Change of Pace
The Bounty Catching, Freedom Dreaming, Winged Wolf Phenomenon
Chapter 13
~{WWP}~
After flying away from Tailton for a day or so, I finally decided to land and go hunting. I had managed to catch a few birds midflight, and while that could keep me satisfied for a bit, it was the equivalent to eating french-fries instead of a burger. Not very filling at all. Plus birds are all feathery and shit. It’s like having a hair in your mouth, but like ten times worse.
And don’t even get me started on what they do to your craps.
Anyway, I was learning that hunting without any bait was pretty difficult. I mean, sure animals here are a lot more docile, and less likely run away from things, but a wolf isn’t one of those things. The moment I had landed it was as if the forest went into defcon-1. The only other creature I saw was a manticore who gave me a weary look before trudging off in the opposite direction.
I bet right now you are all thinking “but you’re a wolf. Isn’t your sense of smell good enough to find a deer or something else?” Well guess what, I hadn’t really smelt to many deer by that point in time, and when you land in a forest with literally THOUSANDS of different scents, it can be sort of difficult to pinpoint one over the others. The only reason I could do it in the mines was since there were ponies, griffins and diamond dogs down there. Not hard to pinpoint the difference between the three, though I got pegasi and griffins mixed up sometimes. Damn feathers.
Anyway, so hunting down animals in the woods, with no bait, and no way to track them by scent really sucks. I spent a good hour running around as silently as I could hoping to find some sort of game to eat. Eventually, as luck would have it, I spotted a couple of wild boars nomming on grass. I could almost smell the bacon now.
I crouched real low to the ground, and slowly started crawling over towards the boars. They were both oblivious to my approach, courtesy of the pads on my paws. I was ducking right below the brush line, and moving my paw forward when…
I made sure I placed it on the other side of that inconveniently placed stick. Thought I didn’t see you there didn’t you bastard? I wasn’t about to make that mistake of snapping a branch right before the kill. I was watching the ground the entire time.
Too bad for me that means I took my eyes off of my prey. I glanced up from the near miss to see the clearly completely empty of boars. Apparently in the time I looked down to make sure I didn’t make any noise while getting ready to pounce, the boars had their fill and left.
I just faced pawed and started muttering about my horrible luck. Dropping many obscenities along the way, I shoved my way through the bushes and along a dirt trail I noticed on the other side of the clearing. I just trudge my way onward, hoping a rabbit or some other dumb animal would cross my path so I could eat it.
There wasn't anything interesting, except maybe some flowers, but I’m a manly man, and we don’t stop and smell flowers and enjoy that shit.
Ok, so I frolicked through the fields for a while, but I couldn’t help myself. It has always been a childhood dream to find a field of wildflowers and run around and play in it. Fulfilling a childhood dream trumps looking manly any day of the week.
Following the path for after I was severely covered in pollen, I heard a noise coming from up ahead. Leaping over a thorn bush, I found a small pool of water that had a waterfall draining into it. Behind the waterfall was a small cave, sheltered from the rest of the world. With the sun slowly setting on me now, I figured that would be a great spot to sleep. Jumping through the water, I shake myself dry and curl up into a little ball, calling it a night for now.
Morning birds woke me up. Gazing out from behind the falls, I could see a couple shapes drinking from the creek. Thank the gods! Now I can finally eat! I lunged out from behind the water towards one of the shapes, and slammed into a wall of muscle.
Looking up from the position I was in, I see that in my haste of getting a meal I had decided to try and eat a full grown, male moose. I’m not going to bother describing him; since I’m pretty sure you all know what a moose looks like, but I will say that I never thought they were this big. It was bigger than my car back home.
“Now what manner of beast are you? I can’t say I have seen you in these woods before.” The moose spoke to me, in an old wise sounding voice. Almost like the guy who voiced acted for Yoda, except could speak in proper sentences.
The moose just stared at me for a bit, waiting for a response. For the first time I was at a loss for words. If I told him I’m a wolf, or cynogriffin for that matter, he’d realize that I just tried to take him down as prey. The smart thing to do would be to just back away slowly, and fly off as fast as I could, but as you know, hindsight is 20-20.
“I’m a cynogriffin, and I’m currently STARVING,” I declared in my most regal voice. It would’ve been a lot cooler if my stomach didn’t start rumbling right then. I just dropped my head in embarrassment.
The moose just chuckled. “Well my young friend, that is apparent. I am Anttila, proctor of this wood. I’m sure we can find you a viable source of food. Come, follow me,” Anttila seemingly ordered me, as he began to walk towards the forest.
I followed him away from my little cave, thanking as many gods as I could think of that he didn’t recognize me as a predatory creature right away. I guess wolves really DID die out in Equestria if a proctor of the forests didn’t know what one was.
Speaking of which, “What exactly does a ‘Proctor of the Forest’ do anyway?”
“Well you see young one, the Proctor of the Forest it is my duty to look out for the animals around here. A stag or moose is picked out by Celestia when each forest reaches a certain size and needs to be made safe for ponies to travel through. The Proctor is gifted with intelligence to perform the duties necessary, and the title is passed down through the generations.” The old moose took a deep breath before continuing. “The duty involves making sure they get enough to eat, and that the carnivores don’t over hunt other creatures. All to keep the forest in balance.”
“Sounds like a pretty risky job, having to deal with all those carnivores,” I mutter out, positioning myself behind him on a side.
“Why yes, which is why the Proctor has certain wards to protect him against those beasts that don’t have a mind. That way I can reason with them more closely. Good thing too, because since I have no heir, if I was to off and die there wouldn’t be a proctor no more,” Anttila joked.
“What would happen then?” I continued to question, happily following his lead.
“Oh the animals would become much less friendly, and making it dangerous for creatures to travel through the woods. Plus the populations would go a little crazy,” the old moose continued. “It is a shame that my herd moved on without me, but my job didn’t allow me to follow. The curse is that I can’t die of old age until a new Proctor is found or I die on the job.”
That gave me pause mid lunge. I spread my wings just enough to let me fall back down on the ground softly. I don’t think that Anttila realized I had wings yet, so I folded them back close to my body before continuing to follow him. Maybe he realized I ate meat already and was taking me to an old boar to eat.
My suspicions fell short though, when we arrived in an area full of wild peach trees. There had to be a hundred different trees, all full of ripe and juicy peaches. If I was still a human, I’d thought I went to heaven. Unfortunately being a carnivore, I couldn’t stomach them anymore.
Antilla gestured to the fruit bearing trees before us. “You may pick as many fruit as you like traveler. I realize that you probably prefer something a little more hardy for a journey, but this will have to do until you can get to a town,” the moose said as he turned to me. “Go ahead.”
“Um, I hate to be a bother, but could you help out? I’m not really cut out for knocking stuff out of trees,” was my reply. The moose shrugged his shoulders and turned about face once again. The moment I knew he couldn’t see me I shot up into the overhanging branches and out of view.
I’ve watched enough Discovery Channel to have seen how a wolf takes down a moose before, so I sat up in the tree and wracked my memory for the information I required. Something along the lines of the pack eating at their heels for a while and then ripping it apart from the back side.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. No way that plan was going to work with just one of me. Plus, Anttila was a rather nice host; I didn’t want to make him suffer. Thinking up of another way to bring down the moose, it was time to bring my plan into action.
Anttila was directly below me at this point, looking around for where I most have gone. I hadn’t noticed that he knocked probably twenty or so peaches on the ground as well. I leaped out from the branches and landed on his back, sinking my claws as deep as I could into his hide.
Anttila instantly reacted to the pain, though he couldn’t see who it was attacking him due to his antlers. He started bucking like a mad moose, trying to shake me off, all while yelling in pain. Not wanting to prolong this, I snapped by jaws at the base of his neck, and point as much pressure as I could on it.
With a resounding crack and a slight shudder from Anttila, I snapped his neck. I jumped off the top of him and glided down from the once mighty proctor’s shoulders as his body collapsed. I proceeded to eat my fill, and afterwards used my claws to cut up as many chunks of the moose that I could fit into my bags. Afterwards I buried what I couldn't carry and made him a makeshift cross to mark the grave.
Getting back into the air on a full stomach was nice, and I started flying towards the east, where I knew Ponyville should be. After another week and a half of flying at a lazy pace, I finally saw the town approaching in the dead of night.
“About fucking time, I thought it was like, a couple days max,” I complained to myself in the cold night. Taking out the map, I do a double take on it. I had crossed out ‘Tailton’ in another small town during my journey after I found out it was burnt to a crisp, and scribbled about it were other locations and landmarks I had found on the trip. Of course on the map, there was no scale to determine how FAR away everything is. And just in case anyone is wondering, they still don’t have a scale. Fucking cartographers.
I spent the night sleeping on a stray cloud, thanking Eris for giving me such a thick coat of fur, but I was worrying about any ponies that may be outside sleeping on this cold night. Actually only one pony if I was being a hundred percent honest. Of course I didn’t know if that pony WAS outside really, but I still worried about her. I feel into a restless sleep again, like I had for most of my journey.
I was woken up rather rudely by having a pegasus kick my cloud out from underneath me, causing me to drop a good forty feet out of the sky. I only managed to spread my wings out and slow my descent in the last ten feet, still crashing into the ground pretty hard.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry about that,” called down a cream colored mare, with pink and green hair and mane. I swore she looked familiar, but I just couldn’t place a name with her. “I’m Blossomforth by the way. What’s your name?”
“The name is Zeta.” I shouted back up. The mare just nodded and started to fly away before a gray mare with blond hair and mane showed up.
“Who’s the new guy?” her friend asked, looking down at me. “He’s pretty cute.”
“His name is Zeta,” Blossomforth answered. Seeing my confused face, she began to blush before stammering out, “oh, sorry about that. Zeta, this is my friend Cloud Kicker.”
I simply nodded to her newly arrived friend; getting a feeling she was sizing me up like a piece of meat more than I did to Anttila. After feeling like it was getting to the point of being creepy, I decided to snap them out of it.
“So, do either of you know where I would go to buy a house? I would like to move into this lovely little town, but don’t really know where to go from here…”
“Oh, that’d be heading to the mayor’s office. We can show you the way if you’d like,” Cloud Kicker answered as she landed on the ground, Blossomforth right behind her. “It’s only like a twenty minute walk really. Not that bad of a time.”
I smirked at that one. Apparently neither of them noticed my wings either. I guess the fact they match my coat’s coloration so well helps. Once they take the lead and assume I’m following them, Cloud Kicker swinging her hips a bit more than necessary, I spread my wings and fly above them. “If it’s a twenty minute walk, how long would the flight be?”
The two pegasi gawked at me for a moment when they saw me in the air. “You have wings?” Cloud Kicker yelled up to me.
I made an over exaggerated motion turning to look at my large feathery appendages, throwing a look of surprise on my face. “Well what do you know, I have wings! I wonder when that happened.” Sarcasm for the win.
Blossomforth just laughed and took to the skies, Cloud Kicker following close behind. Once they over took me, we set off towards Town Hall. From the vantage point in the sky, I could see all the important landmarks. Carousal Boutique, Sugar Cube Corner, the Library, and even the school and Sweet Apple Acres off in the distance, if I wasn’t stressing about buying this house, I would be in full blown nerdgasm state right now.
The flight only took like, two minutes. Once we had landed in front of the door, Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth wished me luck and trotted off, mentioning how hungry they were due to the morning shift. Entering the establishment, I found the vast openness of the main hall where the Summer Sun Celebration was held. Sitting in front of a pair of doors off to the right was a secretary in her desk, filing some papers. I silently approached the desk without her notice.
“Excuse me, but I’m here to speak with the Mayor about purchasing a house,” I declared as she continued her oblivious filing. Once she heard my voice, she jumped three feet into the air and dropped like a rock. “Are you ok miss?”
After the flustered mare reappeared, she answered. “Yes, thank you. I wasn’t expecting anyone in today. The mayor is right through those doors.” She didn’t even bother to take a glance at me the whole time, instead just picking up all of her papers.
I shrugged and walked right through the doors into the mayor’s office. The inside was a medium sized room, with book shelves, filing cabinets, and an assortment of other materials. On her desk was even more paperwork.
The mayor herself was sitting on her chair sorting through some paper or another mumbling about how to recover the town after Discord’s attack. Since it seemed like important work, I just sat back down and waited for her to finish. After about an hour and a half of sitting there though my patience was up.
Debating on which method would be better to announce my arrival to spook her best, I decided to give a nice long howl. I haven’t used that one before, and in fact I couldn’t remember ever howling before then. The result was a rather frazzled looking mare, with a crap ton of papers floating down like snowflakes.
“Who, wha…” Mayor Mare began, but then she got a solid look at me. Her pupils expanded rapidly and I could see her start breathing a lot heavier. Clear cut signs of an adrenaline fueled fear rush.
Shockingly though, as I was sidestepping away from the door, so I wouldn’t be trampled, the mayor had begun to regain her composure.
“I’m terribly sorry about that, you simply startled me is all. How may I help you?” Mayor Mare asked. I could still tell she was a little nervous, but her professionalism apparently came before her self-interest and every instinct that she had screaming at her right now. Very admirable.
“I’m sorry I spooked you, it’s just that I have been waiting here for around two hours now, and needed a way to get you out of the ‘zone.’ It’s just I would like to sort out my business here sooner rather than later.” I replied, as kindly as I could. This really wasn’t my thing, but it’s easier to be kind to people that you want favors from.
“And what sort of business do you have with me Mr?” Mayor Mare asked as she took her seat again, leaving the papers that were thrown around her office scattered to the winds. I just shrugged and took a seat on the other side of the desk from her.
“My name is Zeta. And I was informed that I need to talk to you about purchasing a house.” I reached into my saddle bags, moving aside one of the hunks of meat I still had, and grabbed my bag of bits. Tossing it onto the table I continued, “I have about 9,000 bits ready to spend on a house, and about another 2,000 to spend on furnishings if needed.”
The mayor’s eyes lit up when she saw the bag of bits land on her desk. She was stuttering out incomprehensible words for a couple of minutes before she realized I was still staring at her waiting for an answer.
“Ahem, excuse me for that. Currently we have about 5 houses for sale in Ponyville; I’ll just grab the files and take you on a tour to view them properly.”
With that, the two of us took off on a wonderful little trip around town. As we walked, she gave me a brief lowdown on the town life in general. I mentioned how I met Cloud Kicker, and she just rolled her eyes, whispering to me of the reputation that mare has. I guess when she leaned in though, she got a sniff of my saddle bags though, cause the next question was slightly awkward to answer.
“Mr. Zeta, what do you have in your bags? The smell is rather putrid if you don’t mind me saying.”
Well, there isn’t any way to avoid this one. “You see Mayor Mare, I’m a species known as a cynogriffin. I CAN’T actually eat vegetation in any manner, or I grow ill. On my travels, I found that bread, while lasting longer, was much harder to come by. So I took to hunting and smoking the meat to preserve it for longer periods of time.” Truthfully, I only figured out how to smoke the meat after most of Anttila started to grow rotten a couple days after I killed him. My first few attempts at smoking the meat resulted in a couple of wild fires, but I eventually figured out how to do it properly.
Of course, the meat in my bag was fresh from the day before. It was only a couple of rabbits (hopefully I got Angel bunny) so more of a snack than a meal. But the mayor didn’t have to know that.
She didn’t take the news as well as I had hoped though. “You eat meat?!?! Why would you do such a thing?”
I was just thankful she didn’t screech it to the entire town. Not worth causing a panic over someone’s eating habits. To answer her question though, I just shrugged my shoulders. “It’s just how I am mayor. The same way how you have to eat vegetation to live, I eat meat. Could I LIVE on just bread and pastries? Possibly, but I would be sickly and weak most of the time.” Glancing at her besides me, I can see she still isn’t exactly pleased with that piece of information. “Don’t worry though; I only hunt wild, clearly non-sentient creatures. I will probably fly deep into the Everfree if I am in need of hunting grounds.”
Yes, I told the mayor of Ponyville a blatant lie about my eating habits. But what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, and the fact the she nodded and continued on with the tour was all the proof I needed.
After a couple hours, we finally arrived at the last house, and I knew it was the one I was going to buy. It was a two story home, with both a full attic and basement. Two full bathrooms, one on the 2nd floor and in the basement which also had the perfect set-up for a man cave. Finally, there were 4 full bedrooms as well. The location was also a plus, being on the edge of town, and one of the closest buildings to the Everfree forest. All I really had to do was set up a shed in the back that I could have a massive freezer in for my meat.
“So how much will this guy cost me?” was the first question I had while gesturing to the house behind me.
“The standard asking price is 10,000 bits, but I’m sure we can take it down to 9,000 for you. The furniture you saw inside is included in the house as well,” The mayor responded. Turning back towards the center of town, she continues on. “We’ve been trying to sell that house for a while, but no one likes that property. Being so close to the Everfree Forest is quite unnerving to most.”
I just grin at that, still attempting to hide my sharp teeth as much as I could. “I don’t think that will be a problem for me.”
The rest of that day was spent in the mayor’s office, filling out paperwork and forms. Do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass it was to do? First I attempted to use my paws, but I couldn’t keep a grip worth a shit. Then trying to use my mouth to hold the pen like ponies do in the show was ridiculously tricky. I probably snapped through half a dozen pens, and it really didn’t help that they were all feather quill pens. Fucking feathers...
After signing my name for what felt like the millionth time, Mayor Mare finally nodded and said the magic words as she slid an envelope over to me. “That’s all the paperwork, congratulations on becoming a home owner in Ponyville.”
I happily grabbed the key and headed for the door, excited to sleep in a bed for the first time in a while, then I could start up my next plan. Before I left though, she shouts one last thing at me.
“As a fair warning, we have a certain resident here that loves throwing parties. She and her friends are out of town for the moment, but don’t be shocked if when she returns, you become the ‘guest of honor’ at one for moving here.”
I just smiled knowingly and continued to my new house.
After about a week’s worth of organizing and set-up, my new house was finally in working order. The hardest part was probably convincing the contractor I had hired to build a shed that housed a massive freezer in my backyard, but I slid enough bits to get him to agree towards its construction. My man cave was also complete. Built in bar and kegarator, with four different beers on tap. My house was awesome.
There was only one bedroom on the 2nd floor that had yet to be decorated. The only furniture present was a cloud bed, floating haphazardly a few feet above the ground. I had spent most of an afternoon finding the softest clouds I could to make this bed up. I had Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth help me out a bit, which they were more than happy too. When I didn’t put it in my room though, they were a little shocked. I just avoided their questions, and Cloud Kicker’s sexual innuendoes, and eventually they dropped it.
This room was reserved for someone that I had seen around town a few times since I moved in. Of course she didn’t know I was keeping an eye on her. And before anyone says that’s creepy as hell, no good bounty hunter dives blindly into something. I had to scout out my goal before I did anything rash. At least that’s what I figured out after the whole Azragni incident. Every bruise is a lesson, and every scar is a failure to abide by that lesson. If I was going to be serious about this whole Bounty Hunter/Mercenary gig, I couldn’t fuck up.
The one thing that everyone struggles with everyday made it necessary for me to force my hand that night. Time. Over the past week it had been getting colder and colder at night, and last night it there was the first frost of the season. Tonight had to be when I put my plan to the test. I still remember the last thought I had before I set out that morning to get this plan underway.
Hopefully everything will go according to plan.
To be honest though, the entire first phase of my plan went rather well. She was easy enough to track during the day, being as loud and obnoxious as she normally is. The only problem is how fast she could go. I mean, nowhere near as fast as I could go, but she’ll definitely be able to outdo the Wonderbolts in the speed department.
As the day continued to go by, I couldn’t help but remember my life before I got here. When I was back on Earth, I had a little sister. She was full of life, obnoxious, adventurous little thing. When she turned 9 I got her a scooter for her birthday and taught her how to ride it. Unfortunately she didn’t get the hang of it the first day. When I got home the next day though, as I walked from my bus stop, she came riding up on her scooter to great me, with the biggest grin on her face, and covered in little cuts and scrapes.
That was probably one of the proudest moments of my life. When we got home, I dropped my stuff off and we went right back outside, me on my longboard and my sister on her scooter spent the day riding around the neighborhood. When I tucked her in to bed, I made a promise that we’d do it again tomorrow. Tomorrow never came though.
While I was at school the next day, a school counselor sent a note for me to go to their office. When I entered the room, I knew something was wrong. The counselor, whose name has been lost since that day, sat across from me with sad eyes.
“Mark, we have to talk. We just got a call from your parents,” he began in a low ominous tone that only bearers of bad news seem to have. “They are both at the hospital currently…”
“What’s wrong? Did something happen to them?” I nearly yelled as I cut them off. My dad wasn’t in the best of shape, and was getting sorta old, so him having a heart attack wouldn’t be that surprising, and my mom had always suffered from the occasional seizure which could place her in one as well.
“Your parents are fine Mark. It’s your sister.” My heart froze in my chest at that point. I didn’t don’t even remember the rest of what happened that day, it was such a blur. I was dead to the world and scared shitless for my little sister.
The next coherent memory I had was in the hospital with my parents outside of her room. “So how is she?” I asked, trying to keep a brave face on. My mom was a wreck and my dad wasn’t doing a whole lot better. I was still at the dumb age where I thought real men didn’t cry. That idea didn’t last the night.
“She has Influenza,” is what my Dad told me.
“The flu? Why is Angel in the hospital for the flu?” none of it was making sense to me. I was a teenager, invincible. Sickness was just something you slept off for a night or two, usually long enough to get out of a class assignment.
“Well there was a complication. Apparently she has an autoimmune disease as well,” my dad continued. My mom was just shaking right now, apparently all cried out. “The combination doesn’t bode well Mark. She might not make it.”
That was the straw that broke my back. I yelled at the two of them, for hours I did. The doctors too, I just couldn’t believe that my little sister was going to die. I blamed my parents, I blamed the doctors, I blamed myself, and I blamed everything by the end.
It was the longest 6 months of my life while she was in the hospital. I would visit every day after school and for as long as visitor hours were allowed. My grades slipped, I alienated myself from my friends, and I never did apologize to my parents. In fact that was the only time I didn’t visit my sister is when they were.
Then one day it happened. That which I had been dreading since my sister had gotten sick. I had just gotten to the hospital after school, and was heading up towards my sister’s room when a couple of doctors and nurses ran by me with a defibrillator. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I watched them turn down the hallway my sister was in. I sprinted after them, slipping as I made the turn. Getting up from my spill, I had lost sight of the defibrillator unit, but I could see my parents out in the hallway instead of in my sister’s room, my mother crying hysterically while my father held her, tears streaming down his face.
I was frozen in place for what felt like hours. Eventually I snapped out of the trance and walked past both of them just and went to enter my sister’s hospital room. The door opened before I could reach it though, as a couple of doctors and nurses went by me, sad looks on their faces and the defibrillator between them. I approached the bed and sat in the seat that I always did when I visited. The look on my sister’s face was peaceful, like she was just napping, but she was so much paler than she was on that scooter. Her hair had become dull and brittle during her stay in the hospital as well. The heart rate monitor she was hooked up to was turned off.
I just laid my head down on the sheets and started bawling my eyes out. I wanted to say how much I was going to miss her, how I loved her more than anything. I wanted to tell her how in Heaven she’d get to meet grandma and grandpa, and see our old dog that died last year. I wanted to hold her tight and tell her everything will be ok, that she’d get better and we could ride her scooter again.
I wanted to say all of that and more, but I couldn’t form the words. All that escaped my throat was half choked sobs, nothing more. I cried myself dry, and kept going well past that. My parents eventually came in and took me home, my father honestly ripping from the bed and carrying me away from my baby sister.
I knew I would never forget that day either. Not only because of what happened, but because I also turned 16. My baby sister died on the day to celebrate my birth. It felt wrong, like the world was mocking me, even more so than it already had by taking her from me. After the funeral, I avoided my parents. I still blamed them for some reason, in what I can only amount to being a stupid teenager in the time where I could do no wrong and had all the answers. I was such a fucking dumbass.
When I turned 18, I had left my parents and found My Little Pony, and when I saw Scootaloo, I started to cry again. It was as if the show had taken my little sister and turned her into a pony. Her tomboyish attitude, her knack for adventure, stubbornness, confidence, and strong sense to stand up for her friends were all qualities they shared. Every time I saw a Scootaloo episode, or read a fan fiction about her I thought of my sister.
That’s why I needed to do this. I couldn’t save my little sister, but I’d be damned if I couldn’t help Scootaloo in some way. When I saw Vinyl and Tavi together, I figured some of the fans predictions could be right, and if that one was then the chances of Scootaloo needing help were extremely high.
Of course all that remembering distracted me from paying attention, and by the time I snapped out of it, and dried my face from the tears spilt remembering my sister, the moon was high above my head and I had no idea where Scootaloo was.
“God damnit!” I yelled to no one in particular as I jumped off my cloud and started flying through the night sky. As I flew towards Sweet Apple Acres, I could feel the cold autumn breeze rip through me. Flying was a bit harder too without any thermals to use as an extra boost.
I landed in the middle of the massive orchard fields within a while. It was way too dark for me to spot out their tree house in the dark, so I took to the ground. Using my hunter’s nose, I tried to pick up any scent that wasn’t apples, dirt, or trees. I could faintly smell something unnatural, and I figured that would be my best bet. Padding along, making sure not to lose the scent of whatever the hell it is, I stumbled upon the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse.
Looking around, and still following my nose, I found a couple of open paint cans were lying in the grass by the entrance ramp. I crept as softly as I could not wanting to frighten the filly I could smell on the other side of the door. Nudging open the door with my nose, I spied the sleeping filly shaking under a thin blanket in the middle of the room. What I did next probably caused WAY more trouble for me than I needed, but as I said before, hind sight is 20-20.
I laid down next to her, and curled by tail and head around Scootaloo’s shivering body, trying my best to keep the cold off of her. Finally, I spread my one wing over her like a blanket and felt a smile spread across my muzzle when I felt her stop shaking after about half an hour of me being there. After that, I slowly slipped into the night’s embrace, hoping for pleasant dreams for once.
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“AAAAAAHHHHHHH”
I acted the moment the scream woke me up. Acting as quickly as I could, I leaped up from where I was laying down and crouched in front of the door. My hair was standing on end, wings flared, a snarl on my face and a deep growl resonating from my throat. If anything tried to get through that door and towards the scared filly behind me, I was going to rip its face off.
After standing there for about a minute, my brain slowly decided to start working again. I couldn’t anything moving outside, nor smell anything other than the filly behind me, wood, paint, and apples. I began to relax, figuring that Scootaloo just had a nightmare or something. As I turned around to face Scootaloo and saw her shaking with fear filled eyes; focused solely on me.
“Oh fuck nuggets,” I mumbled under my breath. I approached Scootaloo slowly, and crouching down so I’d be more eye level with her. “Look, I’m sorry. I di”
“PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!!!” Scootaloo screamed. “SOMEPONY HELP ME!!!!”
That was not good. I could faintly hear hoof steps galloping over here at this very moment. And they sounded pretty heavy. The last thing I wanted was to have Big Mac trying to kill me this early in the morning. Then I’d never get a chance to actually TALK to Scootaloo, let alone help her.
“Listen kid, relax. I’m not going to eat you, I promise.” I frantically tried to calm her down. This plan was going nowhere though as she kept yelling and screaming about how she didn’t want to get eaten, and how she’ll be good from now on, the basic groveling for your life spiel.
After both of us yelling about, I heard a deep low voice call up from outside. “Is anypony in there?”
My brain went from trying to calm Scootaloo down to full on panic mode, especially when she called out to Big Macintosh outside. “HELP ME! THERE’S A MONSTER TRYING TO EAT ME!!”
“Fuck this,” I lunged across the room, grabbing a screaming Scootaloo in my paws, being as gentle as I could, spun around and rocketed out of the door. I caught a glimpse of Big Mac falling flat on his back from the rush of air left me my wake. “SORRY!” I shouted down to the dazed draft pony before flying up into the clouds above.
I zoomed over towards the clouds floating over the Everfree forest, hoping that the weather ponies didn’t bother dealing with the wild nature of these clouds. Checking up on the filly in my arms, she was shaking just as much as when I found her in the clubhouse last night, though I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or exhilaration. The smile on her face made me think that latter, but her eyes were still full of fear.
As I set her down on a cloud, she clinged to my arm tighter than we were flying. I laughed softly at this. “What, never been on a cloud before?” Scootaloo just shook her head as she gripped onto my leg. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I’m standing on the cloud aren’t I?”
Scootaloo looked at me, fear slowly leaving her eyes as she realized I wasn’t lying. Tentatively, she placed some weight onto her hooves and released her death grip from my leg. Once she had all four hooves on the cloud, she started to slowly bounce around in a circle giggling like a mad filly. I just sat down and watched her with a goofy grin on my face. Even now I could hear my little sister’s laughter and excitement coming from the filly before me.
Once Scootaloo had calmed down, she turned and looked at me funny. Then her head dropped as she mumbled out “I’m sorry I yelled. I thought you were going to eat me.”
I just laughed at the apology. “You have nothing to worry about. You weren’t the first pony that thought that, and I doubt you’ll be the last.” What I didn’t mention is how I probably should’ve expected her to be petrified of a wolf when she woke up in the morning, but I wasn’t exactly thinking too much last night. “I’m glad to see you are enjoying yourself up here.”
Instantly her mood went from sullen and sad, to energetic and rambling. “OH MY GOSH YES! I’VE NEVER BEEN ON A CLOUD BEFORE! OR FLYING OR THIS HIGH AND IT’S SO COOL!” She went on and on and on for the next couple of minutes, talking about how soft the clouds felt, to how Rainbow Dash never took her flying before, and a whole bunch of stuff. I just nodded and pretended to listen, remember what I thought was the important parts.
Eventually, once she died down, she asked a question or at least I think it was. I wasn’t really paying attention at the time, so when I noticed her staring at me for an answer, I just smiled sheepishly. “Um, what was that?”
She just gave me a deadpanned look, as she reiterated the now obvious question. “So why did you bring me up here? And why were you in the clubhouse last night? Also, who are you?”
“Well, my name is Zeta and I wanted to talk to you IN the clubhouse, but I’m sorta afraid of Big Mac,” she just started giggling at that, “so when I heard him running towards the clubhouse, I panicked and brought you up here where he couldn’t hurt me. What’s your name?”
“I’m Scootaloo!” she exclaimed in between the giggles that brought up painful, yet happy, memories.
I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the next part. “As for WHY I wanted to talk to you, I’ve been living in town for about a week now and I’ve seen you wandering about, and I’ve seen you steal a few times too. I followed you last night to the tree house where I found you shivering in your sleep. I curled up next to you to keep you warm.”
I spent the next hour explaining to her my past. How much she reminded me of my little sister and how she died. I continued on with my life, editing the parts so it would seem like I have always lived here. I told her everything, all of my pain and hurts, and how fall I’ve fallen since then.
Scootaloo for her part listened intently on the story. She didn’t scoff at me as I cried openly in front of her, and even tried to comfort me at times. By the end of the story, she had a few tears in her eyes as well.
“Well, that’s my story. When I saw you stealing I felt compelled to check up on you and make sure you were ok,” I finished my tale, but there was one more that needed to be heard that day. “Why were you sleeping all alone there? Won’t your parents be worried?”
The moment the question escaped my lips, I saw Scootaloo freeze up. Her breathing started to stagger and you could tell she was afraid to have the subject brought up. I wrapped a wing over her and brought her into a hug. After a while, she seemed to calm down.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I know what it feels like to lose someone,” I whispered to her soothingly.
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!” she exploded, leaping away from the hug and turning to face me. “YOU HAD YOUR PARENTS! I… I NEVER…I NEVER HAD ANYONE!” Tears were quickly forming in her eyes as she explained her whole story. Apparently she was abandoned as a new born at the steps of an orphanage without even a name. One of the kinder caretakers named her Scootaloo, but passed away when she was only 3. The other caretakers refused to tell answer Scootaloo’s questions and found her annoying, ignoring her almost completely. During her stay the other orphans picked on her constantly until she got fed up and ran away. That’s how she wound up in Ponyville.
She had broken down half way through her story, once it got to how alone she felt in the orphanage. How no one ever cared for her until she made friends with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, but their sisters and not even Rainbow Dash cared for her.
I managed to pull her back into a hug, comforting her as best I could. After a while, when her tears had run dry, and her sobs had become hiccups, I broached the topic that I originally wanted to in the first place. “Scootaloo, if you want you don’t have to be alone anymore.”
She pulled her head back from my tear stained chest and gave me a quizzical look, urging me to continue.
“Well, I have a house on the outskirts of town and I happen to have a couple of spare rooms. You’d be more than welcome to stay with me. I could be like, your dad or something.” I mumbled out that last bit, full of apprehension as to her answer.
I’m pretty sure she actually heard that last part, since she slowly had a grin growing on her face, but she still deemed it worthy to ask “What was that last part?”
I just started to rub the back of my head nervously, not having any idea what could be going through that purple maned head of hers. “Well, if you live at my house and everything, it’d sorta be like me being a dad. That is if you want to have your own room and everything. I won’t force anything on you.”
I sat there for a minute looking at the wide eyed filly before me before I figured that she thought I was completely bat shit crazy. I just stood up and started to walk away, telling her as I left “The offer is always on the table Scoots, just look me up.”
I barely got three feet towards the edge of the cloud before my back legs got wrapped up and I fell flat on my stomach. Spinning my head around, I saw Scootaloo burying her face into them. I somehow managed to contort my way so I could just pick her up in my forelegs. She was smiling and crying, and couldn’t get a word out of her throat.
“I’ll take that as a yes then,” I jokingly laughed as I felt her nod into my chest. “So how about we head home now?” Scootaloo just smiled as I moved her from my arms and onto my back. Once I felt her hooves wrapped tightly around my neck I dove off the cloud and headed for home.
Once we were ready to land, I noticed a big hulking red pony sitting outside my house, along with Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth.
“Son of a bitch…” I mutter out.
“What does ‘bitch’ mean?” Scootaloo asked me. My facepaw was audible for a mile around.
Thankfully talking Big Mac down was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth saw him running after me when I took off, and when they found out what happened, vouched for me. They apparently have been waiting the entire time in front of my house to find out what the hell was going on. I told them that I was taking Scootaloo in, but that opened the flood gates about where she had been living all this time, what about her parents, and so on and so on.
I just stood next to her, giving silent encouragement the entire time, and a wing over her shoulders as she retold her story. Once they began to pepper her with questions of “Why didn’t you ask for help” and began to berate her for things and I felt her shudder and shrink closer to my side did I get pissed at the ponies before us.
“Ok guys, that’s enough. We’ve both had a long day and I would like to get her situated before its bed time. We can talk more later if you want, but she’s done for now.” With that, I walked past all three ponies with Scootaloo by my side into our new home.
I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I gave her the tour. The excitement was radiating off of her as I showed her all the rooms and laying down some ground rules. The only two areas I told her she isn’t allowed to go to are the shed and my office. The former since I didn’t want her to see how I prepped the meat I ate and the latter since I didn’t want to drag her into that business ever. I saved her room for last though.
“Now that you are done jumping up and down on my bed, I’ll show you your room. Come on Scoots,” I called from the hallway, thanking any god that would listen that I had my room filly proofed. Only time would tell if it was CMC proof though (hint hint, it wasn’t.) My new foster daughter scampered after me and I approached the door. “Now this is your room, you ready?” After seeing her vigorous nodding, I threw open the door.
“Why’s it so empty?” my new ward asked.
I just rolled my eyes at that one. “Cause YOU get to decide what goes into it. We’ll go shopping tomorrow for you to pick out some stuff. How does that sound?” A small yawn was my answer along with a nod of the head. I just scooped her up and carried her over to the cloud bed I had set up for her. Once she was all tucked in, I nuzzled her and whispered good night before leaving the room.
The next few days were spent getting used to living together. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I was expecting it. Scootaloo was really understanding about some of the ground rules, and I wasn’t a stick in the mud about anything, so if she suggested something I was willing to listen, though only to an extent. Mostly it involved staying out of my office and shed, bed times, cleaning things, and what punishments would be for other things.
One day though, Scootaloo came bounding into the house after school, with a huge grin on her face. “Hey Dad!” I just smiled at the energetic ball of fur before me, feeling a twinge of pride at being called ‘Dad’ as she continued. “WoulditbeokayifIhadasleepover?”
I just stared blankly as I attempted to understand what she said. “What was that Scoots? You got to slow down sometimes while you speak.”
She just smiled sheepishly as she reiterated her question, “Would it be okay if I had a sleepover? It would only be Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Since I’ve never had a place to stay I never got to host one, but now I do so can I?”
The thought of having the entirety of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in my house at once gave me a little fright, but the look Scootaloo was giving me was too much to bear. I folded like a poker player with a pair of twos. That and the fact I would need to meet them and their guardians eventually.
Scooping her up in my fore arms, I gave her a hug and replied. “Of course you can sweet heart, and now I get to embarrass you in front of your little friends!” She just groaned and struggled against my hug, but I just kept hugging her tightly and started nuzzling her. “I have to show how much I love my little pup don’t I?”
“Stop it! Let me go!” Scootaloo yelled laughing the whole time. Quickly realizing it was futile to resist, she decided a counter attack was necessary and began to tickle me. We had been living together for a week and she already found out how ticklish I was. I dropped her like a sack of potatoes and leaped backwards. Scoots hopped up and chased me down throughout the house, giggling madly the whole time.
Once we had finally calmed down, the rest of the day was spent prepping for the eventual guests. I moved the spare beds into Scootaloo’s room since the unicorn and earth fillies wouldn’t be able to share Scootaloo’s cloud bed, and went into the market place to pick up some groceries for the girls to eat, as well as the mares that would bring them. While I was there, I noticed a surprisingly lack of ponies around, along with a slight whimsical music echoing. Glancing around a corner, I saw almost all of Ponyville singing “I Got a Jar of Dirt” with Pinkie in the middle juggling a jar of dirt.
After watching them go on for a little bit, I decided it needed to end so I could get service at a stall. I picked up a rock, and chucked it at the jar Pinkie was holding. Unfortunately I missed and nailed Colgate in the back of the head. Once she fell to the ground, all the ponies surrounding her thought it was a new piece of their musical number and all dropped to the ground as well. Amazingly, the domino effect continued until finally only Pinkie was standing up in the middle of the group holding up the jar of dirt like it was Simba on top of Pride Rock. Afterwards, the music and singing stopped and everyone went back to their place of work as if nothing ever happened.
Except Colgate who was still knocked out in the middle of the street.
I continued with my shopping at that point. Most of the ponies in town gave me a questioning look as I picked up all the veggies and fruits that Scootaloo ate, along with extra so I could properly host for the fillies and their guardians. The last stop on my trip was to Sugar Cube Corner to pick up some sweets for the girls to eat. I know, dumb move giving the CMC sugar, but I wanted to make a good impression that I was a ‘cool dad’ and everything.
The moment I entered the door, a pink blur jumped in front of me. “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I haven’t met you before, that must mean you are new in Ponyville! I’ve met lots of new people recently, and I just got back from Canterlot with my friends yesterday so it is really supery duper! I met a Griffin named Griffin two weeks ago, and then today someone gave me a jar of dirt and taught me a new song and now I get to meet you too! So what’s your name?”
The only reason I wasn’t fazed by how quickly she spat that all out was because I have been mentally preparing myself to meet her. “Hey there Pinkie, I’m Zeta, and I moved here about a week ago,” was my much more paced reply. I gave her a grin before continuing “I’m also here to buy a few cupcakes. My daughter is having a sleep over so I figured it’d be a good idea to have some sweets for her and her friends.”
Pinkie squed in delight and ran back into the kitchen to start baking some sweets. I just sat at one of the tables in the restaurant and waited. I had to admit that I could see how Pinkie made everyone smile all the time. Just her being a happy person is contagious, and you can’t stop yourself from smiling at that much unbridled joy. Pinkie Pie is pretty much a happy little filly in a mare’s body.
The wait only lasted a little more than fifteen minutes. She came out with a box of cupcakes and I paid for them promptly. Before I left the door though, Pinkie called out to me. “So when would you like a party? You HAVE to have a party since you just got here.”
“Eh, I’m not one for big parties. Being a carnivore makes it a little awkward. So if you want to throw a small, like ten pony party that would be ok. Just let me know when.”
Before I could get out, again, Pinkie yelled one last question. “Who’s your daughter anyway?”
“Scootaloo,” I politely replied. Then I was off to attempt to CMC proof my house.
Four hours later and I was waiting in my living room as Scootaloo rushed about like a mad dog getting everything prepped and ready for the sleep over. Finally the moment of truth had occurred. There was a knock at the door.
Before I could even stand, Scootaloo had the door thrown open. When I didn’t hear any cheers or “Hi Scootaloo”s I figured it might be someone with the wrong address. That is until Scootaloo called for me saying the door was for me. As I rounded the corner into the foyer, I saw a familiar pink mare standing in the doorway.
“Sup fluff ball, how’s it going?”
“Hey Firefly, what brings you around?” I really did not want to deal with her right then and there, but you can’t really argue with a time traveler can you.
“Well, I figured I would stop by and check out the new crib; looks good for a rag tag like you fluffy. Oh, also you’ll be getting a training session next week, so don’t make any plans.” Firefly said as she zipped around my house. Putting on the breaks at the front door again, she gave me a hoof bump and shouted “See ya” before rocketing into the sky.
Before I could even explain to Scootaloo who that was, I saw Applejack, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom walking up the path towards the house. Behind them were the rest of the Elements of Harmony. “Hey Scoots, your friends are here!” I shouted into the kitchen where the little rascal was getting a drink.
I was quickly bulldozed out of the way by a ball of orange fur. Scootaloo was soon outside and jumping up and down excitedly in front of her friends. “Hi girls, ready for another great sleepover?!”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SLEEPOVER! YAY!” was the loud as hell response, followed by a quick hoof bump. I had just gotten back up after Scootaloo bulldozed me when I proceeded to get trampled by all three of them as they ran back into the house and upstairs.
“Need a hand there partner?” came a thick draw of everyone’s favorite Element of Honesty. Applejack offered me a hoof as she lifted me up onto my paws. “So Ah take it you’re Scoots dad huh?” she continued after she got a good look at me. Her eyes didn’t seem hostile at all, but extremely hesitant to say the least.
“That is a long story Applejack,” I answered. This resulted in questioning looks from the entire lot of them. “What?”
“How do you know Applejack’s name?” Twilight asked me rather suspiciously.
“Yeah, are you some kind of spy?” was Rainbow Dash’s instant assumption, getting up in my muzzle and hovering slightly above the others.
“Yea, I mean obviously I didn’t just read the newspapers after you six defeated Discord,” I replied while rolling my eyes. “You mares are sorta famous. But where are my manners, my name is Zeta welcome to my home. Would you like a refreshment?” I gestured to my house. The mares followed me inside and took up seats in the dining room.
“So, what is the story with you and Scootaloo? I dare say that I doubt you are her birth father.” Rarity asked, rather pompously if I say so.
So I went ahead and explained the entire story as to how Scootaloo came to live with me. The Mane Six where respectful the entire time, only interrupting on a few occasions. After like, 15 minutes I wrapped up the story.
“Well, I’m glad that she has somewhere safe to stay now. Thank you for that,” Twilight answered breaking the awkward silence that descended on the group. “So why don’t you tell us about yourself, there hasn’t been a recording of a live cynogriffin in the last seven thousand years. I have a ton of questions to ask you.” The other mares gave Twilight a look of confusion at the mention of ‘cynogriffin’ while I just chuckled. I would’ve been upset if Twilight didn’t know what I was.
“Yes, I am indeed a cynogriffin. As for the questions...how about no. My past is sort of a touchy subject for me to bring up. Currently I’m a bounty hunter though, so that’s how I managed to afford this house. Which brings me to another point I wanted to bring up with you. You all have to swear NEVER to tell anyone that Scootaloo is living with me. My job is dangerous and I don’t want her to get hurt because of it.”
“Then why did you bother adopting her if you knew she be in danger?” Twilight asked with a quizzical look on her face. “It would have made a lot more sense to avoid putting her in danger, even if your actions saved her from immediate danger.”
For some reason or the other, that comment rubbed me the wrong way. “Then who would’ve helped her? She’s been living in Ponyville for the last two years, on the streets as an orphan while all six of you did nothing to help her.” I was slowing switching from a normal tone to a low growl, and I just realized how pissed I actually was about how Scootaloo has been treated.
I jabbed a paw towards Applejack first. “She’s been living on your farm, in your orchard for the last two years. Did you EVER wonder about it? Why she always appeared hungry and such? You know where every single apple tree is on your farm and yet you didn’t know of a homeless filly living there?” Applejack looked a little angry about the accusation until it set in.
Next I moved my paw towards Fluttershy. “You’re the Element of Kindness, and have watched her multiple times, yet you never once asked why her parents never picked her up. You know almost every animal in this area and care for them like newborns when they can care for themselves, and yet a filly that needed help goes completely unnoticed.” Fluttershy started to tear up and hid behind her mane then.
“You’re sorta being a meanie pants right now,” Pinkie attempted to cut me off.
Needless to say I didn’t take too well to that one. “You’re one to talk. You openly say you know every single pony in this town, and yet you never wondered why you didn’t know who Scootaloo’s parents were? Where the hell is the logic in that.”
“I think that is a going a little far deary,” Rarity attempted to pacify me. I was too far gone at that point to even consider stopping.
“You are the older sister of one of her best friends, and yet you never took the time to meet her parents, or find out why she acted the way she did? For an Element of Generosity, you sure are pretty stingy in your giving. You’ve seen her more than anyone of the others, and yet you’ve done nothing to help her!” Yes, I was beyond frustrated with the girls at this point.
I turned to Twilight. “You have been taking lessons from Princess Celestia, and yet you still are oblivious to the whole thing. By far you are the DUMBEST smart person I have ever met.” Twilight just let her mouth hang open because of that.
Finally I turned towards Rainbow Dash. “You though, are worst the all the rest of them. Probably combined even! She fucking idolized you for the longest time, and you didn’t even acknowledge her. If you actually talked to the filly that worships the ground you walk on, and the air you fly through, I bet one of you would have noticed what was going on in her life! Instead you just let her swoon over you constantly without even a care in the world as to what was going on with her!”
All six of them were stunned at my outburst. Hell, I was even shocked that the first time I met the Mane Six I had torn into each and every one of them, but I was just pissed at that point. No way in hell would I ever have thought before I came to Equestria that I would yell at them, but since I took Scootaloo in I went instant Dad mode, and their disregard to my ‘daughter’ pissed me off to all hell. I guess my paternal instinct was that strong, and still is just so you know.
The girls continued to sit there, with faces mixed with a whole collection of emotions. I was only focused on attempting to spy two though, guilt and shame. I was extremely glad that those two were present in spades. The only person whose face I couldn’t see it on was Fluttershy, but I attribute that to her hiding behind her mane.
As they continued keeping up the awkward silence I slowly started to calm myself down. I mean, Scootaloo had only been living with me for a week and I was already to tear into the Elements of Harmony because of their negligence? It took me a good while, but eventually I managed to calm myself down and break the silence.
“So yes, you girls have no right to talk to me about how to treat Scootaloo. Back to my point, you’re all going to swear, or promise, or something that you’ll never tell anyone that Scootaloo is living with me, or that I live in this town unless I let you. I don’t want to have some pissed off scumbag chasing me down and wrecking shit in this town. So what do you all say?”
Pinkie Pie was the first to snap out of it. Nodding vigoruously, she exclaimed “I Pinkie Promise I will never tell anyone about you living here. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Completely the motions involved with the sacred chant. The others reluctantly agreed as well, following their hyperactive friend.
“Thank you for that, and I’m sorry I sorta exploded there but I felt it needed to be said,” I huffed out and stood up. Walking across the room, I opened up my fridge and grabbed a beer. “Does anyone else want one?” All I got was a bunch of no thank yous.
Heading back to the table, we sat and idly chatted for a bit. Well, once we got rid of the awkwardness of me chewing them all out, but then it was a pleasant conversation that followed. Afterwards all the other began to file out, mumbling to each other about stuff I didn’t care about all except Twilight who had a small smile on her face.
“So would you be up to answering a few questions?” Twilight began. I just facepawed and relented to answering her. I regretted it two hours and about eighty some odd questions later. “Thank you so much for your time Zeta. Enjoy your night with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
After escorting her to the door, I headed upstairs to see what the damage was. Amazingly, I found all three of them playing a few games in Scootaloo’s room. I just stood in the doorway and smiled as I watched them go about it. Eventually though it was time to put an end to the fun. The Wonderbolts clock that we picked out already said it was past eleven.
“Okay girls, bedtime.” I announced as I entered in. I was met with a resounding groan, but they started moving. After getting them to brush their teeth I finally got them all tucked into bed. I leaned in and nuzzled Scootaloo on the head as the three of them yawned at the same time. My heart almost shattered at the adorableness of it all.
When I reached the door and turned out the light, the last thing I heard was Scootaloo saying, “I love you daddy,” before yawning one last time. I went back to my room and slept like a baby, with nothing but good dreams for once in my life.
~{WWP}~
A/N:
Ok, before anyone gives me grief about "Scootaloo gets over being fillynapped by a murdering psycho and is okay with it after one sad story is fucked up" there is something I would like to say. This chapter was meant to establish the connection and show them living together. Next chapter will be a bunch of interesting little blurbs about their family life INCLUDING the week before the sleep over. I just didn't feel like adding another couple of thousands of words to this chapter again. Also, I'm not a psych major, so this is a shot in the dark that anyone can correct me at, but if there was an 8 year old child that has never had anyone care for them wouldn't they be more likely to attach themselves to almost anyone willing to build that connection?
That brings me to my second point, sorta. I'm back at college now, and while I thought that would give me more time to write, I forgot I am taking some of the most ungodly tough classes my college has to offer. I'll try and keep writing as much as I can, but they may just be more chapters that are this long, once a month or so. Once Winter Break comes around I'll try and go back to the every other week or so, and hopefully next semester my classes won't be trying to rape me on a daily basis.
Well, as usual point at any grammar mistakes and I'll try and fix them.
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WHOAH THERE BUCKO.
This chapter went by at sonic rainboom speed.
Slow down! Details, more dialogue, longer conversations, different reactions!
I know you can do it! Lengthen your words!
"Could I LIVE on just beard and pastries?" Only mistake I caught. Good chapter though!
Scootadad is a moose killer.
*Reads chapter title, looks at word count*
I'll say!
Someone needs to write the events leading up to this
Do you perhaps mean "wary"? I just think a cautious manticore would make more sense than a tired one in this context
I think you mean "clearing"
hell yea, 5th. close enough.
anyway, work on the spelling and punctuation errors, and you've got yourself one hella good fic.
keep up the good work!
...please?
I noticed it said: Staying out of my shed and office. Shed.mov reference anyone?
1213380
It's explained in Nathan Traveler's story "Omnius' Travels: Beast Within"
At first I was like "Dude! Moose dude was being all cool and stuff, then bam turned to noms."
But then I was like "Daaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww she call him daddy." 
Scootadad mode initiated. Level: Fuck with Scootaloo, you get your head ripped off...Literally...
1214564
Agreed.
To Cloud: Was the moose thing really necessary? You probably could've asked for some meat. Or is that just how Zeta operates? I have a bit of an issue with people who have double standards on their treatment of others.
A grey lemur sat down next to a peach tree. He picked up some of the fallen peaches, stared at them, then rubbed a few against his fur and ate them. A few minutes later, the clearing had much less blood staining the ground, while mumbling about how he now had to visit the forest more often because of the increase in chaos.
1212219 Hey, you never know, Zeta might be Chuck Norris.
awesome... i wounder when some pony will come by to complain about something scootaloo did. only to find out her dad could eat them if he really wanted to. it'd make me laugh. hard.
I made a comment on another Chess Game fic that, as it turns out, was quite possibly wrong. Because of Zeta's relationship with Scootaloo, Best CMC and possible Best Pony (haven't decided for sure yet), I can probably let go, at least somewhat, of my dislike of Zeta's treatment of Octavia.
Only problem is, I forgot which fic that comment was on, and now I can't fix it.
1217506
What treachery is this? That fic was mine thou traitorous swine!
1217760
Suck it Fudge!
1212187
heh, your the one who talks? XD
i remember a story of a pokemon who failed its job!
protecting the libery, but still getting robbed by a griffin called griffen.
did you lv up? becus i think you learend ''rest'' sleeping trough the whole thing XD
Hey you never told about the paperwork that goes into addopting.
1220172
That was Waaaaaay before Cinder even arrived. He has been in Equestria about a day, and nothing at all has happened really.
1221103
XD
uh-huh keep it up and i''ll belief it as wel cant wait for your next chap...
1220586
Technically, she isn't adopted. All that is going on is she's living with Zeta and everything.
This chapter was beautiful!
I want MOAR NOW!
Don't you dare eat my first lieutenant!
-Glassed
1222535 Oh thank you I was wondering what was happening.
So, Zeta adopts Scootaloo... Most likely this is the worst thing that will ever happen to her. And Zeta hits a new low as well, callously murdering someone that is doing nothing but try to help him. Then eating him. So Zeta will literally murder someone who is actively helping him for no better reason than convenience. I can't wait to see what kind of life lessons you're going to be teaching your daughter. Zeta might think that he'll act differently around Scoots, and that his life outside of Ponyville will never affect her, but he's most likely wrong on both counts. More likely than that is that he just hasn't thought that far ahead, since he really never does. 'Let's just kill the guy that keeps these woods safe for ponies. It'll be great, and it's not like him not keeping the predators in check will result in anything bad, ever. not like kids used to being able to play out in the formerly safe woods by themselves will get killed and eaten by a bear.' one of these days Zetas stupid actions are going to result in consequences he's not going to like. He literally said he does things without thinking and deals with the consequences. Well Zeta, hope there weren't any kids in Tailton when it burned to the ground. There probably weren't, right? Not your fault though, I guess. Not like you could have warned the authorities a dragon and a pack of diamond dogs were going to come and ransack the town. Or even just tell one of the Wonderbolts. You seemed to think of Spitfire as a friend, hopefully she didn't die in the attack she probably had no time to prepare for. Consequences are more far reaching than the immediate ones you see right in front of you. I seriously wonder if Zeta was anything like he is in Equestria back on Earth. If so, how was he not locked up or in an institute for the criminally insane?
There are a lot of things that I don't like about this character, but his obliviousness to how much he's affecting with his actions drives me up a wall. Him thinking that any kind of redeeming character traits could make up for his actions is a masterful work of self delusion. Wrap that all up with the fact that he, literally, seems to be able to get away with murder. He seriouly does things, all the time, that should come back to haunt him. Let's say one of those guards relatives from back in Tailton tracks him down to Ponyville and blows up his house? Not like he'd be hard to track down, being the only flying wolf in all of Equestria. Too bad Scoots was home. This is just a possible scenario, but seriously, no one can get away with being so blatantly evil in the middle of Equestria.
And then there's Scootaloo. All I can really say is that having someone like Zeta in a position to shape her outlook on life, her moral landscape, leaves me physically ill. Best pony doesn't need someone like that in her life, especially not in a position of authority over her. Even if it's only in a 'my house, my rules' kind of way, after being homeless for two years, there's little she wouldn't do to stay. She'll most likely do anything he asks her to without even objecting, no matter how she actually feels about it, for fear of upsetting the person that took her in. Most likely she's put him up on a pedestal, and in her eyes he can do no wrong. Considering how oblivious he is, he won't even realize it, and knowing him, he's going to hurt her in ways that won't even become apparent for years. Basically, Zeta is going to ruin Scoots life with the best of intentions, just being who he is.
I realize this is just a story, a work of fiction you've created, but over the time these characters have been around, I can honestly say I've become pretty emotionally attatched to them, especially Scoots. For some reason seeing her hurts drives me crazy, and the only thing I see coming from this situation for her is pain. As usual, I commend you author for writing something that can get me so wrilled up, and Zeta? Go get your spine broken and get tossed in a six inch pool of slow acting acid with a snorkel taped to your muzzle. Wouldn't want you to drown now, would we?
Ermm, that came off a little TOO cupcakes... Forget that last part, just go die Zeta.
1212219 What, beard and pastry, duh. You eat the pastry, and your beard makes you so awesome that you're unable to die.
Makes me think of this. For some reason.
"I got Johnny Depp
I got Johnny Depp
I got Johnny Depp
Angus is retarded!"
That is the top comment on that video on ye olde YouTube.
ENJOY COLLEGE CALCULUS and great story
D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW has been achieved
moar!
NAO!
Where are you? I WANT MORE!
I want to think of it as a general rule for every character that at some point in the story the main character has to yell/chew out/ get angry at at least one of the mane six. For the lols.
Am i the the only one remembering how they played Morrowind/Oblivion/skyrim while reading this fic? Cuz that's all i could think about until this chapter.
This just in, my heart has completely exploded with the combined power of Righteous Justice, and a D'AWWWWW Class Tactical Nuclear Missile...
So far every Chess game of the gods character I've read has gotten angry/trouble with/on the manesix xD
In regards to the fallowing parts of your author's note on this chapter,
.
I would say tho the first part Scoots doesn't know about the murders so I am quite sure it is a moot point for anyone to bring up, second I believe your interpretation of how an orphan would react to the offer of a home is damn near SPOT ON.
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what that happened on his 16 birthday, worst day ever X10
It's a good story but I personally don't like the cutie mark crusaders. Especially scootaloo. Just my opinion though
ALL THE D'AWWWWWWWWW
that is freaking cute
1214564
You have to say, this chapter had quite a change of pace.
No? Sorry.
2330499
Every chess game of the gods story I have read has grammar issues.
It lets me know I'm in the correct alternate universe. :D
( )\^u^/( ) pony hug
Why is the rum gone?
5711278 pinkie stole it
*Boom*
G: WhAt WaS tHaT!
That was my heart exploding
get my Daaaaaa'w medicine
I just want to say dawwwww and I just made it 600 likes
Ok now Zeta really fucked up... If this ever comes out... Celestia will have his hide
Damn... This pulled so hard on my heartstrings
#everybody do the flop
😂😂😂