Crazy, Clever and Cunning

by Fresnor

Cider and a new home

Just when you think you are getting to know another being they go and pull something that you would never have expected. Having missed Twilight’s birthday as she was in Canterlot during it I decided to try and visit during Spike’s to make up for it. Unfortunately I had arrived late and missed him as he went out. Things got a bit out of hand from there as he somehow triggered a massive growth spurt and damaged part of the town. Luckily Rarity was able to calm him down, which makes up for how insensitive I heard she was being during Twilight’s birthday party.

I helped out with the cleanup afterwards, and it was during that where I heard more bragging from how good the cider was during the upcoming cider season. She also mentioned that they also ran short all the time so she rarely even got to taste any. On hearing this I talked with Applejack and found out that you could reserve barrels a month out so that you were sure to get some. Normally only businesses like Mr. Rich’s did this, but seeing as it is supposed to be so good I reserved a barrel even though it did cost extra.

Over the month until then I kept my usual routine while also making the jeweled collar for the filly if she decides to come out to my home. I didn’t make any mention of it to her, though I did still visit her. She was relieved to find out that I wasn’t badly hurt from the incident, and was now actually coming out into the open to talk with me more often. She even seemed impressed by the map I made during that time, though she did point out that the risk wasn’t quite worth it, which I agreed with.

Rainbow Dash was also getting a bit annoying with her excitement for cider season. I didn’t make any mention that I reserved a barrel as I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it from her, even though I planned to share it anyways whenever I decided to break it out. When the day arrived I made sure to get out there early to claim it, and while waiting I spent time chatting with Pinkie Pie who was camping out since she finished working at the bakery the day before.

Once Applejack and her family were ready I claimed my reservation along with the others who also planned ahead and made my way back to my home with it. I caught sight of Rainbow Dash a good ways in the back of the line, but she didn’t see me as she was too focused on the front where Pinkie Pie walked away carrying a small tower of mugs. I’d wonder if she was going to share that, but knowing Pinkie Pie it’s all for her.

It takes a while to carry the heavy barrel home as I have to stop and rest a couple times, but once it’s safely stowed away in the basement I decide to head back. Of course the trip back ends up being mostly a waste as I can hear Rainbow Dash lamenting the fact that they ran out right before she could get any. While this is going on I notice a mechanical contraption rolling its way up to the mass of ponies still in line.

It turns out that it is some sort of magic powered cider making machine run by a pair of brothers by the names Flim and Flam. Something seems off about them without even going into the connotations on their names, even if the musical number is catchy. I vaguely remember hearing something about a pair of trouble making unicorns during my travels, but they were only rumors with no specifics.

Well nothing comes of it that day, though the next day they are able to get a barrel made using apples from the farm. Of course Rainbow Dash is right there for the first sample before it gets knocked out of her hooves by Applejack. That seems a tad inconsiderate of her; she seems to be way too defensive of their family’s apples and cider.

Things just degrade from there as the groups go back and forth at each other until a bet is made over the ownership of the farm. I definitely notice the problem here though the rest seem completely oblivious to the scam being played on them. I consider doing something about it the next day, but things seem to turn around for them as Twilight and the rest of her friends join in to help.

When I hear them talking about how they are catching up and are going to win I notice the brothers increase the power of their machine which starts grabbing entire trees. I decide to just get in line at Applejack’s cider stand as I know that things have been decided. Of course the rest of the ponies don’t realize this as they think the brothers had won when the barrel count comes out in the end. I still don’t move from my place as the other ponies flock to get cider from them.

I notice the Apple family about to leave the farm for good, but I wink at Applejack causing her to give me an odd look. Of course the reason is obvious as everypony finds out that the stuff they were given is completely undrinkable due to all the wood, leaves and dirt in the top barrels. The two unicorns are soon fleeing from town because of their failure and the Apple’s cider stand reopens as they no longer have to leave.

Being first in line gives Applejack time to talk with me as the rest of her family gets things set up. “So what in the hay was that wink about back there?” I smile as a few barrels start rolling towards the stand. “Oh just that I knew things were going to be fine after seeing those two started to panic and were destroying trees to try and keep up with you all. Of course they left before paying for the damages, but at least they left a large number of barrels of good cider buried under all the ruined barrels.”

She just shakes her head at my logic, though now that I pointed it out she starts to get angry about the trees that they lost because of those two. She has her brother secure all the barrels though to go through to try and find the good ones to sell to pay for the replacements like I suggested though.

Once they had everything set up I decide to buy another entire barrel at the normal price as well as a mug to drink now. I then walk by Rainbow Dash while slowly raising it to my lips for a drink. I am pulled away from her glare though as the taste ends up being much better than I thought it would be. “Wow, you weren’t kidding at how good this stuff is Rainbow Dash, makes me sorry for teasing you with a full barrel but at least there is no way they’ll run out before you get any this time.”

She doesn’t say anything and just continues glaring until she gets to the front. I can tell she almost breaks down crying as the barrel they are currently using runs dry right as she gets there, but as I said there was still plenty more to go even though Pinkie Pie brought her a mug. I head home to stash the second barrel and wonder how long I could resist breaking one of them out considering how good the stuff was.

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A month after cider season I had finally finished enchanting the gems for the choker. It was probably the most complicated piece of work that I have had to do as I had to get three different spells working in concert with each other. I still had to provide the instructions for the illusion spell to get it to activate, but that could wait until seeing what the filly thought of the idea.

Just to be safe I decided to examine it all one more time to be sure that everything was correctly working. The illusion was an amalgamation of different spells to provide an effect similar to my own spell so that common spells wouldn’t be able to detect or disable it easily and even uncommon ones would likely fail as well. The spell even included a tactile component so that the changed parts really were gone on all accounts so accidents and injuries involving them didn’t happen.

Compared to that the other two spells were simple, the first being on to hide the collar as well as prevent removal except to those that know the trick to it. The second one was for allowing the two spells to work in conjunction, as well as to provide more power to them in emergencies. All in all I’m surprised it worked out as well as it did, though I believe the silver used in the collar may have had something to do with it. With it being so versatile in spell casting it probably was able to channel and improve the enchantments in some way.

I decided to bring the issue up with her later on today when I head out to the castle. Before I leave I make sure that the basement is sealed as I had caught a certain rainbow menace sneaking around the place. When she found out that I hadn’t drunk the cider yet she had started trying to sneak in to help herself to some. Needless to say I have had to toss her out a few times already and have even caught her late at night even.

Thankfully she didn’t seem to be around today, probably worried about the hints I’ve been dropping about getting Twilight to come up with a spell that could remove wings. I may have been a bit harsh with that as I know how she feels about being grounded after watching her get waylaid by Rarity to help with her dresses as well as her being in that exact situation when Discord was around. Making sure I have everything I head on out towards the castle.

As I walk I try and think of any arguments that she might use and try to come up with ways to reassure her that everything will be fine. I don’t want to force her, but staying where she is would be problematic in the long run as she could be discovered at any time and there wouldn’t be any help available at the castle. At least at my home they would have to get through me first, and if the disguise works well enough she could slowly get used to others again and hide in plain sight as nopony would expect the thing she might have been to live peacefully.

The biggest issue with being at my place is who would likely discover her there first. Pinkie Pie is of course the most likely to find out first but is probably the one most likely to keep it secret. Rainbow Dash at least is pretty obvious with her attempts so would easily be avoided. Which just leaves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who may actually be good for her to meet as it would give her someone around her age to socialize with.

I am so caught up in my thoughts that I don’t even notice that I had arrived at the castle until I trip over the threshold. Picking myself up, I check that the things in my pack are still fine before searching for the filly. I eventually find her in a large room, which was probably used as a ballroom, where it looks like she is attempting to fly. I watch for a while until it looks like she is about to give up before I interrupt her, which surprises her into attempting to run before she sees that it is me.

After apologizing I move right into the issue I wanted to bring up while my thoughts are still fresh. “There is a reason I came looking for you today instead of waiting for you to find me like usual. I need to ask you something very important and I want you to think carefully about how you answer.” She looks at me warily as I normally wouldn’t be this serious. “I’ll try, I guess.”

I just nod before continuing. “The thing is I’ve been noticing how you’ve been living out here and I’ve been thinking that it might be best to move you somewhere safer as well as cleaner, specifically I want to invite you to take one of the spare rooms at my home.” As I finish I watch her to see what her reaction will be and I see many emotions flit past her face.

Fear at the prospect of leaving and possibly being discovered, embarrassment at her state of cleanliness, and even a few others that I can’t quite identify. Eventually she speaks up. “But why do you want me to leave the castle, I’ve been fine here up until now and wouldn’t I be found out if I move in with you?” I consider her questions and luckily I already had an answer ready.

“Well you actually have a higher chance of being found if you stay here, especially if I am followed out here which I’m surprised hasn’t happened yet. If you are found out here then you would have to hope it isn’t someone that would hurt you, at least at my place they would have to go through me first and I could protect you better there.” She seems a bit calmer with my answer, but still uncertain.

“But what about how others would react to my looks if they do see me? They would be sure to tell my sisters then.” I just smile as I pull out the jeweled collar I made. “That is actually the easy part since I made this. It’ll conceal either your wings or horn so that nopony has to know. It can even make other changes if necessary, but I don’t think they would be needed.” I hand the object to her to examine closely and she pokes at it for a bit before trying it on.

“Why isn’t it working?” She asks in confusion as nothing happens. “Well it still needs to be activated with the chosen form. I didn’t know what you would prefer so I left that part until you made a final decision.” She nods before taking it off and sets it aside for now. She sits there trying to decide, though I can’t tell which way she is leaning from her expressions.

“I’m not sure if I want to go or not. It’s lonely here and it would be nice to go somewhere else, but I’m scared of what others will think of me.” I set a hoof on her back to try and comfort her as I try to reassure her. “Everyone is scared of something, but if you let your fear control you nothing good will ever happen. I should know as I’ve had to deal with my own fears for years alone, and now I’ve met some wonderful ponies in Ponyville and my fears feel much more distant now.”

This seems to remind her of another problem with moving in with me. “I won’t have to meet them myself will I?” This is something I don’t have a good answer for so I just go with the truth. “Eventually you should meet them as they really are nice ponies. That can wait until you are ready to do so hopefully. A couple of them are a bit unpredictable with when they would show up, but the disguise should help.”

We just sit there in silence as she tries to come to a decision over this and it looks like she is thinking hard at that. Eventually she takes a deep breath before letting it out and putting the collar on. “So how do you get this to work so we can go?” I smile at her decision and go into the choices she has to make as well as the consequences of each. I find that she hasn’t really tried using her magic at all and it didn’t interest her too much so that was the thing to hide. Interestingly enough she actually took a liking an idea that came up regarding her wings.

It came up when I noticed her turquoise eyes and the cat eye shape they were. I mentioned how much they looked like the eyes of a thestral and she asked what they were. After explaining it she seemed to like the idea of them and wanted to know if I could make her wings like theirs as well. After considering this and realizing how well her colors would fit as one we finally settled on disguising her as one.

With that taken care of we went to her rooms and gathered up everything that she wanted to take with her into my packs. There wasn’t much beyond the few things I gave her so we were able to head out within the hour. I offered to let her ride there on my back, which she accepted as she didn’t know how far we were going. I decided to go at a brisk pace to lessen the chances of meeting anypony on the way, and we talked about what to expect on the way there.

As we came up to my house I decided to go in the back way so I had her hold on as I climbed up to my window with her clinging to my back. This made things easier as I dropped her off in the bathroom so she could clean up while I put her things in the room next door. I head back to assist her as she has nearly a year’s worth of dirt to clean off, as well as all the tangles she had acquired in her mane as well.

Once she had been cleaned and groomed I sat back to admire our work. Her coat was now a gleaming onyx color that shone under the light. Her mane and tail were just as spectacular as the colors blended together in a way that made me think of the beauty found only in sapphires. It gives me an idea as we head downstairs towards the couch in the sitting room.

“Well you really clean up well so I don’t think you need to worry about your looks. Now onto something really important, we really need to pick out a name for you.” I was about to offer her one that had come to mind but I was interrupted by a voice from behind us. “Ooh, I love guessing games! How about Pokey Smokes? No! Black Snooty! Black Snooty!”

This causes a duel reaction as the filly dives in terror under the couch and both of my hooves to meet my face.

Author's Note:

If anyone didn't see that coming a mile away please raise their hands. Well I have a name picked out, it's nothing spectacular but I feel that it at least will fit to some extent. Sure it won't be as good as Nyx, but that's a tough act to match up to. Next chapter should finally be the Luna episode, though the two aren't going to be meeting just yet. If things end up being short enough though then it will also include the start of why I needed one of the CMC to be selected, just remember that the choice was out of my hands. <.< As usual accepting messages, texts and comments.

Comments

[Truthseeker]

I am glad you didn't make her exactly like Nyx. I see a huge problem arising though: eventually somebody is going to see what is going on and the way I see it happening is that the filly is exposed and of course our Kitsune is questioned. Once Celestia finds out that she is a Kitsune, she is going to go full-on mean-lestia on them both. I hope that last part is wrong, but the indicative build-up of Celestia seems to lean very strongly in that direction.

[Asolem2]

This causes a duel reaction as the filly dives in terror under the couch and both of my hooves to meet my face.

Dangit Pinkie, don't scare the kid