Chapter Twenty-One
"Ungh…"
Twilight moaned a bit in her sleep, and turned over. Suddenly, she sat bolt upright, and looked around. "Wait a minute…"
The room she was in now was not the spare bedroom she'd chosen earlier and subsequently fallen asleep in. Instead, she was standing in a room full of books, and her eyes lit up as she recognized one of her favorite libraries.
Then, paper started falling from the shelves.
Looking up in horror, Twilight saw a familiar figure carelessly ripping pages out of them.
"Oh, this looks historic," the figure said as she mercilessly shredded another tome. "Perfect!"
"Chrysalis!" Twilight shouted. "How did you get in here‽"
The changeling queen, seeing her, laughed evilly. "Oh, my dear little princess..." Suddenly, she was right in front of Twilight. "I can be anywhere."
Then she started cackling again. Backing up, Twilight lit up her horn, when suddenly she sensed another presence.
"Begone!" a voice boomed, and in an instant, a wave of magic washed over Chrysalis, vaporizing her.
With a sigh as she caught her breath, Princess Luna landed next to Twilight. "Good evening," she greeted her. "Of all the ponies in Equestria, or out of it, I wasn't expecting to find you having a nightmare tonight." She smiled. "Still, I'm glad I found you."
Twilight smiled back at her. "Thank you," she said. "For this, and for finding me." She took a deep breath of her own. "How goes your night patrol, Luna?"
"Shorter than I would like," the other alicorn admitted as she chose to create some pastries. "'Tis only a short break; we are allowing the border guards a half hour to rest and recover while I attend to my duties."
"What… what is going on Luna?" Twilight asked, trying to figure out what she could be talking about.
"After your letter about miss Slice n' Dice's situation, my sister and I have been taking steps of our own," Luna said. "Celestia went to meet with her parents, while I decided to remind all the branches of the Equestrian military, including the Border Patrol, that ultimately, they are all answerable to me now, just as they were a thousand years ago. As such, we are going through all the complaints filed about them, and dealing with the corrupt and incompetent members in an appropriate manner, to ensure that such issues as happened with your new friend never happen again."
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to know."
"Also, Celestia has taken your first letter into advisement, and is looking to investigate Mount Aris to see if we can get past whatever kept the representatives of the Packlands out." She pursed her lips. "We are uncertain as to whether it is the hippogriff Queen Skydancer who might be responsible, or possibly Queen Novo, since she and her people reside in the waters nearly."
"Queen Novo?" Twilight blinked in confusion.
"Ruler of Seaquestria, and of our aquatic cousins who live there," Luna explained. "The seaponies are a generally peaceful race, but they keep to themselves most of the time, for reasons I have yet to fathom. No pun intended." She smiled. "On the other hoof, the seaponies, mermares and merlions of Aquastria, in the western oceans, are far more friendly. King Leo, their ruler, is a merlion; you'll probably meet him someday."
Twilight nodded. "Thank you for telling me," she said. "And now, I have additional important information of my own that needs to be passed on."
Luna looked at the expression on her face. "What is it?"
"Did you know there was more than one changeling hive?"
Luna frowned. "No, we did not."
"There are," Twilight said. "And at least some of them are living here in the Packlands. The one I met was friendly!" she quickly added. "But I did find out that… that Chrysalis is also here."
"WHAT!" Luna reared back in surprise. "How-" Then she forced herself to calm. "Tell me everything, Twilight."
Twilight did so, and finally Luna sat back. "This is troubling news," she said. "I must inform my sister as soon as possible." Then she looked at Twilight with intense eyes. "Tell me, what do you think would be the best course of action?"
Twilight sighed. "First off, the last thing we want to do is get the Packlands mad at us all over again," she said. "My personal intention is that since they have already set things in motion to try her for her actions, I would ask that we be allowed to send representatives to attend and testify at her trial."
"Do you truly think they would accept such a thing?" Luna asked.
"Luna… this is their land. In the last few days, I've heard more than enough about Equestria effectively bullying other nations, be it deliberately or unintentionally, that the last thing I want to do is force them to do things our way. I figure if we make a reasonable request - to join what they've already set in motion, rather than take over - they might be more willing to hear us out and accept it." Twilight looked down. "Besides, given what I was told about her reputation and how at least some of the other Queens are already mad at her, I'm fairly certain that at least some would welcome evidence of her crimes."
"That is an interesting way of putting it." Luna looked contemplative. "I cannot say for certain that Celestia would accept it - in fact, I expect she would be most desiring to personally see Chrysalis brought to justice - but I will inform her of what you have said, and your reasoning for doing things in that way."
Twilight blinked and looked at Luna. "What do you say, Luna? You and I do make up two thirds of Equestria's Triarchy, after all, and wouldn't a majority decide how we would act in regards to Chrysalis?"
Luna let out a sigh, shaking her head. "You put me in a very precarious position Twilight," she said. "While we could indeed overvote my sister if she would wish to try to extradite Chrysalis to stand trial in Equestria, I would not vote against her. Not because she is my sister but because of the fact that Chrysalis invaded our lands and laid siege to our capital to attack our citizens on the day of our niece's wedding. Any one of those transgressions would have been enough for war in the old days but now we have to be more civilized which means we make her stand to face our justice system."
Twilight nodded. "I can understand that," she said. "Believe me, I personally was affected by that day in… more ways than you know." She bowed, remembering how she'd felt after her brother's and Celestia's harsh words. "But I still feel that letting her stand trial here is the right thing to do for Equestria. As long as she's brought to justice, it doesn't matter to me who does it. Besides," and she looked disturbed. "The last thing I want is to have her back in Equestria for any reason."
"You are more than likely correct, but you are still very young, dear Twilight," Luna said sadly. "There are numerous other concerns that come from allowing another nation to try a criminal like Chrysalis for us that you do not know yet. This will not be something we can let go without some effort on our part and the outcome will be unpleasant in the best of situations." Luna then flashed a happier smile. "Though do not fret for my sister is a diplomat with great experience. If anyone can make this painless, it will be her."
Twilight looked at her. "Luna… please. I may be young, but I am trying to improve relations between our two nations. Can you at least give me a chance to try and see this through my way?"
Luna looked at her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "I can promise to let you try but I must inform my sister of what I know now and I cannot promise you she will be lenient."
Twilight sighed. "I guess that's all I can ask for."
Luna shook her head again "In the future, try to weigh the benefits of informing us with details that would force us to act against your own agenda. If you had said nothing until you got back home, her trial would be over and your goal of increasing our relationship between our two nations would be a success."
Twilight's eyes suddenly blazed. "You're asking me to lie to you?" She looked furious. "Part of the reason I became a princess was because of the honesty I displayed. And now you're saying to go back on that‽"
"In some matters, yes," Luna said sternly. "My sister and I are a team; a very effective and honest team with each other. But I know for a fact my sister keeps secrets from me and I keep secrets from her. She has plans of her own that if I knew of, I would do all in my power to thwart, and the same is true for myself and her. Do you think Celestia is comfortable with me going to all of our military leaders and having me reassert my dominance over the entire Equestrian forces? She might have complete faith in me, but to learn I had done this would cause her some hidden distress. Her leniency in leaving threats around as tests for those she sees greatness in infuriates me to no end, mainly because I am left helpless to do anything when they rear their heads in the middle of our nation." Luna extended a wing outwards. "This matter will complicate things between our nations, Twilight, information you alone had. My ability to enter dreams is not widely known yet but how do you think the wolves, or any other nation, will react to knowing I can walk into any dream now? This is a tool that our agents rely on for their own missions and safety and now it will be compromised, though hopefully not too much." Luna let out another tired sigh. "You were not supposed to learn all of this yet; this is far more advanced than what you are ready for Twilight."
Twilight looked down, but it was clear that obvious fury was boiling inside her. "Luna… you're my friend, and I thank you for saying everything you have. But I need to be alone now before I say something we'll both regret."
Luna looked at her sorrowfully. "As you wish." With that, she vanished, leaving Twilight alone.
Twilight blinked awake, and tossed the covers aside. With a flare of her horn, she teleported some distance away from the house, and then formed a sound-scrambling barrier around herself, to keep from disturbing anyone with what she was about to do.
Then she let out the most furious, blood-curdling scream she'd ever made in her life.
She screamed again and again, until she had almost no voice left, and was exhausted.
Finally, she let her shield down and, as calmly as she could, walked back into the house and the room she'd been given, and collapsed on the bed. In a moment, she was out cold.
"Your Grace, wake up now!" Swift-Pad shouted, causing Twilight to jump off the bed. "What did you do‽ I have reports of mass magic being used and it was traced here so please tell me what did you do‽" He had jumped onto the bed and was staring her down.
Twilight, shaking her head as she tried to bring herself to full wakefulness, stared at him. "Ambassador, with all due respect, I have had a very rough night. I went out to find somewhere to scream, and I put a soundproof barrier around myself so I wouldn't disturb anyone. That's all!"
"...you teleported around," Swift-Pad said numbly before growling at her. "Of course you teleported around; it was in your file, and I have seen you do it myself." Grumbling loudly, he turned around and stormed out of her room.
"One teleport, from here into the yard," Twilight said irritably as she followed him. "I was in sight of the house the whole time."
"It doesn't matter where you did, you still did a massive magical spell without informing me so I could warn the rune wolves who monitor strong magic in our lands that it wasn't an attack or anything," he snapped back at her as he walked into his room with Maxilla standing in the corner, trying to look invisible before Swift-Pad glared at them to leave before attending a pile of runes on the bed. "Do not distract me, Twilight, I need to focus so I can tell them to stand down."
Twilight glared at him, still angry but also curious as he worked the runes to bring forth the image of another wolf. The two of them growled at each other before the image dissipated with Swift-Pad letting out a sigh of relief. "They have been informed," he said.
"Good." Twilight was still not happy. "I really wish you, or someone, had told me about this before. I work best when I've been given sufficient information, and had I known teleporting - which I've been doing for years without anyone giving me grief over it - was going to cause a problem here, I would have just used the door."
Swift-Pad looked like he was about to say something, no doubt another lecture when he took a closer look at her. "Your Grace? Is something wrong?"
Twilight gave an angry snort. "Let's just say I'm starting to wish I'd never become an alicorn in the first place." Then she turned and marched back to her room, shutting the door behind her.
Swift-Pad and Maxilla exchanged glances. "Something is very wrong here," Swift-Pad said.
"No kidding," Maxilla agreed.
Just then there was a yawn from behind them, and Spike wandered in. "What's with all the noise?" he asked groggily.
Swift-Pad sighed. "Your Princess," he said, "Chose to teleport out of the house in the middle of the night and set off several alarm spells in the process, forcing me to inform those monitoring for strong magic that it was not an attack but simply my charge using her highly credible talents and me promising them that she will not do so again. And for some reason, she appears to be angrier than I have ever seen her since we met."
Spike's eyes widened. "Uh-oh." He backed out. "Um, let me go talk to her. Twilight doesn't get mad too often, but when she does, it's not a pretty sight."
Swift-Pad looked at him. "Are you certain? I do hate to speak ill of Her Grace, but… she seemed like she needed her space."
Spike nodded. "I've known Twilight my whole life. If there's anyone who can get her through whatever's upsetting her, it's me."
"Very well." Swift-Pad sighed. "I hope you are right, young drake."
Finding his way to the room where Twilight had gone, Spike knocked on the door. "Twilight? Can I come in?"
There was a brief pause, then the door creaked open. "Hey, Spike," a weary and somewhat muffled voice came.
Spike walked in, shutting the door behind him. Finding Twilight facedown on the bed, he climbed up to join her. "What's wrong?"
Twilight sighed. "I think… I might have messed everything up," she said.
"I'm listening."
Quickly, carefully, Twilight popped up her sound-scrambling spell around them, then began to tell him everything she'd heard from and said to Luna the night before. When she was done, he scratched his head and nodded. "Yep. We've definitely got a problem."
Twilight was about to say something when he raised a claw. "But. I think we can deal with this."
"Spike…"
"Twilight, I know you." Spike looked at her. "You can figure out anything. Just trust in yourself, and in your friends. And don't ever doubt yourself - sure, you're having a few hiccups here and there when it comes to your princess duties, and there are times I think that Celestia was wrong for foisting that kind of thing off on you without a warning. But when it comes to being an alicorn… with all your magic and everything, I don't think you could have kept from becoming one if you wanted."
Twilight smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you, Spike." Her head drooped for a moment, before she looked at him more seriously. "So, what do you think I should do now?"
"I don't know, but we'll face it together." Spike placed a claw on her leg. "I made the mistake of turning my back on you once. Never again."
Twilight smiled again, and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you," she said. "You have no idea how much that means to me."
Luna had awoken herself with her Lunar guards giving her a look. “Shall we go inform the border guards that we’re ready?”
“No, I need to make an emergency visit to my sister,” Luna said before teleporting away, taking care to mask her magic as not to set off any of the Packland’s spells. They were formidable but nothing that she couldn’t subvert. Appearing in her sister’s bedroom, she saw Celestia tilt her head up, smiling briefly before frowning.
“I take it that something went wrong with your plan to overhaul the border division?” Celestia asked as she stood up, summoning papers. “Are we to expect Packland raiding parties or something worse until we can stabilize relations?”
“If only it were that simple,” Luna said with Celestia frowning more. “I spoke with Twilight in her dreams just now. She has discovered that after the invasion of Canterlot, Chrysalis and her hive ended up in the Packlands.” She pursed her lips. “According to Twilight, there are other Queens there as well, and they are not happy with Chrysalis and her actions. She has been taken into custody by they and the Packlands’ leaders, and is awaiting trial for what she has done.”
Luna looked up and noticed how angered her sister was. She was barely restraining her magic and Luna could feel the sun struggle to flare but thankfully, Celestia’s will was strong enough to counter her wrath. “They have been holding her this entire time without so much as informing us or asking us for witnesses for the trial?”
“It appears so,” Luna said, taking careful notice of her sister’s anger and, to her relief, seeing that it was ebbing. “I have also informed Twilight of your most likely response, and asked for her own opinion.”
Celestia, at that, looked a little calmer. “And what did she say?”
“Her own desire was about as you’d expect,” Luna said. “She would let them handle the trial, but wishes to ask that we be allowed to send witnesses and testimony.” She gave a faint smile. “Based on what she has learned of the situation, including Chrysalis twice exposing her kind to us, she believes that Chrysalis’s fellow queens are unhappy enough with her to see her properly brought to justice.”
“Though she has to realize we will be forced to ask the Packlands to send her to us to face justice,” Celestia said, placing a hoof on her shoulder.
Luna nodded. “Based on what she said, I think that at least part of her desires are motivated by her not wishing Chrysalis to ever set hoof on Equestrian soil for any reason.”
“Luna, why don’t you tell me what is wrong; I can see there is something troubling you,” Celestia said as more papers began to float over to her desk, no doubt the beginning treaties and request to the Packland diplomats that reside in Canterlot.
“I… may have suggested that in this case, honesty was not the best policy, and that if she wanted things done her way, she shouldn't have told us about this until the trial was already over,” Luna admitted. “She was furious, reminding me that her honesty was one of the qualities you praised in her when she first became one of us.”
“As I expect for someone as naive and idealistic as Twilight to react,” Celestia responded distantly. “You are correct that if I hadn’t learned of this until after she had tried it, I would not be forced to act in this manner but we cannot let our enemies retreat to other lands for justice to be done.” Her quill paused before it was set down and she let out a tired sigh. “Twilight has grown so much; words cannot begin to express how proud of her I am. What she has accomplished is beyond magic itself and the work she has set in motion is more than I could have hoped to do myself despite all talent and expertise.” Celestia turned to face Luna, with sorrow in her face. “And yet, I still worry for her. This is not the job I had hoped she would take upon herself; I did not want to see those ideals washed away from the cruel reality of this job.”
Luna nodded. “If I am not mistaken, she genuinely believes her solution is the right one, and the best way of improving our relations with the other nations, offering input but otherwise letting them handle this matter instead of imposing our own will on them like a bully; I believe she has heard enough of that accusation being bandied about towards Equestria in the last few days to last a lifetime.”
Celestia let out a sigh, shaking her head. “We might be forced to do so, in any case. I do think she has the right idea in principle, but given my own experiences, as in Gravon’s case, I don’t know if the noble council would let us stand back. And us revealing we know of Chrysalis being in the Packlands would raise question in how the information got out which could reveal your own powers which,” Celestia let out a bitter grunt. “Is not worth retrieving one war criminal.”
“I said as much about my abilities to Twilight myself,” Luna said. “I do not know if she would be willing to admit the truth to the Packlanders; she did not say anything on that issue before asking me to give her space.” She looked at Celestia. “I fear my words may have damaged hers and my friendship a great deal, given how upset she appeared with me before I left.”
“It was a harsh lesson for her to learn and I am sorry it was you that had to give it to her. You do not deserve her anger, Luna,” Celestia said.
Luna bowed. “Actually, in this case, I think I did,” she said. “I essentially told her to go against something that you, one of her heroes, had done your best to teach her, and said that in spite of everything, in spite of your trust in her, she was not ready for this. Under those circumstances and my own thoughtlessness in saying such, her anger with me was quite understandable.”
Celestia’s quill, which she had taken up again, dropped. “Luna…” After a moment, she shook her head. “I know you meant well,” she said. “But for all that you understand, I don’t think you realize how emotionally fragile Twilight can be at times.” She picked up her quill. “I need to speak to her,” she said. “If you will excuse me.”
Luna nodded and turned away, leaving Celestia to call another piece of parchment to her and begin writing. But before she could leave, Celestia had asked her to pass on a message to one of Twilight’s friends for her.
Twilight and Spike had stayed in their room for some time when they heard a quiet tapping on the door. “Um, Twilight?”
Recognizing the voice, Twilight looked over. “Come in,” she said quietly.
The door opened, revealing Fluttershy, who carefully closed the door behind her when she was in. “Can we talk?”
“Sure.” Twilight smiled at her. “What’s up?”
Fluttershy looked around. “Um, can you do that thing you did the other day? On the train?”
Knowing what she meant, Twilight nodded and popped up her sound-scrambling spell again. “What is it?”
Fluttershy ducked her head a bit. “Princess Luna spoke to me earlier,” she said.
Twilight’s eyes flashed briefly, but she calmed herself, letting Fluttershy speak.
“She said, that Princess Celestia said, I know what you found out, and I trust you to do what you think is the right thing about it, and her.” She looked at Twilight. “What did she mean?”
Twilight heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Fluttershy. And, I promise I’ll explain everything soon.”
“All right.” Fluttershy smiled. “And, um, breakfast is ready.”
“We’ll be right out,” Twilight said. Dropping her spell and rising from her bed, she went to take care of her personal grooming for the morning.
Soon afterward, the three were out in the living room, joining the others as they ate. It seemed both Applejack and Slice had been cooking breakfast, the two working in perfect harmony with each other.
“So, what was with all the noise earlier?” Rainbow Dash asked as she munched.
“Very, very bad dream,” Twilight said. She looked at Swift-Pad who was sharing a meal with Maxilla. “I got upset enough by it that I needed to get outside somewhere, and very fast, to scream in privacy - I didn’t want to do it inside, since even my best soundproofing spells can be overwhelmed and not hold properly if I’m upset enough. So I teleported out without knowing it would set off the alarms.”
“It is fine your Grace,” Swift-Pad said, tipping his head towards her. “In hindsight, I should have informed you that such a rare and powerful spell is not allowed in the Packlands as very few can do so, especially considering how widely known it is to be one of your signature spells.”
“I wondered about that flash I saw in the middle of the night,” Thin-Tall remarked. “And no, you didn’t wake me up - I had matters of my own to attend to right then.”
Twilight looked gratefully in his direction. “I really didn’t mean to disturb anyone,” she said. “But sometimes, my instincts get the better of me.”
“Sometimes, we all need a good scream,” Slice said from her own seat. “Celestia alone knows how much Ah needed it after all Ah went through with those troublemakers when Ah first moved in.”
“Speaking of that time,” Swift-Pad said, giving Twilight a look. “You will need to prepare yourself because Wise-Mind, the Packleader of Strong-Defend, will no doubt be coming here to meet with you this morning.”
“Anything I should know about him?” Twilight asked, looking at Swift-Pad before turning to face the other four Packlanders.
“He will do his best to test you,” Little-Growl said nervously.
“If ya don’t show yer mettle, Ah don’t thin’ things will go well,” Slice said, equally as nervous.
“Above all else, do not attempt to impose your will, in any form, on his,” Thin-Tall said seriously. “He has encountered spells that influenced the mind or body in the past, and any attempt to use them in his presence will immediately turn him against you. The only exception is if you are attempting to freeze and thus stabilize an injured limb, or something along those lines, but still, do not use them without asking first.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Twilight said, smiling faintly, wondering exactly how she should interact with this wolf when she noticed Maxilla looking nervous.
“Is there something wrong?” she asked Maxilla quietly.
“Just that I should have been working yesterday instead of doing all of this,” they said.
Twilight nodded. “Would it help if I vouched that you got caught up in helping my friends and I?” she asked.
“Maybe,” Maxilla said, not facing her. “Maybe not.” They then rubbed their hooves together with Twilight widening her eyes as she remembered something important.
“If you will excuse us, I need to speak with my friends in private for a moment,” Twilight said, trying not to sound too urgent as she stood up.
“Somethin’ the matter Twilight?” Applejack asked as they made their way into the living room.
“No no,” Twilight lied with Applejack staring harder at her. “It is just something Fluttershy said to me this morning that reminded me of something and I just need to touch base with you guys.”
Her friends gave her a confused look but they all piled into the living room, letting Twilight create the sound-proofing spell around them.
“Last night,” she started. “I… I was telling the truth, when I said I had a nightmare.” She sighed. “And then Princess Luna came in and stopped it.”
The others nodded, still looking confused.
“I’ll explain everything about it later, but the relevant thing right now is, we do not tell anyone about her dream-walking.” Twilight fixed the six with a look. “This is vitally important; if they found out she had that kind of ability, it would probably ruin everything for us and our relations with the Packlands. And, it would endanger other Equestrians who rely on that ability for communications.” She paused and took a breath. “Just… don’t tell them, okay? It stays between the seven of us.”
“Right,” Applejack said. She frowned. “Ah don’t like the idea of lyin’, you know.”
“I know, I know, and I don’t either,” Twilight said uncomfortably. “But I had it impressed on me just how important it is that we keep this ability secret, and I needed you all to know too.”
There was a chorus of “Yes”es and “Okay”s, and then Twilight smiled. “Thank you,” she said. Then she dropped her spell only for Big-Cheer to appear in the doorway.
“Wise-Mind is coming, he will be here about five minutes,” the wolf said, panting a bit with Twilight turning to look at Swift-Pad.
“Should I have my crown on?” she asked him, remembering how yesterday she failed to have it on when she met with the border guards.
Swift-Pad looked uncertain as he weighed it in his head. “It is up to you,” he finally said. “As Little-Growl said earlier, he will be testing you in his own way. Whether you have your crown or not, he will find an excuse to use it against you.”
Twilight frowned at that, not enjoying the non answer but resolving to accept the situation as it was. “Thank you for telling me,” she said.
“You are welcome,” Swift-Pad said. “And… may I have a word with you, in private?”
Twilight nodded, following him back to his room. Once they had gotten there, he sat down and gazed at her.
"Your Grace," he finally said quietly. "I must admit... your behavior early this morning concerns me. I am glad to see that Spike was able to help you, but still, I am concerned."
Twilight looked back at him. "Ambassador... you remember how I told you about how I've spent so much time learning focus and control, to keep my powers in check, right?"
"Yes," Swift-Pad said, his eyes darting to his bags and she was reminded that he had folders on her and her friends.
"What you saw this morning was another reason why I try to stay in control," Twilight said, trying to push the memory of his folder out of her mind. "I have... a temper, sometimes. I don't lose it often, but there are those rare times when the right combination of stimuli can cause me to snap, to the point where I'm barely rational. And last night's nightmare, parts of it - which I don't want to talk about... I just lost it. I let my anger and my doubt take control, and I lashed out without thinking, and only my years of training kept it from being more than just words. And that I was able to get away to try and calm myself before it got even worse." She looked down. "I don't like it when that happens," she said quietly. "I'm sure you can understand why."
“I can indeed,” Swift-Pad said. “That such anger lies deep within you is natural. That you had the control to reign yourself in is a good thing. But that anger’s breaking out when it did… it is still worrying.”
Twilight sighed. “As I said, it rarely happens,” she said. “Ask Pinkie or Fluttershy about the incident with the hydra at Froggy Bottom Bog sometime.”
“Hydra?” Swift-Pad raised an eyebrow.
“Very long story,” Twilight said. “But my point is, that anger’s always been there. It’s a part of me that I’m not proud of, and this morning, you happened to catch me at a really bad moment before I had had time to fully work my way through it and calm myself. I lashed out at you, and I am truly regretful that you had to see me when my worse side was out in the open.”
Swift-Pad walked up to her and laid a paw on her shoulder. “I understand,” he said. “We all have our worse moments. I am more regretful that I failed to realize you were in such a state and inadvertently made you angrier with my harsh words.”
“I forgive you,” Twilight said. “And I thank you for your concern.”
Swift-Pad nodded, before rising. “Come,” he said. “Let us go.”
Following him back out, Twilight glanced out the windows as she walked, and saw the small group of wolves approaching. Settling back into position, she awaited their arrival.
She saw that they were much larger and much more… wolfish than the other wolves she had met so far. Swift-Pad had taken obvious strides to minimize his more threatening appearance while he was mentoring her, Tall-Thin, Big-Cheer and Little-Growl were all still youngish by the looks of them, and most of the ones she’d seen the night before were very similar in build.
And Maxilla didn’t really count.
These, however, were more along the lines of what she’d expect the Dire Wolves that Snails had described to be like. Along the outside, the wolves were wearing string after string of complex looking runes, no doubt senior rune wolves of the pack. In the middle, however, was a much larger and more intimidating wolf. He had runes too, much larger and more intricate than any she had seen so far, but there was also a dominating sense of savagery surrounding the wolf that seemed to cause instincts within her to heighten, urging her to run away from a dangerous predator as fast as she could. Twilight found herself breathing sharper before she squashed it down, resolving not to appear weak before this wolf.
The wolf company came up to the front of the farm house with the larger wolf staring intently at Twilight, the others fanning out behind him.
“Packleader Wise-Mind,” Twilight said, bowing slightly towards him.
“Am I expected to be spoken to in your tongue?” he said in a growly voice, his golden eyes boring into her.
Twilight started at him before reminding herself that he was testing her and she had to pass these tests. “If I had ample time to properly learn your tongue, I would use it,” she said. “But I do not know it, and would not wish to cause offense by speaking it incorrectly.”
He gave a snort, eyeing her again. “And I see that I am not worth a proper princess greeting either?”
“I chose not to wear my crown for this meeting to symbolise my humility meeting with a leader of this nation,” Twilight stated, stretching her neck out to meet him. “Crown or not, I am still me.”
He stared at her before his jaw turned upwards in the shape of a grin. “I see that you have been taught well by their Graces Celestia and Luna, young Grace Sparkle,” he then turned and stared harshly at someone behind her. “Maxilla, why are you here?”
“I-” they began to speak only to be cut off by a loud growl from the packleader.
“You were supposed to stay away from her Grace,” Wise-Mind’s snarl lasted only seconds when Swift-Pad placed himself between the two, before snorting loudly and lowering his head towards the diplomat. “Is this really the way you wish to do things?”
Swift-Pad bared his fangs only for the other rune wolves to press in, their runes glowing as they stalked closer towards Swift-Pad. Wise-Mind shook his head before looking at Twilight. “This matter is complicated; but she was requested to be elsewhere for your visit.”
“You mean they were, don’t you?” Twilight asked with Wise-Mind’s eyes going wide before pushing her into the house with a modified soundproofing spell snapping into existence.
“You know that she is a changeling, don’t you?” he asked her, walking in a circle around her.
"I do," Twilight said, keeping her eyes on him. "As do my friends. And I am grateful for their presence; I've learned a great deal already from it."
"Such as?" Wise-Mind growled, pausing mid-step.
"Such as the fact that, despite my prior negative experience with their kind, not all changelings are the same, and should not be judged as if they were," Twilight said, doing her best to keep eye contact with the larger wolf. "After getting to know Maxilla in the past day, I count them as one of my friends now."
“That is good,” he paced the floor before letting out a sigh. “There is a reason why she-”
“Isn’t the proper term they?” Twilight asked with Wise-Mind snorting again and shaking his head.
“Maxilla plans to ask Metamorphia for the Seal so Swift-Pad and she can be together, so I will respect her wishes and treat her as a female,” he said with his face softening. “As you are aware, young Grace, we have changelings here. In fact, nearly half of all the hives in the world call the Packland home. That includes some less famous changelings.”
“Are, are you speaking of Chrysalis' hive?” Twilight asked carefully, watching to see how he would react.
“In a manner of speaking,” Wise-Mind said with a bitter tone. “We had managed to intercept many of them after her failed invasion.” He let out a sigh, muttering to himself in his tongue. “Including her.”
“I... I don’t know what to say,” Twilight said, shaking her head, being very careful as not to reveal she already knew this. “When do you think the trial for her will begin?”
“We already had done so,” he stated with Twilight’s eyes going wide in honest surprise. “We found her guilty of invading another nation, kidnapping, impersonation, illegal emotion harvesting and other heinous crimes. We are just waiting on two matters before we sentence her; the manner of her punishment and the successor to her hive.”
“Perhaps Equestria could be of some aid if you wish,” Twilight offered with Wise-Mind shaking his head.
“No, absolutely not,” he said before looking at her. “And this matter cannot reach their Graces; the consequences could hurt both our nations. You are aware of Nobleblood and his crimes against us.”
“I am,” Twilight acknowledged. “I was informed of the insults he laid against your nation, and the fallout that resulted.”
“That is the crux of the problem of contacting your nation; it would undoubtedly force her Grace Celestia to ask for her handover to which our own people would be forced to ask for Blueblood.”
“Must it be that way?” Twilight asked.
“Unfortunately yes,” Wise-Mind replied. “This has been a long standing issue between the Packlands and Equestria known world wide. We cannot simply hand one over without receiving either the one we ourselves wish to try, or some form of compensation on the same level. If we did, our nation’s rivals would see this as a sign of weakness that they can use against us in the future.”
Twilight nodded. “I understand,” she said. “Packleader Wise-Mind… in the matter of Chrysalis, may I offer my personal opinion on the subject?”
Wise-Mind eyed her carefully. “Go on.”
Twilight nodded. "All I want, in this case, is to see justice is done. I don't care if it's your nation or ours or another one entirely that does it, just that it happens." She took a deep breath. "And while I cannot speak for everypony, I can say, on a personal level, that unlike some people, I do not want to see an entire race or nation punished for the actions of a few. Those specific changelings who were directly responsible for attacking our people, or at least the Queen who made them do it, yes. But not everyling."
Wise-Mind regarded her. “You are far more open-minded in these matters than most of your people,” he said. “It does you well, young Grace. Time will tell if your wisdom will be carried out or not. In any case, I urge you to wait on informing your fellow Graces of Chrysalis’ current location.”
Twilight nodded. “While I have sent them a pair of letters since I came to this land regarding some of what I have learned here, neither had any mention of changelings being present,” she said.
“Might I ask what you felt necessary to inform them?” Wise-Mind asked with a frown on his face.
Twilight nodded. “The day of our meeting in Canterlot, Princess Celestia and I had a discussion on our nation’s relations with other nations. She mentioned to me about the time the hippogriffs recalled their ambassador, and how they have not been heard from since,” she said. “Since Equestria had not been able to learn any more about why their ambassador had left, I asked Ambassador Swift-Pad if he had any further information on the matter. What he said was most concerning, so with his permission, I shared it with my fellow Princesses.”
Wise-Mind relaxed and nodded in approval. “And the other?”
“The matter of Slice n' Dice, and how my people mistreated her and rejected the laws of your lands in doing so,” Twilight said. Seeing Wise-Mind’s hackles standing on end, she continued. “Their actions were wrong, and while I accept that this is her home now, and I would never attempt to change her mind about that, I still felt she deserved justice for what happened - that those of Equestria who caused her such misery should face punishment for their actions.”
Wise-Mind’s hackles were still on end, but he regarded her carefully. “You truly believe this of her,” he stated.
“I do,” Twilight affirmed. “She is a good person, and did not deserve to be rejected for acting as she did. And my closest friends, who accompanied me here and who include a more distant member of her family, have all agreed with me in this.”
“Former family,” Wise-Mind said with Twilight wincing at his words. “Her family had cast her aside and she has found her place within my pack. If the Apples wish to make amends, they are free to try but they should be aware no one in my pack will allow them to hurt her again without suffering the consequences.”
Twilight nodded reluctantly, unhappy at his harsh judgement but aware he was just trying to protect Slice n’ Dice. “If you wish to speak to either Slice n' Dice or Applejack on the matter, both of them will gladly tell you how they feel.”
“I will take you up on that, soon,” Wise-Mind said. There was a whisper of magic as Twilight felt him drop his sound-scrambling spell. “Shall we rejoin our companions outside?”
Twilight nodded, and followed him out of the house.