//------------------------------// // Kentucky Fried Griffin Anypony? // Story: The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon // by Cloud_Surfer //------------------------------// 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.