• Published 23rd Jun 2019
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The Lone Wolf of Equestria - JNKing



A werewolf from an alternate dimension is taken to Equestria, and must find a way home.

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Chapter 11: And One Step Back

“Okay,” Scootaloo said, as they stood near White Tail Woods, “So… how does this work again?”

“It’s like hide and seek,” Logan explained, “Mixed with tag: one person will be the Hunter, or ‘it,’ and they cover their eyes while everyone hides, like in hide and seek. The Hunter has to count to thirty, and then track down the ones who are hiding. The hiders just have to get to home base,” he indicated a tree right near the forest’s borders, “where they’re safe from the Hunter. And the Hunter tags as many of the hiders as possible. First person he or she tags is the Hunter for the next round.”

“And this’ll help us become hunters,” Apple Bloom asked.

Logan nodded. “My pack used this as a way to hone skills in tracking and working under a time limit. It might take a couple of tries, but nothing’s better for finding someone and their treasure.”

Scootaloo was beaming by the time Logan finished. “That sounds like fun!” she exclaimed, “We get to try for our marks, and we get to have fun doing it.”

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle agreed, “Though… who’s going to be the hunter?”

“I gotcha covered,” Logan replied, “I’ll show you how it works, and maybe give you some hints on how to get better at the game. Now, I’ll count to thirty, while you guys find a place to hide.” As he started to turn away, he added, “Oh, and don’t find a hiding spot next to home base; you’re not going to learn anything if you don’t challenge yourselves.”

The fillies all nodded, eager to start. Logan turned around several times before laying down before the tree and putting his paws over his eyes. “One… two… three…”

The fillies scattered like leaves in the wind. And in mere moments, the surroundings went silent save for Logan’s counting. His tail thumped the ground happily.

“Twenty-eight… twenty-nine… thirty!” Logan launched back up, looking around. The field seemed deserted. Logan grinned again. These kids knew their hiding places.

But Logan had an ace up his sleeve. He shut his eyes and breathed deeply. Instantly, three scent lines branched up and around the field from his perspective. He grinned, popped his neck and began the hunt.

As Logan followed a glittery scent trail to a bush housing at least one pony, his ears pricked up at a rustling noise. He spun and saw Apple Bloom jump for a second hiding spot, but as he trekked after her, Sweetie Belle leaped from where he had just been searching and bolted for the tree. Logan tagged her with his nose before she even got halfway there.

“Nice try,” Logan complimented, as she walked dejectedly over to an out of the way spot. Thankfully, he could still see a smile gracing her snout. She had fun while it lasted.

Remembering Apple Bloom, Logan followed the scent of apples to a nearby house, where a pair of hooves were poking out from behind. Logan grinned like the predator he was as he raced towards it. The hooves retracted, but Logan spun around the corner, seeing Apple Bloom trying to circle the house. She gave a playful shriek as Logan bore down on her, his nose mere inches from tagging her out, before an orange blur shot past his vision.

Logan spun, being forced to choose between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, but in the time it took for him to decide, Scootaloo had vanished back into hiding. And in the time it took for Logan to go back for Apple Bloom, she had already made it to the tree, cheekily waving at Logan.

“She’s safe,” Sweetie Belle cheered.

Logan nodded. “She is…” he admitted, his eyes turning to behind him, “But you’re not.” He turned back to Scootaloo, who strolled out into the open, her wings extended and ready for use.

“You can’t catch me, Logan,” Scootaloo insisted, “You’d be better off letting me go and saving yourself the humiliation.”

Logan’s tail wagged gleefully. He hadn’t gotten to play pretend like this in forever.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he asked.

Scootaloo grinned smugly and lowered her stance. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she replied.

With a gleeful battle cry, the two lunged at each other, Scootaloo’s wings beating furiously as she propelled herself forward; Logan almost slinking along the ground. It was a high stakes game of chicken; Logan could even see other foals watching them in awe. Scootaloo licked her lips in anticipation, her eyes tracking Logan’s bounding form. And mere seconds before they smashed into each other… she ducked and slid on her stomach, passing right under Logan’s bounding form.

Logan hit the ground, his paws digging up the grass as he spun around, trying to force himself back after her. But the little pegasus zoomed towards the tree with speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud. Logan booked after Scootaloo with a ki-yi-yi baying of a hunting wolf, but the time it took for him to redirect cost him, and before he even had a prayer of tagging her out, Scootaloo hit the home base tree, practically racing up the trunk before nestling casually in its branches.

Logan skidded to a stop, while a cheer coursed up from the foals that were watching.

“Not bad,” he said, smirking as Scootaloo dropped from the branches, “You guys should consider being couriers, or something that involves that teamwork of yours."

The Crusaders grinned at the praise, before they noticed several more foals coming towards them.

“That was so cool,” one of them said.

“Can we play too?’ another one asked.

The Crusaders looked up at Logan hopefully.

“Can they play with us?” Apple Bloom asked.

At first, they didn’t get an answer. Because as the foals trickled in, Logan’s gaze became rooted on a familiar purple unicorn with her forelegs draped over the fence and a smile on her face.

Logan glanced back at them, and his smile briefly returned. “Yeah, they can join,” he said, before glancing at Twilight again. “Listen, guys; I gotta talk with her, so… start the next round without me, okay?” Despite Apple Bloom’s groan of disappointment, Logan smiled at her. “Hopefully, this won’t take long,” he noted, walking backward and letting Apple Bloom get back to the game. Despite his comforting tone, Logan’s happy mood evaporated the closer he got to Twilight.

“Looked like you were having fun,” Twilight said.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his mask of defiance back.

Her grin faded at his abrupt change in attitude and she backed up from the fence. “Just… looked like you were adjusting to life here. Quite well, in fact.”

“I’m not,” Logan said. He kept his eyes off the foals. “I’m not sticking around any longer than it takes Celestia to fix this.”

Twilight looked down with a resigned sigh. “I’m sure 'the Princess' is working on it.”

“She better be.”

Twilight frowned. “You know she feels bad about it, right?"

“Oh, she feels bad about it,” Logan growled, “She rips a kid from his family with possibly no way of getting back, keeps him from helping in getting them back, and she feels bad about it.” He sneered, “I guess that makes everything better, doesn’t it?”

Twilight put her hoof to the bridge of her nose, and stayed silent for a second.

“What are you doing here?” Logan repeated.

Twilight sighed. “I just… came to ask you to come to the library with me. We have some important things to discuss.”

“When don’t we?” Logan growled, rolling his eyes.

Twilight just beckoned for him to follow. Logan gave a brief glance back to the field. The second round had started without him, and even Apple Bloom looked like she was having fun regardless. Logan’s tail wagged one more time before he followed Twilight. They’d be fine without him.

But as the two drew closer to Twilight's library, Logan’s fur started to raise along his back. He started to smell something dangerously familiar. Sugar and cupcakes. A scent that put his fur on end.

Then Twilight opened the door. Logan saw the rest of the Mane Six standing in the main room. Pinkie Pie started to approach in a slow gait, but stopped as Logan slammed the door and turned away.

“Logan?” Twilight asked as he stormed off. “Logan, hey!” She raced after him, catching the back of his jacket. He whirled around on her.

“Touch my jacket again, and I’ll…” he threatened before Rainbow Dash busted out of the door.

“You lay a claw on her and I’ll do worse,” the cyan mare snarled at him.

Logan defiantly glared up at Rainbow Dash before laying a single claw on Twilight’s nose. Rainbow Dash fumed before Twilight broke them up.

“Dash, this isn’t about that!” Twilight snapped, before turning to Logan. “Logan, we just wanted to bring you here… to apologize.”

Before she could say more, Logan just scoffed.

“Apologize?” he asked, “Like that actually means anything?” He turned away again, “Nice try, but I’m onto your little tricks.”

“No, seriously,” Pinkie poked her head out of the door, her ears flat and one of her forelegs lifted up in front of her like a shield. “We’re really-really…” she whimpered, but when he glanced up at her, all he saw was that barrel pressed into his face.

“You stay the hell away from me!” he barked. Loud enough for Pinkie to shrink back in fear.

“Logan, darling,” Rarity interjected. “Just let her have her say. Please.”

“Why, so she has leeway to try and kill me again?” Logan asked.

Pinkie’s eyes began to water. “I didn’t mean to hurt you…” she started to say.

“YOU SHOT ME WITH A CANNON!” Logan barked.

The mares formed a barrier between him and Pinkie.

“Logan, I know you’re upset with Pinkie,” Twilight said, “You’re upset with all of us, and you have every right to be, but she is legitimately sorry for what she did.”

“I was leg-a-me sorry for breaking my promise!” Logan shot back, “I apologized! I marked the apology with blood!” He indicated the faded but still prominent scars. “And you repay me by ambushing me with a cannon?”

Rainbow Dash cracked a small smile at Logan’s mispronunciation before she could stop herself. His gaze shot right at her, and she tried to cover her mouth, but the damage was done.

“You think this is funny?” He demanded, “YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!”

“No, I swear,” Rainbow Dash protested, backing up as Logan’s teeth began to show, “We’re mad at her too. None of us wanted her to use the party cannon.”

“And yet, you didn’t stop her,” Logan noted.

“That’s just because we were misinformed,” Rarity insisted, “Fluttershy told us about… what happened before. With Luna… and your father.”

Logan’s ear twitched.

“Seeing someone you love get hurt like that had to be…” Twilight started to add, before Logan’s gaze locked on her like a nuclear missile.

“What did you say?” he hissed.

Twilight shrunk back, nearly backing up to Pinkie’s side at the look of pure rage in his eyes. “I just… Fluttershy said your dad…”

She might as well have set off a bomb. Logan lunged at her, and Applejack had to smash him back with a hoof. He hit the ground, but jumped right back up.

“You didn’t know my dad,” he roared, trying to charge at her. “You don’t have the right to say his name; much less how I felt about him!”

“Now what’s the matter?!” Rainbow Dash demanded, “Now you can’t even say that you love someone?”

“I DO NOT ‘LOVE’ HIM!” Logan snarled, his ears flattening in disgust.

The others stared at him in confusion. “Wait, how can you not… I thought he was your father!” Twilight insisted.

“He is! And you think that I wanted to…” Logan retched in disgust. “You all are so DISGUSTING!” Logan grimaced. “Then again, what should I have expected?”

“No, Logan, listen,” Applejack insisted, “The bully problem was one thing; none of us thought enough into that. And besides that, we’re really trying to look out for our sisters now."

“You think that excuses everything else you did?” Logan snarled, rounding on them again. “You threw me through a door,” he snapped at Twilight, before turning to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, “You two tried to stomp me six feet under!”

“What? But you attacked Princess Celestia!” Applejack shot back, “You attacked us!”

Logan didn’t back down. “And I’d do it again! She took me from my pack! Now she’s above consequences? I can’t be mad at her?”

“We were just trying to…”

“What? Protect her?” A brief grin appeared on his snout. “The immortal sun goddess needed protection from a half dead dog? She’s even more pathetic than I thought.”

“But…"

“BUT NOTHING. Because I’m not a pony or a girl, you think that you’ve got some sorta green pass, don’t you? Because I’m just a stupid wolf, you think you can beat me? Rape my mind?”

“Don’t bring race into this!” Twilight yelled back, her patience spent. “It’s not like you’re the pinnacle of patience and kindness!”

“Yeah, cuz I’ve had PLENTY of reasons to be patient and kind with you assholes,” Logan snarled.

Rarity shot between the two, holding her forelegs out. “Please, darlings! Must we really do this? There’s no need for bad blood between us.” However, she found Logan glaring darkly at her as well.

“’No need for bad blood?’” he demanded, “Pretty funny coming from the mare who joined that angry mob, and screamed at me for standing up for a kid.”

Rarity stammered, “B-But I thought you had bitten a child!” she protested.

“A child that was making your sister’s life miserable too?” Logan noted.

Rarity was stunned into silence for a second, before her eyes landed on the jacket.

“Well, what about your jacket?” she demanded, “I fixed that for you.”

Logan glared down at his jacket, like it was a new enemy. He ripped the clothing from his back.

“Take it back then,” he snarled, throwing it at Rarity, “I’d rather see it burn than let you use it to turn me into another one of your toys.”

“Logan, you’re not a toy to us…” Fluttershy tried to say.

“Don’t think I don’t see what’s going on!” Logan barked, “To the lot of you, every other species is just some dumb bloodthirsty primitive that needs to be taught a lesson about friendship. You think the world revolves around you because your coward of a leader has that dream demon on her side, brainwashing any ‘dumb primitives’ into leaving your town alone.”

“D-Dream demon?” Twilight stammered, “Princess Luna isn’t like that! Princess Celestia promised…”

“Oh, yeah, and this insufferable crush on Celestia,” Logan said, rolling his eyes, “I’ve had it up to here with… If she matters so much to you, mate with her and get it over with?”

Twilight’s eyes twitched. “I don’t like her like that!” she exclaimed, “She’s like a mother…”

“Didn’t stop you from assuming the same thing about my dad!” Logan snapped, before his ear twitched.

“Wait, you thought that… when we said ‘love,’ you thought we meant THAT?” Rainbow Dash asked, before retching herself. “That’s disgusting, why would you think such a…”

“Who is Celestia to you, anyway?” Logan said. It wasn’t to Dash; it was to Twilight.

“H-Huh?” Twilight asked.

“Is she your mother?” Logan asked. However, unlike his bellowing from before, his tone was softer. Curious in fact.

Twilight glanced at the others. “Well, no…”

“Then where’s your actual mother? The one who gave birth to you; the one who raised you; where is she?”

“In Canterlot,” Twilight replied quickly, “With my dad and my brother.”

Logan gave a small nod. “And… when’s the last time you’ve even talked to her? Gone on an adventure with her? Heard her say she loves you?”

“Uh…” Twilight’s eyes darted back and forth.

Logan’s ears flattened, and he gave a short nod. “Uh-huh.” He turned around and started walking away.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash yelled, “Where you going?”

“I’m leaving.”

“Where?”

“I don’t care.” He started making his way towards the Ever-Free.

“Logan, please, I’m trying to…” Pinkie tried to add in, but he whirled on her like a tornado.

“DON’T. TALK TO ME!” he bellowed, his eyes flashing before he visibly calmed himself. “I see your game plan.” He indicated Twilight, “You guys let that ‘Luna’ demon into my mind; make me feel unloved. Then one of you comes in, acting all soft and nice and replaces my pack.” He glared at Twilight. “Is that what you did to Spike? Is that what Celestia did to you?!”

“What?” Twilight asked, her eyes widening in horror, “No, Logan, Luna just over-reacted! She’d never…!”

“Well, I’m not having it,” Logan said, “If Celestia thinks she can break me; turn me into a ward of your little posse, she’s dead wrong!” He turned back to the forest, tugging angrily at his collar. “I’m getting home, no matter what.” He set his sights on the Ever-Free. “First things first; getting rid of this collar.” He started heading for the Ever-Free.

“Logan, no!” Fluttershy cried, “Please, you don’t have to do that! We’re not trying to replace your pack, I swear.”

When Logan turned back to her, his expression did soften a bit before he glanced back at the others.

“Anyone who must say ‘I’m not doing this’ is clearly doing it,” he said, more to himself than the others. His glare hardened, and he turned away.

“No way,” Twilight yelled, jumping into Logan’s way. “I already told you; you’re not going into that forest by yourself!”

Logan stood up on his hind legs. The mares backed up in shock as his paws changed into wicked sets of claws, and his eyes flashed dangerously again. In mere seconds, the wolf the size of a juvenile mare was now a werewolf that towered over them, with muscles that could probably dominate both Jack and Dash in a fight.

“You think you can stop me?” he demanded, flexing his claws in front of her.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack jumped to Twilight’s side, but all of them were staring at him in disbelief.

“You’re going to fight us, just so you can risk your life in one of the most dangerous places imaginable?” Dash asked, “Logan, you’ve lost your mind!”

Logan glared at her and then at Twilight. For a moment, hesitation and regret flashed on Logan’s face. Applejack tilted her head in confusion, seeing the conflict in his eyes, before he literally twisted his face into a snarl.

“You just assume I’m too weak to survive out there,” Logan growled, forming a battle stance, “Typical; you just think about yourselves; never about how I may have lived in a place like the Ever-Free - and liked it - before Celestia stole me.”

“If your home was similar to that forest," Rainbow Dash shot back, "Maybe you should consider whether something was wrong with it."

Logan snarled up at her. “That's rich, coming from ponies who saw nothing 'wrong' with being oppressed and bullied, and instead insisted that the victims let themselves be beaten and broken.”

Rainbow Dash stammered, but it wasn’t her who responded.

“You really hate us that much?” Pinkie asked with a hint of resignation.

It was a simple question, but it sent Logan's heart on a marathon. It was a surprise only he could hear the thud of his heart pounding at his chest. His heart only raced faster as he spoke.

“Yes.”

Rainbow Dash sunk to the ground, while every pony else took a step back. Pinkie’s mane fully deflated as tears appeared in her and Fluttershy's eyes. Applejack, however, narrowed her eyes, recognizing the quick heart beat and conflicting emotions of a lie.

“Stop acting betrayed,” he snapped at them before Applejack could speak up, “I’m not your friend. I won’t EVER be your friend. I have a pack. And you?” he looked away. “You all think you can replace them. That you’re somehow better than them. Well, guess what; you’re worse than them. You’re not my pack. And you’ll never be my pack.”

He yanked the jacket away from Rarity, only to hurl it at Rainbow Dash. As the jacket slammed into her face, Logan rushed her, bowling her over like a bowling pin. Before Twilight or Jack could decide between helping Rainbow Dash or stopping Logan, the wolf had vanished into the shadows of the trees, his last words echoing off the tree line.

"Stay away from me!”

For a moment, the mares stared at where he had gone in shock and horror. Twilight was the first to snap out of it.

“Spike,” she said, racing back to her library. "Logan’s still got the collar. He could have…”

But her hopes were dashed when she returned to find the library lacking a certain wolf. Spike was shelving books.

“Spike, did Logan come around here?” she asked, “Did the collar send him here?"

“If he has, he hasn’t come back here,” Spike replied, a hint of relief in his voice.

Twilight, however, sunk to her haunches in horror. Somehow – whether it was the Ever-Free’s magic tampering with the collar, some loophole that said the Ever-Free was technically in Ponyville or even his own magic – the Lone Wolf was out of their reach.

Author's Note:

Well... that escalated quickly.

So yeah, this was the second part of chapter 10. Not sure if the separation makes it better or not. Let me know how it worked for you guys.

And before you guys mention it; yeah, Logan's lying to them and himself. Fluttershy alone could never gain his hatred even if she tried. But he doesn't want to admit it. After Bon Bon threw his apology back in his face for Lyra, he believes that apologies are worthless.

Can he and the ponies still find a middle ground even after this? We'll find out soon enough.