//------------------------------// // Meet And Greet, Apples Are For Prey // Story: Nine Tales Of Equestria // by Natural Disaster //------------------------------// "I can't believe you, after what I said about the ponies here overreacting, you go ahead and do that!" Twilight practically screamed, causing the large ears of the fox beside her to flatten down instinctively to try and block out the noise. Kurama gave the young mare a small glare but said nothing as they slowly, in his opinion, walked out of the small town, which he had terrified oh so easily, and towards a rather large field of apples. "I've asked the guards that took us to Ponyville to try and calm them down before we attempt to once again introduce you, nicely this time and I want you to apologise to all the po-" The lilac mare was instantly silenced along with all the other creatures around by anger-annoyance-wave-ocean-pressure-can't breath-crushing before it vanished. "No" The word was not shouted, but in the silence which was left after whatever had affected everything, it was almost as if it was roared in her face. "Wha-What? You have to, you scared all those poor ponies!" The very idea that someone wouldn't apologise for scaring someone was almost inconceivable for her to understand. Kurama gave a small snort as he stared at the still frozen mare, wondering to himself how a so-called adult in this world could be so...innocent. 'I think I preferred it in the shinobi era...at least then people understood what I was' "And I said no, you seem to misunderstand this situation" as he was saying this, Kurama slowly advanced on the still mare, his nine tails flaring out behind him, making him seem even larger than his already alicorn sized form was. "I am not your friend, you do NOT control me, I will not apologise to some pathetic creatures that cannot stand in the presence of a superior predator." All the while this was being said, red energy was slowly bubbling off Kuruma. "I am a creature made of pure malice and you will do well to remember that I am only here because I cannot be bothered to kill you all and be forced to flee to escape your species pathetic attempts to get revenge on me!" With this said, the energy which had been gathering around Kurama evaporated and he turned away from the still frozen body of Twilight. "Come, let us go and you can finish my introduction to the inhabitants of this town. With a small gulp, Twilight remembered just what exactly was walking ahead of her and the fact she tried to force him- no, tried to force it to do something which it didn't want to. 'Dear Celestia what have I gotten myself into...' Kurama and Twilight walked silently through the forest of apple trees towards the barn which laid at the end of the pathway. "Uh..Kurama...we're here to introduce you to my friend Applejack and her family, she owns Sweet Apple Acres which is where we are now and they grow the world's best-tasting apples!" Twilight at first started off as a meek sounding child but towards the end, the excitement of introducing someone to one of her closest friends took over and she recovered from the ordeal which she had experienced, but she didn't forget about it either. "The sooner this can be over with, the better, right now all I want to do is sleep" Kurama lifted his nose up, catching a strong scent of sweat, dirt and...pride? "HYAA!" -THUNK- Twilight's head turned towards where the sound came from and a small smile bloomed on her face. "APPLEJACK!" She started to jog towards where an orange furred mare with a blond mane in a braid type thing with a band keeping it together towards the bottom and wearing a-'Is that a cowboy hat on a pony?' Kurama could only shake his head slightly as he slowly followed Twilight as she embraced the other mare. "Twi!" The other mare, Applejack as he overheard, exclaimed with a shocked face but still wrapped a foreleg around the neck of the lilac pony. "As much as I don't mind the hug but...uh...what brought this about?" The confusion was very evident in her facial expression, especially in, now that Kurama was closer and could see, her green eyes. "Oh...uh....hehe....I'm just...kinda jumpy I guess, a lot has happened recently" Twilight had a sheepish expression on her face as she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. "Well, I guess it's alright, nothing wrong with having a hug everyno-WOH TWI LOOK OUT!" With this bit said, it was rather obvious to Kurama that she had noticed him as she had pushed herself to stand between him and Twilight in a protective stance. "Applejack, don't worry, he's the reason that I'm here actually." Twilight then proceeded to walk around Applejack to stand next to Kurama. "Applejack, I would like to introduce you to Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox!" Applejack stared. And stared. And stared. "Uh...Twi....yah know that's just a giant fox...right?" With this, Kurama gained a small tick on his head. "I am not just a giant fox mortal!" Nine tails flared out, twisting and twirling, proving to Applejack that this was not just some bigger than average vulpine creature. "WOH NELLY!" With a small thump, Applejack fell to her rump as she stared at Kurama, who was now looking proud at what he had accomplished. Applejack then shook her head, climbed back to her hooves and went to stand right in front of Kurama. "Well then, mighty sorry that I though you were just another fox Mr Kurama, put her there big fella!" Applejack raised her right front hoof out and kept it there. Kurama stared. "You're supposed to shake it, go on it's polite" Twilight staged whispered. Kuruma slowly lifted up his hand and slowly grasped the offered hoof but was shocked to feel something grasp back. Before he could exclaim his shock he was rather quite quickly physically shaken around. 'Sweet holy sage this mare has a huge amount of strength in order to shake me around, even if I am in a weaker and smaller form.' With a large grin, Applejack stopped shaking the fox around before she slipped her hoof from his grasp. Twilight laughed a bit as she saw the slight swirls in Kurama's eyes. 'Not so invincible now are you?' With a quick shake of his head, Kurama stared at the orange mare. "How did you do that?" Kurama asked with a slightly annoyed voice. "Well, I'm mighty strong I reckon, spend pretty much all day everyday bucking these trees here to get the apples down, not only to mention all the chores I have to do around the farm." Applejack glowed slightly with pride, happy to let another soul know about what she did. "Well, that wasn't what I had meant by my question but it did answer my wonder about how you could so easily throw me about." Kurama acknowledged with a slight nod of his head. "What I had actually wanted to know was how you could grasp my hand back with your hoof, you have no fingers of any kind and yet I felt a force hold onto me." Twilight gasped slightly before her face settled into a small grin. "Oh I know why, you see, all ponies create a small field of localised attractive force around each of their hooves, though it is mainly strongest in the forehooves, this allows all types of ponies to use tools and open doors which have a twist based handle! Scientists believe that ponies had evolved to have this way before the separation of the tribes and that it gave all types of ponies an equal advantage to survive in life, such as an ability to use tools despite unicorns being able to use magic to manipulate things to a high degree or pegasi and their wings. In my opinion, I believe in each ponies hoof, there is a small foci that allows the innate magic that flows around the body to flow outwards slightly at the hoof and..." It was here she noticed the blank looks on the faces of her impromptu students. "You two didn't understand a word I said did you?" Shake of the head. "Hahhh....ponies make a force around their hooves that allow them to pick things up." "Wow Twi, I never really thought about how I could pick up things, but I guess now that I know I can probably use it better" Applejack seemed to look a bit wondered at her hoof. Kuruma just seemed to nod slightly. 'It would make sense...the shinobi of my era could use chakra to grasp onto things not usually possible so this seems to be the most likely answer...and magic...it seems that the very nature of chakra has evolved over the years while I've been away, this will require more thought later on what this means for me, a creature of pure chakra.' Applejack stood with a wondering face before she went over to a tree with a few apples under it and, picking up one of the larger ones, went back over to Kurama holding out the apple with a hoof and a smile. "Here yah go Mr Kurama, a small treat, after all, you must be mighty hungry from coming here...where ever yah from. Don't worry about the price, its free of charge, think of it as a test to see whether yah like the fresh apples from Sweet Apple Acres!" Kurama stared at the apple which offered to him before he stared into the eyes of the smaller mare. "Despite what I look like, I do not need to eat food, food for me does nothing noticeable on my level of energy as I regenerate far too quickly unless I am doing something extremely draining for a continuous amount of time and I do not get hungry, besides, I am a predator, apples are food for prey." Kurama shifted his tails slightly, attempting to convey to Twilight his annoyance at the situation. "Now hold on a darn minute, 'apples are food for prey'?" Applejack strained up her neck at Kurama, sending a glare towards the unique looking fox. "Yes, vegetation, most things that eat vegetation have no true place in the hierarchy of nature, I do not know how it happened but it has become apparent that somehow a prey species has become the dominant species on this land but as a predator even if I don't need to eat I eat only for taste and I will not lower myself to the level of prey." With this, a smirk opened up on his muzzle and he looked very smug to the two ponies. Applejack was furious, her fur bristled as she was prepared to start shouting at the Fox until she saw Twilights face. Twilight had let out a small grunt before a smirk appeared on her face. "Actually Kurama, your species is actually classified as an opportunistic hunter, while you may hunt and eat other animals, foxes will actually eat anything which they can get, whether it's meat, nuts, fruits, berries or vegetables." Kurama's face was agape as he listened to the mare, but it seemed she wasn't done." You're officially an omnivore Kurama, so in actuality, you are a predator and prey." Applejack's face was slowly turning from angry to highly amused as she watched as Kurama was put down from his high horse as she once again held the apple back up to Kurama. "Nothin stopping yah now Mr Predator and Prey" She let out a small giggle. With a small growl, Kurama snatched the apple from the young mare and took a large bite of the apple that was in his hand. His eyes widened as the flavour exploded in his mouth, sending sensations of pleasure throughout his body. With a few more chews and a swallow, Kurama looked down in shock at the apple. 'By my tails that were almost godly in taste...' "Well Kurama, how was it?" Twilight leant in with a smile on her face and mirth in her eyes. With a small grunt Kurama, went to turn back towards the path. "It was adequate, good enough for a mortal I guess, now, let us continue on with our task today" He slowly started to walk back the way they had come. Applejack walked up to Twilight and gave her a small nudge. "Hooboy, that one's a real piece of work, I betcha have quite the job ahead of yah Twi" Applejack stared at the retreating figure of Kurama. "You said it AJ...but....i think I'm starting to get through to him" Twilight stated with a small smile. "What makes yah say that Twi?" Applejack turned to look at her with a confused face. Twilight tilted her head to look at Applejack in the eye. "He still has the apple you gave him" With a huff, Twilight turned to run to catch up to the fading form of Kurama. "Heh...I guess yah right Twi...like yah usually are....I hope you do help him Twi...that fella has far too much sadness in his eyes and if there's anyone who can get through to him, that's you." With a small smile and a slight readjustment of her hat, Applejack turned back towards her trees. "Now, it's time to deal with you lot..." Kurama looked at the apple which still laid in his hand and grinned before he threw it up into the air and with a stretch the rest of the apple was engulfed into his maw. 'Those apples really are that good...I must find a non-suspicious way of getting a supply of them' He continued to walk on down the path as he heard the panting breath and steps of the mare that was supposed to be leading him around. 'That didn't go too bad, I suppose I could do a few more of these introductions...but they'll be my way' A wide grin slowly took over his face as an idea formed in his head. 'This is gunna be fun...'