//------------------------------// // Chapter Nineteen: ...With a bit of a stick // Story: From the Outside In // by DarkParable //------------------------------// Red blinked at the sight of what went streaking by him on the way to Sweet Apple Acres. Of all the completely random and nonsensical things he'd seen this Kitsune do, of all the random memes he was sure he'd missed at some point in and among the actions of the nine-tailed nuisance... This one had him the most ready to laugh his head off. One Prince Blueblood, dyed pink and being chased by most of the population of Ponyville from the looks of things. Confused by all this he stopped one of the slower members of the apparent mob and politely inquired as to just "What in the hay was up with this?!" The response was as simple as it was confusingly vague and completely weird. "Muffin Button." said the pony whom Red didn't know in the least. He was about to question that statement when Blueblood ran right back by and bowled him over without so much as a howdy-do. Red wound up pinned in much the same manner that Twilight had been not too long ago, though he found it FAR more uncomfortable considering the pony atop him was both large, squirming, and dog piled not long after. It was then that Red noted something quite peculiar, Blueblood's horn had been replaced by a large red button. Curiosity getting the better of him he reached up and pressed it with the one free hoof he had. There was a soft whirring sound and a loud pop before a fresh, and quite warm, blueberry muffin dropped out of nowhere to land right next to Red's head. "Oh so THAT'S what he meant..." he muttered, watching as the little mob dragged the prince turned baked good dispenser was dragged off, forehead being bopped every few feet by a grey walleyed mare whom Red could only smile at. Yeah... Shoulda seen that one coming. Freed from beneath the burden of the public peripheral vision as it were Red collected his staff and turned to go, coming face to face with another pony he didn't know. Though in this case, face to face was the operative word as, per usual, he wound up locking lips with what turned out to be a unicorn mare. He flipped out instantly, backing away and face hoofing hard enough to be heard in canterlot. "Oh for the love of all, I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going and I didn-... Are you alright there?" he asked, waving a wing in front of her face. He got absolutely no reaction what so ever, though it did give him time to look her over. She was, he had to admit, quite pretty with the way her golden coat caught the light of the slowly setting sun, casting back soft reddish patches and giving her the appearance of being a mare made from living red gold. That image was aided by the way her green eyes seemed to be as deep and strikingly emerald colored as the precious stone of the same name. Her mane fluttered softly in a gentle breeze, the red and white strands bringing half remembered maypole dances to Red's mind. Overall he set enraptured by the beauty of this mare, blinking stupidly for a few moments before a soft shock emanating from his staff snapped him out of it. He blinked owlishly at the gift from the Princess of the Night, cocking his head and frowning slightly. What had caused THAT he wondered, perplexed by the was it seemed to grow warm against his side, tucked under his wing as it was. Shrugging he turned his attention back to that mare he'd bumped into and his eye was caught by a piece of paper taped over one of her cutie marks. Standing out in stark contrast the clean white sheet of paper covered the proud rising sun on this mare's flank, the thickly inked words upon it were a bit confusing though. "Hello there, if you're reading this it means you were either lucky enough to come up behind me, or something else. Heres a bit of a story, and a warning for you. The other day I ran into this annoying little fox thing. After some... Trouble, lets call it, it got in trouble and I helped it out just because I'm nice like that. In exchange the little... thing... gave me my heart's fondest desire, according to it anyways. Word of warning, apparently my heart's desire is for all to look at me and to lose themselves in my beauty and wonder... I'd thought I wanted to be the element of magic, after all that was supposed to be my destiny... I guess I was wrong, I just wanted to be the lime-light. Twilight, for what its worth I'm sorry I hated you for taking what I thought was mine, My position as Celestia's student. Signed, Breaking Dawn, former unicorn, current show piece." Well... That was honestly the cruelest thing he'd ever heard of a Kitsune doing, and he couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for this mare. No one really deserved to be a living statue now did they? Sighing softly he turned to go, not knowing if stopping that little fur ball would help, but unable to come up with any other solution. As he left the butt end of his staff brushed softly against one of Dawn's legs. Red saw nothing as the mare vanished with the last rays of the setting sun and a softly whispered "thanks you" that was carried away by the wind. Oh she wasn't killed, or even harmed, simply given her freedom in a manner of speaking, flung into the aethers to a world more befitting one such as her... She didn't quite belong here after all. By the time Red got to Sweet Apple Acres the moon was high in the sky and things there had gotten a bit out of hoof. The Kitsune sat atop a tree, idly flicking its paws about like some puppeteer as Twilight and Rarity danced a rather impressive rendition of the River Dance for his amusement. "Oh look, someone new to play with... Ya know, I was getting kinda tired of playing nice with all the little ponies and such... So I decided to put on my black hat and curly moustashe for a bit. Can I do evil and cruel or what?" asked the Kitsune as he gave Red a rather sinister smile, a smile mirrored in all but the eyes of Twilight and Rarity. Red watched the two mares, concern evident in his face. Their eyes were full of emotion, anger, sadness, and hope all mixing together as their gazes flicked between Red and the Kitsune. Their bodies however didn't seem to be under their control at the moment, and Red could swear that he could faintly see strings attached to each of their limbs. "Lets put away the toys for now shall we?" asked the Kitsune, waving his paw dismissively at the two mares who subsequently went flying to land among the other ponies present, landing in a bit of a heap before groggily raising their heads to watch. Whatever the Kitsune had done with them, they were free of it at least in part now. "I thought Kitsune were supposed to be mostly benign trickster and messenger spirits..." muttered Red as he watched all this with a bit of shock evident on his face. His mismatched eyes wide as he took it all in. Sighing softly he settled back on his haunches and moved his new staff from beneath his wing to his hoof. How he managed to hold it now was beyond him, he simply did and it felt right. The silver length of the staff seemed to glow brightly under the moonlight, marking it as something special indeed. The Kitsune was oblivious to this, it was more than interested in just thinking up something fitting to do with its newest plaything. Wings to cement? Nah too overrated. Oooh I know, make it speak in spoonerized pig Latin! Yeah that could be fun... Hey wait a sec, whats that glowing thing? Oooh shiny, I'll be taking that soon as I'm done with the little horse-bird... it though to itself, that sinister grin growing wider as it hopped from its perch and padded slowly closer to Red. For his part Red just watched calmly as the little troublemaker came closer. When it was within reach he took up his staff and gently poked it in the forehead. "Right there's good little fella... Tell you what, let everypony go and put things right and I'll see about getting you a proper shrine and some decent sake, ok?" asked Red, hoping that would placate the spirit. The Kitsune paused for a moment before shorting and blowing a raspberry at Red. "Uhh buddy, that stuff only works in Neighpon, not here... So no deal... I'll take that shiny thing round you neck though." It made to reach out with its magic to grab hold of Red's keepsake medallion, but found something was keeping it from getting a grip. Frowning it tried again with similar results. "What gives? MAGIC... Y U NO WORK?" it asked, slipping into an overdone accent and face warping to fir that particular meme as it spoke. Unable to help himself Red responded without missing a beat. "Muffin button." before drawing back and bopping the Kitsune atop the head with his staff. He didn't bring the weapon down all that hard, but the Kitsune fell unconscious all the same. It might've been a spirit, but if its got a corporeal form certain laws apply, including those governing blunt force trauma apparently. Pinkie spoke up from the pile of ponies, giving voice to what everyone (cept for Granny Smith, she was napping) was thinking at that moment. "Well... That was anticlimactic... There weren't even any muffins!"