Swift Swap comes to Ponyville

by Swift Swap

Swift Swap meets Fluttershy

Not even a sunbeam could seep through the thick foliage of the Everfree Forest.

In that gloom, the trees seemed more like ogres, or trolls, ready to crush anyone who unknowingly approaches them. And instead of leaves, they appeared to be surmounted by ominous storm clouds.

The shrubbery, and the bushes, that stood at the foot of the trees, looked like tangles of vipers, tightly wrapping and biting each over, in a foolish, violent and endless fight.

A gentle breeze blew through the branches, moving them slowly and making them seem alive.

Furthermore, passing through the leaves, the wind took the sound of a loud, piercing whistle, and to accompany that noise, there was also the creaking of the branches, the sound of muffled footsteps in the darkness, and dozens of different, slight verses, that seemed to come from everywhere, and formed an unsettling, haunting melody.

That was the cry of the forest, the terrifying call of the Everfree Forest.

The forest gave an overwhelming feeling of uneasiness and apprehension, as if it could observe, in turn, the beholders. Like a gargantuan, shapeless monster with thousands of intimidating eyes and hundreds of claws ready to tear apart the prey. A single, powerful creature that inspires awe and terror on anyone who look at her.

---

And in fact, Swift Swap couldn't refrain from staying in respectful silence in front of that motionless, majestic green menace. He had just arrived at the edge of it after leaving the city limits, and now he seemed undecided about what to do.

“No,” he muttered to himself, as he pondered, “I just can't go back in there. I just can't. Not after the two nightmarish nights that I've already passed into it, and not after the three times I almost lost my life inside! And also, if I get in again, I risk to getting lost, and all the efforts I did for cross it the first time would have been useless! But I also can't go back in town, not with that pink, potty pony and her endless checklists looking for me!”

He then turned his gaze from the forest and began to look around. He was in the area in front of it. A flat, rather bare area, without buildings or trees. There were only some thickets of brambles, before the frontier of the Everfree, and no trace of a decent refuge.

He glanced around, and uttered a loud yawn before saying “There must be a shelter, somewhere! I can't sleep on the ground, and I can't even take refuge in the forest or in the city center!”

He then went on to seek, more and more tired, until finally, about ten o'clock of the morning, he saw a small building, very close to the borders of the forest.

The building was a cottage, with yellow walls and a green roof, due the large amount of plant and vines that grew above it. The little house was surrounded by a few trees, with a lot of birdhouses hung over them.

The house did not look abandoned, but inside or around it there was nobody. Only some small animals wandered quietly around the house, as if it was their.

“Maybe this place may be fine,” he said, approaching the cottage, relieved, “Maybe here I'll find some peace and privacy. I just hope that the owner is at home!”

To its passage, the critters that roamed around moved out of his way, annoyed and alarmed by the unusual presence. Some of them approached and began to sniff him, and immediately later seemed to get quite hostile towards him.

He didn't notice that, and went to the door and knocked, while the animals were becoming more and more fidgety.

“Hello? Anyone inside?” Swift Swap called, while knocking, “It's just a traveler who needs a little rest before resuming his journey! Hello? There is anypony home?”

No answer came from within. He then cautiously tried to push the door, and it immediately opened with a slight creak.

The inside of the cottage was very bright, and the few, but colored furniture, combined with numerous flower pots, created a homely and cheerful atmosphere. Into each wall there were many holes and perches, from which protruded several critter snouts, peering at the intruder.

Swift Swap stood in the doorway, uncertain whether or not to enter, looking at the unfriendly eyes of those animals.

“Ok, this is just a little strange,” he murmured, a little uneasy, as he gingerly stepped inside, “well , I hope that the owner won't be too angry if, while waiting for him, I lay for a moment on that couch. I feel so tired I could fall on the floor at any mom-Ouch!”

The reason of his sudden interruption was a sharp pain coming from his rear left leg. He turned his head to see what was happening, and see a little, white bunny biting his hoof.

“What the......Leave me alone, you!” he cried, while shaking his leg to get rid of the troublesome animal.

But the bunny doesn't seem willing to let go. Instead, he further sank his teeth into his leg, while angrily squealing and screaming.

The cry of the annoying critter triggered all the other animals, which all together swooped down on Swift Swap. All the birds began to peck him on the head and face, while all the other animals, mostly mice, rabbits and squirrels, grabbed him by the tail, trying to drag him out, or clung to his legs, like the white bunny, mercilessly scratching and biting him in the meantime.

“Enough!” shouted the unicorn, while his horn began to glow of an intense golden light, “Now Mr.'Nice Swift Swap' is officially gone!”

The light coming from his horn invaded in a short time the entire room, dazzling all the animals.

And suddenly, in the midst of that light, the imposing silhouette of a great, winged creature appeared....

---

“Oh, it seems you're feeling much better, Miss Sibyliss! I told you that Dr. Mane Goodall would fix your bad tooth in a heartbeat. She is such a nice pony, isn't she?” Fluttershy asked to her passenger, while flying slowly, a few inches above the ground.

The passenger was a brown, sinuous rattlesnake, who was curled up on her back with a meek expression, enjoying the trip.

The snake hissed kindly, to manifest her approval, and then rubbed her head against the mane of the pegasus, as a affection sign.

“It's okay. However, you should thank her this way, instead of frightening her with your rattle like you did. Don't you agree, Winona?”

The brown and white dog barked with conviction, as if to agree with her, while running all around her. For its part, Miss Sibyliss took a contrite look and lowered his head, visibly sorry.

“Oh, don't worry, Miss.” Fluttershy said, after seeing the genuine repentance of the rattlesnake, “Just promise that next time you will apologize with Dr. Goodall, and everything will be fine. So, that do you think about it?”

The snake, visibly relieved, gently wrapped her coils around Fluttershy head, in her bizarre way of embracing, while whistling happily. Winona in the meantime was cheerfully jumping all around, making feasts to both of them.

“I knew you'd agree, Miss Sibyliss. By the way, Applejack will be happy that your veterinary check went well, Winona!” she said then, addressed to the dog, “I know for certain that she's very sorry for not being able to accompany you, but since she and Big McIntosh were busy with the maize harvest today, she asked me to bring you to Dr. Mane Goodall in her place. I know that this isn't the first time I take care of your health in her place, but I'm sorry that she lost these important moments with you. The relationship between a pet and its owner is something unique and special, and I feel like I'm getting in the middle between you...”

Before she could say anything else, Winona licked her face, and then looked straight in her eyes, with a sweet and accommodating look.

“Yes. You are right, dear!” Fluttershy replied, serene, “As usual, I'm worrying too much. You are both my friends, and this will always be true. But the friendship between me and you, or her, will never match the relationship that exist among you two. You will always belong to Applejack, as she will belong forever to you, and nothing will change that!”

Winona barked joyfully, wagging her tail, while Miss Sibyliss showed her delight by further crushing Fluttershy's head into her “hug”.

“Ow! Ouch! Ehm....” moaned the pegasus, while raising the snake from her head, freeing herself from that painful embrace, and leaning she on her rump, “Okay, I know that you are happy, but you know that's not very ladylike crush ponies, right?”

The rattlesnake briefly nodded to show she understood.

“Very well, Miss. Oh, look! We are almost home! And should be about ten o'clock, so you have two hours before Applejack come to get you, Winona. So you can spend some time with your friends! I know for sure that Batbara is dying to see you ag...uh? What's happening?”

The reason of her question was the sudden, blinding light coming from inside her house. Although she was still quite far from the cottage, Fluttershy still had to cover her eyes with one hoof for avoid being dazzled.

A moment later, a huge crowd of terrified animals rushed out of the house, banging against each other in their haste to get away from the mysterious danger.

“Goodness! What's going on, sweetie?” inquired Fluttershy, approaching the group of panicked animals, with a worried expression.

As soon as they saw her, all the critters surrounded her, yelling and gesticulating all together in a incomprehensible cacophony of fear.

“One at the time, please!” she patiently said, “Angel, do you mind telling me what happened!”

The white rabbit, who for first had ran beside her, began to squeak agitated, while miming a large creature with large wings, and pointing to the door repeatedly.

“A.......mo-monster?” she stuttered, casting nervous glances toward the cottage and instantly folding her wings, landing abruptly from a foot in height, “Th-There's a m-m-mo-monster in our house? This is what you're telling me?”

The rabbit nodded with conviction, while all the other animals were doing verses or gestures for indicate that it was so.

“Oh my! That do we do now?” Fluttershy said panicked, “A monster! Maybe I should go to get help! Maybe Twilight will know how to drive it away! A monster! Or maybe I should let it sit there and sooner or later he will go away on its own! But how long it could take? A monster! Maybe in the meantime I should move in with one of my friends! Or should I totally abandon my house and find a new one? A MONSTER! OR PERHA-Ow!”

Angel had just slapped her.

Firstly, she looked at him surprised and offended at the same time, but before she had the time to reply he grabbed her muzzle with his little paws, and then pulled her head to his height, so that they found themselves face to face.

And then Fluttershy saw in the eyes of her impetuous, domineering, but over all loving pet a strong determination, and an unbreakable desire to not surrender.

She gently freed herself from his grasp, and looked at all her over critter friends surrounding her, and all of them made gestures of encouragement towards her, yelling loudly to make her hear their support.

“You're right, friends!” she said in a firm tone, getting up and looking with courage at her house, “This is our home! And we won't let any monster to take it away from us! Moreover, I've already broached manticores, hydras, changelings and even a dragon! I won't be scared by the first monster I meet! Are you all with me, friends?”

All the animals launched a loud battle cry, inciting her. Fluttershy then opened her wings, lifted in flight and headed resolutely towards her cottage, followed by the noisy critter crowd. Angel climbed her mane and positioned himself on top of her head, indicating the entrance, as a general who ordered the charge, pointing to his troops the weak point of the enemy formation. Miss Sibyliss, behind the bunny, started to shake her rattle, as if her was the drumbeat that accompanied the march of the animals.

“Here's what we will do! First we will enter, then we will present ourselves, and finally politely ask if it can leave our home. It's a good plan, don't you think?”

The rattlesnake gradually stopped playing, while Angel took his face in his paws.

---

“Hello? Mr. Monster?” Fluttershy called, speaking from behind the doorway, to avoid being seen by the monster, “Listen, I don't know why you decided to come to my house and to drive away all my friends, but ple-Eep!”

The same golden light that she had seen when her friends had fled reappeared, this time much less bright, but in the light she still managed to glimpse a strange shadow. A shadow that grew bigger and bigger, and that seemed to come closer.

“No!” she yelled, falling down and covering her head with her hooves, while all the animals were trying to encourage her.

“Oh no! Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. Are you ok?”

At the sound of that kind and concerned voice, Fluttershy uncovered her face and slowly raised her head. What she saw was a furry, black hoof, tended towards her to help her up. She leaned on the hoof to rise, and she saw also the pony to which the hoof belonged: A unicorn with golden eyes, tangerine coat and spiked, black mane and tail.

“I'm......I'm fine,” she replied, looking at the stranger a little relieved, but also disoriented, “But, who are you? And where is that scary monster?”

“Monster?” he asked, growing pale, and glancing nervously around, “What monster? There are monsters around there?”

“Usually not, but just before there was a huge one in my house!” she answered, “To be honest, I haven't really seen it, also because of the strong golden light that it emitted. I've seen the shadow, but it was very big, and scary, and..”

“Wait!” he interrupted, “Did you say 'golden light'? And 'shadow'? Oh, but this....this explains everything!”

“I don't understand” Fluttershy said, looking at his sudden look of relief, and at the hostile glances that the animals were addressing him, “Where is that monster? Are you sure you didn't see it?”

“I could never see it, because actually that monster..... it was......it was me!”

“WHAT!” she yelled, turning white, “YOU ARE THE MONSTER?”

“It was just an illusion!” he explained, “An optical illusion I created to scare away intruders. I used it because I thought those pesky animals were back. And actually, they are!” he added, looking at all the creatures behind her.

In response to his comment, the animals looked at him even more menacing. Angel in particular seemed really upset, and continued to threaten him with violent gestures of the paws. Also Miss Sibyliss was threatening the unicorn, noisily shaking her rattle. Only Winona, who initially had growled at him, after noticing his gentle and friendly attitude, stopped snarling and quietly watched the stranger, in an attempt to understand his intentions.

“I didn't mean to scare anybody,” continued him, “it's just that after a day and two nights of travel I hoped to be able to rest a little. I'm sorry if I walked into your house without permission. Because you said it's your house, right? It's just that I was in desperate need of a shelter, and then I saw your house, I couldn't resist!”

The explanation seemed to allay some of Fluttershy's anxiety, but suddenly, as if she had noticed only in that moment a detail that she didn't noticed before, her expression became furious, and then she shouted, with a assertiveness that seemed impossible she could have before, “First of all, the 'pesky animals' you are talking about are my friends, and nopony insults my friends, clear? And, most important, how dare you frighten and drive off my friends from my home! Nopony taught you that you shouldn't scare anybody! How would you feel if somepony came into your house and chase away you by force or by fraud, as you did? So, what do you have to say, to excuse you?”

Shocked by that unexpected outburst of anger, he stepped back, sheepish and uneasy, as he stammering replied, “I-I-I'm really sorry for that! I didn't think these animals were yours. I thought they were strays. And anyway, I would have left them in peace for sure, if they hadn't attacked me!”

“What?” Flutteshy asked, in a much less aggressive tone, “They attacked you?”

“Yes!” he replied, comforted by her new-found calmness, “As soon as I crossed the threshold, they all leaped on me, first of all that rabbit!” he added, as he pointed Angel, still perched on Fluttershy's head, continuing to threaten him with defiant attitude.

But his attitude became humble and subdued, when she picked him up from her head, took him at eye level, and severely asked, “Is that so, Angel Bunny?”

He nervously shook his head, proclaiming himself innocent. But, under her inquisitive gaze, shortly after succumbed, lowered his ears and nodded. A moment later, also all the other critters showed various signs of shame or guilt. They all looked like a class of children caught doodling the teacher's book.

“Listen, friends,” Fluttershy said, calmly but firmly, “I know I've taught you that it's rude to come into someone else's house without permission, but it's even more rude to attack whoever does so. Now, promise that you won't do it again and apologize, okay?”

The animals, resigned, made several verses of agreement, to make it clear that they agreed. Even Angel nodded, but while looking with antipathy at the stranger.

Satisfied, she turned to the unicorn and said, with the same tone in which she spoke to the animals, “And now, I expect some apology from you too, for have frightened them and me, and for have entered our house.”

“Of course!” he replied, and then, addressing not only her, but also to all the animals behind her, he said “I humbly beg pardon for my behaviour. My fatigue and my ignorance of the situation made me lose sight of common sense. For this I entered and I've fooled you with my illusions. I hope you can forgive me!”

He concluded his statement bowing his head, as a sign of repentance.

Fluttershy looked at him admired, and then said “What do you think, friends. Should we forgive him?”

All the animals looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

When suddenly, one of the birds stopped hesitating and perched on his head, gleefully chirping. Then, also Winona approached him, and cheerfully licked his face.

One by one, all the critters began to approach and interact with him, until he was practically wrapped into a huge pet group hug. Only Angel stayed where he was.

"I-I wope this means 'yes'!" he said with difficulty, almost squeezed by all those creatures.

"I'm sure that's a 'yes'!" she answered, inviting all the animals to let him breathe, "I'm Fluttershy, and all these wonderful creatures are my friends. What's your name?"

"Pleased to meet you, Fluttershy! Oh, and you all too!" he added hastily, addressing the critters, "I am Swift Swap!"

"Nice to meet you, Swift Swap! I'm glad that everything is solved! But nevertheless, there's still one thing I don't understand!"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"That illusion," she explained, "it seemed so real. As if it was the shadow of a real monster!"

"Oh......that...." he said, with a hint of uneasiness ,"Well, I got the opportunity to practice. Or, to be honest, I had to. This trick saved me plenty of times!"

"In which sense saved you?"

"I spent the last two night to cross the Everfree Forest," Swift Swap explained, "and thanks to this illusion I saved myself thrice. The first time it allowed me to escape from a group of Timberwolves, the second time it scared a Treant that was about to attack me, and the third..."

"You crossed the Everfree?" she interrupted, "But...but.... how did you do? To my knowledge, nopony who didn't know the forest was able to cross it alone. It must have been awful, who knows how many dangers......"

But this time, he interrupted her, with a loud yawn. He hastily covered his mouth with his hoof, and then said "Look, I'd love to tell you the whole story, but, as I've already said, I spent two nights traveling, among dangers of all sorts, and now I'm beat! Maybe I'll tell you all after a few hours of sleep, what do you say?"

She looked at him, puzzled for a second, but then she noticed the bags under his eyes and suddenly realized that he was actually exhausted.

"Oh my! It's true! How I didn't realize at first what you were tired? And how could it not be, after two whole sleepless nights? I'm sorry if I bothered you with my insistent questions! It's just that I wanted to know......"

"Doesn't matter!" he quietly answered, "All I ask is hospitality until tomorrow morning, when I'll leave. I humbly beg if I can find shelter and rest in your home for today. You'll let me, Fluttershy?"

To that proposal, the bird perched on his head sang louder, while Winona and some other animals made ​​affirmative signs. Angel instead came down from her head, stepped between the two of them, and vehemently shook his head.

"But of course!" Fluttershy happily said, "I don't have much opportunities to receive guests! And anyway, I'm always happy to help those who need it! It will be a pleasure to have you as a guest!"

Some of the animals rejoiced, while Swift Swap took a relieved expression and said "Thank you so much. You don't know how pleased I am that you said yes!"

For its part, Angel squealed and waved his paws fiercely, to make it clear that he didn't agree.

"Now, Angel," she said, turning to the rabbit, "Be a good host and show to our guest where is the bedroom!"

More vexed than ever, the bunny unwillingly beckoned Swift Swap to follow him, and together they entered the cottage.

All the others, including Fluttershy, followed them, while she was saying "Oh, I'd better begin to prepare tea. I bet that when he'll wakes up he'll be hungry like a Parasprite!"

Author's Note:

For this chapter, I tried to improve my english as much as I can. It's still imperfect, but I hope that doesn't keep you from appreciating the story. For my english improvement, I have to give a huge thanks to Graphite Sketch, who helped me a lot in this. Check also his amazing work(much better than mine!).
P.S: If you like this chapter, but not the grammar of the previous one, please give me some suggestion on how to improve it. Construtive criticism is welcome, hate no.

Comments

[Muslipepito]

3512511
Hurg...that's so immature!

I know it's hard to not write in your own language, because I do it too, but I found that writting then translating take too much time to be enjoyable. I personally write my chapter in english, with the words and expressions I don't know in my first language, so I can rewrite it on google doc with reverso and a dictionary! If I had to translate a entire chapter, I'll certainly end up mad!