Date of the Century [Shipping][Saucy][Finished]

"...I think its great you study Medicine Winter, I think thats the worst thing going on right now. Ponies don't bother to learn anymore, so its a really special thing you do, its ponies like you who'll be the fut-"

"Hey, Cross! Who's your mare friend? Cross looked past Winter and his heart stopped when he saw a familiar blue mare, and the grey shadow that followed here around everywhere...Shutter....

"Hello Starry, its uh, good to see you again?...I....um.....this is Winter Bell!" He cleared his throat and tried to shake it off, but it didn't really work because in truth he was happy to be here with Winter, but Starry had a big mouth....if it got out he was actually being nice...that'd pin a nice big target on his back for anyone hoping to make a name for themselves.

Cross stood up and turned to Winter, "Um..Winter these are my...um...friends, Starry and Stutter" ....he forgot the grey buck's name in his embarrassment, still...close enough, he called them friends, ponies liked that right?

He straightened his collar, trying to fit back into his 'proud' persona, but his obvious red face killed any hope of that.

'what was I thinking? I wouldn't even eat here myself! and now Starry and Shutter are here too........why?

Winter had been sitting opposite Cross, mainly listening with her head leaning against one of her fore hooves. Her tail swung side to side, a little tiredly as she was honestly a little bored with hearing about her work. She knew what she did was helping ponies and she was grateful that he was taking an interest in her like that. But honestly she was here to have fun, and to be away from work for a change. She sighed before she heard unfamiliar voices interrupt Cross asking him who she was. She perked up as she turned her head to see a blue mare and a grey stallion approach. She smiled as Cross introduced them before she would speak, "It's lovely to meet you both" she said in her usual soft voice.

Shutter would have corrected Cross, but right now he was a bit surprised at the idea fo the two of them being there! Were they on a date too?! Wait, should he say something back? Winter just greeted them, so he guessed he should respond back?

"Uh...H-hello...pleasure to meet you too!"

Shutter said with a mumble, the irony of the slight stutter he let out due to his confusion not lost on him. But he had made his greeting!

"Well, nice to meet you, Winter! I'm glad to see that Cross here has finally found himself a mare. He's a little hard to warm up to, but let me assure you, that's only because his redeeming qualities take time to appear. They've yet to appear for me, but I have full confidence that they will, some day," Starry told Winter, as bluntly as she possibly could.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Take these," Starry reached into her saddlebag and pulled out an envelope with a copy of the Sword Mares pictures. She took the pleasure of opening the envelope for Winter, and spreading the pictures across the table. They were all pictures of Starry wearing her Sword Mare armor(which she was still wearing), and on top of them all was the picture of Starry kissing Cross, who was wearing a dress.

"I'm handing out these envelopes to all of my friends, and now that we're introduced, that means you! Oh, you can take one too, Cross. You are on the front cover, after all." Starry offered an identical envelope to Cross.

When Winter saw the pictures that the mare called Starry gave to her she brought a hoof to her muzzle to stifle a laugh. She looked at them for a moment longer before simply saying, "Oh my". She looked to Cross who seemed more red the the paint on the Ferris Wheel. She thought for a moment looking for something to say, "Well... I had no idea you were.. into wearing.. dresses" she said, unsure how to address the situation or comment on it. She put the pictures down on the table and looked a little unsure what to think at that moment.

Cross turned brighter than his hood, and lowered his head towards the folder he was holding with his magic....slowly but surely his magic was beginning to crumple it, despite just being frustrated he was ....upset..., his breathing began getting deeper and he looked over to Winter...

"I guess...I should explain, ....I went to Starry's birthday party and she had everypony play truth or dare....and it just went downhill from there... NO I do not like dresses, I only went along with it because It was Starry's party and well...I didn't want to argue with her I had no idea what was going on when she gave me something to put on that turned out to be a dress." Cross then turned to Starry and glared

"Somehow...she managed to get a picture of that too...." Cross's voice was getting frantic as he turned back to Winter.

"It was something stupid...that I didn't want anypony....to f- find out, so now I'm just a joke to everypony..." Cross blushed and was nearly to the point where his hindleg was backing up just in case he decided to run.

Never, even when faced with megaspells, deathclaws, and an entire slaver army.

Did he truly know fear, until humility was forced on him

Winter trotted closer to Cross, a look of amusement stretched across her face. Even more so when he explained himself. She didn't really care that it had happened and even more so now that it had been explained. Had he told her he enjoyed wearing a dress however, she might be inclined to call it a night and head home. But this was obviously some kind of joke between him and his friends and it was some what ... cute.. that he was getting this embarrassed about it. She gave him a long look before breaking out in a grin, "I believe you" she said finally before adding, "But in future... I think it would be better if I wear the dresses" she said with a smirk. She knew this was a first date but it was a humorous joke none the less and would hopefully bring his nerves down a little at the same time.

"Actually, Winter, I think Cross looks very pretty in a dress!" Starry said, placing her hoof on Cross's shoulder. "Hey! Shutter, you ought to wear dresses more often! You'd look super-cute, and I could easily find one for you!"

She turned her head back toward Winter, to continue explaining the context to her. "Yeah, what Cross here said is true, it was during my birthday party. Oh! Did I tell you how I got drugged and abducted from my own birthday party? By none other than Cross here! Don't worry, though, it was for a good cause, he left me in a cage guarded by a bunch of slavers who were attacking Stableton," Starry patted Cross on the shoulder, completely unaware that she had just omitted the crucial detail that it was part of a masterful gambit to save the town.

"Real prize stallion you've got here. Anyway, how's your date going, Cross?"

Shutter had quite litteraly been about to correct Cross on the fact that HE had taken the pictures, as well as some other details but fortunatly, forethought kicked in, and he covered his mouth with his hoof. Cross was already embarrased enough, no point to make it worse.

Maybe I should say something...Cross can be a massive jerk at times, but even he dosn't deserve to be embarrased in front of his date...

However, before Shutter could even think of something to say, Winter spoke, and he figured it might be best to leave it up to her, she sounded like she was being friendly enough...
...But there was another issue that might need to be removed to prevent things from getting bad again.

"Er...Starry, maybe we should go or-"

He was quickly cut off by Starry siggesting HE would look good in a dress! The next few sounds out of his mouth were replaced by panicked squeaks, as he listeneded to Starry go and talk about Cross's little kidnapping gambit.

Pretty soon however, he was able to jump in.

"Ah! But...but it was to SAVE the town! make them slavers think he was on THEIR side! Sure, there were probably better ways but it WORKED and we don't need to talk about this very tricky subject and oh gee lookatthetimeonmypipbuckStarryweshouldgoorderNOW!"

Shutter stammered out in a panic, his voice picking up speed as he tried to avert this explosive situation.

Starry glanced at Shutter dumbfounded. "Huh? Oh, okay, let's do that," Starry answered, as Shutter pushed Starry through the door of the restaurant. Starry had wanted to share more stories of Cross's heroics, but it looked like that would have to wait. Maybe they should focus on their own date for a while, that must be what Shutter had in mind.

"Alright, I'll go for some apple slices," Starry told the stallion behind the counter. "What are you thinking of getting, Shutter?"

Shutter let out a massive sigh of relief, as he wiped several drops of sweat from his brow.

"Huh? Oh...I'll have the exact same..."

He mumbled, too weary to focus on the menu right now. He was just hoping they hadn't botched Cross's date too badly...speaking of that, he should probably think of a reason as to why he and Starry needed to order quickly. He didn't want to tell her the exact truth right now, since honestly, that would probably just make Starry sad...so a half-truth might work best.

"Er...Sorry about that Starry, but...I just figured Cross and Winter might want to be alone for a bit, you know? Let them have a bit of...er...'intimate' time together alone, right?"

He offered...it wasn't a complte lie, after all...Cross was probably quite thankful they were now alone!

Cross watched as Shutter pulled the Starry inside the restaurant....Cross made a quick mental note to thank Shutter later, for a couple seconds Cross was afraid to turn around, but slowly he glanced back and in his clearest voice possible spoke

"Umm excuse me Winter, I'll be....right back....I'm going to look at the uh....menu..." Cross started heading inside after Starry and Shutter. Quietly thinking to himself what did he see in that pony that made her so significant. He normally didn't waste time 'dating', ...always....they typically annoyed him for their own various reasons that made it much nicer to be alone, but there was something about Winter he had yet to put a word on. He wouldn't admit it but he needed help because he had no bucking idea what he was doing and he didn't want anymore ponies...disliking him after Stableton, he never wanted that again.

But Cross was not one for giving up, and Winter had been really nice to him so far ...something he was not typically accustomed to from most ponies.

Once he stood right behind Shutter and Starry, he let out a loud sigh and spoke real low.

"Guys...I need your help" His hooded expression explaining it all in a nutshell...

Starry gasped, and smacked herself in the forehead with her hoof. "Of course!" she exclaimed, "I should've known they wanted some time alone! I'm sorry, Shutter, I'm a little blind socially, it's a good thing you're here for support! I just hope I haven't killed the mood for the two of them."

Starry took the plate of apple slices from the stallion behind the counter, and floated an identical plate over to Shutter. She took a bite of one of her apple slices, staring for a moment at the giant plushie robot that Shutter was carrying for her on his back. "I wonder why they didn't comment on Mr. Bot..."

Starry needed a better name for the toy, but before she could start thinking of a new name for it, she heard Cross's voice coming from behind her. "Oh, hey Cross! What's wrong?"

Shutter gave a weak chuckle to Starry, as he gave her a pat on the shoulder before they took their food.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you''ve given them some very, er...'interesting' topics to talk about..."

Shutter took his plate happily, and popped one of the slices into his mouth...Good apples were a rarity in the wastes, but even the average fare in Stableton tasted amazing, compaired to the two-hundred year old cans of corn and peas that consisted of most of Shutter's diet.

However, before he could savor another slice, he heard a voice from behind Starry, and he looked up to see Cross.
"O-oh! Cross! Er...how's everything doing? I hope we didn't spoil things too badly..."

Cross breathed in deeply, he really hating having to submit himself to...asking for help...it wasn't in his nature but this would probably be something better to get help from others from.

"Yeah...no..., I don't think it was going pretty good to begin with, I'm....at least grateful Starry got her to laugh..." Cross thought back...he just remembered Winter still had the photos and shrank at the prospect.

"Look I know I haven't been the best to you, but I really want to change and to be honest ....I've never really gone on dates before...I just never found anypony that really...worth the time ...but now I don't know what to do....Cross sat down on a nearby seat, sliding his hooves down the side of his head.

"Is there ANY advice or help you can give me? I'm really sorry if I've been a narcissistic ass before...but I want to do this, Winter is...really nice"

Starry grinned, "Well, looks like I can't call you Jerk anymore," she quipped, before putting on her serious face.

"Now Cross, remember, there are a ton of stallions out there for Winter to choose from. If you wan't to stand out from the crowd, you've got to distinguish yourself from the crowd! Let her know how tough you are, that you're a strong stallion who doesn't take gruff from nopony! Tell her how bad you hurt bad ponies, make her think 'this is a stallion who can protect me'. Mares dig that stuff!"

Starry pointed a hoof at Shutter, intent on using him as an example. "Why, just look at Shutter here! Clearly, what attracted me to him was his strong, uh..." Starry paused, she couldn't think of any incredibly masculine trait that had attracted her to him. "Personality?" she offered.

"Whatever, I'm not like most mares. Most mares like a tough pony! Now go out there and show her how tough you are!"

Shutter wasn't too sure Starry's advice was the best...he didn't know Mare's too well...but he did know a few romance novels from back in the Stable!

"Er...Or, failing that...maybe what Winter might like is a more 'sensitive' type? Sometimes you don't need strong muscles, you just need a strong mind and heart...those are rare in the wastes themselves somedays, and being kind, intelligent, and sensitive could really help you stand out in your own way...you know?"

He offered, as he picked up another apple slice and chewed on it thoughtfully.

Winter had been completely blown away by the information the blue mare and the grey stallion gave her about Cross and the battle for Stableton. Until Shutter had spoken she was about to literally walk away and head home.. but now she was interested in knowing the full story. If Cross had a bigger part to play in it's defense then she would be interested in hearing it. She spent allot of time healing injured from that battle so it seemed right to know the story. When Cross excused himself she gave a simple nod as she returned to her seat. As she waited she looked at the photo again and smiled as she shook her head. 'At least he has to guts to do it' she thought honestly. There were few stallions in the wastes that would put themselves in a dress for a mare on her birthday.

Cross just gave both mares a really....? look. It was obvious they weren't too sure themselves. Still, with Butter being the mare in the relationship Cross decided it was probably best to lean towards his advice. Cross sat up, still glaring...a bit... at Starry wondering if they were still trying to screw up his life whenever they rolled into town. Cross just slowly stepped back until he was close enough to just turn around and walk back to his table.

Once he sat down he tried to act unfaze, but the corner of his eyes kept going back to the pictures Winter had....

"I'm back...." He watched her for a bit, but then decided to try to bring up a new topic of conversation.

"WInter, would like to ...um, hear a story?" He had nothing to lose at this point, he was already humiliated, if she hated him like everypony else then at least it'd because of the truth....

Winter looked up when Cross sat down and cast the pictures aside. She had no plans on keeping them.. since well ...she had no use for them. When Cross mentioned about a story her ears perked up. She wondered weather this was going to be when he told her about what happened. "Sure" she said with a smile as she focused on him, waiting to here his story.

Cross blinked as he saw Winter toss the pictures out of the way...'great....now I have her attention....its all on me . Cross leaned forward and sighed, using his magic he pulled back his hood and took off his lapel and placed it gently on the table. And thus he began his story:


" Well lets say there was this place in the wasteland, a really nice place, but too nice.....ponies forgot how bad the world could be...except for a few, who tried hard all their lives to make sure it was such a nice place....and so eventually a stallion there was asked to join.....a club I guess you could say? Well the club taught him alot, they taught him about the past, ...about magic, about the world..." Cross paused, distracted by how intrested Winter was being....it was rare anyone ever cared what he was saying....

"Well one day this buck had enough and left them behind and traveled the wastelands trying to find more of the old world by himself because he wanted ponies to achieve again, to become great like they once were....but then he found a slaver pony called the Surgeon General...a drug-addicted dreg that Red-Eye had sent to bring down Stableton, and so I- ...I mean the buck lied and joined him, to make sure as many ponies stayed safe and free as they could" Cross took a moment to sip his Sparkle-Cola, he was getting nervous, it'd been awhile since he had to recall what had happened himself.

"To prove his loyalty he need to 'kidnapp' a Stableton citizen, and once he had done so and earned his trust, he was promoted to 2nd-in-command. He got control of his own team....he had it all planned, run in, get to the center of town and make sure that the town surrendered...but it didn't happen like that, alot of ponies got in the way he had hoped it would be clear, ...bu-....but he made sure they didn't die, he was being watched, so he had to get them out of the way a bit violently but they lived...alot of ponies lived....but nonetheless, he had to hurt them to save them....and he couldn't hold back, he had to make sure the slavers believed him.....and so alot more ended happening and so it ended up him, the Surgeon trying to off off the militia by the cliffside....I had waited for THAT exact moment...when the Surgeon finally revealed the blockbuster bomb he had hidden to try to bring the cliff down on Stableton...and so I took it, freed any militia that had slave collars, and thought the Surgeon was done....I was wrong....he tackled me, started the timer and we both ended up falling off that cliff, luckily I had way to make it out....he wasn't so lucky....." Cross just realized he switched to first-person but decided it was easier to tell it from his own perspective.

"So there you have it, the egotistical unicorn who thought he could save everypony and just went on alone, ....nopony thanked him, ....nopony wanted him around, Life went on" Cross sighed and settled back, it was out there, but he at least felt glad he could tell that story without shame anymore. But nonetheless he could already hear Winter's seat moving out and her trotting away... in his head

Winter listened intently as he told her the story. It seemed a sad story to her, one full of deceit, choices and the will to do good without the direct means of helping every pony. It didn't take long for her to understand that the pony he was talking about was him. And although she stayed until the very end she couldn't deny that the impact it had was big. Most mares would walk away right at that moment but she didn't. She just stared, thinking and imagining what it must have been like. "We can never see beyond the choices we don't yet understand, but in the end it's the choices that make who we are. They define us, change us inside... and I should know.. I spend my life watching how ponies choices effect their own lives" she said before she refocused on Cross. "I can't imagine how hard it must have been to hurt ponies, knowing what you were doing but knowing it had to be done to save a town and so many more" she said. She looked down at the table for a moment before looking back at Cross, "Thank you, for saving us, and me" she said with a gradual smile. He told her no pony had thanked him.. well this was a start.

Cross looked up and smiled...She understood, ...that was a start.... He relaxed in his seat, not so worried anymore...this was actually the first time he admitted to what he had done, she thanked him...that was something he desperately wanted more than anything since the battle...just hear it once that he did the right thing.

'We can never see beyond the choices we don't yet understand, but in the end it's the choices that make who we are. They define us, change us inside... and I should know.. I spend my life watching how ponies choices effect their own lives'

Cross could to that...and was stunned, it was almost like hearing something he himself would say to somepony. It was his special talent after all....

Just choosing...

"Thank you Winter...It really means alot to hear that from somepony else, especially somepony like you"

Quickly realizing that this could be their connection Cross thought up of something.

"Winter would you like to see the cliffside? You can see all of Stableton from there, and the sun is beginning to set. I'd think you'd really like it....I mean if you want go to with me, if not, ...I'd understand".

Still embarrassed whenever he came up with anything, his face still glowed red. He would really need to work on that but he figured he could slowly figure out what to do... no way he could screw up that badly, could he?

Winter smiled as she was happy to see his mood perk up. When he offered to take her some place to see the sunrise she smiled again and nodded happily, "That sounds wonderful" she said as she got to her hooves. This date was slowly starting to turn around. It had started pretty edgy in places but now it seemed he knew what he was doing and was making more of an effort. She looked to him, waiting for him to lead her to this location of his.

Cross smile warmly as she agreed to go with him. He picked up his lapel and slowly walked over to her, and placed his hoof on her shoulder. His eyes became solid red as his magic built up.

*FLASH* As they dissappeared, the table and chairs were thrown over by the small concentrate concussive force from teleporting, if Shutter and Starry looked outside, they would see plates and leftovers flying everywhere.

Cross and Winter now stood near halfway up the cliffside, the ledge that Cross had been on so many months before when dozens of militia ended up forcing the General to set off a bomb, nearly killing him.

Cross marched forward and stood proudly at the end up the ledge as the wind heavily blew past his mane. He turned his head back as the sunlight hammered the side of his face.

"So what do you think Winter?" he called out with a chuckling grin