened of interest for the rest of my waking hours. Standard medical crap and me bitching about the food.

That night was one of the few times I had ever been able to fall asleep and stay asleep without booze. No nightmares or terrors. So of course something else had to wake me up in the middle of the night to disrupt my sleep cycle.

I was woken from my slumber by a hoof shaking me awake. At first I tried swatting it away so I could stay in slumber’s sweet loving embrace. She was always a nasty bitch to me, so whenever slumber wanted to cuddle, I didn’t like being disturbed. Unfortunately the hoof decided to be fucking persistent. At one point I muttered something like ‘Fuck off’ but instead got a nice smack to the back of the head.

That did it for me. I jolted up and turned to face my assailant. There wasn’t much I could do physically, but a pissed off glaring wolf will usually make most ponies shit themselves. Prepping myself for that tactic, I was shocked by the pony in front of me.

It was a bright pink pegasus, with electric blue mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a pair of blue lightning bolts the same vibrant color as her mane and tail. Her bright blue eyes were staring at me with a real hard intensity too, like she could see into my soul. She then huffed at my snarl and started to make a few faces at me before cracking a smile.

“So we done trying to intimidate each other or do you want to continue? I mean, yours is pretty impressive for a 20 something year old, but I’ve had CENTURIES of practice on my game face. You just can’t compare,” the pegasus said with a chuckle. My fearsome snarl quickly swapped out with my ‘confused puppy dog’ face, which only made the pegasus laugh more.

I stuttered for a few minutes, trying to figure out exactly what she said. “How can you be centuries old? You don’t look a day past 25. Hell, if you really want to be old I’ll say you’re 30, but I wouldn’t bet on that.”

“Well, you obviously don’t know your Equestrian Legends huh?” was her quick response. When she saw me shake my head no, she face-hooved. “Well this could take a little longer to explain then I was hoping. Oh well, it’s not any time off my back.”

The intruder to my room went over and grabbed a chair and dragged it over to my bedside. “Well, I think we should start with names. Mine is Firefly, the First Wonderbolt and Breaker of the Barriers. And you are?” The pony gestured with her hoof in my direction.

“The name is Zeta, the Winged Wolf.”

“Oh come one, I’m sure you can come up with a better name than that. No fancy titles or anything?” Damn this pegasus was annoying. I just went with my favorite Big Macintosh quote.

“Nnope”

Firefly thought for a moment with her hoof on her chin in thought for a moment before speaking again. “Well, I have one. Considering you are a cynogriffin, and there hasn’t been one seen since Senmurv, I hereby dub you Senmurv’s Heir.” She was obviously happy about her newest achievement, but it begged the question who was she that could declare things like that.

Then I face-pawed when I realized I missed a huge piece of information she spat out. “What do you mean by the ‘First Wonderbolt’? Wouldn’t that make you like…”

“Centuries old? Why yes, thank you for noticing,” Firefly cut me off with a giggle.

“Holy shit! How the hell do you look like you are only like, 20 something? That doesn’t make any sense?” My mind was freaking out now.

Firefly took a deep breath. “Ok, I’ll just give you the simplest version of the story. The reason I’m here is to coach you with the speed barriers, which you’ve broken two of already. You won’t understand WHY I’m centuries old without learning the basics. So you sit tight and keep your muzzle shut got it?” I just nodded and waited for her to start her explanation.

“Ok, so in our world there are barriers in place that control, or have a strong connection with, some fundamental force. They are known as the Seven Speed Barriers, because there are seven of them, duh, and that they also restrict speed.

“The names of the barriers are as followed; Sound, Magic, Wind, Nature, Force, Energy, and Time. Breaking each one causes a different effect, a fact you, my furry little friend, should be well aware of.” She patted me on the head for that one.

I was just about to ask a question when she placed her hoof on my muzzle. “I told you to keep your muzzle shut remember?” A quick nod was all I gave her before she continued. “I was the first, and only, pony to break all Seven Speed Barriers. It took me a while to get there though. The first two came pretty naturally, which is where the term Wonderbolt came from. It is the effect of breaking the second barrier that the electrical storm surround you.”

Firefly took a breath before wrapping up her speech. “Anyway, that’s why the team name was called the Wonderbolts, after my favorite attack. Also, once I broke the Seventh Speed Barrier of Time, I kinda made it my play thing, so I can’t die of age. The reason I’m here is because you have the potential, as did most of your race before they were killed off, to break most of the barriers. So I’m going to train you to become a better flier. Otherwise you’ll cause a lot of unneeded havoc. Got it?”

I just sat there in silence for a bit, letting the news hit me. I was going to be trained by a Legendary Hero of Equestria?! “You do know that I kill things right?” I asked. Ponies are so anti-violence, that’d probably turn her away from the deal.

“I have literally blown up islands full of creatures trying to hurt Equestria. I’m not some panzy pony. I am just going to make sure you don’t kill something accidentally. So you game?” Firefly spit on her hoof and stuck it out.

Without a moment’s more hesitation, I spat into my paw and met her hoof. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up. After we were done shaking, Firefly went over to the window and threw it open.

“Well, I’ll see you around. Don’t do anything stupid before then!” she shouted before shooting off into the sky.

Before I passed back out, I made a mental note to ask Spitfire about Firefly when she finally decides to visit. And then I was out.

Only to be rudely awakened by the nurse bringing me the slob that was my breakfast. After eating Gustave’s superb cooking, being forced to eat this shit again was torture. And yes I know I’ve spent a huge part talking about the shitty food, but it deserved that much attention for how bad it was. I swear cardboard would taste better than it. That’s how I spent the better part of my morning. Eventually, after a grueling lunch, a knock on the door brought faith back into my life.

I hummed to myself after announcing that they could come in, “Today’s distraction is brought to you by…Maria! Nice to see you again!” That last part was out loud once she opened the door just so you know.

The shy griffin waved at me before gently closing the door behind her. She took a seat in the chair Firefly had sat in earlier, and just sat there looking so adorable.

“So I take it Gustave found you ok?” I started the conversation. If I waited for her to do it, then I could be here all week.

“Yup, I was just out getting some fruit when he found me. He said you have something important to tell me?” the sweet hearted girl responded.

At that moment I realized something. Every single person I’ve talked to in Tailton, every single conversation, ended up with me being the mood killer. Seriously, what the fuck?

“Yeah, remember how I told you to run to Briarhoof Mill if something bad was going to happen?” She just nodded her consent. I took a deep breath and sighed before finishing, “well I think now would be a good time to get a move on.”

Maria seemed shocked that I would suggest such a thing. “B…But I like it here. People are nice to me even if I am a griffin. Why do I have to go?” She was starting to tear up now. God damn I wanted to comfort her so badly right then, but I had to be cold here. She would be in danger if she stuck around any longer like I plan to.

“I’m sorry Maria, but remember those diamond dogs? Well they got angry at the town, and are coming here to attack it. I don’t want you anywhere near this place when that happens.”

“Wh…what about you though?” she started crying a little bit at this point, and looked down at the floor.

I used my paw to lift her face to look her in the eye. “I still have things I need to finish here. I’m really sorry, but this will probably be the last time we see each other. I want you to safe ok kid? Find some friends to take care of you. Promise me?”

Maria latched onto me in a powerful hug and kept crying for a bit more before she got out a weak “ok” sealing the promise. We sat and idly chatted for a couple more hours before she had to get going. We shared one last good-bye hug and she was gone.

The best part of that day though, was dinner time. When the nurse came in, the food actually looked edible, and she brought me BEER! I downed the entire mug before she left the room, causing her to giggle. After I placed the empty mug down, and wiped the foamy mustache off my face, I shot her the question that needed to be asked.

“What’s the occasion that you give patients beer?”

The nurse smiled brightly at the question. “We just received news that the Elements of Harmony have stopped Discord! The entire town is celebrating. The nurses on duty brought in a keg and a couple bottles of wine, and I decided to share it with some of the patients.”

New. Favorite. Pony.

Ok, well not really. I still knew of a certain pegasus in Ponyville that held that title, but this nurse definitely has claimed second place. Anypony that is willing to share booze with a guy strapped up in a hospital is an instant favorite in my book. Another thought spawned in the back of my mind now.

“Hey, what would it take for a cynogriffin to get another drink?” I kindly asked the nurse. She gave me a funny look, but in the end relented.

“Ok, let me deliver all of the meals, and I’ll come back here and take you over to the nurse’s station. We can have a few more drinks there with the other on call staff.” And then she was gone and my plan was forming.

It took the nurse another twenty minutes before she came back and unhooked me from the heart monitor. By this time I had the IV drip out for a couple hours since I got all the medicine needed in my system. Once I got out to the nurse’s station, I saw the keg and the bottles of wine, along with all the nurses sitting around with wine glasses in their hooves (still want to know how they work) chatting merrily.

The chit chat stopped abruptly when they saw me heading over in my hospital gown.

“Um, I’m sorry sir, but patients in this wing are supposed to be confined to their rooms. How about I escort you back?” said a slightly pudgy nurse.

“Oh we can let him have a few drinks right now. Not every day that an evil entity gets stopped Lolly Pop.” The nurse that brought me commented.

“Well there was the last Summer Sun Celebration where the Elements of Harmony stopped Nightmare Moon…” another one of the nurses started.

“Enough! Fine Marigold, he can stay for some drinks. Let’s just hope he isn’t a lightweight though,” Lolly Pop stated as she finished off her glass.

I just gave a wicked grin and sat down to accept a mug from Marigold. Now my plan goes into full swing, and it goes with one of the main traits that I have perfected in my short time of drinking. Time to drink until all the mares black out.

And who said you don’t learn anything from being in a frat.

Within an hour of drinking heavily, all of the nurses were completely incapacitated. It had taken me longer to get Lolly Pop to go down, but I have yet to meet a woman alive that could out drink me.

I took a nice whiff of the air and identified where Azragni was currently being held. Even with all the antiseptics and cleaning solutions in the air, the hospital staff couldn’t hide the scent of a diamond dog. I chuckled to myself as I started to head over in the direction.

Well, I guess stumbled over there was a better choice of verb. I will be the first to admit I was trashed at this point, but still functional unlike the nursing staff. And they had the audacity to infer I was a lightweight. I continued to stumble around the hospital for a few more minutes, having a laugh to myself thinking of how pissed those nurses will be with themselves in the morning, when I found the door I was looking for.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and put on my game face. The clear glass window showed the bandage over my eye, and I had to say it looked rather badass. I didn’t dwell on it too much as I pushed open the door and took a peek inside.

Azragni was out cold on the hospital bed. He was hooked up to about a dozen different machines, and besides the heart monitor and the IV drip, I had no idea what the rest of them where for. He also had a feeding tube shoved down his throat, or what was left of it and had restraints tied to his arms and legs. That made my job easier.

I walked over to Azragni’s side and lifted my paw. With a quick motion, I slammed my paw as hard as I could onto one of the nastier looking burns on his chest. The dog’s eyes shot open in pain, unable to even whimper thanks to the damage I did to his throat. He glanced over in my direction and gave me a nasty looking glare as he struggled to break free from his bonds.

“Now, now. I can’t have you making too much racket,” I sadistically stated as I slammed my paw down on his burn again. This elicited another spasm of pain where the once proud diamond dog arched his back and strained even harder on the bindings around his wrists and ankles. The scent of blood filled my nostrils as I saw it trickle down his extremities. I grinned at this.

“Oh I’m sorry, did that hurt?” I asked in the most evilly sarcastic voice I could muster. Azragni just glared at me in return. I answered his glare by jabbing my claws into his burn wound this time. “Didn’t your mom ever tell you it’s rude to stare?” I scoffed at him.

“Oh, but that’s right. My mom told me not to play around when I had a job to do…” I continued, voice dripping with malice. I slowly pulled my claws from his chest, and carved my way up towards this throat. The beta’s eyes widened with fear as his pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks. I laughed cruelly as I placed a single claw on the far side of his neck.

“Just so you know, I’m now kind of glad Spitfire and Soarin saved your ass. This is much better payback for the mines than just ripping your throat out. I won’t be seeing you again,” and with that I pulled my razor sharp claw across his neck. Blood quickly seeped out of the wound and down into the gaping hole of his airways. The Dog was convulsing as he tried to clear his lungs of the blood that was causing him to drown on dry land...

I just sat there and watched, laughing the whole time.

~{WWP}~

A/N:
Ok, this one took a lot longer than I was expecting it to. I actually cut it short at the end, but I figured I could move Spitfire's scene to the next chapter along with everyone's reaction to the murder. And yes, I am happy I can still justify the Dark tag i have going. I've come to realize I love writing a character that people love to hate. I give him some good moments, and then he turns around and does crazy shit like this.Tis entertaining, even if it is an unpopular style.

The next chapter shall wrap up the Tailton Arc, and it'll forward onto new and better things. Or not, but that's for your opinion. I have like two or three chapters that I want to do in between this Arc and the next one as a sorta intermission/timeskip. The next Arc shall be entertaining, and was already foreshadowed in earlier chapters.

Also, if you have any jobs you think Gustave would send over to Zeta, post it in the comments below and it may wind up being included in the story. If I like the idea, I'll shoot you a PM to discuss it a bit more. Yeah.

Same thing with grammar and shiz. Just point out any errors and I'll try and fix them.

Endings Are Just New Beginnings

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 12

~{WWP}~

After Azragni gurgled his last breath through the small pool of blood in his throat, I just stood there for a bit. I had just cut the last tie I really had to staying in Tailton. I could just fly out the window and never look back, but then I’d definitely get a bounty and wouldn’t be able to pick up my money from Gustave’s place.

Not wanting that, and not being able to find anything that I could light the body on fire with, I just figured I would take my chances of staying in the hospital and playing dumb. I really doubted the fact that I was the only one that wanted this diamond dog dead. That plus the fact that there was a small population of griffins in town meant there would be plenty of suspects.

With that line of thinking, I threw open the window, and then left the room and stumbled back to my own. After quickly locking the door and the window, just in case, I dropped onto my bed and passed out.

The hospital was in complete chaos the next morning. The nurses that were on duty were flipped out at and almost lost their jobs, a few members of the Royal Guard that were supposed to be getting ready to head to Wethoof had gotten reassigned to figure out the murder, and the doctors had to explain to Soarin and Fleetfoot why their important witness was killed in the hospital. I on the other hand was laughing to myself the whole time.

Unsurprisingly, I was the first creature they came to interrogate that morning. Fleetfoot was up in my face the entire time, accusing me of cold murder, how I was nothing but a “miserable mutt”, you know the same old shit from the racist. Soarin on the other paw was trying his best to be “good cop” throughout the whole process.

On my part, I just stuck to my story I thought up of stumbling back to the room. I joined the nurses for some drinks, and after they all passed out I went back to my room, locked the door, and passed out. It WAS partially true anyway. I just left out the part where I killed Azragni. No biggie.

The rest of the day was boring though, no visitors or anything. The only positive was that the doctor told me I would be able to leave tomorrow afternoon. After the meager meal, and cursing the kitchen staff and hospitals in general, I fell back into slumber’s embrace.

“Wake up you lazy sack of bits!”

I just rolled over and ignored whoever it was that was yelling at me to wake up the next morning. I was just about to fall asleep one more time when a hoof smacked me in the back of the head in another attempt to rouse me from my sleep. Now normally that wouldn’t have worked, or had just caused me to swat away the offenders hoof, but having recently recovered from a severe concussion, my head started throbbing like crazy.

I yelped in pain and shot straight up in the air with my wings. Once I had settled back onto the bed, I glanced over and saw an angry looking Spitfire, sans uniform, glaring at me.

Why does this seem familiar? Oh right, pissed off mare that I didn’t sleep with yelling at me to wake up. Fuck me sideways.

“What do I owe the lovely pleasure Spitfire?” I asked, not trying at all to hide the anger in my voice at being woken up.

“Well besides it being like, three in the afternoon and you being discharged at one, I have my day off duty today and I said I would visit. So here I am, and I’ll be damned if I let you sleep through my day off!” Spitfire declared, her voice having steadily gotten louder during the course of her speech. The glare she was giving me almost made me want to go back and fight Azragni again in the mines.

I said almost!

I glanced over at the door, wondering if I’d be able to make a break for it before Spitfire could get me, and saw the doctor standing there. I waved him in, and saw his sigh of relief. “So let me guess doc, you were hiding out there since Tartarus has no fury like that of a mare’s scorn right?”

The doctor just laughed as he started to undo the bandages on my head. After a quick inspection, he signed me off and said I was free to go. I glanced at a mirror before I left, and the only visible differences were the two scars I now had. A long thin one streaking down the left side of my body, and another thin scar going over my left eye vertically. Pretty fucking badass if I say so myself.

As we left the hospital and headed into town, Spitfire kept giving me sidelong glances, just to look away anytime I tried to meet her gaze. Eventually, I got fed up with her acting like a high schooler with a crush, so I initiated an age old tactic to get them to stop.

Embarrass the hell out of them.

“You know if you take a picture it’ll last longer right?” I joked with a wry grin plastered on my face. Spitfire jumped at that one, blush on her face. That was all it took for me to keep goading her. “I mean, I know chicks dig scars and all, but no reason to throw yourself at me.”

In all of my laughing at Spitfire’s misfortune, I didn’t notice the hoof she threw and was knocked into the ground by it. The blow wasn’t a hard one, but enough so I was looking up at her flustered face.

“I’m not much into the hitting stuff personally, but if that’s what you want I guess I can swing that way Spitfire,” I joked, adding a wink for good measure. I just barely managed to avoid the yellow hoof from hitting me again.

“Zeta, I swear if you keep this up, I’ll buck you into next Tuesday!” Spitfire snarled.

I should’ve known better than to keep pushing it, but that set-up was just too good to waste. “Whoa Spitfire, slow down there. I’m not one for ‘bucking’ on the first date, specially not for only knowing you a week! I’m a classy guy who likes dinner and a movie first, perhaps followed by a walk on the beach,” I jokingly barked out. I was laughing to a bit afterwards, until a Spitfire decided her hoof and my muzzle needed to be best friends.

“You are unbearable sometimes Zeta,” Spitfire declared as she continued to saunter off towards Gustave’s restaurant. I just hopped back up to my paws and followed to catch up.

Once we got into the eating establishment, Gustave ushered us into the back room and brought us some food and drinks before joining us himself. I was genuinely happy at that moment in time just sitting around a table joking around with my two new friends. After we had all finished our meals and a couple drinks, I realized I needed Gustave to answer a few questions.

“So my feathery amigo, why’d you take my feather again?”

“Ah, yes. Allow me to properly explain now. Each of my fine establishments have a magic line connected to zem. Zis line allows me to announce my arrivals,” Gustave began. “By connecting zat line with your feather, I’ll be able to send you messages from any of my restaurants wiz contracts that you could fulfill if you wish.”

I just stared at him while I put together what he was saying. “So will these letters just materialize out of thin air in front of me or something?” The prospect seemed really interesting, and profitable as long as I wouldn’t be puking out letters like Spike did in the show.

Gustave plucked a feather from his wing and handed it over to me. “I’ve already put ze instructions to construct the port in a house in your saddle bags. Ze letters would be sent to your house, or wherever you build your box.”

“Sounds good to me, but will I be able to build the box on my own? I’m not exactly good with tools…” I replied, rubbing the back of my neck.

Spitfire just sighed and answered for the griffin. “You can hire somepony to build it for you. They aren’t that hard to make really.” Then she reached over and plucked a feather from my wing too.

“What the hell? I’m not preening, so why are you ripping out my feathers out?” I yelped.

“Well the Wonderbolts have the same type of communication lines. Being a military organization in a peaceful country means we often get asked by higher class ponies to be escorts on their trading caravans and stuff. The problem is we can’t help if they leave Equestrian borders,” Spitfire explained quickly. “If we get any of those requests, I’ll send them your way, since you don’t have to deal with international rules, even if Equestria is the only ‘real’ country.” She finished it off by tickling my nose with my own feather, laughing at the expression it caused me.

“I’m pretty sure that’s cruel and unusual torture, using a cynogriffin’s own feather to tickle him,” I laughed, attempting to knock Spitfire’s hoof away.

Gustave just laughed as he excused himself to the front of the restaurant. Spitfire followed me upstairs so I could check on my things and make sure all of my money is in order.

“Don’t bother counting it, I delivered the money here myself. I even let you keep the ‘Live’ bounty on the Beta you killed,” Spitfire stated rather bluntly. Before I could even utter out a syllable to defend myself, she cut me off. “And don’t try and deny that you did. I’m not an idiot, and neither is Soarin. We both know that it was you, but we just turned the blind eye, so to speak.”

I just stopped and stared at her as she walked by after that revelation. She hopped onto the bed Gustave set aside from me and laid down, and started staring at me somewhat seductively. After a bit of awkward silence and staring between the two of us, she finally relented.

“So, you are going to join me here or what?” Spitfire purred, rubbing the spot on the bed next to her.

It honestly took all of my will power not to start laughing at that point in time. I’ve known this mare for like a week, and she wants me to sleep with her. Hell, I may be a frat boy, but I still have standards.

“Sorry Spitfire, like I said I’m a classy guy. First dates are dinner and a movie, maybe a romantic stroll down a beach during the sunset,” I managed to get out without laughing. “Maybe next time, ok?” I added after noticing the upset look on her face. I sat down next to her and put my paw on her face.

“Listen, I’m not exactly someone you want to get involved with Spitfire. You’ve got a great military career in front of you. I kill people. It never would’ve worked between us.” Again Jack Sparrow, you never fail me.

Spitfire continued to stare at me sadly, but realization was slowly dawning on her. Pretty soon she was blushing pretty hard, realizing how crazy her idea was. “Um…think we can pretend that never happened?”

I laughed at her, until the hurt look she gave me shut me up. “Let’s put it this way, I’ll never let you live it down, but we’ll keep it as our own little private joke.” This apparently didn’t fly well with her since I had to jump over the lunging mare. As she did, I managed to get one of her feathers and reach my bags.

Reaching the window as pillows started to fly over my head; I threw them open and spread my wings. Turning my head I gave her a sly wink with my left eye, showing off the badassery that my new scar gave, before shouting out to her, “M'lady. You will always remember this as the day that you almost caught Zeta! The Winged! Wolf!" and I sonic rainboomed my ass out of there, never looking back.

Well, until I read in a newspaper about a week later that the entire city was burnt down by a dragon, but does that count as looking back?

~{WWP}~

A/N:

Finally finished the Tailton Arc. I bet you guys thought I was going to have Zeta cave into Spitfire's seduction didn't you. Well, joke's on you. Also, incase the title confuses anyone, this isn't the end of the story, just the end of the Arc.

Sorry for the delay in posting as well, but Thardoc was making some crazy shit in Minecraft, but he still got it all edited in under 24 hours. Though his Minecraft Project is pretty awesome and I think you'll all enjoy it if he decides to post it for public viewing.

I'm also going to be working on two more spoof one-shots like my Nazi Pony Zombies, so look forward to them.

Next up for Zeta is a 6 or 7 chapter Mini Arc I'm simply labeling as 'Living' before the next big one, so I can have a time skip and build his characterization a bit more. Soon you'll get the full story as to what happened to Zeta on Earth that made him hate rich people so much. See ya around!

Change of Pace

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 13

~{WWP}~

After flying away from Tailton for a day or so, I finally decided to land and go hunting. I had managed to catch a few birds midflight, and while that could keep me satisfied for a bit, it was the equivalent to eating french-fries instead of a burger. Not very filling at all. Plus birds are all feathery and shit. It’s like having a hair in your mouth, but like ten times worse.

And don’t even get me started on what they do to your craps.

Anyway, I was learning that hunting without any bait was pretty difficult. I mean, sure animals here are a lot more docile, and less likely run away from things, but a wolf isn’t one of those things. The moment I had landed it was as if the forest went into defcon-1. The only other creature I saw was a manticore who gave me a weary look before trudging off in the opposite direction.

I bet right now you are all thinking “but you’re a wolf. Isn’t your sense of smell good enough to find a deer or something else?” Well guess what, I hadn’t really smelt to many deer by that point in time, and when you land in a forest with literally THOUSANDS of different scents, it can be sort of difficult to pinpoint one over the others. The only reason I could do it in the mines was since there were ponies, griffins and diamond dogs down there. Not hard to pinpoint the difference between the three, though I got pegasi and griffins mixed up sometimes. Damn feathers.

Anyway, so hunting down animals in the woods, with no bait, and no way to track them by scent really sucks. I spent a good hour running around as silently as I could hoping to find some sort of game to eat. Eventually, as luck would have it, I spotted a couple of wild boars nomming on grass. I could almost smell the bacon now.

I crouched real low to the ground, and slowly started crawling over towards the boars. They were both oblivious to my approach, courtesy of the pads on my paws. I was ducking right below the brush line, and moving my paw forward when…

I made sure I placed it on the other side of that inconveniently placed stick. Thought I didn’t see you there didn’t you bastard? I wasn’t about to make that mistake of snapping a branch right before the kill. I was watching the ground the entire time.

Too bad for me that means I took my eyes off of my prey. I glanced up from the near miss to see the clearly completely empty of boars. Apparently in the time I looked down to make sure I didn’t make any noise while getting ready to pounce, the boars had their fill and left.

I just faced pawed and started muttering about my horrible luck. Dropping many obscenities along the way, I shoved my way through the bushes and along a dirt trail I noticed on the other side of the clearing. I just trudge my way onward, hoping a rabbit or some other dumb animal would cross my path so I could eat it.

There wasn't anything interesting, except maybe some flowers, but I’m a manly man, and we don’t stop and smell flowers and enjoy that shit.

Ok, so I frolicked through the fields for a while, but I couldn’t help myself. It has always been a childhood dream to find a field of wildflowers and run around and play in it. Fulfilling a childhood dream trumps looking manly any day of the week.

Following the path for after I was severely covered in pollen, I heard a noise coming from up ahead. Leaping over a thorn bush, I found a small pool of water that had a waterfall draining into it. Behind the waterfall was a small cave, sheltered from the rest of the world. With the sun slowly setting on me now, I figured that would be a great spot to sleep. Jumping through the water, I shake myself dry and curl up into a little ball, calling it a night for now.

Morning birds woke me up. Gazing out from behind the falls, I could see a couple shapes drinking from the creek. Thank the gods! Now I can finally eat! I lunged out from behind the water towards one of the shapes, and slammed into a wall of muscle.

Looking up from the position I was in, I see that in my haste of getting a meal I had decided to try and eat a full grown, male moose. I’m not going to bother describing him; since I’m pretty sure you all know what a moose looks like, but I will say that I never thought they were this big. It was bigger than my car back home.

“Now what manner of beast are you? I can’t say I have seen you in these woods before.” The moose spoke to me, in an old wise sounding voice. Almost like the guy who voiced acted for Yoda, except could speak in proper sentences.

The moose just stared at me for a bit, waiting for a response. For the first time I was at a loss for words. If I told him I’m a wolf, or cynogriffin for that matter, he’d realize that I just tried to take him down as prey. The smart thing to do would be to just back away slowly, and fly off as fast as I could, but as you know, hindsight is 20-20.

“I’m a cynogriffin, and I’m currently STARVING,” I declared in my most regal voice. It would’ve been a lot cooler if my stomach didn’t start rumbling right then. I just dropped my head in embarrassment.

The moose just chuckled. “Well my young friend, that is apparent. I am Anttila, proctor of this wood. I’m sure we can find you a viable source of food. Come, follow me,” Anttila seemingly ordered me, as he began to walk towards the forest.

I followed him away from my little cave, thanking as many gods as I could think of that he didn’t recognize me as a predatory creature right away. I guess wolves really DID die out in Equestria if a proctor of the forests didn’t know what one was.

Speaking of which, “What exactly does a ‘Proctor of the Forest’ do anyway?”

“Well you see young one, the Proctor of the Forest it is my duty to look out for the animals around here. A stag or moose is picked out by Celestia when each forest reaches a certain size and needs to be made safe for ponies to travel through. The Proctor is gifted with intelligence to perform the duties necessary, and the title is passed down through the generations.” The old moose took a deep breath before continuing. “The duty involves making sure they get enough to eat, and that the carnivores don’t over hunt other creatures. All to keep the forest in balance.”

“Sounds like a pretty risky job, having to deal with all those carnivores,” I mutter out, positioning myself behind him on a side.

“Why yes, which is why the Proctor has certain wards to protect him against those beasts that don’t have a mind. That way I can reason with them more closely. Good thing too, because since I have no heir, if I was to off and die there wouldn’t be a proctor no more,” Anttila joked.

“What would happen then?” I continued to question, happily following his lead.

“Oh the animals would become much less friendly, and making it dangerous for creatures to travel through the woods. Plus the populations would go a little crazy,” the old moose continued. “It is a shame that my herd moved on without me, but my job didn’t allow me to follow. The curse is that I can’t die of old age until a new Proctor is found or I die on the job.”

That gave me pause mid lunge. I spread my wings just enough to let me fall back down on the ground softly. I don’t think that Anttila realized I had wings yet, so I folded them back close to my body before continuing to follow him. Maybe he realized I ate meat already and was taking me to an old boar to eat.

My suspicions fell short though, when we arrived in an area full of wild peach trees. There had to be a hundred different trees, all full of ripe and juicy peaches. If I was still a human, I’d thought I went to heaven. Unfortunately being a carnivore, I couldn’t stomach them anymore.

Antilla gestured to the fruit bearing trees before us. “You may pick as many fruit as you like traveler. I realize that you probably prefer something a little more hardy for a journey, but this will have to do until you can get to a town,” the moose said as he turned to me. “Go ahead.”

“Um, I hate to be a bother, but could you help out? I’m not really cut out for knocking stuff out of trees,” was my reply. The moose shrugged his shoulders and turned about face once again. The moment I knew he couldn’t see me I shot up into the overhanging branches and out of view.

I’ve watched enough Discovery Channel to have seen how a wolf takes down a moose before, so I sat up in the tree and wracked my memory for the information I required. Something along the lines of the pack eating at their heels for a while and then ripping it apart from the back side.

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. No way that plan was going to work with just one of me. Plus, Anttila was a rather nice host; I didn’t want to make him suffer. Thinking up of another way to bring down the moose, it was time to bring my plan into action.

Anttila was directly below me at this point, looking around for where I most have gone. I hadn’t noticed that he knocked probably twenty or so peaches on the ground as well. I leaped out from the branches and landed on his back, sinking my claws as deep as I could into his hide.

Anttila instantly reacted to the pain, though he couldn’t see who it was attacking him due to his antlers. He started bucking like a mad moose, trying to shake me off, all while yelling in pain. Not wanting to prolong this, I snapped by jaws at the base of his neck, and point as much pressure as I could on it.

With a resounding crack and a slight shudder from Anttila, I snapped his neck. I jumped off the top of him and glided down from the once mighty proctor’s shoulders as his body collapsed. I proceeded to eat my fill, and afterwards used my claws to cut up as many chunks of the moose that I could fit into my bags. Afterwards I buried what I couldn't carry and made him a makeshift cross to mark the grave.

Getting back into the air on a full stomach was nice, and I started flying towards the east, where I knew Ponyville should be. After another week and a half of flying at a lazy pace, I finally saw the town approaching in the dead of night.

“About fucking time, I thought it was like, a couple days max,” I complained to myself in the cold night. Taking out the map, I do a double take on it. I had crossed out ‘Tailton’ in another small town during my journey after I found out it was burnt to a crisp, and scribbled about it were other locations and landmarks I had found on the trip. Of course on the map, there was no scale to determine how FAR away everything is. And just in case anyone is wondering, they still don’t have a scale. Fucking cartographers.

I spent the night sleeping on a stray cloud, thanking Eris for giving me such a thick coat of fur, but I was worrying about any ponies that may be outside sleeping on this cold night. Actually only one pony if I was being a hundred percent honest. Of course I didn’t know if that pony WAS outside really, but I still worried about her. I feel into a restless sleep again, like I had for most of my journey.

I was woken up rather rudely by having a pegasus kick my cloud out from underneath me, causing me to drop a good forty feet out of the sky. I only managed to spread my wings out and slow my descent in the last ten feet, still crashing into the ground pretty hard.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry about that,” called down a cream colored mare, with pink and green hair and mane. I swore she looked familiar, but I just couldn’t place a name with her. “I’m Blossomforth by the way. What’s your name?”

“The name is Zeta.” I shouted back up. The mare just nodded and started to fly away before a gray mare with blond hair and mane showed up.

“Who’s the new guy?” her friend asked, looking down at me. “He’s pretty cute.”

“His name is Zeta,” Blossomforth answered. Seeing my confused face, she began to blush before stammering out, “oh, sorry about that. Zeta, this is my friend Cloud Kicker.”

I simply nodded to her newly arrived friend; getting a feeling she was sizing me up like a piece of meat more than I did to Anttila. After feeling like it was getting to the point of being creepy, I decided to snap them out of it.

“So, do either of you know where I would go to buy a house? I would like to move into this lovely little town, but don’t really know where to go from here…”

“Oh, that’d be heading to the mayor’s office. We can show you the way if you’d like,” Cloud Kicker answered as she landed on the ground, Blossomforth right behind her. “It’s only like a twenty minute walk really. Not that bad of a time.”

I smirked at that one. Apparently neither of them noticed my wings either. I guess the fact they match my coat’s coloration so well helps. Once they take the lead and assume I’m following them, Cloud Kicker swinging her hips a bit more than necessary, I spread my wings and fly above them. “If it’s a twenty minute walk, how long would the flight be?”

The two pegasi gawked at me for a moment when they saw me in the air. “You have wings?” Cloud Kicker yelled up to me.

I made an over exaggerated motion turning to look at my large feathery appendages, throwing a look of surprise on my face. “Well what do you know, I have wings! I wonder when that happened.” Sarcasm for the win.

Blossomforth just laughed and took to the skies, Cloud Kicker following close behind. Once they over took me, we set off towards Town Hall. From the vantage point in the sky, I could see all the important landmarks. Carousal Boutique, Sugar Cube Corner, the Library, and even the school and Sweet Apple Acres off in the distance, if I wasn’t stressing about buying this house, I would be in full blown nerdgasm state right now.

The flight only took like, two minutes. Once we had landed in front of the door, Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth wished me luck and trotted off, mentioning how hungry they were due to the morning shift. Entering the establishment, I found the vast openness of the main hall where the Summer Sun Celebration was held. Sitting in front of a pair of doors off to the right was a secretary in her desk, filing some papers. I silently approached the desk without her notice.

“Excuse me, but I’m here to speak with the Mayor about purchasing a house,” I declared as she continued her oblivious filing. Once she heard my voice, she jumped three feet into the air and dropped like a rock. “Are you ok miss?”

After the flustered mare reappeared, she answered. “Yes, thank you. I wasn’t expecting anyone in today. The mayor is right through those doors.” She didn’t even bother to take a glance at me the whole time, instead just picking up all of her papers.

I shrugged and walked right through the doors into the mayor’s office. The inside was a medium sized room, with book shelves, filing cabinets, and an assortment of other materials. On her desk was even more paperwork.

The mayor herself was sitting on her chair sorting through some paper or another mumbling about how to recover the town after Discord’s attack. Since it seemed like important work, I just sat back down and waited for her to finish. After about an hour and a half of sitting there though my patience was up.

Debating on which method would be better to announce my arrival to spook her best, I decided to give a nice long howl. I haven’t used that one before, and in fact I couldn’t remember ever howling before then. The result was a rather frazzled looking mare, with a crap ton of papers floating down like snowflakes.

“Who, wha…” Mayor Mare began, but then she got a solid look at me. Her pupils expanded rapidly and I could see her start breathing a lot heavier. Clear cut signs of an adrenaline fueled fear rush.

Shockingly though, as I was sidestepping away from the door, so I wouldn’t be trampled, the mayor had begun to regain her composure.

“I’m terribly sorry about that, you simply startled me is all. How may I help you?” Mayor Mare asked. I could still tell she was a little nervous, but her professionalism apparently came before her self-interest and every instinct that she had screaming at her right now. Very admirable.

“I’m sorry I spooked you, it’s just that I have been waiting here for around two hours now, and needed a way to get you out of the ‘zone.’ It’s just I would like to sort out my business here sooner rather than later.” I replied, as kindly as I could. This really wasn’t my thing, but it’s easier to be kind to people that you want favors from.

“And what sort of business do you have with me Mr?” Mayor Mare asked as she took her seat again, leaving the papers that were thrown around her office scattered to the winds. I just shrugged and took a seat on the other side of the desk from her.

“My name is Zeta. And I was informed that I need to talk to you about purchasing a house.” I reached into my saddle bags, moving aside one of the hunks of meat I still had, and grabbed my bag of bits. Tossing it onto the table I continued, “I have about 9,000 bits ready to spend on a house, and about another 2,000 to spend on furnishings if needed.”

The mayor’s eyes lit up when she saw the bag of bits land on her desk. She was stuttering out incomprehensible words for a couple of minutes before she realized I was still staring at her waiting for an answer.

“Ahem, excuse me for that. Currently we have about 5 houses for sale in Ponyville; I’ll just grab the files and take you on a tour to view them properly.”

With that, the two of us took off on a wonderful little trip around town. As we walked, she gave me a brief lowdown on the town life in general. I mentioned how I met Cloud Kicker, and she just rolled her eyes, whispering to me of the reputation that mare has. I guess when she leaned in though, she got a sniff of my saddle bags though, cause the next question was slightly awkward to answer.

“Mr. Zeta, what do you have in your bags? The smell is rather putrid if you don’t mind me saying.”

Well, there isn’t any way to avoid this one. “You see Mayor Mare, I’m a species known as a cynogriffin. I CAN’T actually eat vegetation in any manner, or I grow ill. On my travels, I found that bread, while lasting longer, was much harder to come by. So I took to hunting and smoking the meat to preserve it for longer periods of time.” Truthfully, I only figured out how to smoke the meat after most of Anttila started to grow rotten a couple days after I killed him. My first few attempts at smoking the meat resulted in a couple of wild fires, but I eventually figured out how to do it properly.

Of course, the meat in my bag was fresh from the day before. It was only a couple of rabbits (hopefully I got Angel bunny) so more of a snack than a meal. But the mayor didn’t have to know that.

She didn’t take the news as well as I had hoped though. “You eat meat?!?! Why would you do such a thing?”

I was just thankful she didn’t screech it to the entire town. Not worth causing a panic over someone’s eating habits. To answer her question though, I just shrugged my shoulders. “It’s just how I am mayor. The same way how you have to eat vegetation to live, I eat meat. Could I LIVE on just bread and pastries? Possibly, but I would be sickly and weak most of the time.” Glancing at her besides me, I can see she still isn’t exactly pleased with that piece of information. “Don’t worry though; I only hunt wild, clearly non-sentient creatures. I will probably fly deep into the Everfree if I am in need of hunting grounds.”

Yes, I told the mayor of Ponyville a blatant lie about my eating habits. But what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, and the fact the she nodded and continued on with the tour was all the proof I needed.

After a couple hours, we finally arrived at the last house, and I knew it was the one I was going to buy. It was a two story home, with both a full attic and basement. Two full bathrooms, one on the 2nd floor and in the basement which also had the perfect set-up for a man cave. Finally, there were 4 full bedrooms as well. The location was also a plus, being on the edge of town, and one of the closest buildings to the Everfree forest. All I really had to do was set up a shed in the back that I could have a massive freezer in for my meat.

“So how much will this guy cost me?” was the first question I had while gesturing to the house behind me.

“The standard asking price is 10,000 bits, but I’m sure we can take it down to 9,000 for you. The furniture you saw inside is included in the house as well,” The mayor responded. Turning back towards the center of town, she continues on. “We’ve been trying to sell that house for a while, but no one likes that property. Being so close to the Everfree Forest is quite unnerving to most.”

I just grin at that, still attempting to hide my sharp teeth as much as I could. “I don’t think that will be a problem for me.”

The rest of that day was spent in the mayor’s office, filling out paperwork and forms. Do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass it was to do? First I attempted to use my paws, but I couldn’t keep a grip worth a shit. Then trying to use my mouth to hold the pen like ponies do in the show was ridiculously tricky. I probably snapped through half a dozen pens, and it really didn’t help that they were all feather quill pens. Fucking feathers...

After signing my name for what felt like the millionth time, Mayor Mare finally nodded and said the magic words as she slid an envelope over to me. “That’s all the paperwork, congratulations on becoming a home owner in Ponyville.”

I happily grabbed the key and headed for the door, excited to sleep in a bed for the first time in a while, then I could start up my next plan. Before I left though, she shouts one last thing at me.

“As a fair warning, we have a certain resident here that loves throwing parties. She and her friends are out of town for the moment, but don’t be shocked if when she returns, you become the ‘guest of honor’ at one for moving here.”

I just smiled knowingly and continued to my new house.

After about a week’s worth of organizing and set-up, my new house was finally in working order. The hardest part was probably convincing the contractor I had hired to build a shed that housed a massive freezer in my backyard, but I slid enough bits to get him to agree towards its construction. My man cave was also complete. Built in bar and kegarator, with four different beers on tap. My house was awesome.

There was only one bedroom on the 2nd floor that had yet to be decorated. The only furniture present was a cloud bed, floating haphazardly a few feet above the ground. I had spent most of an afternoon finding the softest clouds I could to make this bed up. I had Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth help me out a bit, which they were more than happy too. When I didn’t put it in my room though, they were a little shocked. I just avoided their questions, and Cloud Kicker’s sexual innuendoes, and eventually they dropped it.

This room was reserved for someone that I had seen around town a few times since I moved in. Of course she didn’t know I was keeping an eye on her. And before anyone says that’s creepy as hell, no good bounty hunter dives blindly into something. I had to scout out my goal before I did anything rash. At least that’s what I figured out after the whole Azragni incident. Every bruise is a lesson, and every scar is a failure to abide by that lesson. If I was going to be serious about this whole Bounty Hunter/Mercenary gig, I couldn’t fuck up.

The one thing that everyone struggles with everyday made it necessary for me to force my hand that night. Time. Over the past week it had been getting colder and colder at night, and last night it there was the first frost of the season. Tonight had to be when I put my plan to the test. I still remember the last thought I had before I set out that morning to get this plan underway.

Hopefully everything will go according to plan.

To be honest though, the entire first phase of my plan went rather well. She was easy enough to track during the day, being as loud and obnoxious as she normally is. The only problem is how fast she could go. I mean, nowhere near as fast as I could go, but she’ll definitely be able to outdo the Wonderbolts in the speed department.

As the day continued to go by, I couldn’t help but remember my life before I got here. When I was back on Earth, I had a little sister. She was full of life, obnoxious, adventurous little thing. When she turned 9 I got her a scooter for her birthday and taught her how to ride it. Unfortunately she didn’t get the hang of it the first day. When I got home the next day though, as I walked from my bus stop, she came riding up on her scooter to great me, with the biggest grin on her face, and covered in little cuts and scrapes.

That was probably one of the proudest moments of my life. When we got home, I dropped my stuff off and we went right back outside, me on my longboard and my sister on her scooter spent the day riding around the neighborhood. When I tucked her in to bed, I made a promise that we’d do it again tomorrow. Tomorrow never came though.

While I was at school the next day, a school counselor sent a note for me to go to their office. When I entered the room, I knew something was wrong. The counselor, whose name has been lost since that day, sat across from me with sad eyes.

“Mark, we have to talk. We just got a call from your parents,” he began in a low ominous tone that only bearers of bad news seem to have. “They are both at the hospital currently…”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen to them?” I nearly yelled as I cut them off. My dad wasn’t in the best of shape, and was getting sorta old, so him having a heart attack wouldn’t be that surprising, and my mom had always suffered from the occasional seizure which could place her in one as well.

“Your parents are fine Mark. It’s your sister.” My heart froze in my chest at that point. I didn’t don’t even remember the rest of what happened that day, it was such a blur. I was dead to the world and scared shitless for my little sister.

The next coherent memory I had was in the hospital with my parents outside of her room. “So how is she?” I asked, trying to keep a brave face on. My mom was a wreck and my dad wasn’t doing a whole lot better. I was still at the dumb age where I thought real men didn’t cry. That idea didn’t last the night.

“She has Influenza,” is what my Dad told me.

“The flu? Why is Angel in the hospital for the flu?” none of it was making sense to me. I was a teenager, invincible. Sickness was just something you slept off for a night or two, usually long enough to get out of a class assignment.

“Well there was a complication. Apparently she has an autoimmune disease as well,” my dad continued. My mom was just shaking right now, apparently all cried out. “The combination doesn’t bode well Mark. She might not make it.”

That was the straw that broke my back. I yelled at the two of them, for hours I did. The doctors too, I just couldn’t believe that my little sister was going to die. I blamed my parents, I blamed the doctors, I blamed myself, and I blamed everything by the end.

It was the longest 6 months of my life while she was in the hospital. I would visit every day after school and for as long as visitor hours were allowed. My grades slipped, I alienated myself from my friends, and I never did apologize to my parents. In fact that was the only time I didn’t visit my sister is when they were.

Then one day it happened. That which I had been dreading since my sister had gotten sick. I had just gotten to the hospital after school, and was heading up towards my sister’s room when a couple of doctors and nurses ran by me with a defibrillator. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I watched them turn down the hallway my sister was in. I sprinted after them, slipping as I made the turn. Getting up from my spill, I had lost sight of the defibrillator unit, but I could see my parents out in the hallway instead of in my sister’s room, my mother crying hysterically while my father held her, tears streaming down his face.

I was frozen in place for what felt like hours. Eventually I snapped out of the trance and walked past both of them just and went to enter my sister’s hospital room. The door opened before I could reach it though, as a couple of doctors and nurses went by me, sad looks on their faces and the defibrillator between them. I approached the bed and sat in the seat that I always did when I visited. The look on my sister’s face was peaceful, like she was just napping, but she was so much paler than she was on that scooter. Her hair had become dull and brittle during her stay in the hospital as well. The heart rate monitor she was hooked up to was turned off.

I just laid my head down on the sheets and started bawling my eyes out. I wanted to say how much I was going to miss her, how I loved her more than anything. I wanted to tell her how in Heaven she’d get to meet grandma and grandpa, and see our old dog that died last year. I wanted to hold her tight and tell her everything will be ok, that she’d get better and we could ride her scooter again.

I wanted to say all of that and more, but I couldn’t form the words. All that escaped my throat was half choked sobs, nothing more. I cried myself dry, and kept going well past that. My parents eventually came in and took me home, my father honestly ripping from the bed and carrying me away from my baby sister.

I knew I would never forget that day either. Not only because of what happened, but because I also turned 16. My baby sister died on the day to celebrate my birth. It felt wrong, like the world was mocking me, even more so than it already had by taking her from me. After the funeral, I avoided my parents. I still blamed them for some reason, in what I can only amount to being a stupid teenager in the time where I could do no wrong and had all the answers. I was such a fucking dumbass.

When I turned 18, I had left my parents and found My Little Pony, and when I saw Scootaloo, I started to cry again. It was as if the show had taken my little sister and turned her into a pony. Her tomboyish attitude, her knack for adventure, stubbornness, confidence, and strong sense to stand up for her friends were all qualities they shared. Every time I saw a Scootaloo episode, or read a fan fiction about her I thought of my sister.

That’s why I needed to do this. I couldn’t save my little sister, but I’d be damned if I couldn’t help Scootaloo in some way. When I saw Vinyl and Tavi together, I figured some of the fans predictions could be right, and if that one was then the chances of Scootaloo needing help were extremely high.

Of course all that remembering distracted me from paying attention, and by the time I snapped out of it, and dried my face from the tears spilt remembering my sister, the moon was high above my head and I had no idea where Scootaloo was.

“God damnit!” I yelled to no one in particular as I jumped off my cloud and started flying through the night sky. As I flew towards Sweet Apple Acres, I could feel the cold autumn breeze rip through me. Flying was a bit harder too without any thermals to use as an extra boost.

I landed in the middle of the massive orchard fields within a while. It was way too dark for me to spot out their tree house in the dark, so I took to the ground. Using my hunter’s nose, I tried to pick up any scent that wasn’t apples, dirt, or trees. I could faintly smell something unnatural, and I figured that would be my best bet. Padding along, making sure not to lose the scent of whatever the hell it is, I stumbled upon the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse.

Looking around, and still following my nose, I found a couple of open paint cans were lying in the grass by the entrance ramp. I crept as softly as I could not wanting to frighten the filly I could smell on the other side of the door. Nudging open the door with my nose, I spied the sleeping filly shaking under a thin blanket in the middle of the room. What I did next probably caused WAY more trouble for me than I needed, but as I said before, hind sight is 20-20.

I laid down next to her, and curled by tail and head around Scootaloo’s shivering body, trying my best to keep the cold off of her. Finally, I spread my one wing over her like a blanket and felt a smile spread across my muzzle when I felt her stop shaking after about half an hour of me being there. After that, I slowly slipped into the night’s embrace, hoping for pleasant dreams for once.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHH”

I acted the moment the scream woke me up. Acting as quickly as I could, I leaped up from where I was laying down and crouched in front of the door. My hair was standing on end, wings flared, a snarl on my face and a deep growl resonating from my throat. If anything tried to get through that door and towards the scared filly behind me, I was going to rip its face off.

After standing there for about a minute, my brain slowly decided to start working again. I couldn’t anything moving outside, nor smell anything other than the filly behind me, wood, paint, and apples. I began to relax, figuring that Scootaloo just had a nightmare or something. As I turned around to face Scootaloo and saw her shaking with fear filled eyes; focused solely on me.

“Oh fuck nuggets,” I mumbled under my breath. I approached Scootaloo slowly, and crouching down so I’d be more eye level with her. “Look, I’m sorry. I di”

“PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!!!” Scootaloo screamed. “SOMEPONY HELP ME!!!!”

That was not good. I could faintly hear hoof steps galloping over here at this very moment. And they sounded pretty heavy. The last thing I wanted was to have Big Mac trying to kill me this early in the morning. Then I’d never get a chance to actually TALK to Scootaloo, let alone help her.

“Listen kid, relax. I’m not going to eat you, I promise.” I frantically tried to calm her down. This plan was going nowhere though as she kept yelling and screaming about how she didn’t want to get eaten, and how she’ll be good from now on, the basic groveling for your life spiel.

After both of us yelling about, I heard a deep low voice call up from outside. “Is anypony in there?”

My brain went from trying to calm Scootaloo down to full on panic mode, especially when she called out to Big Macintosh outside. “HELP ME! THERE’S A MONSTER TRYING TO EAT ME!!”

“Fuck this,” I lunged across the room, grabbing a screaming Scootaloo in my paws, being as gentle as I could, spun around and rocketed out of the door. I caught a glimpse of Big Mac falling flat on his back from the rush of air left me my wake. “SORRY!” I shouted down to the dazed draft pony before flying up into the clouds above.

I zoomed over towards the clouds floating over the Everfree forest, hoping that the weather ponies didn’t bother dealing with the wild nature of these clouds. Checking up on the filly in my arms, she was shaking just as much as when I found her in the clubhouse last night, though I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or exhilaration. The smile on her face made me think that latter, but her eyes were still full of fear.

As I set her down on a cloud, she clinged to my arm tighter than we were flying. I laughed softly at this. “What, never been on a cloud before?” Scootaloo just shook her head as she gripped onto my leg. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I’m standing on the cloud aren’t I?”

Scootaloo looked at me, fear slowly leaving her eyes as she realized I wasn’t lying. Tentatively, she placed some weight onto her hooves and released her death grip from my leg. Once she had all four hooves on the cloud, she started to slowly bounce around in a circle giggling like a mad filly. I just sat down and watched her with a goofy grin on my face. Even now I could hear my little sister’s laughter and excitement coming from the filly before me.

Once Scootaloo had calmed down, she turned and looked at me funny. Then her head dropped as she mumbled out “I’m sorry I yelled. I thought you were going to eat me.”

I just laughed at the apology. “You have nothing to worry about. You weren’t the first pony that thought that, and I doubt you’ll be the last.” What I didn’t mention is how I probably should’ve expected her to be petrified of a wolf when she woke up in the morning, but I wasn’t exactly thinking too much last night. “I’m glad to see you are enjoying yourself up here.”

Instantly her mood went from sullen and sad, to energetic and rambling. “OH MY GOSH YES! I’VE NEVER BEEN ON A CLOUD BEFORE! OR FLYING OR THIS HIGH AND IT’S SO COOL!” She went on and on and on for the next couple of minutes, talking about how soft the clouds felt, to how Rainbow Dash never took her flying before, and a whole bunch of stuff. I just nodded and pretended to listen, remember what I thought was the important parts.

Eventually, once she died down, she asked a question or at least I think it was. I wasn’t really paying attention at the time, so when I noticed her staring at me for an answer, I just smiled sheepishly. “Um, what was that?”

She just gave me a deadpanned look, as she reiterated the now obvious question. “So why did you bring me up here? And why were you in the clubhouse last night? Also, who are you?”

“Well, my name is Zeta and I wanted to talk to you IN the clubhouse, but I’m sorta afraid of Big Mac,” she just started giggling at that, “so when I heard him running towards the clubhouse, I panicked and brought you up here where he couldn’t hurt me. What’s your name?”

“I’m Scootaloo!” she exclaimed in between the giggles that brought up painful, yet happy, memories.

I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the next part. “As for WHY I wanted to talk to you, I’ve been living in town for about a week now and I’ve seen you wandering about, and I’ve seen you steal a few times too. I followed you last night to the tree house where I found you shivering in your sleep. I curled up next to you to keep you warm.”

I spent the next hour explaining to her my past. How much she reminded me of my little sister and how she died. I continued on with my life, editing the parts so it would seem like I have always lived here. I told her everything, all of my pain and hurts, and how fall I’ve fallen since then.

Scootaloo for her part listened intently on the story. She didn’t scoff at me as I cried openly in front of her, and even tried to comfort me at times. By the end of the story, she had a few tears in her eyes as well.

“Well, that’s my story. When I saw you stealing I felt compelled to check up on you and make sure you were ok,” I finished my tale, but there was one more that needed to be heard that day. “Why were you sleeping all alone there? Won’t your parents be worried?”

The moment the question escaped my lips, I saw Scootaloo freeze up. Her breathing started to stagger and you could tell she was afraid to have the subject brought up. I wrapped a wing over her and brought her into a hug. After a while, she seemed to calm down.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I know what it feels like to lose someone,” I whispered to her soothingly.

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!” she exploded, leaping away from the hug and turning to face me. “YOU HAD YOUR PARENTS! I… I NEVER…I NEVER HAD ANYONE!” Tears were quickly forming in her eyes as she explained her whole story. Apparently she was abandoned as a new born at the steps of an orphanage without even a name. One of the kinder caretakers named her Scootaloo, but passed away when she was only 3. The other caretakers refused to tell answer Scootaloo’s questions and found her annoying, ignoring her almost completely. During her stay the other orphans picked on her constantly until she got fed up and ran away. That’s how she wound up in Ponyville.

She had broken down half way through her story, once it got to how alone she felt in the orphanage. How no one ever cared for her until she made friends with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, but their sisters and not even Rainbow Dash cared for her.

I managed to pull her back into a hug, comforting her as best I could. After a while, when her tears had run dry, and her sobs had become hiccups, I broached the topic that I originally wanted to in the first place. “Scootaloo, if you want you don’t have to be alone anymore.”

She pulled her head back from my tear stained chest and gave me a quizzical look, urging me to continue.

“Well, I have a house on the outskirts of town and I happen to have a couple of spare rooms. You’d be more than welcome to stay with me. I could be like, your dad or something.” I mumbled out that last bit, full of apprehension as to her answer.

I’m pretty sure she actually heard that last part, since she slowly had a grin growing on her face, but she still deemed it worthy to ask “What was that last part?”

I just started to rub the back of my head nervously, not having any idea what could be going through that purple maned head of hers. “Well, if you live at my house and everything, it’d sorta be like me being a dad. That is if you want to have your own room and everything. I won’t force anything on you.”

I sat there for a minute looking at the wide eyed filly before me before I figured that she thought I was completely bat shit crazy. I just stood up and started to walk away, telling her as I left “The offer is always on the table Scoots, just look me up.”

I barely got three feet towards the edge of the cloud before my back legs got wrapped up and I fell flat on my stomach. Spinning my head around, I saw Scootaloo burying her face into them. I somehow managed to contort my way so I could just pick her up in my forelegs. She was smiling and crying, and couldn’t get a word out of her throat.

“I’ll take that as a yes then,” I jokingly laughed as I felt her nod into my chest. “So how about we head home now?” Scootaloo just smiled as I moved her from my arms and onto my back. Once I felt her hooves wrapped tightly around my neck I dove off the cloud and headed for home.

Once we were ready to land, I noticed a big hulking red pony sitting outside my house, along with Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth.

“Son of a bitch…” I mutter out.

“What does ‘bitch’ mean?” Scootaloo asked me. My facepaw was audible for a mile around.

Thankfully talking Big Mac down was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth saw him running after me when I took off, and when they found out what happened, vouched for me. They apparently have been waiting the entire time in front of my house to find out what the hell was going on. I told them that I was taking Scootaloo in, but that opened the flood gates about where she had been living all this time, what about her parents, and so on and so on.

I just stood next to her, giving silent encouragement the entire time, and a wing over her shoulders as she retold her story. Once they began to pepper her with questions of “Why didn’t you ask for help” and began to berate her for things and I felt her shudder and shrink closer to my side did I get pissed at the ponies before us.

“Ok guys, that’s enough. We’ve both had a long day and I would like to get her situated before its bed time. We can talk more later if you want, but she’s done for now.” With that, I walked past all three ponies with Scootaloo by my side into our new home.

I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I gave her the tour. The excitement was radiating off of her as I showed her all the rooms and laying down some ground rules. The only two areas I told her she isn’t allowed to go to are the shed and my office. The former since I didn’t want her to see how I prepped the meat I ate and the latter since I didn’t want to drag her into that business ever. I saved her room for last though.

“Now that you are done jumping up and down on my bed, I’ll show you your room. Come on Scoots,” I called from the hallway, thanking any god that would listen that I had my room filly proofed. Only time would tell if it was CMC proof though (hint hint, it wasn’t.) My new foster daughter scampered after me and I approached the door. “Now this is your room, you ready?” After seeing her vigorous nodding, I threw open the door.

“Why’s it so empty?” my new ward asked.

I just rolled my eyes at that one. “Cause YOU get to decide what goes into it. We’ll go shopping tomorrow for you to pick out some stuff. How does that sound?” A small yawn was my answer along with a nod of the head. I just scooped her up and carried her over to the cloud bed I had set up for her. Once she was all tucked in, I nuzzled her and whispered good night before leaving the room.

The next few days were spent getting used to living together. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I was expecting it. Scootaloo was really understanding about some of the ground rules, and I wasn’t a stick in the mud about anything, so if she suggested something I was willing to listen, though only to an extent. Mostly it involved staying out of my office and shed, bed times, cleaning things, and what punishments would be for other things.

One day though, Scootaloo came bounding into the house after school, with a huge grin on her face. “Hey Dad!” I just smiled at the energetic ball of fur before me, feeling a twinge of pride at being called ‘Dad’ as she continued. “WoulditbeokayifIhadasleepover?”

I just stared blankly as I attempted to understand what she said. “What was that Scoots? You got to slow down sometimes while you speak.”

She just smiled sheepishly as she reiterated her question, “Would it be okay if I had a sleepover? It would only be Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Since I’ve never had a place to stay I never got to host one, but now I do so can I?”

The thought of having the entirety of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in my house at once gave me a little fright, but the look Scootaloo was giving me was too much to bear. I folded like a poker player with a pair of twos. That and the fact I would need to meet them and their guardians eventually.

Scooping her up in my fore arms, I gave her a hug and replied. “Of course you can sweet heart, and now I get to embarrass you in front of your little friends!” She just groaned and struggled against my hug, but I just kept hugging her tightly and started nuzzling her. “I have to show how much I love my little pup don’t I?”

“Stop it! Let me go!” Scootaloo yelled laughing the whole time. Quickly realizing it was futile to resist, she decided a counter attack was necessary and began to tickle me. We had been living together for a week and she already found out how ticklish I was. I dropped her like a sack of potatoes and leaped backwards. Scoots hopped up and chased me down throughout the house, giggling madly the whole time.

Once we had finally calmed down, the rest of the day was spent prepping for the eventual guests. I moved the spare beds into Scootaloo’s room since the unicorn and earth fillies wouldn’t be able to share Scootaloo’s cloud bed, and went into the market place to pick up some groceries for the girls to eat, as well as the mares that would bring them. While I was there, I noticed a surprisingly lack of ponies around, along with a slight whimsical music echoing. Glancing around a corner, I saw almost all of Ponyville singing “I Got a Jar of Dirt” with Pinkie in the middle juggling a jar of dirt.

After watching them go on for a little bit, I decided it needed to end so I could get service at a stall. I picked up a rock, and chucked it at the jar Pinkie was holding. Unfortunately I missed and nailed Colgate in the back of the head. Once she fell to the ground, all the ponies surrounding her thought it was a new piece of their musical number and all dropped to the ground as well. Amazingly, the domino effect continued until finally only Pinkie was standing up in the middle of the group holding up the jar of dirt like it was Simba on top of Pride Rock. Afterwards, the music and singing stopped and everyone went back to their place of work as if nothing ever happened.

Except Colgate who was still knocked out in the middle of the street.

I continued with my shopping at that point. Most of the ponies in town gave me a questioning look as I picked up all the veggies and fruits that Scootaloo ate, along with extra so I could properly host for the fillies and their guardians. The last stop on my trip was to Sugar Cube Corner to pick up some sweets for the girls to eat. I know, dumb move giving the CMC sugar, but I wanted to make a good impression that I was a ‘cool dad’ and everything.

The moment I entered the door, a pink blur jumped in front of me. “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I haven’t met you before, that must mean you are new in Ponyville! I’ve met lots of new people recently, and I just got back from Canterlot with my friends yesterday so it is really supery duper! I met a Griffin named Griffin two weeks ago, and then today someone gave me a jar of dirt and taught me a new song and now I get to meet you too! So what’s your name?”

The only reason I wasn’t fazed by how quickly she spat that all out was because I have been mentally preparing myself to meet her. “Hey there Pinkie, I’m Zeta, and I moved here about a week ago,” was my much more paced reply. I gave her a grin before continuing “I’m also here to buy a few cupcakes. My daughter is having a sleep over so I figured it’d be a good idea to have some sweets for her and her friends.”

Pinkie squed in delight and ran back into the kitchen to start baking some sweets. I just sat at one of the tables in the restaurant and waited. I had to admit that I could see how Pinkie made everyone smile all the time. Just her being a happy person is contagious, and you can’t stop yourself from smiling at that much unbridled joy. Pinkie Pie is pretty much a happy little filly in a mare’s body.

The wait only lasted a little more than fifteen minutes. She came out with a box of cupcakes and I paid for them promptly. Before I left the door though, Pinkie called out to me. “So when would you like a party? You HAVE to have a party since you just got here.”

“Eh, I’m not one for big parties. Being a carnivore makes it a little awkward. So if you want to throw a small, like ten pony party that would be ok. Just let me know when.”

Before I could get out, again, Pinkie yelled one last question. “Who’s your daughter anyway?”

“Scootaloo,” I politely replied. Then I was off to attempt to CMC proof my house.

Four hours later and I was waiting in my living room as Scootaloo rushed about like a mad dog getting everything prepped and ready for the sleep over. Finally the moment of truth had occurred. There was a knock at the door.

Before I could even stand, Scootaloo had the door thrown open. When I didn’t hear any cheers or “Hi Scootaloo”s I figured it might be someone with the wrong address. That is until Scootaloo called for me saying the door was for me. As I rounded the corner into the foyer, I saw a familiar pink mare standing in the doorway.

“Sup fluff ball, how’s it going?”

“Hey Firefly, what brings you around?” I really did not want to deal with her right then and there, but you can’t really argue with a time traveler can you.

“Well, I figured I would stop by and check out the new crib; looks good for a rag tag like you fluffy. Oh, also you’ll be getting a training session next week, so don’t make any plans.” Firefly said as she zipped around my house. Putting on the breaks at the front door again, she gave me a hoof bump and shouted “See ya” before rocketing into the sky.

Before I could even explain to Scootaloo who that was, I saw Applejack, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom walking up the path towards the house. Behind them were the rest of the Elements of Harmony. “Hey Scoots, your friends are here!” I shouted into the kitchen where the little rascal was getting a drink.

I was quickly bulldozed out of the way by a ball of orange fur. Scootaloo was soon outside and jumping up and down excitedly in front of her friends. “Hi girls, ready for another great sleepover?!”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SLEEPOVER! YAY!” was the loud as hell response, followed by a quick hoof bump. I had just gotten back up after Scootaloo bulldozed me when I proceeded to get trampled by all three of them as they ran back into the house and upstairs.

“Need a hand there partner?” came a thick draw of everyone’s favorite Element of Honesty. Applejack offered me a hoof as she lifted me up onto my paws. “So Ah take it you’re Scoots dad huh?” she continued after she got a good look at me. Her eyes didn’t seem hostile at all, but extremely hesitant to say the least.

“That is a long story Applejack,” I answered. This resulted in questioning looks from the entire lot of them. “What?”

“How do you know Applejack’s name?” Twilight asked me rather suspiciously.

“Yeah, are you some kind of spy?” was Rainbow Dash’s instant assumption, getting up in my muzzle and hovering slightly above the others.

“Yea, I mean obviously I didn’t just read the newspapers after you six defeated Discord,” I replied while rolling my eyes. “You mares are sorta famous. But where are my manners, my name is Zeta welcome to my home. Would you like a refreshment?” I gestured to my house. The mares followed me inside and took up seats in the dining room.

“So, what is the story with you and Scootaloo? I dare say that I doubt you are her birth father.” Rarity asked, rather pompously if I say so.

So I went ahead and explained the entire story as to how Scootaloo came to live with me. The Mane Six where respectful the entire time, only interrupting on a few occasions. After like, 15 minutes I wrapped up the story.

“Well, I’m glad that she has somewhere safe to stay now. Thank you for that,” Twilight answered breaking the awkward silence that descended on the group. “So why don’t you tell us about yourself, there hasn’t been a recording of a live cynogriffin in the last seven thousand years. I have a ton of questions to ask you.” The other mares gave Twilight a look of confusion at the mention of ‘cynogriffin’ while I just chuckled. I would’ve been upset if Twilight didn’t know what I was.

“Yes, I am indeed a cynogriffin. As for the questions...how about no. My past is sort of a touchy subject for me to bring up. Currently I’m a bounty hunter though, so that’s how I managed to afford this house. Which brings me to another point I wanted to bring up with you. You all have to swear NEVER to tell anyone that Scootaloo is living with me. My job is dangerous and I don’t want her to get hurt because of it.”

“Then why did you bother adopting her if you knew she be in danger?” Twilight asked with a quizzical look on her face. “It would have made a lot more sense to avoid putting her in danger, even if your actions saved her from immediate danger.”

For some reason or the other, that comment rubbed me the wrong way. “Then who would’ve helped her? She’s been living in Ponyville for the last two years, on the streets as an orphan while all six of you did nothing to help her.” I was slowing switching from a normal tone to a low growl, and I just realized how pissed I actually was about how Scootaloo has been treated.

I jabbed a paw towards Applejack first. “She’s been living on your farm, in your orchard for the last two years. Did you EVER wonder about it? Why she always appeared hungry and such? You know where every single apple tree is on your farm and yet you didn’t know of a homeless filly living there?” Applejack looked a little angry about the accusation until it set in.

Next I moved my paw towards Fluttershy. “You’re the Element of Kindness, and have watched her multiple times, yet you never once asked why her parents never picked her up. You know almost every animal in this area and care for them like newborns when they can care for themselves, and yet a filly that needed help goes completely unnoticed.” Fluttershy started to tear up and hid behind her mane then.

“You’re sorta being a meanie pants right now,” Pinkie attempted to cut me off.

Needless to say I didn’t take too well to that one. “You’re one to talk. You openly say you know every single pony in this town, and yet you never wondered why you didn’t know who Scootaloo’s parents were? Where the hell is the logic in that.”

“I think that is a going a little far deary,” Rarity attempted to pacify me. I was too far gone at that point to even consider stopping.

“You are the older sister of one of her best friends, and yet you never took the time to meet her parents, or find out why she acted the way she did? For an Element of Generosity, you sure are pretty stingy in your giving. You’ve seen her more than anyone of the others, and yet you’ve done nothing to help her!” Yes, I was beyond frustrated with the girls at this point.

I turned to Twilight. “You have been taking lessons from Princess Celestia, and yet you still are oblivious to the whole thing. By far you are the DUMBEST smart person I have ever met.” Twilight just let her mouth hang open because of that.

Finally I turned towards Rainbow Dash. “You though, are worst the all the rest of them. Probably combined even! She fucking idolized you for the longest time, and you didn’t even acknowledge her. If you actually talked to the filly that worships the ground you walk on, and the air you fly through, I bet one of you would have noticed what was going on in her life! Instead you just let her swoon over you constantly without even a care in the world as to what was going on with her!”

All six of them were stunned at my outburst. Hell, I was even shocked that the first time I met the Mane Six I had torn into each and every one of them, but I was just pissed at that point. No way in hell would I ever have thought before I came to Equestria that I would yell at them, but since I took Scootaloo in I went instant Dad mode, and their disregard to my ‘daughter’ pissed me off to all hell. I guess my paternal instinct was that strong, and still is just so you know.

The girls continued to sit there, with faces mixed with a whole collection of emotions. I was only focused on attempting to spy two though, guilt and shame. I was extremely glad that those two were present in spades. The only person whose face I couldn’t see it on was Fluttershy, but I attribute that to her hiding behind her mane.

As they continued keeping up the awkward silence I slowly started to calm myself down. I mean, Scootaloo had only been living with me for a week and I was already to tear into the Elements of Harmony because of their negligence? It took me a good while, but eventually I managed to calm myself down and break the silence.

“So yes, you girls have no right to talk to me about how to treat Scootaloo. Back to my point, you’re all going to swear, or promise, or something that you’ll never tell anyone that Scootaloo is living with me, or that I live in this town unless I let you. I don’t want to have some pissed off scumbag chasing me down and wrecking shit in this town. So what do you all say?”

Pinkie Pie was the first to snap out of it. Nodding vigoruously, she exclaimed “I Pinkie Promise I will never tell anyone about you living here. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Completely the motions involved with the sacred chant. The others reluctantly agreed as well, following their hyperactive friend.

“Thank you for that, and I’m sorry I sorta exploded there but I felt it needed to be said,” I huffed out and stood up. Walking across the room, I opened up my fridge and grabbed a beer. “Does anyone else want one?” All I got was a bunch of no thank yous.

Heading back to the table, we sat and idly chatted for a bit. Well, once we got rid of the awkwardness of me chewing them all out, but then it was a pleasant conversation that followed. Afterwards all the other began to file out, mumbling to each other about stuff I didn’t care about all except Twilight who had a small smile on her face.

“So would you be up to answering a few questions?” Twilight began. I just facepawed and relented to answering her. I regretted it two hours and about eighty some odd questions later. “Thank you so much for your time Zeta. Enjoy your night with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

After escorting her to the door, I headed upstairs to see what the damage was. Amazingly, I found all three of them playing a few games in Scootaloo’s room. I just stood in the doorway and smiled as I watched them go about it. Eventually though it was time to put an end to the fun. The Wonderbolts clock that we picked out already said it was past eleven.

“Okay girls, bedtime.” I announced as I entered in. I was met with a resounding groan, but they started moving. After getting them to brush their teeth I finally got them all tucked into bed. I leaned in and nuzzled Scootaloo on the head as the three of them yawned at the same time. My heart almost shattered at the adorableness of it all.

When I reached the door and turned out the light, the last thing I heard was Scootaloo saying, “I love you daddy,” before yawning one last time. I went back to my room and slept like a baby, with nothing but good dreams for once in my life.

~{WWP}~

A/N:

Ok, before anyone gives me grief about "Scootaloo gets over being fillynapped by a murdering psycho and is okay with it after one sad story is fucked up" there is something I would like to say. This chapter was meant to establish the connection and show them living together. Next chapter will be a bunch of interesting little blurbs about their family life INCLUDING the week before the sleep over. I just didn't feel like adding another couple of thousands of words to this chapter again. Also, I'm not a psych major, so this is a shot in the dark that anyone can correct me at, but if there was an 8 year old child that has never had anyone care for them wouldn't they be more likely to attach themselves to almost anyone willing to build that connection?

That brings me to my second point, sorta. I'm back at college now, and while I thought that would give me more time to write, I forgot I am taking some of the most ungodly tough classes my college has to offer. I'll try and keep writing as much as I can, but they may just be more chapters that are this long, once a month or so. Once Winter Break comes around I'll try and go back to the every other week or so, and hopefully next semester my classes won't be trying to rape me on a daily basis.

Well, as usual point at any grammar mistakes and I'll try and fix them.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad...Teacher?

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 14

~{WWP}~

Okay, so I bet you’re all wondering how within a week of Scootaloo living with me, we became that close. Well, I’ll just fill you all in on the family life before I get back to the action adventurey side of things. Like the first fews days of living together.

The next morning after I had brought Scootaloo home was rather interesting. See, I really really enjoy sleeping in when I don’t have anything else to do, but apparently it was a school day for the little rascal. It was a scene that Discord would be proud of.

“Zeta, Zeta ZETA!” the orange filly kept shouting. Rolling over to face the little bundle of fur that was assaulting my eardrums, I opened my sleep heavy eyes and gave her one of those annoyed looks.

“How may I help you?” came out more like “Hmayaheya?”

“I need to get to school but I don’t know how to get there from this side of town!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Miss Cheerilee will get so angry if I’m late for class again, and then I’ll get detention and I won’t be able to hang out with the Crusaders, and then I’ll never get my Cutie Mark!” Then she smiled a little sheepishly and mumbled something else out that I couldn’t even catch with my heightened hearing ability. That and the fact my ears were still ringing from the explosion of volume this early in the morning.

“What was that squirt? I didn’t quite catch that,” was my fast reply as I began my daily ritual of stretching and cracking my joints. I was impressed with how Scoots wasn’t even phased by the sound.

She started shuffling around and seemed to decide that the floor boards looked extremely nice today before repeating herself. “Well, um, since you’re like my dad now and everything, I was wondering if you could, um, maybe make me a lunch to bring to school?” she asked in a volume that would make Fluttershy proud.

I just chuckled to myself as I hopped off the bed and extended my wings to give her a quick little hug. “Course I will Squirt, that’s what dads are for,” I said in an extremely cheery tone as I proceeded to head down to prep a lunch for Scootaloo.

The little orange fluff ball kept trying to hover over my shoulder as I made her first lunchbox. The entire process took me like, two minutes, since I have constantly made my own lunch back in school, but the look on her face was adorable as she saw how deftly I made her dandelion and cheese sandwich and placed the juice box into a brown paper bag. Of course I had to finish it off by writing her name on the bag with a heart at the end, just to embarrass her, and much to my amusement as she threw a little fit about it.

“But it looks stupid and mushy,” was all she complained about as we left our home and proceeded to head into town. Ponies for the most part were steering well enough away from me, but not keeping their eyes off. I could see the contempt that they held.

Fortunately, the only pair of eyes that I gave two shits about was belonged to the filly currently yelling at me about how if I was going to draw on her lunch bag from now on, it would have to be something epically cool and what not.

The walk to her school only took us twenty minutes or so, but we were still late. “Ugh, Miss Cheerilee is going to be so angry with me. This is the fifth time I’m late this month,” Scootaloo groaned, face hoofing as well.

I just ruffled her mane and laughed to myself, remember how shitty of a student I was and how if I showed up to class 5 times a month my professors considered it to be a miracle. “Just tell her your dad overslept and you had to wake him to walk you to school.” I gave her a quick hug and pushed her towards the door.

Once I was sure she went inside, I shot up into the sky and veered towards the Everfree Forest. Getting woken up early to take my daughter to school was something I wasn’t quite used to yet, but if I was up, I may as well have a fresh meal.

Now I know what a lot of you must be thinking, “How could you hunt in the Everfree? That’s where Fluttershy’s animal friends all live.” Well yes, I already knew that, but that doesn’t change the fact I’m a meat eating animal, and that’s the closest place to grab a bite to eat. I already hunted enough to keep my shed full, but frozen and then cooked meat just doesn’t taste the same as a fresh kill with blood dripping down your chin. Just thinking about it makes me hungry.

Anyway, flying over the Everfree, I could just make out the aforementioned pony leading a school of ducks across a road, so I dove in the opposite direction, nose twitching for something smelling good enough to sink my teeth into when I caught a nice scent. Following the enticing trail, I soon found a doe with her young fawn nursing.

I got to a nice level height, tucked my wings and dove right towards the clearing. I didn’t get nearly fast enough for the Mach cone to start to form, but the speeds I did reach were more than fast enough to catch my prey. With a satisfying crunch, I could feel the spine of my prey shatter beneath my landing. I sank my claws into its fur covered back and dug my teeth into the back of its neck. With a quick shake, I managed to silence its dying cries of pain before I began to gorge myself on the softer underbelly.

Glancing up from my meal, I see the startled doe and fawn staring at me with eyes full of fear. With blood still dripping from my mouth, I uttered a single growl before the two of them took off running. I then returned to eating my kill of a cockatrice. I may be a dick, but I grew up watching Disney movies. Some shit is too sacred to touch.

After that satisfying meal, I spent the rest of the day moseying around my house and the woods directly behind it. Happily, I found a nice little clove surrounded by tightly packed trees that I could barely squeeze between. With a small pond and a couple of rocks that sat in the sun surrounding it, I decided it was going to be my personal napping zone.

After christening my new find, I wandered back over to my house to wait for Scootaloo to get home from school. It only took a few hours before she came bursting through the door. “Zeta, I’m home!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Jeez kid a little patience goes a long way” I answered walking down the stairs. Scootaloo just stood in the doorway, digging her head through her saddlebag. After a little bit a rummaging (and tossing out some useless crap) she pulled out a slip and held it out for me to grab. “What’s this thing?”

“Well, since I’ve been going to school here, I’ve never ACTUALLY had a parent teacher conference thingy. So when Miss Cheerilee heard that I was late because you overslept, she demanded that you come to a parent teacher conference tomorrow after school,” was the orange filly’s long explanation. I had already read the note saying pretty much the exact same thing, but I allowed her to tell it anyway. “So can I go play?”

“Sure, go ahead squirt. Just be back for dinner at 7,” I replied as I nuzzled her head. Once she had left the house though, I dove into full on panic mode. “FUCKINGSHITBALLSCOCK! What the hell am I going to do?!?!” I was not expecting to have to meet any of the residents more than I had to, and here I was getting dragged into a PTC two days after taking Scootaloo in?

I just sighed and admitted defeat after failing to think of a substantial way to get out of this meeting and sank into the couch. “Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day…”

And so it was. The morning leading up the PTC was dull. I didn’t need to eat too much since I gorged myself the day before, but the nerves of having to meet Cheerilee. When the time came to head over to the schoolhouse, I felt like I was receiving a death sentence. I couldn’t even relax on the flight over.

Landing in front, I took a deep breath and attempted to calm myself down. As I open the door and enter the building, I saw Cheerilee sitting in her desk with Scootaloo sitting across from it looking at the door.

The look on Cheerilee’s face when I entered though washed away all of my worries as I approached the desk. I could tell that she was trying to hide her fear of such a large predatory creature walking inside, and I found out later that she actually took a class on the ancient wolf species so she knew what I was. The only reason she wasn’t in full on panic mode was the look of excitement Scootaloo had when she saw me enter.

So I walked down the row of desks with my usual bravado, and took the seat next to Scootaloo. “So you must be Scootaloo’s teacher Miss Cheerilee. To what do I owe the pleasure?” I really didn’t know what I had been so worried about before I got there. I am a freaking cynogriffin! What do I have to be afraid of?

“Well SIR, I would like to discuss the fact that you have neglected to attend a SINGLE Parent Teacher Conference since Scootaloo has been enrolled at this school. That, plus the fact I have noticed that she has tended to be underfed these past few years brings up some SERIOUS concerns about her family life!” the mare said in one of those ‘I’m disappointed and angry’ voices that only teachers seemed to have mastered.

And that was when all of my bravado went down the pooper. My tail instantly tucked between my legs, no matter how hard I tried to stop it, and my ears went flat on my head. I recalled why I was so terrified of going to that PTC. Teachers are fucking scary when pissed.

In my defense though, I managed to hold back bursting into tears at the intensity of the glare I was getting. Tavi should take lessons from Cheerilee if she ever gets out of slavery. Just as I was about to stammer out a defense, probably with piss poor results, Scootaloo cut me off, “Don’t yell at my dad! He’s the nicest person ever!”

Cheerilee seemed shocked by the filly’s sudden outburst. “Scootaloo, I don’t think you quite understand what I’m…”

“He just became my dad three days ago anyway. I was the one that ran away and didn’t tell anyone.” Scootaloo was close to tears at this point. I guess she still wasn’t quite used to telling her story. I extended my wing over her body and pulled her close, offering what comfort I could. She simply stared up at me and continued, “But now I have a daddy, and I’ll be safe and everything else.”

Cheerilee took this information with a stern face as she observed the scene before her. Eventually I glanced up upon her face and she returned my gaze with one of understanding before she spoke again. “Scootaloo dear, I’m going to talk to your dad alone okay? Why don’t you run along and play with your friends?”

When my daughter (loved being able to say that) looked up at me I just nodded and soon she was out the door. I turned my attention back towards the magenta mare in front of me with a questioning look of my own. “So what was that about?”

“Well, before I can approve of this whole thing and not report it to Foal Protection Services, I’d like to know a bit more about you, such as how you plan on caring for Scootaloo and keeping her safe?”

So I proceeded to explain to her everything that happened to me since coming to Equestria. I didn’t leave out any of the gory details either. Well except for the parts where I murdered Azragni and that moose. Oh and the parts involving Octavia. Actually I gave her a pretty tame account of what I’ve been up to; pretty much that I’m a bounty hunter who tracks down criminals. That news didn’t please her all too much.

“You do realize that if anyone ever discovers you have a daughter or you live here you’d be putting Scootaloo in mortal danger correct?”

“…. God damnit.” To be perfectly honest I had not even CONSIDERED that before she brought it up. “Um, what do you think I should do?”

“Luckily Mayor Mare and I are well enough acquainted that I could see about pulling your records from the public files and letting you keep them under lock and key. Also I suggest you don’t be seen too often in town considering you are somewhat unique.” Cheerilee started walking with me towards the door as she explained her plan. “Another aspect is that you have those that you’ve met or can’t help meeting, such as Pinkie Pie or myself, to swear to NEVER reveal where you are.” I simply nodded and followed after her.

Once we arrived there she had one more question for me. “Honestly though Mr. Zeta, do you believe you’ll be able to care for this little filly? It’s not a shame to admit that.”

For my response though, I just stared her right in the middle of the eyes and replied, “I’ll be damned if I don’t do my best for her. She’ll be fine, trust me.” Topping that sentence off with a smile full of razor sharp teeth probably wasn’t the brightest idea but oh well.

And there you guys have it. That’s how I managed to hide my existence away from the general populous (and assholes who are pissed at me) and met Cheerilee. Maybe next time I’ll tell you about Nightmare Night or that time a Manticore tried to eat Scootaloo.

~{WWP}~

A/N:

And you all thought I was dead and wasting away in a ditch somewhere. So here is one of the inbetween chapters that I promised I would have out like 3 chapters ago. Finally got around to finishing it now that I have a slight calm before the storm that is known as Finals Week. Hopefully once Winter Break commences I'll be able to knock out a large portion of the next Story Arc before school recommences.

As the norm, point out any glaring mistakes I've made here. See you all next time!

Double Standards Are the Best Standards

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 15

~{WWP}~

Amazingly the next few months of living went by rather smoothly. Our life together progressed fairly well and any time I had to go out of town for “business” either Applejack or Rarity would look after Scootaloo. Cheerilee would stop by every so often to make sure I wasn’t “corrupting the filly” and remind me why fear exists in the world. Pretty much, things were going smoothly for once in my life. So of course the Powers That Be had to make that come to a screeching halt and send my life flying through the dashboard.

Yes, I mean the dashboard, not the windshield, that wouldn’t be NEARLY painful enough for my fate.

I had just gotten back from an extremely stressful job in Fillydelphia and hoped to sleep all the of the stress and pain away. I had stopped by Applejack’s and picked up Scootaloo, brought her home and set dinner up for us, planning to clean up and sleep right afterwards Unfortunately energetic little fillies can’t pick up on the subtle hints of a bruised, scabbed over body as “don’t disturb” when they too have a problem.

“…So then Silver Spoon started picking on Sweetie, and when I head-butted her she ran and told her dad. Now he wants to talk to you about how I ‘bullied his daughter.’ It is SO not cool!”

Scootaloo was sitting on the other side of the dinner table, spilling most of her food and spitting out the chunks that were in her mouth as she narrated her tale. I was barely able to understand half of it, and I was so dead to the world at that point the half I could understand didn’t register completely.

“So I have to talk to Silver Spoon’s dad?” Scootaloo shook her head in confirmation. “When exactly?”

“Well I told him that you’d be home tonight, so probably soon.”

I just groaned and face-pawed. All I wanted to do was pass out on my cloud bed. Now I have to deal with a parent, who based on what I was told from Scootaloo, is in the RIGHT to scold my sorta pretty much daughter for hitting first.

Yes, it is a HUGE double standard for me to say Scootaloo was wrong for hitting Silver Spoon after she insulted her friend since I would kill someone if I was in the wrong mood had someone done that to one of my friends. Well, if I had friends then I would do it.

Regardless, Scootaloo should not have hit first. I have no problems with her getting into little scuffles, but she is not going to be the one to start them.

My thoughts on the lecture I was going to have to give Scootaloo were interrupted by a knocking on my door. Upon dragging my sore ass up and answering the door, I was greeted by a stallion that I did not immediately recognize.

The look on his face though has been ingrained in my mind for all time though. His jaw just dropped when I answered the door. He was probably expecting a Pegasus stallion, but he got a full dosage of me in all of my cynogriffin glory, which included; fresh bruises showing, fur matted by blood, and singed wings dragging across the floor. The normal for my ‘post-job’ look.

I figured I’d start the conversation since he seemed a little tongue tied. “Hello sir, I’m Zeta, Scootaloo’s father. I assume you are Silver Spoon’s father Mister…”

“Silver. Stanley Silver. A pleasure meeting you sir,” Stanley said in a very formal tone. That’s when it clicked how I knew his face, it was on the boxes of silverware I bought when I got the house. “Anyway, I assume you know why I am here?”

“Yes, Scootaloo just informed me. Please come inside.” I allowed him to enter and guided him to the living room where we both sat on opposite couches. “Sorry that I’m such a mess. I didn’t get a chance to clean up after coming back from my last job. Could I get you anything? Tea, water, coffee, beer?”

“No, but thank you for offering. I would like to get this sorted out quickly since I have to leave for a business trip of my own in a little bit. So I would like to know what you intend to do with your daughter’s unruly behavior.”

I took a moment to ponder things before I replied. “Well, she will of course apologize to Silver Spoon for head-butting her. I also plan to ground her for a week, perhaps two if business allows me to stay home and supervise her.” This was met with an outraged yell from the hallway. Glancing over towards it, Silver and I caught sight of a purple mane flying out from the hallway.

“That sounds acceptable. Thank you for discussing this with me. I must really be off though.” I walked Stanley to the door and watched him leave. Turning around I saw an angry filly giving me a death stare.

“Well since you were eavesdropping then you know you’re grounded. No hanging out with the Crusaders, no sleep overs, no running errands and no scooter. You’ll be stuck at home doing chores mostly, and there is actually a lot that needs to be done,” I explained in a tired voice. I was honestly at the edge of my patience and it took the remainder of my willpower to be polite to Stanley Silver.

But that doesn’t matter in the eyes of a filly. “This isn’t fair! Silver Spoon started it! I was just sticking up for my friend!” she yelled back definitely, her tiny wings flared out.

Somehow I managed to contain my frustration into a light growl instead of a full on snarl. “You don’t defend your friends by head-butting fillies! If Silver Spoon took a swing first, then by all means you can defend yourself with violence, but YOU took the first swing. YOU escalated the problem. You DO NOT use violence as the answer to all of your problems. Understand?”

After a bit of a pause where she just glared at me, my breaking point was a thousand tiny little fracture lines that a breeze would completely shatter it, which means that a certain filly whipped up a hurricane instead.

“NO! That’s a stupid rule! I’m going to stand up to those two bullies and…”

“ENOUGH!” I snarled out, cutting her off mid rant. Her brave stance instantly crumbled before the onslaught that stood before her. “I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE ALREADY WITH THIS BULLSHIT!” I made a wild gesture at that point, knocking a vase off the shelf I was next, hearing it crash and break. “You live in MY house under MY rules. You will NOT start fights, and you WILL understand the fact you are grounded. If you don’t like it then get the fuck out! Have I made myself clear?”

Scootaloo was on the verge of tears and shaking all the while looking at me with those sad eyes. Then a glint of defiance entered them before she spoke again through choked sobs. “Crystal. I’m used to not being wanted, so screw you. It’s not like you’re my dad or anything.”

That one hit me hard, and in the time it took me to process that blow she had run right past me and out into the night, a trail of tears being the only indication of what direction she went.

I instantly tried to turn and follow her, but of course fate hates me and it had started to thunderstorm, wiping out any chance of finding her scent or tracking the tears. That and the fact I could barely move due to the injuries didn’t help either, especially since flying through a thunderstorm like this is dangerous to begin with.

So of course I staggered out of my house and began to search anyway. And god damn was it rough. The wind was blowing the rain completely sideways, so when I attempted to take to the air I got thrown into a nearby tree, adding to my bruise count. I just shrugged it off and kept running and looking.

First place I went to was the CMC clubhouse, which is where I found Scootaloo the first time. No such luck the second time though, the clubhouse was deserted. She never told me of any of her other hideouts when she was on the streets, so I had no idea where to go looking for her, so I went to the only place I could think of that would be a good hiding spot for a filly, the Everfree forest.

Of course it is dangerous there, but if she didn’t go too deep into it she would be fine. By the time I got towards the edge of the forest the storm had lessened to the point where I could fly, so I instantly took off and started listening for ANYTHING that could be Scootaloo. Too bad for me a bolt of lightning struck a tree up ahead of me and dropped a branch on my head, plummeting me to the hard rooted ground below. The last thing I remembered before blacking out was the intense hatred I felt at myself and the growing worry about Scootaloo.

When I came to, the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. I could barely make it out through the thick woods surrounding me, but one of the slivers decided to hit me square in the eye.

My body was a wreck though. My wings felt like lead bricks, and the only sensation I could feel was pain. That coupled with my still foggy mind and throbbing headache meant I probably had a concussion.

“This fucking blows,” I mumbled out as I got back to my feet. Then I heard an eardrum rupturing screech, a screech that sounded like a filly in mortal danger, a screech that pumped me with more adrenaline that I knew exactly what to do with.

I spread my wings as wide as I could and with a single flap broke through the first speed barrier. The rainboom behind me knocked leaves off the trees, and even knocked down a few of the weaker trees. None of this concerned me though, cause I was rocketing straight towards the scream of a scared filly.

I soon found the source in a clearing with a small rocky hill sticking out in the middle. On said rocky outcropping clung an orange filly with purple mane and tail. At the bottom of the same rocky outcropping was a full grown manticore pacing, and occasionally leaping up and smashing a rock to try and get to the aforementioned filly.

The manticore repeated the leaping measure and managed to knock loose the rock that Scootaloo was standing on, sending her plummeting to the ground. In that moment the manticore lunged to sink his teeth into the poor filly, but not before getting slammed in the side.

With the most blood thirsty growl I’ve uttered since the death chamber in that cursed mine, I made a simple statement. “Stay the fuck away from my daughter you son of a bitch, or I will kill you.”

The dumb beast in front of me just glared at this apparent challenger. To it, I was just another measly portion that interrupted its free meal. It roared in response to my threat and charged at me, maw agape. I charged right towards it myself, and ducked right underneath its jaw and it was closing, sliding beneath and slashing the manticore with my claws.

Its mane fulfilled its purpose though, and protected the beast’s throat. With a quick swipe of its paws, I was sent flying into the rock outcropping and dropped with a solid thump. I rolled out of the way the moment I could, and just in time for the manticore slammed its tail into the ground, hoping to impale and poison me.

I got unsteadily back onto my feet and threw myself at the beast again, determined to protect Scootaloo. The manticore was easily three or four times my size as well, so I didn’t do too much with my tackle attack. It responded with a quick slash that cut me across the front of my chest.

I could feel myself losing an obscene amount of blood from the wound I had just received, but I was still undeterred. This fucker tried to kill my daughter, and it. Was. Going. To. Die.

I spread my wings as wide as they could go and performed another sonic rainboom, this time with my target being the rampaging manticore before me. Ok, so he was only rampaging because I tried fucking him up and made him miss a meal, but still. With the speed I propelled myself at, I started doing aileron rolls as I flew, essentially become a rainbow power drill. I tore the manticore completely in half.

Skidding to a stop on the other side of the clearing, I collapsed on the ground. All of the adrenaline had finally worn out. I got one good look at Scootaloo, who was running over towards me, before I blacked out once again.

This time when I woke up in the hospital I wasn’t all alone though. Sitting in a chair next to me, asleep, was Scootaloo. Looking to the other side I saw a surprising figure before me.

“You are by far the DUMBEST cynogriffin I have ever had the misfortune to work with,” the pink mare groaned.

“Pleasure seeing you as well Firefly, how’s it going?” was my cheeky reply. That earned me a swift knock to the head.

“I was having a good day until I had to drag your ass out of the Everfree and to the hospital. I mean seriously, why were you even there?” Firefly just followed my glance towards Scootaloo before she figured it out. “That makes more sense I guess, but why the hell did you fight the manticore instead of, I don’t know, flying out of there after grabbing the filly?” Upon hearing that train of thought, I just open and closed my mouth a few times before shrugging. “Well think things through next time, cause I’m not going to be saving your ass again.” With that said, the mare began to leave, but stopped short of the window.

“By the way, nice use of the aileron roll to increase the penetrative force of your claws. That was a common way cynogriffins took down dragons back in the day.” And then she was gone.

Scootaloo woke up after words, the draft from the window apparently disturbing her slumber. The moment she saw I was awake she dove into my chest and was crying and saying how sorry she was. This was all lost on me though, because she landed EXACTLY where the manticore tore me open.

“SON OF A BITCH THAT HURTS!”

“Oh my gosh I’m sorry! It’s all my fault, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Scootaloo started babbling after she got off the sensitive portion of my chest. She was all tears and clutching onto me tightly.

“Scootaloo, it is not your fault. You don’t have a bunch of claws and took a swipe at me,” I replied, attempting to calm the poor filly down. “Also, I’m sorry I yelled at you, it was wrong to take out my frustrations out then. Really this is all my fault. I’m sorry kiddo.” I gripped her in a hug as I finished my statement. I could feel her breath relax as I held her. “I’m really sorry Scoots.”

After what felt like an eternity, I heard her sniff, “It’s okay. My dad took on a manticore for me; I can deal with getting yelled at.”

I just hugged her harder. “No Scootaloo, it wasn’t right and is something you should never have to deal with that. I swear I will NEVER yell at you in anger again.” She just gave me a genuinely happy smile. “Of course I’ll still yell at you when you do something stupid or dangerous, speaking of which, if you ever run away and hide in the Everfree again, you will be grounded for life.”

She just laughed at that one, me joining in. The two of us became a lot closer after that whole incident, and life went back into the mood of our strange normality. At least as normal as a bounty hunting cynogriffin raising an X-Games styled filly can get. Really, the next big event in our family life was Nightmare Night.

The only thing Scootaloo wanted to be was “her awesome dad” but I could not find a costume for the life of me that was a cynogriffin. I even sent Spitfire and Gustave messages to keep their eyes open for one, but no such luck.

I went with the only option I had left. One afternoon, about two days before Nightmare Night, I left my abode and went into town. Now I have always tried to avoid going into the heart of Ponyville during the day time. Reason being how skittish all of the ponies are around anything NOT pony, so seeing a winged wolf walking down the middle of the street can have quite some negative repercussions.

Today they went with the classic strategy of ‘avoid the predatory strange creature like hell.’ This suited me fine, and was honestly a lot better than their ‘start screaming and form a panicked mob’ plan. Thankfully it was a Tuesday when I entered, and the latter plan is only used on the weekends.

With no pony traffic though, I made quick time to my target, Carousal Boutique. Opening the door I was greeted somewhat pleasantly by Rarity. “Hello Zeta, how may I help you today?”

I reached into my stolen saddlebags (thanks Tavi) and pulled out a piece of paper. “Ok, here are Scootaloo’s measurements, you think you can make a wolf costume that she can stick her wings out of for Nightmare Night?”

Rarity took the parchment from me in her magical aura and looked over it for a moment, mumbling to herself about some fashion things. I really didn’t pay attention to any of it and was waiting for the final answer. “It will be difficult, but I can get it done. Come by with Scootaloo in the morning and it should be ready. It is going to be semi-expensive though, such a rush order.”

“That’s fine Rarity. See you in a couple days.” And that was that. Heading back home, Lyra stopped me though upon noticing my saddle bags.

“Hey aren’t those Octavia’s bags?” the mint green unicorn asked me.

“I have no idea personally, I found them at a bar during my travels and no one claimed them. I was in need of a new saddlebag, so finders keepers,” was my smooth reply.

“I swear those belong to her though. They even have her cutie mark stitched onto the strap.” Lyra was poking the side of the bag at this point and getting uncomfortably close to me. “I could drop them off at her house if you’d like. She lives nearby my home though she hasn’t been back since that concert out in Tailton.”

Uncomfortable topics aside, I simply excused myself saying I left the dishes in the oven again and took off faster than I thought possible. Getting home I prepped dinner for Scootaloo and checked out things in my office. Spitfire and Gustave had both sent over a couple more contacts for me, but none of them caught my fancy. Spitfire also sent over the standard updates on bounties that the Equestrian government was handing out. The only notable increase was that the group calling themselves “The Griffin Pirates” bounty went up for the third time since they hit the high market. Also they have changed from ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ to just ‘Wanted Alive.’

Part of me really wanted to go after the group, since I’d get to meet Trixie and Gilda, but the shift to being wanted alive really put me off. That and their last sighting was in Bitsburg. That would just be where I would get started too for the search. There is also the whole ‘Alive’ thing that is troublesome. If this Griffin guy is as strong as he’s rumored to be, it’ll be hard enough to just kill the fucker, let alone try and subdue him long enough to tie him up and bring him in. That’s not even including the whole crew of his little pirate gang that would rush to his aid.

After that moment of realization, I made my decision. “Fuck that shit,” I openly exclaimed as I tossed the wanted poster into the trash can. After a bit more of office cleaning, filing reports from my informants in certain areas, placing case work in others. Adding sections to dossiers of certain targets, marking off those that got killed in Port Redstone recently. There is a lot of work to being a bounty hunter.

Eventually Scootaloo got home and I told her the good news about her costume. So Nightmare Night came and after picking up the costume and paying Rarity an obscene amount of bits (even if the costume did look great) I dropped Scoots off and headed home. I killed the lights, cracked a beer, and relaxed for the first time in a few days.

Yes, I was being a spoil sport and not running around town on the one night that Ponyville citizens wouldn’t run screaming for me. Actually they still would run screaming from me, but it’d be socially acceptable to do. I just didn’t feel like dealing with it, or a bunch of little kids running up to the door asking for candy. So I didn’t bother with it.

As the night wound down to a close, I heard Scootaloo open the door with the customary “I’m home!” call. Rolling of the couch, I made my way over to the doorway and got the surprise of the year. Or pretty close to it.

There standing behind Scootaloo was the one and only Princess of the Moon. Luna stood there, the first time she publicly showed herself in the series was Nightmare Night, so I shouldn’t have been shocked that she was in Ponyville, but why she was at my house was beyond me. Till I saw Scootaloo giving me the biggest grin in the world.

“Scootaloo, what did you do?” My face could not be more deadpanned as she just continued grinning in such a way I knew she did something. Glancing away from my daughter, I saw Luna giving me a look over with amazement in her eyes.

“If I did not see it with mine on eyes, I would not believe it. I true living breathing cynogriffin. How can this be?” Luna asked with sheer amazement in her voice as well.

“First things first Princess,” I turned towards the little orange filly and addressed her first. “Bedtime Scoots, you know the drill.”

“Aww, but dad I wanted to stay up and talk to Princess Luna,” the insistent filly began.

“Nope, it’s already past your bedtime, so up you go.” With that I nudged her towards the stairs with my snout until she started moving on her own, begrudgingly, but she still went upstairs. Turning my attention back towards the Lunar Monarch, I noticed that her eyes had not left my body this entire time. And not, like the sexual “she’s checking me out” kind of look, but she was noticing the scars, hair color, the wings, and pretty much everything else under the moon.

“So to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit Princess Luna?” I couldn’t help but to force myself into an extremely formal and polite mood. I was in a really tight spot and the mare before me could easily have me sent away, and that would spell disaster for Scootaloo.

“Well, I was speaking with that young filly whom you just sent to bed, commenting on how her costume's fearsome look. When I asked her if her wings were supposed to be showing, she replied quickly with ‘I’m dressed up like my dad, and he has wings too.’ At first I was under the assumption that her father was also dressed as a wolf, but she continued to defend that her father WAS a winged wolf.” Luna paused at this point and examined me once again, taking note of the scar over my eye and across my chest. “I see now that her tales were indeed true. But that begs the question as to where you came from, since I saw the last of the cynogriffins die in battle against Tirek.”

Of course she was. Nothing could possibly go right for me. “Well you see, I don’t really know. It all started a while back…” And so I repeated my improvised tale that I have told Gustave and the others who have asked about my past. Luna sat there and respectably listened. I stopped with entering Tailton, because I didn’t want to go into to much detail about what happened there.

“Tis quite a tale, though I am not sure all true.” Luna was eyeing my down at that point, hoping to see cracks in my armor. Thankfully though, I have slowly accepted that as reality, which is how I have been able to tell it as a truth, since I believe it to be. “I shall give you the benefit of a doubt though.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, really glad that she didn’t broach the subject of my line of work. “Though I am curious, and hope you can answer this for me,” Luna began. My mind started running with ‘don’t ask what I do, don’t ask what I do, don’t ask what I do, don’t ask what I do,’ “What line of work does a cynogriffin such as yourself do? Help with the weather ponies?”

“Fuck,” the glance I got from her Highness let me know that last one wasn’t just a thought. “Pardon my language. As for my profession, well I happen to be a freelance bounty hunter. I pick what jobs to do and go about it. I’ll usually drop Scootaloo off at one of her friend’s houses while I’m away.”

“That does explain the plethora of scars. Tell me, would you be interested in going after a particular pirate crew?”

“Already looked into it Princess. It wouldn’t suit my schedule, and catching an entire crew ALIVE is a little beyond my skill set currently. Could I bring you their heads? Possibly, but not still attached to the body. Well a breathing body that is.”

Luna cringed at that last remark, but simply nodded. “I understand. Well it has been a pleasure meeting you sir, and I wish you many good fortunes. My guards shall be growing restless and I must be off.” And then she was gone, teleported out of my house and to who knows where.

Well, nothing else exciting happened for until about a month before the Royal Wedding (knowledge courtesy of Spitfire informant and hindsight). I received an unmarked request to meet for a month long job, but the payoff suggested would allow me to buy half of Canterlot castle. After mulling on it for a while, I relented and dropped Scootaloo off with Applejack and headed off to location, which just happened to be a bar outside of Canterlot.

Sitting in the scummy bar, sipping on a beer I patiently waited for the contact. After about an hour, and me about to get up and leave, a strange pony entered the building. It wasn’t so much his appearance, which was a very feminine looking yellow earth pony, that I thought was a mare at first. It was his scent.

Most species have a certain scent that remains true for all members with variations due to the pony/creature. So Earth ponies tend to have a very earthy, dirt/mud smell to them. But this pony who sat across from me upon taking note of my presence didn’t smell anything like that. He stank like a big beetle; you know that exoskeleton bug smell? I had no idea what he was.

“You aren’t a pony, so what in the hell are you?” was the first words I spoke to him. I was tense and ready to rip this thing in half if need be.

“What I am isn’t that important right now, but what I can DO for you is. How would you like to have the biggest job in Equestria in a thousand years?” was his reply, with a toothy grin plastered onto his face.

~{WWP}~

Author's Note

Oh cool, there is this little section to play with now. And Rainbow Dash is taking a nap on the pillow above this box as I type.

Anyway, I'm heading back to school in a week, so I'm currently unsure how much time I will be having to write again with the start of the new semester. Luckily for me though I don't have quite the workload as I did last semester, but I have to try and pull my grades up, so it may be sporadic with getting new chapters up again, therefore I'm leaving it on Hiatus for now. Really the only plus is that I have notes for all the next set of chapters, so if I get time i should be able to knock them out pretty quickly.

As always, point out any grammar/spelling mistakes, and have a good Winter! (Or Summer if you are in the Southern Hemisphere!)

Your Mission, If You Choose to Accept Is...

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 16

~{WWP}~

“Ok, I’m listening, but what you are is still going to factor into this job.” I replied coolly, leaning back into my chair.

“OK, Mr. Zeta, listen closely. My...employer, shall we say, is a player in a very LONG game. And to make the next move work, she needs your help with a very tricky job. It won’t be easy...but it will be worth it. Not only the money, but to make a better world in the long run. You up for it, pup?”

“Don’t care too much about the ‘world a better place’ part, but if the money is decent compensation for the effort of a month long job, I’m in,” I answered, quickly adding with a growl “Also if you call me pup again, I’m biting your leg off.”

“No worries, Mr. Zeta I won’t call you ‘pup’ again....how does ‘Dog’ sound?” Letting off a light chuckle, the ‘pony’ continues. “But yes, while I won’t give you an exact number, it will be more than enough to fix up your home to your perfection, purchase anything you’ll need, and still have enough left to purchase your own bar! And then some!”

“You are really pushing your luck with the canine remarks bub,” I snarled out. I was really tempted to just smash the ‘pony’s’ face in and walk out, but a job with that much of a payout would be really useful, and I wouldn’t have to risk my life much more. After going over the pro’s and con’s a bit more in my head, I came to my conclusion. “I need details and not vague overviews before I’ll take the job. So what will I be doing?”

The ‘Pony’ became deathly serious, his smile vanishing in an instant. “You’ll help kidnap Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, help my queen work into the role of the Princess, alert the ponies of Canterlot of my queen’s invasion, and make sure Cadance remains happy and healthy in her imprisonment. Like I said, my queen plays a LONG chessgame...”

I just stared at the ‘pony’ for a while before I could even comprehend what he was asking me to do. Kidnapping Princess Cadenza would ensure I would be an enemy of the state to Equestria, but he also mentioned an invasion. If this army actually took control of the country, then I’d be wealthy and healthy, and probably on the good side of their queen, and even if they lost I’m getting paid to warn the ponies so I’d probably get a reward for that side too. And that is when it hit me, something was up with this.

“Okay, so let’s get some of the details a bit more ironed out. Who or what has an army that could possibly take over Canterlot and the Equestrian Army? Also, who is this queen and how will I help her fill in the role of a Princess?”

“The Changeling armada, as of right now, numbers in at 3,908,400. My queen will only bring her Royal Guard, as our goal isn’t to harm anypony, so roughly 3,000 of our finest soldiers. We are changelings, powerful shape shifters that feed upon love. We, rather literally, need it to survive. Times are tough, as it’s becoming harder to sneak in and snatch it safely, so to prevent a massive famine; my queen has decided to take it by force...temporarily. Win or lose, we’ll have enough stolen by force to last another year, as well as becoming known to the world as a whole, which, as you may know, it’s easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission, hence wanting to keep Cadance alive and healthy. Keeping her happy is a demand of my own, which I will pay extra for separately. My queen, however, is known as ‘Chrysalis Glasswing’. She, like Celestia and Luna is an Ageless; an immortal entity. 40,000 years ago, she was amongst the most powerful warriors in the world, before the demon known as ‘Tirek’ tainted her, weakening her into the frail creature she has become, and warping her mind towards evil. You could say I’m her conscience, since she’d probably just kill everyone without someone to serve as a moral compass. And...wow I’ve been talking this whole time without taking a breath so I’ll shut up before I get too annoying...”

I just rolled my eyes at that last part, considering halfway through his long winded explanation I had already finished playing three games of Tic Tac Toe with myself in the tabletop. Now that I had the ability to counter his tirade, some things needed to be cleared up. “Ok, so pretty much your queen would want Cadance dead, but you’re going a back door deal to ensure she lives. Will that effect my payday if your queen finds out? Love based entities isn’t that farfetched, but why do you smell like an insect? Also where will I meet this queen to get the job done?”

“It won’t affect your payment, as she already knows. She trusts me because she knows she can’t think straight until the taint dies away, which even now, 40,000 years later, is still several months away. As for me smelling like an insect, that’s because, at least technically, I am. And as for meeting the Queen, she will be taking the form of a mare named ‘Twinkeshine’, an old friend of Cadence’s, in the city of Canterlot. You are to meet her near the park at dawn and she will explain the details of how the kidnapping will occur. Rest assured that everything will go according to plan. I have my sources.”

“Ok, just one final question. How the hell am I going to be taking care of Cadance and where am I imprisoning her?”

“You need only bring her food and water, basic comforts, and she will be imprisoned within the crystal mines beneath Canterlot Castle. An associate of mine will lead you to a discreet entrance and will light the way with special torches that shine with a light frequency only Cynogriffins and Changelings can see.”

I sat and pondered the arrangements for the job. Lots of rewards, and very little risk on my side made it too good to seem true. I figured something was suspicious was going on, but I wouldn’t be able to figure it out not doing anything. I extended my paw, “You got yourself a deal.”

The ‘changeling’ extends a hoof and smiles warmly. “A pleasure doing business with you, Mister Zeta And please do say hello to dear Scootaloo for me, I hear she and her friends are going to be my queen’s flower girls.”

The moment he said Scootaloo’s name, I gripped the hoof and instead of shaking it, I yanked it as hard as I could towards me and slammed the yellow bastard’s head into the table. I quickly slammed my claws into the wood right in front of his eyes. “You have three seconds to tell me how you know that name, or I’m going to start cutting away layers of skin to see how deep that disguise of yours is.”

“Time travel, Mister Zeta Like I said, my queen plays the long game. I’m actually from several years in the future and already know how the wedding will end, as well as that Scootaloo is your daughter. She’s actually a renowned dancer for a famous band AND has become a brave warrior in her own right, all before she reaches ten years old. I know far more than you think, Mister Zeta”

“....How the hell do you know how to do TIME TRAVEL!?”

“Why, elementary my dear cynogriffin. I got it from the Starswirl the Bearded wing, just like Twilight Sparkle did in the episode ‘It’s About Time’.” The changeling smiled innocently, even though he just referenced a cartoon show that...shouldn’t...exist...here....

My mind started racing at that point, but only one question needed to be answered first. “Who are you?”

“My dear mister Zeta, who I am isn’t important...but if you absolutely MUST have a name....call me Knightmare.”

“Fine, Knightmare, I’ll tell you this once then,” I began, placing one of my claws on his forehead, “If Scootaloo is harmed in anyway, if a single hair on her body is out of place because of you changelings, I will kill as many of you bugs as I can before I find you and your queen, and kill you and make her wish she wasn’t immortal.”

“Darn, I was hoping for a ‘Taken’ quote. But I assure you that no ponies will be harmed, not even temporarily, and ESPECIALLY not dear little Scootaloo. You have my word and honor as High-General.” The look on the changeling’s face made it clear he had not intended to say that last bit out loud... “...shit.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, High-General bugboy,” I replied coldly as I brought my claw across his forehead leaving a slight gash dripping blood on his forehead.

“So are you gonna let me up or should we start kissing?” Knightmare asked; his cheeky grin back on his face.

My answer was lifting his head up so it was right in front of my muzzle. As he began to pucker up I growled “Tell your Queen she has a deal” and proceeded to slam his skull as hard as I could through the table and towards the ground.

As I walked off I overheard him calling out “OK! See you at the wedding!” in a dazed tone. I just kept walking away, hoping to put as much distance as I could between the two of us as I could. I just felt nasty after speaking with that guy.

After I had left the bar, I bumped into three ponies, two larger than average draft ponies and a normal earth pony. That is what I thought until I took a sniff, and realized all three of them were more of those ‘changeling’ things, even though to two bigger ones smelt a bit differently. Regardless I was not in the mood for anymore shenanigans if these ones were anything like that Knightmare.

Before I could get a word in the smallest of the bunch began, “So you are Zeta. We are here to represent our”

“I know and I already have accepted your Queen’s job. Just tell her I’ll see her at dawn at the gates of Canterlot in a day’s time. You bugs just best keep your end of the bargain or you will learn why you don’t piss off a cynogriffin. Got it?” I just glared at the tiniest one. The other two just seemed like muscle brought to intimidate me, since they stepped forward on either side of the small one before me, flexing their legs.

The small bug eyes just got really big and nodded his head quickly. “Of course, as long as all aspects of the deal are carried out, our Queen shall pay you. No need to fret. She will be most overjoyed to hear you have agreed to help.” His sniveling voice just sorta grated on my nerves, so I shoved past him and the two bigger bugs. As I spread my wings to take off, he called out to me “How did you know what the agreement was though? Do you read minds?”

I just laughed and launched myself into the air, ignoring his last question. Though that did spark the thought in my head, “Who is Knightmare really working for?”

~{WWP}~

Author's Note

Ok so this is the end of my super productive Winter Break. Over the next week or so I'll see how my schedule is with classes and coursework I have to do, and hopefully it won't be as bad as my last semester was. I will let you all know if it will continue to be on Hiatus during the semester or not. At least you have a fun couple of chapters to look forward to, since I have planned this entire Arc out already.

The Game is Afoot...er Apaw

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 17

~{WWP}~

The flight from the bar towards Canterlot was quite enjoyable. The only strange thing that happened had to have been on the road maybe five miles outside from the town.

There in the middle of the road was a massive crater, except it was blown apart in perfect cube blocks. It honestly looked like a creeper from Minecraft blew up there, but that’d be absolutely ridiculous. After a brief investigation with no answers, I just shrugged it off and continued my flight.

I landed outside the gates of the Goddesses’ City a little before midnight, so I had five hours to relax before the gates would be opened and I could meet “Twinkleshine” to figure out how I’m supposed to carry out this hair brained scheme of the changelings.

Laying down on a clump of clouds, my valiant attempt to slumber was constantly interrupted by my mind’s incessant nagging. There were a lot of questions that were unanswered at that job interview with that ‘Knightmare’ guy.

The most pressing matter was why he would want the Princesses aware of an attempted attack? Wouldn’t that be counterproductive? And why does he really not care whether they win the war or not? I understand he’s apparently from the future but I was always under the impression that timelines were ever branching, therefore no one path could be repeated.

“I should really just ask Firefly about that sometime,” I muttered to myself as I rolled the thoughts around in my head. “Who’d have thought I’d get wrapped up in this kind of shit?”

Busying myself with my thoughts, the next few hours didn’t take nearly as long as I was expecting it to. The sun had been up for maybe an hour when some guards opened the gates to the city. I flew off my little roost and landed about a mile off from the gate since I didn’t want to frighten the guards at all. Of course once I had walked that mile up to the gates, it happened all the same.

The gate was guarded by two unicorns, with the same coat and stoic glare plastered underneath their solid gold armor. Then I realized that I could probably melt down the armor and sell the blocks if I ever had to kill another guard. The glare of the guard hardened as I came into view of the two of them.

“State your name and business in Canterlot…sir,” the one on the right stated, spitting out the ‘sir’ part with a healthy dose of spite.

I just gave them a nice little glare with my retort “I’m a free laborer that got hired to help out a unicorn in the city. Any other questions?”

“Your name,” the one on the left asked with a little less confidence, slightly intimidated by my glare and scar.

“Zeta, now may I enter or am I going to have to wait around some more?” The two guards stepped out of the way and let me pass into the city of Canterlot for the first time.

Canterlot was about as far away from what you’d consider a normal city as you could possibly get. The streets were clean, the buildings without a speck of graffiti, trees grew nicely, hedges were well trimmed, and there wasn’t a broken window to be seen. It is still pretty hard for me to adequately place my feelings for Canterlot into words, but I shall try.

I absolutely despised it.

It could just be that fact that the city was empty at the time I was walking towards the meeting spot, but it was just too perfect in my mind. It looked as if they took out all of the “urban” out of the urban center that was the city of Canterlot. I took to the skies briefly just to see if it was because I was in the nice part of town, but after flying up to see most of the city, I noticed I wasn’t even in a nice section. Landing with a pout, I begrudgingly continued my trip deeper into the city to find the park I was to meet this queen at.

Getting to the park was pretty straightforward thanks to the gilded street signs posted around the city. Part of me was really tempted to steal a few of those to melt down as well, but I only thought of this plan once ponies were slowly starting their day. Most of the residents of the town avoided me, like walking on the other side of the street and such. The ones that really annoyed me were the ponies that stuck their nose up in the air as they walked by, spouting out terms like ‘mongrel’ and ‘mutt’ at me as I walked by.

There were also the gawkers at seeing a winged wolf walking by their homes and businesses. I’ve experienced this every place I have traveled to at this point. Being such an oddity always brings unwanted attention. In most cities I tend to stay to the rougher sides of neighborhoods, so I can openly scare off the gawkers without having to worry about public perception too. Here I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to get away with that kind of treatment without having half a dozen golden tin cans raining down on my head. Instead I simply quickened my pace in an attempt to get away from them all.

Upon entering the park, I saw a pink maned and white coated Unicorn sitting on a park bench. At first I wasn’t sure if this was the contact until I got a strong stench of exoskeleton wafting over the breeze. As I crossed the park, her ears perked up and she turned her head to face me. That’s when I noticed the green flash cross her optical orbs.

“You’re late,” she said in a low tone. The glare she was giving me was that of a superior looking down on one beneath them.

“Sorry I was under a bit of suspicion, and I figured you wanted to keep this incognito,” was my quick reply. I was not exactly in the mood for all of this useless chatter, and truly just wanted to get the job done. It was risky enough to begin with, let alone with whatever plan this bug was concocting.

“Your answer is acceptable, but do not think I will be so tolerant again. Now let me explain the plan to you,” ‘Twinkleshine berated.

I was about to give her a piece of mind when she dove into her plan, and let’s just put it this way, it was by far the craziest plan I’ve heard recently. By the time she finished explaining, and I had clarified a few minor details on how everything would be working out, we were both set to kidnap Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

It was just before noon when I was positioned on the roof of a house opposite of Shining Armor’s and Princess Cadance’s shared apartment. I had been sitting on the roof for over two hours waiting for the opportunity to present itself to initiate our plan.

I had already confirmed that Cadance and Shining Armor were in their home, enjoying a nice meal. Looking up the street, I saw my ‘target’ approaching the home. The plan was really a stretch and depended entirely on how long I could be interesting to the Captain of the Guard and how concerned the princess would be for her friend.

‘Twinkleshine’ approached the door and knocked. Before any of the residents could answer though, I made my move. I shot off of the roof and tackled the pony disguised changeling queen away from their stoop and into the middle of the street. All of the bystanding ponies screamed in horror and pushed as far away from me and my ‘prey’ as they could. All the hubbub certainly drew the attention of the people in the surrounding homes, including one sibling of the world’s nerdiest pony.

“What’s going on here?!” Shining Armor roared over the crowd. Parting his way through the sea of equines, he saw the scene before him, a hulking wolf creature attacking one of his fiancé’s oldest friends. He instantly charged up a spell and blasted it at the attacker.

I had just circled so that I’d be able to see the blast coming, and refrain myself from dodging it. Part of the plan was to allow Shining Armor a chance to chase me away from Twinkleshine so Cadance would be able to bring her ‘friend’ into the safety of her home.

I just gritted my teeth as Shining Armor’s spell blasted me away from the defenseless unicorn. The purple blast he shot had quite the wallop, and wasn’t even an offensive spell from what it looked like. Almost as if he threw a shield at me. Before I could recover enough to continue the plan, I noticed half a dozen chairs flying at me surrounded by blue magic.

I reactively dodged or sliced the chairs up before they could impact my body. The moment I did I looked for the source of the magic. There on the steps to her house was Princess Cadance, with righteous fury blazing in her eyes. Unfortunately my little reaction gave Shining Armor enough time to grab Twinkleshine and get her over towards the home.

“Cadance quick go inside, I’ll set up a barrier that will keep him out until the Royal Guard comes, and they should be on the way now,” Shining Armor commanded. The look that Chrysalis was giving me explained that was not acceptable to our contract, and I best figure a way to get him to stay out of the house.

Luckily I knew just what to say, “So you are Twilight Sparkle’s big brother huh? I can see the resemblance,” I jibed towards the guard, with a sharp smile on my muzzle.By then, most of the onlookers that were present had already fled. This left him clear line of sight and perfect clarity to hear me out.

“How do you know my baby sister?” Shining asked, instantly forgetting his past plan.

I paced back and forth, “Well you see, I was in Ponyville recently and happened across her. Now normally I don’t like unicorn’s, not much muscle and their horns taste awful, but when you happen across the Element of Magic wielder in the Everfree, I just couldn’t pass up the chance to have a nibble,” I explained, with the most wicked of grins I could muster. To get this to work, I had to make him forget his duty and fight for a different reason, making the job about 100% more risky, but it had to be done to complete it now.

Shining for his part was fuming, and began to stomp his hooves into the ground. “What. Did. You. Do. To. My. Sister!” he screamed at me. His horn was glowing with about five layers of magic, all aimed at me.

I had to play the next part off with as much tact as I could muster. “Well you see, I eat things and get paid to kill others. When I found her alone, and realized how much I could get paid for killing an Element of Harmony, I sorta got carried away. I wonder if that pretty little pony behind will taste nearly as sweet?” I had to duck as Shining armor gave his response by sending a shockwave where my face was just at. The spell obliterated the house I was standing in front of. “Damn…”

My sentence was cut short as the shoulder of a very angry unicorn guard member slammed into me. I went flying about ten feet down the street, and bounced another five before skidding to a halt. “Cadance, get Twinkleshine into the house and stay there. I’m going to make sure this mongrel rots out the rest of his flea bitten life in the dungeons, if he survives that long.” Cadance quickly followed her soon-to-be husband’s orders.

That initiated my queue. I instantly turned tail and ran, with a very pissed off stallion chasing me. Glancing over my shoulders to ensure I was being followed I saw the door close to the house, and the windows flash green extremely briefly. Returning my attention to where I was heading, I mumbled to myself, “Everything according to plan.”

~{WWP}~

Author's Note

So I have realized that while I have time to write, it will take me about 2 months to be able to get a chapter to where I want it to go. Hopefully I'll be able to cut that down now since spring break is coming up, I hope to get another 2 chapters out by the end of March. Don't hold me to that though.

As for spelling/grammar, point it out where it needs to be. Thanks to Thardoc for the initial proof reading.

Enjoy!

Along Came a Wolf

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 18

~{WWP}~

Remember how I last said that everything was going according to plan. Well I guess in the most basic sense of the word that would be true, but when it came to the nitty gritty it was about as far from the truth as it could be. See the overall plan was simple, distract Shining Armor and let Chrysalis impersonate Cadance, pick up the details on how to reach Cadance’s holding cell in the Crystal Caves underneath the city, and kill her; at least according to Chrysalis, since Knightmare was paying me extra to keep the little pony princess alive. Afterwards I get released from jail and make bank.

The only hitch in the plan right now would be the pissed off Captain of the Guard behind me, and the reinforcements he had gathered on our wild chase through the city to incarcerate me. The fleeing was only supposed to last about half an hour before I lost my tail and went to pick up the instructions, but I underestimated the level of pursuit attainable by a pony who believed he was chasing his little sister’s murderer.

The other thing I could not quite wrap my head around was how he was communicating with the other guards to organize my arrest. The few that he picked up that formed the mini mob behind me were the ones we passed earlier on, but somehow there have been traps laid out ahead of me. I’ve already had to avoid three different roadblocks set up by earth ponies and unicorns, and a couple dive bomb restraint tactics by pegasi. I mean, it’s not like they have walkie-talkies to communicate their efforts.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a couple of the unicorns had their horns glowing and figured it must be magic communication techniques. I’ve only seen that used once before on a job in Fillydelphia, and it just made me hate the world just a bit more than normal. Of course, while I was remembering getting royally screwed by this form of magic, I didn’t notice the table in front of me and collided with it and stumbled over.

Face planting while being tailed by people whose job it is to capture you is never a good thing. By the time I had managed to get myself back on my paws and steady, I had been surrounded by all of the guards in a tight circle formation. Unicorn horns began to glow, earth ponies were cracking their joints, and the pegasi formed like an upper dome to ensure I didn’t take to the skies. Then the captain of this little platoon stepped forward.

Now I know why everyone’s first impression of this guy was surfer dude with some toned muscles, but believe me he is scary incarnate when he’s pissed. “Nowhere left to run you criminal scum!” Shining screamed at me, charging up his horn. Some of his subordinates seemed shocked that he was about to blast me into oblivion without stunning me. He shot another blast towards my person I managed to duck just in time. The wall to the house exploded from the force, scattering debris and dust everywhere. Not wasting any time, I jumped into the home behind me.

“Pardon me, excuse me, looking good there,” were my statements as I ran past a couple eating breakfast and a mare in the shower before leaping through their window. The look on the mare’s face was almost worthwhile for me to dive into the hooves of a pair of burly pegasi guards sitting outside the window.

“Got you now!” an extremely large, and oddly Fluttershy looking, guard proclaimed descending in front of the two pegasi gripping me under my front paws tightly. “Now we will bring you to the dungeons, under the authority of the Captain Barricade, granted to me by Princess Celestia.”

By then Shining Armor and his posse had gotten to the opposite side of the building I cut through and all had their horns pointed in my direction. I took the moment to get my bearings and realized I was on the opposite side of the city from where the dead drop was, so if I gunned it at high speeds I’d have about five minutes or so to myself before I had to surrender.

With a quick grin shared to the Captain before me, I uttered a tired but still true statement. “You will forever remember this day as the day you almost captured,” with a quick snap of my wings I clipped the two pegasi guards under the chin releasing their grips, “Zeta the Winged Wolf!” In a single stroke of my wings, I rocketed upwards past the stunned pegasi and over the group, almost breaching the first speed barrier with that single thrust.

I propelled myself forward twice more, leaving a Sonic Rainboom in my wake and almost breaching the 2nd speed barrier, but I left that one alone since I didn’t want to show off every ace up my sleeve. I slowed my approach when I neared the dead drop zone. At least it was in a nice spot.

And by nice spot I meant the Royal Canterlot Gardens. I remember seeing a bit of it when I watched the show way back when, and Scootaloo had excitedly told me all about it before. Since I had around four more minutes, so I headed straight to get the dead drop so, if need be, I could vanish before any of the guards managed to get here.

Plus I also REALLY needed to take a leak and there was a specific statue just waiting for it.

There in front of me stood the statue of a rather infamous villain. Discord, the Master of Chaos, stood before me in all his rocky ridiculousness. Without a moment’s hesitation, I floated up to the mouth of the statue and reached inside his gaping maw to retrieve my orders.

It didn’t strike me as odd that the newest threat to the entire country was stashing orders inside the mouth of the country’s last greatest threat. I was fairly certain that Discord could still understand what was happening outside, and I figured he’d find it funny that he was a dead drop location.

Glancing over my orders, my jaw just dropped. The things that I had to do were completely insane. I had to go over it multiple times to memorize the list of tasks and how to complete each one. Once that was finished I torn the paper to shreds with my claws and scattered them to the wind with a simple flap of my wings. Then I realized I had yet to relieve myself.

Turning back around to the statue of the once chaotic monarch, I lifted my leg and let loose. At the same time the pegasi were just reaching my location and saw me relieving myself on a piece in the Royal Statue Gardens. The Master of Mayhem, the Duke of Disharmony, the King of Chaos, Discord himself became my personal pissing square. The look on their faces was the most beautiful thing I could imagine, and I still wish I had a camera.

In their moment of confusion, I took off running again, using the statues as cover. Only the pegasi division had arrived at this point, and was in hot pursuit. I knew I wouldn’t be able to out run the group of them if they were trying, but they seemed content to simply box me in, which could only mean one thing.

Blocking the gate was Shining Armor, with a shield trapping me inside the gardens. The purple wall was stationed directly behind him. As I skidded to a halt, Barricade and her trope of pegasi landed behind me, effectively trapping me between the two of them. I looked to the right, hoping there was some way to escape when I saw my chance.

Shining in all of his brilliance only extended the shield to encompass the gate area. To the right or left of it was just standard stone wall. I knew I needed to take a huge gamble to get out of this situation, so I took it.

With another powerful flap of my wings, I performed another Rainboom Drill like I did against the manticore and tore a hole through the stone wall. Unlike using it on the manticore though, my paws were throbbing having to penetrate a five foot thick wall. I didn’t have time to nurse my wounds though, because the Guard was right on my tail yet again.

I kept running the wild goose chase for the entire day, barely avoiding being caught on too many occasions. Once the moon rose though, my time was up. I sprinted my way back towards the castle of the pony sisters, and low and behold Princess Cadance was up on the walls.

I flew up there real quick and walked up behind the Princess. “So hot stuff, I take it you handled everything on your end, and now I’m here. What now?” She just turned and looked with a malevolent glare at me and shot me point blank in the face with a bolt of magic.

Needless to say, I was extremely out of it at that point. I vaguely remember ponies talking over my semi-conscious form and being lifted up with magic. My memories between that and waking up in a room with a table, two chairs, one of which I was in, and a glass mirror to the right of me did not bold well.

As I attempted to get up in my foggy state of mind, I learned something new about the room I was in. I was chained to the floor, the chair, and the walls. How the ponies got this many chains in here, and let alone how often they were used, I have never found out. I went to spread my wings, but found them bound by some leather like material with probably half a dozen locks situated in it. Looking down my snout I noticed they even put one of those change style muzzles over my mouth, so I had free range to speak and such but couldn’t bite.

Just as I was wrapping up my intel gathering of my surroundings, the door to my room was opened and in walked a unicorn. He was a very pale gray, with bright green eyes and those ink splotches for a cutie mark. His voice was just as obnoxious as his appearance and just screamed shrink when he began to speak.

“Why hello there, I believe it was Zeta, how are you doing right now?”

“Pretty good considering I got shot in the face by Princess Cadance, also bondage isn’t my thing so I don’t quite grasp why I’m all tied up,” I shot back at him with a smirk played across my face.

The shrink just looked at me with a collected face. “You are currently being restrained because of you are very dangerous. Now tell me, why did you attack that pony outside of Captain Shining Armor’s home this morning?”

I made it look like I was pondering before I answered. “Well you see, I’m a bounty hunter and I was hired by an organization that plans on attacking Canterlot in the near future to kill that specific pony since she may have overheard some of their plans and was going to tell Shining Armor.”

That got a reaction out the stoic pony. His eyes bugged out and mouth dropped to the table. He stayed like that for about a minute, and I was really disappointed I couldn’t wave anything in front of his face to see if he was still breathing. Eventually he recomposed himself but his voice betrayed the fact he was still flustered. “An assault on the city? Are you positive? ”

“No an assault on Princess Celestia’s private bathroom,” was my deadpanned response. “Yes and attack on Canterlot. So are we done here? I still have a pony to kill and the people who hired me aren’t exactly friendly in failed assignments.”

Before ink blot butt, as I had lovingly dubbed him, could respond Shining Armor came into the room, horn already glowing. Behind him was Princess Cadance, and if anyone else was paying attention to her, one could see the flash of green cross her eyes. “No you are not going anywhere. You are hereby under arrest under the jurisdiction of the Royal Pony Sisters You are being charged with conspiracy to commit murder, treason to the state, and public urination. I shall be bringing you to your cell now.”

Before I could utter out any defiant words, or ask for my one phone call, Shining Armor blasted me in the face once more and I was out like a light.

~{WWP}~

Author's Note

That one took a little longer than I would've liked it to. Unfortunately my semester is winding to a close and I have a lot of work that I need to get done, so don't expect the next chapter anytime soon. I have plans for it though, so once I get going it shouldn't be to long in the making.

Also, in news of the tragedy up in Boston, my prayers go to the victims up there. As much as people don't like to accept it, if people want to hurt others, they will find a way. It is despicable, but the sad truth of the world and hatred. It is part of the reason I feel honored to be part of such a loving community such as the Bronies. Thank you for that gift.

Standard typo rules apply.

Life of a Hunter: Stalliongrad

“This best be worth my time Gustave,” I barked as I entered the back room of another one of his bars.

The griffin in question turned to face me. “Zis is very important. I have found a location for your connection in Stalliongrad. I’m sure that place will garner a load of funds for you. The city is rank with crime.” Gustave was waving a paper around my face.

Ripping it from his talons, I could make out the majority of the paper. It was advertising a place called The Hall. “What’s so special about it?”

“Zat locale is the hub of Stalliongrad. The owner is one of the most influential ponies in the entire city. It would be a prime location to find a source of constant information,” Gustave stated happily, with a smug grin on his beak.

Turning my attention back to the paper before me, I asked the obvious question. “How long do you think it’d take? Scootaloo wants to have a sleepover this weekend so I got to be back by then.”

“Well, it is only about a two day flight from Ponyville with your speeds. Otherwise, I’d refrain until you are more free.”

‘I should have just listened to the feather brain. Then I wouldn’t be stuck in this situation right now. I wonder if I can..’

My trek through the city wasn’t all too bad, not counting the clearly racist and corrupt guards at the cities tolls, that took a hefty bribe to leave me alone. The outer portions of the city were rather nice, clean areas. Guards were regularly patrolling and everyone on the streets were ponies and giving me the dirtiest looks possible. But as I kept walking deeper into the city, I could see the changes. The alleys were dirtier, the streets had more diversity, and the guards presence was almost non-existent.

I stopped a passing Diamond Dog and asked if he knew where The Hall was, and he just told me to keep heading in. “Nice spot in not nice area. Me like it there,” was the most I could get from him before he trudged along. So I kept walking, and by the time I could see The Hall I realized I was leaving the shadiest parts of town.

Just before I could get into the building, I heard a wolf whistle and spun my head to see some mares blowing kisses and trying to seduce passerbyers. Looking up, I saw a lovely sign of ‘The Hitching Post’ but before I could make any comments a group of stallions shoved me into an alley.

“I saw you looking at our mares wolf boy, that’s gonna cost ya,” the grimy stallion slurred out with his breath smelling like a fresh bottle of rum. He and his two friends were swaying where they stood, with bloodshot eyes and cheeky little smiles like they just hit the jackpot.

I just sighed, trying to ignore the stench of the dirty hobo. “What’s it to ya bud? Not like you’d run such a,” I had to take a breath to ensure the proper amount of sarcasm was given, “fine establishment. By the way, how’d you come up with the name? Out of your’s or your two friends ass?”

It took the three stallions a while to realize that I had just insulted the lot of them before their all too witty reply. “I think someone’s insulting us, and we don’t like being insulted do we?” The other to imbeciles shook their heads violently before Grimy McGrimerton continued. “I think you best be asking forgiveness or we may mess you up.” The stallions proceeded to back me into an alley next to The Hall and take out a few knives and a rusty pipe.

I just grinned wickedly once they brought out the weapons. “You know Equestria has a law saying that if something tries to threaten you with lethal force, you are allowed to defend yourself with an equal amount force? It’s an old law, like pre-Nightmare Moon when killings were a bit more rampant and trials were a simple ‘he said this happened so it did’, but it is still in the system. By far my favorite law though cause I get to kill idiots like you and not have to worry about guards.”

The ponies lunged at me but I simply flew over the top of the lot of them. All three being Earth ponies put them at a HUGE disadvantage. I dropped onto one of their backs and quickly broke his neck with my jaws. The others puked at the sight of their friend dying, so I quickly added blood with bile by slitting the idiots throats.

I walked out of the alley and bumped into a mare who saw my blood soaked fur and muzzle. I walked by as she glanced down the alley from whence I came and shrieked as I entered The Hall.

The inside of the building was done completely in wood giving it the feel of a well used inn. The main floor was raised above the entrance and packed with tables and chairs with a short set of stairs leading up to it. A podium sat right in front of them with a green furred, orange maned unicorn mare sitting behind it. It looked like there were a few more areas above the main one. Not really full floors, more like one long balcony that went all the way down the circular wall. They stopped to the left where the semicircle hit a plain square. Attached to that was a small stage.Nothing really extravagant, but pretty nice if they had the type of people I was looking for in it.

I dipped into the first washroom I could find to get the blood off of me. Thankfully it hadn’t begun to congeal yet, so it was easy enough to remove from my coat. Once I was presentable, at least as much as I could be, I left the room and entered the main part of building.

As I made my way through the crowds, many began to part before me due to my blood drenched fur. Even though most did, there were a few in the crowd that I could tell were eyeing me down to gauge if I was a threat or not. I simply force my way towards the bar to get a drink, and hopefully some information and a connection in this city I could rely on.

“Gimme your best ale bar keep, and the change is yours for some words,” I called over to a red earth pony stallion as I placed a dozen or so bits on the bar. The clanking of the bits drew his attention over instantly, since I could only assume the pony he was talking to was a shitty tip.

“So, what sort of words you looking for here? There is only so much I can say,” the stallion inquired as he pocketed the tip and handed me my ale.

“I need someone who listens and can get me information in Stalliongrad, both legal and not so much, in case something catches my fancy. Know anyone?” I inquired, placing my bribing bag of bits on the table.

“I might...” the stallion said, eyeing the bits with interest. I quickly slid a few more bits his way to try and loosen those jaws a bit. “Exactly what are your interests mister...”

“Zeta. My interests involve knowing what may or may not be profitable when it comes to employment opportunities. I need someone I can trust in the city to ensure I get good info, and that any jobs they get me are legit,” I answered coolly. “My Baltimare contact didn’t seem to understand that last part to much, and let’s just say the fish in the sea enjoyed having him over for dinner...”

I paused before continuing, “The pony wouldn’t be in any danger or trouble as long as they were honest with me and gave me sound advice in their respective city. So, you know anyone?”

“Bright Red,” the pony said, sliding the bits over to himself. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Before I could finish the deal, I felt a pair of hooves grab me by my wings and toss me backwards. After getting tossed across a table and through a couple pieces of glass, I staggered to my feet to see half a dozen stallions in front of me with hard glares.

“You the punk that off’ed Grimmer and that lot?” the lead who had pony-handled me demanded knowing.

“You’re kidding me? You have got to be kidding me right? That couldn’t have been that idiot’s name right?” was my dumbstruck response. It was answered with three of the ponies tackling me and pinning me to the ground.

“You’re about to learn what happens to things that mess with our boys!” a stallion yelled as he raised his hoof to strike. Before it could connect though, a large paw grabbed the appendage and lifted the entire pony into the air.

“And what would that be exactly?” a deep voice growled. The pony was lifted in front of the face of a very large, very angry looking diamond dog. I watched as the Diamond Dog swung the pony, using it as a makeshift club, and knocked all of the ponies off of me. The D-Dog offered his paw to assist me up “Ignore them. Seeing punks like that around here is more common than rats in a sewer. You may as well go the the upper levels while I clean up the garbage.”

Not wanting to anger the bouncer, I floated my way up to the third floor, which seemed almost dead despite the crowd below, and landed to relax for a bit. I wasn’t here for too terribly long before I heard footsteps heading towards the table I was relaxing at.

“So...there trouble downstairs?” A tall, brown and white furred cat...thing leaned on the railing beside me and looked down at the ground floor.

I took a couple more moments looking over the strange thing, noticing the scent of painted wood and some minor swelling where his fur was the covering the lightest. His shirt and pants, which I have to say was pretty bizarre seeing a humanoid like being, covered most of his body though. “You say that like its a common occurrence. I take it you work here...”

“Yep. I’m your waiter actually.” He turned to me with a small grin. “May I take your order?”

Since I had never seen a cat thing before, I figured it’d make sense for me to talk to one of them a bit. “Get me one beer, and whatever you’d like to drink, along with two steaks.” I saw his face begin to object to drinking on the job before I cut him off, “And I don’t care what your boss says, I’ll pay for your entire shift.”

“Huh...well, if you’ll cover my shift I guess it’s alright...” He took out a small notepad and jotted down a few notes. “Oh...about the red meat...”

“Let me guess, you guys don’t serve red meat here since there are a lot of ponies right?” I sighed, having heard the same thing at over half dozen different locales I’ve eaten at.

“Actually no. We do serve it. But our lead chef is a cow so...if you could not mention it...to anyone?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of a cow cooking me steak. “Of course I won’t tell, no one would believe me if I did. Hurry up and place the order and sit back down. Not like you got anything else to do.”

“Right...” He walked off toward the back wall without another word. After a while he came back with two beers, a steak, and a plate of cooked fish. He set them all on the table. I dug in real quick, and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of cow cooked steak.

“So, you got a name cat thingy, or should I just call you Sylvester, Fat Cat, or Pussy Cat?” I asked with a cynical tone.

“Jack,” he said simply, glancing around to make sure no one was around with a nervous gaze. I just ignored it and continued on with the obvious.

“Short, sweet, and to the point. Tell me about yourself, like what happened to that arm of yours?” I asked, draining my beer in afterward.

“I was flipping someone off and they shot me with a poisoned arrow.”

I just nodded my head at the cat as he told his, again extremely short story. “You know, usually you want to have a nice conversation with the guy that is paying for your break and booze right?”

“And usually, you know the guy’s name,” he said with a smirk.

“Touche my fine feline friend, but normally you either introduce yourself or ask for the other’s name. You’ve done neither, forcing me to ask all questions, “ was my, hopefully, witty reply.

“True enough.” He nodded, lifting his drink. “Let’s try again. Hello sir, my name is Jack Khajiit. May I ask your name?”

I just grinned at the response. “The name is Zeta the cynogriffin, pleasure making your acquaintance. So what brings you to this city?”

“I live here oddly enough.” He took a sip of the beer. “Used to be down south in the feline jungle. A friend of mine has some business up in this city so I followed him up to help out.”

“Sounds like you were a willing participant. Anyway, what’s underneath that wooden paw of yours? Since there aren’t any straps holding it in place I figure something is underneath,” I inquired, attempting to get the cat to loosen up a little bit.

“...If only you were a girl so I could call you a clever bitch.” He grasped the base of the wooden hand and pressed a specific spot. There was a soft click and he pulled the whole thing off to reveal a gleaming white-gold blade.

“Interesting. I take it you actually know how to use that thing, since it’s your arm now and everything. Makes me wonder why your face got so messed up?”

“What can I say, it’s a dangerous town.” He chuckled, turning his face away slightly. “Very punishing to the careless.”

“Fair enough,” by this time what I assumed was another worker brought us each over another drink. While mine was another beer, Jack’s was some mixed drink. “Vodka I take it?”

“When in Rome...or Russia as the case may be...kind of.” He thanked the gray unicorn and tossed back the drink. Said unicorn winked at me before sauntering off.

I gazed at the leaving flank for a bit before returning to my new acquaintance. “So, I take it you aren’t from around here are ya?” I inquired with a curious, if slightly buzzed, gaze.

“Nope. I’m from the jungle down south...I think I said that...” Jack stared at his drink for a moment before shrugging and taking a sip.

“Then how do you know about Russia and Rome...” I deadpanned.

“...Goddammit.” He leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I’ve got to learn to be more careful...”

I simply laughed at the cat’s slip up. “Not the sharpest in the shed. If it makes you feel better, you’re the only other one I’ve met. So what you doing here?”

“Fighting people, working for tips, trying to get my hands on this tablet, getting my ass kicked...a lot...” he ticked off. “Normal adventure stuff.”

“Sounds better than what I’ve been doing,” I huffed out. “Being a bounty hunter, raising a kid, paying taxes and shit. Sort of a pain in the ass. So were you always Jack or what?”

“No...I changed it when I got here...well...it kind of got changed...I tried to change it, but it ended up as something else...also, I kind of thought I was dreaming when I tried to change it so it’s not the best name...and I’m rambling...”

“What was the first name? You’ve spiked my curiosity,” I uttered, having downed another few beers before he finished his answer.

“I tried to call myself Khajiit, but somehow I ended up as Jack. So now it’s my last name.” He went silent for a second. “So what about you? I doubt human parents would name their kid Zeta.”

I just shrugged my wings. “Wanted a completely fresh start, and I’ve always liked the greek alphabet. And I still feel you aren’t telling the whole truth with the name thing,” I uttered, sliding over another one of his drinks.

“So what if I’m not?” He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know you. Why should I give away my deepest darkest secrets?”

“I’m paying for your food and drinks. But regardless, you know of anything interesting going around in this city? Something I could make a profit from?” I inquired, figuring it be best to leave the name alone for now. A couple more drinks and he’ll ramble the story.

“Well...if you showed up a few months ago you could have entered this tournament I’m in...first prize is half a million.” He kept sipping his drink.

“I take it it is a long as tournament? I don’t got to much free time to do jobs, or I’d be winning that thing. Probably. How have you been doing in it?”

“Just started about a week ago...got another week before the next fight.” He reflexively rubbed his face. “Still feeling that guy’s punch...”

“That is unfortunate. If only life in a cartoon world was more like a cartoon. We’d be moving in like 3 days after near death injuries,” I mumbled, rubbing my paw over the scar across my eye. After an hour or two of drinking and talking with Jack Khajiit, I glanced over the balcony, and noticed that the crowd seemed to have relaxed a bit. “Well, I think its time I took my leave.”

“What? But didn’t you just get here?”

“Who knows, we both drank a lot. But I gotta finish my deal with Bright down there. So I bid you adieu,” I gracefully slurred towards Jack. I then leaned over the balcony.

“...You’re skipping out on the check aren’t you?” I just laughed as I flipped off of the balcony and glided back towards the bottom floor’s bar. Landing in front of it I glanced up and saw the cat looking over the same railing before turning around and running.

“I see you’re back,” Bright uttered.

“Yea, can’t talk for long though,” I mentioned. I reached across the bar and cut a small amount of hair off of his mane with my claw and gave him a feather. “We’ll use these in magic communicators to send messages. Try and get me one once a month at the minimum.” I then dropped off another bag of bits onto the bar “That’s to cover my bill upstairs, plus tip. I just wanted to mess with him a little. I’ll be in touch.”

“Don’t worry, messing with Mango is a pastime around here,” the bartender said with a smirk.

I lost it in my semi drunken stupor. “His other name was Mango? Are you messing with me? Mango Jack? That’s priceless.” I sat there and laughed for a bit with Bright, who chuckled in amusement as well.

I then noticed Khajiit running down the last flight of stairs, so I turned a flew above the crowd towards the door, mouthing ‘Mango Jack’ at him. He flipped me off real quick and with a smile on my muzzle I took my leave of The Hall and began my flight back towards Ponyville and my daughter, still in time to make that sleepover happen.

Author's Note

So before anyone says anything, this is an extra chapter. We've been planning this cross for a while, and I realized I really wanted to add some more back story to Zeta as a bounty hunter. So these chapters will be called Life of a Hunter: (Insert Location or job here). While they won't directly influence the main storyline, they'll be referenced in blurbs here and there, or to have a past character reappear.

Hope you all enjoy!

Caged Like a Dog

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 19

~{WWP}~

Waking up in a cell is never good. Usually it means one of two things in my case. I was arrested for fighting someone at a bar, which was a rarity, or I was brought in from said bar because I was too intoxicated to walk home. I have found that while neither is ideal, you wake up a lot better when it was just a fight.

Unfortunately my head made it feel like it was the latter of the two scenarios when I started stirring. Cracking my eyes open slightly, I noticed the almost blackness of the cell I was in. If it wasn’t for two little candles that were lit outside the door, there would be no light. Surprisingly though, the actual interior of the cell was really nice. A small desk was straight across from my bed, with what appeared to be charcoal to write with. A few books, mostly religious from the fancy titles, were on the desk as well. A toilet was behind a wall for some privacy and the mattress, while no cloud, was incredibly soft.

I was so absorbed with exploring my new ‘home’ that I didn’t hear the sound of hooves coming towards me until there was a knock at the door. Needless to say I took the surprise with the grace of any manly bounty hunter ever.

“Holy shit!”

Meaning I screamed and jumped four feet into the air, that’s manly right? Anyway once I floated down from the ceiling I saw ‘Cadance’ alone before me. She had a very wicked grin on her muzzle that was about as far from princess-like as one could get.

“Isn’t this quite a scene, the last cynogriffin in existence trapped in a cage like the animal he is,” the bug queen sneered. I just sat there impassively, since I figured this was her “evil villain gloating to henchmen” moment. “But you have been useful to me haven’t you? That distraction was perfect. It allowed me to not only overpower and replace that pathetic Alicorn, but I even had time to entrap her in the crystal mines. And with you in this cell, you’ll be able to travel down there and execute her at your leisure.”

“Um…what are the crystal mines and where are they?” I inquired, daring to interrupt the changeling in her moment of glory. She just gave me one of those looks that spoke ‘shut up and let me enjoy myself before your stupid questions’ to which I complied.

“As I was saying before I was interrupted,” Chrysalis uttered, glaring at me coldly all the while, “within the month, my entry force of 3,000 elite soldiers will have effectively infiltrated Canterlot. By the day of the wedding, I will have also drained Shining Armor of enough energy to take out Celestia. The raw power of his love for Cadance is amazing. After I strike Celestia down, my army of changelings will descend upon the city, killing any who fight back and draining love en mass from the others.”

That’s a lot different than I was expecting. She honestly just told me the exact opposite of what the changeling I made the deal with told me. He how made Chrysalis sound was like bitchy teenage girl who just wanted her way for a little bit. The queen before me though was nothing more than a cruel tyrant.

“Of course after Canterlot falls, I will send my changelings out across Equestria disguised as some of the more prominent figures and have them do wonderful deeds so the simple folk will love them. They will funnel all of the love back to me, gaining me even more power.”

The queen took a moment from her ‘evil scheme rant’ to glance at me. “Now remember the next part of our bargain. The cell you are in has a passage way straight down to the Crystal Mines where the real Cadance is kept. I want her dead by the end of the week. In 7 days, if I do not view her corpse when I gaze into the mines, our deal is off and you’ll be expendable. Am I understood?”

I gave the changeling a cold glare in return, that had intimidated many before but not one of her caliber. “Loud and clear, just make sure you stick to your side of the bargain.”

The ‘princess’ just laughed in a voice that betrayed whom she truly was. “All those that serve me loyally shall be paid. Do not fret bounty hunter, you’ll receive payment.” She then turned around and marched away from my cell.

A few moments later, I realized something pretty vital. “How the hell am I supposed to get into the mines from here anyway?” With no answer from some heavenly source, I began the boring process of pushing every single brick in my cell, hoping it was a hidden button that’d open the passage. My problem presented itself with the fact that the cell didn’t exactly have normal sized bricks. These things were the size of legos. By the time I had finished the first wall, it was night, based on how cold the castle got. I snuggled up in what little blankets they supplied me and slept, happy that I at least got rid of one wall in my search.

“Get up fleabag,” a gruff voice called out to me. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I saw a guard glaring down at me, floating a tray of what I assumed was food in his magic. “Breakfast time you lazy dog. Step away from the bars so I can drop it off.”

I sorta just complied in my half sleep induced state. Now that I look back on it, that would’ve been the perfect time to escape, or at least get something edible, but I decided I would be an obedient little prisoner for the time being. The guard entered quickly, dropped the tray, and then left the cell.

“You can turn around now,” echoed as the guard locked the cell with his magic and began to walk away. Looking at the tray in front of me, I almost cried. Sitting on the tray was a bowl of lettuce, a single apple, and a jug of water.

I just gawked at the food they left for me. It was almost as if instead of having a trial, the Guard just planned on starving me to death. I attempted to eat what they gave me though, knowing I’d be in trouble if I didn’t eat anything for a month.

“What’s the worst that could happen? It only tasted bad that one time…”

Let’s just say I didn’t finish my tray, except for the water, which I used to rinse the vomit taste out of my mouth once I was done puking. Apparently fruits and vegetables weren’t just vile tasting to me, they were straight up toxic. It wasn’t even sitting in my stomach for a minute before my body rejected it and forced projectile vomit out of me. I even hit the wall in the cell opposite of me.

I spent the next chunk of the day hitting all the stones on the back wall this time. I was extremely meticulous, but after that didn’t work I tried running my claws through the cracks. Nothing seemed to work. That put even a bigger damper on my day. No food and I can’t even go exploring in the mines.

Around what I assumed dinner time was, another guard came with a new tray. “You should know the drill prisoner. Up against the wall.”

As I dutifully leaned against the wall, I couldn’t keep myself completely silent. “So do I get a single letter or something? Cause being locked up in the darkest parts of Canterlot Castle really sucks. Especially since you guys seem intent on poisoning me,” I muttered at the end, having smelt the food he brought in; two bananas and another thing of what smelt like lilies.

“Why would you need a letter? And you’ve been getting much better quality food than other prisoners on Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s orders, so don’t complain,” the guard snapped as he slammed the cell closed.

“The letter would be to a griffin friend of mine that cooks, since I can’t eat vegetables or plants. I’m what’d you call a carnivore,” I replied approaching the tray with a fang filled grin. “I figured if I sent him a letter, he would at least send over some legally bought meat to the castle so I could have something edible.”

The guard looked at me questioningly, before nodding. “I’ll check with the Princess on the protocol. Until then this is all I can offer you.” Then he quickly did a 180 and walked away, avoiding my vomit from earlier. I just chugged the jug of water and went to bed.

My third day in prison was much like the first. Someone woke me up with a plant filled breakfast and walked off. I checked the final wall for the passageway, but to no avail. I was beginning to understand why people went insane while imprisoned. Fortunately a very haughty tone interrupted my thoughts before I went too far off the deep end.

“So the food I sent is not enough for you then?”

“Not in the least bit your highness,” I uttered out withholding as much venom as I could, despite my current situation. “I figured you’d know that cynogriffins were carnivores, weren’t you around when they still flew in the skies?”

The phony princess pony’s face drew a scowl and spoke to me not as a lesser being, but as a peer for the first time. “Cynogriffins were barbarians even back then. They recognized no authority except their own and hunted where they pleased. On an individual basis, a cynogriffin could be quite pleasant, but once the ‘hunt’ hit them they were without remorse. It was part of their species to hunt anything and everything.

She turned away as she continued, “Many considered them the great equalizers, because no one species ever managed to overpopulate and control another. If one began to, the cynogriffins would turn their attention to the more bountiful races to feed.”

The queen turned back to face me, eyes full of a mixture of hate, fear, and to this day I’m unsure if it was reverence or not, but I think it was. “The cynogriffins were a constant fear back then, but they kept a sort of balance to the races. They never grew large enough to be a detriment themselves since they were strictly carnivorous and couldn’t grow rapidly. No one will ever say your race was missed; they were more of monsters than changelings ever are or will be.”

I just stared back at her confused as to what she was trying to say. I mean, it’s nice to learn a bit more about what I am, but I was hoping there was a point to that little rant. “And…”

“You get a single letter that I will read before it is sent,” she declared, passing me parchment and a quill in her sickly green magic. “Consider my debt to your race fulfilled.” As I wrote down, she continued to stare at me oddly.

I was just about done my letter when she began speaking again, once more in her haughty tone. “By the way, the kid, a rather young changeling in my elite, has advised me in a more entertaining pursuit of your newest prey. I want her to remain alive until after the invasion is over, so I may break her spirit before herself. You will now ensure she lives until then, but I don’t care what shape she is in.” The queen levitated my finished letter to herself and began to leave before calling out, “Have your way with her if you so choose, but she is to be breathing when I next see her.”

Just as I heard the hooves clopping on the stairs, did I remember what I had forgotten to ask her again. “I’m never going to get into these damn caverns am I?” And then I went back to work, looking for an entrance to the Crystal Mines.

~{WWP}~

Author's Note

I'm working my way through this arc, slowly but surely. I'm a little late (just about a month) for the one year since I started this story, so I guess that's an accomplishment. Thanks to everyone who enjoys reading the story.

Thardoc is editor, thanks to him. And as always point out any grammar errors you see that we missed.

Bringing Up the Past

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 20

~{WWP}~

The next morning I had steak for breakfast. Whatever channels Chrysalis sent the letter through worked extremely quickly, and once again Gustave has come through with flying colors. Of course, I didn’t tell him the whole truth in the letter. Just saying I’m staying up at Canterlot Castle and to send a large shipment of meat for me to eat since they don’t normally stock it. For some reason though, they also still sent the veggies.

My morning was filled once again with searching for the entrance. By lunchtime, I had hit every single little stone on every single wall. I had given up and plopped on my bed when the changeling disguised as a guard showed up with some water for my ‘lunch’.

“Hey bug guy, you know where the passage is for this cell?” I inquired. He just looked at me, placed the platter down and left. In exasperation I flopped down onto the bed, which then proceeded to sink about two inches into the ground.

“What the fuck?” I jumped up and down on my bed once more and it sank one more inch before it began to shutter. My ears perked when I heard a grating noise below that sounded like a cheap effect in an Indiana Jones movie.

Looking over the side of my bed, I saw that the four corners of the frame actually formed an archway to a set of dark looking stairs, the stone having been dropped and rearranged to make it accessible to pretty much anyone shorter than Celestia herself.

I quickly grabbed my lunch, the pillow case full of all the vegetables I had, and proceeded down the dark creepy path, assuming that the torches Knightmare told me about would be a little further down. By about the 5th step, the stone realigned and closed the entrance back up.

Instantly the stairwell went pitch black. I couldn’t see the end of my muzzle, let alone where I was going. I figured if I just stood still my night vision would kick in and I could see well. Unfortunately, my night vision is about as strong as a human’s, and in this pitch blackness, it did diddily-squat.

“I’m going to kill that Changeling who said there’d be torches down here when I get the chance,” I grumbled to myself as I descended the stairs. I got down another three and then reached a flat surface at a landing. Not being able to see where I was going I tried to go right and slammed my snout into a wall.

“Maybe flay him. Flaying is more painful,” I grumbled some more as I rubbed the edge of my nose. Cautiously I began feeling around the landing until I found the next flight of stairs. After about an hour or two of stairs and a lot of new bruises on my head, it ended in a big cavern with a large gorge in the middle of it.

To be honest, it was probably one of the more impressive scenes I have laid my eyes on. It was somewhat like those big caves you see in like National Geographic with the hundred foot long crystal spikes, except these ones were purple and violet.

I flew across the gap in the floor, wondering how that was supposed to keep an Alicorn from getting across, while I continued my trek through the cave system. Using my nose, it wasn’t that hard to find the area the Princess was located in. I mean, besides myself, she was the only living thing down here. At least from what I could smell.

Following the trail, I got into a sorta deep introspective mood since there wasn’t anything else to keep me entertained. Being in jail does that to you I guess. I began thinking about how much of a complete lunatic I’ve acted recently. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel much remorse over what I did, but even back when I was on Earth and a drunken angry and hurt young adult I was never exactly violent. I enjoyed a good fight now and then, but the only things I killed were when I had to put a dog down and I cried when I did that.

Do not judge me. There is nothing sadder than a dying dog.

Anyway, I just recently came to terms that I’ve killed countless amounts of creatures, most of them intelligent, while living here the past few months. If TV was anything to judge by this was supposed to be the part where I either have an emotional breakdown and start bawling my eyes out at the audacity of my crimes, or I start laughing maniacally as I do paper mache with dried out entrails and liquefied brain matter.

The strange thing was though; I just couldn’t seem to care. It’s not like I wasn’t thinking about it on my trek through the mines. I relived some of the more vicious killings I performed wondering what possessed me to do them. Regardless of how I thought about them, or the fact the victims probably had a wife and kids depending on them, or countless other ways to force me into feeling guilty about their deaths, I simply couldn’t. Almost like I had a mental block or something, but for some reason I was incapable of feeling empathetic.

That got me somewhat concerned, but before I could let my imagination run wild to see if my empathetic mental block idea was legitimate or not I reached the end of my journey. I had reached a block of crystals with the scent of the Alicorn right behind them. Luckily though, this time the lever was in plain sight and not hidden amongst everywhere else. Otherwise Cadance would probably have died by the time I found the true lever.

After watching the dramatic secret wall open up, there lying in the middle of the room was the pretty pink pony princess of love. If she was the first princess to be seen in the show instead of Celestia, bronies everywhere would’ve had a much harder time saying how the show wasn’t just for little girls. There is only so much pink a man can explain away, and Cadance not only was on the other side of the line, she lost sight of it.

Glancing and sniffing around the room, noticed some stray objects, like a sleeping pad and a fire pit, plus a small box that smelt of apples. Cadance for her part was just curled into a ball on the other side of the enclosure. With a grating sound, the crystal fell back into place behind me, and I saw one of the smaller ones next to the door move.

“At least I know how I’m getting out of here,” I mumbled out loud. Apparently loud enough for Cadance to hear me, whom turned and faced me for the first time without throwing rubbish bins at my face. Though by the look she began to give me said she’d prefer to be doing otherwise.

The first thing I really noticed, since my view was obstructed before, was the lack of an ethereal mane. It was just like any other pony’s mane and tail, minus the variety of colors. The only other pony I’ve seen with more than one color was Rainbow Dash. I bet someone will call me out on that one, but everything else seemed to match. Regardless, Cadance being an Alicorn, I figured she’d have a fancy mane and tail as well. I was slightly disappointed by that one.

The rest of her was, if I may say so as a citizen of Equis at this point, more attractive than any of the other ponies I’ve seen. She was taller, and more streamlined than anypony else, though not nearly as large as either Princess. Her crystal heart cutie mark was almost the size of her entire flank. Her horn dwarfed any unicorns that I’ve seen, and her wings resting on her side were larger than even Spitfire’s.

Of course the moment she saw me, they flared out and proved the fact that she was destined to be larger than pegasi and unicorns.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, her horn glowing threateningly.

Instead of answering, I simply dumped out the makeshift saddle bags I brought with me. Out dropped all the vegetables I had been saving to give to her once I figured out how to get there. Instead of gasping for joy at the new food source, she just eyed me even more spectacularly.

“What do you want with me? You know I tried to hurt you already and I won’t forgive you for hurting Twilight.”

Her glare made all the near death experiences I’ve had up till this point crap themselves, throw in the white towel, and hide in the nearest fallout shelter waiting for the world to end. “Well that part about hurting Twilight was a lie. See I found it easier to get someone to chase me if they think I hurt someone close to them.” Her confused look made me realize that she was not following my logic. I proceeded to explain to her my entire paw in the events that led to her capture.

“That still doesn’t explain why I should trust you,” Cadance declared, though she no longer had the glow about her horn showing she was ready to zap me into Japony.

“Well I was hired by someone else to ensure you lived through the whole wedding fiasco, so here I am. You may want to eat up though, I’m not sure how long the food will stay well, since I doubt it was ever fresh,” I countered. Just to show another sign of faith, I floated over to a crystal near the roof of the chamber and landed my ass on top of it. “Can’t complete that job if you starve to death now can I?”

Cadance just looked at me suspiciously as she approached the food. After floating each object in a field, that I could only assume would tell her if it was poisoned, did she began to eat. And boy did she eat. I’ve seen pregnant women eat in a more calm demeanor than this mare before me did. Only time I was glad to be faster than anything else on the planet, since I could get away if she decided I looked tasty enough.

“So you all full now?” I inquired as she tossed the last giblet of food down her throat. After a swift nod, I continued on. “Well, then I’ll hopefully see you tomorrow with more food. Don’t want to develop any Stockholm Syndrome symptoms here.”

As I flew over towards the lever that would get me out of the room, Cadance shouted out to me, “I’m the Alicorn of Love you know. I can tell you are full of love, but pain clouds everything you do, why?” I ignored the question and pulled the lever, leaving a questioning pink mare behind me as the crystal that trapped her fell back into place.

After I managed to work my way back to the cell, I saw I had already missed dinner. Luckily Chrysalis had enough Changelings working in the castle that one was always there to deliver my food. After eating, I laid down to fall to sleep, with only one thought on my mind. ‘Jacob.’

The following week happened in much of the same manner. After breakfast I would find my way done to Cadance’s ‘cell’ and make sure she had food and water for the day. I would try my best to deflect personal questions she kept asking that I never shared with anyone else in the world, sans two people who have long since been dead.

Then one day, about a week towards the wedding, she caught me off guard.

“So what’s your daughter’s name?” Cadance asked in an all too innocent sounding voice. Before she could even take another breath, I had covered the space of the cavern, tackled her to the ground, had my claws against her neck and was bearing all of my teeth at her face.

“Who told you that?” I growled the words barely understandable. I was not happy that she knew I had a daughter. That information was restricted to a very harsh degree. I managed to convince Pinkie Pie to carry around a contract for everypony in Ponyville to sign swearing their silence on the matter under fear of retribution of a very pissed predatory parent. Needless to say, the town’s folk grudgingly signed the paper.

The fear I struck in Cadance however was almost as fast as me getting across the room. Her eyes dilated and I could hear how fast her heart was beating as her wings struggled to get her away from me. “Answer the question!”

“I...I figured it out,” Cadance said in a very timid manner in case I would lose control if she said the wrong thing. “I’m the Alicorn of Love and the love I sensed from you was distinctly a father’s love towards a daughter. I’m sorry if I wasn’t supposed to know.”

I slowly backed off the princess, though I kept my wings and claws prepped and ready to tear into someone. “Well what you figured out is highly sensitive information. You tell a soul and I’ll rip you in half; simple fact,” I growled towards her, my eyes never leaving her.

Cadance shakily got up and hurried back as far away from me as she could get, her wings prepped and ready to rocket her to safety if need be. “I’m sorry, I was just looking something we could talk about and it seemed safe enough of a topic,” she pleadingly explained. “It gets lonely down here, and you are the only company I’ve gotten since I was imprisoned so I just wanted to chat a little bit.”

Her pleading got to me. It was quite dull being in prison with no one to talk to up in my cell. I mean, I had already had that deep retrospective but no way to and when I get a chance to have an actual conversation, I’ve just been ignoring the other conversationalist. I slowly eased the tension in my wings and limbs, and forced myself to take a more relaxed appearance. “Fair enough, though anything said between us is 100% confidential. None of it is spread beyond these walls,” I muttered.

Cadance hastily nodded her head. “So what is her name?”

“Scootaloo.”

Cadance just looked at me, as if expecting me to keep talking. After a couple minutes of awkward silence she asked another question, “So is she a cynogriffin like you? I thought they were extinct?”

My ears perked up after hearing my species’ name. I’ve come to realize that cynogriffins weren’t very well remembered even in scary stories parents tell foals. Besides Gustave and Luna, no one had any idea what a cynogriffin was. Even Twilight had to research them a bit after I told her.

“No, she’s a pegasus filly I’m taking care of. And as for cynogriffins, I’m the last one,” I replied. “Why are you so inquisitive about my daughter?”

Cadance scuffed her hoof on the ground a bit before trying to change the topic a few times. My silent glare just deflected all of those and waited for the actual reply. “Oh fine, I asked cause I could sense the love for your daughter in you. Like I said, parental love has a distinct glow to it that romantic love lacks.”

She looked at me for a little longer with her horn glowing. “But is she your only child? You sorta have a faded glow hidden be- HEY WAIT!”

I never gave her the chance to finish because I stormed out of the room. The trip up was filled with the thoughts of “Just a few more days,” until a clambered into my cell. Dinner was waiting, and I ate and fell asleep.

The next day when I went to visit, Cadance caught me by surprise by levitating me in her magic right as I walked in. Apparently the daily rations did her a load of good. “What the fuck is this all about?”

She gave me her best ‘I’m concerned for your wellbeing so I’ll do what I want to get my way’ look I’ve only seen on girlfriends and teenage babysitters. “You’re hiding something, and you are going to tell me exactly what it is or you won’t be leaving this bubble mister!”

She even had the attitude of a teenage babysitter.

I growled, snapped, attempted to flap my wings, and claw my way out of the barrier, but nothing seemed to work. I resorted to an angry glare and a snort. When I didn’t respond she slowly tightened the holding on my cage.

“I ain’t telling you nothing,” I snarled out. “You don’t have the power to hold me for a long time anyway.”

Cadance just shook her head and spread her wings, “I’m an Alicorn in case you forgot. The only two beings with more magical power than I have are Celestia and Luna. I could hold you here for weeks. You aren’t exactly big.”

“That’s a low blow Cadance, and you know it.” I whined back. I’m somewhat sensitive about my size in this form, since I’m smaller than almost everything I have to kill. It gets upsetting when you have to look up at everything, a fact I shared with her.

“Sorry,” Cadance replied with the sincerity of a whore who got caught stealing from a client after drugging them asleep. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you aren’t getting out until you tell me the truth. I want to know what you are hiding behind!”

Her face took a much gentler look as she continued “We already swore nothing would leave this cave. I told you some of my most precious secrets to gain some trust. I just want to help you out as a friend.”

My glare let up as I thought of everything that’s happened these past weeks. I do recall that I had to comfort her after a few of her stories. THAT had been awkward, especially since I couldn’t remember much of the details. What I do recall though is that she laid out almost her entire life story to me, and I’ve barely told her about my life down here in this shiny hell hole.

“Fine,” I sighed in defeat. “It’s really tough story for me to tell, so I hope you have some tissues ready.” Cadance just shook her head but kept me in the bubble.

It all started when I got a phone call from my good friend Rebecca. The moment I answered it I knew something was wrong. She was in tears and it took me almost fifteen minutes of waiting and telling her to take her time and let it out before she told me what happened. Apparently she and her boyfriend, after having dated for almost a year, had decided to have sex. After a weekend of ‘passionate love’ he dumped her, having finally gotten what he wanted.

And the kicker of it all, was she just found out she was pregnant.

Now, Rebecca was probably one of the few people who I knew for my entire life. She was the one friend I had retained as I lost my baby sister, and continued with me through the whole thing.

So I did what I thought was necessary. I was on a plane back home the next day to make sure check up on her and make sure she wasn’t alone. The two of us had a very long talk about her past history and the choices she had. Her parents died when she was much younger, and was raised by her grandparents, who were both nearing the end of their lives too. I didn’t think she would be able to handle the loss of them and have an abortion so close together. Her arguments involved not being to afford the child and it having a bad home because of lack of funds.

I looked at her in the eyes, and told her how I would drop out of college and start working to support the baby if I had to, but I couldn’t stand by and watch her dispose of the baby. It took about three days of arguing, but eventually she agreed with me. The fact I called in her grandparents and getting them on my side helped as well.

The next nine months flew by. Before I knew it, I was holding a newborn boy in my arms. I have never been as happy as I was on that day, and the look of tired joy on Rebecca’s face showed she was in the same state of mind. That was by far the happiest moment in my life. The next year I spent slaving away at my office, doing pointless things to bring in a paycheck to help Rebecca and Jacob, whom she decided I was the father of now, financial support. I didn’t drive a car, having bought a van for the two of them. Pretty much all of the money I made went straight to taking care of my family.

And I didn’t care at all. I had never been happier in my life. While not a personally rewarding life, it was a good one.

So as all good stories would go; twas not to last. Every day I would take the train back from my job to my home town, and walk the ten or so blocks to get home. It really sucked on rainy days, and that day was no exception. A hurricane seemed to have blown through that evening. As I was walking up from the train stop, a bright red sports car blew past me, spraying me with water.

‘I hope that person crashes and burns,’ was the first thought that crossed my mind. Within a minute of that thought I heard a huge crash of metal up ahead of me. I instantly started jogging to the scene of the accident, in case my lackluster experience in medical training that I got in my only year of college could be of any help.

What I saw at the scene has forever chilled my soul.

The bright green mini-van like one I had had bought for Rebecca was in the middle of the street split clean in half. The red sports car that splashed me was perpendicular to it, with chunks of the van’s side paneling imbedded in the windshield. The copious amounts of blood swirling about the pavement dying the puddles red told me I shouldn’t waste time checking on the driver.

Instead, I was surveyed the rest of the wreck, hoping against hope that it was another car. Another mini-van that had the same stupid bumper sticker I had bought Rebecca that said ‘Baby on Board’ and one that also had Octavia’s (Rebecca’s favorite pony) cutie mark. I prayed to every god I knew of that the car seat I found in the middle of the wreckage face down was just a copy of the one I saw Rebecca paint. I prayed that the baby blanket soaked in blood that had rain pounding on it wasn’t the same I had purchased for Jacob as I reached done lift the car seat from the blood soaked pavement.

It was at that moment I lost all hope in gods of any kind.

I saw the ravages of the accident on the body of my son that day. He was long since dead, if the amount of blood was any given, or the multiple shards of glass in his abdomen.

I cried. I couldn’t tell if the rain or the tears made got me more soaked, but I bawled like I have never done before, even at my little sister’s funeral. Eventually the police showed up, and had to forcibly drag me away from the wreck as they started to gather evidence. The next memory I had was in Rebecca’s room at the hospital, explaining to her that her child was dead. She lost it just as I had, but seemingly worse. She became horribly depressed.

The next year was one of the roughest I had to endure. We managed to bury Jacob, with very few guests, like my friend Rick Walters, at the ceremony. The only reason I remember him there was because he drove Rebecca and me home. Within a month, Rebecca’s grandparents had succumbed to their old-age as well. I had to check her into a psych-ward two days later after finding her with ‘Fuck-Up’ carved into her arm.

Not even a week after I had checked her in did I get a letter in the mail from lawyers of the sports car owner. Apparently her parents were suing my ass for everything by placing the blame on Rebecca for the accident and their daughter’s death. The following months were hell as I tried to find a lawyer I could afford after the funeral costs and hospital fees.

And not even a year to my son’s death, I went to visit Rebecca and found her hanging from the ceiling of her psych ward.

That was when I fled to alcohol. I swiftly lost my job, had the banks going after my house after the botched court-case where the wealthy and privileged took everything from me, and had to let the state take care of Rebecca’s funeral. It was a month or so after this happened that the fateful night of me getting punched to Equestria occurred.

“And that’s the abridged version of what happened,” I muttered. I had long ago broken down into tears and ended up sobbing the second half of the story. Cadance had let me out of the bubble shortly after the first tears. Now the two of us were sitting in the prison crying.

For her part, Cadance looked like she was going to be sick. “I’m so sorry for having you relive that. If I knew,” she began.

“If you knew, you wouldn’t have asked. Now you do, so never ask again,” was my response. After taking a couple minutes, or more like an hour or two, to compose myself again, I growled out, “I hope you don’t mind if I cut our time early. I’d prefer to sleep in a bit before the wedding.” I didn’t give her a chance to respond before leaving for my cell.

I wish I could say I cried myself to sleep, but that’d be a lie. I just laid there on the bed thinking about the past, and everything I had done since. Wondering if I had just continually fucked up my life with every breath I took. My restless night filled with these thoughts before I finally was overcome with exhaustion and slipped into sleep.

The next day I stayed in my bed. Breakfast guard came and went, with me ignoring the meal, my thoughts being too wrapped up with the story I had explained to Cadance. It didn’t take long for me to reach the point of self-pity that nothing else mattered, not even food or freedom.

That is, until the bottom of by bed started glowing a purple hue. Before I could roll off the mattress, a purple beam of energy exploded through the floor and obliterated half of my cell and sending me and the bed slamming into the other side of the room and getting buried in some of the rubble.

“Twilight, was that necessary? I mean, I just found the chain to open the door,” I heard the Alicorn of Love mutter.

Attempting to get my head to stop spinning, I just closed my eyes and listened and smelled who the other person was. After a moment I figured out that while one was the aforementioned pink Alicorn, the other appeared to be Ponyville’s local librarian and Element of Magic wielder Twilight Sparkle.

“Sorry Cadance, I just can’t wait. We have to make sure Shining doesn’t marry that bug queen,” Twilight exclaimed. I could hear her start to pace back and forth on the floor with her hooves clip-clopping away. “If we don’t move fast enough than Canterlot will be in a lot of trouble, so we don’t have time to waste in finding levers.”

“Oh, what a shame that a city would be in trouble, it’s not like that hasn’t happened before,” I growled out from beneath the rubble. “Now will one of you get this shit off of me?”

“Zeta?!” Twilight yelped. She quickly moved all the debris she caused to crush me as she kept asking questions. “What are you doing here? Did you get arrested by the changelings? What do you mean hasn’t happened before?”

As I shook out the bits of rock and dust from my wings and coat, I began to formulate a witty remark, but Cadance cut me off by asking her own question. “Zeta, if I were to offer you both a Royal Favor and a large sum of bits, would you help in defending Canterlot from the onslaught it will soon face?”

I looked between Twilight’s confused face and Cadance’s pleading one as I thought over the request. If I timed it right, I’d have finished the job for Chrysalis and Knightmare before taking Cadance’s job, so there’d be no repercussions for switching sides so quickly. That and the possibility of a Royal Favor was just a bit to tantalizing of a prize.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” I began, taking a little too much joy from watching Cadance wince at her full name, “You have got yourself a deal.”

~{WWP}~

Author's Note

Originally this was going to be two chapters, with the flashback being much longer, but I wanted to at least start the actual Battle of Canterlot before I go back to school, so I sorta compacted them. After the battle and a little cool down chapter, this ARC will be finished and I can go onto bigger and better things with Zeta; which translates into him juggling doing jobs and being a daddy, but there may be an added bonus to the group as well. Stay tuned.

As always, point out any grammar or spelling errors. I know there is usually about a dozen or more. Person who finds the most gets a super secret prize.

Also, Free Edgar 2013!

War

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 21

~{WWP}~

“So what exactly is the plan?” I asked as we ran through Canterlot Castle towards the ballroom the wedding was going to be taking place in. “Like do you want me to just tackle her or what?”

By this point we reached the hallways with windows. Glancing outside of them you could see the massive black cloud swarming above the shield Shining Armor was maintaining. I don’t know much about the guy, but if his little magic bubble could hold up to being pummeled by that large of a force, then I was truly impressed.

Twilight and Cadence saw my focus on the barrier and the swarm that was beginning to arrive and blanched.

“Also, do you think your little captain can hold the shield up against that?”

“I’m not certain that auntie Celestia could hold a shield up against that large of a number,” Cadence murmured. Turning her attention back to me, I noticed her eyeing up my wings. “Zeta, I want you to fly out there and take care of as many of them as you can. Save ponies, stop changelings, the whole deal. Understood?”

Even though the way she phrased that meant it wasn’t an option, I still felt obligated to reply. “It’s going to cost you extra.”

I just started to open my wings to shoot out the window when Twilight grabbed me in her magic. “Wait, you shouldn’t just go out there yet. If they see you before the fighting starts then the changelings could fly around you or possibly let Chrysalis know through the hive mind that you are free.”

Cadance seemed to gather what Twilight was going at with that train of thought. “Change of plans Zeta, you stay here until the shield breaks, then you do everything I just said.” I didn’t even get a chance to glare at her before she turned towards Twilight. “Come on, we have to stop the wedding from finishing.”

So I just ended up sitting in the hallway, watching the black cloud of bugs gather larger and larger. Part of me was glad I was alone though, cause if anyone was around they’d sense how scared I was at that moment. I may be a great natural at flying, but I’m no Wonderbolt when it came to aerial combat. The most experience I had with it was when I had to hunt a corrupt pegasus guard down, and then only the fact I was faster than he was let me beat him. I was woefully out of my league with a battle on this scale.

I am still not sure if it was lucky or not that before I could think too much about my situation the shield shattered and the black cloud began to rain down on everything the shield had previously protected. It honestly took me a moment to move, my brain telling me that going off to fight an army by myself was suicide, but some other part of me deep down started pushing its way through. All I could feel was the overwhelming urge to rip, claw, bite, and kill all of the bugs for encroaching on what could only be thought of as my territory. I couldn’t reason it away. The urge to kill the bugs kept growing. I felt my wings extend to their fullest reach, every feather caressing the air.

I closed my eyes, planning to purge the feeling from myself by cutting everything off. The moment I opened my eyes though, my mind lost the fight. All I saw, all I felt, all I smelt, all I knew was that these bugs were trying to move into my territory, and I had to refresh their mind as to who was at the top of the food chain here.

I blasted out of the window, breaking the first barrier in my wake, flying straight at a chunk of the black cloud of bugs. I reached the edge of the swarm in moments, and the collision was insane. I shot straight through the bugs, my claws out stretched in front of me slicing through any changeling unfortunate enough to be in my path.

I banked hard to the right and lined up to hit the bugs again, but surprise wasn’t on my side anymore. Mid bank green bolts of magic shot up towards me in such quantity that the fact I wasn’t hit made me wonder if the changelings got advice for aiming from Stormtroopers. I was forced to veer off from making another straight shot at the cloud, so I swooped underneath and tried to limit the amount of changelings hitting the ground.

It was at this moment that I realized I would never be able to win and how my mind kicked back into overdrive telling me that I should just run from the city. The thought was quickly quelled though as I ripped a changeling into pieces and was covered in its gore. The predator in me was revived after the moment’s hesitation, and I wasn’t about to let any bug try and take my prey from me.

I reaccelerated as I flew up above the cloud, breaking the First barrier again having lost the speed during the first pass. The changelings began to open fire once again, but I kept going with the speed. Just as I reached the highest point of the swarm, I broke the 2nd Speed barrier. This time there was a new effect though, all of the changelings horns shorted out and all of the blast they were throwing my way fizzled out. I dove back into the fray, lacing the entire swarm with lightning as I passed.

As I slowed down from driving through the swarm, the lightning dissipated and shot off in random directions, adding more chaos to the already frantic fray. As I started planning out my next pass though, I saw a large shiny air ship heading towards the city and a turret blasting into the upper portion of the swarm.

I watched the airship open up one of its ports and watched a large number of griffins flying out with cat people that reminded me of Mango riding on top of the hybrids. I saw the group create a tight formation and just dive into the Changelings head on. “Well that just happened,” I mumbled to myself before glancing down at the city below me, I saw how almost half of the army had begun to terrorize the city. Figuring that the newly arrived Griffin Pirates would be able to handle the airborn bugs I dove down to help the city underneath.

The sharp dive sent me hurtling into the streets, slashing at any black blur I could reach as I flew by. After a quick turn I had an unfortunate accident, crashing into a cart of cabbages that was knocked into the middle of the street. Thanks to what I can only assume is inert magic or something I didn’t become a puddle on the floor, but I was still knocked for a loop and really sore from it.

That’s when I noticed how much darker it became all of a sudden. Glancing up, I saw a huge amount of changelings, and some ponies with glowing green eyes, glaring solely at the creature responsible for killing so many of their comrades.

“I am praying that the reason I see so many of you is cause I hit my head a lot harder than I thought I did,” I announced to the crowd. The next thing I saw was a giant wave of green flame-like magic descending on me. I searched for nearby cover, and seeing nothing I clenched and waited for the pain.

After a few moments of keeping my eyes clamped shut and the distinct lack of burning fur I chanced squinting an eye open. I had to rub my eyes and stare for a few moments to grasp what I saw. A deep blue bubble of magic had formed over my entire being and the emerald flames were dissipating over the barrier and the bugs bouncing backwards in shcok and pain.

Once all the flames had died down, the bubble expanded and launched most of the changelings in the street flying, a few getting squished in the process. Glancing around, I saw the Princess of the Night’s horn still glowing. “Zeta, I am unsure over the manner of your presence here, but it’s beneficial for us,” Luna stated curtly as she wiped some goo from her hoof. She began to start to walk forward, indicating that I should follow with a flip of her wing. The two of us entered into a little square, and then a small part of the swarm descended around us. “I suggest a ‘back to back’ formation for this little scuffle? Are you agreeable?”

I just snarled in response, having turned to face those behind Luna. I could feel the energy that she started to gather in her horn before the bugs attacked us. I ripped apart any of the Changelings that landed too close to us, not paying any attention to what Luna was doing behind me. After the second wave of changelings were taken care of I had a dozen new magic burns, gashes from their horns, and my mouth was all bloody from the crunchy exoskeleton cutting the inside of my mouth. I took a glance over my shoulder to see how Luna was doing, and I saw besides a single cut below her eye she seemed fine.

Before I could call out the bullshit behind her lack of wounds or her not even looking tired, a new group of changelings descended, ripping my focus away from the Princess and back to the carnage. That’s when she started chatting like we were just having tea and biscuits.

“I remember the battles of old that the Cynogriffins would have. The alphas of their packs could take on a small army of lesser racers on their own if need be. In fact, their old ritual of kingship often included them single pawedly taking down a being of immense power that packs would typically have to contend with,” Luna stated matter of factly as she blasted changelings left and right.

“And this has what to do with me?” I growled, having tackled a changeling that landed to the side of us and just ripped out its throat. My patience was already at an all-time low, and her rambling on about the past wasn’t making my mouth bleed any less.

She turned to face me, erecting a shield to cover us for the moment. A second later, I felt a wave of relief wash over me and quell the shaking of my limbs. I even tasted less blood in my mouth. Looking at the princess, she had a small smirk on her muzzle.

“I was curious if you would like to prove your worth as the last of such a race of warriors?”

I was slightly taken aback by that one. She took my puzzlement as a chance to elaborate her thinking. “You see, I fear that all the chaos occurring in this battle will be enough to release Discord from his prison yet again. A friend of mine happens to be in the city currently, and has a unique set of skills that would be able to counter Discord’s release. I would like you to go fetch him and escort him to the statue gardens where he is currently held,” Luna explained rather calmly, not seeming to notice the two dozen or so changelings pounding on her shield. “As a reward for this one, not only will I view you as an Alpha, which grants you the equivalency of Diplomatic Status, but one Royal Boon to be used when you need it. If it is within my power I will grant it.”

I didn’t even need to consider that offer. “Deal, who is he and where is he at?”

“His name is Drake. Last I heard, he was over in the outer residential district, though he may have since moved from there,” was her curt answer. “I’ll hold off these changelings while you make your way in that direction. Let us begin.” Her horn flared again with a large surge of magic, forcing the bubble to expand again and launch the changelings off in random directions.

Before I took off though, I paused mid flap. “Wait, what does he look like?”

Luna just gave me another small smirk, “Don’t worry, you’ll know him when you see him. Now go!” Luna shouted that part, sending to blasts over my shoulders obliterating a few bugs trying to get the drop on me. She didn’t need to tell me twice after that one, and to the skies I took once again heading towards the Lower Residential District.

The flight over was rather uneventful, a few straggler bugs, but nothing that I couldn’t handle now that I was feeling more refreshed thanks to whatever the hell that spell Luna used on me did. Landing in the park I met Chrysalis in a week prior after I got there I started hunting for somepony that may know where I’d find this ‘Drake’ guy.

I took a big sniff hoping to pick up on any pony scents. I found a boat load of them, but unfortunately it was accompanied by the exoskeleton scent of the changelings and almost all of the scents went off in a single direction.

“Looks like the bugs cleared this area already,” I mumbled to myself. Just as I was about to take off and fly over to the next district over, another scent hit my nose. It was probably one of the most random assortments of scents I could think of, but it all had the same underlying delivery. The best way to describe it would be if you took a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, mix them together and had it come out of something’s pores.. And I swear there was also a hint of lavender.

I just sat there in confusion for a moment before a thought occurred to me. The reason I was looking for this guy was because Discord could escape, but if he already had, he would definitely smell like something so random. With that thought in mind I started tracking the scent across the town. As it was, almost anywhere the scent was more concentrated (meaning he was there for a longer period of time) there were changeling corpses.

Before I could consider why, who I assumed was Discord, would be killing the changelings I caught a huge whiff of the scent just around the corner. I primed my wings, and jumped around it just to crash into the strangest creature I’ve seen.

It was a Draconequus, being that it looked similar to Discord, with only a few notable differences. His left wing being an orange pegasus wing while his right being a magenta bat wing, his left horn a bone white deer antler while his right being a changeling horn, a violet red sea serpent tail with pink rounded spikes going along the base of the tail ending with a lighter shade pink flipper, an emerald green lizard for his left leg while a brown goat leg for the right, a brilliant gambode lion paw for his left hand while his right was a yellow griffon claw and his coat was also a griffon’s coat though was colored a dark amber. His head was pony in shape with a dark grayish coat with silver eye brows and a black mane. One of the interesting features about him was his eyes as his pupils were a shade of dark purple going into slits like that of a snake while surrounding it was a cyan blue.

As I was inspecting him, I’m pretty sure he was doing the same to me, because we both came to the same conclusion as to the first words we had to say to each other.

“What the fuck are you?”

“You look like a dog with wings glued on his back though it’s better than another changeling I suppose...or is it” as he rose up to his full height and glared down at me.

I flew off the ground and hovered in front of his face and growled after the glued wings comment, returning the glare. “What are you, Discord’s long lost son here to try and fix all the daddy issues you probably have thanks to him being stuck in stone? I’m sure he missed a lot of birthday parties being a fucking rock.” I also took notice that he was holding a sheathed katana on his left side.

“Oh the dog has some bite in him I see” he chuckled lightly and pushed me away. Standing up he dusted himself off and threw a chew toy in my general direction, the toy bouncing off harmlessly “Here why don’t you chew on this and let the adults talk...oh wait there aren’t any here”.

I really just wanted to show him exactly what my ‘bite’ felt like, but there were a bit more pressing concerns. “I’ll let that last one slide right now. I’m looking for someone that Princess Luna requested go to the statue garden, a guy by the name of Drake. Know of him?”

“I may or may not know of such a being though pray tell why I should tell you. As far as I’m concerned you're working with the bugs.” With that said, he spun about and began to strut off.

Before the patchwork thing got too far away I bolted in front of him, ignoring the fact that I technically did work for the bugs for a little bit, and slammed my paw on his chest. “Well, if I don’t find the guy I can tell you that you’ll be able to sort out your daddy issues since Discord’s seal will probably break open within the hour, because what’s more chaotic than war?”

Tapping his gin, he contemplated what I said “Discord’s seal. Discord’s seal”. After a long pause he slapped my paw off of himself “Nope doesn’t ring a bell” walking past me once more, he turned back and said “Also he’s not my father, but more like my father’s mother’s second cousin twice removed’s roommate”.

“Whatever, it’s not like I care if Luna gets killed by Discord or anything. I’m just trying to do my stinking job,” I began to fly away and turned back around. “By the way, katana’s are really overplayed. Thought you’d use something a bit more original if you were going to kill things.”

“Oh and biting is the in thing now you wannabe chicken” as he waved me goodbye with the one finger salute. “Do have a nice day and I hope your future children aren’t fuck ups like you”. He didn’t get too far before a pair colossal changelings dropped out of the sky. These things were easily the size of a small house, their heads the size of my body and the horns on their heads as long as one of my wings. “Oh fuck m-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence as one body tackled him hard into the wall.

I laughed at the guy’s misfortune, but I quickly regretted that. Considering their size I assumed they were rather slow variants of changelings, and I was quickly proven wrong. The second of the pair jumped up and swatted me out of the sky, sending me bouncing across the street and crashing into the same wall.

“Anyone get the name of that cart driver?” I muttered in a slight daze as my head kept spinning.

“Yeah it’s called irony” the Draconequus said shaking the stars at of his eyes as they, literally, fell to the floor.

“So should we bother killing these guys or just running?” I asked the Draconequus. “Can you even run with different legs like that?”

“We could run, but then they will know where we’re going which would lead to more of them showing up” He commented and continued “Two things: One how fast and strong are you and two do you like portals?”

I just looked at him funny. “What do you mean portals? Like those orange and blue circle things? And as for fast, you won’t find anyone faster.”

“Huh another human what a surprise. Also, yes, those ones” though the colossal changelings weren’t up for waiting as they charged us. “Look we need to force them together I have a plan...of sorts”. Cocking his arm like a gun he then ‘shot’ out a few dozen small orbs as they now plastered the area with small portals. “Pick one and enjoy the ride” he proclaimed and hopped through one.

I did a quick flap of my wings to avoid getting run over by the changeling and dove into the first portal I could, popping out on the other side of the block flying into another portal. After repeating the action, and watching my new ‘partner’ do the same thing I screamed out to him. “And what now? The bugs aren’t coming anywhere near the exits so we can’t exactly hit them now can we?”

“Time for plan B then” he cried out with a mad grin as he jumped onto my back.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I yelled. The unexpected added weight making me drop a few feet in altitude before I could compensate.

“Ahh suck it up or are you really not the fastest creature in the sky” he taunted as he directed me towards short alleyways that held portal across from one another.

That taunt pissed me off. If this jackass thought he could goad me, he was right, but he was going to regret it. Pumping my wings harder the mach cone began to form, forcing the Draconequus to lower his body closer to mine to avoid getting ripped off due to the force of the wind. I broke through the first Speed Barrier and kept going, eventually breaking the second as I kept flying between the two portals. To my surprise a third cone began to form, but since I had never gone that fast I just maintained that speed. “This fast enough for you prick?” I shouted, not knowing if he could still actually hear me.

“It’ll work” he said knowing it would get on my nerves. Drawing his blade he began to gather the wind around us. A tornado of wind quickly formed up, satisfied he carefully aimed at the pair of changelings stupidly standing there. Firing off another portal we zoomed off to the left of them though they slowly reacted it didn’t matter because of what happened next “Ghost Wolf Charge!” he cried out as we teleported to the right of them, the image of a giant green wolf crashed into them splattering their bodies in every which way.

“Ghost Wolf Charge? Really?” I asked him as I flipped upside down, dislodging him from my back. “What are we, in an anime where we have to name all of our attacks?”

“No, only the cool ones” he announced as he hopped back up. “We should probably leave before more show up,” as he gestured towards a side alleyway.

The two of us began heading through the alley in silence for a while. After the 5th cross street or so I decided to broach conversation, hoping I’d get some information out of him this time around. “So what is your name by the way? I can’t just keep calling you jackass or moron all afternoon.”

“Cute” was his response back. “All give you an answer if you A: tell me your name first and B: is my wing bending at an angle or am I crazy?” as he spread my wings to allow him to get a better look.

“My name is Zeta, and you’re crazy,” was my simple response, not really bothering to look at his wings since I’m pretty sure being a Draconequus has being crazy as part of their DNA code. “And you are?”

“Weird I could have sworn I heard something snap during that whole ‘I’m macho and can fly super fast’ bit” with a shrug he dropped it and answered “It’s Draky, though some people call me Drake.

“So you are Drake. Luna did mention something about ‘I’d know it was him’ or some shit,” I replied. I then flew up behind him, hooked my front legs under his arms and took off towards the Royal Statue Garden. “Time for you to play clean up with Discord then.”

Drake seemed to be complacent since there wasn’t any annoying comebacks uttering from his mouth. Thankfully the trip to the gardens were pretty tame, with most of the changelings attacking in front of a big building or the Griffin Pirates ship. As we were landing though I noticed that we were spotted.

“Okay, you go and deal with Discord, I’ll keep the bugs off of your back. Sound good?” I growled, flexing my wings and cracking a couple joints rolling my shoulders.

“Whoopie I get to go be a sacrifice to stop a mad man from escaping” he said, voice full of faked enthusiasm. “Winds gather before my ally and granted him your favor” a small wind began to dance around Zeta’s form. “There a little speed boost for you” he explained disheartedly and walked towards where Discord was. Though stopped and looked back at me, “Hey do you like to drink?”

“I have my own bar in the basement of my house if that is any answer to your question,” was my swift reply as I started testing how his little spell would affect my wings and flight, finding that besides making it easier, nothing was negatively being applied.

With a tired smile Drake turned and walked towards his destination “If I make it look me up and I’ll buy you a round”.

I watched Drake take a walk of misery into the gardens, like a reluctant soldier going on what is a known suicide mission. Turning my attention back towards the small detachment of changelings flying towards me I decided that if we both made it out of this alive, I’d definitely make sure he buys the first round. And maybe I could convince him to buy the next twelve too.

With the augmented speed boost, I made rather short work of the changelings that attacked in the air. I almost broke the first speed barrier without meaning to. As I spat the last chunk of changeling out of my muzzle, my own blood mixing into it since those exoskeletons rip apart soft flesh. I was just about to start licking my wounds when I heard a panicked scream of some very familiar fillies.

Flying up and over a couple blocks I saw a couple changelings chasing the Cutie Mark Crusaders down the street. I crossed the distance of five blocks before the changelings could finish their next step and promptly sent their bodies flying down an alleyway. The sickening crunch I heard confirmed that the girls would be safe from those two for the rest of eternity.

The fillies in question didn’t even notice that their pursuers had been taken care of so I quickly scooped the three up and flew to one of the highest towers in Canterlot Castle. Once I had landed and let the girls go all three of them turned to face me.

“Mr. Zeta?” Sweetie Belle asked, her voice shaking in fear. She looked upon me with utmost horror. I could only guess why, since my mouth was probably dripping blood, and with all the new bruises and cuts I had I must have looked pretty terrifying.

“Shhh, it’s okay Sweetie, it’s just me. I want you girls to stay up here until this all blows over okay?” I whispered, having dropped down closer to their level to calm them down. I could smell the fear coming off of them.

All of a sudden I pushed Sweetie Belle and Applebloom into the tower, because I didn’t want them to see what I did next. Before Scootaloo could even ask what was going on I lunged out and grabbed her throat in my jaws, and slowly began to squeeze.

~{WWP}~

Author's Note

What's up everyone. You all thought I was dead didn't you. Aren't you foolish now?

This one is a cross between myself and Neoandermcd author of "From Order to Chaos". Drake is his character. Look it up if you want. It is a fun story and, while not quite up to this point in the timeline, he plans a good deal of emotional change for his lead.

As always point out any grammar errors that may be present and I'll try to fix them. Big thanks to Thardoc for editing it prior because any misses you find he probably found 20 times more. I just sorta suck at that part of writing.

Only Two more chapters left in Zeta's first story. Let's see how it ends.

Special Delivery

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 1

~{WWP}~

“Why hello there pretty lady, what can I do for ya?” I managed to say without too much of a slur. I should really stop drinking so much beer, but it is tasty and it allows me to forget. I should also know better than to talk to random women in the city at 2am that whistle to get your attention; that usually means you won’t have money in the morning and a very awkward conversation with a doctor in your future. But that’s the joys of booze; you can say ‘fuck you’ to common sense.

“Well I can’t help the fact you have Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark on your hat. So, you’re a brony?” the mysterious lady replied with a grin. To be honest, the grin was creepy as hell, but by Zeus she was hot. And she was a brony, or at least knew about them, so pros greater than cons. Having only recently become a brony and barely started to go public with it, I have not yet met anyone to talk to the show about in person. Lady Luck, you sure are smiling at me right now.

“Yea, I am. I just got the hat the other day. Subtle enough to wear outside and still let people who know what to look for see I’m a brony,” I answered, a lot more slurred then before. I attempted to be smooth and lean against a nearby lamppost, but fail miserably and almost fall over.

Well there goes the operation smooth. Mentally facepalming I continued “So what’s your name and favorite pony? Boo-ya, no slurring in that one. Point me.” The fact she was laughing and I heard myself say that last line placed the last nail in the coffin. Note to self, stop trying to be suave and always go with plan B, make em laugh.

“My name’s Eris Strife, pleasure to meet you. As for my favorite character, that honor would have to go to Discord, Lord of Chaos. Oh how I just love chaos,” Eris said with a little maniacal laugh. Ok, this chick is definitely creepy, but so damn hot and that wins when drunk. “So, what is your name? Would you ever want to go to their world?”

Where have I heard of that before? Oh yea, in about a dozen different “Human in Equestria” stories. Good thing those are all fake. “My name’s Mark, and I totally would want to go, but not as a pony. I’d be too freaked out about how I pick stuff up with no hands. And I’d want wings. Flying around just sounds freaking badass; dragon would be too big but a griffin sounds fun. Then again, I can’t stand cats, and being half cat would suck. Oh well, too bad it’s just a show,” I get out with minor slurring. Drunken conversations are fun, very thought provoking, as long as you can understand them. Given the nodding of her head, she got me loud and clear.

“Would you leave everyone behind to get there?” was her simple reply, batting her eyelashes my way. Move over Aphrodite, new hottest in the world here, but that statement got me thinking. I mean, I had friends and family that I liked, but I was always more of a loner even when we hung out. There just never seemed to be a strong connection. Hell I even joined a frat and got hazed with other guys to see if mutual pain would make a tight bond and that didn’t work either. Just got me more booze than I thought existed. So the question is, would I leave that all behind and get a fresh start?

“Hell ya, I’m not that important here anyway,” I shouted almost as soon as she finished her question. Trying to get an answer from a drunk guy is as easy as batting eyelashes for a girl this hot. I’m pretty sure she knew it too judging by the look in her eyes.

“Ok, so let me just clarify real quick; not a pony, you want wings, small enough to fit into pony society, but no griffin cause you don’t like cats. That sound right?” she asked as she cracked her knuckles and started to loosen up. I simply nodded wondering why she needed to know all of that when all of a sudden, she punched me square in the face and into sweet unconsciousness.

Why the hell am I so sore? And why is it so dark? At least I don’t have a huge hangover; that would suck. Those were the first thoughts I had flowing through my mind. I tried to stretch out my arms and legs, but found I was in a box and didn’t have any room to move enough to get a nice stretch in. I could barely move my arms. ‘Well this sucks, what the hell happened last night?’

As I struggled with lapses in my memory and cursing the gods above for inventing booze, instantly taking that portion back, slowly things came back to me. Too much at the bar, check; really hot girl whistling to me, check; Hot girl punching me in the face, check. Well at least now I know why I’m sure.’Just then someone outside of my box started to talk.

“Hey, somepony forgot to pack this crate over here. It even says Special Delivery. Somepony help me toss it onto the air ship before we take off!” someone shouted outside. The sound of hooves walking closer to my box was quickly followed by the feeling of getting tossed through the air and finishing with a very hard landing. To make things all the better, I was upside when I landed, so now I’m stuck with all of my blood rushing to my head.

“Ok, enough of this stupid box. A LITTLE HELP IN HERE! I’M SORT OF STUCK!” I started yelling hoping that whoever just tossed my ass around would be willing to help a brother out here. Sure enough, I got a reply fairly quickly.

“Horse apples, which crate you in mate?” came the gruff reply. Instead of shouting again, I simply hit any part of the crate I can with my limited mobility making enough racket to get their attention. “Of course it was the one we just tossed. Sorry about that mate. We’ll get you out real quick. By the way, how’d you get stuck in the crate anyway?” the gruff voice called out as I heard hooves approaching again.

“Well let’s see; a late night of drinking followed by flirting with a random girl in the streets before having her punch me in the face. Bout all I remember from last night,” I reply as the crate gets turned over once again. Seriously, why couldn’t they just have broken the top of the box? It’s not that hard.

“Well, can’t say I’ve ever been drunk enough to let a mare catch me off guard. Now duck your head, or this’ll hurt,” with that, the gruff voice shoved a crowbar, barely missing my head I might add, into the side of the box and ripped the top straight off. The light blinded me for a while so I just shut my eyes real tight. Reaching a hand up to grab the edge I finally noticed something important; I didn’t have hands anymore or at least no thumb. Think I would’ve noticed that at first, missing an important part of my body, but it just felt right to NOT have a thumb for some odd reason.

“Just what the blazes are you?” the gruff voice asked, having jumped back after looking at me in the crate.

Shit, that is never a good question to be asked,. Trying to remember everything that happened before getting punched in the face. A list! I gave that crazy bitch a list of what I didn’t want to be but that didn’t tell me what I was. Whatever, I’ll have to open my eyes eventually to figure what I am, may as well do it now.

First thing I noticed upon opening my eyes was the fact I had a snout. Almost like a German Shepard’s, fairly long, but thick too. Moving my “hand” in front of my face I saw it was like a normal dog’s paw but with the digits slightly longer and more flexible. They also had a nice set of 2 inch long claws on each digit. The fur on my upper arms and legs and chest were white, but from the bicep up and my body was light brown. I also had a splash of black in my tail. Ok, this isn’t so bad. Don’t know what my face looks like but looks like I’m a talking wolf. That’s pretty cool I guess. I mean, I have a tail, that’s always a good thing. Then I noticed the feathered appendages resting on my side. “FUCK YES I GOT WINGS!” I didn’t even care if whoever was around thought I was crazy, this was the greatest discovery in history.

Well, maybe second to beer, but it was a pretty damn close second.

“Now what the hell are ya?! You ain’t a griffin or diamond dog, so what the hell are ya?” the gruff voice called out. My ears swiveled towards the source of the sound, apparently being just as sharp as any dogs, and my jaw almost dropped. Standing a ways away from me was a pony. He stood about a head over me and looked exactly like Big Macintosh did in the show, but was brown. He had a crowbar as his cutie mark, go figure. So that means I’m about as tall as a standard sized pony. That’s nice to know.

Thankfully I didn’t recognize this one, or I’d be having a major gush fest. That and the fact he was holding a crowbar threateningly in my direction helped me from nerdgasming right then too, but that’s besides the point. “Um… I’m a winged wolf?” I replied sheepishly. Hell, from how he acted I doubted those even existed in Equestira, but that’s the best I got for now. “Hey, any chance you can tell me where I am? Oh, and you have a name?”

“Name’s Wrecking Ball, and you’re currently in the cargo hold of the airship Star Swirled. As for what you are, never heard of them. You got a name flea bag?” Wrecking Ball asked in a very hostile manner. He also took to lightly tapping one hoof with the crowbar. Seriously though, how do they hold things?

“Easy buddy, no need for things to get nasty here,” I really did not want to fight anyone right now; I tend to get a little, excessive. Now I had to think of a name to use though. First thought was my normal name, but that’s no fun. New world, new body, new species apparently, meant new name. Then thinking back to my frat, I decided Greek is always fun. “My name is Zeta. Nice meeting you.”

I hope that eases some of the tension. I still had no idea how to even use my new body, let alone fight in it. Plus, I’m not a very nice person when I fight, so I tend to use my wit and humor to avoid confrontation. At least I do until someone tries to hit me like this pony when he decided he didn’t like my head and thought it’d be a better piñata.

“Holy shit man, are you trying to kill me?” I yelped as ducked underneath the heavy metal. Obvious answer is obvious when Wrecking Ball kept trying to hit me with crowbar. “What are you, a racist?!” I managed to yell as I got a little bit of distance between the two of us.

“No, I just don’t like dirty mangy mutts sneaking into our cargo hold,” the attacking draft pony countered. Charging at me, he only managed to break a few more crates, spilling their hold of apples which I could smell from across the hold. Heightened dog senses rock.

“Yeah, that’s some pretty racist shit you just spewed at me. And I didn’t sneak in, you threw me on board,” I managed to get out avoiding this pony’s random swings. It was pretty apparent he had never been in a fight before, but I was still didn’t want to be his first, and probably last, opponent. Like I said, I get carried away. Eventually, he backed me into a wall where there was surprising little number of crates. Wait, no crates in a cargo hold? That means…Oh shit

Noticing the look on my face, Wrecking Ball put on a wicked grin. “Oh, you noticed that you're at the cargo hold's door, good for you. Bye bye ya mangy mutt,” the pony laughed rather cruelly as he hit a big red button. Seriously, why is it always a big red button and more importantly, how the hell did he hold that crowbar?

The floor underneath of me spilt open and I started my plummet, with my last words being an echoing scream of “FUCKING RACIIIIIIiiiist...”

~{WWP}~

1 Dog, 2 Dog, Boss Dog, Dead Dog

The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon

Chapter 9

~{WWP}~

Red. That was all I could see at that time in the death room. The last thing I consciously remember doing was smashing my shoulder into one of the diamond dogs in front of me going just below Rainboom speeds. Then I just gave into my anger and let it do the rest, tinting the remaining of the dogs in a red haze.

By the time my anger had subsided to a reasonable level, I could still only see red. But unlike previously, it was because of all the blood splattered across the room. The only evidence that there were diamond dogs in this room with were the tattered remains of clothes, and a few limbs scattered about. I looked over the grizzly scene I caused with my claws and teeth, and was honestly scared. I had done all of that in a moment where I lost control, what would happen if I lost it around people I cared for?

I groan of pain snapped me out of the self-loathing I was in.

I quickly lunged myself towards the sound of pain. Once I landed, I saw the diamond dog I rammed coughing up blood. He doesn’t notice me until I am within striking distance. He looks up in my eyes, tears running from his, as he manages to cough out, “Pl…please spare me…” followed by another fit of coughing.

“Why should I spare you?” I growled walking back and forth in front of him. I knew he couldn’t do anything to me anymore, the diamond dog could barely keep from falling over.

“I do anything! I just wish to hold my pup and wife again,” the dog coughed out, more blood joining the words. He was visibly shaking at this point from the pain he was in, but he had a wife and child to return to. I was split as to what to do with dog in front of me. Then I glanced back at the pile of corpses and knew my course of action in a heartbeat.

Switching my attention back towards the crippled dog before me, I clacked my jaws to acquire his attention. Needless to say, the dog was quick on the uptake and sat staring at me with his undivided attention. Well minus the parts he was coughing up whatever blood was still pooling into his lungs.

“You’ll dig a grave for all the children’s bodies that you and your pack have killed and bury them. Once that’s complete you’re free to go.” The dog looked both shocked I was going to let him go and at the simple task involved for his freedom. The dog started right away into digging the mass grave.

While he did that, I turned back and laid down in front of the door to rest. This dog was going to take a while, if he didn’t die in the process of digging the grave. So I figured I may as well nap in the meantime; I still have a whole pack to slaughter.

“Wolf brother, I am done burying them.” That’s the sentence I woke up to. Of course that simple seven word sentence was wheezed out through a shattered rib cage. Those can be quite uncomfortable, I speak from experience. Point of advice; don’t get hit in the ribs by a bat.

I push myself off the ground and stagger over towards the freshly dug pile of dirt. Glancing about the room, there are no more traces that a single child’s body was here. I noticed a pile of old and broken tools in the corner beyond where the previously unburied deceased were stacked.

Heading over, I grab two handles that still seemed in rather decent shape, and bore a hole through one of them. Shoving the other stick through, I finished my makeshift cross and place it on top of the grave. Then I bowed my head to say a prayer for those that died.

Now, I know a lot of you must be thinking how ridiculous I am for doing this. Hell, nothing I’ve told you about has any indication that I actually have a conscience of any kind, so why would I be saying a prayer for the dead? I’ve always been a firm believer in my faith, but I never let it limit what my actions were. I wouldn’t let the fear of Hell or the prospect of Heaven change my mind. I did what I wanted to at the time I did it. An impulsive man driven by his passions would be the artsy way of saying it I guess. The blunt of it is I’ve always accepted whatever consequences my actions hold on me.

Anyway, during the course of my prayer, the door opened up and the scent of a familiar mare filled my nostrils. I simply put it out of my mind until I heard her call out to me.

“What are you doing in here?” Before I could formulate the answer, the diamond dog that was still alive answered excitedly.

“Wolf brother going let me go since I dig big hole for dead slaves!” I got up and turned towards the dog. He was wagging his tail looking expectantly at me for his freedom. It almost made me feel guilty about what I did next.

Almost being the key word.

With a quick flash of my claws, the dog’s throat was slashed open and he fell to the ground choking on his blood. He looked at me with a questioning gaze as the life was slowly draining from his body into the crimson puddle on the floor. “I lied,” was the answer to the wordless question before he left this plane of existence with a shudder.

The sound of someone up-chucking snapped my attention to the door. Standing in the metal frame was the mare that I owed a number of answers too, but first I should probably make sure she doesn’t puke again, because that’d make me sick, and I did not feel like puking up the bits of diamond dog I ate in my little fight.

“How about we leave the death room before we keep talking? Save both of our stomachs,” I suggest with as close to a grin on my face as I could muster. It probably came off looking like I was trying to take a massive crap while constipated, but beggars can’t be choosers and depressed killers can’t always smile at will.

Once the two of us left the room, I turned to the mare to start answering questions that I knew were going to be asked of me. Before I could open up my muzzle to even form a word though, a yellowish orange hoof smacked me right across the face.

“WHAT THE IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA WAS THAT?!?” the fiery tempered mare screamed. I quickly shoved a paw over her mouth to prevent her from yelling anymore. If I didn’t I’m pretty sure the entire mine’s worth of dogs would be alerted to our presence.

Glancing over her shoulder I saw Soarin and about two dozen heavily armored Royal Guard, consisting of all three races. The guards all had the same stoic expression on, while Soarin was back in his game face. Pretty much, these ponies all meant business.

Turning my attention back to the fuming mare that had my paw covering the mouth of, I formulated an answer that I felt worked, “Me killing someone.” Yeah, probably not the greatest of answers when the mare you are talking to is already pissed at you.

After swatting my paw out of her face, Spitfire was quick on the retort. “I could see that. Why did you kill him though? He was unarmed and injured. He even did all the work you told him to so he could go free!” To say she was furious would be an understatement.

“Why? I killed him because you said ‘dead or alive’ so I choose dead. I really don’t care if they are unarmed, crippled, or surrendering. After what I saw in that room, I’m going to kill as many as I can get a hold of,” I growled back at her. I was not in the mood to listen to her preach to me. I made my decision to kill them, and I’m going to stick with it.

To Spitfire’s credit, she took this in stride, though she was still pretty pissed at me. “As long as you are with us, then you follow my orders. And I’m ordering you not to kill anything that is unarmed, crippled, or surrendered,” the mare barked at me. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly. I won’t be with you then. I’m going to kill as many as I can, and get the bounties for the kills. Try and either a) stop me, or b) catch up to me.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I turned and sprinted deeper into the mine following the scent of more diamond dogs. I could hear Spitfire’s objections and obscenities shouting behind me, but I simply ignored her. Nothing was going to get in my way.

I passed by a large number of slaves as I was running through the cave system. Most of them seemed oblivious to me and all the commotion that I was causing. Even when I killed a few dogs that were whipping a group of slaves they didn’t even seem to notice. Poor things must have been in here long ass time to be like that. Well, that’s what I thought until Spitfire later told me that they had only been there for about 3 months.

I actively killed every single damn dog I saw on my run through the caves. More of them asked for mercy like the dog I killed in the grave room, I gave it to them by offering them a quick death. Those that attempted to fight me were ripped to shreds in the most literal sense of the phrase. Sprinting down another hallway I chanced upon another door, this one made of oak. I could smell at least three dogs in there and was prepping to kill them when I heard a pained cry on the other side that sounded really familiar.

“HOW DARE YOU RUFFIANS WHIP ME!!” followed quickly by a shriek of pain.

Fucking Octavia. I swear if there weren’t a couple of dogs on the other side of that door, I wouldn’t have bothered going in. Save myself some bloody ears, but I decided to kill all the dogs and damnit I was going to kill them all.

I spread my wings and with one powerful thrust propelled myself through the door and right into the dog that was holding the whip. His body soared across the room and crunched against the wall, never to rise again. One of the other two body slammed me once he realized what was going on. I was sent tumbling into a table and struggled to recover in time to counter a sword slash from the very same dog. I ducked underneath the blade just in time, feeling the wind from the strike, and quickly sent my claws into his unguarded throat ending the dog’s life.

I pushed myself up, ignoring my throbbing side and new bruise I know is forming. The third dog puts up his fists like he is going to fight me. I start to head toward him, fangs bared, when he realizes that’s a bad idea and switches from fists to hands up surrendering. I opt to give him a quick death by jumping over him, latching my jaws on the back of his neck, and breaking said bone with a quick shake of my jaws.

Octavia for her point was just in silent fear at the killing machine in front of her. She just kept staring at me with a look that was equal parts revulsion, fear, and anger. Her appearance was pretty sad. She was covered in dirt and grime, and her mane and tail were in complete disarray. I was starting to feel bad for
her until she opened her mouth.

“YOU MANGY, FLEA RIDDEN, MONGREL MUTT!! YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME AGAIN!?!” Octavia shrieked at me.

Yup, there goes the bad feeling. I started wishing that they locked her up a bit more at that moment. I just sat down and listened to her rant about how vile I was, and yadda yadda yadda for about 15 minutes. I would have been a little impressed by the anger rant if it wasn’t directed at me. Luckily I was already about as pissed as I could be or I’d have killed her for it.

“I can see that your time here has done very little to calm you down,” my voice dripping with malice. I cut her off just as she was starting on my family’s past history. I think she may have mentioned a guinea pig, but whatever. She got on my nerves a little too much at that point.

“So what are you doing here?” she spat back at me. If my last comment was dripping with malice, then her retort was the Niagara Falls of malice. Bitch just doesn’t learn does she?

I simply motion to the dead body before me. She shudders at the assumption I want her to draw, but
she gives me a glare with a very clear message. She wants to hear me say why I was there. “The Royal Guard placed bounties on the heads of the diamond dogs. I’m here to cash in on that little arrangement.” Short, sweet, and to the point. Don’t need much more to an answer than that.

“So what about the slaves?” Octavia grilled into me. Thank the gods she wasn’t a unicorn, cause she’d be on fire like Twilight did that one episode. I didn’t think anything could get this pissed.

“Not my problem. I’m not getting paid to free slaves,” was my curt reply. I was fed up with her at this point. “So if you’ll excuse me, I got dogs to kill.” I stormed out of the room before she could even reply. It’s not like I wanted them to be slaves, but I wouldn’t get paid for it. First get vengeance, then money, and THEN help people out. No deviations from that train of thought.

The next hour of my time was spent tracking down more and more dogs. By the end of it, I figured I killed about twenty-nine dogs out of the thirty-eight that I knew lived in this mine, but based off the individual scents I was picking up, there had to be at least another dozen on top of that. So out of the fifty dogs, over half were dead.

The curious thing about the last couple kills was that the dogs were simply gathering slaves and trying to run deeper into the mines. They also were grabbing as many gems as they could before they scampered off. Or at least tried to scamper off before the becoming a smear on the wall with limbs scattered about. The other thing that sparked my curiosity was how all of the leftover dog scents seemed to be gathering in a single corridor. I figured they must be planning to try and ambush me. The smart thing to do would be to avoid it or wait for the Guard to back me up.

Too bad I wasn’t in the mood for waiting. Plus I didn’t want to disappoint my hosts by not letting them have their fun before they died.

I took my merry old time to walk towards that single corridor, allowing for the rest of the dogs that were left to end up there. I counted twenty-one individual scents gathered there, and with no more scattered around the mine, I figured now was the time to blow this Popsicle stand.

I jogged the rest of the way to the corridor my nose was telling me where they were at. Turns out it had a fucking massive iron door in front of it. I reached up my paw and knocked rather politely on the gates. Tis polite to knock you know.

Then I shot backwards, shot my wings open, and rammed the iron door at near sonic rainboom speeds. The metal crumpled and flew off the hinges from the impact of the force.

Zeta: 1 Iron Doors: 0.

The dogs on the other side seemed scared shitless that I had just appeared though. Glancing about, I finally figured why the other dogs just tried to grab and run. Behind the line of twenty-one diamond dogs sat close to about 50 slaves, including my least favorite cellist.

I just sat there for what felt like hours glaring at the diamond dogs across the hall from me. Most of them were quivering in fear at my look. The few that weren’t were the boss dog and a couple that stood on either side of him.

In that period of staring each other down, I realized how stupid I had been. I was tired and sore from all the running and combat. I had multiple cuts and bruises across most of my body, and I was hungry as hell. Taking on twenty-one diamond dogs was probably a little more than I could handle right now. That’s why I was so thankful for what happened next.

“Take the slaves and gems to the harbor. Cave in the system and set sail. Inform the Alpha that the ponies attacked us and retribution should be swift and severe,” the leader barked at those behind him. A flurry of activity soon followed while the leader turned his eyes back towards me. “My guards and I
will deal with the wolf.”

Well, good news is I won’t have to fight twenty-one diamond dogs. Bad news is I just have to fight who I can only assume are the best fighters in the entire pack. “Fucking Hell” I managed to get out as the leader and his guards drew their swords and axes preparing for the fight. For my part I stretched my wings out and loosened up my claws.

I could see in the background the rest of the dogs shoving the slaves away, along with the carts full of gems. Those in the back started causing a cave-in behind them. I guess they were going to seal the entire tunnel behind them until they reached the docks. I didn’t get too much time to ponder this though before the remaining dogs attacked.

One of the guards charged me slashing towards my head. I managed to duck just in time to keep my head attached to my body. I roll to my left as another one of the dogs smashes his blade into the ground I was just standing in. The last two guards jump towards me as well, swinging their blades with deadly precision.

“Shit! You guys are a lot better at this then those buffoons from the bar!” I yelped as I jump backward from the two approaching dogs. Thankfully their boss is just watching in the background. ‘Probably just going to wait until I’m too tired to fight before he finishes me off’ I thought to myself while getting a small scrape on my shoulder where a blade nicked me.

These four dogs were moving with synchronized attack movements almost faster than I could react. The only reason I wasn’t a skewer was that my wings were helping me distract them and move in faster bursts to avoid any severe damage. I was still getting cut up quite a bit though.

The one thing I had going for me over these dogs was endurance. After about fifteen minutes of constant dodging from the synchronized attacks that can only be described as a type of deadly ballet, the dogs started to grow tired. They started making sloppy mistakes. They wouldn’t follow through with a strike all the way, or their footing was off balance. Also the guard dogs (lol) only had like 6 different attack patterns. I had already figured them out, so now that they were messing up I just had to trust my instinct and strike out at the right time.

The group of them started up with what I had deemed the “Flipping Bitch” move. Pretty much the dogs would use each other as base points to jump and do a front flip with a downward strike. Now that they were sloppy, the base points used for the flip weren’t as steady, and the dogs weren’t as quick with their strike.

The first dog did a downward slash towards me that I backed away from. His blade bounced off the stone floor instead of into it like they previously would. This caused him to stumble slightly while the other dog was beginning his jump. That’s when I struck. Getting by the lower guards defenses and knocking his sword aside, I tackled him to the ground causing the dog on top to mess up his flip. Unfortunately for that dog, he landed on top of the sword I had knocked away, impaling him through the heart. The guard I had knocked off balance quickly had my canines in his throat, promptly ripping it out.

Too bad for me while I did this, the other two dogs decided to press their advantage. One slashed at my right side horizontally, giving me a nice gash on my left side of my body. The other aimed for my head, but luckily I managed to pull my head back so only the tip left a vertical cut over my left eye. The blood quickly started dripping into my visual orb.

“You little fuckers,” I grumble out as the two remaining dogs continue their assault. With my left side all beat up that’s the direction they pressed from. Thankfully I was expecting them to do just that.

With a quick flick of my wrist, I threw a pile of dirt into the first guard’s eyes, blinding him and halting his movements. Without the help of his pack mate, the final guard flailed in my direction to buy his brother time. I sidestepped his blow and slashed out with my claws into his nether regions. I can’t even grace the dog by saying he let out a howl of anguish, since it was more of a womanly shriek. Suiting, since he just became a she…

Before the now female guard could relax, I struck out and shattered her knee caps, forcing her to collapse in a pile of writhing pain. Turning my attention to the dog I blinded with the dirt, I saw he was just going to use his other senses to fight now since he didn’t want to waste time getting the dirt from his eyes. I jumped on top of the downed dog and barked to get the blinded ones attention. He ran straight towards me and brought down a heavy slash towards where my skull would be if I didn’t fly off the dog. Instead he sliced his companion in half, getting his blade stuck into the ground. I take advantage of this and drop on his back gripping the back of his neck and snapping it with a quick shake.

“That wasn’t so har...” an explosion cut me off and sent my body flying across the cavern. The world was spinning for a bit after that, but by the time I got to my feet, I realized the boss dog must have thrown an explosive vial and was ready to play. Glancing over towards where the dog was standing, I was shocked to see him right in front of me.

He reached down and picked me up by my throat. At this point, I couldn’t see past the blood in my left eye, my body was covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises. I was tired and now with this diamond dog constricting my throat, having some trouble breathing. I could tell that the dog was trying to tell me something, but the ringing in my ears hadn’t died down enough yet to understand him. So I just shrugged at him.

The dog took a breath and then spoke again. This time I managed to hear what he was telling me. “Wolf brother, you have betrayed us. I am impressed you beat my guards though. We Betas, while not comparable to Alphas, are still rather impressive fighters.” He glared at me to ensure I understood what he meant. They may have been badasses, but there were even more badass dogs than him. “You beating my four packmates is quite the achievement, but now you will learn why I, Azragni, was placed as head of this pack.”

At the end of his little tirade, Azragni tossed me clear across the cavern again. I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t be able to match this dog’s strength, and I was way too tired to attempt my dodging tactic again. I didn’t get much time to think though, because Azragni charged me yet again.

The dog seemed to take over a berserker’s rage as he charged me. I barely managed to roll out of the way in time as his axe plowed deep into the ground. I went to ram him while thinking his axe was trapped. What I didn’t realize was that he lifted not only his axe, but a boulder the size of my torso out of the ground and shattered it on my side as a counter.

“I guess my new job is ‘ragdoll’ huh?” I cough out, luckily with no blood. Although I can tell I have some massive bruising going on. Probably a couple of cracked ribs too. If I didn’t have any after that strike, the kick Azragni launched into my gut definitely made some. He quickly followed through with a backhand into the side of my face, sending me flying back through the destroyed doors and into another wall. Spitfire told me the imprint I left there was pretty damn impressive later.

As I was struggling to get my feet back under me, Azragni did probably the most clichéd thing ever. He started ranting before he actually won. “It’s a shame you won’t live long enough to see Tailton Springs burn for this. Within the next two weeks, our Alpha will come down from Gem Fido with our dragon protector and wreck retribution,” He started slowing walking towards me downed body. He was probably a good 50 yards out.

Azragni was taking one slow agonizing step at a time. “He will slaughter every single man” another step closer, “women,” another, “and child.”

Something in my brain snapped when he said that. Pictures of the death room flashed through my mind, as well with an image of a one year old baby, lifelessly lying down in my human arms, which were soaked in the child’s blood. The memories were flashing through my mind faster than I could even hope to fly, but their message was clear.

“I will kill you if you even think of hurting another child,” I growled as forced myself to my unsteady legs. Azragni was taken aback for just a moment when he saw me get up. That was all I needed as a distraction. I grabbed a rock and chucked it at one of the two remaining red vials strapped to his chest, shattering it. Azragni gave me a quick ‘oh shit’ look before the explosion.

I would like to say that I turned around and walked slowly away during the explosion, since cool guys don’t look at them and everything. But I watched with a giddy enjoyment as the fireball consumed the asshole of a dog. What I was not expecting though was for Azragni to still be standing afterwards. Course he was as fucked up as I was now, which meant we were on a level playing field. Except I was angry and he wasn’t.

Azragni tried to say something but it only came out as a wheeze. His entire body was scorched, embers still smoldering on his fur. Azragni attempted to say something again, but I lunged forward and tackled him to the ground before his breath even left his lungs. Of course once I landed on him all of it came out at once.

The two of us struggled for position for what felt like days, rolling back and forth. In actuality it was only like, 2 minutes but it felt a lot fucking longer. Anyway, eventually I managed to pin him down and clamp my jaws around his neck. I grumbled out between my jaws “Any last words?”

Azragni responded by inhaling deeply and smashing a green vial on my face. That last conscious thought I had was tightening my grip and tasting blood as it flowed over my tongue.

~{WWP}~

A/N:

I'm really sorry about how long it took me to get this chapter out. Not only has it been difficult to find time to write, I got hit by a massive thing of writer's block. I was only able to get like, maybe 800 words in at a time before I just couldn't write anymore. Anyway hope you all enjoy this one.

As is always the deal, point out any errors I or Thardoc missed in the editing process. We aren't perfect.

In other news, there'll only be two more chapters in the Tailton Springs arc now. Also before anyone starts ranting about how I didn't have Zeta save Octavia from the mine to redeem himself, another author asked to use her for a plot point in his story. So go read Fudge: A Minotaru's Lament to see the continuation and eventual conclusion to Tavi's enslavement.

Now I leave you with a song that has been stuck in my head here. Enjoy and see you all next chapter!