//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Competition // Story: The Hunter's Heart // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter 7 Competition Cross woke up to the sound of the alarm clock going off. He quickly silenced the mechanism and got to his hooves, he quickly stretched and let out a yawn. He looked over at the wolf who did the same, he quietly trotted outside to see ten exhausted grey copies of himself sleeping in a tree. He gave the tree a small kick and the ten stallions awoke and lined up side by side. “You guy’s finish them?” “It’s gonna be an interesting game. Trust me.” one of the copies said with a smile. “Course I trust you, you’re me!” he said with a laugh. “You sure you can handle the last hours? We did A LOT!” another copy said. “Like what?” the group of stallions then whispered what they had done in extreme detail. Cross looked back at the group with his mouth agate. “Oh you guys are good!” “Duh, I’m the best after all.” “Quite right my friend, now it’s my turn.” Cross said as the stallions evaporated. Cross felt himself become very tired and almost collapsed on the ground. “Right forgot about that side effect.” he said as he made his way back inside and threw his hat on his head. He trotted over to Ace who was ready to go, the grey stallion put a hoof on the wolfs head and smiled. “Sorry boy, but I gotta do this alone.” the wolf let out a small whine. “What? There aren’t that many female dire wolfs walking around.” he said as he looked at the wolf. Cross trotted out of the door and made his way through the sleeping town. He made his way to Sugar Cube Corner, as he walked in he was greeted by the proprietors, Mr. & Mrs. Cake. “Morning Cross, what can I get for you?” Mrs. Cake asked in her usually cheery tone. “Anything that will keep me alert for the rest of the day.” he said as he took a seat at the counter. “Well considering how the mare’s in this town were acting last night I can see why you’d need something like that.” “Yeah looks like I’m suddenly the town favorite.....I guess I’ll have an egg and some some black coffee.” “Coming right up.” she said as she trotted back into the kitchen. As he looked over he saw a familiar pink mare trotting over to him. “Morning Pinkie.” he said with a smile. “Hey! Ready for today?” “As I’ll ever be, you?” “Yup!” “How about the others?” “Oh yeah they’re excited. Especially Twilight!” Cross looked at her in surprise. “Really? She doesn’t seem the romantic type.” “Well she reads a lot of romance novels.” “Does she have her eye on some-pony?” “Oh yeah.” “Who?” “Sorry can’t say. I Pinkie Promised.” she said with a smile. “What’s that?” he said as his food arrived. “If you make a Pinkie Promise then you can’t ever break it!” she said in a serious tone. “Noted.” he said as he ate his meal. They were soon joined by Rainbow Dash and the others. “Morning guys.” he said with a smile, he then noticed Fluttershy being unusually quiet and distant, Cross pushed the thought out of his mind and continued eating. “Sup?” Rainbow said with a yawn. “What’re you doing here so early?” Applejack asked. “I like the morning, always have. Plus I wanted to get a good feel for the town before the competition starts.” he said as he sipped his coffee. “So you’re ready for the competition?” Twilight asked. “As I’ll ever be.” “Well...okay then, good luck.” Twilight said as she went to the rest room. The other ponies started to talk and gossip to one another, Cross noticed that Fluttershy wasn’t chiming in and was looking away as he made eye contact with her. He looked at Rainbow and pulled her aside. “Hey Dash, I think something’s wrong with Fluttershy.” he whispered. “What makes you say that?” “Well I think I heard her crying last night when she went to bed, she said she was fine but I’m not buying it.” he said as he looked at the cyan mare. He then noticed a few mares staring at him. “I’d better go before some mare’s here decide to start the competition early, keep an eye on Fluttershy. I know something’s up with her.” he trotted up to the Cake’s and paid for his meal and trotted out of the door. Rainbow looked at her yellow friend who had a massive blush on her face. “Okay Fluttershy what’s wrong?” “N-nothing....” she said in a hushed tone. “C’mon Fluttershy we’re your best friends, you can tell us anything.” Rainbow said as she put a hoof on her shoulder. “Last night I....tried to kiss Cross." “Louder.” “I tried to kiss Cross.” “Louder!” “I tried to kiss Cross.” “For the love of Celestia! LOUDER!” Rainbow yelled. “I tried to kiss Cross!” she said as she brightly blushed. The other ponies looked back at her in surprise. “My heat cycle started last night and I....I...” she then his behind her mane. The other mares put a hoof to their mouths in surprise. “So....how was it?” Rarity asked. “I couldn’t do it...I chickened out and accidentally stepped on Ace’s tail when I started to walk away, Cross woke up when Ace barked.” she said in embarrassment. The white unicorn then put a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s okay darling.” “I should probably go home and-” “No! You’re not going home, you’re gonna get Cross’s flag and the two of you are gonna have the best Hearts and Hooves day ever!” Rainbow said as she looked at her friend with a frown. “B-bit what if I don’t-” “We’ll make sure you get his flag, don’t worry.” Twilight said in a determined tone. “But what if my tag-” “Relax Shy, I got your back.” Rainbow said with a wink. Fluttershy looked over at her friends who gave a reassuring nod and smile. “Thanks girls but how are you going to make that happen?” she said as she smiled at the mares. “Don’t worry about it we have a plan.” Twilight said in a confident tone. Fluttershy gave her friends and uneasy glance and gave a heavy sigh. “O-okay.” she breathed out. The other ponies got to their hooves and trotted out the door and into the center of town where a large group of ponies have gathered, they trotted over and retrieved their tags that had their Cutie Marks embroidered on the fabric. The six mare’s joined the group and waited for the mayor to begin the competition. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cross was waiting with the other stallions that were directly across from the pack of mares, his tag was attached on his back and bore his Cutie Mark. He made his way to the front of the pack next to Big Mac, a grey pegasus stallion named Thunderlane and three other pegasi that looked like they had more brawn than brains. Cross looked over at the pack of mares who were all eyeing him with lustful intent he even saw some lick their lips and occasionally mouth the word ‘mine’ at him. Cross rolled his eyes and had a cocky smile spread across his face. The red stallion took notice of this and raised an eyebrow. “What’s got you in such a good mood?” “Oh trust me my friend, this is gonna be interesting.” “How can you be so confident?” Thunderlane asked as he was shaking in fear, Cross looked at the grey stallion with a raised eyebrow. “Thunderlane you need to relax, they can smell fear and that’s what the mares look for, how they select their targets.” he said as he glanced back at the pack of mares. “How do you know?” “I’ve seen that look on hundreds of faces, don’t look at them in fear. Match their stare, no send a stare back to them.” he whispered to the stallions. The pegasus took a gulp and took his advise. He stared back at the mares, brimming with false confidence and he put on the best poker face he had. The mares glared at the group of stallions who all shared the same look, the mares looked at them in confusion. The mayor took the stage that was in between the two groups, she trotted onto the stage and withdrew a mega phone. “Fillies and Gentle-colts! Welcome to the Hearts and Hooves day competition!” the ponies started to clap and cheer. “Since we have a newcomer this year, I shall go over the rules. One, you cannot collect more than one tag. Two, use of magic and wings are allowed so long as it is used in a non lethal way. Three, the competition lasts until 3:00pm. Four, your tags are magically locked to who ever tears them off. Five, you are not winning the ponies service, you are winning their company. Their choices are still to be honored and respected, any-pony who tries to force anything onto another will be immediately disqualified from this competition for life and will face criminal charges. Six, the last stallion or mare with their tag still on will have their choice of their date of his or her choosing, even if the pony’s tag has already been removed and if she/he agrees to it.” she took a breath and looked at the grey stallion. “Now let’s have our guest of honor say a few words.” she motioned for the stallion to come next to her. Cross made his way through the crowd and made his way onto the stage. “I’m very grateful that you all have welcomed me with open hooves and I’m happy to be competing in this competition.” he said with a smile, the ponies started to clap. “I know that some of you will be going after my tag, I’m going to let you all know now that I won’t make it easy on you.” he said with a smile. “I’m looking for a nice challenging game.” his horn began to glow as he talked. “With that said.......LET THE GAMES BEGIN!” as the words left his lips a massive cloud of smoke enveloped him and the other stallions. When the smoke cleared every stallion had run off in the opposite direction and Cross was no where to be seen. The mares had a massive look of surprise on their faces. They quickly dispersed and began to search for the stallions. Twilight and the others made their way inside the library. “Okay girls remember, Fluttershy has to be the one to remove Cross’s tag. If one of us see’s him we’ll let the others know.” the mares nodded in agreement. “Rainbow you take care of the skies.” “You got it!” “Applejack, you monitor the North end of town, Rarity you take South and Pinkie will handle East. I’ll stay here and keep the stallions away from Fluttershy.” “Got it.” Applejack said as she gave a salute. “Sounds easy enough.” Rarity said as she flipped her mane. “This is going to be so much fun!” the pink mare said as she jumped. The ponies then left to go find the grey stallion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back at Fluttershy’s cottage, Ace had become very bored and exited the small living room and began to explore outside. It wasn’t long until he heard three fillies trotting down the road. Applebloom saw the large wolf and galloped over to him. “Hey Ace!” the wold let out a bark and began to wag his tail as the three trotted over and began to pet him. “Cross at the competition?” the dog nodded his head at the question. “Hey we should take him for a walk!” Scootaloo suggested. “Yeah we could be.....CUTIE MARK CRUSADER WOLF WALKERS!” Sweetie Belle said in excitement. “Great idea! C’mon boy.” Ace let out a yawn as he got to his paws, the three fillies started to walk around the outskirts of town. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cross was hiding in the park inside a bush. He poked his head out and saw that the mares were trying their best to try and catch him. He exited the shrubbery and crept his way to the edge of town. “OVER THERE!” he spun around to see five mares charging at him. Cross started to gallop down the road, slowly the mob of mares started to increase. He made his way into an alley and ran straight at the wall, his horn began to glow. As he reached the red bricked surface he jumped and he ran up the wall, surprising the mares. As he reached the roof top he looked back and tipped his hat to the mares, he noticed that some of the pegasi had taken flight and started to fly after him. “Oh great.” he breathed out. His horn began to glow and ten copies of himself materialized, The ponies looked in confusion as the grey stallions darted off in separate directions. The mares chased after him the real Cross made his way back onto the street, he hid inside a trash can to hide from a certain white unicorn mare. He then moved behind a nearby building and entered a window. As he slipped inside he couldn’t help but notice the fragrance affluent in the air. Hmm......why does it smell so good in here? It’s almost smells like......uh oh. The light’s switched on to reveal two earth pony mares, one blue and one pink staring at him with lustful eyes. “Well...buck me.” he breathed out. “We’ll see how the date goes darling.” the blue one said as she nearly pounced on him, Cross side stepped and avoided the mare’s charge, he looked over to see the pink mare attempting the same attack. Cross managed to avoid the mare’s advance, he vaulted over the two ponies and ran out the door. He only got twenty feet away from the shop until another group of mares saw him. Oh crap...here we go again. He proceeded to run towards the park entrance, his eyes darted from side to side as he felt the mare's gaining on him. C’mon, it should be just about....there! he said as he withdrew his knife and cut a rope as he ran. The mares were gaining on him, they felt themselves being wrapped in a tight rope and being held by a strong tree branch. The bundle of mares began to swing in frustration as they tried to break free. “What the buck?” one of the mares said in surprise. “I said it wasn’t going to be easy.” Cross said as he looked up at the mares. “Ladies I bid you good day.” he tipped his hat to them and galloped deeper into the park.