Edited by distortedtruth92
My head hit the table with a solid *Thunk*, my blade barely missed carving into the wood.
“No more,” I begged. “Please, no more. I’ll do anything.”
Twilight was staring at me with an expression that warred between amusement and worry while Applejack seemed to be holding in a chuckle at my pain. I let out a low snarl in her direction but winced before I could sound really menacing. My brain was in too much pain for that. Twilight had been grilling me with countless questions for the last hour and, though I had started strong, my endurance had waned away.
“Oh my,” Twilight said in a concerned voice. “Are you alright, Cres?” she asked.
“I’m... fine,” I said slowly. “I just haven’t had to talk that much in over two years... you’re like Belle on five cups of coffee!”
Twilight blushed. “I’m sorry... I can go a little overboard sometimes, I guess,” she admitted.
“A little?” Applejack remarked with a raised eyebrow.
“Well... would either of you mind if I went for a walk?” I asked, still smarting as another wave of pain ran through my brain. “I feel the need for some fresh air.”
“That would be fine,” Twilight said with a small shrug as she looked at her huge number of notes. “I’ve got plenty of notes from you, Cres.”
“As long you don’t mind me keeping an eye on ya,” Applejack said, or more like stated.
“I’d expected as much,” I replied neutrally as I hauled my head off of the table and got to my paws. “Shall we?”
The orange pony got up from her watching corner and walked up a few feet behind me. “Let’s,” she said, gesturing me to go on.
I walked towards the door, the mare following me and we emerged into the bright sunlit town’s square. There were more ponies than earlier this morning, in fact, it looked more like it was afternoon. I blinked once or twice as my eyes adjusted to the light and I found that most of the ponies were staring at me. I huffed and rolled my eyes before I started off, my nose in the air slightly as I searched for a familiar smell. I soon found it and began to trot a bit faster.
Applejack’s pace also quickened as I heard her hooves batter against the ground, easily keeping up with me as I followed the scent. We sped through the town and before long arrived on its outskirts, we crossed a bridge overlooking a small creek and then began to approach a cottage.
As we neared it I caught a whiff of many other smells filling the air, all of them easily recognizable as those of prey. My mouth began to water instinctively, but I ignored it. I was under oath after all. There were birds singing in the air as we walked towards it but when we drew closer they all shut their beaks and flew off; apparently my habit of eating them had made them a bit... scared of me.
“I don’t believe they appreciate my presence here,” I noted neutrally.
“Well, duh,” Applejack said flatly.
“You seem to be in a good mood as usual,” I continued as if I hadn’t heard the flatness in her tone. In all honesty, I was just happy to escape from Twilight’s clutches and it may have been making me a bit too friendly.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she replied.
I just shrugged as we began to walk up the final slope approaching the cottage. It didn’t take long to reach the top, and once there, I saw dozens of different ‘animals’ milling around. Most of them were obviously prey of some kind, Pachirisu, Furrets, and even a Buneary or ten scampered around. Strangely, there was also a beast that resembled an Ursaring lounging in the sun. I raised an eyebrow slightly at the sight but didn’t comment, I suppose Fluttershy’s ‘protection’ had enticed him into living near her.
It was then that I saw her. Fluttershy was in the midst of spreading out feed for a collection of fat birds that scuttled across the ground. She looked up when she saw me and smiled.
“Hello, Cres,” she said brightly. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“And the same to yo-” I was cut off as I caught sight of a white Buneary glaring at me from between her forelegs. “Ah, you have a protector, do you?”
Fluttershy frowned and then looked down. “Oh yes, this is Angel.”
“Angel?” I asked as I looked down at the Buneary who was still glaring at me. “He seems rather angry for that.”
“He’s just protective of me is all,” Fluttershy replied with a small smile as she looked down at the Buneary. She then pushed him out from between her legs and sent him forwards towards me. “Angel, this is Cres. Say hello.”
However the Buneary’s eyes narrowed slightly, yet he lifted up one of his paws and gave a small wave at me.
“Hello there,” I said with a small smile. “Fear not, judging by the amount of her scent on you you’re Fluttershy’s pet. That means I would not eat you even if I did meet you within the forest.”
His gleaming eyes never left their gaze towards me, and I doubted he really believed in my words.
I shook my head and turned back to Fluttershy who, was smiling at me. “So, did you have a good morning?” she asked.
“Very,” I answered with a smile as I licked my lips a little. “I had a delicious bird of some kind and even with her following me around like an oaf-” I nodded towards Applejack. “- I still had a good hunt.”
“Well... that’s good,” Fluttershy said with a hesitant smile. “You stayed in the forest right?”
“He did, I made sure of it,” Applejack answered.
“Good,” Fluttershy replied, smiling. “I really don’t mind you hunting you know... I know that the stoats, ferrets, birds of prey and even Mr. and Mrs. Bear do it... but you were doing it where you weren’t supposed to.”
“I understand, though I still think that it is rather foolish for a non-predator to make such a rule,” I told her with a roll of my eyes. “After all, what do you have to gain from them?” I asked as I settled down on my chest and lay in the grass.
“Protection,” Applejack said a bit darkly. “Knowledge to know it’s safe to walk out in the middle of the night or day and not be pounced on and get your throat ripped out.”
“Why would anyone bother to do that?” I asked with a frown. “You do not look particularly tasty to me, and I’m sure you would put up far more of a threat than any of the easier to find prey available.”
“Well not everyone thinks like you,” the orange pony said with a bit of a hard edge to her voice. “Food is food to a hungry beast, and you really think they care if it will put up a fight or not?”
“In most cases, yes,” I replied plainly as I closed my eyes and simply enjoyed the feeling of the sun on my fur. “The average predatory Pokemon knows better than to go up against anything that can properly defend itself. Why risk injury when you don’t have to?”
“Well, here’s a news flash for ya, they’re not these Pokemon you keep yapping about,” Applejack stated. “Your way of thinking doesn’t add up here so shut your trap about how ‘useless’ our ‘claiming’ ground is! There’s a reason for it and they’re good reasons!”
“Ma-maybe we should just change the subject,” Fluttershy said nervously as her eyes darted between the two of us.
“I’m simply saying that it doesn’t make sense,” I countered Applejack. “A predator of any kind is on his own for most of his life and has only himself to rely on. If he attacks something that he cannot handle there is no one to assist him. Even packs do not go after the strongest member of a herd because the risk of injury is too great.”
“And when the predators out there are Manticores, Timberwolves, Cragadiles, Hydras, and whole lot of others that are bigger than the average pony, that’s not much of big problem for them,” the pony said harshly.
“Ah,” I said with a slight shrug. “Still, you are technically prey. What do you expect? I suppose I can understand you creating a safe zone for yourself, but creating one for the other ‘animals’ seems a bit... excessive.”
“Not when they’re seeking shelter from beasts like you,” Applejack said with narrow eyes. “Those who think so highly of themselves for being bigger and can just eat whatever they feel like.”
I cracked one of my eyes open slightly and regarded her with my red iris for a moment before I spoke. “I do not think highly of myself for any reason,” I told her. “And I do not eat whatever I feel like. Only those who are prey and only then when I am in need of nourishment.”
She scoffed in disbelief. “Yeah right, that’s what every beast like you says, though you’re just waiting to go back on it given the chance.”
“If I wished to eat anyone here in this place I doubt there is anything that either you or Fluttershy could do,” I told her with a small shrug as I shut my eyes once more. “I have not and I will not because I have chosen to accept your laws besides the fact that it would be a waste. There is more there then I could possibly eat or store safely, besides, Father Arceus looks down upon such acts.”
“Oh, I’m sure he does,” Applejack said sarcastically in a flat tone.
“He does,” I replied simply. “Every soul has their time to meet with him once more and those that send them early are among his most hated of creatures...” I trailed off and sighed heavily.
“Do I need to keep reminding you this isn’t your world?” the orange pony said flatly.
“No, but when you accuse me of something I suppose it is only fair that I defend myself accordingly,” I answered with another small shrug. “Besides, you threw an insult at Father Arceus, even after his year of silence I still have faith in Him and must correct you.”
“And you keep insulting our rules,” Applejack remarked.
“For which I am sorry but they simply make no sense to me,” I told her simply. “You on the other hand are insulting my God, a much greater offense to my thinking.”
“The same with you for tossing down our rules,” the pony replied with a dark glare.
“Who wants tea?” Fluttershy asked, suddenly returning from wherever she had disappeared to for the last few minutes, I had been wondering why she’d been so silent. I cracked my eye open again to see her standing there with a tea set balanced on her back between her wings. “Applejack?” she asked with a nervous smile.
“No, thank you,” she said, a bit of a hard tone clipping the edge of her voice.
“Oh, what about you, Cres?” she asked hopefully. I considered it for a moment and then nodded, I had never had the affinity for boiled leaves that Belle had, yet I could appreciate it on occasion.
“Yes, I do believe a cup of tea would be wonderful,” I answered with a smile. “I need something to steady my nerves. Someone continues to pound on them as if they were a drum.”
Fluttershy bit her bottom lip but set the tea set on a nearby table and then set about readying a cup for me. It didn’t take very long and soon I was lapping up a small saucer of tea, it was sharp and minty.
“That is hardly the same thing,” I stated, continuing where Applejack and I had left off. “Unless you worship your ‘rules’. Of course, with the vigor you are defending them I would not be surprised.”
The orange pony stomped a hoof to the ground while letting irated snort. “There’s a good reason why I defend our rules!”
“Which is?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow slightly before I took a lap of my tea.
“Because it’s monsters like you who killed my parents!" she shouted angrily. "And I’ll be sent to Tartarus if I’ll let another one pass by me!” she roared.
I froze mid lap and then looked up at her for a moment before speaking. “I’m sorry for your loss. However that is no reason to condemn me personally for something that others did.”
“It gives me every right,” she retorted. “For me to be wary and judgemental to creatures like you who think lowly of our rules, and so far you haven’t really given me any other reason to act differently.”
“I didn’t kill you when I had the chance,” I replied. “Something that I have been continuously regretting. I have obeyed your idiotic rules. I have answered your countless questions and accepted your incessant harassment simply for my existence. It is only by the grace of Arceus that you are still drawing breath and if I were you then I would consider my words more carefully,” I told her, my voice dropping into a more menacing tone.
“And it’s only because Fluttershy is here that I haven’t bucked your guts out,” the mare replied, no hint of being affected of my words.
“Please, won’t you both stop arguing?” Fluttershy begged.
“I would enjoy seeing you try,” I told the orange pony, ignoring Fluttershy. “However, I am still recovering from saving Zecora’s life and I do not wish to re-open my wounds in some petty show of bravado.”
“So? A beast like you-”
Applejack was suddenly cut off by Fluttershy’s hoof covering her mouth.
“Applejack, maybe you should go,” Fluttershy said, putting more force into the words then I expected possible from her. “I’m sure you have work on the farm to do right?’
Her green eyes narrowed at me and she slowly turn and walked away, her tail swinging angrily as her hooves pounded into the ground.
“Quelle salope,” I muttered as I lay my head back down in the grass. Fluttershy’s eyebrows rose slightly and a slight blush crossed her face at my language.
“She really is a nice pony, Cres,” the mare told me softly. “She’s just... still not over what happened to her parents.”
“I understand, but my statement still stands,” I replied. “I’ve met Pokemon who were former Team Flare members who were less of salope.”
Fluttershy just let out a sigh. “Are you going to be okay here if I leave you alone?”
I smiled slightly and then lapped up more of my tea before answering. “I will be fine... where are you going?”
“To see if I can convince her to be more accepting of you,” Fluttershy replied to which I chuckled dryly.
“Fluttershy,” I said. “I really doubt that anything you say will get through her skull, she’s thicker than a Wobbuffet.”
“A what?” she asked me.
“An extremely stupid Pokemon who has the ability to repel any attack back at you with a stronger force,” I answered with a small smirk. “I’d say it matches well.”