(Third Person POV)
Sunset Shimmer was bored.
It was the day after Kurama had recovered from their battle with Kyuubi and Sundown, and she was sitting at her window seat in Calculus class with nothing to do. The class was about one sixth of the way through a surprise test and while most of her classmates were horrified at the idea so soon after the school was attacked by a DEMON SPIRIT, Sunset herself was okay with the notion. It gave her still-butthurt classmates less opportunities to shoot her venomous looks or to launch spitballs at her head.
That and she was really good at Calculus.
So good, in fact, that she had finished the entire two hour test within twenty minutes and was now left with nothing to do except stare absently out of the window and wish she was somewhere or someone else. She'd been getting nothing but bad looks, insults or the cold shoulder from her fellow students since the Formal and while her pride would always deny any suggestion of such by her 'friends', it was actually starting to hurt a little.
She had very few lessons with a majority of the element wielders of this world, which meant that she spent most of her periods sitting alone in a corner of the room, quietly getting on with things. There were only two exceptions to this; English which she shared with the Element of Honesty and Calculus with the tremendous company of...
"Psst, Sunset. Psst, Sunset. Psssssssssss..."
Pinkamena Diane Pie.
"SUNSEEEEEEET." the overbearing pink party planner hissed at the Jinchuuriki from her desk, just to the left of the studious teen's. She cast a lazy glance to her classmate and cocked an eyebrow, silently questioning what she wanted so desperately that she would try and fuse a scream and a whisper together to be quiet enough to not bring attention to herself but also draw Sunset's attention too her. "What's the answer to three B?" she screamspered whilst pointing at the particular page and question.
Sunset briefly threw her gaze to the front of the classroom, specifically to their rather elderly Calculus professor. He was a pencil-thin man, with grey skin only a few shades darker than his thinning hair. He wore a tattered, brown, stripped sweater vest over a white shirt and light grey suit trousers and was currently conked straight out in his desk chair, snoring quietly and with his hearing aid on the desk. After making that observation the teen just shrugged, picked up her test paper and handed it to Pinkie.
"Please try to make it look like you didn't copy me. Oh, and wake me up before his egg timer goes off." and after seeing the party girl's confirmational nod, she rested her arms across the desk, put her head on her forearms and went to see if Kurama was in a talkative mood.
(Kurama's POV)
Boredom. No matter where I went, how long I'd lived or who I was, I always ended up getting bored sooner or later. Is it some sort of universal constant? An unspoken rule of reality alongside the likes of; Water - Wet. Star - Hot. Mosquitoes - Flappy-About-Buzz-Cakes. I paused after that last thought, slightly confused at my censorship of my own profanity. Hmm, I'm censoring my own thoughts now... She's been out of my life for 16 years now and she's still having an influence on how I live it. I chuckled lightly to myself and turned from my back onto my right side first and then onto my front, placing my hands under my chin in an attempt to get comfortable.
I'd been desperately trying to fall asleep for hours now, but had been unsuccessful and I was just becoming more and more frustrated as time went on. It was pushing my patience to the brink of its limits and by the time She arrived I'd already lost it.
Sunset Shimmer arrived to find her once serene and peaceful mindscape reduced to smouldering rubble and small fires burned atop the highly disturbed pool that once surrounded the large island that had become my new home.
I towered over this carnage, my titanic maw still lightly smoking and my monstrous fists still clenched with small chunks of rock still ingrained into them. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I tried to regain my composure and realign my frazzled thoughts, but whilst doing this one rather frightening thought crossed the front of my mind; Man did THAT feel good. It was gone as fast as it had arrived and with its departure came a fresh sense of clarity, as well as a quick spell of light-headedness.
I was back on the floor again in moments, coming crashing down from my immense height like a giant, orange tree; coming to rest spreadeagled in the shallow water of the scape and for a few seconds I lay there, pondering where that sudden fit of rage had come from. The sound of splashing footsteps indicated that I wasn't the only one who wanted to know.
"What the hell Kurama?! Why'd you blow this place to bits?!" she yelled with an exasperated look plastered on her face whilst flinging her arms about in an attempt to indicate to the entire place at once. For a while, all I could do was stare sidelong at her, at a complete loss of an explanation. How could I explain something that I myself didn't understand, at least not with a satisfactory answer. "Well?"
"Honestly, I have no idea... Except..." I hesitated, questioning whether or not I should continue. "...that I might be returning to the way I used to be." I eventually murmured, slightly afraid to admit it. I was a little afraid of being the old me, especially in a body as powerful as this one.
"What do you mean; 'The way I used to be?'" she asked, far more calmly. When I didn't respond instantly she approached my mighty form and jumped up onto the bridge of my nose, knelt down and put and hand reassuringly on the spot between my eyes. "Who did you used to be Kurama?"
"Short tempered and aggressive with a tendency to lash out and blow up at things that either annoyed or confused me." I stated, matter-of-factly, letting out a slight sigh as it was certainly not something I was proud of. "Not exactly the way you want a condo-sized demon fox to act, that is unless you want to watch the world burn... and it's just a shame that there are people like that in the world. People who just want to see everyone else's hard work reduced to nothing at all."
By saying this I'd struck a particular cord within Sunset and she suddenly became very forlorn. At first I couldn't quite figure out why, but then I connected the same dots she must have and instantly regretted what I'd just so carelessly said. But that word tended to describe me and my actions quite well too. I quickly went to apologise, but she got her words out before mine.
"Just like I used to be..." she whispered, her voice sounding empty and lifeless as she lent against my snout for support. That in itself made me feel like I'd just taken a punch to the gut and I tried to start playing damage control, but once again she beat me to speaking. "Guess we both used to be people who we'd hate to become again, right..." the empty smile on her face and the bleak look in her eyes tore at my very soul, reminding me of just how badly I’d blundered by letting my mind run away with my mouth.
"Listen kid." I began, pushing myself up into a sitting position and holding up my paw for her to jump onto. "I know you're not proud of your past, frankly I'm not proud of everything that I did in my own. But there's no point in letting those memories corrupt the better ones that you do have. Often worrying too much and purposefully trying to avoid a certain fate can cause us to only make that event more likely to come to pass." I reasoned, calling upon some of the greater philosophical knowledge I had at my disposal. But despite my attempt to ease her mind a little she still looked down, her fear of losing herself to the greed and selfishness within clearly something that had been eating away at her possibly since the battle. There was little else I could think to say, my mental dredging coming up with nothing that could possibly make her feel better. Nothing except...
"Sunset, look at me for a second." I prompted, giving her a gentle nudge with one finger. She begrudgingly complied and shifted her gaze to meet my own. "Let's make a deal."
"A deal?" she parroted, slightly confused as to what I meant.
"If one of us should start to fall to our individual 'dark sides' then the other must do everything in their power to try and pull them back, with a deal like that in place we can both rest, at least a little, easier. Right?"
For a moment she said nothing and simply stared up at me, her expression questioning me silently. Seeing as she was a sceptic and cautious by nature I was hardly surprised she didn't instantly jump to take me up on the 'deal'. For all she knew every event of her life up to today could have all been part of some elaborate plan of mine to get free. Not that any of it was, I didn't really do forward planning and instead just played life by ear, choosing to be reactive rather than proactive, because it was easier. Not only that, I also had no desire to break free of my prison or destroy the world.
"Heh, I suppose you're right." she eventually chuckled lightly to herself, before smiling and raising one balled fist. "Alright, you got a deal, flea-bag." it was my turn to grin and chuckle at her attempt to push my buttons. I raised my own fist to meet hers, resulting in them coming together with a light 'bump'.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, dumb kid. Remember, I could still destroy you in an instant if I wanted to, ya know" I laughed, reminding her of my capabilities to end the lives of others on a whim and reminding myself how weird that was. I forget sometimes just how much power I have now... I thought sullenly to myself as I lowered Sunset to the floor, raising my other paw to my face and flexing it a few times whilst picturing a red ball there, imagining myself crushing it in my grasp until it popped. Such a strange concept... That I could reduce this entire world to nothing but smoking ruins...
"You're head is weirdly designed, ya know that?" my Jinchuuriki blurted out, breaking me out of my dark revelries with her rather random and mildly offensive comment.
"Eh?" was all I could manage to say in response, my brain unable to catch up quickly enough with the sudden change in thought patterns. It was hard to tell if she was insulting me purposefully, or merely commenting on the way I looked without realising she'd just called me ugly.
"Well, when I look at you from the front, it seems like your ears start really far forward on your face." she explained, not that it really accounted for why she'd chosen to point this out now. More or less at a loss for words, I simply cocked an eyebrow and shrugged.
"So?" she raised a finger and opened her mouth to respond, when she was interrupted by someone shaking her body and hissing in her ear.
"PSST, SUNSET. TWO MINUTES LEFT." came the voice of the pink one, who's name escaped me when I knew that it probably shouldn't. Sunset shrugged and lowered her hand, giving up on what she was going to say.
"Oh well. Looks like I have to return to the land of the living." she sighed as she turned to leave, walking off into the watery distance. "Oh, wait." she remarked before turning her head back to grin at me evilly. "Clean up and rebuild in here for me, would ya Kurama?" she asked rhetorically, recommencing her journey out.
"W-WHA?!" I stammered out, looking between her and the pile of rubble that was the cave I'd destroyed, like a cat watching a clock's pendulum. "Couldn't you just snap you're fingers and 'poof' this all back to the way it was before?!"
"I could!" she guffawed as she reached the exit point - a little glowing circle below the surface of the calmed mental lake, not too far from where the cave used to be. "But you need to learn that all actions have consequences. Good Luck."
And with that, she returned to the living world and woke up giggling to herself.
"Git." I grumbled before begrudgingly getting to work piecing the cave back together, using a combination of chakra moulding and brute force to meld it all into one structure. Unfortunately, there were a lot of pieces.
(Third Person POV)
It was a brisk yet sunny day in Ponyville that particular afternoon, with only the occasional light breeze disturbing the cold quiet. This chill was enough to put off almost all of Canterlot High’s student population from going outside during lunch period, but not one particular fiery-haired teen, who was sitting alone on the bleachers of the soccer field, enjoying her sandwiches in the calm, studentless atmosphere.
Most would consider this kind of activity a very lonely one, but to the high school’s most recently reformed tyrant it was a peaceful respite from the scorn of a majority of her fellows and peers on the campus proper.
Besides... she thought to herself wistfully, taking a bite from one of the sandwiches Vinyl had prepared for her that morning. I’m never truly alone now anyway. So who needs human friends?
+You do still need those.+ Kurama’s voice resounded bluntly through her head. The feeling of having someone talk directly into her mind was still something Sunset was not used to, almost like the inside of her head was being tickled and that tickling was somehow being translated into language. It always caused her to cringe and shiver, similar to the reaction she got when chalk screeched on a blackboard. +Goes straight through ya, don’t it?+
“You bet it does.” she grumbled to her partner as she listened to him snickering away at the back of her mind. She really did envy him sometimes; his carefree attitude, his lazy lifestyle, his wisdom and his awe-inspiring form. Must be easy being a Tailed Beast.
+Trust me, it’s not as easy as I make it seem. Though I do appreciate the compliments.+ the beast in question chuckled, although his words were serious. Sunset cringed as another wave of tingling washed over her brain and had a sudden and desperate urge to yodel.
“Please stop that, Kurama.” she groaned whilst giving her temples a firm rub, in a futile attempt to ‘scratch’ the tickle in her head caused by his psychic voice as it rolled around inside her skull. “This mental communication thing is wreaking havoc on my brain. Can’t you just appear in the real world to talk to me? At least until I get used to this.”
+I could do that.+ the demon fox began with his mental voice, his mocking tone practically allowing her to see his smug grin.
“But then how would you get used to it if I’m always doing this?” asked the cocky prick as he appeared in his human form, suddenly exploding into existence in a puff of smoke a few seats behind Sunset. The teen twisted around to regard her partner with a death stare, but was unable to hold it very long as her surprise shone through. He was wearing a surprisingly casual attire; a simple, button-up white shirt and blue jeans with black trainers and a plain red bandana tied loosely around his neck. His messy blond and red hair was styled back into sharp waves and a dark stubble had accumulated along his jawbone and neck. He looked like a mess, but he was clearly comfortable with his look and was making no attempt to improve it. “It’s rude to stare ya know.” his grin widened as he lent back against the bleachers and swung his hands up behind his head.
“Uh... Yeah, sorry. Just never seen you outta that training suit and cloak before.” she said quietly, turning away from the demon in disguise and taking yet another bite from her sandwich. Kurama was about to respond, but he was stopped when he caught sight of what was spread inside the sandwich his Jinchuuriki was eating - a sight that almost made him hurl right then and there.
“Is that...peanut butter in that sandwich?” he asked cautiously, shifting himself a few inches away from the offending article. Sunset arched an eyebrow at his antics and nodded.
“And mayo. Not exactly a killer combo but -” she was cut off by the sound of Kurama keeling over and rolling disastrously down the bleachers, eventually coming to a stop at the concrete foundations at their base. She briefly considered jumping down there to see if he was alright, but quickly dismissed the notion when she realised he was just being over dramatic. “Oh grow up! It’s not as if I’m making you eat it!” she shouted down at the crumpled heap on the grey stone as he groaned his disgust into it.
“You’ve literally taken two of my least favourite foods and... shoved them horrifically into a single sandwich.” he cried, still not moving from his position on the cold, hard floor.
“You hate peanut butter?” she asked incredulously, finishing off the last of her sandwich as she did so and then proceeded to close her bright-orange lunchbox.
“Allergic.”
“And what you got against mayo?”
“No idea, I like most of the stuff that’s in it.”
She opened her mouth to rebuke him for being such a baby, but closed it again when she heard approaching foot (or rather high-heeled-boot) steps and the sound of a rather 'upper-class' voice calling her name. She glanced over to the entrance to the bleachers and spotted two approaching figures. One was a tall girl in a simple white shirt with an apple-green collar and a denim skirt. She wore a pair of knee-height, leather boots with a trio of red apples on the shins of both and a stetson perched itself almost impossibly on the back of her head. From Kurama's view she was the most 'normal-looking' of all the people he'd met in this world so far; with pale amber skin, striking blond hair and light green irises. This was Applejack.
The second teen was only a little shorter than AJ; possessing stunning alabaster skin, deep, flowing purple hair and eyes of shining azure. Sunset giggled as she remembered Spike's description of the dress designer when he'd talked to her after the 'incident' at the Formal. She'd switched out her normal blouse and skirt combo for a long, frilled, silky dress of light lavender and her boots had been replaced with white, high-heeled sandals. She looked like she was ready for prom, or maybe a rerun of the Fall Formal. Rarity, ever the fashionista. If she wasn't conforming to the trends, she was setting them.
"Hello dear." the seamstress greeted as she took a seat next to the reformed teen with her lunch tray. She was in her usual mood, bright and cheerful with boat-loads of class. "I trust you have been well. I see you've managed to make a new friend as well." she chirped, looking down at the groaning heap at the base of the bleachers. She then shot Sunset a devilish look and whispered to her; "Or is he more than that."
The sudden wrongness of that thought struck the fiery-haired teen like a bolt of lightning, causing her to go tense as aboard and crush the juice box she'd been planning to enjoy. She went as red as a tomato and started waving her arms around frantically as she tried to explain.
"N-no Rarity! That's just Kurama, geez. Do you have any idea how weird that would be?!" she stuttered as she cringed like she'd just seen someone nut-meg themselves on a metal bar. She knew Rarity had never formally met or even seen Kurama in human for, but why did she have to say something so... Wrong?
While Rarity had manoeuvred in and sat next to Sunset, Applejack had just placed her own tray down on the Fashion-mad teen's other side before moving down the bleachers to check on the human incarnation of the Nine-Tailed Fox spirit. He'd managed to push himself up onto his hands and knees, but had gotten no further. She jumped down to the concrete floor and arched an eyebrow at one of the two saviours of the town.
"Need a bit 'o help there pardner'?" she chuckled lightly, offering a hand to the stricken spirit. He accepted the hand up, muttering a 'thanks' as she pulled him to his feet. Once she'd gotten him upright the farm girl grinned and gave him a firm slap on the back. "Wha's the matter there Fox-boy? Eat somein' funny?"
"Luckily, no." he laughed hollowly, taking a deep breath to clear his head and suppress the nausea he got just thinking about the contents of that sandwich. "I can't actually remember the last time I ate anything... Oh gods, it's been over sixteen years since I've eaten anything..." as this dawned on him so did the hunger that had been hidden beneath all of the stress and adrenaline that had been consuming his life since he'd become the Nine-Tails. He was about to fall to the ground again out of hunger, but a voice calling out to him halted the process.
"Here." Applejack, having returned to her lunch tray, tossed him her apple. He caught it in one hand and first looked at it, then to AJ. He arched an eyebrow, unsure of whether or not he should politely refuse or just accept the kindness. "Jus' have it. Ah live on a' apple farm remember? Ah got more apples than y'all got tails."
"I would certainly hope so." Kurama chuckled, taking a hasty chunk out of the apple and slowly ascending the bleachers to join the trio. "Nine apples to an entire farm ain't exactly what I'd call a profitable produce curve." he grinned mischievously at the farm girl as he devoured the rest of apple, core and all, in his second chomp. When he reached where the three teens were sitting Rarity rose courteously and offered the Tailed-Beast her hand to shake.
"I do not believe we've been formally introduced, or even really conversed before now-" she muttered that last part to herself, hoping to make it not sound like an accusation. "- I am Juliet Rarity Belle-"
"Fashionista extraordinaire, and Clothing Queen of Canterlot High." Applejack interjected, throwing her arms out in dress maker's direction in mock praise.
"Hush." she shot back quickly before turning back to the man standing, slightly confused, before her. "-Ahem. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr Kurama." she finished her greeting with a bright, toothy smile and streched her arm out closer to him, further prompting him to take it. But for a second he did nothing except look Rarity dead in the eye, unblinking and unmoving and for a moment Sunset wondered if they even had handshakes where he came from (they certainly didn't where she came from).
But that tense second eventually passed and Kurama's stoic features were split open by a sharp toothed grin as he took her hand in his own and shook it once, with a firm grip but gentle movement.
"The pleasure's all mine, m'lady." he said with a dry, yet, friendly tone, dipping his head in a shallow bow before releasing her hand. She blushed slightly at his polite compliment and gave him the 'Oh you old charmer' wave off as she sat back down and retrieved her tray. Kurama then proceeded to take a seat next Applejack and the four lapsed into relaxed conversation about the trivial, meaningless and objectively void, yet most important things in life.
It was the dead of night and all was quiet in Vice-Principal Luna's household. Both her niece and adoptive daughter were fast asleep, the time for house parties was over and for once next-door's dog was not howling his little heart out at the moon. The first dead-silent night the sapphire-haired woman could remember experiencing since moving to the town;
"And I CAN'T fall asleep." she snarled to herself as she stumbled down the soft, carpeted stairs into the hall of her home. She'd decided to turn to one of her oldest and truest friends during long nights like these - A nice, soothing glass of warm milk with soft, gooey-centered cookies.
But as she went to turn into the open archway that lead to the kitchen she stopped, her ears twitching slightly as they picked up on a very familiar sound;
The sound of a spoon scraping the sides of a glass jar, the distinct 'clinking' echoing quietly through the dark hall way. Luna tensed up, clenching her fists and rolling her neck in preparation for what or whoever was in one of the most sacred places in her home. Is it one of the girls? she speculated to herself as she slowly went to lean her head around the corner. No, I heard Vinyl snoring and I saw Sunset in bed on my way down. Wait, Sunset's door was open? She never leaves her door open at night... she eventually got her head past the wall and peeked into the dimly lit kitchen, searching for the source of the sound.
Her eyes widened when she caught site of a tall, square-shouldered figure standing in front of her kitchen counter, clearly digging around in a jar of something judging from the fact it was the source of the noise. The outline of the figure looked a little familiar to her, but given the situation she didn't give it much thought.
With barley a split second of hesitation she charged into the room, leapt into the air and swung a powerful kick at the figure's head. But she could tell before her attack was even thrown that she'd been out matched from the start.
The figure was about-face in an instant, one arm raised up to block her incoming strike while the other pulled back and prepared to retaliate. However, she was surprised to see in the faint moonlight, the hand didn't clench into a fist and instead remained cupped and open, as if it were holding a ball or balloon. In the palm of that hand a ball of raw power formed, huge amounts of energy spinning and rotating around like a storm vortex with a thin bubble of blue light. It was then that all became clear as the rasengan bathed the room in sea-blue light - Sunset's door being open, the fact barely a sound was made while the kitchen was plundered, the familiar outline and now this technique. The intruder was;
"Kurama?" Luna asked, stunned to see the human form of the demon-fox spirit standing there with a jar of chocolate spread in one hand, rasengan in the other and a dessert spoon in his mouth.
"Uuna?" he tried to respond, but with the metal utensil clamped between his teeth, forming coherent words was difficult. Time seemed to slow down in that moment, with Luna freezing in mid air desperately trying to redirect herself to stop from crashing into him and Kurama closed his fist around his jutsu to cancel it. Unfortunately he also dropped the arm he'd had raised in a guard moving it to catch her instead, thus allowing her still extended foot to carry on unmolested - straight into Kurama's face. Not long after that the rest of her body crashed into him, knocking him flat and leaving them both in a crumpled heap on the floor.
They lay there for some time, not only recovering from the heart-attack experience but also waiting see (or rather hear) if their commotion had woken either of the house's other two occupants. Hearing none, Luna let out a sigh of relief and rested her head against the cold tile floor beneath it.
"What are you doing down here, Fox?" she said without looking at him, keeping her eyes fixed on the blackness that consumed the ceiling above. It was needless to say that she didn't quite trust him yet, as in their two previous encounters with one another she'd shown open contempt towards him for his role in Sunset's suffering, despite the teen's constant reassurances that it wasn't his fault. It was his inability to control his own emotions that led to the major damage of the school and to the relationships of the students in it. There's a reason the phrase; 'Don't let your emotions run away with you' exists. Kurama's response was curt and to the point, as he wasn't exactly fond of her either.
"I was hungry. Came down to grab something."
"Then why didn't you just eat dinner with the rest of us earlier?" she huffed back, folding her arms across her chest but still refusing to look him in the eye, not that doing so would be particularly easy from her position - laying diagonally across his chest.
"Didn't wanna impose." he grunted nonchalantly, turning his head to look off away from her's and into the darkened hall to his right. "I'm getting the vibe that you don't particularly like me." he looked back to her as he pointed this out and even began to sit up, shifting onto his elbows and arching an eyebrow at her. It was almost as if he was daring her to deny it. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, the vice-principal sighed and stood up, quickly striding over to the entrance of the room to flip the light switch. When she turned back to Kurama he was also on his feet and returning the jar of chocolatey goodness to its rightful place in the fridge, seemingly having given up on getting her to open up to him even slightly.
"Can you at least see my reasons for being apprehensive of you?" she asked, lowering her voice to just above a whisper and dropping her harsh tone somewhat. From what Sunset could tell her, it was clear to Luna that the being before her hadn't had the easiest time of it - the only reason he was in this world after all was because he'd died in his own, at the age of 16 no less. It was strange for her to think that he, with all of his bravado and power, was only a year her elder. When he didn't respond immediately, she walked over to the counter top and stood at his side. "You're an all-powerful demon spirit from another universe. You say you have no real goals, but how can I truly know that? You say that you'd never meaningfully bring any harm to anybody unless they gave you reason to, but I do not know what you consider a 'good enough' reason to attack somebody. You say the one who took control of Sunset and caused SO much damage to her psyche and the school has been destroyed, but..."
He looked at her when she paused, knowing what she wanted to say and wanting to interject and deny such possibilities, however, he knew doing that may only incriminate him more in her eyes. So he let her well up the courage and gather the words to speak her mind correctly, while only watching quietly, expecting an accusation.
"But what if he's not." she muttered, turning her head down but meeting his gaze with her own, allowing him to see the desperate fear in them. That one statement elicited a flinch from Kurama. He'd mulled over the possibility of Kyuubi returning many times since waking up the day before, but he'd never really feared the prospect. Maybe that was because he overestimated himself or maybe it was simply because he wasn't afraid of the consequences of the dark Fox's return would cause. Either way, seeing someone who was truly terrified of that possibility was a sharp reality-check for him. "What reassurance do I have Kurama? How can I ever be absolutely convinced, that you won't let him take control of you OR her again?"
A thunderous impact shook the very atoms of the air around what little remained of Lone-Man's island, an impact that sent Kurama flying backwards into the sea. He accomplished three surface skims before righting himself mid-air and coming to a stop on the water's surface. He brought a paw to his bruised ribs, gingerly massaging the area where Gyuki had struck him to break their flash slug-fest.
Better not take too many more of those. he noted as he rose from all-fours to stand at almost full height, fixing his gaze on his adversary and retaking combat stance. In terms of physical strength, he's clearly more powerful than me. I'm gonna have'ta rely on speed and manoeuvrability if I'm gonna have a chance at winning this. But I can't do that if I'm always worrying about squishing Sunset... This guy's really starting to piss me off.
"You always were hesitant to fight if others could get in the line of fire, weren't you O?" a low voice rumbled across the battlefield, causing two of the four fighters present to flinch, its deep pitch reverberating inside Sunset's lungs like music in an echo chamber.
"Wait! He can talk?!" she yelled as she leapt back from Vinyl and created two shadow clones to restrain her as the teen comprehended what just happened. For a moment Kurama did nothing but glare at the Eight-Tails, seemingly frozen in place by his opponent's words. The tension in the air was palpable as the two monsters stared each other down, a mad grin splitting Gyuki's features wider and wider with every passing second. But the silence was shattered and the octo-bull's smile faltered by a low chuckling emanating from the demon fox opposite him.
"Well, ya know what they say about old habits." Kurama shrugged as his laughter increased in volume and became slightly manic, his head thrown back as he laughed harder. Before long it was all that could be heard for miles around was the titanic guffaws of the massive vulpine, with even the crashing waves and shrieking wind being drowned out by it. Sunset swallowed back a lump that was forming in her throat, a physical manifestation of the fear that was growing within her.
Please don't tell me... that's Kyuubi I'm looking at... she shuddered as she took a few steps back, beginning to feel weak in the knees and slowly began to hyperventilate. Please don't tell me that monster is back, please tell me you haven't snapped, Kurama... But as the seconds ticked by, she began to lose hope as it really began to look to her like the demon they'd worked so hard to destroy was returning. As the Nine-Tails continued to roar with laughter, the Eight-Tails only watched on confused. On the one hand; this may be the perfect time to strike his opponent while he was open. But on the other; it was impossible to tell the fox's angle. What was he thinking, letting his guard down so blatantly in the middle of combat. With this in mind, he decided against attacking and instead chose to wait and see what games his opponent was playing. A question he would get an answer to very soon.
In a personality switch that would make even Two Face jump; Kurama stopped laughing, brought himself low in a flash and with his greengage eyes glowing with a triumphant glint, growled quietly;
"I mean, your just as unobservant as ever, Benedictus. NOW!" the use of his old name left the Eight-Tails stunned for a brief second, but it was enough time for Kurama to spring his trap. After he gave the signal, the water in three places around the island exploded and three full-sized, Nine-Tails clones flew up from the frothing water. Two hovered in the air either side of the Eight-Tails, their huge hands weaving a signature set of hand signs whilst they both took in a huge breath. The third hovered behind the octo-bull, holding a 'Rasen Shuriken' above his head.
It took Sunset less than a second to realise her partner's plan and suddenly found herself overcome with the irresistible urge to pelt it away from the island as fast as possible, but before she could act on this instinct Kurama appeared at her side in human form. He gripped her shoulder tightly and whispered;
"Time to go." and with that said he used his Flying Raijin to transport them away just as his three clones unleashed their joint attack
"GAIA STYLE: BRIGHT RED STAR!!" they roared as two of them unleashed their 'Blast Burn Jutsus' and the third threw his 'Rasen Shuriken'. The three attacks met right on top of the Eight-Tails, exploding and consuming his body in a hurricane of furious, red flames that burned bright as a star.
Back on the lamp lit Ponyville coastline, the five human Elements of Harmony and Maud Pie were standing in a loose circle around the tree that had come terrifyingly close to turning Applejack into an Apple Flapjack, inspecting it like investigators would a dead body at a crime scene.
"From what I can see..." Maud began, scratching her chin as a way to stimulate brain activity. "It is clear that it has been forcefully pulled free of its foundations and hurled through the air by an immense force. So I'm guessing this is the work of your friend, correct?" she asked, turning to Pinkie as she did so but leaving the question open to any member of the group to answer."
"It's more likely Kurama did this with his full form... Remember how much damage he did to the mountain just by landing on it?" Rarity answered, prompting the group to remember that he'd flattened an entire forest just by landing in it. They all nodded in agreement as they turned their attention to all the OTHER uprooted trees that littered the beach. It was during this observation that the party planner noticed something on one of the closer trunks. So, while the rest of the group deliberated on what their next course of action should be, she approached the coconut palm and knelt down next to it. She recognised the symbol she found on the bark, and although she didn't know what it translated into, she knew what it meant.
"Hey guys. You may wanna-" she started to shout back to her companions, but she was cut off when two figures suddenly flashed into existence right in front of her face. Less than a split second after Sunset and Kurama's arrival the night was turned to day for the second time that month, by the birth of a bright red star in the distance. Burned there majestically, a crimson semi-circle sitting half-risen on the horizon, bathing the town a brilliant, blinding light. Sunset watched it burn for a few seconds before something clicked in her head, causing her to turn to the exhausted Nine-Tails with a terrified look.
"What about Vinyl? Why did you just leave her there?!" she asked pleadingly, standing up and looking down at the bijuu who was now slumped against the tree he'd teleported to. He looked up at her but didn't answer. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, preparing to lay into him for acting like a jackass when she was interrupted by a familiar voice calling out to her with the answer she sought.
"Don't worry Sunset, I got her here." called a Kurama clone from Vinyl's car, holding the limp DJ propped up against himself. The fiery haired teen gasped with joy and sprinted over to the two with most of her friends in tow, while Maud and Applejack made their way over to the original Tailed-Beast. When Sunset reached the two she immediately began looking her sister over, searching for any serious cuts, burns or surface breaks and was relieved when she eventually found none. "She's probably gonna be unconscious for a while now, I had to knock her out before getting her outta there. Oh and speaking of getting out of places, your clones probably ain't gonna be very happy with you when you next summon them." the clone chuckled as he laid the prone DJ down on the back seat of her own car. The Nine-Tails jinchuuriki looked at him and arched an eyebrow at this statement, clearly confused. Firstly, if it were that easy why didn't Kurama just restrain her and knock her out to begin with? But as pressing as that issues seemed in her head, she decided to address the clone issue first.
"What're you talking about?"
"Well, we clones are technically alive ya know. We don't just stop existing when our jutsu is released." he explained plainly, wandering over to the original and prompting her to follow him, with her begrudgingly agreeing to but only after being assured by Fluttershy that her adoptive sibling was going to be okay. "When you summon, say, just one clone. That clone will almost always be the same one, unless they are already in existence."
"So wait." the teen said while raising her hands, indicating him to slow down a little as this was a little much push upon her, especially given their current situation. "You're saying that if I were to create two clones now, they'd be the exact same pair who just got blown up on the island?"
"Yep." the original Kurama replied simply, slowly getting to his feet with the aid of the apple farmer and young geologist. "They'll also be the most talkative and most willing to offer their opinions, even if you don't ask them for it." he said that last part whilst shooting his own clone a glare, obviously accusing him of doing just that. The clone merely shrugged and grinned, unable to deny the claim.
"The more you summon them and the longer they are summoned for, the more alive they will become. For example, I act very freely because I spent a very long time training in single combat with Kurama. I am also the one who helped you with that Oodama Rasengan, you're welcome for that by the way." he rounded off with a pleasant smile mixed with a certain amount of smugness. Sunset opened her mouth to point that out but the original Kurama cut her off;
"This is no time to act smug ya know. He's here." he said grimly as he brought himself up to full height and pushed AJ and Maud behind him. As if on cue, the turbulent surf was broken by a humanoid figure pulling itself free of the waves. It clambered up the beach on all fours before stopping around four metres from the forward group, panting on his hands and knees like a dog that had just competed in a triathlon. When he eventually rose, it was with a pace similar to that of a zombie rising from its grave - painfully slow.
When he finally rose to his full height, he fixed a wrathful glare on Kurama with his wide, disc-like eyes - although they were no longer consumed by a sickly green and were now completely white, pupil-less orbs. His freckled features were split open by a snarling grin and his fingers were clawing at the air but not clenched, emulating the holding of a roundish object - maybe a stress ball or... a beating heart.
"Well played Oscar..." Benedictus drawled, his voice still raspy and gravelled as if he hadn't used it in a long while. Most of the girls were confused at his statement, some of them even looking around confusedly and Rainbow even uttered a quiet 'Who's Oscar?' to Pinkie, who could only shrug as she was just as confused. Sunset was the only one there with a slight inkling of an idea as to who this 'Oscar' was and she looked to her partner seeking confirmation but he was standing too far forward for her to see his face.
"But play time's over now..."