From the Outside In

by DarkParable

Chapter Seventeen: The Moon's Gift... And Further Furry Antics

Falling, never really a pleasant experience for some. There's a complete and total lack of control as gravity decides that you are, incontestably, it's plaything. For others there's a feeling of utter exhilaration as the wind rushes past you, as the world rushes up to greet you there's a feeling of defying death. In really long falls, like say from about the height of a hundred story building (or equivalently elevated cloud) there's a sort of slowing to time that allowed all this to roll through the mind of one Twilight Sparkle.

Red however, wasn't falling. He was simply taking a more direct route to the ground with his mare sized lavender flight vest clinging to him like a particularly persistent leech. About fifty feet off the ground he pulled out of his dive and skimmed the earth close enough to allow the grass to tickle Twilight's back, an act that finally snapped the shell shocked unicorn out of her blank faced, mind racing, nigh catatonic... Well, it brought her back to reality with a loud cry of "SWEET CELESTIA THAT WAS AWESOME!... Do that again and I swear I'll turn you into an orange."

It wasn't as if Red had intended to scare the living daylights out of her, but it had certainly been amusing. "Sorry Twi... Can you let go now? I'm kinda having trouble breathing when you're compressing my rib cage like this." he said, wheezing slightly from the effort of drawing breath... and of course his little aerial stunt that left both their manes windswept in a rather stylish manner.

It took a crow bar, or at least a magical construct in the shape of one, to pry the two of them apart, but when Twilight dropped off Red drew in a great gulp of air and fell over, rolling onto his back. Twilight simply lay where she'd landed with an "oof" and stared up at the sky. They lay that way for a few minutes before looking at one another and smiling broadly.

"Well... Later on, after we sort out the mess that little fox is causing, I guess you're going to want to learn more about where I'm from yeah?" asked Red, his smile faltering ever so slightly. Still, he felt the offer was implicit in his question, he just kinda hoped she'd miss it in the wake of the thrill ride he'd just given her.

Well, she didn't miss it, but she didn't comment on the slight flicker in his expression either. She simply smiled a bit more warmly and rolled to her hooves before she answered. "Maybe, but I think that can wait... Maybe over dinner or something." With that, and a blush she did her best to cover, she trotted off in the general direction of Ponyville. Red wasn't far behind, though he was far ahead in terms of hiding the red color her words had brought to his face.

---

Rarity was utterly poleaxed by the sight before her. Never in all her life had she seen something so absolutely beautiful, so stunning, so... So... Her words fell far short of describing the sight of the kimono that hovered in the air before her. She'd been quite wrapped up in her work, somepony had anonymously ordered a rather elaborate design that had taken her a long while just to get all the materials prepped. Let alone even begin cutting for the pattern she'd been provided with.

She'd allowed herself a few moments to look up at the clock when a flutter of movement caught her eye, drawing her attention away from her work by virtue of curiosity... She'd been alone when she began working hadn't she? Well yes she had, but when the movement turned out to be the fluttering of cloth she'd been enraptured by the sight before her.

She'd never seen silk so fine, nor so black as what hovered before her. Her practiced eyes told her that this was far beyond ever the silks produced in Neighpon, which was commonly accepted as the country that produced the best silks much as Prance made the best perfumes and so on. At first she'd taken the garment to be plain unbroken black, but then she noted the faint grey embroidery on the garment.

Her eyes followed the pattern woven by this expertly done needle work, the grey lighten by so many subtle degrees to show a faint flame pattern here and there. The flames mostly seemed to dance along the hem line and the ends of the sleeves. Suddenly the garment turned and she gasped in wonder at what adorned the back. More of that wonderfully subtle work though far more complex then the flame patterns that almost seemed to move and dance on their own.

This was mindbogglingly complex to look upon, and as such she spent a good ten minutes staring at it, trying to find some meaning in what her eyes showed her. When she finally did she drowned. It was the head of a fox, surrounded by the words "Look up" repeated over and over again in multiple languages. It had taken her so long to figure this out due to much of it being done in a manner that seamlessly blended positive and negative space. She blinked slightly and did as directed.

"Well... That's... Odd." was all she had time to say before she found herself wrapped up like a meal for a large spider by every bit of thread in her shop. Upon the ceiling sat the arachnid in question, though he was a vulpine not an arachnid. The kitsune chuckled softly and left her there, struggling a bit and looking rather disgruntled by suddenly finding herself having to do the worm to move anywhere. Least she could breath easily.

---

Fluttershy smiled broadly at the sight before her. Never before had she seen a critter like this, beautiful white and red fur, nine oh so fluffy tails, and sparkling intelligent eyes. Not to mention the fact that it was SOOOOOO cuddly. She'd been surprised when she came across the little dear, especially when one considered it had been about to plant her like a bonsai tree, but she could honestly say that she wouldn't have minded that.

The kitsune sighed softly, quite content to allow himself to be petted at the moment. He'd fully intended to make a tree of the pegasus who was currently scratching behind his ears in a manner that sent shivers of pleasure running up and down his spine, but one look at those eyes and that plan had died a sudden and painless death. She was far too cute for him to do anything to... Not that he'd ever admit that aloud, he did have his pride.

Fluttershy had a new little animal friend, and all it had cost was a loss of dignity on the part of the kitsune... If any other spirits say this he'd never live it down. Then again, who cared? "Slightly to the left please..." he murmured, murring as the gentle hooves slowly melting him into a puddle of pleased fox did as asked. Yeah... Time to go before he got too into the impromptu massage. He vanished in a puff a sweetly scented smoke, replaced by an all day pass to the local spa. Hey, he got a free massage, why not give her one?

---

MEANWHILE: SOMEWHERE ON THE ROAD TO PONYVILLE

Red sighed softly, Twilight had teleported herself back to Ponyville the moment he'd mentioned that the kitsune was probably still causing some pretty odd havoc in the small town. He shoulda seen that one coming, after all that was her home, and all her friends were there at the rather mischievous mercy of the fox spirit. To be honest if she'd asked him, he would've told her to just go for it. He could understand wanting to protect the things you loved after all.

He was content to walk along for now, one instance of death defying flight had been enough for today, and being speedy often led to him smacking into solid objects fast enough to embed himself in them. There was a certain couple in Canterlot that could attest to this after all.

So, not willing to risk any more such incidents (or that he'd probably strained a wing) he walked... It was only five miles after all if he was any judge of distance from the bird's eye view he'd gotten as he and Twi had made for the ground. It was pleasant really, just to trod along and admire how beatific the world of Equestria was first hand. Beat the hell outa the parks that was for sure.

Suddenly something plummeted from the sky to land with a gentle "THUNK!" right atop his head. Well, gentle is too soft a word for getting a length of wood dropped on your head from princesses knew where, so it was no surprise that he went as wall eyed as a muffin loving mare for a few moments. Shaking his head he got unsteadily to his hooves and took a look at what hit him.

The first thing he noted was the tag, after all it was kinda glowing a bit. Picking it up he gave it a once over and had to suppress a small chuckle. There was a cartoonish drawing of Luna blowing a raspberry at him and the words "For you, oh most noble knight of shovels." Enough time had passed that even he could laugh at the fact that he'd actually faced down some diamond dogs with a shovel of all things. Smiling a bit he turned his full attention to what could only be that gift Luna had mentioned. It was a staff, and no simple one either. Silvered wood as hard as iron, smooth as silk yet he knew somehow this wouldn't come slipping from his hooves despite that. This was something he could honestly say he hadn't been expecting in the least. Shrugging a bit he gathered it up, tucked it under a wing, and got back to walking, the comforting weight of the Luna-blessed staff putting a small smile on his face. Suddenly, dealing with that kitsune didn't seem like it would be so hard to get rid of.

Author's Note:

Ok folks, been awhile has it not? Well I think it has regardless if you do or not. In the next chapter (which I'll put out sometime this week) the reasons behind that staff will be explained. AJ will get her turn in the crosshairs of the nine tailed terror. And we will be bidding farewell to that same trickster. That's all ya get for spoilers, feel free to speculate in the comments on just how those events will occur, and what the point in giving a pony a weapon, even one that can be non-lethal as a staff, is.

Until next time folks, stay as unclassy as possible for ponies. There's a Pinkie Pie baked cupcake in it fo-... Well there was. Sorry, but you try keeping that mare away from baked goods.

Comments

[Scipio Smith]

And the boy gets a date, woo hoo

It's nice to see that even the kitsune is not immune to the charms of Fluttershy.

I'm guessing he's not just going to beat up the kitsune with a stick, because that would be obvious. It must be some kind of magic in the silver veneer, but I don't know enough about kitsune mythology to guess why that is.

But who cares, when Red got a date. Let me tell you you're doing the 'romancing one of the mane six' a hundred times better than most HiE authors. For one thing Red's not a complete tool.

[DarkParable]

2891091 Lol, the staff will have something to do with it, yes. Like you said though, He's not gonna beat him about the head neck and shoulders while yelling "BAD MESSENGER SPIRIT!" That'd be too silly even for me.

No one is immune from the flutter-cuteness, Its one of the unspoken laws of the universe. That much adorableness concentrated in one place basically makes her immune to everything, 'cept herself that is. Being mean to her would be like drop kicking kittens with spikey boots... Anyone who does that needs be beset upon by the Cupcakes version of Pinkie.

Thanks for the compliment there, never tried writing for romance of any sort before, so this is a novility for me. Glad it's apparently good x3

Kinda hard to make a character like Red into a tool, though I suppose the discorded version could be. No not going to make that an arc in this story, even I know that's been done far too often... Though I'm not above accidentally letting out a certain spirit of chaos. If you like my Pinkie Pie... You should see the characters whom I write to be completely insane.