A Diplomatic Visit

by Evilhumour

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was hours later when Wise-Mind finally called the procession to a halt.

"We will camp here for the night," he announced. "Young Grace Sparkle, I trust you and your companions brought the necessary supplies?"

Twilight saw Rarity giving her a nod, and nodded in turn. "We did," she said.

At that, Pinkie withdrew a suitcase from her mane, set it on the ground, and opened it before allowing Rarity to move in. In moments, she had a massive, inflatable two-story tent set up, prompting Wise-Mind to raise an eyebrow.

"Interesting choice in camping supplies," he said.

"Quite," Swift-Pad said, surprise clear in his own voice.

Rainbow Dash snorted. "This is normal for her," she said. "No offense intended, but Rares' idea of roughing it is leaving her hair dryer at home."

"My standards may be different from yours, but they are also quite practical," Rarity said primly. "I believe in being prepared for any occasion, and with this, I have room for all of us, should one of us have not thought to pack a tent."

“That’s…” Twilight blushed as she realized she had failed to actually consider packing a tent as an essential. “That would be lovely, Rarity.”

“Shucks, Ah ain’t going to pass up a chance for a bed,” Applejack said while rubbing the back of her head.

“I would like a room, if that is okay,” Fluttershy added.

“Well I’m not going to beat around the bush and just admit I forgot to even think of packing a tent,” Rainbow Dash said with Twilight wincing at being called out while the wolves just chuckled. “Actually, I kind of figured I’d just grab a spot on a branch if I had to.”

Applejack chuckled too. “Looking forward to seein’ how the trees here compare to mine for nappin’?”

“You could say that,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin of her own. Turning to the wolves, she said, “Apple family trees are some of my favorite napping spots back home when I can’t get a cloud, and I know how you guys feel about that sort of thing here.”

“Your tree napping shouldn’t be a problem, young pegasus,” Wise-Mind rumbled softly, giving her a careful look. “You should know, we are soon to be exiting my pack’s territory, and entering free land for about a day’s run before we reach the Great Mound. Though I must remind you that landing on clouds is still not acceptable in the Packlands.”

“Yeah, I was talking about using the clouds when I said ‘that sort of thing’, but I gotcha.” Rainbow Dash stretched. “Didn’t think using a tree would be a problem though.”

The Packleader nodded his head before barking at the other wolves who left to gather their own supplies from the forest with the rune wolves creating a fire once the logs were gathered. Wise-Mind then turned to look at Twilight. “Does her young Grace have provisions for the night?”

“I made sure we brought some,” Spike said. “Girls?” This was directed at the other mares present.

“Got mine,” Applejack said, while Pinkie started rummaging through her mane until she’d brought out a suitcase.

“Plenty here!” she chirped.

“And we have gathered our food,” one of the wolves said, carrying a large four-legged form over his shoulder.

Twilight’s eyes widened briefly at the sight of the dead deer, before she calmed herself. “So I see…” she said weakly.

“Do not worry,” Swift-Pad told her another few deer were brought in. “The deer in this part of the continent, unlike the ones we have seen in some parts of Equestria, are not sapient, and we always make sure before we bring one down.”

“Hold on, Swift-Pad,” Wise-Mind stepped in front of her, with a wry grin on his face. “Allow her to voice her opinion. Does her young Grace Sparkle object to such practices?”

Twilight shook her head. “As long as they aren’t sapient - and I know your people have never fed on beings who qualify - I have no objection,” she said. “I would personally prefer not to eat meats other than fish, but I won’t try to stop you from doing so.”

Wise-Mind gave a non-conformational grunt at that before turning his head as Fluttershy walked up to him, and began growling at him with the large wolf blinking and then barking at Swift-Pad who nodded in agreement, his head briefly going to his packs where his files on them were.

Wise-Mind then stepped to the side and allowed Fluttershy closer to the fire where the deer were being laid out. To Twilight’s surprise, she joined the wolves as they began preparing their meal, talking to them in their language easily as she spoke in Equestrian.

“Come on Twilight,” Spike said, drawing her attention away. “You can still help me preparing supper.”

Twilight nodded and turned away from the fire. She could understand meat being a dietary necessity for the wolves, but that didn’t mean she wanted to watch the bloody processes involved. She also really needed to learn their language, since she had the feeling she was missing out on a lot without it.

---

Some time later, the two groups had gathered around the fire, each of them nibbling on their own food.

“I still don’t know how you can eat that,” Rarity said as she watched Rainbow Dash take a bite of her sandwich. “Honestly, all those carbs...”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Fast metabolism,” she said.

“What did you say that was again?” one of the rune wolves asked, his Equestrian rough but still understandable.

“Pasta and potato on sourdough bread,” Rainbow Dash told him. “Mom and Dad used to make it for me all the time when I was a kid.”

The wolf gave her a curious look before Rainbow Dash tore it in half and tossed part of it towards the wolf. He gave it a careful sniff before taking a bite. “Mmm!”

Rainbow Dash grinned, before turning back to her own half.

“Seriously, how did I not know you were a good cook?” Twilight asked. “First the grilling, now this?”

“I’ve lived on my own for years, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash told her. “I wasn’t going to just live on takeout.”

“You grill?” Wise-Mind asked.

“Carrot dogs or hayburgers, mostly, but I’ve got a few other things I like to make,” Rainbow Dash told him. “Dad taught me. Plus, it’s a good way of getting back at those PVE jerks.”

A couple of the wolves bristled at the mention of that group, but Wise-Mind just gave her a look. “How so?”

“Their pamphlets make great firelighters,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Hah!” Wise-Mind let out a bark of laughter with the other wolves following him. “Good for you then!”

Applejack nodded. “Ah can safely say that none of us likes that group,” she said. “Like Ah told Slice the other day, Granny ran ‘em off after they came to throw a fit at mah family for us bein’ friends with a zebra.”

“We have heard some tales of her, one of the matriarchs of the Apple clan,” Wise-Mind rumbled lowly. “It seems to be in her nature to be protective of her family. Tell me, do you think she will convince the other matriarchs to rescind their disownment of Slice or do you believe she will be too set in her ways to do so?”

Applejack shrugged. “Ah think once she knows the full truth, she’d accept Slice back into the family,” she said. “Ah know she ain’t happy with a certain pair of no-good con artists who tried to steal the farm out from under us… an’ for some reason, she don’t like the Pear family, but Ah don’t know why. Professional jealousy, Ah guess. But Slice never actually did anything wrong, so Ah’m sure Granny’d accept her.”

“She was most welcoming to me,” Swift-Pad voiced. “And grateful when I offered to prepare some fish for her family.”

“Is she the one who tried to set you two up?” Maxilla asked. At Applejack’s surprised look, she shrugged. “I remember what you said when we met, I can read between the lines. And I’m not offended.”

Swift-Pad made a strange noise in his throat before answering. “Yes.”

A couple of the other wolves chortled, before Wise-Mind shot them a look. Turning back to Applejack, he nodded in approval. “While I do not know the origin of the feud between your family and the Pears, I can certainly understand a dislike of Flim and Flam. They are likely the only ponies we ever ejected from the Packlands for acts that were not racism-related on their part.”

“I’m surprised they even got as far as to make a pitch; I don’t see them learning another language as something they would do.” Twilight said with Swift-Pad shaking his head.

“To the contrary, they made a very passable attempt at our language but it was clear that they only had second-pawed teachings, not like Fluttershy here who had somewolf properly train her.” Swift-Pad frowned. “Also, you would be surprised at the extent to which salesbeings will go to make a sale, regardless of the quality of the product or whether it is wanted or not.”

“I wouldn’t,” Rainbow Dash said. “This happened back before you moved to town, Twilight, but you would not believe how long it took me to get that one magazine guy to go away, and as it is, I almost had to call the Guard on him when I found him asleep on my welcome mat the next morning.”

“Really,” Twilight leaned back in surprised before frowning in curiosity. “What magazine was it, anyways?”

“Sponge Illustrated.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Is it any wonder I wasn’t interested?”

“Good grief.” Twilight shook her head.

“What’s so strange about that?” Pinkie suddenly asked. “I’ve got a ten-year subscription!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I can believe it,” she said. “So what were Flim and Flam trying to sell this time? Phony land deals? Products that look good on the outside but had catches to them that you’d only notice after they’d left?”

“A high-powered fruit squeezer, I believe,” Swift-Pad said. “Among other machines of dubious quality. We insisted on checking them for personal quality and found a number of flaws, some of which could have resulted in the devices exploding - not a tremendous one, but still sufficient to cause some injury to the being holding it. When they persisted in claiming the items worked perfectly well, we escorted them back across the border and told them that if they ever attempted to enter our lands again we would have them locked up for life. And unlike the incident with Nobleblood, I doubt her Grace Celestia would object to our passing sentence in this case.”

“Ah wouldn’t be surprised,” Applejack said. “She told us she’s been keeping an eye on those two in case they actually broke any laws that could be proven.”

“I wonder if her Grace Twilight would object if we were to keep our own eyes out for them,” Wise-Mind asked, obviously testing her again.

Twilight shook her head. “Legally speaking, I can’t advise you either way, since I haven’t had any formal training in that regard. I think if you’ve made a formal declaration prohibiting them from entering your land again on penalty of arrest, their doing so would constitute a violation of the laws, and their arrest would be permitted. But again, I would have to clarify that with Princess Celestia before making any official statement on the matter.”

“You are not as young as I was led to believe, your Grace,” Wise-Mind said with a nod of his head. “You still have much room to grow before you are able to leave her Grace Celestia’s side but you are clearly on your way.”

Twilight declined to comment on her age - she knew full well she was in her twenties. “I am fully aware and until the day I finish my law training, I am required to inform Princess Celestia and her legal staff of any and all matters of that type that were brought to me and pass them on to be handled by said staff,” she said. “In fact, I probably should do that now.” Her horn lit up as a scroll and quill drifted out of her bag and levitated in front of her.

Wise-Mind nodded in approval, before turning back to his food while Twilight wrote her letter. When she had finished, she tied it up and hoofed it over to Spike, who quickly sent it on with his flames.

“In any case, I do believe it is getting late,” Rarity said, having just finished her own meal. “And a mare does need her beauty sleep.”

Spike looked like he wanted to say something, but was cut off with a yawn. “Yeah, I could go for a rest,” he said.

The others nodded, and the group quickly set about finishing their food. Once they’d done so, Twilight led her friends into Rarity’s tent.

“Weren’t you going to sleep outside?” Wise-Mind asked as he saw Rainbow Dash following them.

“Gotta drop my stuff off in here,” Rainbow Dash told him. “Be out in a few.”

“All right.”

Once the seven had settled themselves inside and Twilight had put up her sound-scrambler, she looked at her friends.

"So..." she started hesitantly. "I have to ask, what do you think about what we had to say earlier? About alicorns being worshipped?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Doesn't bother me," she said. "They can believe what they want to believe, and we'll believe what we want to believe. Me personally, I've never thought of alicorns as goddesses, even before you said you didn't want to be seen as one, and as long as they don't expect us to worship you along with them, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Same here," Applejack said. "Ah believe in honoring and respectin' the Princesses, but Ah feel the same about mah ancestors."

The others all concurred, and Twilight smiled. "That's a relief," she said. “I know people can get sensitive about the issue of religion…”

Pinkie giggled. “I’ll say! Granny Pie once told me about the time these ponies thought her folks were worshipping Holder’s Boulder - our family farm’s chief cornerstone and good luck charm. They weren’t, but those other ponies thought they were and started making all kinds of strange gestures at them for it. You should have seen how mad her Pa got at them.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled, then yawned. “‘Scuse me girls. Time to hit the sack.”

After a round of nods and “good night”s, Rainbow Dash ducked out of the tent while the rest of the group headed for their beds, Twilight making sure she’d dismissed her spell and that Spike had settled in before she pulled the covers up and turned off the lights.

---

Twilight awoke to find herself in the library again, and narrowed her eyes. "I swear, if there are any hostiles around here again..." she growled.

"No hostiles tonight, Twilight," a familiar voice came. Twilight instantly turned to see Princess Celestia walking her way, a smile on the larger mare's face.

"Princess!" Twilight ran up to her. "How... but I thought Luna was the only one who could dreamwalk!"

"Normally, she is," Celestia said. "But I asked her to bring me to you." She nodded towards a door. "She's giving us both some space, after how you ended your little talk last night."

Twilight started to say something, shut her mouth, and gazed at Celestia with a nervous look. "You aren't mad at me, are you?"

"Hardly," Celestia told her. "Come."

Twilight followed Celestia to a smaller room, where a set of cushions had been set up. She recognized the place as the library's storytelling room, and watched as Celestia settled in on some of the cushions, gesturing to Twilight to join her. When she had, Celestia spoke again.

"I came to see you, Twilight, because I wanted to reassure you," she said. "After last night, I asked my sister to give one of your friends a quick message to pass on from me: that I trust you to do the right thing about what you found out." She smiled. "And, I think it's for the best if you not say anything further on the matter of the changelings to me until all is said and done, unless you specifically ask for help."

Twilight nodded. "I understand. And yes, she passed it on."

"Good. Now." Celestia stretched her neck for a moment, before looking back to Twilight. "I also got your letter about the Flim-Flam brothers. Given the hour at which it arrived, I chose to wait until morning to send Spike my official reply, but the answer is yes, the Packlanders would be well within their rights to arrest any foreign nationals who had been officially expelled from the Packlands and returned anyway, unless they attempted to claim sanctuary there when they returned. Though I doubt the wolves would allow them to do so." She frowned. "Whether we would allow them to keep them is another story, but in this case, if we did extradite them back, it would be so we could issue our own prison sentence." She sighed at that. "Again though, until the matter of Nobleblood is settled, I do not know if demanding them back would even be possible without their asking for Blueblood."

Twilight nodded. "That makes sense."

"I take it your meetings with Packleader Wise-Mind have gone well?" Celestia asked.

"They have," Twilight acknowledged. "And I think Rainbow Dash managed to endear herself to the entire Packlands earlier tonight."

"Oh?" Celestia looked at her curiously.

"She told them that the PVE's pamphlets made good firelighters."

Celestia let out a chuckle at that. "At least some good can come from those wretched hate-mongers' work." She grimaced. "As I told you two nights ago, I do not approve of them in the slightest, and I have been subtly working at undermining them practically since their founding, but given the circumstances surrounding it, I have been effectively hamstrung from openly denouncing them." She turned away for a moment, but the look on her face clearly said that line of discussion was closed.

Twilight scooted up closer and nudged her softly. "How are you?" she asked.

"Incredibly busy," Celestia said. "I've barely had time to leave the palace, other than a quick teleport to Tall Tale and back. I was planning to spread the word regarding Slice to the other Apple clan matriarchs, or at least a few, but then Day Court started yesterday. It was a madhouse, even without any news about changelings getting out from my sister or I." She shook her head.

"Then you haven't had time to see Moondancer?" Twilight asked.

Celestia looked regretful. "Unfortunately, no," she said. "I meant to see her first thing in the morning after you left, but I had court petitioners to deal with that kept me busy, and then your second letter came in. After that, I had even more matters to deal with this past day. But I promise you, I will see her as soon as possible, once I wake up."

"Good." Twilight snuggled up against her. "Thank you, Princess," she whispered.

The rest of the night was quiet as the two lay there, cuddled up together.

---

Twilight's eyes fluttered open, and she looked around to get her bearings for a moment before smiling. That had been one of the best nights' sleep she'd gotten in a long time.

A few minutes later, she trotted out of the tent, and noticed Swift-Pad and some of the other wolves were already up.

"Good morning, your Grace," Swift-Pad called as he saw her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very much so, Ambassador," Twilight told him, still smiling.

"That is good to hear." Swift-Pad gave her a friendly smile of his own. “We are in the final preparations of breakfast. We expect to leave shortly afterwards if we are to reach the Great Mound in time, your Grace.”

Twilight gave a nod of her head before turning her head to see that Spike was already awake and had begun to make breakfast along with the other wolves around the fire. “I will do my best to wake up the rest of the girls.” She turned to walk back into the tent before pausing and looking back at Swift-Pad. “While we are on our way towards the Great Mound, do you think you could give me a brief lesson in your native language?”

Swift-Pad blinked at her request but before he could respond Maxilla slid past him, brushing her tail in his face. “I can help with that,” she said before turning to face Swift-Pad. “Sorry Swifty, but between you and I, teaching and learning languages is something changelings do far better than any race.”

“That would be wonderful Maxilla,” Twilight smiled, briefly forgetting that she was a changeling before coming to a much greater realization. “Maxilla, I would like to apologize for my reactions when I first met you. It was completely out of line, and I shouldn’t have let old prejudices control me then.”

Maxilla stared at her intently before shifting back to their base form. The drone peered at her before nodding his head. “I accept your apology, Twilight Sparkle. I am aware of the harm changelings can cause and that you had to deal with meeting my kind the way you did is regrettable but that is the past and the future is ours.” He held out his hoof to her, a pure Equestrian gesture that she knew was for diplomatic and symbolic reasoning.

Taking his hoof in her own, Twilight shook it. “My only hope is that I am able to see a lasting peace between our two peoples, and others as well,” she said with what she hoped was a confident smile before she focused herself. “And I promise to do my part as a Princess in changing Equestria’s perception of changelings.”

“That means a lot to me,” Maxilla said as he smiled. “Thank you, Princess.”

Twilight smiled back. “You’re most welcome, Maxilla.”

Comments

[Earthpatriot117]

I think I asked this WAY back when when the story first came out, but I've forgotten so, how tall are the wolves again?

[OF29]

“Sponge Illustrated.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Is it any wonder I wasn’t interested?”

“Good grief.” Twilight shook her head.

“What’s so strange about that?” Pinkie suddenly asked. “I’ve got a ten-year subscription!”

I assume RD also hates mondays, then?
legendariummedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1407163179133.png

[SilverDiamond]

Ugh. Twilight and her brother were attacked, best foalsitter in the world was imprisoned. capitol almost fell, and Twilight still says she is sorry for being a little angry?! The hell?

[Nevermore777]

10231583
Being angry and almost attacking Max, who had nothing to do with it, is what she’s apologizing for.

[Rammy]

“ Sponge Illustrated .” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Is it any wonder I wasn’t interested?”

Another Garfield and Friends refernece? Looks like it is a good fav of yours