Chapter 9
Answers
Cross opened his eyes to see a familiar wooden ceiling above his head. As he sat up he felt something tugging on his arm, he looked down to see a sleeping Fluttershy with her head on his chest. Cross smiled and noticed that Ace had gotten to his paws and walked over to the sleeping ponies. Cross put his hoof on the beasts head and began to scratch behind his ears.
“Deja vu.”
“I guess.” Ace replied. Cross then made ‘shut up’ motion with his hooves. “Oh calm down Fluttershy and the rest of the ponies already know I can talk.”
“Great.” he said in a sarcastic tone. “What else did I miss? Last thing that I remember was that I was fighting those pegasi.....Then the others arrived.....Fluttershy-” his face turned bright red and the wolf began to snicker. “Laugh it up. But that’s all I remember.”
“You changed and the others saw you change back.”
“Crap....How long was I out this time?”
“Only a day.”
“That I can deal-” he was cut off by Fluttershy letting out a yawn and opened her eyes.
“Hmm?.....Oh you’re awake thank goodness!” she said as she got out of bed with a blush on her face. “I...I hope you don’t mind..I was really tired from yesterday and-” she was cut off by Cross pressing his lips against his. Fluttershy’s face turned crimson and her wings extended outward. Cross broke the kiss and smiled back at the blushing mare.
“Apology accepted.” he said with a grin, which soon left his face. “You.....you saw me yesterday didn’t you?”
“Y-yes. What happened?” she said as she backed away from the bed. Cross let out a sigh and looked at Ace.
“Gather every-pony who was there and tell them to meet me at the library, I’ll explain everything there.” he said as he got to his hooves. The wolf nodded and departed from the room leaving the two ponies alone in the room. Cross trotted over to his things and he threw on his hat and eyepatch. He and Fluttershy trotted out of the cottage to be greeted by a nervous looking Rainbow Dash. “Hey Rainbow.” he said with a weak smile.
“H-hey Cross.....I just saw Ace and-”
“We’re headed to the library now.” Fluttershy added.
“C-cool. Mind if I walk with you?” she asked.
“Sure.” the three ponies walked in silence he was catching looks from both pegasi. The silence was so thick he could cut it with a knife, they were soon joined by Applejack who had the same look of worry on her face. Ace came running up to the group with his tail wagging. “You tell the others?” the wolf nodded his head and began to walk with the ponies. “This is totally out of the blue but how did the contest go?”
“Well, you lost.” AJ said as she looked at the stallion.
“What? I still had my-” he noticed that his tag was ripped off. Fluttershy tapped him on his shoulder and held up the piece of fabric with a sheepish grin. Cross smiled at the mare. “Well it looks like I owe you a date Fluttershy.”
“That can wait till later let’s just get you well again.” she said with a warm smile. “Hey can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“That letter that was addressed to me was a fake right?”
“Of corse. I’d never ask you to go into the Everfree forest for me, it was a ploy by those plot hole pegasi.” he said in a stern voice.
“I know. But was theta letter a complete lie?” Cross suddenly understood what she meant.
“Well...not every bit of it was a lie. The only honest part of it is-” he then noticed that the other ponies were listening in on their conversation. “A little privacy please!” he said as Ace moved in between him and the group of mares. “Thanks boy. Now where was I?....oh right. The only part of that letter that wasn’t a lie was that I do...in fact....care about you.” he said with a weak smile. “But now that you’ve seen......what I can do. I’d understand if you wouldn’t be interested in-” he was cur off by the mare kissing him on the lips. He looked back at her in surprise as she broke the kiss. “So you’re not scared of me?”
“Well...yes I am. But I know that you would never do anything to hurt me and I’m sure you have a good explanation for....what ever you did back there.” she said with a small blush. The group had made it into town, most of the ponies hadn’t seen him yesterday so they did their usual greetings. Cross and the others stopped outside the library, Rainbow and Applejack trotted inside along with the white wolf. Cross took a deep breath and entered the tree, he entered to see Twilight and the others waiting for him on the couch. He gave them a weak smile in which they returned.
“Okay, every-pony sitting comfortably?” he asked as Fluttershy took her seat. “Good. So I’m assuming you all have questions and I will do my best to answer them.” he said as he let out a sigh. “So who’s first?” Pinkie raised her hoof high in the air. “Yes Pinkie?”
“Are you and Fluttershy together?” both ponies blushed at the question.
“Y-yeah.” he said as Fluttershy began to giggle.
“Oh good, the suspense was killing me! The author can be really vague sometimes.” the ponies looked at her in confusion.
“I’m not even going to try and make sense of that. Next question.” Rainbow raised her hoof. “Yes Dash?”
“Okay first things first, WHAT THE BUCK IS UP WITH THAT EYE!” she yelled.
“Right that. Guess I can’t hide it any more.” he removed his hat and eye patch to reveal the bright blue spliced eye. “This is a dragon eye.” he said as he pointed to it. The ponies looked at him in shock.
“How did you get that!?” AJ exclaimed.
“You know what they say; An eye for an eye.”
“So...you killed a dragon?”
“Yes I did. But I had a good reason!”
“What reason is that!” Spike interjected.
“I was hired too.”
“B-but you said you’d find lost animals and criminals!” AJ said.
“Yes, and sometimes I was hired to find them and make sure they don’t come back.” the ponies looked at him in shock. Cross sat in a chair across from the ponies. “Trust me. I’ll regret that for the rest of my life.”
“S-so you’re a bounty hunter!” the orange mare yelled.
“In a sense, yes.” he said in a sad tone.
“So....what exactly happened?” Rarity asked.
“It was a simple job, find a fugitive that was fleeing from the dragon kingdom. Bring hima back dead or alive. I tried to reason with him and he tried to kill me, so I killed him. I was badly wounded and lost my right eye. The dragon king replaced it, they called it.....compensation.”
“But how can you even see with that thing! A dragon has a completely different anatomy than a pony!” Twilight said in confusion. Cross got to his hooves and parted the fur on his chest to reveal a massive scar.
“The dragon did more than cut out my eye, he pierced my heart with one of his claws. I was half dead when the dragon kings soldiers caught up with me, they brought me back and patched me up with a new heart.....The heart of a dragon.” the ponies looked at him in shock.
“So...you’re half dragon, half pony?” Rainbow asked.
“Yes. I’m a hybrid.” he said in a sad tone. Twilight trotted closer to the stallion and lowered her head to his chest.
“May I?” the stallion nodded and Twilight put her ear to his chest, she heart two loud beat’s that resembled a loud drum. Her head shot backwards at the noise. “Are you able to use dragon magic?” Cross trotted over to her fire place and breathed black flames into it.
“Yes...and I can fly.” his back began to bulge and two webbed wings sprouted from his body. Their jaws dropped at the wings. Rainbow flew over and inspected the wings.
“That.....is......so.......AWESOME!” the stallion looked at her in surprise.
“You’re not creeped out?”
“A little....but it looks so cool!” she said in excitement.
“But....what happened yesterday?” Rarity asked.
“I can control my dragon magic, but not for very long and it taxes my energy heavily. I was already worn out for creating so many clones.” the ponies remembered all of the traps his clones had set. “When I saw that Fluttershy was in danger I had no choice.” he said as his right hoof turned into a claw. He looked at himself in the mirror and lowered his head. “Honestly, it scares me how much power I have....But that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful.” he said with a cheery tone.
“How could that thing be useful?” Applejack said as she eyed the claw. Cross trotted over to her and started to scratch her back. The orange mare let out a sigh of comfort. “Oh that feels good.”
“See, perfect back scratcher.” he said with a laugh.
“But you’ve still killed for the Dragon Kingdom!” Twilight yelled. Cross stopped scratching Applejack's back and looked at the lavender mare with a blank stare on his face.
“Hey, you’re kingdom isn’t innocent either! I’ve taken down criminals on a government level for Celestia herself!” Twilight was taken back by this statement. “That shocked are you? I thought you knew. With Celestia being your personal teacher and all.”
“How do you know that?”
“She told me....and I knew from the hair sample.”
“What?”
“Remember when I transformed into you?” the pony nodded. “Well when I did that, I didn’t only take on your form, I got your memories. So everything that you know I know.” Twilight’s face turned to horror. “Relax, I’m not interested in your personal life and I can’t perform the vast amount of spells you’re able to cast.” he said in a calm tone. Twilight was beside herself with the information that everything about her, her secrets her studies could be seen by this stallion. “I can tell you’re freaked out by this....I only use that little trick for gathering intel on a target I’m hunting..or If I want to pull a prank on some-pony.” he said with a smile.”
“JUST SHUT UP!” she said as tears formed in her eyes. “YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE...A MONSTER! JUST A MONSTER!” she yelled. Cross looked at her with a blank stare. Fluttershy was about to protest but Cross raised a hoof to her.
“I know. I’ve done horrible things in my life and I’m trying to set things right, It’s a long shot but can’t hurt to try.”
“What good things could you have possibly done?” Twilight said still sobbing.
“Remember when Celestia’s forces tracked the Changeling Queen to the shifting desert?” the ponies nodded. “I led them there.” The ponies looked at him in surprise. “A friend of mine died in the attack, so I offered my skills. I asked to be kept off the record.” he said as his claw morphed back into a hoof. He trotted over to Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight despite what you think about me I’d never hurt you or one of your friends. I may be a killer but I have my own rules that I always follow, I’d never hurt an innocent pony or living thing.” he said as he removed his hoof.
“I’m sorry...It’s just the thought of some-pony else knowing everything that I know just creeps me out.” she said in a sad tone.
“I’de be surprised if you weren’t freaked out by that.” he said with a smile.
“But you said Ace hate’s dragons! How can he stand to be with you?” Rarity asked.
“Well Cross did save my life, so I can look past that.” Ace said as he walked over to the group.
“Oh yeah that’s another thing how can he talk? Could he talk the whole time?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah he speaks Equestrian, he just doesn’t to aggravate me. “ Cross said with a smile.
“All dire wolves can talk. Why do you thing we were such a threat to the dragons? We were intelligent and organized.” Ace added.
“How come you didn’t tell us that?”
“Well your reactions spoke for themselves..Plus I just like to mess with ponies.” he said with a grin.
“Not funny.”
“It is from my point of view.” Ace added with a laugh.
“Yeah I would appreciate it if you guys would keep all of this info in the down low.” Cross said as he looked at the ponies.
“Why?”
“Do I need to say it? Ace is one of the last Dire Wolves and I’m a dragon/pony hybrid. We’d be captured and experimented on in a lab somewhere.” he said in a flat tone.
“Well who else knows that you’re a hybrid?” Dash asked.
“Other than you guys? No one and I would like to keep it that way.” he said as his wings receded into his back.
“You’re secret’s safe with us we won’t-” Rainbow was cut off by a green flash of light. The ponies looked at the purple dragon who had just breathed out green flames.
“Spike....did you just send the princess a letter?” Twilight said.
“Yes! This guy is dangerous and should be locked away-” he was cut off by the large wolf pinning him to the ground and began to growl. Cross pulled his friend off the dragon and held him back. The wolf began to shout and curse at him.
“YOU LITTLE PURPLE SHIT! I SHOULD HAVE EATEN YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!” he yelled at the scared purple dragon.
“Ace stop! He’s not worth it.” Cross said as his horn glowed and materialized a cage around the white wolf. “Right now we need to focus on getting out of-” he was cut off by a bright light appearing in the room. When the ponies opened their eyes they saw the sun goddess standing before them with a cold stare in her eyes.