A Diplomatic Visit

by Evilhumour

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

As the two mares and one wolf walked through the farm, Applejack looked over the wolf again and used the walk to examine their foreign visitor closely. If he noticed her scrutiny, he either didn't mind or was aware that they had every right to be cautious around him.

His coat wasn’t ragged and wild as she thought it would be; it was a short and well kept grey coat. He had a saddlebag on him, with strange looking stones sewn into the edges of it. They were fairly large, with odd things scratched into the surface, the shapes almost perfectly uniformed.

“So, you guys have magic?” Dash asked, keeping pace with them in the air.

“Indeed we do, Rainbow Dash,” he replied, shaking his head to loosen out a necklace of smaller stones. “I am a Rune Caster, able to channel my inner magic through the proper runes. These around my neck are my protection runes, simplistic enough for any novice to create.” He paused, holding out the dull stones in his paw. “In somewolves’ case as mine, we are able to influence how strong they are and leave it on as a back burner if they are talented or have enough storage and energy runes. I had left mine on a far higher degree than I generally do in civilization after trekking through the Everfree Forest and neglected to lower them once I found the path to your farm, Applejack.” He then flicked his eyes back to Dash, dropping the necklace of runes back into his fur. “I am sorry that my lack of action and thought caused you harm.”

Something felt off to Applejack the moment he said that, how it was phrased was odd and show a mixture of honesty and dishonesty at the same time.

“It’s no problem,” Dash scoffed, shaking her head in her usual self-amusement. “Ya probably needed them at max anyways to deal with a mare as awesome as me.”

“Yes, clearly I forgot to properly calibrate the rune to account for your level of awesomeness,” the wolf said quickly, with a smirk running across his face and a chuckle in his throat.

“Huh?” both mares looked at him, confusion clear on their faces.

The wolf stumbled in his step, a rush of red running across his face.

"Oh, wait, was that an attempt at a joke?" Applejack asked, going over the words in her head.

Rainbow Dash looked confused.

"My apologies," Swift-Pad replied. "I've forgotten how Equestrian humour differs from other species’."

"Keep the scientific and magic lingo out of it and I'm sure you'll make much funnier cracks next time," Applejack said with a smile.

"Thank you, I shall keep that in mind."

"I don't get it. What'd he say?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying over to the farmer. Applejack shook her head.

"Relax, sugarcube, it's not important," Applejack said, giving her friend a nudge.

"That term you used, what does it mean?" Swift-Pad asked.

"Sugarcube? It's just something Ah tend to use with friends when referring to them," Applejack said.

"Or else she does it to cover up the fact she forgets ponies' names," Rainbow Dash said with a grin, which earned her a smack from Applejack's hat.

Shaking his head with a chuckle in his throat, Swift-Pad turned his head to look at the house and the stallion standing in front of it.

Applejack trotted ahead and called out a greeting to the stallion. He responded in kind before looking at the wolf.

“Heard there was a visitor in town,” the red coated pony said evenly, not taking his eyes away from the wolf.

Applejack stole a quick look at the wolf to see how he was reacting but he seemed indifferent to the whole matter, with no real expression on his face. Turning back to the pony in front of her, she asked, “Did Apple Bloom tell you?”

The stallion shifted the grain stalk in his mouth to the other side before answering, “Eeyup. She then said she'd go tell her friends and ran off.”

Applejack nodded her head before turning to the wolf again and waving him over. “I see. Well, this here is Swift-Pad. He will be joining us for lunch. This is my brother, Big Macintosh.”

Swift-Pad cracked a smile before padding up to her brother, holding out a paw. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Eeeyup,” Mac took the paw with his hoof and shook it. “Granny and the girls are waiting to meet with you.”

“It will be my honour to meet with them,” the wolf replied. “May I come in?”

“Eeuyp.” Big Mac said, walking into the house with Swift-Pad right behind him, with Dash flying in past her, causing Applejack to snort.

Walking in quick, she was able to catch the looks of surprise on the fillies at seeing Swift-Pad sitting at the kitchen threshold.

“So ya weren’t pullin’ mah leg, Apple Bloom,” her granny said, eyeing the wolf and looking at him up and down. “Yer a skinny one; sit down and Ah’ll fix you right.”

Swift-Pad raised an eyebrow at this but smiled at her, showing none of his teeth again. “You are a very gracious host, Madam Smith,” he said as he shook off his bags and placed them in the corner of the room. He then turned to the Crusaders and asked with a goofy smile on his face while lowering his head down so he was on eye level. “May I sit down here, little ones?”

“Sure ya can,” Apple Bloom said happily with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both sharing uneasy looks. “These are mah best friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle and we’re the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” she shouted, causing the wolf to fold his ears backwards. Apple Bloom then blinked in confusion and look at the other two fillies. “Hey, why didn’t you do it?”

“Uh, Apple Bloom, I know you said he’s a wolf but...” Scootaloo trailed off with a look of concern in her face that what she was about to say would be rude.

“It is fine, little one,” Swift-Pad said as he shot a playful look at Rainbow Dash. “You did much better than her, after all.”

Rainbow Dash let out a groan, face blushing at this not so friendly reminder.

“What, what did she do?” Scootaloo asked, leaning in close to his face, any fear forgotten in the wake of news about her hero.

“She was just a bit overeager to protect her friends, a very good thing in proper amounts, little one,” he said as he shifted into his chair before shaking his head and hopping out of it to settle into a position on the floor. “Never did get used to chairs, to be fair.”

“It’s alright,” Applejack said as she tried to help her granny with the pies, only to get swatted away and told to sit down.

“Ah hear that this will be ya first apple pie, ain’t that right Swifty Pad?”

“Yes it will be, Madam Smith,” Swift-Pad said as her granny began to serve up slices of pie to each of them with the fillies and Dash eating with gusto. The girls she could excuse for being young and Dash for being Dash but she knew Granny had taught her better and waited for the guest to take the first bite.

She saw Swift-Pad cut a reasonable size piece of his pie and lift it to his mouth. Almost immediately, his face bulged, but he managed to force it down his throat.

“How did ya like it Swifty?” Granny asked while Swift-Pad was very clearly trying to keep it from making a reappearance over the table.

“It was certainly an experience I will not soon be able to forget.” Swift-Pad chuckled, his face starting to turn green. “And I cannot believe I have forgotten to do this, I need to go wash up. If you will excuse me for a moment or two.”

“Ah’ll show you the way, partner,” Applejack said as she stood up and showed him to the far bathroom which he slipped into and moved towards the toilet. “Ya going to be alright, sugarcube?”

“Ye-yes,” Swift-Pad said while gulping loudly. “You may lea-” That was as far as he got before he started to retch into the toilet bowl. Wincing in pain, Applejack fetched him a glass of water and presented it to the wolf.

Plucking it out of her hoof, Swift-Pad drank it and let out a whine, resting his head against the counter of the sink. “Thank you for that, Applejack. I did not know the apples would upset my stomach so drastically.”

“It’s okay,” Applejack said in a concerned tone. “You sure yer gonna be all right? ‘Twasn’t nothin’ wrong with our cookin’, was there?”

“Nothing of the sort,” Swift-Pad replied as he shifted onto his paws. “I know that other wolves of my pack do eat apples but I suppose that it just did not agree with me.”

Applejack’s ear flicked, the phrasing he used bugged her but she couldn’t place her hoof on what was wrong. “Come, let's get back to the table, the others must be wonderin’ if yer okay.”

“Agreed, and...” his ears perked up and gave her an eager look. “Applejack, I am wondering if I may do something with your sister and her friends.”

“What kind of thing are ya talking about?” Applejack frowned, snorting.

“A simple matter of cultural exchange,” Swift-Pad said. “I wish to try and share some of my own food with the young ones.”

“What kind of food?”

“Fish,” he replied. “I would not bring anything else as it could create some issues while I am here in your lands.”

Applejack blinked and thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen fish being eaten before - hay, even Fluttershy fed them to some of her animals. Without seeing anything wrong with it, she stepped to the other side and let the wolf go into the kitchen where her little sister was.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this a crossover with the works of Erin Hunter?

[AnoneMouseJr]

8500467
Eenope. No crossover here... just another corner of the multiverse of Evilhumour's works.

Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.