//------------------------------// // Party and Apology // Story: The Four Foxes // by colt alchemist //------------------------------// Night came quicker than everybody thought. The foxes were so busy with the tour of the castle they all lost track of time. After they had seen everything, the sun was gone and Pinkie’s private party had just started. All of the ponies and other creatures from the meeting were all gathered in the dining hall, including Zecora and Sweetie Belle. Naturally, Twilight and Rarity allowed Sweetie to invite her friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Once they heard about the foxes existence, they became very eager to meet them. Soon, every guest had arrived and waited in the dining room that was now decorated with all kinds of balloons and streamers. A snack table with all kinds of treats was set up, a record player standing next to it, some small tables throughout the room for the guests to sit at, and even some classic party games like bobbing for apples. There was even a banner showcasing the ponies smiling next to the foxes. Twilight was definitely impressed with how Pinkie and Discord set everything up. “Great! Now that everybody is here, let’s FINALLY get this private Pinkie Party started!” Pinkie exclaimed. She slammed down on her party cannon causing confetti to fire out and explode everywhere. Once Pinkie was finally able to fire her cannon without being “party-blocked,” music started playing and the foxes, ponies and everyone else started to mingle. Twilight and Zecora were having a conversation at one of the tables. “So, how did you meet him, Zecora?” Twilight wondered. Zecora could tell from her tone that Twilight was very excited to know everything. “It is true that I found him full of might, but I only met him at the end of his fight,” Zecora said. She explained her side of the story of how she met the seven-tailed fox. While Twilight already knew about his encounter with the Manticore, it was still shocking to hear it from Zecora’s point of view. She turned and looked at Ryota, who was talking to Kichiro by one of the other tables. It was hard to believe that a creature that was half her size was able to fend off against a creature of the Everfree forest. What kind of magic did he use? “Well, it’s a good thing you saved him in time,” Twilight said, directing her attention back at Zecora. “I still can’t believe he fought off against a Manticore by himself.” “Indeed. He is unlike any other creature I have met before. I was very surprised to hear that there were more,” Zecora replied. “Did you meet any of them?” “Not yet, but they hold much promise. Out of all of them, Ryota seems to be the most modest.” “Yeah. He does, doesn’t he?” Twilight wondered. She found herself staring back at Ryota. He was still standing by one of the tables talking to his brother. Twilight found it difficult to look away from him. Her mind was aching with questions. She wanted to know everything there was about him and his siblings. “You do realize you’ll have to pay Applejack back in some way,” Ryota said to his brother. “Don’t worry, brother. I already know how I’ll do it,” Kichiro assured. “Are you sure?” Ryota asked, raising an eyebrow.   “Pff! Yeah! I realize what I did was wrong and I want to make it up to her.” “Well alright. Go have fun.” Ryota sent his strange brother off to go interact with the ponies. Even though he had given his word, Ryota couldn’t help but feel a little worried about what Kichiro had in stored for their pony hosts. Right now, he decided to just relax with the others. That is, if he knew how. He tapped his claws on the floor and looked around the dining hall, trying to figure out what to do next. He saw the snack table to his right. It was full of all kinds of fruits, candy and cakes. Basically anything sweet and delicious. His own stomach growled at the sight of the display. “Might as well,” he said with a shrug. Ryota made his way to the snack table and grabbed a plate. He started filling it with mostly fruits. He noticed some of the more sugary sweets were vanishing into thin air. He looked down and saw Emi rapidly filling her plate with cakes, giggling like a crazy fox. He couldn’t help but chuckle at his sister’s excited face.   “Don’t overdo it now,” he warned her. “But I want to overdo it,” Emi giggled. Ryota rolled his eyes and made his way back to his table. Emi placed her plate on her head and balanced back to her table. She found it difficult to walk with a ten story cake tower on her head, but she managed. She carefully placed her cake tower on the table and immediately sat down. Her mouth was watering and she already found herself vibrating, despite not eating any sugar yet. “Hi Emi!” Emi looked down from her table and noticed Sweetie Belle looking up at her with a smile. “Oh, hey mini Rarity!” The tiny vixen then noticed two other fillies standing next to Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom couldn’t help but stare at Emi with excited eyes. Emi tilted her head at the trio. “Huh? One? Two? Three? There’s three of you?” Emi asked. “Yep! These are my friends Scootaloo and Apple Bloom,” Sweetie introduced. “And together we are…” Some of the older ponies like Applejack and Rarity saw what was coming next and covered their ears. “THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” Emi found herself shaking and her ears ringing. She started cleaning out her ears with her claws to check if they were still functional. “You call that loud? My ears are still asleep,” Discord teased. He snapped his claws where his ears were zapped into tiny beds and snoring up a storm. “Discord!” Fluttershy said. “Nope! Still not loud enough.” The crusaders ignored Discord’s comment and joined Emi at her table. “So you’re the fox that Sweetie’s been talking about?” Scootaloo asked. “The one and only!....Well, unless you count Kichiro, Reiko and Ryota. Whom she’s also met….just now,” Emi replied. “Who?” Apple Bloom asked. “Her older siblings,” Sweetie clarified. The three fillies looked around the room to try and find the other three foxes. They spotted Ryota awkwardly eating his fruit at one of the tables. They found Reiko standing near Pinkie, who was dancing next to the record player that was playing some classic, funky party music. “C’mon Reiko! Dance with me!” Pinkie insisted as she started dancing like a broken bird. “Riiiiiight,” Reiko replied as she walked away. They found Kichiro last, he was playing a game of pin the tail on the pony with Spike and Rainbow Dash. The two smiled in confidence as they waited for the fox to finish his turn. He ended up pinning the tail right onto the pony’s eye. Kichiro lifted up his blindfold to see how he did.   “I did it!” Kichiro exclaimed as he did a little victory dance. Rainbow and Spike stared at each in confusion. Rainbow mouthed “What?” to Spike while he replied with a simple shrug. “They seem….nice,” Apple Bloom commented. “Yeah, we’re pretty great,” Emi replied. “So is it true that you can spew fire?” Scootaloo asked, excited. “Well, I mean, some of us can. If we want to.” “That’s so cool! Can we see?” “Oh, uh, that’s not really up to me,” Emi said. “That’s really up to Reiko. She was the one who brought the whole town to the castle.” “The one with the three tails is your brother too, right?” Apple Bloom asked. “Because Applejack told me that he stole some of our apples.” “Yeah. But it’s not the first time K has taken something without asking. It’s actually one of our favorite bonding experiences,” Emi said. “Cool...wait what?” Scootaloo asked. “Nothing! Anyway, you said you three are crusaders? So do you explore ruins, fight monsters, and go on life-threatening adventures?” “Eh, sort of. We help ponies find their special talents and help them better understand their cutie marks,” Sweetie explained. “Oh. That’s cool too. So you basically help out with their talents and stuff?” “Eeyup!” Apple Bloom replied. “Awesome. I’m good at a lot of stuff!” “Like what?” Sweetie asked. “Well, um….finding soft things like this ribbon,” Emi said, showing the fillies her ribbon. “And, OH! I conquered a dragon today! So that’s something!” “You did?!” they all exclaimed. “Not really.” The fillies turned around and saw Rarity approaching their table. “Spike barely counts, Emi. He may be a dragon but he’s only a baby,” Rarity said. “Still a dragon! And I defeated him in battle!” Emi retorted. “You caught him by surprise and tossed him like a ball. Not much of a battle,” Rarity giggled. “Still counts! And next time, I shall have his head!” The three fillies couldn’t help but laugh at Emi’s childish enthusiasm to defeat Spike. Emi’s proud pose didn’t last long until she rediscovered the plate full of sweets right in front of her. An idea popped into her head. “Oh! You three want to help me eat this cake tower?” Emi asked. “Uh, yeah! Pinkie really outdid herself with the cakes this time,” Sweetie replied, eyeing the cake tower. “I’m down for that!” Scootaloo agreed. “Me too!” Apple Bloom added. “Great! Cake eating race! One two three go!” Emi grabbed one of the small cakes from the tower with her jaw. Before any of the fillies could take a piece, Emi violently thrashed her cake around in her mouth. Frosting and filling splattered everywhere, Rarity had to cover her eyes to avoid the oncoming cake storm. Emi tossed her maimed cake into the air and caught it with her mouth, chomping on it until she swallowed. She sighed of satisfaction as the cake made it’s way towards her stomach. She noticed all the blank stares she was receiving from the fillies and Rarity, all covered in frosting. “Alright! I like the way you think!” Scootaloo exclaimed as she took a piece of cake and started following Emi’s example. “Emi, you got yourself and all of us filthy!” Rarity said as she approached Emi. “And your ribbon is covered in frosting.” “Don’t worry, I’ll clean it,” Emi assured. She took off her ribbon and stuck it in her mouth, licking all of the cake away. “Don’t do that!” Rarity said, taking Emi’s ribbon away. “I’ll have to clean it myself. Did you have to eat you cake so….violently?” “I don’t know what you expected. That’s how I always eat my food,” Emi replied. “Well, do you think you could learn to chew? I know you're the guest of honor but you should at least have some manners.” Emi huffed at the fashion designer. “In case you haven’t noticed, foxes do not have cheeks! Just teeth! See?” Emi pulled back her muzzle with her claws and exposed her razor sharp teeth. “Whoa!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie jumped back. “So cool!” Scootaloo mused. “We don’t exactly have a choice when it comes to chewing.” “I’m sure you must learn at some point. Now do you think you could...put your teeth away?” Rarity asked. Emi retracted her claws and covered up her teeth. “But I kind of like how Emi eats her food. It’s more wild,” Scootaloo said, resuming her cake thrashing. “Yeah, that’s right! Freedom to the children!” Emi chirped as she started chomping down on another piece of cake. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shrugged and started to copy Emi, grabbing their own cakes and started eating them like wild animals. Rarity just rolled her eyes at the scene. “Children,” she sighed. She turned and noticed Kichiro having a conversation with Spike, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie. “I wonder what they’re talking about?” The two ponies and dragon were all staring at Kichiro while he was finishing up a story. “And that’s how I ALMOST found the One Piece!” Kichiro concluded. Rainbow and Spike stared at him with blank stares. Pinkie was the only one who looked remotely fascinated by his story. Spike tilted his head at the three tailed fox. “Uh, what?” Was all Spike could say.    “Welp! I’m off to somewhere else!” Kichiro said as he walked away from the trio. “Did anypony understand what he just said?” Rainbow asked. “Nope,” Spike answered. “Well, duh! It’s so obvious!” Pinkie said. “It must be exciting to be a pirate.” Rainbow and Spike stared blankly at their party crazy friend. It was like they understood her less than before. While that was going on, Starlight had just finished a conversation with Trixie and was looking around for Reiko. She soon spotted her standing next to the snack table, leaning on the wall behind her. The unicorn approached the five tailed vixen. “Hey,” Starlight greeted. “Huh? Oh, hey,” Reiko replied. “Why aren’t you joining the party? Everyone’s waiting to meet you,” Starlight asked. “I don’t know. Too many new faces, I guess. I don’t really do well at big events.” “Well, that’s the whole point of a party. To step outside of your comfort zone and to meet new ponies. Besides, there’s not that many ponies here. Just some friends.” “Yeah, YOUR friends.” “They can be your friends too if you give them a chance.” “Ehhh,” Reiko said, avoiding eye contact. Starlight felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere with her. She could tell she was anxious and confused about everything. She of all ponies knew what it felt like to start over in a new place. “Reiko. I know this can be a little scary at first, trying to make new friends and all. But you aren’t going to get any help unless you let us.” “Pff, who said I was scared?” Reiko asked. “I’m not scared.” “Then prove it. The only way you’ll really get to know this place is if you make friends with the ponies who live here. So c’mon. Loosen up. Come socialize with me.” Reiko looked back at Starlight. Persistence shimmered in her big, beaming eyes. Reiko knew she meant well. Out of all of the ponies, there was something about this particular one that filled Reiko with a warm feeling. Her magic looked cool to watch and her attitude seemed trustworthy enough. Reiko couldn’t help but shake the feeling that there was something special about this pony. “Tsk. What is this ‘socialize’ thing you speak of? I’ve honestly never heard of it,” Reiko jeered. “C’mon,” Starlight laughed. Reiko rolled her eyes and decided to follow Starlight into the party. The moment she left her spot, Reiko was already filled with regret. Her worst fear has arrived: socializing! Ryota was still sitting at his table, eating the last pieces of his fruit. He scanned the dining room to see what everyone else was up to. He could spot Kichiro making his way towards Fluttershy and Discord, Twilight was still discussing things with Zecora, and Emi seemed to be getting along with the three fillies and splattering cake everywhere, which even Ryota chuckled at. He could see Starlight dragging Reiko along throughout the party and even Trixie striking up a conversation with Pinkie Pie. “Howdy.” Ryota turned around to find Applejack approaching him. She sat down at his table with a smile on her face. “Oh, hello,” Ryota said. “Applejack, right?” “That’s mah name. So, you enjoying the party?” Applejack asked. “It is...nice,” he replied. “Really? Then why are ya just sitting here twiddling some grapes?” Ryota looked down and noticed the grapes he was poking around with his paw.    “You’ve got me there.” Applejack chuckled. “Why don’t you come join us?” “And do what?” Applejack gave him a blank stare. “Ya have been to parties before, right?” “Not really,” Ryota shrugged. “Well we can’t have that, now can we? C’mon.” Applejack got up and and started making her way towards the record player. She stopped and turned around to see Ryota still sitting there with his head tilted. “Ya coming?” “Oh, uh, sure.” Ryota got up from his chair and followed AJ to the dance floor. Pinkie was still dancing to the funky music and still like a crippled ostrich. Rainbow and Spike managed to get all the crazy out and danced to the music too. Applejack and Ryota made their way to the others and Applejack began dancing as well. Ryota stared at her in confusion. “C’mon! Dance with us!” Applejack insisted. “I can’t dance,” Ryota admitted. “You don’t need to know how to dance, silly! You just do it!” Pinkie exclaimed. Ryota shrugged and joined the others. He slowly started to move to the rhythm of the music, and by move he merely side-stepped to the entire song while bobbing his head up and down. He knew he should be having fun, but he couldn’t help but have an empty feeling in his stomach. He felt his face burning up and his heart racing. He tried his best not to make eye contact with anybody, to avoid looking weird, but that just made him more alert. He always found himself staring back at Applejack, who was having a great time smiling and jumping around to her own beat. Ryota wished he could just move around like her.   Hours passed and the party was just about over. Everyone was heading in their own separate way home and Pinkie was quickly cleaning up the party. And by cleaning up, she just pressed one button and vacuumed everything up in one second. Each of the ponies said their goodbyes to the foxes. Discord literally zapped himself out of reality and back to his realm with a snap of his fingers, Zecora made her way back to the Everfree forest, The CMC were walking home with their sisters, and Trixie made her way to her travel wagon. Twilight was showing the foxes the spare rooms that they would be staying in. “So, this will be your room, Emi,” Twilight said. “Cool,” she yawned. “In that case, I’m going to hit the hay.” “I’ll come by shortly to tuck you in,” Ryota said. “Tch-Tch-Tch! Not out loud!” Emi said between her teeth. Spike tried his best to cover his chuckling with his claws, but it didn’t really work. “What are you laughing at? At least she doesn’t sleep with a Rarity plushie,” Twilight teased. “Wha-I do not!” Spike retorted. Twilight and the others all shared a laugh as Emi entered her new room. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” Emi whispered as she passed Spike.   The young dragon felt a cold shiver run down his spine as the young kit closed her door. Even as he walked away, he couldn’t help but feel her eyes burning a hole through his head. As they were walking, Twilight couldn’t help but notice something. Out of all of them, Reiko seemed the quietest. She hadn’t said a single word since the party ended. Twilight couldn’t put her hoof on it, but she felt like something was wrong. One by one, Twilight showed each of the foxes their separate rooms and bid them all a good night. Reiko was the last one to receive her room. Even when it was only herself, Reiko and Spike, Twilight still couldn’t shake the uncanny aura she was giving off. “And this is your room, Reiko,” Twilight said. “If you need anything, just let me know.” “Ok,” Reiko replied. She was about to enter her room. “Y’know, if you want, I can ask Starlight if she would share her room with you. She seemed pretty eager about it earlier,” Twilight offered. “Nah. I’m good.” Twilight couldn’t take it. Something about this fox was really eating at her. It was the same feeling of doubt she was giving off earlier at the meeting. Twilight could feel an uneasy aura emitting from Reiko, as if she was being clouded with suspicion. “Is something the matter, Reiko?” The vixen inhaled and turned around. She glared at Twilight. Even though Reiko was shorter in length, Twilight couldn’t help but feel like she was the small one. “Ok, I’m just going to come out and say it: I don’t trust you.” Twilight and Spike blinked. “Excuse me?” “Think about it. Four mysterious creatures you’ve never seen before enter your town and what’s the first thing you do? You invite them into your castle and allow them to sleep in your own home. That’s pretty sketchy if you ask me.” “I was only trying to-” “Let me finish. I’m not sure what it is, but something about you REALLY pisses me off. I don’t know if it’s your voice or your attitude, but something about you just rubs me the wrong way. And you may be the ‘Princess of Friendship’ or whatever, but I’m not going to give you my faith just because you ask for it. If you want MY trust, you’re going to have to earn it.” The hallway was silent. The air became heavy. The cheery tone that had been there just moments ago was quickly replaced with seeds of mistrust. Twilight didn’t know how to respond. She was nothing like Ryota. Every word she spoke felt like a small sting in her chest. She could understand her being a little on edge, but she didn’t expect her to be this harsh about it. Twilight continued to stare at the five tailed vixen. “That is all I have to say to you,” Reiko finished. With that, Reiko entered her room and shut the door. Spike looked up at Twilight, who was still trying to process of what just happened. “You Ok, Twilight?” Spike asked. “Yeah, I’m fine,” Twilight replied. “Let just get that letter to Princess Celestia.” “Are you sure? Because what she said was not cool!” “Really, Spike, I’m fine. I can’t blame her for being a little skeptical. She’s just being cautious,” Twilight assured. “C’mon. Let’s get going.” The two friends made their way down the hall and into Twilight’s room, where they would send a letter to Princess Celestia. Twilight was very excited to hear what her reaction would be like. Her heart was racing just from the thought of it. The Next Day Another day at Sweet Apple Acres meant another day of hard work. Applejack hummed to herself as she placed her first basket underneath the first tree. She turned around and prepared to give it a hard buck. Before she could though, she spotted something in the distance. She spotted Kichiro walking towards her. Her face turned from happy to irritated within a second. She noticed that Kichiro was carrying something in his mouth. She couldn’t tell what it was because it was wrapped up in a blue piece of cloth, most likely “borrowed” from Rarity’s boutique. Either way, she still didn’t like where this was going. “What do ya want, Kichiro?” Applejack snapped. Kichiro dropped his wrapped item and approached the farmer mare with a smile on his face.   “And a good morning to you too, Applejack,” Kichiro chirped. “Yer obviously here for a reason, so spill it,” Applejack demanded. “Oooo, hostile today aren’t we?” Kichiro replied. “Well, I wanted stopped by to bring you THIS.” Kichiro nudged his wrapped item towards Applejack. She eyed the cloth suspiciously, not really know what this was about. “What is this?” “It’s a gift. I felt really bad about what I did the other day, so I wanted to give you a gift as an apology.” “.....What?” “I really am sorry about stealing your apples. I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us. So please accept my gift to you and let us start over. If I’m going to be here for a while, I might as well make a good impression on you.” Applejack tilted her head. She could definitely sense the sincerity in his voice but something about his gift seemed a little off-putting. She looked at his green eyes and saw that he did mean well. She felt a little surprised that he would just give her a gift out of the blue. “Oh, uh, well thank you, Kichiro,” Applejack said. “Go on, open it up. I have a feeling you’ll like it,” Kichiro insisted. “Ok.” Applejack picked up the gift and began to unravel it. The gift felt as heavy as a couple of apples. She noticed a black feather fall out as she continued to open up the gift. That’s when she saw it. She finally unwrapped the gift and found a dead crow inside. “Gah!” She dropped the dead crow on the ground and jumped back. Her heart stopped and her eyes widened. She continued to stare at the dead crow on the ground. “Do you like it? I caught it myself.” Applejack looked up and glared daggers at Kichiro. His innocent smile made her blood boil even more. “Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?!” Kichiro tilted his head. He then looked around his surroundings to see if there was anyone else there. Not much of a surprise, there wasn’t. “What joke? I here no one laughing,” Kichiro replied. “Exactly! So why did ya think this would be funny?” Applejack yelled. “I never said it was supposed to be funny. I told you, this was my apology gift to you.” “Why would I want a dead bird as a gift?!” “Hey! Do you know how hard it was to catch this guy? Even with magic, these things are a pain to hunt down. You should be thanking me.” “Thank you?!” “You’re welcome.” “I wasn’t-” She was interrupted when her dog, Winona, came running and barking towards her. She sprinted past her owner, scooped up the dead bird, and ran off. “Winona, drop that this instant! That is not food, and it’s not a toy!” Applejack demanded as she chased down her dog. Kichiro smiled. “My work here is done."