//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: Goodbye Kluge Town 
// Story: Lone Wolf of Equestria: Back to the Pack 
// by JNKing 
//------------------------------//

Rarity was beside herself in horror. 
“That friendly little cat… sold you?” she demanded.
“I told you,” Logan said. “I knew he was trouble.” He glared at the fire. “And I doubt I’ll ever enjoy songs again thanks to him.” 
“That’s awful,” Twilight whimpered.
“Huh,” Celestia noted. “So, that message from Kluge Town wasn’t a prank?”
“Message?” the mares asked. 
"I did receive an odd message about the Lone Wolf being up for sale in Kluge Town,” Celestia said. “But when I sent a scout over there, he came back only saying that the town was… well, no different than what it usually was. I tried to have him find the prankster that had fooled me, but they were nowhere to be found.” 
“That’s because I got out of there,” Logan said. “What? You think I was going to just stay there and let you catch me?” 
“But, how,” Rainbow Dash asked. “How did you get out of there?”
Logan lifted his paw. “Magic, chaos, and a whole lot of blind luck,” he answered.

#

For a short time, I was just kept in that cage. Couldn't just bust out of there yet; the cats had their eyes on me, and they were ready to handle a jail break.
There were four of them in total, including the guy I was stupid enough to trust. The biggest of them kept glaring at me as I lay curled up in the cage, one of my eyes on him and narrowed.
“You sure this is the one, Capper?” the big cat was asking. “Princess Celestia is not someone to anger. If we sell her the wrong pup…?”  
“Come on, Dad,” Capper said, his smooth tone still somehow intact. “Look at him; he fits the description perfectly. And even if the Princess doesn’t want him, we got other options.”
“Screw you, you feline fur balls,” I snarled. “I ain’t some toy for you to trade.” 
The cats stopped and glared at me. I matched their glares.
“Well, make it easier on us,” the big cat said, kneeling before me. “Who are you really?”  
I stared at him. “The heck you talking about?” 
The big guy indicated his… son, I’m guessing. 
“Capper here said you’re looking for a way to other dimensions,” Big Cat said. “Which puts you in line with a pretty special Diamond Dog Princess Celestia’s looking for. But… the minotaurs up north run a diamond dog fighting pit. Maybe you’d fit in better there.” 
“There’s also a couple of other buyers,” one of the other cats noted. Judging by her voice, I had to assume she was female. “We could probably get something from them.” 
I slammed against the bars. “I won’t be sold like a slave!” I screamed. 
“Chill, dog,” Capper said. “You said you’d do what I wanted. Well, I want you to sit back, and relax. We won’t sell a profit if you keel over from stress in there.” 
I’ll admit… he kinda had me there. I had made a deal. He knew it too, judging by the smug scoff he gave as he walked off, probably to tell Celestia or whoever else they had lined up to buy me. See, problem was, I said up front that I didn’t want to go back to the ponies. Of course, he would probably just send me to these minotaurs instead, but I needed to get to the Sirens. Even if what he had told me was just bait, it was better than the nothing I had when I arrived.
Plus, I realized that he had just told me to sit back and relax. He didn’t say anything about trying to escape after I had done that.
Once I had sat back and relaxed like he said, the cats lowered their guard by a bit. They let me be to probably go... I dunno, hock some hairballs. Whatever cats do. Guess they thought I was gonna be honorable and just sit there or something. But, I still had my lightning. And these guys seemed to already know Celestia wanted me, so… why not show them why she wanted me back? 
With one hard punch, I smashed the door down. Instantly, I heard the cats coming for me.
The first one to round the corner was Capper. His eyes were wide as I grabbed the cage.
“I sat back and relaxed,” I told him with a grin, before hurling the door at him. It caught him and pinned him to the ground.
“Pleasure doing business with ya,” I added just as his folks rounded the corner. And before they could try anything like adding more lines to the deal, I… well…

#

Applejack and Rainbow Dash grinned as Logan looked away.
“What did ya do, Logan?” Applejack said with a grin.
Logan growled, but the others leaned forward eagerly.
“What did you do, Darling?” Rarity asked.
“I ran from them,” Logan muttered. But that only resulted in Rainbow Dash bursting into laughter. “I didn’t want to fight the guy I just weaseled out of a deal with!”
“I thought…” Rainbow Dash cackled. “I thought dogs were supposed to chase cats. Not the other way around.”
Logan stood up, flipped her a rude gesture and stormed out. 
The laughter instantly stopped, and Fluttershy raced after him.
“Logan, wait!” she pleaded. He only stopped at her protests. “Please, can’t we hear the rest of the story? I’m sorry Rainbow Dash laughed at you. It can’t have been an easy situation.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Logan growled, glaring at Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare sighed. 
“Alright,” she said. “I’m sorry I laughed.” But Logan still kept glaring at her. Rainbow Dash took another breath, and tried to keep her tone as sincere as possible. “I’m sorry.”
Logan’s ear flicked, and his gaze became less intense. 
“So…” Fluttershy asked. “What happened next?” 
Slowly, Logan sat back down and continued.

#

These guys were camping out in some sort of tunnel system. Judging by the smell, it had to be a sewer. Tunnels branched out in all several different directions. I ended up choosing the one that stunk the least, and forced my way in. Even as I pulled myself to what I could only hope was freedom, I could hear a scratching and clawing sound behind me. Those cats were already on my tail!
The Big Cat must have been the one after me, though, because despite the scratching sound, he wasn’t able to squeeze through the narrower pipes like I could. I managed to stay ahead, and dropped out into a pipe that led out to a gorge. Liquid I-didn’t-even-want-to-know flowed around my paws and disappeared into a sickly brown mist.
I heard a creaking of wood above me, and glanced up. Several airships were docked just above me. My ears pricked up in hope. Maybe I had a way out of this town and away from these maniacs. But I had just started trying to find a way up to the airships when I heard a splash behind me.
I jumped up and snagged the edge of the pipe, scrambling up to the rocky outcropping of the gorge. A leash nearly snagged me by the paw, but I slashed it away with a swipe of my blades and continued to climb. 
I glanced back. Big Cat was keeping up with me! If anything, he was going even faster. I scrambled for the edge of the docks, and managed to hoist my way up to safety.
“Hey!” a voice yelled. I froze, noticing a draconic beast lumbering over to me. “No climbing on the airship docks!”
I shoved past him and continued back into Kluge Town. The dragon got knocked aside by Big Cat as well, and soon enough, I had two people in hot pursuit.
I almost went back into the main town, but two more merchants saw the chase going on. Apparently, they figured out I was worth something, because they both drew blades and jumped from their stalls. 
Lovely, I thought with a grimace. 
I pitched to the right, racing along the airship docks as the four talking animals pursued me. Just when I thought I might have a way free, the female cat from Capper’s group jumped in my way. She swiped at me with a staff, but I blocked and slashed back. That only allowed my other friends to catch up. I was quickly beset on all sides, backing up as claw, blade and even fire was blasted at me.
I sent the two merchants packing with a kick and a slash, but that only allowed Big Cat and Cat Girl to hit me, sending me skidding down the docks. I pulled myself up, noticing a pair of what I thought were griffons watching from an airship in the process of casting off.
Great, I thought. More griffons to chase me. That’s what I need right now.
But thankfully, they didn’t jump down and join the fight. Big Cat and Cat Girl had taken down the dragon guard, and were advancing on me as well. I readied some lightning, but Cat Girl laughed and whipped out a blow gun.
“Try it, honey,” she purred. “Even if we don’t get you; someone else will.” 
I glowered at her, even though I knew she was right. Merchants and mercenaries were all watching us. The minute I let a bolt loose, the Dragon Master’s words would come true. I could’ve gotten away with it with the cats, but letting all these mercs know would be like sending out a flare for enemies.
Big Cat started to move forward.
“New deal,” he said. “Come quietly, and we’ll take you to the people responsible for the Sirens disappearing. You’ll have much better luck with them.” 
“It’s a generous offer,” his wife – I’m assuming – added. “If you’re smart, you’ll take it.” 
I still kept backing away, but Big Cat’s grin didn’t fade. He thought I had nowhere else to go. That I was cornered. His so-called ‘generous’ offer was just salt in the wound. 
But he didn’t realize just how far I was willing to go to stay out of Celestia's grip. Because as my eyes darted around for a possible escape, I noticed that one of the griffons on that boat had forgotten to drag up an anchor line. They were jabbering about it now, but that rope was still swinging loose in the wind. If it could just swing a little closer...
I had to take a chance. I couldn’t get captured by these thugs. Rising to my hind legs, I bared my claws and blades at Big Cat. Then, as he stepped back to attack… I jumped backward and over the edge.
I sheathed my blades and held my claws out for the rope. It was at the peak of its swing. A few more seconds and I might have missed it. But my claws fumbled, twisted, missed… and I snagged the end of the rope with my teeth. 
As I clung tighter to that rope than I had even clung to my own mother, I became aware of a roar above me. I looked up as Big Cat soared down towards me. But you know the problem with a wolf on the end of a mooring line? It has weight.
My hold dragged the rope down and out of his reach. I saw his expression change from determination to horror. And as I swung out with that airship, praying that he would fade into the mist before I saw what happened next, I…
I…

#

Logan paused, looking down with a saddened air. The mares glanced at each other with worry. 
“Logan,” Fluttershy asked softly. “Are you…?”
“I could’ve saved him,” Logan admitted. He looked up, a weariness in his eyes. “I know I could’ve helped him; maybe even just left him on the rocks or something. But instead… I let him fall.” His tail tucked. “How much you wanna bet that cat family was ruined because of me?” 
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her mane with worry in her eyes. 
“Well, to be fair,” she noted. “He was trying to capture you.”
“Capture,” Applejack noted. “Not kill.” 
Logan’s ears flattened. “Yeah,” he admitted. “Not kill.” 
“I… never found out about these ‘cat people,’” Celestia admitted. “Maybe they were still searching for their patriarch.” 
But the look in Logan’s eyes didn’t instill hope in the ponies that the cat’s search for their father had borne fruit. 
“No pony here is blaming you,” Fluttershy insisted to Logan, even as her hooves trembled at the idea of animals being hurt. She looked at the others with worry. “Right?”
Rarity didn’t speak, looking away with a conflicted look.
Logan held his saddened gaze for one second. Two seconds.
“Either way,” he continued. “I didn’t get long to feel bad about it. Things went wrong for me as soon as I got onto the airship.”

#

I already knew there was going to be trouble the minute I sunk my claws into the side of the ship. The griffons above were cawing about the weight on the anchor line, and even when I caught ahold of the bottom of their ship, they still noticed the sudden change in weight. And judging by the way they kept poking their heads over the side, forcing me to hide as well as I could, I wasn’t sure they’d dismiss it as ballast or whatever lines could get hooked on.
I pulled my way to the deck at the back of the ship and poked my head up over the side of the banister. My fingers felt like they were going to fall off, but I kept myself secured. 
I managed to make out four… well, I wasn’t sure what to call them. At first, I thought they were griffons. They had the features of parrots – with hooked beaks and colorful plumage, but I couldn’t tell where their feline features had gone; they were wrapped up in some odd clothing choices; buckled belts, baggy black pants, eye patches… the group looked like pirates.

#

“Pirates?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That’s kinda awesome.” 
Logan glared her down. “It’s not as awesome when you’ve got a bounty on your head.” He noted.
“Well… okay,” Rainbow Dash conceded. “But… did you get to go on more adventures with them. Fighting other pirates; raiding treasure…?” she trailed off as Logan started to laugh.  
“You have a very skewed understanding about how pirates work,” Logan said. He glanced away. “Though, granted… they weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be.”

#

I was pretty sure at least one of them had seen my dive off the dock. So, I should have known they were expecting visitors. Still, as I watched this plump, pink hen and a giant of a parrot hauling some cargo around, they looked distracted enough for me to risk climbing on board. 
I had barely set a paw down on the dock before something slammed hard into me, and I found myself in a very intimate position with the deck.
A squawking sound emanated above me. I managed to twist my head enough to see that it was a long necked, rather deranged looking fellow with lazy eyes. I snapped at him and pulled myself back up, but by then, the rest of the crew had arrived; the aforementioned big parrot and plump hen, along with a more average looking parrot with an eyepatch.
“Well-well,” the big one hummed. “What do we have here?”
“Looks like a stowaway to me,” the eye patch guy said.
“Get that eye checked, Mullet,” the big guy replied. “Cuz I’m pretty sure that’s the dog that got everyone in Town riled up.”
I held my head higher. “Guilty as charged,” I said defiantly.
The parrots glanced at each other.
“So… what are we supposed to do with him?” the hen asked.
“Could take him back to Princess Celestia…” the eye patch guy – Mullet? – replied.
I bared my claws at him. “Try it,” I dared. “I’ll take your other eye.” 
“Feisty,” the big guy shot back. “Maybe throw him overboard.”
“What about the Storm King?” the pink one offered. “He’d know what to do with him.”
“Hang on,” Mullet said, turning as a fifth bird showed up. “What say the book, Captain?”
The Captain - a parrot with raspberry eyes and bright white plumage – walked up, holding some sort of book.
“Storm King’s rule book says…” she said gravely. “Throw him overboard.” 
The parrots leered down at me, and I prepped for a fight. But, seconds before they could grab at me… a whistle blew.
“Alright!” the Captain said. “That’s lunch!”
Instantly, the group relaxed. I looked around as they started to leave me be.
“Uh… huh?” I asked. 
“Come on, pup,” the hen said, suddenly in a much friendlier mood. “Might as well get some food before you go.”
Not quite sure what was going on, I followed after them, though I didn’t sheath my blades. I didn’t know what was going on… but I was gonna find out soon enough.