//------------------------------//
// Double Standards Are the Best Standards 
// Story: The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon 
// by Cloud_Surfer 
//------------------------------//


	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}~