Chapter Seven
Twilight was examining the runestones that Swift-Pad had left on the towel, noticing he was no longer squinting when he placed the ones back around his head which meant that at least some of them were either for amplifying or healing his vision which was an interesting footnote. Some of the runestones were incredibly small and each of them had an etching on them that appeared to be uniform to another of the same design.
“I was admiring how precise and intricate the details on your runestones are,” Rarity commented. “They really look quite striking on you. You must present quite a dashing figure to the ladies back home.”
“Er, yes,” he said, shifting a bit. “One has to be precise in their runecrafting for them to work.”
“Does the size of the rune or the runestone matter?” Twilight asked, longing to pick one up for research but everything was telling her it would not go over well.
“Yes and no,” Swift-Pad said as the attendants began to usher them to the massage room with Twilight lifting the sheet holding his runes to carry the precious stones with them. “The larger the rune you make, the more magic you must invest into it. Of course, you will get a much larger effect from the large rune than the small one but then the logistics of having such a large rune come into effect. You will need to,” he paused as he hopped onto the massage table, with Twilight placing the sheet of runestones onto the nearby countertop as she and Rarity joined him on the adjacent tables. “You will need to carry a large runestone and spend a lot of time investing magic properly into the rune on it, but it is very obvious opposed to the smaller one that you can hide in your fur, and just not practical. It is mostly done for practice or special cases, such as my packs that have special runes that allow extra space.” He shifted on the table, slowly spreading himself out the full length with his ears flickering.
“Small runestones, on the other paw, requires a lot of focus and practice to get the rune correct. Even the smallest mistake can make the runestone worthless. One jolt of the paw, one small spasm, one moment of distraction can ruin weeks if not months of work. However, with smaller runestones, there is less magi-” he paused as Quake walked into the room, with his body tensing up before he relaxed himself. “That needs to be stored so you can have more runestones on you. And that is just one type of runestone; with the proper knowledge you can chain a set of runes into something more powerful or helpful. For example, the runestones I wear on my paws allow greater dexterity that enables me to work on my runes with greater precision.”
“Like how the ones you wear on your head help with your eyesight?” Twilight asked with Swift-Pad wincing and rubbing his paws together.
“You noticed that, did you not?” he said, ears to the side of his head. Both Twilight and Rarity nodded their heads with the wolf letting out a sigh. “Yes, my eyesight is not the best, and I must use special runes to correct it,” he admitted with a soft whine. “My name could easily have been Trouble-Vision if not for my elders noticing my quick and steady movement that was brought on by me needing to be careful because of my poor eyesight.”
“Is there anything else you can do for your eyes?” Twilight asked.
“Beyond wearing permanent glasses, no,” he said with an echo to his voice as Quake began his massage on Swift-Pad’s back. “And I am not too keen on wearing them, to be honest.”
“Any reason for that decision?” Rarity asked.
“For the most part, it has to do with convenience,” Swift-Pad explained with his ears flickering around in delight. “It is very hard to keep them on my head when I’m running. Wolves tend to have a very active lifestyle, and I am no exception despite my duties.”
“That makes sense,” Twilight said as Lotus began to rub her back while her twin sister did the same for Rarity. “It would be very impractical to have them when you are running around, even those that you can wear with a chain.”
“Exactly,” Swift-Pad said. “And the runes I use for my eyes take very little magic to maintain so I don’t need to own a pair of glasses beyond the one I use when crafting my runes.”
“Still, wouldn’t it be good to have a pair in case you didn’t have your runes?” Twilight asked him.
“Yes, I suppose I should do so, but the timing has never reallybeen in my favor, with me needing to be other places and finding a specialist and-”
“You’ve never made an appointment for it, have you?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow, as Aloe’s hooves moved to her sides.
“No… not so much,” Swift-Pad admitted reluctantly while murring under the care of Quake. “I’m not exactly pleased in how I look with glasses and have been putting it off for a very long time. I suppose… I really should have an appointment one of these days, but I just haven’t been able to encourage myself to do so.”
“You should still go to one; I believe that we have one in Ponyville that wouldn’t mind a walk-in,” Twilight said, with the wolf seemingly flinching at her words but he smiled at her.
”I thank you for such a suggestion,” he said, still hesitant and it dawned on Twilight that Swift-Pad wasn’t that much older than them and he was being vain about his appearance, acting like a colt that didn’t want to wear glasses because it made him look bad. Seeing him act this way helped her see past the whole dignified nature that the wolf presented and Twilight had to stop herself from laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it all.
“That’s marvelous,” Rarity said with a smile on her face, clearly enjoying her massage. “Why don’t you show Swift-Pad the way after we’re done here, Twilight? That’s if you do not mind, Swift-Pad, of course.”
Swift-Pad’s ears flicked and Twilight saw that he was trapped in this decision.
“That is a wonderful idea,” he said with hint of a whine in his voice. “And perhaps you can show me more of the town while we go there.”
Twilight smiled. “I’d be honored,” she said.
“Then - ah! - it is settled.” Swift-Pad leaned his head forward as Quake continued to work on him, and Twilight silently promised herself that she’d make sure this went well, even if he was reluctant.
Some time later, the two were in the waiting room at the optometrist's office, Rarity having excused herself to return to her shop, and Swift-Pad couldn’t help fidgeting a little on his chair.
Nearby, Twilight was studying one of the pamphlets available to read, and shuddered. “I’m glad I’ve never had this kind of problem,” she muttered to herself.
“Oh?” Swift-Pad glanced over. “What kind of problem, may I ask?”
“Well, any vision-based ones, really,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Of course, even if I had, my ascension would have fixed them…” Her ear flicked. “Makes me wish doing that was a lot easier for some ponies.”
“Your friends, I presume?” Swift-Pad asked.
“Well, them and some others… I can’t help but wonder what Equestria would be like today if Starswirl the Bearded had become an alicorn, it would be so amazing if he was still around so I could actually meet him!” Twilight’s eyes sparkled, before she sighed. “Of course, some would take better to it than others…”
“That is true,” Swift-Pad noted. “And some would undoubtedly use such a change to feed their own ego and sense of superiority.”
“I know,” Twilight agreed. “But still… I can’t help but picture what it would be like if somepony like Granny Smith were still around centuries from now, able to tell ponies and non-ponies what it was like here when Ponyville was first being settled…”
“She is certainly a wise one,” Swift-Pad said. “I can understand why you would want somepony with her years of experience and expertise to stay on this plane where they can help others.”
Twilight nodded and was about to say something more, when the door opened. “Next!”
“That will be me, I suppose.” Swift-Pad rose from his seat, and headed into the back, leaving Twilight by herself. She continued to flip through the pamphlets while keeping an ear out for if anything went wrong. After about an hour and a half had passed, the door opened again and Swift-Pad emerged, somewhat frazzled but with a pair of glasses perched on his snout.
“Remind me again why I agreed to this?” he asked Twilight grumpily, his dignified manner all but gone. Despite it, Twilight felt that they were actually bonding better as friends now. “And why I was not warned ahead of time that they would be putting liquid in my eyes in the course of examining them?”
Twilight shuddered. “If I’d known about that, I definitely would have told you,” she said before smiling up at him. “How are your eyes?”
“Well, I still have two of them. And I’m pretty sure that they’re my own…” he grumbled before giving her what she could now tell was one of his practice smiles that were strikingly similar to Celestia’s smiles. “But I can see properly now and it doesn’t hurt to have those runes off. And it is nice to have a bit of my magic sources cleared up,” he said with his ear flicking, although it was low and his tail was drooping. With a sigh, he said “I should have done this a very long time ago and I thank you for encouraging me to do so now.”
Twilight bowed. “You’re very welcome, Swift-Pad. It is the least I could do for a friend.”
He gave her what she thought was a real smile now and said, ”I am honoured to be counted among them, your Grace.”
“Please,” Twilight smiled at him. “I respect your view of alicorns, but as my friend, you really don’t need to call me by any sort of title.”
“Very well, Lady Sparkle; is that better?”
She was about to tell him no when she noticed the grin on his face and how less clipped his voice was and she suddenly knew that he was joking with her.
“Only if I can call you Mister Swift-Pad?” she asked, causing him to chuckle.
“I suppose that is a fair trade, Lady Sparkle,” Swift-Pad said, dipping his head towards her. “Shall we continue outside so you can show me more of your fair town?”
“That sounds fine to me,” Twilight said as she opened the door for them and stepped outside.