//------------------------------// // Ch.4 Well Fox me..."....Seriously?" // Story: Cold Fire // by Arcanum -Phantasy //------------------------------// Cool water rushed across my body as white noise cut me off from the distractions of the outside world. For the first time in days I was completely and utterly calm as I sat beneath a small waterfall. While it washed away my sweat and tension from a hard day's training, I let my mind wander over my current perdicerment. I still had to figure out what I was going to do about Fluttershy, but that wasn't going to be a problem for much longer if everything worked out. According to Applejack, I was in a country mostly populated by talking ponies called Equestria. While there apparently weren't any Pokemon, there were different types of magical creatures like dragons and kirins just to name a couple. Now if you told me that a few weeks ago, I would've asked you what someone slipped you so I can keep my distance. Seeing as I was a Ninetales talking to a talking orange horse, er, pony with a southern accent, I was a little more willing to keep an open mind. Yeah, yesterday was pretty interesting. While knowing that I didn't need to worry about dream-eating Gengar or Hypno made sleeping last night a lot easier, it brought a whole new issue to the table. Seeing as the "forest" belonged to Fluttershy, it made living here a little awkward. Hell, I was practically living in someone else's backyard. Regardless of how I felt about the girl, that wasn't fair to her. The last thing I needed was to start owing her more than I already did. I gasped as a memory of a sharp pain shot through my back, the water replaced with blood as my consciousness faded. A sweet voice and gentle smile the last thing I saw and heard as the world turned black. "Don't worry. It'll all be over soon." My eyes flew open, breath coming out in frantic gasps as I returned to the present. Slowly, my breathing started to level out as I took stock of my surroundings. Damp stone under my paws, clear water all around me, cloudless skies above me, and trees as far as the eye could see from my perch. "I'm okay," I muttered, my breathing slowly leveling out. "She's not here. She can't hurt me. I'm okay....I'm okay." I tried to keep my breathing level as I forced my unwanted memories to the back of my mind. All the while, my resolve to leave the sanctuary grew by several notches. "For fucks sake," I growled. "I can't even think about her without "her" popping up. Fuck my fucking life." I let out a frustrated sigh as I walked off of my perch into the shallow water below. As I waded my way through the shallows, I tried to figure out what I was going to do next. The sanctuary was a definite hell no, but I had no idea what was in this world other than four-legged diabetes makers that toy companies would kill to know about. Hell, we all know cute sells better than badass. I could probably ask Applejack if she knew about anyplace nearby that wouldn't give me too much grief, but that also put me at risk of running into Fluttershy. Then there's the foxes to take into account. I don't think the skulk would leave me and honestly,I didn't really want them to either. They were the best friends I've had in a long time and I didn't want to give that up. "God dammit. Why can't anything be simple?" I looked up at the coast and froze. Standing about five feet away from the water's edge were three ponies. One I recognized immediately as Applejack while the other two were complete mysteries. At her left stood a white Unicorn with a purple mane and tail stylized into single curls with blue...eyeshadow (?) highlighting her dark-blue eyes. The other pony was the pinkest Earth Pony I had ever seen with a thick mass of darker pink curls making up her mane and tail. While the white one looked surprised, the pink one looked kind of glum for some reason. Shrugging it off, I decided to see how this all played out and walked towards the group. "Howdy Alex," Applejack smiled, waving at me as I stepped out of the water. "Hey," I smirked. "What's up?" "Not much," she shrugged. "Some of mah friends wanted to meet cha'. That okay with ya'?" "I guess," I frowned, giving the two other ponies a scrutinizing glance. "Just give me a minute to dry off first." She nodded and I took a couple dozen steps away from the group. From there, instinct took over as I shook the water out of my coat. It was always a huge relief when I did this after a shower. Imagine having a bunch of wet sandbags stuck to your back, arms, and legs. Now add nine heavy chains to your tailbone. Yeah, shaking water off of my coat was awesome. Apparently the Unicorn thought the same thing, cuz when I looked back at the ponies there were stars in that one's eyes. That put me a little on edge, but not enough for me to count her as a threat. Applejack seemed to notice her friend's antics and just rolled her eyes while the pink one still looked like she just got grounded for something. "Magnificent!" the Unicorn gushed, a posh female accent coloring her declaration. "Darling, your coat is simply divine!" "Uh, thanks?" I blinked. Huh, british pony. I wonder how many other Earth accents are in this world. The Unicorn blinked then quickly composed herself as she said, "Where are my manners? My name is Rarity. It is a pleasure to meet you." "Likewise," I smiled. "Name's Alex by the way." "Alex?" she asked. "That is quite the odd name, if you don't mind me saying." I chuckled at that as I lowered myself to my haunches. "I could say the same about you and Applejack." Hell, where I'm from her name's either a drink or a cereal brand. "I suppose," she smiled, then gestured to the space in front of me with a hoof as she asked, "May I?" "Go ahead," I shrugged. "Bring your friends along for the ride too." She giggled behind a hoof then walked towards me, her friends not too far behind her. "So, what can I do for you all?" "In just a moment," Rarity started. "One of us has a few things she would like to say." At that, the pink pony sat down next to Rarity and stared up at me. I felt like I just kicked the most helpless puppy into a puddle as I stared into her sad blue eyes and saw her slightly trembling lip. I felt my tails droop as a deep guilt filled me for a crime I had no idea I had committed. "Hi Alex, I'm Pinkie Pie," she said, a slight tremble in her tone. A very familiar tone. A faint trace of bubblegum and flour graced my nose and all of the pieces fell into place. "You're the one I talked to a couple nights ago," I stated, tone flat as I straightened my posture. She nodded, then said, "I thought it would help if I threw you a welcome party, but all I did was make you sick. I'm so so so sorry." A part of me wanted to doubt her, telling me that no one could go that far to make someone feel welcome. That same part had kept me out of some seriously dangerous situations as well as pulled me out of ones that I had already fallen into. I've lost track of how many times my instincts and martial arts got me away from knife-wielding bastards ever since I got away from "her". That part of my mind quickly changed its tune when I saw how genuine Pinkie's tears were. I sighed and relaxed my posture as a sympathetic smile spread across my muzzle. "It's fine. I was...going through some crap at the time. I'm sorry for what I said at the time." "Okay, sure," she smiled, her whole body seeing to brighten a bit. "Did you like the blanket?" "Yeah, thanks for that by the way," I smiled. "It really helped me get back on my feet." "No problem," she giggled. "I'm just glad you're feeling better." I chucked a bit at that. I couldn't help it! Something about this pony just put me in a good mood for some reason. "Ya'll already met Pinkie?" Applejack asked. "Kind of," I chuckled uneasily. "The night before I met you, someone snuck into my cave and I thought they were going to kill me." "WHAT?!" Applejack and Rarity exclaimed, slack-jawed and wide-eyed as they stared at me. "Yeah, not my proudest moment," I frowned. An awkward silence filled the air as I struggled to find a way to salvage the situation. Luckily, Rarity seemed more than willing to break the silence. "That aside," she frowned. "I suspect that things have been going well for you here." "To a degree," I shrugged. "I detect a "but" in there," she said with a sly smirk. "Yeah," I grimaced. "I'm actually kind of glad you guys found me." "And why is that?" she asked. "I was wondering if Applejack could help me with something." *** I frowned as I wandered dejectedly into my temporary cave. Though how temporary was pretty high up in the air at this point. According to Applejack, it wouldn't be too difficult for me to find a new place to live. Apparently, a lot of places would love to have a creature like me around for one reason or another. My posse? Not so much. Not too surprising that most places wouldn't be willing to take in about forty wild foxes. Apparently, the only options Applejack and Rarity could think of that could work were two nearby forests. Considering I was trying to stay away from Fluttershy, that really only left one forest for my friends and I to move into. "I wonder what Whitetail Woods is like," I mused as I laid down on the ground. "Hope the Skulk like it there." I let out a listless sigh as I rolled onto my side. A deep gash in a nearby wall made me cringe as I remembered all of the damage I did while I was here. Right, she's probably going to ask me to fix all of that. How the hell I'm going to do that is beyond me, but I'll get there when I get there. From where I laid I gave the cave a slow look over, actually taking in my surrounding instead of just staring at them. It was weird. I hadn't been in the sanctuary for very long, but I already knew I was going to miss this place. Yeah, the last few days were absolute shit, but I had already set up a way of life here. It was kind of liberating in a way. Some clops from the cave's entrance snapped me out of my musings. I figured it was Applejack coming by to tell me how to get to Whitetail and forced myself to my haunches. It really surprised me how quickly I adapted to my new body and how natural certain postures felt to me. Even the tails felt normal to me now, especially after all the time I spent perfecting Iron Tail. Confusion hit me when two ponies I'd never seen before stepped into the cave's main chamber. They were both purple, but one was a much lighter shade then the other. The darker one had a navy-blue mane and tail with a lavender streak running through them. She also had a pair of wings and a horn and was a bit taller then her friend. The other one was a Unicorn with the same colored mane and tail as her friend only with a light-blue streak running through them. Do ponies go through metamorphosis or something? I thought as I stared at the...winged Unicorn? Horned Pegasus? "Your name is Alex, right?" the Pegacorn asked. "Y-Yeah," I stammered. I didn't know what it was about this pony, but something told me it would be a really bad idea to piss her off. "Great!" she beamed. "My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and this is my friend Headmare Starlight Glimmer." A cold chill shot down my spine at that. A Princess? Aw fan-fucking-tastic! Now if I say something stupid I could get the axe! Perfect! "Nice to meet you," I gulped. "A-Any reason you came to see me?" She gave me a confused look then said, "I wanted to meet you and see if maybe you needed some help with something." "R-Right," I frowned. "Well, unless you know the quickest way to Whitetail Woods from here, I don't think theres a lot that can be done." "Is that all?" the other pony, Starlight Glimmer, asked. I nodded. "I can't stay here and I don't think a lot of places are willing to take in a whole skulk of foxes." "I see," Princess Twilight, murmured, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. "I could ask Fluttershy-" "No!" I barked, briefly forgetting who and what I was talking to. "She's the whole reason I can't stay here!" "What do you mean?" Starlight asked, An awkward silence filled the cave as I tried to pull myself together. "Look, I've got nothing against her, but I can't be anywhere near her." "Why?" the princess asked. I wanted to tell her. God all mighty did I want to tell her, but every time I tried to get the words out my mind would flash back to that fucking night. The pain. The blood. The betrayal. I took a deep breath, and with trebling words said, "Because I don't want to hurt her." Both ponies gawked at me. "W-Why would you hurt Fluttershy?" Starlight asked. "I-I-I can't say," I grimaced, staring at the ground in shame. "Just trust me when I say that it's a good idea if we don't run into each other."