• Published 17th Aug 2019
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Lone Wolf of Equestria: Back to the Pack - JNKing



Logan's gonna get back. Back to the Pack. Even if he ain't got Jack

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Chapter 7: The Cockatrice Master

For a moment, Princess Celestia was silent. The others were staring at her with horror.

“P-Princess?” Twilight stammered. “You put a bounty on Logan?”

It was her student’s voice that broke Celestia out of her funk.

“It wasn’t a bounty,” she said firmly. “It was a reward…”

“For me,” Logan finished. “Yeah, that’s a bounty, ya dumb royal!”

“It is not! I asked for information on your wherabouts.”

"And you'd give lot more to the saps that brought me to you rather than just telling you where I was.” His tail gave a brief wag. “Though, I was honestly curious how you’d react if one of those mercs somehow came back with my pelt.”

There was a very uncomfortable pause. Logan's glare deepened.

“You’d use it as a rug, wouldn't you?” he muttered.

“I would have been beyond furious if they had done such a thing!” Celestia snapped, her tone indignant, as if she couldn't believe Logan could think such a thing of her.

“Clearly,” Logan snarled sarcastically. “You know how often I heard bounty hunters say, ‘I’m sure she’ll settle for the pelt?’”

“The Cockatrice Master never said that,” Celestia shot back.

“The who?” Twilight asked, looking at her teacher with a part shocked and part resigned expression

Celestia covered her hoof, but Logan just laughed at her expression.

“How ironic,” he noted, “That weirdo was the first one I came across.”

#

The griffons had plenty of rope on them; guess they were prepped for any kind of excavation. I used it to bind up the three bent up birds, and leash them. Felt a little wrong to be leashing them like my own kind was once leashed by humans, but it was better than risking them trying to kill me a second time. From there, I proceeded to drag them in the direction the still conscious sparrow griffon pointed me in.

For a while, we continued like that; me pulling them along, Sparrow watching me worriedly, and muttering quietly with his friends. A fixed glare stopped their mumblings for a bit, before they tried a different tactic.

“So,” the sparrow mumbled, his worry fading as we walked. “What kind of treasure are you looking for, exactly?”

He flinched, as if worried I’d be one of those guards that beat someone for daring to speak. But, it was oddly nice to have a companion to walk with for once, and despite the unicorn’s insistence that I keep the persona of a simple Diamond Dog, I still had my own story to tell.

“A year ago,” I said, “Princess Celestia of Equestria messed around with things she shouldn’t have. She took me from my home. Killed my mother, and tried to brainwash me into being one of her minions.”

The griffon gasped. “She… killed something.” His eyes darted to the side. “I knew she could be ruthless to non-ponies, but… wow. No wonder some griffons say she’s why the Outlands are so bad right now.”

I didn’t even blink at that.

“Well, I got away,” I said. “But my home is still out of reach. So, I’m going to find some way to get back to it.”

“Can’t you just… walk there?” he asked. “You seem to be doing that just fine.”

I shook my head. “My home requires something a little more… magical to get to.”

The griffon paused for a moment, and the only sound was our paws on the ground.

“L-Let me see if I got this,” he said. “You’re from a place that is so far away, that you need something on the same level as the alicorn who raises the sun and managed to beat every other species into submission?”

I nodded. He stared at me like I was high, which I kind of expected.

The griffon’s shock faded to amusement. “Okay, I knew Diamond Dogs were a bit daft, but…” He was cut off with a yelp when I stopped and loomed over him, teeth on full display.

“What you call daft,” I snarl, “I call not being a belly showing coward! She stole me from my home. My pack! Don’t you get that?”

Before he could reply, I remembered what he was, and scoffed.

“Who am I kidding?” I muttered, turning away. “The lot of you are thieves. You’re loyal to nothing else but your next bag of gold.”

I actually got a bit of a surprise when his feathers ruffled in anger.

“That’s not entirely true,” the hawk one stated. “Gabriel’s definitely the softest of us.”

“Gull!” Gabriel snapped.

“How many times did I have to hear about your daughter?” Gull snapped right back. “I swear, if it wasn’t creepy as all heck, I’d swear you were going to marry your dang daughter.”

The two probably would have started a cat fight right then and there, but my curious look dissuaded them.

“You have a daughter?” I asked the Gabriel bird.

Gabriel looked down. “She’s a beautiful teenage hen,” he whispered. “She’s getting older by the day, and yet she’s never let the cruel reality of our species break her.”

“She’ll learn soon enough,” Gull replied. “In the Land of Griffons, you’re only as good as however many bits you have.”

I gripped Gull’s head, my eyes boring into his.

“Your friend, Eagle Boy,” I said, glaring at his still form. “His eye tasted like a peeled grape.” That was a total lie, by the way; I swear I could feel it floating in my stomach for a solid day. It was incredibly disgusting to think about. But it got the reaction I needed.

The griffon cringed, but I forced him to keep looking at me.

“Talk crap about his pack again,” I warned. “And I’ll see how your eyes taste.”

He didn’t speak after that. I turn around, my ears flicking, but my expression softening.

“I… appreciate that,” Gabriel said, looking down sadly. “But he isn’t entirely wrong. We Griffons have always had to be incredibly pragmatic since we lost the Idol of Boreas. I know I have to teach my daughter to be practical; to have as much treasure as she can carry… but I see those beautiful blue eyes. So, full of innocence and life… and I can’t.”

“No shame in wanting to protect your daughter from the world,” I replied, before I paused, ears flicking. “Idol of Boreas?”

“The greatest treasure of all,” Gabriel said. “The Idol that united griffon-kind… until it was stolen by the cyclopes Arimaspi. And I can assure you that he only got to us because Celestia let him.”

“That certain?” I asked.

“You told us what she did to you,” Gabriel insisted. “Her kingdom was still in bloom when we lost the Idol. We were just as powerful as she was, if not more powerful, until Arimaspi broke our pride and will. She talks a big game about benevolence, love and toleration, but the truth is, everyone outside of her land is scared of her. They know that if they try taking Equestria, they’re going to lose.” He shook his head. “Did you know that Celestia CAGED the literal spirit of Chaos?”

“The spirit of what?” I asked.

“Discord!” the griffon insisted. “Chaos! He literally could warp reality into his own demented fantasies, and she turned him into a statue for her garden. I heard she even threw her own little sister into the moon when she tried to rebel against her.”

“The same little sister who invades dreams and breaks the spines of the non-believers?” I asked.

He nodded, though his friends eyes briefly widened in shock.

“And here’s the real kicker,” he continued. “Both of them got free from her control, and she beat them… with six kids.” He shrugged. “I mean, granted, they had magic treasure with them, but still; six kids mentored by Celestia beat a demi-goddess and the literal spirit of Chaos.” He shuddered. “Celestia isn’t natural.”

I huffed. What kind of monster throws her own sister into the moon? Granted, I had met Luna already, and knew she could use a kick in the plot of those proportions, but still…

#

“We get it!” Twilight snapped. “Princess Celestia sucks! Please, hammer it in how much you despise her a little bit more!”

Logan’s ears flared, his eyes wide at her outburst. Twilight covered her mouth, as the others looked at her with similar expressions.

“Sorry…” she muttered. “I’m… not sure where that came from.”

Logan still watched her warily for a second before continuing.

#

“So, you get why I don’t want to be anywhere near her?” I asked.

The griffon looked down at his claws, before clenching them. “Aye,” he said. “But… if your home requires magic to get to… then you’re out of luck.” He looked up at me with pity in his eyes. “If you were brought here by that alicorn, and she doesn’t want to send you back… well, there’s not much you can do.”

“Celestia and her sister beat every other species out here,” Gull added. “That’s why Equestria is prospering so well while we’re…” He shrugged his feathers, indicating the bare mountains. “Who do you intend to ask if the treasure we know about doesn’t help you? The minotaurs? The Changelings?”

“If I have to,” I replied.

He flinched back. “Not everything out there is going to be tempted by gold. And what makes you think they’ll listen to some jumped-up Diamond Dog pup?”

“Gull!” Gabriel snapped. “Don’t insult the pup that eats eyes.” He realized what he did, and turned to me with horror. I was grinning at him, to be honest, but he took it the wrong way. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I didn't..."

I cut him off with a chuckle; a low, growling laugh that, I’m happy to say, sent shivers down even the blind one’s spine. I circled them, almost as if they were nothing more than deer, waiting to feed my pack.

“You insult yourself,” I said softly to Gull. “You got beaten by a pup. You’re being held captive by a pup.” I leaned in close to him and showed my teeth, grinning as he turned his head away with a whimper. “Maybe you’ll be killed by a pup.”

He didn’t speak up again after that. Then again, when we finally found civilization again, they likely would have been tongue tied by what we found.

It was eerie. A simple looking village with straw roofs and wooden foundations spread out before us; almost similar to Ponyville. But something was wrong with it. It was far too quiet.

I secured the griffon’s leashes to the nearest post and padded closer to the village. Whoever had lived there seemed to like their garden statues; I saw several life sized gray statues of griffons, all spread across the roads and peeking out of houses.

But then, I got close enough to get a better look. The statues were odd; their faces mixtures of terror and fear. Even the toughest looking griffon statues had looks of surprise and shock across their faces, like they had seen something terrifying.

Not only that, but why were they scattered across the roads? Why was one right against a door, its head craning around as if confused by something. It was almost like…

It hit me like a ton of bricks. Like they weren’t always statues.

“Pup!” Gabriel suddenly screamed. “I mean… Help, please just…!”

I spun back around, just as a crackling, chipping sound emanated. When I got back to my captured griffons, they were gone; stone statues very much in their likeness sat on the pedestal. Gabriel had still been tied up, his arms up to his face in a vain attempt to shield his eyes. Gull had managed to break his binds, and had taken one step off the stone sled, his wings spread and poised to fly. And yet… Eagle was still okay. His sightless face darted around, a whimper escaping his beak.

“What happened?” he asked. “Guys?”

Briefly, I wondered how he was still okay while the others were turned to stone. I didn’t even get time to think about it though, as I heard an odd noise; the hiss of a snake combined with the click-cluck of a chicken. The horrified looks of the others flashed across my mind, combined with how Eagle was still flesh. Acting purely on a hopeful theory, I yanked my mother’s scarf up, binding my eyes shut and keeping me from seeing whatever had turned them to stone.

Instantly, a disappointed tsk echoed down the road.

“Come on, now, that’s no fun,” a voice said, cool and smooth like a male Fluttershy. “You’re only making it more painful for yourself.”

That’s what you think,I thought, as I let my other senses take over.

My eyesight was lost to me – nothing to see but a haze of red and black. But with my nose and ears still working, the world opened back up to me. I could hear the creak of the wooden houses. I could smell the salty granite of the statues that once were living creatures. And better… I could smell whatever was out there.

Two scents; one had a familiar sparkle to it… pony.

The other was stranger; it had a cloying, slime-like stink, combined with a strange corn-like odor that reminded me of Fluttershy’s chicken coop. If a snake and a chicken had a night on the town, I’m pretty sure that’s what they’d smell like.

#

“A Cockatrice,” Fluttershy whimpered. “No wonder that town was nothing but statues…”

“It can turn people to stone on sight,” Logan noted. “Yeah. Thanks for giving me the information I figured out.” He jabbed a claw at Celestia. “And this guy just sicced one on a village of griffons for a chance of getting at me.”

Celestia’s ears couldn’t have flattened further in shame.

#

Anyway, while I was standing there, blind as a bat but no less handicapped, I heard that hissing-clucking sound again. My nose twitched; that cockatrice was right in front of me.

There was a pause; I’m guessing now that it was trying to stare me right through my mom’s veil. But wolf’s fur isn’t easy to see through. I saw nothing but darkness, and the cockatrice’s hissing and clucking became more agitated.

“Come now, Beshka,” that smooth voice whispered. “You have more than just your stare. Of course, it won’t be necessary if our canine friend just… removes this!”

I heard his hoof steps before he could grab at me. I spun, slashing wildly with my blades. A shriek sounded as my blades raked down something soft. I slashed again, sending the pony scurrying to cover. The hiss-cluck sound became a rasping crow, and I leaped aside as I briefly felt sharp claws slash at my back.

I winced as the claws drew blood. I scampered away, but my panting increased. My barrier wasn’t working. I couldn’t feel the surge of lightning anymore. With a dull chill, I realized that my lightning might need my eyes to work. With my best weapon out of the equation, I scrambled past a few statues and into another house, my ears and nose going into overdrive as I tried to pinpoint where my foes were.

“Princess Celestia misses you, Lone Wolf,” the pony continued to say in that alluring voice. “Her faithful student worries about you every day.”

I ignored him, making my way through the small house.

“Fluttershy certainly misses you.”

I froze. The memories of my time with Fluttershy locked up my limbs and kept me from moving.

“Do you not see how much your disappearance is hurting them?” the pony asked before chuckling. “Oh, what am I saying; you can’t see much of anything right now. Take off your blindfold, Lone Wolf of Equestria. You will not feel pain.”

I heard the door open, and scrambled outside, finding a back door that led to the open road. But I could not escape that voice.

“Do you not understand what awaits you on this foolish quest?” the pony continued to ask. “How much pain and strife you will suffer, all to achieve a goal that can’t even be achieved in the first place? You would be better off as Celestia’s pet. Just open your eyes… and you will wake up back in her embrace. I promise you.”

I didn’t trust this guy; the fact that he was still trying to smooth talk me even after I slashed at him wasn’t convincing me he meant well. Neither did the fact that he froze these griffons.

“The griffons in this town beg to disagree,” I snapped, slinking around the house, using the wall as an anchor point.

The pony scoffed. “These bird brains? They’re just animals. Mercenaries at best. You’re far better off with the ponies; at least we won’t sell you out for a sliver of gold.”

I heard that hissing cluck off to the side and ducked across the road to another house. A creak to my left revealed a window, which I promptly hopped into. This guys’ little rant sounded like it was meant to comfort me, but anything that could be that biased about other life forms wasn’t about to gain my trust. Not in a million years.

Taking care to track the subtle but still distinct slither of his monster, I felt and sniffed my way over to the doors. If I was lucky, they would go through one of the two doors. I positioned myself right next to the door. And I tried to open my senses even further.

I could smell their stink closing in on me. I could hear the cockatrice’ tail sliding across the ground just outside. My legs tensed as the creature drew closer to the door.

Closer…

Closer…

I heard the door creak. The wooden frame hit the tip of my nose. I backed up, my claws clicking on the floor.

The creature heard me. I heard it hiss-cluck in satisfaction, as it lunged around the door. But my nose picked up its stench. My ears pinpointed its location. And as the creature unsheathed sharp sounding claws, I jumped forward, my teeth on display. My jaws closed around something. It felt like…

It felt like the head of a normal chicken.

The hell?!”I thought – partially shouted through my full mouth.

But I kept my blindfold on; whatever I had caught was angry as heck, and it started pecking wildly at my tongue. My jaws nearly tore open as it felt like someone was stabbing my tongue with a kitchen knife, but I forced my jaws to stay shut; if I let this thing go, I’d be suffering a lot more cuts and slashes. Thrashing as it tried to yank itself loose, I gnashed my teeth down hard on its neck. It spasmed, claws digging into my chest.

“NO, STOP!” the pony shrieked. “BESHKA! MY BABY! DON’T…!”

But the chicken got my tongue in its beak, and I gave out a muffled shriek, whipping the thing’s back and forth. I heard its lashing tail crack across some pony’s head, and the thud of a body hitting the ground managed to emanate over my own thrashing.

My tongue was in agony as this little spitfire tried to rip it from my mouth. My jaws started to loosen, and it got it’s claws on my chest, yanking its head from my teeth. But just as it’s skull started to slip between my jaws, I bit down as hard as I could.

CRUNCH!

The thing finally went still. And despite my tongue throbbing, I slowly realized that I was... kinda hungry. I chewed slightly. The thing was like chewing a regular chicken. And as I sat there recovering, bit by bit, I swallowed the thing up, finally slurping its tail up like a big, scaly noodle.

#

Logan paused, his ears flattening at Fluttershy’s look of horror.

“I’m getting the feeling you’re going to hate me by the end of this story,” he noted in a resigned tone.

Fluttershy blinked and shook herself out of her horror. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I know you had to do what you could, but…” she shuddered.

“I just can’t believe you ate that thing,” Rainbow Dash said.

There was another pause.

“So… did it taste… good?” Pinkie asked.

“Pinkie!” Half the mares shrieked at her.

Logan just shrugged. “Couldn’t really taste anything; my tongue was mangled.”

“I heard it tastes… ‘snakey-chickeny,’” Celestia noted.

“No one asked your opinion,” Logan growled at her.

“I’ll just…” Celestia muttered as the other mares glanced at her, some still mad about her hiring a bounty hunter, others shocked that she’d know what a cockatrice tastes like. “I’ll just stand over here then.” She walked away and stood in a corner of the field they had moved to. She was far enough away that Logan’s fur didn’t spike, but close enough that she could still hear.

He still gave her his signature glare for a half second before turning back to the mares.

#

Well, eating the thing didn’t turn me to stone, and with the moan of its master before me, I considered it safe enough to remove my blindfold.

I found myself standing in a classic little log cabin kitchen. A pale green earth pony lay before me, a purple welt on his forehead. He moaned in agony and grief as I grabbed him and dragged him back out.

Part of me knew that the statues of the villagers still needed help, but at that point, I was more worried about my guides. They hadn’t moved from their spots – for obvious reasons – so when I got back to their statues, I slammed the pony into the ground and clawed him awake. I had intended to slap him awake, but my claws were still bared, and they left four nasty cuts across his face. At least it snapped him awake.

“You better have a way to fix this,” I snarled, indicating the statues. Problem was, that chicken head had done a number on my tongue, so what he heard was ‘U beta ha uh wah fickle tits!’

His mouth wavered, partway to laughing while his brain begged him not to piss off the wolf that had just ate his pet. I let myself enjoy a brief moment of deadpan anger before slamming his head against Gabriel’s statue. He yelped as I slammed him again.

“Wait, stop!” he screamed.

I paused, my claws digging into his skull.

“I can reverse the procedure,” he said, “That’s how I could make bounties.” He sniffled. “At least, before you….” He started to cry. “Poor Beshka…”

I almost wanted to feel sorry for the guy. But then I remembered 1) he froze an entire village of griffons, 2) he had acted like it was perfectly okay for him to do such a thing, and 3) it sounded like he made regular money off freezing others and then peddling their statues. So, I stomped down my anger and ground his face against Gabriel’s statue, silently snarling, then get to it, ‘bounty hunter.’

Whimpering and sniffling, he tapped at several points on the griffon’s neck and shoulder. A cracking sound emanated, and a muffled shrieking made itself known. With one final light tap, the stone exploded apart, and Gabriel fell to the ground, gasping for air.

“Help!” he continued to scream, “Dog, help, I’m…” he petered out as he noticed me and the pony staring at him. “I’m… out of trouble, aren’t I?”

I nodded, and shoved the pony to Gull. He did the tap-tap-tap routine again, and Gull burst from his stony cage. Not even bothering with a thank you, Gull continued his wild flight up and into the clouds, never to be seen again.

From there, I proceeded to march the Cockatrice Master through the village. Tap-tap-tap went his hooves, and one by one, the griffons were freed from their stony cages. Several of them wanted to tear Cockatrice Master limb from limb from the looks on their faces, but they figured out pretty quickly that they needed him to unfreeze their neighbors. Plus, the angry wolf by his side sort of dissuaded them. After all, no point attacking if you were going to get cuts instead of gold.

However, the glorious time came when the pony finally unfroze the last griffon, and we were left standing before a cavalcade of griffons, some glaring at Cockatrice Master with anger, others with me in gratitude.

I wanted to throw Cockatrice Master to the ground and say, “Do with him what you will.” But my tongue was still throbbing, and I was pretty sure they’d hear, “Doo pith em who u ill.” So, I opted for simply shoving him to the ground and nodding at him.

Gleefully, the griffons grabbed him up.

“You can’t do this to me,” the pony screeched, at me and at the griffons. “Princess Celestia will get you eventually. There’s nowhere you can run that’ll be safe from her. My death will only be the beginning. I…”

Thankfully, one of the griffons gagged him. And I was left with his muffled shrieks as the griffons dragged him off to whatever fate awaited him.

#

Logan leaned back on his haunches.

“And that,” he concluded. “Was only the first of many challenges that awaited me.”