A Cross To Bear

It had been a long, restless night. With the light filtering through the window, it must be morning, though really, she'd just been laying there since her nightmare. She hadn't dared go back to sleep all the way since her nightmare. She didn't really want to disturb everypony else in the house again. They might make her leave.

There was a television in the room, though, and it was morning. Maybe there'd be some cartoons on, or something educational she could watch. She hadn't seen either in a long time. She was probably really behind in learning anything, actually. She flipped it on, and looked at the screen.

"...presenting you with the news today. I'm your host..."

Oh, it was some sort of news show. She was about to flip the channel when suddenly a picture of him appeared on the screen.

"Our big story this morning is the shocking murder of Prince Blueblood yesterday evening. Taking you to the scene of the crime..."

He was dead? Somehow that didn't seem possible. And wasn't that around when she'd left? Her mind reeling, Silver wasn't sure what to think. Though she noted down that his name was Blueblood, somewhere in the back of her mind. He might be the center of her nightmares now, but they'd never really been introduced properly.

The screen changed to show the investigative reporter Watchful Eyes live at the crime scene.

"Thank you, Flash. The princesses highly distinguished nephew was murdered only yesterday by assailants unknown. Preliminary reports are that he was shot a shocking seven times, and only then stabbed through the chest. However this wasn't your standard stab wound. Forensics reports that your average pony could stab halfway through another ponies chest, but he was stabbed clear through, leaving a gaping hole in his back. Police are issuing a curfew for all of Canterlot of six o' clock. If you have any information that could lead to the arrest or capture of those responsible, please call the number below."

The screen put the phone number of the local Canterlot police department and further details.

Silver Cross couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in his death, somehow. She'd have liked to have helped. She certainly wasn't going to call that number. They sounded like they thought him dying was a bad thing. She just wished she could be sure he was gone.

Back on the television, they were interviewing an elderly neighbor of Bluebloods'. "Oh, he was always so kind and considerate, always with a moment to say hello. And he was so good with children…"

She did want to know more, though. Had the lady killed him, or was it somepony else?

Not bothering to knock, that strange mustached stallion from last night walked in and sat down on the couch. She supposed she hadn't closed the door.

He looked at the screen. "Another death. Another day. 'Tis but life. So, Cross, are you happy he's dead?"

He started to hum some odd tune to himself.

Silver Cross looked at the strange stallion who insisted on calling himself her uncle. She still needed to know more about that. She needed to know more about everything. She especially didn't understand why she was here. She limped over to the couch next to him and sighed.

"Yes. No. Maybe. It doesn't seem real."

Something occurred to her.

"Can I go to his funeral?"

He looked slightly puzzled, and then smiled.

"You'll have to ask Cielia. But if she says no, I can always sneak you out."

Then he adopted a more serious tone, straightening out his mustache.

"I saw you limping a minute ago. Cielia probably forgot to check you for wounds. Cross, do you have any owies? I took a healing class, so I think I can heal you. Also, you're always looking perplexed. What do you want to know, Cross?"

Silver glanced at several clearly visible bruises on her hindquarters, then at her various healing cuts, one of which was slightly puffy and red. Then she looked back at her 'uncle' as if he was dumb. Wordlessly, she started pointing to all the areas that hurt. It took a while.

Nautilus pulled out a pair of gold glasses, put them on and peered over at her.

"Oh, I didn't notice that. Thought that was part of your natural fur color. Here, let me take care of that."

His horn glowed white, and her bruises and cuts glowed as well. It felt tingly and strange, and was kinda itchy, really. But some of her aches and pains smoothed out, and gradually the bruises and cuts she could see faded, the bruises vanishing, and the cuts becoming faint pink lines.

He smiled. "That better, Cross?"

Well, there was only one way for her to really be sure. She hopped down from the couch, and walked around in circles for a few minutes around the bedroom. Then she hopped back up.

Well, the worst of it was gone. She didn't feel as bad, but something still hurt deep in her hindquarters. While it wasn't hurting every time she walked now, the fact she could walk faster meant she was noticing the limp on one of her hind legs a lot more.

That shouldn't be surprising, really. That was the same leg that he usually pulled her out of her cage with. He'd often twisted it while pulling her, sometimes just to hear her cry out in pain, so it wouldn't exactly surprise her if it had broken at some point. Maybe more than once.

"Kinda. It still hurts-" she pointed at her hindquarters. "in here. And something's wrong with this leg."

She pointed to the leg in question.

Nautilus took hold of the leg, looked it over, touched it in spots gently, watching her, and then sighed.

"Looks like your leg broke, Cross. Luckily, it's just a fracture, but I'm going to have to reset it, and that will hurt. So I'll put you under a spell that'll make it just tingle, instead."

His horn glowed white, and this time her head was glowing. Her head felt like it was wrapped in a cloud, and she felt kinda funny. Then he started to work on her leg.

Resetting her leg actually involved rebreaking it and then healing it when it was in the right position, and she whimpered despite herself. It felt really weird when it broke, and then healed, though it didn't hurt much.much.

Once he finished, his horn stopped glowing, and he looked really tired.

"One second, Cross. My mana levels are low."

He pulled out a chocolate bar and broke it in half. Then he handed one piece to Silver Cross and started eating the other one himself.

Once he finished off his chocolate, his horn started glowing again. She ate her own chocolate, and braced herself as her hindquarters started tingling. She had a pretty good idea what had hurt her there, and it had happened over and over again, so she didn't think fixing it was going to be pleasant. She was pretty sure something had ripped inside. More than once.

She could sorta feel things knitting themselves together inside, and the pain, which she had sorta been aware of without really feeling it, lessened, then stopped.

Nautilus looked really exhausted when he finished. "All better now, Cross?"

Well, her head still felt kinda weird, but she thought so.

"I can't tell. I hope so. Everythings all tingly."

She paused for a moment. She still had no idea why she wasn't still in a cage, if he was really dead, how he could possibly be her uncle, or what really was going on. Without the constant pain distracting her, she really felt like she needed some answers. And he had offered.

"Why are you doing this? What am I doing here?"

He just chuckled.

"Well, I'm doing this because I like to think I'm a good stallion. Also, Cielia's my sister-in-law. After seeing you in that cage, instead of having you go to a horrible orphanage, she adopted you through shadowy means. Now you're part of our family."

After saying that, his horn glowed one last time, and her head started to feel a bit more normal.

She really hoped he was telling the truth. He had played cruel games with her before, letting her think she was going to be able to get away, then pulling the rug out from under her.

"So, I'll be living here now, I'll n-never be locked up in a c-cage ever again, and n-nopony will ever-"

She looked back at her flank and trailed off, not really sure of what to say.

Nautilus knelt to to her level, and looked at her calmly. "I promise you, Cross. If anypony dares to even look at you meanly, I'll hurt them so bad. Nopony is going to hurt you. Do you understand that?"

This all seemed pretty unlikely to her, but she wasn't about to contradict him.

"I-I think so. Um, what about daddy?"

He yawned. "Your new daddy? Or your old father?"

She looked at him, newly worried. "My old one. Daddy gave me to him once. What if daddy finds out where I am?"

He just laughed. "Then I'll lock him in a cage and see how he likes it. But don't worry, Cielia won't let you get hurt."

Silver Cross bit her lip, still not convinced.

"Daddy's probably still in Canterlot. Are we near Canterlot?" she asked him, worried again. "And the ladies name is Cielia?"

"We are closer to Trottingham, actually," He yawned. "She is Cielia, the teenage colt from last night was Avery, and I am Captain Nautilus. Or uncle Nautilus to you."

Well, at least they weren't anywhere nearby.

"Oh. I wasn't totally sure. She didn't say that much to me last night." She yawned. "It's gonna be awhile before I can remember all these names anyway."

She looked around the room they were in.

"So this is my room, then?"

It was a lot better than a cage, if it was, though she was still gonna avoid that bed.

She didn't get an answer.

"Nautil- um, er, Naughty?" She'd never get the hang of these names.

Still no response. After asking once or twice more, she realized he'd fallen asleep. Well, he had looked pretty tired after healing her. She was pretty tired, too, after her sleepless night, so she turned the television back off, and fell back asleep curled up on the couch.