My Little Pony: The Fox of Everfree

by Valtyrian

Chapter 2: Reflections with a Spider

Sweetie Belle lay on top of a flat cliff, looking down at the lake below. A pleasant moan escaped her lips as the warm sun beamed on her back. The waterfall nearby sprayed a mist of water over her, slightly damping the kimono that she was wearing, one of the many gifts Kohaku had given her.

“It’s so beautiful here,” she said to herself. Shifting her body a bit, she let one of her legs hang loose over the edge of the cliff. A few fish splashed up out of the water, catching some small bugs in their mouths, and then dove back into the waters. “I can see why he loves it so much.”

Rubbing her hind legs together, she let out a low groan. It had been a week since Kohaku had removed the casts from her legs. They were healed, but severely weakened. The short walks she took daily to help strengthen them still wore her out. The furthest she could manage was the cliff she was now lying on.

Her horn lighting up, she brought a beautiful silver quill up to a small journal filled with songsheets, both gifts from Kohaku. She started to write down whatever came into her head. The pen scratching along the paper mingled lovingly with a soft tune she began to hum.

“Whatcha writing down now?” a soft voice asked near her ear. Shocked by the voice, Sweetie Belle shot her head up faster than intended. Without meaning to, she hit Kohaku directly in the chin.

They both yelped in unison.

“Kohaku!” Sweetie Belle said, sharper than she wanted to as she turned her head to look at the fox. A fox who was now rubbing his chin with his paw. “What did I say about sneaking up behind me like that.”

“Sorry. I just couldn’t resist.” He chuckled loudly, which brought out a small giggle from her lips in return. “You know how I am with such things.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said, putting down her quill. “I’m working on a new song. I’ve never been so inspired before. This grove, the lake, the waterfall. It just brings out something I never knew was there.”

“Well, I’d love to hear you sing it when you’ve finished.”

“Maybe I will.” Sweetie Belle smiled as she looked him up and down. He had dressed up in his rugged traveling attire--a thick leather vest and a woolen cloak. A worn denim rucksack was slung over his back, packed full. “You are heading out to the north side of the forest again, right?”

“Yeah, it’s that time of the week.” Kohaku stretched a bit. His three tails swished behind him. “Do you need anything before I head out? Something to eat or drink?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No, I’m good. Silky will be here soon,” she said, closing her notebook and lying on her side. “She’ll help me with what I need.”

“Okay then. You two girls have fun. I’ll be back late this afternoon.” Turning his back to Sweetie Belle, the young fox trekked down the worn path before vanishing into the shadows of the dark trees just beyond the small grove.

“Have fun yourself,” she replied after he vanished. “I wonder who his friend is up there. Damn these weak legs of mine that keep me from leaving.” Flopping back onto her belly, she watched the brilliant sky reflect off the water. Looking up, she smiled as she saw her new friend and waved at her.

A spider-pony the size of a full grown mare walked up the path toward her. Sweetie Belle still couldn’t believe the resemblance the spider-mare had to Fluttershy. The bright yellow coat and and flowing pink mane. They could have been twins had it not been for the bright purple stripes that lined her body and the fact that Silky had a bright, outgoing personality.

“Sweetie Belle!” Silky yelled out as she came up the hill. “How’s my favorite little filly feeling today?”

“I’m doing much better,” Sweetie Belle said, pushing herself up slowly. “I made it all the way out here.”

“Awesome,” Silky exclaimed as she reached out one of her eight legs to help Sweetie Belle get up. “Well, let’s get you inside. I’ll make us some breakfast and we can continue with your physical therapy. I even got us a special treat.”

“Sounds like a plan,” the filly agreed , climbing onto her friend’s back. “Let’s go.” She grinned as the pair moved up past the waterfall toward Kohaku’s dwelling. Sweetie Belle thought back to her first experience with this rather unusual creature.

******

“You are going where!” Sweetie Belle shouted, louder than she intended as she sat up in the large bed, slightly upsetting the tray set across her legs. Her breakfast, consisting of a tall glass of milk and a bowl filled with rice with an egg mixed into it, nearly spilled onto the blankets.

“I’m heading to the north side of the forest,” Kohaku said as he slipped himself into a dark-colored leather vest. “I won’t be back till almost sunset.” Shifting a few things along the mats with his paws, the young fox studied them for a few moments before sliding them into a rucksack.

“It’s going to take you that long to trek there and back?” Sweetie Belle asked as she took a bite of her breakfast. The sun had just barely started to rise and he had woken her up early with a light breakfast.

“No,” Kohaku said as he finished off his own breakfast--a leftover bit of fish from his dinner the night before. “It’s going to take me that long just to get there, I take a shortcut back.”

“Why don’t you just take the shortcut there?” she questioned, pushing her bowl aside. She crossed her forelegs together across her chest and looked at Kohaku

“Because as good as I am, I can’t scale a four hundred foot freefalling waterfall,” he said with a slight chuckle. “Wow, say that four times fast.”

“You can’t mean that waterfall that put me in this condition.”

“The very same one, but unlike you I know how to dive off of it without hurting myself.” Kohaku leaned into the bed and looked at the filly who scrunched up her face a little and huffed.

“Well, that aside. You can’t possibly leave me here by myself. What if I need something. A shower, something to eat, drink...” Sweetie Belle trailed off and blushed, “...the bathroom.”

Shaking his head, Kohaku chuckled loudly.

“Will you relax, I’m not going to leave you all alone,” he said, leaning into the bed. “A friend of mine is going to be coming around to help you. In fact she’s going to be ecstatic that you are awake.”

“Really?” Sweetie Belle tilted her head a little. “So what kind of critter is she?”

“She’s not a simple critter,” Kohaku said, chuckling. “She’s a mare from a nearby village. I’ve known her for over a year now. And she’s been here every day looking after your needs since I brought you from the lake. Well, since the second day.”

“Was I too much to handle?” the filly asked with a smirk.

“No,” he started with a blush, remembering the experience, “it’s just that after I removed the ruined remains of your outfit to dry you off and bandage you up, I got several bloody noses, and passed out for an hour.”

Sweetie Belle smirked before starting to chuckle, which quickly grew into a full out belly laugh. A laugh that became so contagious that Kohaku started to laugh with her. After a few moments they just looked at each other.

“That’s the most hilarious thing I’ve heard in months.” Sweetie Belle continued to chuckle. So much that all the heaving in her chest caused her to wince a little. Rubbing her sides, she looked up at Kohaku. “So, what’s her name?”

“Okay, okay, okay.” Shaking his head, Kohaku took a deep breath and composed himself. “Her name is Silky Spinners.”

“Well...” Sweetie Belle looked unsure for a bit, turning her head to the side and then looking up into his liquid amber eyes. “Okay. But how will I know it’s her? If you are leaving, anypony could walk through those doors and say that she’s this Silky Spinners.”

Rolling his eyes for a moment, he sat down and just looked at her. “That’s preposterous for two reasons. One, I’m going to lock the door behind me. And two, she’s the only other pony besides my Oniisan who has a key to this house.” Picking himself up, he walked to the large double doors in the center of the room that lead to the foyer.

“Now I really have to get going. I’ve already stalled here too long. You girls have fun,” Kohaku said, stopping at the door. Looking back over his shoulder, he smiled at Sweetie Belle. “Be nice to her. She’s really going out of her way to help me take care of you.” With that he walked out of the house. The lock clicked behind him.

Sweetie Belle lay there, alone. The silence of the room was almost deafening. Pushing her breakfast tray away, she rolled over and closed her eyes. Left alone with her thoughts, she went through the last few days that she could remember. Disowned by her own sister. Chased through the Everfree Forest and nearly killed. Now she was a guest of a creature who was as confusing as he was kind. Closing her eyes tighter, the young filly started to weep.

She didn’t know exactly when she had fallen asleep or for how long, but a loud sharp noise woke her. Looking around the dark room, Sweetie Belle sat up and looked for the source of what had woken her. She guessed it might have been Kohaku’s chipmunk friend. Looking around, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Shrugging her shoulders, she closed her eyes again intent on getting some more sleep.

It wasn’t too long before the sound of clanking dishes being dropped echoed in her ears. Shooting up into a seated position, she gripped the blankets. “Wh… who’s there?!”

“Oh good, you are awake,” a sweet voice said.

Looking around, Sweetie Belle gulped. She couldn’t see the source of the voice.

“I was just taking your tray, by it I guessed you finally joined the land of the living again,” the voice said pleasantly. “Not to imply that you were dead, just dead to the world. And I… I… oh bother. I’m making such a lousy first impression, aren’t I? Here I go taking your tray, nearly dropping it and waking you up. And now I’m rambling like a nervous filly on her first date.”

“Um… that depends. Who are you?” Sweetie Belle asked as she looked about.

“Didn’t Kohaku tell you I’d be stopping by?” the voice said with a sigh. “That silly forgetful boy, I’m Silky, Silky Spinners at your service.”

“Oh… No, he did say you’d be coming by. But… where are you?” Sweetie Belle said, peering into every corner of the room.

“Hmm.. Oh, duh. Sorry, look up, deary,” Silky said cheerfully.

Sweetie Belle wondered if the pony speaking was a pegasus who just happened to be hovering overhead. She could kick herself for not thinking of that. But as she looked up, her eyes widened and a cold chill shot down her spine. Biting down on her lip for a moment, she soon let out a high-pitched scream.

What she had seen was definitely not a pegasus. It was as if someone had crossbreed a unicorn with a spider. She dangled from the ceiling, sightly spinning counter clockwise, on a long thick piece of webbing that came from her large abdomen. From the abdomen down she was all pony, with two extra sets of legs and hooves. Six of those legs hugged her lithe form while the two closest to her chest held the bamboo serving tray.

Her bright canary yellow coat was highlighted with thick purple stripes, and a long flowing pink mane framed her kind face. Bright amaranth eyes sparkled in the dim light of the room, with two extra amaranth irises on either side of her long unicorn horn. Her kind smile showed off a set of fangs that stuck down from her upper lip.

Amidst the screaming the filly was doing, Silky lowered herself down and stood on six of her hooves. “Now now, it’s okay, it..” Silky was quickly cut off as a plump pillow slammed into her face and then flopped onto the floor. “Oh bother.”

“Spider!” Sweetie Belle screamed, reaching out with her hooves and magic, for more of the numerous pillows that lined Kohaku’s bed. The young filly continued to throw them toward the ‘spider’ one after the other, with her eyes closed. It wasn’t until she was out of pillows, and breath, that her eyes opened and looked at Silky once more.

The spider-mare stood there with a smirk on her face, which by was now spotted with bits of rice.

“Ya know. I like a good pillow fight as much as the next mare,” Silky said, brushing some of the spilled rice off of her silk blouse. “But this is overdoing it.” The spider-mare’s legs were half buried by the pillows. The tray she had been holding was now spilled all over the floor. “Have you finished with your little tantrum, my dear? It’s not as if I’m going to hurt you.”

Nodding softly, Sweetie Belle looked about at the bed, seeing she was now out of pillows and the mare was just standing there.

“Good,” Silky said, bending down to clean up the mess on the floor. After picking up the tray and bowl, she set them down on a nearby table. “I’m sorry for waking you up that way, it’s the spider part of me. I like walking on the ceilings.”

“I… it’s okay,” Sweetie Belle said nervously. “I’ve just had a rough couple of days. At least from my perspective. And I’m sorry for throwing all those pillows, and making a mess on Kohaku’s floor.”

“Oh, think nothing of it, hun,” Silky said cheerfully, waving one of her front hooves aside. “Now, how about we get you cleaned up and you can tell me all about your adventures.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Sweetie Belle said with a relaxing sigh.

******

“You’ve been very quiet,” Silky said as she lifted up Sweetie Belle’s left hind leg, helping the young mare stretch the muscle. “You hardly said anything during breakfast. Whacha thinking about?”

With a heavy groan the filly pushed that left hind leg out as hard as she could. “Oh, just the day we met is all.”

“Well that was one wild day,” Silky recalled as she moved Sweetie Belle’s leg down and lifted the other one, stretching it out as far as it could go. “How does that feel?”

“A little painful,” Sweetie Belle groaned as her leg was slowly lowered to the ground. “But good all the same. It’s not as stiff as before.” Once all four legs were firmly on the ground again, the filly sat down and brushed the sweat from her brow with her foreleg.

“That’s good. You are healing up quick enough.” Stretching out herself, Silky ruffled the filly’s mane a little. “Let’s go hit the showers and refresh ourselves. After that, we can enjoy a spot of lunch and dig into that special treat I brought. My neighbor, Frosty Scoops, has a new ice cream flavor that she just developed, Apple Acres Apple Pie.”

“Oooh,” Sweetie Belle cooed with wide eyes. “I can’t wait to taste it.”

“And while we eat, you can explain what happened between you and your sister,” Silky said as they walked to the shower room. “You promised that if I brought the ice cream.”

“Oh alright.” Sweetie Belle sighed. She hated thinking about it. “A promise is a promise. It started out just like this…”

***

I was working peacefully in my room, lying on my bed where I write most of my stuff. Tried to work out some lines for a new song that will help promote the camp my fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders and I had formed. When all of a sudden the bedroom door just burst open.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity shouted as she stormed into my room, kicking open the door.

"What now, Sis?" I asked, rolling over onto my side. "I'm busy."

"Oh, are you?" Rarity asked as she stood there and tossed a sizeable ink-stained sheet of paper on the bed next to me, atop my various song sheets. "Do you care to explain this? Spilled ink all over my new design. I had intended it for my new spring line and now it's ruined!"

"Oh right." I sighed, looking up at my big sister. "I might have accidentally spilled a bottle of ink when I was looking for a quill earlier. I'm really sorry, Sis."

“You always say that,” Rarity said, her voice rather tight. “I’ll have you know I worked two days and nights on this design.”

“I doubt you worked two nights on it,” I said under my breath. “You are usually with Spike when the sun goes down, or should I say under him.”

“Well, I never….” Rarity said, turning a few shades redder. I wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment or anger.

"I'm so sick and tired of this, Sweetie Belle," Rarity started as she paced back and forth. "You are continually borrowing my things without asking. Or you are somehow ruining my work. When you started living here with me, after our parents moved to Fillydelphia, we both agreed you would stay out of my personal workspace."

I groaned as I pushed myself up on the bed. "Your personal workspace!? This whole bucking building is your workspace, all I have is this little room." Moving off of the bed, I walked up to my sister. "All I did was take one little quill, the one I always use just broke."

"Then you should have just asked me if you could borrow one," Rarity fumed as she looked at me. "But no, you just decided to walk into my room and take something. And it's not the first time. I do believe that’s also my blouse you are wearing,” she said, looking at me. “I'm tired of this, Sweetie Belle. As of this moment, you're grounded."

"Grounded? You're not our mother. You can't ground me!"

"I may not be our mom, but as long as you live under my roof, you live under my rules. And I expect you to stay out of my workspace," Rarity said, stomping her hoof down on the ground. “And please return my blouse to my bedroom at once.”

"Fine," I grumbled, pushing past my sister. "You want me out of your workspace. I'll get out!"

Grabbing my saddlebag and slinging it over my back, I proceeded to storm down the stairs. I barely opened the front door when my sister came up behind me.

"Where do you think you are going, Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked in a sharp tone. "I told you that you're grounded."

"You want me out of your personal workspace. I'm getting out of your personal workspace. I'm leaving!" I yelled, taking a step to the door. I had played this with my sister so many times. And knew what the response would be a quick token apology and possibly reduced punishment. I just stood there waiting for it.

"Fine. If you want to leave, then leave,” Rarity muttered through her teeth. “But if you walk out that door, don't even think about coming back."

I couldn’t believe my ears; this was not the response I ever expected. I just blinked back my tears and turned away from her.

"Fine!" And with that I slammed the door behind me and ran off.

***

“One thing lead to another and I just found myself running through the Everfree Forest. And soon after I woke up here,” Sweetie Belle said as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her chest felt tight at all the anger and pain that she didn’t want to deal with. Taking several deep breaths, the filly wiped her eyes with a napkin and sighed.

Looking down into her bowl of ice cream, half eaten, the young filly just slumped down in her seat. “Now you know what happened.”

“Hmmm,” was all Silky could say as she finished her bowl and set it aside. The adult mare didn’t believe half of what was mentioned. Not that Sweetie Belle had told a lie, but youthful points of view rarely told the whole story. “Well, that’s quite the story. I can see why you didn’t want to talk about it.” Moving to the walk-in fridge, she put the ice cream container in the freezer.

“Are you sure you didn’t overreact?” Silky asked as she sat back down next to Sweetie Belle.

“No,” Sweetie Belle said quickly, probably quicker than she wanted to say it. “Mind if we talk about something else now?”

Giggling a bit, the spider mare nodded. “Sure, what did you want to talk about?”

“Well, what do you think Kohaku is doing?” Sweetie Belle smiled a bit.

“Well if I know him…” Silky said with a grin and giggled, which got Sweetie Belle to giggle as well.

******

Kohaku walked quietly down the worn path with a pony slowly trotting behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that her head was still down. Thick wavy purple hair flowed out from under her cloak, a cloak he had given her earlier that day to mask her scent from the various predators. Her marshmallow colored legs were still visible, semi-polished hooves kicking at the dirt.

With a heavy groan, Kohaku stopped by a tree to stretch his weary muscles. He had barely worked out his kinks before a new round of sneezes struck him. For the last few hours, ever since midday, he had been afflicted with fits of sneezing.

Somepony is most definitely talking about me, he thought to himself. And I can only think of two culprits. I guess I should be flattered.

“Bless you,” the purple-haired pony said politely. “Are you sure you are okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, turning to look back at the mare. “Somepony’s just talking about me is all.”

A quick silent nod was all he got in return.

Bringing around one of his tails, he sipped on a homemade fruit drink he kept in a bamboo travel cup. “You sure you don’t want one? I have plenty.”

The mare only shook her head.

“Well, suit yourself,” the fox said as he continued on the trail, walking up toward a large tree with a door. Over the archway was a tribal mask, and many gourd bottles hung from the branches above the entrance.

“Wait, this is…” The mare stopped in her tracks.

Rapping a few times on the door, the young fox stood there comfortably and yelled out, “Oh, Miss Zecora!”

Comments

[truenorth14]

Hmm why is our foxy friend bringing Rarity to Zecora’s place...

[Artist]

Cool

[Valtyrian]

10029121
you'll have to wait for chapter 3 to find out

[Matthewthawes]

well she panicked

[truenorth14]

10029452
Yes, good job with the story I like it.

Though I do have questions about where they are able to get all of the Japanese stuff

[Valtyrian]

10031541
while I haven't shown it in the story yet. the house that Kohaku lives in, is on a part of the old temple grounds where his family lived and ruled pre-Equestria.

[truenorth14]

10031726
Ok, interesting. Ancient civilization.

[Silver Wit]

Pfff, someone get Rarity some aloe vera for that Sweetie burn XD

[tsaukpaetra]

Spider pony? Interesting...