Chapter 5
Plans
Cross was looking up at a dragon hovering just outside of the town, as he galloped forward he noticed that Ace was beginning to growl at the dragon. Cross quickly conjured a cage around the wolf, who began to bark and whine as he galloped away. A cyan blur rushed in front of him and blocked his path.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Going to go see what that dragon wants.”
“Are you insane that thing will eat you alive!”
“I won’t know unless I try now will I?” he tried to side step the mare but she blocked him again. “Rainbow, move.”
“No! I’m not gonna let you get yourself killed!” she said as the other mares circled around him. He looked at the mares who showed no signs of moving.
“Fine. Then I do this the hard way.” the stallion suddenly vanished and the mares began to look at one another.
“What!? Where’d he go?” AJ asked.
“Right here.” a voice said, the five mares then felt something grab their back legs and tails. They looked down to see a grey hoof pulling them into the dirt. They could feel themselves being buried feet first. The dirt stopped filling as it reached their necks, making their heads stick out of the ground. They looked up to see six grey stallions looking down at them, suddenly five disappeared in a cloud of smoke. “Sorry ladies but I have to go talk to a dragon and I can’t run the risk of you guys getting hurt.” Fluttershy looked at her friends in surprise and noticed that she was the only one still above ground. Twilight’s horn began to glow and tried to teleport herself outside the hole but nothing seemed to happen. “Nice try Twi, but I lined your pits with a magic absorption mineral. It makes magic useless. Fluttershy, would you kindly keep Ace occupied while I go deal with this dragon.” he said as he began to trot away from the five buried ponies. Fluttershy complied and trotted over to the caged wolf.
Cross made his way through town with some ponies giving him worried looks. Cross materialized a pair of binoculars and looked up at the dragon and smiled. “HEY LIZARD BREATH DOWN HERE NOW!” he bellowed. The large dragon swooped down and landed in front of the grey stallion. As he drew closer the dragon’s form began to become clear. The dragons blue scales began to shine in the sunlight, it’s emerald greeneyes focused on the small stallion who raised his eyebrow at the massive dragon who blew a cloud of smoke in the stallions face. Cross wiped the ash off his face and gave a small cough.
“You’ve gotten bigger.” the dragon said as a large group of ponies began to draw closer.
“Look at you! What are those dragons feeding you? Maybe you should go on a diet.” Cross said with a smirk. The dragon breathed flames around the stallion causing the other ponies to cringe in fear, as the flames subsided Cross brushed the ash off of his hat and looked up at the blue dragon with a raised eyebrow. “You finished?” the dragon drew closer so that they were eye to eye. Cross looked back at the frightened ponies who were cowering in their homes, he looked back at the dragon and the two began to laugh, the ponies looked at them in confusion. “Oh man I think we really had them going!” he said as he fell to the ground in laughter. The large dragon began to pound his fist on the ground trying to control his laughter. “It’s great to see you again Stone.” he said as he stopped laughing.
“Like wise.”
“So what brings you here?”
“I was in the neighbor hood and I picked up your scent, figured I’d drop in and say hello.”
“Well no offense but I think you may have given a few ponies a heart attack.” he said as he got to his hooves.”
“Sorry.”
“Want to meet some of my friends?” the dragon shrugged and began to walk towards the town. “Um...how about I bring them out here? You might cause even more of a panic then you already have.” the dragon nodded and laid down in a sunny spot. Cross made his way back into town where he trapped the five mares.
“Hey do you guys hear that?” Twilight said as she heard hoof steps coming closer. Cross moved in front of the mares who had angry looks on their faces. “Let us out!”
“Fine, but promise me you guys wont freak out, the dragon is a friend of mine and I would appreciate it if you guys would behave in front of him. Understand?” the ponies looked at one another with questioning looks.
“Alright.” Twilight said reluctantly. Cross’s horn began to glow and the five ponies felt themselves being lifted out of the dirt. As they got to their hooves they brushed themselves off and looked at the grey stallion with an angry look.
“Okay then, follow me and I’ll introduce you to Stone.” he said as he trotted back to the dragon with the five mares following him. He stopped in front of the blue dragon who opened his eyes and looked at the group of ponies. “Ladies, this is Stone. Stone, this is Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Flut-...oh right she’s keeping Ace busy.” the dragon nodded at the ponies who looked scared out of their mind. “Relax, Stone here doesn’t eat ponies.”
“Not much meat on them, mostly bones.” the dragon said as he stood up. The ponies cringed back at this statement.
“Not helping Stone.”
“Sorry.” Applejack then stepped forward.
“So....why are you here?”
“Good question, I didn’t think you just dropped by to say hi.” Cross said as he turned back to the dragon.
“Well yes. I did want to say hi but I’m also here to pay you for he job you did, you’re a tough pony to track down.” he said as he withdrew two large box and dropped them in front of the stallion. Cross opened the first to reveal a massive pile of gems; ruby’s, emeralds and sapphires spilled out of the box. The ponies jaws dropped and Rarity’s mouth began to water. Cross breathed a heavy sigh and looked at the dragon.
“Thank you, but 75% of this needs to go to address I gave you.” the dragon let out a huff and Rarity’s jaw dropped.
“I still don’t see why you care about that place so much.”
“Call it nostalgia.” he then eyed the second box. “What’s with the second box? The payment was one crate of jewels.” he said as he turned back to the dragon.
“That one is a gift from....a friend.” the dragon said with a smile. Cross opened the crate and his eyes boggled.
“Is this-”
“Yes.” Cross pulled out a small box that had a small glowing sphere of it. “He wanted you to have it.” Cross took the sphere out and looked at it, he put it back in the small box and levitated it to the ground.
“Thank you.” he said as he tipped his hat to the dragon. He then materialized a duffle bag and began to fill it with the jewels, after it was filled to the brim he resealed the box and picked it up with his magic. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle the delivery to the house.” the dragon nodded and stretched his wings. “I’ll see you around Stone.” he said as he shook the dragons claw. The blue dragon took flight and flew off away from the town. Cross looked back at the ponies who had a look of total confusion on their faces. “What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ us! What the hay was that all about?!” Rainbow yelled.
“That? Business transaction.” he said in a flat tone.
“What could you have possibly done to get all those jewels?” Rarity said with her tongue hanging out of her mouth.
“I was hired to find something and I did. I just left without collecting my payment.” he said as he looked at the large crate.
“What’s that thing?” Twilight pointed to the small chest resting on his back.
“This is.....it used to belong to a friend of mine.” he said in a low tone, soon a group of ponies swarmed around him, and began cheering for him and patting him on the back. Cross gave a nervous smile and tried to get through the crowd. “It was nothing I just-” the ponies then picked him up and started to carry him around. Cross hoped off of the crowd and galloped towards Ace and Fluttershy, his horn began to glow and the cage vanished, the wolf looked at him and huffed. “Sorry boy, I had to do some business with a client.” he said as he petted the wolf on the head, he then turned towards Fluttershy. “He was behaving alright for you?”
“Y-yes. He was fine.” she said with a smile. “I-is the d-dragon gone?”
“Yes, he’s gone.” the group then trotted up next to him, he looked at Fluttershy and Rarity with a blank expression. “We’ll talk about the eye patch later.” Fluttershy adverted her eyes from the stallion to hide her blush as she remembered that she peeked on him in the shower. “I need a place to stash these jewels, unless you guys want em?” he said as he levitated the box to the ground. Rarities eyes boggled.
“Why are you just giving those jewels away?” Rarity asked.
“I have no real use for them plus I have plenty.” he threw the bag containing his cut of the profit’s in front of her. “Take em if you want em.”
“What about all of those?” Twilight asked as she pointed to the crate.
“These are going....some place else.”
“Oh darling, I couldn’t take your hard earned jewels.” she said in a surprised tone.
“Well alright then...if you change your mind just ask.” he said as he turned away from the group and made the box vanish. He continued to trot away when he was stopped by a yellow hoof.
“W-will the d-dragon come back?”
“No, at least not for a while.” Fluttershy looked at him in astonishment. Cross drew closer to the mare, she blushed as the attractive stallion came closer to her.
“Relax Fluttershy, he’ll only comeback if he has a message for me.” Fluttershy dropped her head and avoided eye contact. Cross lifted her head up by her chin so their eyes met. Fluttershy’s face was bright red and she was trying her best to keep her wings down.
“But he’s so.....scary.” she said with a squeak.
Dawww
“I’ll give him that. But I don’t think he’ll be coming back anytime soon, besides if he tried anything I’d put him in his place.”
“You’d fight a dragon?” Rainbow said in surprise.
“Yeah. I wouldn’t let him hurt any of you guys and it wouldn’t be the the first time I’ve had to deal with dragons.” he said wit a smile.
“Really? How so?” Rarity asked in astonishment.
“Well you see-” he was cut off by a loud growl coming from Ace’s body. “Dear Luna Ace was that your stomach?” the wold barked in agreement. “Sorry ladies but that story will have to wait, I need to get Ace some food.”
“Ah have some dog food if he want’s some.” Applejack said.
“Thanks for the offer AJ but Ace has a strict diet.”
“What diet?”
“Manticore.” he said in a flat tone. The ponies looked at the wolf in surprise. “What? He’s a growing boy.”
“He’s still growing!?” Twilight yelled.
“Yeah Ace is only like.....two.” the ponies mouths dropped at the information.
“He’s two and he’s six feet tall! How big is he going to get?”
“Some dire wolves grow to be about ten...... twelve feet tall.” he said as he patted the wolf on the head. Twilight felt her eye twitch at the thought of a twelve foot dire wolf walking around Ponyville. “I’ll see you girls later.” Cross mounted the beats back and levitated the bag over his shoulder. “Allons-y!” he yelled as he and the wolf ran off towards the forest. Twilight looked at her friends with shock and surprise on her face.
“Did he say twelve feet tall?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah... he did.” Twilight said in a nervous tone.
“That could become a problem.” Rainbow said with an uneasy look. A cream colored earth pony mare with a vibrant red mane and tail leading a pack of mares then trotted up to Twilight.
“Hey Twilight is he entered in the competition tomorrow?” she asked.
“Yeah, he filled out the paper work this morning.” the group of mares then giggled in excitement. The mob then depleted and the ponies went about their usual day. Fluttershy looked at Rarity with a sad look in her eye. The white mare then motioned her head towards Twilight. Fluttershy took a deep breath and trotted over to her lavender friend.
“Um.....Twilight.”
“Yes?”
“I was wondering if......”
“What’s up Fluttershy?”
“I wanted to......enter.....the competition.” she said in a nervous tone. Twilight and the others looked at her in surprise.
“S-sure Fluttershy, let’s just get back to the library and I’ll get the forms.” she said as she led the group of mares back to the center of town.
“Why the sudden change of heart shy?” Rainbow asked.
“Well I....um.”
“Well she’s never competed and she just wanted to try it this year.” Rarity interjected.
“Yeah...just curiosity, ah’m entering myself.” Applejack said as she winked at the white mare. Rainbow looked at the two mares with a raised eyebrow, She flew in front of her yellow friend and looked at her with a blank look on her face.
“Fluttershy, be honest with me. Do you like him? I Pinkie Promise that I won’t make fun of you.” she said with a smile. Fluttershy bit her lip and looked at her friends.
“Yes.”
“Good for you, he seems like a really nice stallion.” Twilight said as she entered the library.
“Unfortunately every mare in Ponyville saw that stunt with the dragon. You all saw how Rose and the others reacted.” Rarity said as she looked at the mares.
“Exactly, those mare’s are gonna go after him like a swarm of parasprites.” AJ said as Twilight handed her friend the form. Fluttershy looked down to the floor in disappointment. Rainbow then had an idea she pulled the other four mares into a huddle.
“Why don’t we play goal keeper on this one?”
“What?”
“I’m saying we make sure that Fluttershy get’s Cross’s tag.”
“How are we going to do that?” AJ asked.
“I....don’t know yet.” Rainbow said in a defeated tone the mares then looked at Twilight who began to scratch her chin.
“I think I have an idea, it’s crazy but it might just work.” the mares moved their heads closer to the mares idea. “Here’s the plan...”
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Deep in the Everfree Forest Cross and Ace made their way into a clearing next to a deep crystal blue pool of water. Cross got off of the beast’s back and set his bags against a nearby tree, Ace had a manticore corpse by his mouth and began to eat the beast. Cross trotted over to the water and dunked his head into the water.
“Sweet Celestia that feels good.” he trotted over to Ace who began to work on the manticore’s ribs. Cross leaned against a tree and pulled out the small box Stone had given him, he opened the box and pulled out the glowing sphere. Ace perked up at the sight of the small sphere and sniffed it, the wolf let out a low whine. Cross patted the wolf on the head. “I know boy. If he sent us this, it only means one thing.” he looked at the wolf with a smile, Cross got to his hooves and walked into the sunlight. “Watch my back while I sleep this thing off.” the wolf barked and looked at the stallion. Cross took a deep breath and began to funnel his magic into the sphere, he started to let out a cry of pain as it began to evaporate and envelope his body in a field of magical aura. Cross felt himself being lifted off of the ground by the power. The light soon faded and Cross flopped on the ground with his coat smoking. He opened his eyes to see Ace staring at him with a concerned look in his eye “Okay.....Ow.” he said as he got to his hooves.
He staggered over to the tree and sat down. “How should I play tomorrow?” he said as he looked at the wolf who continued eating his meal. “So almost every mare plays the game, every mare except the one I want to go on a date with.” the wolf let out a bark that sounded like a laugh. “What? She’s cute. Sue me.” the wolf shrugged and continued eating. Cross’s eyes grew wide at a realization. “But....If I could remove the competition and no-pony get’s my flag then I win. Ugh! But those mares are crazy and I never know when-” he stopped at a thought. “Oh I am brilliant!” the wolf perked up at the stallions outburst, he looked over to see him withdrawing a spell book. Cross flipped through the pages and stopped as he reached his prize. “Excellent.” he got to his hooves and put the book back in his bag. “Ace time to throw a party.” the wolf had finished his meal and the two began to walk out of the forest.
The duo trotted into Ponyville as discretely as possible, Cross turned back to his large companion. “Ace why don’t you head back to the cottage, no offense but you draw a lot of attention.” the wolf nodded and headed back towards the small cottage. Cross made his way over to Sugar Cube Corner and poked his head inside to see Pinkie at the register. A smile crept on his face, Cross trotted over to a booth and looked over at the pink mare. “Hey Pinkie, over here!” he said as he waved the mare over to the booth. She smiled and trotted over to her grey friend.
“Hey! What’s up?”
“Quick question, do you throw a party the night before the competition?” the mare’s eyes boggled.
“NO! BUT THAT IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA! I’D BETTER START PLANNING AND INVITING PONIES!” she said as she ran out of the booth and started going over to ponies. Cross grinned and got to his hooves and walked out of the bakery. As he made his way to the library he caught several glances from the mares who were eyeing him with lustful intent. He quickly made his way inside and was greeted by the lavender mare.
“Hey Cross, what’s up?”
“Is there a map of Ponyville I could borrow?”
“Sure there’s one on the brochure right there. Take it, we’ve got tons.” she said with a smile.
“Thanks.” he said as he put one in his bag.
“Why do you need that?”
“Just in case I get lost.” he said with a chuckle. He then noticed Spike descending the staircase.
“Oh...hey Cross what’s up?” he said in a nervous tone.
“Relax Spike, Ace is back at Fluttershy’s house.” the dragon let out a sigh of relief and sat on the couch.
“So how do you do business with dragons when your pet hate’s them?” he said in a flat tone.
“Well when I handle the business aspect I go alone and that’s usually the only time I actually have a conversation with them.” he said as he started to look at the map.
“Has he ever..killed a dragon?”
“No, he’s fought them but never killed them.”
“Why not?” Cross let out a sigh at the question.
“Well he isn’t full grown yet so he can’t really kill them.”
“That makes sense.”
“Don’t get me wrong he can do some damage but he isn’t strong enough....yet.”
“So he couldn’t kill me?”
“You? He could probably take you out with one swipe of his claw. I’m talking about massive dragons that burn down villages and eat ponies for an afternoon snack.” Twilight gulped at the thought. Cross got to his hooves and made his way towards the door. “Thanks for the map Twilight, see you later.” as soon as he left Spike hurried over to Twilight with a cross look on his face.
“See I told you that something was up with him.” the dragon said with a frown on his face.
“Spike calm down, so he doesn’t think you’re a threat.” she said as she rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know, I still say there’s something weird about him.” Spike said as he walked back upstairs. Twilight dismissed the thought and continued reading.
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Cross made his way through Ponyville with the map in front of him, he withdrew a quill and began to mark certain buildings. He decided to get out of the busy town and head over to Sweet Apple Acres for some peace and quiet. Cross balanced himself on one of the fence posts and began to meditate. He began to shift himself upside down so that he was balancing on his horn, once he gained his balance he put his front hooves together and closed his eyes and began to meditate. Cross began to sift through his memories, the accident, when he found Ace and-
“Um excuse me.” Cross opened his eyes to see a massive red stallion staring at him. He hopped off the fence and landed on his hooves.
“You’re....Big Mac right?”
“Eeyup.”
“What’s up?”
“Ah heard that you entered the contest.”
“Yeah. Did you?”
“Eeyup.”
This guy has quite the vocabulary.
“So you’ve competed before right?” the red stallion nodded. “So which mare’s should I look out for?” the large stallion thought for a moment.
“Well...that rainbow one is very fast in the air and on the ground. Mah sister has enough strength and endurance to outlast nearly any-pony. Miss Rarity ain’t exactly athletic but she’s crafty, the pink one is all over the place ah can’t really describe her that well and Twilight is very smart and good with magic.”
“What about Fluttershy?”
“Ah never seen her compete, all I know is she can talk to animals and is very shy.”
“Good to know, what about the rest of the town?”
“They’re pretty much average.”
“Thanks for the info.....you have any-pony you’ve got your eye on?” the stallion looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Sorry...just trying to make conversation.” the stallion gave a heavy sigh.
“None of yer business.”
“Fair enough. Need a hoof with something?”
“Well AJ and I need to finish up the south orchard, but ah haven’t seen her since this morning.”
“I’ll give you a hoof if you want the help.”
“Thank you kindly, follow me.” he said as he trotted down the path. Cross followed close behind the stallion towards the pack of trees. “Okay so have you ever bucked apples before?”
“No.”
“It’s real simple, just kick the center of the trunk and the apples will fall off.” the red stallion stopped in front of the tree and kicked it. Cross saw the bark crush at the stallions strength and the red apples came falling down.
“Impressive, mind if I try?” the red stallion nodded and Cross took his position in front of a tree. He raised his back hooves and kicked, he felt the tree start to give. Cross looked behind him to see that he had uprooted the tree and that it was now laying on his side. “Um.....sorry about that. Guess I don’t know my own strength.” Mac looked in disbelief at the spectacle of the smaller pony’s strength.
“I-it’s okay, ah’ve done that myself.” the two continued to work until the days end, Cross heard galloping hoof steps coming down the path. He looked over to see a familiar orange mare trotting up to them.
“Sorry ah’m late Big Mac ah was.....What happened to that tree!?” she yelled as she saw the uprooted plant.
“That’s my bad AJ. It was my first time apple bucking and I kinda...used too much force.” Cross said with a weak grin.
“Really?” she said with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m stronger than I look AJ.” he said as he glared at the mare.
“Ah meant nothing by it, ah actually could use your help.”
“With what?”
“Mah sister and her two friends are still out and about. It’s getting dark soon and I’d like to find them.”
“So you want me to look for em?”
“Yes.”
“Sure just give me a second.” he brought his his to his lips and let out a loud whistle. Soon Ace came barreling up the dirt road and stopped in front of the two ponies. “Ace here is an expert in tracking, you have something that he can get a scent off of?”
“Yeah hang on a second.” the orange mare rushed inside and grabbed her crusader cape. The wolf sniffed it and then began to stick his nose in the air, he let out a bark as he got the scent.
“Okay he’s got something.” he said as he climbed on the beast’s back, he outstretched a hoof down to the mare who looked at him in surprise. “Are you getting on or not?”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh don’t be a baby.” he said as he grabbed the mare’s hoof and pulled her onto the beast. Applejack’s teeth were chattering as she sat on the beast’s back. “You’d better hang on.”
“To wha-” she was cut off by Ace lunging forward, instinctively Applejack wrapped her hooves around the stallion’s body and clung for dear life. The wolf ran through town causing some ponies to jump back in surprise. AJ felt the beast slowing down, she looked at the grey stallion with daggers in her eyes. “Don’t EVER do that again!” she said in a threatening tone.
“Oh come on, you loved it.” he said with a laugh.
“Why you conceited-”
“Hate to interrupt AJ, but it looks like we’ve got a problem.” the mare saw what he meant as they stopped on the edge of the Everfree Forest. The mare gave a gulp as Ace made his way inside the dark forest with the two ponies still on his back.
“Maybe they went to Zecora’s.”
“Who?”
“She’s this zebra that lives in the forest, she makes potions and what not.”
“She knows Applebloom?”
“Yeah, she’s great with kids.” she said as they continued to walk through the woods. Applejack had one nagging question on her mind. “Hey Cross can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Where did you learn all of this tracking stuff?”
“I mostly taught myself.”
“So yer parent’s didn’t teach you anything?” he scoffed at the question.
“Them? No. I figured things out on my own.”
“You don’t get along with them do you?” she asked.
“Not even remotely.” he said in a harsh tone. “For all I know they think I’m dead and that’s fine by me.”
“Why do you hate em so much?”
“I never really had a foal-hood. They kept me inside, away from every-pony else. My father paid for lesson’s in self defense and fighting. I never really fit in with the other kids, when ever I tried to play a game with them they’d shun me like I had the plague or something. Eventually I got tired of it and decided to run away. Haven’t looked back since.” he felt the mares grip tighten around him and her head rest against his back.
“Sorry to hear that sugar cube, ah didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s fine it happened a long time ago and-” he was cut off by Ace letting out a bark. Cross dismounted and looked on the ground to see a dark red bow. “This Applebloom’s?”
“Yeah, she should be close-” she was interrupted by three fillies jumping out of a bush with fear in their eyes.
“Applejack! Help!” the white unicorn said. “We were trying to get our berry picking cutie marks when-” the filly was cut off by a loud growl coming from the bush. Cross levitated the ponies onto Ace’s back.
“Ace, get these ponies out of here now!” he ordered the beat let out a whine. “No excuses!” the wolf turned around, Applejack looked back at the stallion with worry in her eyes.
“No way no how am ah leaving-” Cross slapped the wolf on the back and took off back towards the town with the ponies hanging on to him. The stallion then looked back to see a timber wolf with a knife wound in the side of it.
“You again?” the beast’s eyes narrowed as it remembered the stallion. “Okay then. Round two.” he said as his horn began to glow.