//------------------------------//
// Caged Like a Dog 
// Story: The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon 
// by Cloud_Surfer 
//------------------------------//

	
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}~