The Chronicles of a Furball

The Chronicles of a Furball

Chapter 7: III Sides to Every Story

Part I: Yours

Make love not war sounds so absurd to me

We can't afford to say these words lightly

Or else our world will truly rest in peace

-Extreme

(Fair warning: This is my first time experimenting with shifting viewpoints, so feel free to verbally bash me over the head if I it screw things up, or send me a cookie if I get it right.)

Keria the Griffin

     "Seeyouguyslaterbye!" I shouted as quickly as I could. I turned tailfeather and took off before those two geeks could reply. I pumped my powerful wings as hard as I could, trying to get as much distance from those three as possible.

     Over the whipping of the wind, my keen eagle hearing could barely make out someone below calling me a "Chickenshit" at the top of his or her lungs. Five bits says that it was Mel doing the screaming. That guy really needs to stop being pissed off all the time, he's gonna start getting grey hairs by the time he's thirty. I could see him in my mind, growing old and becoming that irate "Get off my lawn!" kind of guy.

     I pumped my wings, ascending higher and higher, letting the natural updrafts carry me the rest of the way. Puff! My body penetrated a fluffy white cloud, the pleasant and fuzzy feeling of nimbus washed over me like a wave.  I reversed my path and hovered gently, landing on top of it. I was there, safe, sound, and where no raging earth ponies could follow me.

     I peered over the edge of the cloud, my eagle eyes picked out the two ponies and ottsel. They seemed to have forgotten about me. Just what I needed.

     I collapsed across the cloud, letting out a tense breath as I could finnaly relax. I laid there, staring up at the endless blue void that is the sky. I always really liked laying lazily on the clouds, there was almost never anybody to bother me up here. I could've just dozed off right then and there, but that was never a desire I wanted to indulge with my life the way it is.

     A terrible thought drifted into my brain. Gods, I hope that farmer didn't get too good of a look at me. I don't want him blabbing to the local authorities about this, I didn't need another fucking organization after me. Though he probably won't make too big a deal out of a few apples, but then again most ponies around the capital can be overly anal about crime. Naive little bastards got it too good.

     "Damn," I hissed to myself, pounding my fist on the cloud as the realization struck me "Those two dorks know all about me. Fuck!" If one of those dickweeds squeals on me, I'll be in some deep shit. Having a pack of mongrels that want my head on a pike was one thing, but having the Equestrian Royal Police hot on my heels was another. Trust me, I do not look very good on a wanted poster.

     Don't misunderstand me, Royal Gaurds aren't exactly the best and brightest when it comes to tracking down wanted criminals. They're about as efficent as using a table knife to dig your way out of prison, and about as intelligent as a box of hammers, but they make up for it by having the authority to put out bounties.

     Honestly, it's the bounty hunters that scare me. They don't abide by the rules laid out to the Gaurd, being totally freelance. Bounty hunters will lie, cheat, steal, and and torture their way to you if you happen to be on the wrong end of a wanted poster. They also tend to be more creative than your average pony, using customised gear designed to incapacitate and make you easier to hand over to the Gaurd, trussed up like a Hearth's Warming present.

     "Fuck," I whispered "I haven't even seen any of those damn dogs in a week,"  They have to be planning something. Hunters don't just leave their bounties,  not after three years.

     I focussed my vision upon the other clouds surounding rounding me, my eyes picking out and examining the most minute of details at lightning speeds. Nothing was out of order, no other griffins or pegasai were standing on the clouds. I was alone, no Hunters around.....

     "Relax!" I commanded myself "How they gonna get up here, huh?" I can't get myself worked up over nothing, it never pays off to be paranoid. "You're in the midde of the most powerful country in the world on top of a gods-damned cloud, there's no way they can get to you. Keep it together, Kree'ara!"

     "Who's Kree'ara?"

     I whirled around in a complete 180 degree turn, flaring out my wings threateningly and flashing my razor claws, a natural defense of us griffins. The voice from behind me belonged to a pretty, sky-blue pegasus mare. She had one wild-ass hairstyle that was colored with every single hue in the rainbow, making her look like the leader of a gay pride parade.

     She widened her eyes at my display of aggression, but didn't fly away or burst out crying like most other mid-country ponies did. Hell, she didn't even blink, she just stood firm. This one wasn't afraid of me.

     I tucked my wings to my side and dropped the 'Don't fuck with me' look. In my fit of paranoia, I was expecting a bounty hunter. But this mare had no weapons or armor, she wasn't scarred or beaten at all, and she didn't have that predatory glint in her eye. If she was a bounty hunter, then I was Princess Fucking Celestia.

     "I am," I finnaly answered "But don't you ever call me by that, only my family can use that name. Call me Keria."

     "What were you doing talking to yourself up here?" The mare asked accusingly, staring me down with a hard look.

     "Nunna yo business," I said nonchalantly "Can't a lady have a chat with herself up here?"

     The mare snorted mirthfully "You don't exactly look like the "lady" type to me."

     I chucked darkly "Yeah, you got that right, kid...You know, not many ponies have the talent to sneak up on me like that. What's your name?"

     The hard look shifted to a cocky grin, she flew up in the air and did a seires of showy flight maneuvers, twisting and rolling this way and that. I hsve to say, it was actually pretty good. "I'm Rainbow Dash! Equestria' s most awesome flier and future leader of the Wonderbolts-" She landed and finished her little intro with a dramatic showpony's bow "At your service!" Wow, somepony must have woke up on the narcissistic side of the bed today. Quick, hide the mirrors! She might accidentally fall in love with herself! Though, I can really respect her confidence,  especially in front of a big, scary griffin like me.

     "So what's got you all curious about a lone griffin, kid? Didn't your mother teach you not to talk to strangers?" I asked with moch sweetness in my voice.

     Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes "I'm not afraid of griffins. I had a griffin bunkmate back at flight school, she was actually a lot like you. All, gruff and stuff like that."

     I started pacing my way toward her, slowly and methodically. I walked as tall as I could, giving Rainbow Dash a subtle reminder of my superior size. The pegasus stood there, unflinching, cocky grin still plastered on her face. She really wasn't afraid of me. Challenge accepted.

     "She did, did she?" I put on my rarely-used seductress voice, making sure to use an underlying tone of danger that came naturally to me "Well I highly doubt that, there is no griffin in Equestria quite like I am, I assure you."

     "I probably shouldn't tell you this," I continued "But I'm hiding up here because a group of snarling, gnashing diamond dogs are after me for killing off most of their pack. You probably shouldn't get too close, I might bite," I finished with a wicked-evil smile.

     "Nice try, genius," Rainbow said, stifling a laugh.

     "What in the world are you talking about?" I said coyly. Our faces were mere inches away now, I gave her a malicious smile, flashing my bird-lion hybrid teeth.

     "Your trying to intimidate me, make me run off like a little foal. I'll tell you now: It's not going to work."

     I pulled my face from hers, letting my voice go flat "What? Oh for the love of-" I faceclawed "-You mean your not scared at all?!"

     She gave me another cocky smile, I wanted to smack it off of her "Nope!" Rainbow said cheerily "I saw right through you!"

     "Dammit," I grumbled "First him and now you. I must be loosing my edge..."

     "Him?" Rainbow questioned.

     I waved my claws dismissively "Just some other pegasus I met today, he wasn't afraid of me either. He put himself in between me and his friend, probably knowing that I could have broken his legs in a heartbeat, he did it anyway. Fucker."

     "Sounds like he's not "just some pegasus'"to you," Rainbow observed dryly.

     "Don't you have some Wonderbolt shit to do?" I made a shooing gesture at the rainbow mare "There's nothing to see here, go do a barrel roll or something."

     Instead of fucking off like I prompted her to do, Rainbow Dash tucked her legs underneath her body, her eyes defiantly saying 'Just make me.'

     "I'm on break," she said in a deadpan tone.

     I huffed, "Fine, but I don't know why a filly like you would hang around a griffin like me."

     She shrugged "Curious, I guess."

     I broke eye contact and elected to stare off into the distance, soaking up the sight of the town of cottages below me "Whatever," I said coldly.

    "So who is pegasus? Sounds like he's got guts to stand up to you."

     Not averting my gaze from the horizion, I said "It was so...so dumb of him. That idiot just stuck his neck out for his little scuzzball of a friend. It...I... he was just a scrawny little flightless blank-ass and he stood tall, as if he could take me on! Me! He had every reason to run away and he didn't. I just don't get why he's so...so..."

     "Brave?" Rainbow Dash suggested.

     "Hah!" I barked a cold, harsh, humorless laugh "There's no such thing as bravery, kid. Not where I come from."

     "Oh yeah?!" She shouted, her voice and body language become much more aggressive than pasive "I'll tell you that your looking at the bravest there is!"

     I cast a disinterested sideways glance at her "if you say so."

     "Wow," Raibow Dash stated in sarcastic tone "you must have all kinds of friends with that attitude."

     "Trust me, I have tons of them!" I said with equal amounts of sarcasm "And you must have all kinds of fans with that self-serving arrogance of yours!"

     She scowled at me, her pretty face cornorting into an ugly visage of anger "Why do you have to be so angry at me?  Just cause I wasn't scared of you?"

     "What do you care?!" I raised my voice, finnaly turning to look her in the eye "I'm just a fuckin' stranger to you!"

     "I was just curious! Okay?" Rainbow was gritting her teeth now "I saw somepony who looked like they wanted someone to talk to and I talked to them. Big whupp! If you don't want to I'll just leave."

     "Go ahead, I'm not stopping you," I bitterly returned "I'd rather be alone than with some random mare who wanted to play twenty questions. "

     I turned my back to Rainbow Dash and laid down on the cloud, effectively ending the conversation. I made myself busy by continuing to survey the ground below. Partly because I liked the view, and partly because I was watching for Hunters.

     Down there, the entire town was bustling about like a colony of pastel colored ants. From this distance,  all the houses looked almost completely uniform. Save for a few outliers,  they were all just simple cottages with straw roofs and off-white walls. Most of the activity in Ponyville took place in the market square, moving to and from the simple wooden stalls where the merchants proudly displayed thier goods. Small foals played in the streets, nudging a ball back and forth and more often than not annoying the older folk with it. A few in-flight pegasai on the other side if the town were clearing clouds, letting the bright sunshine warm the ponies below. The entire town radiated harmony and peace.

     Seeing this town just reminded me how starkly contrasted Equestria is with the Griffin Dominion where I grew up. No starvation,  no enslavement, no sickness. Hell, I'd bet there wasn't even any petty crime here. Gods,  these little ponies have no idea what happens beyond their country's borders, do they? Lucky bastards.

     I sighed, turning my brother's copper pendant over in my claws. I could probably settle down here one day, after all this Bounty Hunter shit is over with. Of coarse that would be a long, long time from now. Fuck...this stuff never gets any easier.

     "You know, " Rainbow Dash's voice came from behind me.

     I turned around to offer her a flat look "Still here, huh? Fine I'll bite; I know what?"

     "You never answered my question: Why are you mad at me?"

     I let out another sigh, sighing is good you, y'know. Lets you share your self pity with others. "Some times I just don't fuckin' know, kid."

     I twisted around to access my backpack. I dug around through the endless amount of crap that seemed to collect in there, I fished out my prize: A bottle of cheap Stalliongrad Vodka. The clear contents made a sloshing sound as I swirled it around, noting how it was half empty. Pleased with the look of it, I bit the cork off and spat it out, relishing in the loud pop it made. The cork fell through the cloud silently, I idly wondered how badly it would hurt to get hit by one of those from this height.

XVXVXVX

Meanwhile...

     Back down on the earth, far below Keria and Rainbow Dash, a blue pegasus struggled to pull a large plough behind him. His friend, a rust-orange ottsel, sat on that plow and hollered what he considered 'Negative Motivation.'

     "Get movin' ya no-toed, belly achin', flightless pony!" Sylus the ottsel shouted.

     "I sweat to god, Si," Melvin responded "When I finish with this field, I'm gonna skin you alive and wear you for a- Ouch!" Mel's sentence was cut off by a sharp pain right on the top of his skull, as if something hard had hit him from above.

     "I don't know what an 'Ouch!' is, Mel. Care to explain?"

      Melvin rubbed the afflicted area with a hoof, he glared up at the sky, seeing no possible reason as to why somethimg would fall on him. "Something fell on me," Mel explained "Not a clue what."

     Sylus didn't respond, his eyes were fixed on a tiny object sticking out of the dirt, he hopped off the plough and picked it out. It was a dirty cork, made for plugging up liquor bottles. He presented it to his friend.

     "All cork can't just fall out of the sky, Si," Mel said it as if explaining something complex to a small child.

     Si turned to peice of cork over in his fingers, deep in thought. "Got any better explanations?"

     "....No."

     Sylus looked up at the mildly cloudy sky "The hell?"

XVXVXVX

     I mentally shrugged. It probably won't hit anyone, anyway.

     "Here comes the pity juice..." I said ironically, and immediately took a swig straight from the bottle. The icy bite of the vodka immediately seized my throat,  making me cough a bit. It wasn't at all smooth as some brands I had tasted before. Serves me right for getting the cheap stuff, but it did what it was supposed to: make me numb.

     "Listen," I told Rainbow Dash, gesturing toward her with the bottle "I'm sorry I yelled at'cha. I can be... I can be a bit hot-headed sometimes. Want a swig?" I offered here a drink of icy poision.

     She smiled, but shook her head "Naw, I'm not that much of a drinker."

     I shrugged and took another swig "Suit yourself."

     "But I can be nice when I want to," I continued without another question from Rainbow "It's just that when you see the shit that I've seen, your perspective of the world might change...a lot."

     Rainbow nodded "Sure, yeah, I can understand that."

     I chuckled,  in spite of myself "No, you can't.  It's not your fault, it's just that Tartarus ain't a place you can really know without having ever been there. Dig?"

     "Alright, I can't know," she admitted "things are messed up where you're from."

     "You don't know the half of it," I took another drink. Gods, was this stuff bad "but that's not something I want just to unload on you right here and now. Some fucked up shit happens up in Gem Fido and the Griffin Dominion and, for your sake, I hope you never get to find out the truth."

     "Wow," she said weakly, and didn't say anything after. We sat there in scilence, staring once more at the town below. I finished the rest of the bottle of shitty vodka and stowed the empty flask in my bag.

     "Welp," I said getting up and stretching out my stiff back, they make a very satisfying crackle "Thanks for coming to my pity party, but now it's over and I gotta go find those to dweebs I left, make sure they aren't hangin' by their necks."

     Rainbow stood and cracked her joints as well, then she gave me an offer I couldn't refuse "All this emotional stuff is kinda heavy... wanna blow off some steam in a little race?"

     I grinned mischievously "Oh, I wouldn't wanna show up a future Wonderbolt, would I?" Oh smack talk, never leave me.

     She snorted in reply "As if!"

     "Alright then, challenge accepted!" I tensed my muscles, preparing to take off "First one to the end of Ponville wins, okay? On three..."

     "OneTwoThreeGo!" She shouted, and immediately disappeared from sight in a trail of rainbow magic.

     I stared at the trail for a moment, which slowly dissipated into the air over time "Wish I could do that..." My attention turned to the racing Rainbow Dash, who was half way there already.

      "Shit."

XVXVXVX

The next day...

     I let myself crash into ground, my chest heaving, the cool grass tickling my face. I could feel my whole body pound in rythym with my heartbeat from the last four hours'worth of exertion. That mare had run me ragged. Who knew she had that kind of stamina? She could go two, three, four times and and still finish first without hardly breaking a sweat, I was truly impressed, and at the same time, dead tired.

     Rainbow Dash prodded me with a sky blue hoof "Get up, I'm not done with you yet."

     "Gods Rainbow, your insatiable. No more, just.. no more" I pleaded "I just don't fuckin' have it in me."

     She scoffed, but still cracked a smile "Lightweight."

     "Why? Why did I agree to do this?!"

     She sympathetically rubbed my back "Oh c'mon you big baby, it was just a couple of races."

     "Are you kidding?!" I moaned "We've been doing this all day!"

     "Well, you lost all of them, so say it. Just like we agreed," she stated "C'mon, say it."

     I let out a ragged sight "Fine. Rainbow Dash..."

     "Yee-eee-eees?" She said with sweetnes in her voice.

     I said it as flatly as I could "You are the greatest pegasus to ever grace the skies with your majesty. Your competition trembles in the wake of your complete and total awesomeness. I am-" I cringed "-I am unworthy to lose to a soon to be legendary Wonderbolt...Bleh."

     Rainbow made no effort to hold back her amusement "Bah hahaha! You best not forget it!"

     "Why did I agree to this?" I repeated "Hindsight is twenty/ fuckin' twenty I guess."

     "Hah hah hoh..." Rainbow Dash's laughing eventually died down. She wiped a tear from her eye "Now what should we-"

KAA-BOOOOM! ! !

Whatever Rainbow wanted to say was lost to the deafening roar of a massive explosion. The ground underneath rattled and quaked with the concussion of the blast, knocking me on my ass. I immediately looked toward the source of the roar, a large cloud of black smoke wafted from a spot somewhere outside the town.

     "Well that was sudden!" I shouted.

     Rainbow recovered before I did, she darted over to me and helped me on my feet. "C'mon!" She ushered me into the air and we both took off toward the pillar of smoke.

     Explosions. Why did it have to be explosions?

XVXVXVX

Meanwhile, back on Earth...

     You sit alone at the computer desk in your home on a clear dark night. The world is quiet as you finish reading the latest chapter of The Chronicles of a Furball.

My, wasn't that a different chapter? You think to yourself. And why does that have to end it on on a cliffhanger? Cliffhangers scare me!

Your contemplation is interrupted with a light poke to your side. You look to see who is bothering you at this hour and your heart leaps into your throat. You have the urge to scream at this strange intruder, but you ressist it for whatever reason.

     Standing mere feet from you was a large, mean-looking griffin with green feathers and a copper pendant. She regards you with a mildly bored expression.

     "To be fuckin' continued!" Was all the griffin said. And with a snap of her claws, she disappears in a cloud of smoke.

     You begin to have second thougts about reading so much fanfiction.