It was a nice day in the sanctuary. Then again, I don't think I've ever had a bad day here as far as the weather was concerned. Everything just seemed so much, nicer I guess. Probably had to do with the fact I wasn't jumping at shadows anymore and had at least two people I could vent to. Granted, one was a pony and the other was some sort of dragon-pony hybrid, but that was beside the point.
Of course, just because things were better, it didn't mean that things weren't still complicated. I thought talking to Treehugger would help me figure things out, but all that did was make me run in mental circles as I made my way back towards the cabin. I still needed to figure out what I was going to do about the foxes and Fluttershy and it was driving me nuts! That, and I couldn't get Treehugger's words out of my head!
"Damn it all," I grumbled as I shook my head. "Why does everything have to be so fucking complicated all the time?"
The bushes around me rustled as my friends came out of hiding, the adult foxes each giving me brief head-bows while the kits gave happy yips. Both parents and children flanked my sides while the vixen I dubbed Big Mama and her mate took point at my front. I couldn't help but smile a bit at how crazy my life had become since I woke up here all those weeks ago. Here I am, a Ninetales in a world full of talking colorful ponies with an entourage of foxes guarding me as I walked through a forest owned by a Pegasus that reminded me of someone that tried to kill me. It's a damn good thing Autumn had some good shit to drink, cuz lord knows I'm gonna need it when I get to the cabin.
I chuckled at the insanity that was my new life and declared, "Onward my friends! To the land of ponies and drinks!"
The adult foxes let out howls and the kits yipped excitedly as we made our way towards the cabin, my energy flowing through my whole body as my lips curved into a wide grin.
Fuck it. Let's make an entrence for a change.
***
"I'm telling you guys," Autumn groaned from her seat in the cabin's living room. "You're over thinking this whole thing."
Applejack and Pinkie nodded while the rest of the ponies in the room just gawked at her.
"What!?" Rainbow barked, face contorted in indignant fury. "But that horse apple-"
"Is far away and not the problem right now," Autumn frowned as she levitated her tea cup off of the coffee table in front of her and took a sip. "You need to stop pussyhoofing around him and just be straight with him."
"It's not that simple," Twilight sighed as she levitated a book to her side. "According to this-"
"Really? You're going to base Alex off of a book?" Autumn deadpanned.
"W-Well..." Twilight petered off, face slowly growing more sheepish as she set the book back into her saddlebags.
Rarity gave the Kirin a knowing smile as she added, "I suppose you are more of an expert in terms of understanding him."
Autumn's face heated up at that and she sheepishly looked at the ground.
"It's not like that," she mumbled. "We just had a few too many drinks and ended up like that. Thats all."
"Whatever you say darling," the fashion designer said with a wink and a smile.
"Sides," Applejack added, shifting attention away from the Kirin before things got heated. "Treehugger's already helpin' him work all o' that out."
"Yeah!" Pinkie chirped with a nod.
The other ponies in the room traded unsure glances amongst themselves as they took in what they were told. They couldn't argue that the three of them had a point, but they were still afraid to push their luck with Alex. One pony in particular was more on edge then the others as she tried to decide how she was supposed to take this. Said pony let lout a frustrated groan as she ran a hoof through her prismatic mane.
"I can't deal with this anymore!" Rainbow cried, stomping her way towards the cabin's front door. "I need some air!"
Nopony had a chance to stop her as she threw the door open, but instead of flying out like they expected her to she froze halfway out across the threshold.
"Uh, girls? I think you're gonna want to see this," she said dumbly, still staring out at something in the distance.
With a few raised brows and cautious frowns, they all made their way to the door to see what made their friend pause. They instantly understood when they looked past her towards the distant tree line. A golden light peaked past the branches as something made its way through the trees towards them. A loud series of high pitched barks and howls filled the air as the light closed in on them, the surrounding bushes rustling as things moved around the light like a procession. Rainbow was the first to snap out of her shock and the first to make her way out of the cabin. The rest of her party quickly followed her into the open space in front of the cabin, none sure whether they should be preparing for a fight or not as the light got closer. One thing they did know was that the air was gradually getting hotter. Not unbearably so, but enough for the mares to break into a sweat. Twilight and Starlight were sure the light had something to do with it, but still refrained from using any spells until they knew what they were dealing with. The answer came when the shining object passed the tree line and they were glad they stayed their horns. They still added their own looks of awe to the group of slack-jawed equines as they watched Alex step into view, an entourage of foxes surrounding him like a guard detail as he approached the mares. His coat literally shone like the sun as he walked and smiled at the mares. Autumn's face heated up as she stared at him, a single word slipping past her lips.
"Woof."
Applejack and Pinkie both gave her knowing smirks from both sides before they gave her some light nudges.
"'Not like that,' huh?" the pink pony whispered.
"Shut up," Autumn grumbled, suddenly very interested in the ground.
Both mares just smiled and rolled their eyes as they made their way towards Alex.
***
Something I didn't expect when I crossed the tree line was a welcome party, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Okay, stupid phrase here, but I digress. It still made what I was trying to do a lot less complicated, so who gave a damn? Speaking of less complicated, I could see Pinkie Pie and Applejack coming towards me.
Perfect, I thought, my smirk growing a bit. Just the ponies I wanted to talk to.
I met them half way with my Skulk moving with me like a circle of guards.
"Howdy," Applejack smiled, tilting her hat at me.
"Hiya!" Pinkie Pie beamed, waving a hoof at me.
"Hey," I smiled, nodding at them.
"Had a good walk?" Applejack smirked, raising a brow at me.
"Yeah," I sighed. "Helped me figure things out a bit."
"Like what?" Pinkie Pie asked, tilting her head.
"Well," I grimaced, feeling a little awkward as I looked at the pink pony and said, "I think I owe you a few cakes and streamers for starters."
Pinkie Pie blinked at me, then laughed and waved a hoof at me as she said, "Don't worry about it! I've already gotten over it."
"Still," I smirked. "It's only fair I at least return the favor somehow."
As I said that, I turned my head towards the adult foxes at my sides and said, "Gather some branches and dried leaves. Any of you who can't, help me dig a hole."
Half of the adults gave me a few barks before they ran back into the forest while the rest stayed by my sides. I gestured to the two ponies to follow me as I walked over to an open patch of dirt a good distance away from the cabin and the sanctuary that wasn't crystalized and started digging. The foxes quickly helped me out and in a few seconds we had a decent sized hole for what I had planed.
"What are ya' up to?" Applejack asked as I nodded in satisfaction at the hole.
"Well," I shrugged, watching as the foxes I sent off earlier came back with every stick or dry leaf they could carry. "Since you guys are going to be visiting me every now and then, I figured I'd throw a little party for you all. Granted, I don't have much to give and I'll probably owe Fluttershy a shit ton more than I already do, but I still want to do something for you guys."
I looked over my shoulder at them and gave them a wide grin as I added, "Plus, maybe it'll help your friends get their sticks out of their asses around me. Seriously. Except for Autumn, you guys've been treating me like some kind of bomb and it's really getting annoying."
Both of them started at me wide-eyed for a minute, then burst out laughing. I shrugged, not really seeing what was so funny as I shifted my attention back to the fire pit. The two of them moved to my sides, still laughing as they sat down. The foxes that helped me dig sat across from us, laying around and enjoying the late afternoon sun with the kits as their fellows added more sticks to the fire pit.
"Sugarcube, you took the words right out of our mouths," Applejack smiled, using her hat to fan herself.
"Y-Yeah," Pinkie Pie giggled. "We were just telling the girls to loosen up a bit around you before you showed up."
"Thank god for that," I sighed, watching Big Mama drop a branch into the pit. "It was starting to look like you guys were trying to sell me something for a bit there."
"Rarity might try ta'," Applejack shrugged. "She's been talkin' about puttin' ya' in a suit if she ever get's the chance."
"Good to know," I smirked. "Pretty sure I can outrun her if I need to."
We all chuckled at that as we watched the pile of kindling grow. When it finally got as big as I wanted it, I told the foxes to stop and shot out a small Flamethrower into the mass of wood.
"Now I just need to get some food for everyone," I muttered to myself.
"Not a problem," I heard Pinkie Pie giggle. "Leave it to me."
I turned to argue, but stopped when I noticed the small blue cannon sitting next to her. I pointed a paw at the small siege weapon, but before I could ask, she pulled a string on the back of it. There was a loud boom and all I saw was confetti and ....something for a second. After I spat out a mouthful of confetti, I looked up towards...a fully loaded party spread?
"What the..." I muttered, blinking dumbly at three tables loaded with all kinds of food and drinks about ten feet away from the bonfire.
Applejack patted me on the shoulder with a rueful smile as she said, "Don't try ta' figure it out Sugarcube. We've been tryin' fer years."
I blinked at her for a minute, then shrugged my shoulders as I made my way over to the spread.
When in Rome I guess.
I noticed the other ponies as I plucked a cupcake off of one of the tables.
I rolled my eyes as I turned my head towards them and said, "I know I'm hot, but could you all not stare at me so much?! This is supposed to be a party, not a peep show!"
A victorious smirk grew on my face as I saw all of the ponies start blushing at that as they sheepishly made their way towards the food. I chuckled to myself at that as I took a bite out of my cupcake. I froze for a second as my brain struggled to process the sheer level of deliciousness that made up that one bite.
Holy shit! I thought, staring at the cupcake with wide eyes.
"Good, huh?"
I blinked and turned to my left towards a smirking Autumn. I smirked back with a nod before I rammed the rest of the cupcake into my mouth. She laughed as she floated a cupcake towards herself.
"Guess you had a good walk," she smiled as she took a bite out of her snack.
"Something like that," I shrugged, grabbing another snack off of the table. "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
"Not really," she shrugged, then smiled sheepishly as she added, "Not until you came back anyway."
"Huh?" I grunted around a mouthful of cupcake.
"Don't know if you noticed hot stuff," she giggled. "But you're glowing."
"I'm what?" I blinked.
She just kept smiling like she was in on some joke and I looked myself over as well as I could. Sure enough I was fucking glowing.
"What the he-," I muttered as I did a small one-eighty where I stood. "Why the hell am I glowing?"
"Don't know," she smirked, then blushed as she sheepishly muttered, "You look good though."
I reared back at that, a blush heating up my- I mean, the fire that was making me glow heating up my face as I processed that. Cuz that was totally what was happening. I'm a fire type. Full of fire. Fire's hot. Like my face. Because fire.
I came back to pony land when a distraction- I mean loud series of yips caught my attention. I looked down to see a ten pack of kits all looking up at me with panting muzzles and wagging tails. I chuckled as I patted them each on the head before shifting my attention back towards Autumn. She looked at the little terrors with a twinkle in her eyes as she took a couple steps towards them.
"Aw, they're so cute!" she gushed, as she stuck a hoof out towards them.
One of the kits sniffed her hoof, froze, looked at me, then let out an excited yip as it jumped towards Autumn. She let out a startled squawk as the little vulpine monster climbed up her leg and jumped onto her back. She had enough time to give the little ring leader a raised brow before its brothers and sisters swarmed her. It took everything I had not to burst out laughing as she was stuck on her side getting licked and nipped by a small pack of kits, her laughing like a loon the whole time. Both the ponies and the foxes watched this happening with smiles and happy barks respectively. One fox in particular came to my side, pawing at my foreleg to get my attention. I looked down to Big Mama and I shit you not, the look she gave me told me that if she could , she'd be giving me a knowing smirk. Don't know why, though.
As the kits had their way with Autumn, I stared at my glowing foreleg.
Seriously, why the fuck am I glowing?
***
All in all, the party went pretty well as far as I could tell. Autumn, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and I spent most of the day talking about random stuff, all the while downing cups of hard cider by the fire I made. Eventually, the rest of the ponies gravitated towards the fire too. Turns out Princess Twilight Sparkle liked to be called just Twilight when she was off the clock, something I could get for the most part. She was also pretty cool to be around. A little bookish, but pretty nice for the most part. Still don't want to get on her bad side though. Starlight was pretty cool too now that she wasn't so uptight, though it was a little hard to follow her when kites came up in the conversation. Rarity kind of creeped me out. She kept staring at me with this look that reminded me of that one time I saw Big Mama catch a bird. That aside, she seemed...mostly harmless. Like I told Applejack, I could probably outrun her if I needed to. This other pony I met named Rainbow Dash looked like she'd be someone I could get along with. A little cocky, but still seemed like she could be a lot of fun to hang out with. Well...okay, not all of the ponies came to the fire pit.
As I took a sip of cider, working up a good buzz while I talked to Rainbow Dash, I noticed a bit of yellow and pink peeking out from the cabin's front door out the corner of my eye. I guess Rainbow Dash noticed, cuz she let out a sigh as she turned her head towards the building.
"She doesn't want to scare you off," she frowned.
I didn't say anything, just stared at the cabin as I took in everything that happened since I came here. As much of an ass as I am, I like to think I'm a pretty decent guy. Don't be a dick to me, I won't be a dick to you. Give what you get and all that crap. Yeah, what "she" did was...it messed me up real bad, but it wasn't fair to dump that shit on Fluttershy. I liked these ponies, but I wasn't going to take them away from a friend. I know how fucked that is and I refused to do that to someone who didn't do anything wrong. Time to put an end to this shit.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash, could you do me a favor?" I frowned, still staring at the cabin.
"I guess?" she said. "What is it?"
"I'm gonna try something. If you start seeing flames coming out of my mouth, I want you to knock me out."
Dead silence filled the air as I felt eyes on me, but I ignored it as I stared at the partially opened cabin door and the barely visible teal eyes beyond. I waited for the Pegasus to say something as I locked eyes with the hiding pony, then after a few seconds I saw the blue pony nod.
"Thanks," I sighed.
With that, I slowly made my way towards the building. At first, I felt fine, but as I got closer to the cabin my limbs got harder to move. I could feel my body start to shake as flashes of bad memories started to jump to the front of my mind. By the time I made it about five feet away from the door, I couldn't force my body to move forward anymore. I was briefly aware of Rainbow Dash hovering behind me as I struggled to find my words.
She's not her. She's not her. She's not fucking Sandra!
I took a step back and felt my throat loosen enough to force my words out.
"I-I want to apologize for everything I've done around here. I've been a total ass to you and your property and it's not right. I can't really do much to fix all the stuff I messed up, but I promise that I'll find a way to pay for it when I can. You're...You're probably wondering why I'm...acting like this."
I gulped in a shaky breath as my bad memories started to creep up on me.
"Someone messed me up really bad and...you remind me of them. I'm working through all of that, but it's not fair for me to put all of that baggage on you. Hell, this is the closest I've had to a conversation with you."
I let out a frustrated groan as I caught myself rambling.
"Anyways, I'm gonna be leaving soon and I heard you're really good with animals. I...can't take the foxes with me and I need your help. I know I already owe you a ton, but I want to ask you to keep an eye on them for me. Please."
Another heavy silence filled the air for a few seconds as we exchanged stares, then a soft voice that put a chill down my back broke it.
"I forgive you and I would love to."
"Thank you," I sighed, my legs shaking a little less as some of my tension left me. "I-I seriously owe you."
A pause, then a saw a small smile peek out from behind the door as she shook her head.
"You don't owe me anything. Just get better soon."
Not gonna lie, that really got to me. Not in a bad way this time, at least. I felt like someone just gave me a hug for the first time in years. Good didn't describe how good I felt at that moment as I gave the Pegasus a shaky smile. I nodded at that and made to turn away only for a soft "Wait" to make me freeze. I heard a few soft hoofsteps, some clattering glass, then the sound of something being poured. A minute later, a yellow hoof slid a loaded shot glass out onto the porch.
"Welcome to Equestria," she smiled then gently shut the door.
"Thanks," I sighed.
I tried to take a step towards the porch, but my legs refused to move. I grimaced at my legs as I tried to force myself to claim my offering of Dragon's Tar.
Fucking PTSD!
I glared at the shot. I wanted my damn drink!
I felt a small tingling of energy build up in my forehead and the shot flew towards me. I let out a startled yelp at just the right time to have the damn thing nearly launch itself down my throat. The glass caught on one of my fangs before it got the chance to do more than dump it contents down my throat. I took a few steps back before I spat the glass out and leveled a flat glare at the ponies by the fire.
"Not funny guys," I snapped, wiping some stray drops off of my face. "I almost choked on the damn thing!"
"That wasn't us," Starlight Glimmer frowned.
"Right," I frowned, unconsciously rubbing at a tingling in my forehead with a forepaw. "Then who was it?"
As soon as I said that, a weird colorless shimmer surround Starlight Glimmer and she flew towards me.
Oh hell no!
I put up a paw to shield myself only for the pony to stop at the last second. We stared at each other in shock for a few seconds, before the weird tingling in my head stopped and she plopped onto the ground with a yelp. I frantically tried to help her get back up, all the while I tried to figure out what the hell just happened.
I knew that NInetales could use a few psychic moves, but I was pretty sure Psychic wasn't one of them.
What was it called? Extra- something?
"Wow Alex!" Pinkie Pie cheered from her seat by the fire. "When did you learn Extrasensory?"
That's what it was called!
"Just now I guess," I called back now that Starlight Glimmer was back on her hooves.
"Way to go!" she beamed before cramming a cupcake into her mouth.
I smirked at that, then frowned as a sudden thought hit me.
Wait a second. How the heck does Pinkie Pie know about Pokémon moves?