Apples and Cherry Blossoms

by Archangel2401

Pony from the East

"Are my words not correct...?"

They initially gave him no response, all too stunned into silence at the revelation that he could speak just as well as they could to utter even the most basic of yay or nay's. The silence earned an uncomfortable frown from the steely gray pony, the tension suddenly thicker than one of Pinkie's milkshakes. His brows raised up and a bead of sweat began to form as a cricket chirped in the grass nearby. Had he said something horribly wrong?

"I will practice my english..." He bowed his head deeply then began to turn away.

"You mean to tell me you could speak the same language this entire time?!" Rainbow Dash looked particularly embarrassed at realizing he'd fully understood when she'd poked fun at his menu, and again when she'd practically called him a weirdo, but had to be first to put her thoughts into words. He however let out a sigh of relief and let his shoulders relax.

"Of course. Is it common here to do business if one is merely guessing what the other wants?" The samurai then narrowed his viridian eyes and peered at Rainbow Dash like she was the one that made no sense.

"But-!" Dash felt her whole body bristle in frustration and she flapped her wings, rising a few meters up off the ground. "How come you didn't say so from the start?"

"Do you think it strange to share my old home with my new home?"

"Ain't nothin' wrong with that at all. C'mon Rainbow, he didn't mean nothin' by it. Besides, it ain't like you would've had any idea what you were eatin' even if he spelled it out for us." Applejack chuckled as she rolled her eyes, turning from Rainbow Dash who grumbled to herself as she set back on the ground. In a gesture of good will she attempted to reciprocate the same bowing of her head he'd shown them earlier. "Really was mighty good, thank ya' stranger. What's your name?"

"Hiroki." He bowed his head politely, a gesture they were beginning to think was common for him, before looking to his sesame canine companion who was sitting with regal posture and holding his head up proudly as if attempting to look as impressive as possible to these other ponies. "Meet Isamaru. Isamaru wa, aisatsu shimasu."

When addressed the dog gave a single booming bark as his way of saying hello.

"Hero-key and Ees... Essa-maro... somethin'..." Applejack looked away, her ears pinning back with embarrassment as she stumbled over their names. He looked to her with a raised brow and the dog lowered his head, giving an overly dramatic, whining howl at the mispronunciation until Hiroki gave him a nudge to stop. She was worried she might have given offense until he let out a snicker and shook his head.

"Hii-roh-kii. Hiroki." He then gestured a hoof to his canine companion, giving him a pat on the head. The dog's tail wagged with approval. "Ii-sah-mah-roo."

Hiroki moved a hoof to tilt his hat back a bit on his head, making his features visible. It was then that each of them had realized they hadn't really taken a good look at him when they'd visited for lunch. Upon close inspection of his face they could see a faded scar on his right cheek and one of his ears looked to be missing a chunk. Another faded scar was partially concealed by the beads he wore wrapped around his front left leg. He certainly appeared to have had a few less than agreeable encounters in the past. The cutie mark past his flank was a single marking similar to the foreign writing they could see on the sign for his restaurant.

"Well it's very nice to meet you Hiroki. Formally, I mean. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash." Twilight gestured a hoof to each of them in turn as she called out their names.

"We are honored to meet you." Both Hiroki and Isamaru bowed their heads at the same time, causing Twilight and Applejack to smile brightly and fight a giggle of amusement. Rainbow huffed, looking a bit off-put by such formalities.

"What kind of name is 'Hiroki' anyway?" Spike was the one to ask, but judging by the way they all leaned a bit closer with their ears rapt in attention it was obvious they had all wanted to ask that very same question.

"Where I come from it means- ah... 'strong tree'." Hiroki let out another faint chuckle as they all looked from him to the cherry tree, no doubt trying to see a connection. "Isamaru means ah... how would you say, 'courage'. Full of courage."

"Heh, that sounds fitting. He looks like a brave one, doesn't he?" Applejack leaned over to give the sesame canine a few rubs to the head, causing his tail to wag lazily with contentment once again. "Where do ya'll come from, if ya' don't mind me asking?"

"A place far to the East, over mountains, through mist, across deep and troubled seas." His somewhat cryptic response gave her the impression he didn't want to say too much. She'd have to ask again later.

"I had hoped to learn more about you and where you come from, but the only book I've heard might help has gone missing." Twilight let out a soft sigh of exasperation as she mentioned her original purpose.

"How come you carry that thing? I've never seen anypony lugging around a sword before, not even the guards in Canterlot," queried Spike as he extended a clawed finger to the sword resting along the samurai pony's back. Hiroki was just about to respond, having opened his mouth to speak before he was interrupted.

"Twilight!"

A voice called from a ways down the street and they all turned, squinting as they were forced to look in the direction of the setting sun to see a pair of silhouettes crossing the bridge and heading towards them. All except for Hiroki who merely lowered his head to allow his hat to shield his eyes from the fading light. The figures of Ditzy Doo and Zecora came into full view with the former flapping her wings, a book clutched between her front hooves.

"Good day everypony, a pleasure indeed." Zecora smiled as she greeted them, turning to address Twilight while she gestured a hoof at Ditzy. "We come bearing the book you wish to read."

Twilight's eyes lit up and she gave an ecstatic smile as Ditzy grinned sheepishly, passing the book to her. Her horn gleamed with magic when she took the book, giving a hasty thank you and immediately cracked the book to have a peek at the first few pages. Everyone chuckled and a moment later Ditzy pushed her way to the forefront so she could greet Hiroki properly.

"Hi there! I'm Ditzy Doo!" She gave a slightly exaggerated bow of her head before leaning in close enough to beam at him and rival Pinkie Pie's lack of regard for personal space. Hiroki's head inched away with subtle discomfort, his ears pinning back.

"Hiroki..." He answered tentatively, but Hiroki gave her a smile and nodded his head politely once again.

"I deliver the mail around here! I got your letter through the Post Office, but I couldn't exactly read it, so Zecora let me borrow that book that helped me kind of decipher it. Kind of... Only I sort of forgot to deliver it after I figured out where to take it..." Ditzy lowered her head apologetically.

"In figuring out what to do with this letter, our intrepid mail-mare was most clever!" Zecora gave a hearty chuckle and gazed fondly at the back of Ditzy's head as she continued to talk to Hiroki. The zebra issued an amused smile and leaned in to whisper to Twilight. "Better late than never."

Twilight let out a giggle and rolled her eyes before she stole another glance at the book, trying to read as much of the peculiar tome as she could as quickly as she could. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both peered quizzically at Ditzy Doo while she assaulted the samurai pony with questions, none of which he seemed inclined to answer. Not that she gave him enough time to respond between more questions. Perhaps he was just too focused on the way she kept inching closer with excitement. Rainbow Dash snickered quietly and grinned, leaning over to mutter into Applejack's ear.

"Nyahaha... think she looks more like Pinkie after a cupcake binge, or Twilight before a trip to the book store?" Applejack was forced to cover her mouth with one hoof in order to smother the sound of a laugh, managing to disguise it as a loud snort.

"Hush Rainbow. Don't act like you don't want to know more." Applejack gave Rainbow Dash a knowing look, raising her eyebrows.

"Well... yeah, maybe. I guess it was pretty cool watching it slice up those apples..." Rainbow turned her head away, mumbling under her breath and earning a smirk from Applejack.

"How come you're not talking? Did I do something wrong?" Ditzy cocked her head to one side, her eyes crossing a bit as she suddenly gave him a pitiful, guilty frown.

"Ah... no." His smiled widened with uncertainty as he found himself now trying to reassure Ditzy while she frowned at him. "You have introduced yourself, I have introduced myself. This is a very good conversation."

Ditzy's sun-kissed eyes lit up and her frown turned upside down at this reassurance. She nodded happily and though it was obvious she wanted to keep talking, his attention had moved to Zecora as the zebra went to stand beside the cherry tree. Both Hiroki and Isamaru sauntered over to her, the canine's ears perked up and his tail wagging eagerly. Applejack had to nudge Twilight with an elbow to get her to look up from the book, not wanting her to miss anything. They all peered curiously as the samurai and the zebra locked eyes, both bowing respectfully to one another.

"Hiroki... and the faithful Isamaru! How overjoyed I am to be seeing both of you." Zecora smiled warmly as she looked from the samurai to his sesame wolf-dog, reaching to give him an affectionate rub behind the ears.

"Zecora-sama." Hiroki's reply was short and simple, but Twilight could tell that each held each other with great respect.

"So... you know each other?" She shut the book fully, tucking it under one of her wings as Twilight kept shifting her violet gaze between Hiroki and Zecora.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Author's Note:

Translations:
Isamaru wa, aisatsu shimasu. - Isamaru, say hello.
sama - a more respectful honorific than 'san', given to customers or someone of high(er) esteem.
(added 9/15/15)

Comments

[StarzGecko]

This is really good, keep it up!

[WanderingPony]

Under-rated story.

[Shadow Star]

it would be Equish, not English.