//------------------------------// // Apples and Dresses (Reworked) // Story: A Feline's Point of View // by Zman537 //------------------------------// Chapter 4 ~Yesterday~ Angel was at the park with Fluttershy for the weekly 'pet date' she has with her friends. He waited for her to look away before he hopped to the other pets. "I need your help. There's this cat that showed up a couple of days ago and we need to find him fast." A white cat that was grooming herself stopped and stared at Angel. "Angel darling, is this really the time?" "Yes it is! We need to find him before he does something stupid!" The collie that was playing Frisbee with her owner called over from the game. "Opal's right. What's the big deal about some mangy feline?" Opal shot the dog a glance before continuing to groom. "Err... no offence." "Well for starters, He is a entirely new species and is capable of a feat that should not be possible!" A tortoise that was strapped to a heli-pack flew above Angel. "You okay Angel?" An owl that was sleeping before the commotion started flew down to meet Angel. "You don't normally get this worked up Angel. What is it about him that is setting you on edge so badly?" Angel looked back to Fluttershy and her friends before he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. All eyes were on him. all except the wall-eyed alligator that was clamped on his owner's mane. Most of the pets were shocked by the words that were about to come from his lips. "He can talk to the ponies." POV Felix Apples. So. Many. Apples. Everywhere I looked was yet another apple tree. If it wasn't for the fact that I could see the Crusaders' flag from the tree tops I'd be completely lost. "This is completely insane. Who needs this many apple trees? This is a bigger orchard than that one I saw in 5th grade! Even if I wasn't a cat right now!" I heard some thumping in the distance and followed my ears to the source. Got to love these ears. I saw (unsurprisingly) another pony. This one was orange with a blonde mane, she even had a Stetson. Her flank was adorned with a trio of apples. If she is named after a breakfast cereal, I'm going to face palm. Hard. The orange pony was placing empty buckets under the trees. I wondered why until I saw her rear-up and buck the tree with a kick strong enough to drop all the apples into the buckets. I have absolutely no idea how she got every basket full without dropping a single apple. DAYUM she's good! The mare picked up the apple buckets and placed them on a cart that was full of more buckets and apples. She adjusted her Stetson before she hollered to the large red stallion hitched to the cart. "Alright Big Mac, Yer ready to go!" The red pony looked back at the cart. "Eeyup" 'Big Mac' as in the burger? That is almost as bad as being named after cereal. As 'Big Red' (as I shall call him until I am certain of his name) left, the orange pony leaned against a tree chuckling to her self. The urge to prank this pony was growing every second. "If this years harvest keeps up, the bumper crop will have us swimmin' in bits!" She flicked her hat over her eyes and started to snooze. She was such a easy target that I had to restrain myself from charging and scaring her. I crept into a tree and hopped from branch to branch until I got above her. There was a single apple left in the tree right above her head. Oh, this is too perfect. I sat on a branch next to the apple and extended one of my claws. With a single swipe the step was cut clean off. 'Bombs away!' The apple landed on her Stetson, knocking it off her head. "What in tarnation?" The mare looked down at the apple, to her Stetson, then up at the tree. She couldn't quite see me thanks to the shadows but I could see her. She grabbed her hat and placed it back on her head. "How the hay did I miss one?" She shrugged and grabbed the apple for a snack. I sat there more than a little disappointed. That's it? Oh come on, I was expecting something more than that! The orange pony got up and shook her head. "Looks like Granny's right AJ, yer startin' ta work yourself too hard again." She started in the direction Big Mac left and I decided to follow. Every now and then she would cast a suspicious glance at the trees and I would stop moving. When she finally broke away from the trees, I was forced to stop. She headed to a large red barn and went inside. In order to proceed further, I must blow my cover.... This will either lead to disaster or monumental success. I leaped from the tree into the grass below. Stalking like a tiger through the jungle, I made my way over to the porch. After that I had planned on skulking along the side of the building and getting to the barn. This had been the plan until I heard a sound that made me freeze. The orange pony had started whistling. "Winona! Here girl!" Oh CRAP! Around the corner headed to the orange pony was the thing I feared now that I was the dreaded enemy of their kind. "Yes Ma'm! What.." Winona started to sniff around. "That smell..." Winona began to follow her nose and was headed right for me. The orange pony was confused by her behavior. "What is it girl? Ya smell somethin'?" Winona kept following my scent. I was panicking so much that I was glued to the spot. She lifted her head and looked right at me growling. "Ah smell a varmit." All right legs, it's time to BAIL!!!! So I did what my mind commanded and ran. The orange pony yelled but I didn't stop. Looking back I could see Winona right on my tail, figuratively and too close to being literally. The orange one was a long way back from where we were. "Git back here!" "Fat chance of that!" I darted into a tree and Winona stopped at the base. I looked down at her to gloat as she tried to climb the trunk. "HA! Try and get me now you dumb mutt!" Winona went wide-eyed at the insult and grew furious. She started to back up from the tree. I had no idea what I had just done. That was a really bad idea insulting her She charged forward, leaped, and landed all four paws into the tree, shaking the entire mass with me in it to the point that I almost fell out. I barely climbed back in and started running in the trees before she charged again. "Oh no ya don't!" Winona ran along side me as I darted in the general direction of the clubhouse. I could see it's flag waving in the breeze, standing as a sign of salvation. The orange pony could be heard running after us as we ran. I couldn't seem to get one of my favorite cartoons out of my head. All I need is a freaking mouse named Jerry in front of me to complete this scene! ~Meanwhile~ A mouse in a wheel chair was heading home with his wife when he felt a shudder creep up his spine. "Something wrong dear?" "No, just got a weird feeling again." His wife sighed and rubbed her head. "You really should to stop antagonizing Tom dear. It's bad for your health." "I'm telling you Sarah its all in harmless fun." She pushed his leg into a wall and he let out a yelp. "Harmless?" The mouse said no more as he continued into the mouse hole with his wife shutting the door behind them. The club house was only about a hundred feet or so in front of me. I had to ditch the branches a while back because I knew that I couldn't get in through the windows. Locks are so inconvenient. I was almost there, I just needed to get inside and make a break for- *Chomp* Searing pain shot up my spine as I let out a yowl of pain. Looking back I could see that Winona had caught up and bit the closest thing that she could and cause me bodily pain. "Yer mot moin anywhere!" I swiped my claws across her nose and she let go with a yelp. By the time she got into the clubhouse I was already upstairs and hiding in a box. I could hear Winona barking and the orange pony downstairs. "Winona! What's gotten in ta you?" I hopped out of my box and jumped to the window. "There's a critter upstairs an-" Winona stopped as she was being pulled back by the orange pony via a leash. "Come on girl, yer headin' home right now! Fluttershy's gonna be mighty sore when she hears that you we're chasin' squirrels again." Winona tried to protest but was pulled outside. She caught a glimpse of me and snarled. "I'll get you fer this! JUST YOU WAIT YA-" She was silenced by a tug on the leash. Once I couldn't see hide or hair of the canine I hopped back to the floor and stroked my tail. "Oww. First my nose, now my tail... This whole world is out to get me." I went down stairs and nudged the clubhouse door shut. I noticed that it was about midday. "I wonder what Scoots is up too." I chuckled to myself. "Probably doing something that I would call full of happiness and butterflies." I let out a sigh. I went to my... food? No gruel would be a better term... and began to eat. "Being a cat is Hard." A hour or so after I had gotten back, a blur of pink and fuchsia came barreling through the door. The pony in question slammed said door behind her and leaned against it panting. While wearing a pink frilly dress. "Oh, hey Scoots. How was school? Nice dre-" "Tell anypony about this and I will skin you alive." I was, for less descriptive words, shocked. The fact that I was threatened at all (by a child no less) blew my theory of the ponies being all sunshine and rainbows out of the water. Well all but one pony, she was just rainbows. I kind of want to meet her... although I probably should confront the pink elephant in the room first. "Um... Okay. But could you do me the favor of explaining what the dress is about?" She blushed and mumbled something about a photographer. I was about to ask her to clarify, but was interrupted by knocking from the door. "Scoots ya in there?" It was Applebloom. Scootaloo glared at the door. "Go Away!" "Aw, come on Scoots. We said we're sorry for laughing." Sweetie was there too, and by what she said whatever happened must have been embarrassing. "Can you please let us in?" Scootaloo sat for a minute before she opened the door. Applebloom and Sweetie had started to suppress their giggles when they saw her. She started to head for the stairs when she turned to me. "Felix, make sure they stay here." I gave her a salute and sat at the bottom of the stairs. Sweetie looked at me in amazement while Applebloom was confused. Sweetie tried passing me but stopped as I let out a growl and glared at her. They went over to the door and began to talk. "Ah didn't know ya could train a cat." "And yesterday he was so nice to me too." Sweetie pouted. "Think he'll let us pet him if we promise not to go upstairs?" Sweetie walked up to me and I glared again. "Is it okay if I pet you? I promise not to go upstairs." I pondered her request for a moment before denying her request. "Please Felix, I Pinkie promise." Shivers ran up my spine when she mentioned the pink one. I decided that if she was going to risk the wrath of a crazed pink monster then her words were genuine. I gave her a nod and walked up to her. She started to scratch behind my ears as a now dress-free Scootaloo came down the stairs. She gave me a dead-pan stare when she saw me with Sweetie. "Some guard you turned out to be." I couldn't care less at the moment. This feels like a massage for my brain. Applebloom giggled a bit before turning to Scootaloo. "I'm amazed that he followed yer orders until she promised not to go up there. How'd ya train 'im to do that?" Scoots started to fidget a little as she looked towards her friends with a smug grin. "Oh it was nothing really... I just gave him some food for being good." Sweetie stared at her with a confused look on her face. I got to admit, that looks ridiculously adorable. "I thought that didn't work? Remember when we tried that with Opal? She cut part of my mane off." Scootaloo quivered with restrained laughter. "I guess Felix is just awesome like that." "Scoots, is this part of that secret ya wanted to tell us?" I moved behind the two fillies and motioned Scootaloo to stall. "Mayyyybe." She was having a hard time suppressing her laughter by this point. I calmly sat behind both of them and rubbed my claws on my chest. Looks clean enough I extend one claw from each paw and dragged the dull curve up each of their spines. There was only one word that described their reactions. "Yaahhh!" "Eeep!" Priceless.