Ardi's Return

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria…

White wings pumping, two Royal Pegasus Day Guards towed the chariot across the sky as Canterlot and Mount Epona shrank into the northern horizon. Inside, a young white wolf started awake and crouched on his belly with eyes squeezed shut and teeth gritted against the wind, saddlebags thumping against his sides, his toe-claws digging into the floorboards as the chariot sped south.

He shook away the increasingly familiar nightmare as the chariot flew along the safe routes around Canterlot, a memory of warm water and a soft smile and those words. Who knows? You might learn to like it.

He shuddered. He'd been having that dream too much of late.

About a year ago, Ardi was just a lone wolf from the Great Northern Forests wandering Equestria, keeping well clear of ponies and their Burning Queen, Slayer of Wolves from the Old Stories, seeking to learn why the Nightmare was vanished from her prison in the Moon. Until he got poisoned by his own foolishness in a little town by the woods Wolves knew as Discord's Demesne.

Six weeks ago, he hid out from a dragon in that selfsame town of panicked ponies intent on turning him into a wolfskin rug, stuck inside an enchanted ponysuit with only one shy flier-pony, three pony-pups, and a blackmailing baby dragon to cover for him.

Now he returned as Lord Ardi, Envoy from the Great Northern Forest Packs to the Sun Palace in Canterlot, and to the same Burning Queen and her Nightmare sister, bearing a message to that same crazy town.

If he and his stomach survived the ride.

Be a fine joke to die bringing a message from Celestia to Ponyville, given that I survived meeting her, he thought as the chariot shuddered like an Omega in an angry Alpha’s jaw-grip. He swallowed. Then again, given what the ponies may yet think of me, I could be better off that way! Especially Rarity Belle, the Countess Lippizan. With luck I won't see her at all.

I hope.

“Lord Ardi?”

Ardi dared to rise to a crouch and open his eyes. Clouds whipped past; the scent of pony sweat rammed into his nostrils as the left-hand guardspony, the stallion, continued in a labored voice between wingbeats.

“Ponyville… coming up... ahead…” The golden-barded flier-pony said as he turned his helmeted head back and pointed with one forehoof. Ardi remembered his name to be Knight's Move as he added, “See?”

In the distance, Ardi could make out a dark spot between the hills to the left and the dark forest to the right. To the right…

His tongue rolled back in the slipstream as he turned his head towards that forest stretching to the horizon, an endless sea of tossing black treetops broken only by occasional promontories of stone, rocky peaks as stark and jagged as the hills on the other side of the chariot were green and rounded. Above the canopy and around the peaks, clouds every bit as dark boiled and threatened. The Everfree. Discord’s Demesne to the Wolves, darkened and twisted by the Twisting One himself so long ago. The wolf remembered touching that statue trying to sneak out of the Palace that night, that buzzing humorless laugh inside his mind, and shuddered.

He tore his gaze away from the forest of death and crushed himself against the front of the chariot, as far away from the open back as he could. Celestia’s sun shone halfway across the sky; between and below the whipping tails and gold-sheathed rear ends of the guardsponies a river sparkled its way across the valley floor. To the left he saw pony fields covering the ground like patches on those hoof-stitched quilts he got from those old Canterlot mares “for your poor freezing wolves back in the wild forests”. Specks that could be pony dens, straight trails that had to be pony roads, the shining streak of rails curving around the hills. A dark string of caterpillars crawled along the shining rails, smoke and steam trailing from its head end. Ardi growled to see it

If I could have ridden inside one of those, I wouldn’t be risking my tail like this! But Celestia wanted this delivered now and in person, so here I am.

Again Father Fenris took the chariot in his jaws and shook it. Ardi yelped as he dug in with all four paws, sneaking a look back along his side to the open rear. The saddlebags still hung against his white-furred flanks where they belonged. Message in one, some bits and official ID in the other. Good, both still there. Celestia told me it was important, and to personally read it to the Mayor. But first I’m visiting Fluttershy. It feels like forever since I spoke to a friend. Maybe I can visit, he gulped, Rarity too, and her sister. Be nice to see little Sweetie again. Her and Fluttershy aside, there aren't any ponies I can really trust. Be nice to have some more ponies for friends…

The jaws of the First Lupus Major shook him once more as though in threatening reminder. Ardi yelped loud enough for the two fliers in the traces to hear.

“Just… a little… turbulence, sir!” Knight's Move called back while the mare in the other trace tossed her head in annoyance. “Wild weather off… the Everfree! Probably caused some flooding here and there...”

“I know!” Ardi yipped at him. “Just be careful!” The stallion snorted and tossed his head in amusement, helmet-crest and tail whipping behind. The other flier, the ticked-off mare, just shot a scornful look his way. What was her name again? Oh yes, Cloud Cutter.

The pony town ahead grew larger, enough to make out buildings. A tiny windmill, its blades turning; a tower above the rooftops; another tower, in the open fields to the right.

“We'll be... setting down by... Town Hall soon,” Cloud Cutter called back, sounding maybe a trifle less labored than Knight's Move.

“Change of plans!” He howled into the windstream as loudly as he could, pointing with a forepaw to a string of a road extending past the second tower to the edge of those fell woods. He saw the river near Fluttershy's house, running off into the woods and ending in a glistening mirror. “We stop at the little den – no, house – on the west side of town! Where that road turns just before the forest! There’s somepony there I need to see!”

“We were… told to… take you to… Town Hall!” Cloud Cutter called back.

“And I said differently!” Ardi bristled to see her ears flattening. If they were on the ground he knew he'd smell her annoyance. “So do it!”

“Very well… Sir!” Even through the wind whipping at her words, Ardi caught the contempt in her voice. He sniffed and crouched back down as regally as he could. Anchoring himself with three sets of toe-claws digging into the rough wooden floor, he reached one paw up to fix the diplomat’s collar he wore, set with broad gold plates and inlaid with jet.

Now just to get down on the ground and maintain his dignity as a diplomat.

The two flier-ponies half-tucked their wings and plummeted, leaving Ardi’s stomach at altitude.

The wolf dropped to the bottom of the chariot, clamped his paws over his face, and awaited the end.

Father Fenris, be merciful, and let me perish shamelessly without fouling myself!

He howled as the chariot dropped, the ground below moving faster as it grew. The river widened into a shimmering pool; Ardi thought he saw the waters steaming as the pool grew into a lake, and he shuddered even more. He knew it wasn’t that pool in the Northern Forests and even if it were that he couldn’t see it from this height. He still held his breath and watched for any movement as the pool-turned-lake passed beneath.

They shot over the now-larger windmill, banking as they turned. Ardi saw the fields rearing up like a wall to the right replacing the Everfree.

Brightly colored flier-ponies wheeled around the chariot, calling questions he didn’t catch. One seemed to have a choppy mane; Ardi hoped it wasn’t Rainbow Dash. He remembered how that mare wanted to lop off his tail.

A form flew right at the chariot. Ardi swallowed and kept a bold front.

Speak of the Nightmare.

“Hey, guys!” Rainbow Dash circled the hard-flying guardsponies with careless grace. They ignored her, concentrating on the difficult cross-currents as she asked, “What's with the Diamond Dog --”

Ardi growled. Nowolf considered it a compliment to be compared to those thieving slavers.

Dash blinked and dropped back by him. Her eyes widened as she saw him.

“Oh, hey, Ardi! Huh, what're ya doing here? I thought you were spending all your time living in a palace in Canterlot now that you're a noble ambassador!” Before he could answer, she looped around to the opposite side of the chariot. She grinned. “Or are ya coming back to try slinking around in that Rarity-suit again? Maybe we could go eat out for meat with Lyra and Bon Bon again. You know,” and her voice grew downright evil with glee, “just us mares.”

“Yipe! No!” The thin skin of Ardi's ears flushed pink as Dash laughed. Would nopony ever let him forget? “No more of that! I'm bearing a message from Princess Celestia.”

“Oh, so you're the one we're supposed ta look out for?” Dash said. Ardi blinked. Before he could ask she said, “Just wanted ta check ya out. Got a lot of weather work today, dealing with the wild cold storms from the Everfree, they made a mess out of the local riverbanks. Mud everywhere and animals and ponies both getting sick! Hey, I haveta make some time for you later, I wanna talk about that new Daring Do book with you fuzzballs in it.”

Ardi winced. The book was part of that pony writer Yearling's price for writing that book of Wolf legends. In it Daring saved the packs from some weird blue monster, and everywolf constantly spoke with growls and snarls about their honor and primitive virtue.

Dash just kept speaking.

“Cause I really liked it. Anyway, see ya later!” Dash took off, heading for a small herd of pegasi hovering nearby who looked impatient to be off.

Ardi sighed and drooped. He wouldn't mind eating out with Dash again, like he did once or twice a month with Lyra and Bon Bon when they visited the griffon restaurants in Canterlot (indeed they'd shown him the good ones), but only if she dropped the cracks about that cursed mare-suit.

Still, he'd met one local pony who'd been an enemy and she now seemed friendly. Maybe that was a good omen?

He and his guards glided over thatched rooftops, passing a giant tree decked with balconies and pierced with windows. He caught a glimpse of that sweets shop where that poofy-maned poisoner denned. Then they were skimming down the road towards the dark forest, past a building with a bell on top and the clock tower and more pony-dens towards where the road jogged to the left – the small den under the hill where his first and still mostly sole pony-friend lived.

The chariot hit the ground with a very loud thump. Ardi didn’t yelp, exactly, though his snarl would have sounded shrill to any neutral listener. The Guardsponies blew through their lips in exhaustion. He heard the jingle of straps being undone, the clatter of the metal and leather of their armor, and the sweet grass-and-meat smell of their sweat.

“Um, sir?” Knight's Move looked over the chariot side at him, helmet plumes nodding over his equine face. “We’re here.”

“Good.” Ardi looked around and saw Fluttershy’s little grass-roofed cottage nearby. “And still alive, too.” Knight's Move looked offended; Cloud Cutter snorted. He ignored them to leap out of the chariot to lovely solid ground. Cloud Cutter looked into the chariot as though she expected to find a mess. Ardi showed fang at her. She ignored him.

He sprang over the little arched hoofbridge towards the front door of the cottage, tonguing his nosepad. His mouth watered at the suddenly heightened scents of deer and woodchuck and chipmunk and all the other beasts that formed a wolf’s normal diet. Scuttling sounds came from within, then silence as all the critters within made themselves scarce at the approach of a predator. Except for the chickens, who kept clucking from their pen on the other side of the small hill-house. The musk of bear, several days old, smelling faintly of sickness – keep clear of that one – and another smell that made Ardi bristle in fear.

That rabbit.

There the little devil stood, smirking at him from Fluttershy’s window as he knocked on her door.

“Fluttershy? Are you home?” He knocked again, harder this time. Angel pointed at the door.

Ardi saw the note, written in Fluttershy’s elegant hoofwriting, just like that first Nightmare Night when she taught him to read while nursing him back from chocolate poisoning.

Hi, whoever reads this. I’m really so very sorry to have missed you, but one of my poor sick animal friends needs help and can’t leave their den right now. I’m taking them some medicine and warm broth, the poor dear. I don’t know when I’ll be back.

So please wait for me.

Or don’t, if you’d rather not.

Not that I’d tell you what to do.

Ardi rolled his eyes. Fluttershy…. He needed to see the shy yellow pegasus; he distrusted approaching any Ponyville pony without her support. He doubted they'd forgotten that business with the angry dragon. Well, yes, Dash, but she was a bit odd even for a pony. He turned to try the door so he could wait for her.

Angel smiled as he held up a key and idly tossed it over his shoulder.

Ardi glared at Angel, who sneered back at him.

He showed his fangs at the rabbit. He’d go in through the window, if he had to.

Angel simply held up a wolf trap with impressively toothed jaws. It looked to be as big as he was.

Ardi shuddered and stepped back, ears drooping. Or maybe I can try talking to the other ponies first. They can’t still all bear a grudge, can they?

Hooves pounded up the road behind him. A familiar scent hit his muzzle, and an equally familiar voice snapped at his ears.

“What're ya doin', tryin' ta break in ta Fluttershy's house!”

“Yipe!” Ardi almost leaped into the air, turning to see that Stetson-sporting palomino Earth pony from last time, standing on the bridge. She looked as friendly as ever, head down and snorting. Beyond, Knight’s Move and Cloud Cutter stood by the chariot. Neither looked ready to charge to his rescue, be they escorts or not.

“Oh, hello, Applejack,” the wolf said. “I'm Ardi, remember? From a few weeks ago? The, er, maresuit?” To his relief she relaxed. He asked, “How is your little sister? Sweetie’s friend?”

“Huh?” She peered closely and scratched her chin. “Oh, it is you. Ya look a lot different when ya don't look like Rarity.” Ardi blushed. She grinned and said, “Oh, an' Apple Bloom’s fine.” Looking less hostile, she came closer. “She told me ta say ‘thanks’ for dedicatin’ that book about wolf fairy tales ya wrote ta her and her friends.”

“I didn’t write it,” Ardi said, his voice cooling. He worked to keep his hackles down. “Fairy tales?” The sacred Old Stories of Wolfkind? Bad enough how the packs would react when they found out the Old Stories had been written down! For ponies! “It was some pony named Yearling, the B – Celestia, thought I ought to share the Old Stories so that ponies would get an idea of how Wolves thought and felt. I agreed if it was dedicated to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“Yeah, well…” Applejack trotted up to him. Her tail lashed her sides. “Why are ya tryin’ ta break into Fluttershy’s house?”

“I, I’m not! I just wanted to stay with her while I’m in town to,” he wondered how much he should say.“To meet your mayor.”

“Okay, why?” Applejack asked, head tilted. He caught the wariness in her voice.

Ardi wondered if he should just say it was none of her concern. He remembered some of the non-equine diplomats in Canterlot, griffins and that Taurtessian minotaur, telling him not to let the ponies get pushy. Technically he was a noble, after all. He looked at Applejack, Bearer of the Element of Honesty and Heroine of the Realm several times over.

Then again, so is she. Even if her title means only a little more than mine.

“I’m here to share some message with the ponies at Town Hall, and Celestia’s student Twilight…” He got no further.

“Oh! You’re the one we’re waitin' for?” Applejack got around behind Ardi and pushed against his rump. He yipped and started forward. “Why didn’t ya say so in the first place? Twi got a message from the Princess by way o’ Spike a few hours ago, saying that a ‘special messenger’ was gonna be dropping by and we ought ta treat him right.”

Ardi gulped as he remembered how they’d tried to “treat him right” the last time. He’d nearly ended up a wolfskin rug.

Applejack either didn’t notice or care about his sudden fear. She said, “Anyhow, y’all are supposed ta be at Town Hall!” Ardi flattened his ears as Cloud Cutter snorted agreement. Applejack just said, “Everypony is there, Twi an’ Pinkie Pie…”

Ardi felt his belly shiver at the memories. The poisoner.

“An’ Rarity,” he gulped, “the Mayor an’ a whole herd o’ ponies!” She moved behind him, whipped out her tail and snapped it across his flank. He yipped. “So get along, little doggie.” He glared at her. Applejack chuckled and said, “We gotta get going.”

“One thing first,” Ardi growled softly, pointing at the chariot and the Guards. “I need a place to stay, and so do they. It's kind of late and I don't know how long this will take. They need to rest after flying me here from Canterlot.” The Guards looked grateful when he mentioned ‘rest’. “So if you don’t mind, maybe we can find someplace to bed down?” He shot past the palomino, heading for town in the ground-eating lope of a wolf.

Applejack stepped in front of him.

“Ah’ll show ya where th' new Hay-and-Stay is,” Applejack said. Eyeing him warily, she added, “Ah’m not so sure Ah trust ya ta stay out of trouble. And even if Ah did, there’s still a lot of ponies around town that never saw ya. They see me there, maybe we won’t have no stampede. An 'sides,” she drew her hoof along the ground, looking embarrassed, “Ah feel like Ah owe ya somethin' for how Ah treated ya that first time around.” Without waiting for an answer she turned and set off down the Everfree Road into town. Ardi looked at Knight’s Move and Cloud Cutter. They followed him and Applejack.

“Ponyville Inn’s right on the way. Let’s get yore guardsponies and ya a room, and then we can go ta Town Hall an’ see Twilight and everypony else.” She sounded amused. “Even Rarity. Last I saw she was there settin’ up a banner for the ‘guest’.” She looked back at him and smiled. “She might not be happy ta see ‘That Wolf’, though.”

Ardi sighed. Both Flutts and Sweetie warned him in their letters that Rarity still bore a grudge against “That Ruffian of a Wolf”; he just felt relief that he wouldn't have to speak to her.

Chariot wheels squeaked behind Ardi as the two guardsponies followed. Deep down he wondered what the message from the Burning Queen – from Celestia – was, and just how much trouble it would get him into before this was all over.

Maybe the rest of the day would be better.

# # #

It wasn’t. At all.

They saw the occasional pony on the streets when they entered town. Most froze and looked ready to flee as they sighted the white wolf, only relaxing when they saw Applejack and the two Royal Guards with him. One bearing a bunch of berries on her flank snickered as he passed – “I thought Rarity was over at Town Hall.”

Ardi coldly ignored both them and the amused whickers he heard beside and behind him.

Then having to get past the Pink Poisoner’s lair to Ponyville Inn down and across the street. Ardi shivered as he sneaked past that pony-den that looked like a pile of cakes. The smell reminded him of a year ago, shuddering and hallucinating under Luna's moon as the poison worked in him. He kept the chariot between himself and the shop, sniffing and scanning for her to pop up out of nowhere.

“Huh, Ardi?”

He looked at Applejack, scented her wariness as she continued. “What’s wrong? That’s just Sugarcube Corner, ya oughta remember it.”

“I do,” the wolf growled as he picked up the pace, ears down and tail tucked close. “That’s why I want to hurry past it.”

Then it lay behind him. With a sigh he surged ahead of his escort and through the main door of the Inn to safety....

“AAAAAAAAAA!”

Apparently some tourists from Fillydelphia and Manehattan had just arrived to see Equestria’s Most Famous Town. Stoked by stories of daily monster attacks, they assumed the worst when a pony-sized lupine horror came in and headed right for them at the registration desk.

“WOLF!!!!! RUN!!!!!”

After the stampede ended and Applejack managed to corral and bring back those ponies who’d knocked doors off their hinges and broken out windows to escape (and Ardi promised that the Princesses would pay for it all, wincing at the lecture he’d get from the treasurer, Grand Exchequer, when he returned), Ardi got a room for his guardsponies. Unfortunately, they didn’t have one for him. It seemed they’d just suddenly been booked solid. The wolf wondered if a show of fangs might lead to the discovery of a free room, but in the end he left.

“So where will ya stay?” Applejack asked as they left the shocked hotel to return to something like tranquility behind them. “Or are ya gonna sleep in the woods, like any wild wolf?”

“In the Everfree?” Ardi shuddered. “The last time I went there, I was almost eaten by a dragon!”

“An’ so was Ponyville,” Applejack added, her words cold. “And mah friend Fluttershy, and mah other friends. And me.”

“Don’t remind me! I guess I can stay with Fluttershy after giving that message.” Ardi shook himself. “And since I’m not looking forward to it, maybe I should track that scent first.” Applejack looked at him, curious. He hunted after the Equestrian phrase and said, “Oh, I mean, ‘get it over with’.”

They headed away from the Inn towards Town Hall, passing thatch-roofed pony houses made of plaster and cross-timbers. Ardi hurried on his way. Right now he just wanted to get through Ponyville without more troubles.

Like that earth pony mare with the poofy mane and tail standing right in their path who hadn’t been there an instant before.

“HI APPLEJACK! HI WOLFIE!”

“YIPE!” Ardi didn’t know quite how he did it, but somehow he found himself at the top of a lamp post, legs wrapped around it as he stared down at the hyperkinetic mare bouncing below. He remembered her name, easily.

He wished he could forget it.

“H-hello, Pinkie Pie.” He wondered if he should slide down, and then to his shock he looked up and saw Pinkie standing atop the pole.

But she was just down on the ground! I saw her!

“Hi, Ardi!” Pinkie smiled at him, balancing perfectly on the pole. Her muzzle almost touching his, her bright blue eyes looking right into his, she said, “Gosh so you’re visiting too! We’re supposed to be getting a special guest visiting today from Princess Celestia, are you excited? I know I am! I wonder if maybe it’s going to be Luna or Fancy Pants or maybe even Queen Vespid! But I’m glad to see you again too! I sure hope you didn’t get scared when I hopped out in front of you like that, because I hate scaring anypony unless it’s Nightmare Night when it’s fun to be scared except for last year with Princess Luna when I didn’t know she was sad until Twilight told me and so I sent her half of my candy to apologize,” she took a breath; Ardi felt mild shock that she needed to breathe as she said, “but she said it was okay and then –“

“PINKIE!” Applejack called.

Crazy Pony stopped speaking and looked down from her perch.

“It’s nice ta see ya again, sugarcube, but ain’t ya supposed ta be at Town Hall with everypony else getting’ ready for that ‘special messenger’?” She pointed at Ardi.

Pinkie looked from Applejack to Ardi. Her eyes lit up and she somehow got even more excited.

“Ohhhh! He’s the special guest! Gosh why are you here you should be in Town Hall! Are you lost? Because I can get you there!”

“I can do just fine --” Ardi began, only to yelp as she somehow she got under him and leaped off the lamppost.

Ardi near howled, grabbing hold with all four legs, riding Pinkie Pie down the street, Applejack’s yell fading behind him as they sped at full gallop through an archway and a square filled with stalls and carts, finally bouncing up to and inside the balconied tower of Town Hall. Old banners like the ones he'd seen in Canterlot Castle decorated the walls.

Ponies packed the inside, fliers hovering over Earth ponies and spear-heads, all whinnying in surprise as Pinkie hopped up on a small stage beside a short-maned Earth Pony mare Ardi assumed to be the mayor, Twilight Sparkle, that little dragon of hers, and one or two other ponies who looked fat – no, the pony word is ‘prosperous’. He leaped down from her back as Pinkie hopped over to the other ponies

“Hi Mayor Hi Twilight Hi Spike Hi Filthy,” Ardi saw the heavy dark-maned stallion wince as Pinkie turned to the crowd and said, “Hi everypony!” She pointed at him. “This is our friend Ardi, and he’s Celestia’s guest with a message for us that we’re supposed to listen to!”

“Pinkie!” Many of them called back. Beside her, Ardi searched the herd packing the hall until he spotted a certain white spear-head with an elegant mane down in front, glaring at him.

Yipe! Rarity! He gave her a nervous grin, keeping his fangs politely hidden behind his dewlaps. Maybe she’s forgiven me?

Rarity glanced over at one old banner showing a mare driving a hunting spear into a nightmare of a Dire Wolf and gave a wistful smile.

Then again, maybe not.

Next to Rarity, three earth pony mares with flowers both in their manes and for cutie marks backed away, eyes wide with horror.

“It’s That Wolf again! The one that looked like Rarity!” Rarity started and glared at the lavender one as she tried to wheel and flee amid the crush. “He almost got us all eaten by a dragon last time! I'm not waiting to see what happens this time! I – ” Before she could shove her way through the herd, a purple glow shrouded her. With a shocked whinny she lifted and turned in midair to look Rarity in the face.

“Lily, darling?” Rarity said to her. “No offense, but the perpetual panics are starting to get tired. Now will you please promise to behave? That Wolf, I mean Lord Ardi,” she pointed at him with her horn, “is here as a guest from Princess Celestia.” She gave him a hard look, but said, “We can assume that he has some idea of civilized behavior.” Lily blushed and tried sinking down out of sight. The rest of the herd settled back down to look at him expectantly.

“Errr,” he growled as he thought of what to say, “Thank you all. I am honored to visit the town where I first learned something about Equestria beyond the Old Stories.” The Ponyville ponies looked as politely unimpressed as any Canterlot herd when he said something like this. “And yes, I was sent with a message from the Burning Queen – I mean Princess Celestia!”

Twilight and the little dragon on her back shot him a dirty look at the sound of that name; he lowered his muzzle and grinned fangs-sheathed at them in apology.

Reaching around, Ardi opened up the saddlebag he wore, removed a vellum scroll with the tips of his teeth. Sitting on his haunches, he unrolled it before him and began to read.

“To my dear little ponies of Ponyville, as conveyed by my friend and yours, Ardi the Wolf,”

Ardi woofed softly in surprise. Celestia’s friend? Day herself? He read on.

“Greetings and glad tidings. You doubtless remember the recent events in the Frozen North beyond Stalliongrad, in the lands formerly and once again known as the Crystal Empire…”

Ardi did some mental calculations. The Great Northern Forests stood square between this new “Crystal Empire” and Stalliongrad. His ears drooped. Great, somewolf else claiming our packlands. Stark and the Winterholz Pack will love hearing that.

“When the Elements of Harmony, Spike the Dragon, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Prince-Consort Shining Armor defeated the returned shadow of the tyrant King Sombra…”

Ardi stopped as Spike puffed himself up a bit at the cheer that followed. Sombra? He’d heard that name before, but where? One of the Old Stories? He shrugged and read on.

“Relations between Equestria and the returned Crystal Empire have been formalized with the Empire becoming Equestria’s newest and northernmost province. Public announcement of this arrangement to be celebrated at a Royal Ball, one week from today, where Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Prince-Consort Shining Armor, and their realm will be officially welcomed back into Harmony by their Immortal Highnesses. We also declare a holiday in celebration of this day, and the Elements of Harmony are invited to attend this historic event…”

In the audience, Twilight Sparkle looked proud.

Onstage, Pinkie looked delighted.

Onstage, Ardi felt dread as he continued.

“As are all envoys to Our realm, and to be attired as befits meeting royalty.

Their Immortal Highnesses,

Celestia Solaria Invicta

Luna Selena Nocturne

Alicorns Major of Sun and Moon

Princesses of Equestria”

The hall echoed with joyful whinnies; Twilight reared up, clapping her hooves for joy as ponies broke into applause, the sound of hooves-on-floor shaking the building.

Onstage, Ardi’s ears twitched as he read more words on the scroll. With both muzzle and forepaws, he rolled it up before anypony could see them.

“Ah, I suppose that’s it?”

The thunder of hooves faded away, replaced by ponies turning to each other and talking at once. Ardi wondered just how he was going to explain to his pack, to all the Packs, that they were going to have to deal with yet another pony herd as a neighbor.

Especially with this one trapping us between them and Stalliongrad.

Both Twilight and Pinkie came up to him, the spear-head stepping, the poofy-maned one bouncing. Past them, Rarity leaped up onto the stage with Applejack behind her. The looks they gave him were coolly polite, but the wolf still found himself wishing Fluttershy was here. He wanted a friend between them and him.

“So, it’s ‘Lord’ Ardi now?” Twilight said. He flinched at that pony title, wondering what the Packs would think of it. He wasn’t an Alpha, after all. Still, he nodded to her as she continued, “It may be normal for diplomats, but it still feels like a surprise. But it’ll be so great to see Cadence and my BBBFF again!” She turned to the older mare. “Mayor, I wish I could be here to help with the local celebration.”

“Of course, Twilight,” The mayor replied. “We’ll be thinking of you and your friends, never worry!”

“Oh, by the way,” Twilight turned back to Ardi, “what was the rest of the letter about?”

“Huh?’ Ardi tried to slide it beneath him. “Oh, nothing important – yip!” Glowing, it slipped out from under him to hang open before the spear-head’s muzzle, that little blackmailer Spike peering over her shoulder.

“If it’s from Celestia, it’s important enough to –” She read it and her cheeks darkened. Giving him an apologetic look, she said, “Oh! You’re right, my mistake, nothing important.”

A hoof snatched the scroll out of mid-air.

“Hey!”

“Gee, if it’s not important, can I read it?” The herd quieted down as Pinkie Pie started to read.

“P.S., Ardi, please, when I say ‘dress app-ape-appropriately that means you. Don’t just show up in your fur and that noble’s collar Luna had made for you, you have to wear some real clothes. Ask Twilight’s friend Rarity, she’s a genius at fashion and dress.”

Ardi gulped. Ask Rarity? With what she must think of him? He could imagine how that would go,

“So where is Lord Ardi?” Princess Celestia looked at the broad door leading into the royal ballroom. She took another bite of the cake held in her magic, her third of the evening. “He should have been here an hour ago.”

“Worry not, dear sister,” Princess Luna said. “See, here he comes even now. Oh dear…”

Ardi slunk into the room, hoping to avoid notice. Little wonder, since he wore a mare’s ballroom dress, all frou-frou and exploding with dainty lace, set with enough gems to blind a pony at ten lengths. Behind him trotted a proud unicorn mare, her head and horn both held high.

“Why, your highnesses,” Lady Rarity said. “I hope everypony likes the idea I had for Ardi. I thought he would appreciate it,” she said as he bit at the ties and stays and ribbons, trying to remove the ridiculous outfit. Wicked glee bubbled in her voice as she said, “After all, he did pose as me for several days and RUIN MY REPUTATION!”

The wolf’s ears flattened and he curled his tail close in shame at the whickering laughter that filled the room...

The wolf shook himself free of the humiliating vision.

Pinkie kept reading.

“And please, NO rolling in dirt and carrion beforehoof to 'clean yourself', you KNOW how that makes Blueblood react! Even if Luna thinks it’s funny.”

Ponies whickered laughter.

Ardi felt his ears burning.

“And one more thing, escorts are tradition at these dances, so bring one; you need to make more pony friends!”

“Huh?” Ardi gave a woof of surprise. He turned to Twilight and asked softly, “Escort? What’s an escort?”

“Huh? Oh,” Twilight said. “That means somepony to dance with and come with you. You know,” Ardi felt his heart sink as she said, “Kind of like a colt or fillyfriend, but you hire them.”

Where will I find one of those? Nopony in Canterlot would help me. He looked off in the direction of Fluttershy’s little house. Maybe Fluttershy? She’s the only mare I can think of who might help.

Meanwhile Pinkie finished reading the letter.

“P.P.S. If they have some of that banana cake at Sugarcube Corner please get some for me and I’ll repay you, it’s better than anything the palace chefs make.

Celestia.”

Pinkie looked touched. “Awww! I thought she liked it that one time she visited! I’ll have to tell Mister and Mrs. Cake, they’ll be so happy!” She looked at Ardi. "And wasn't it nice of her to send you to the bestest town in Equestria to make some more friends and get better clothes?"

More whickers of laughter rolled through the herd. Ardi wondered if he could somehow dig a hole down through the wooden stage and quietly escape. Twilight shot Pinkie a look; Pinkie grinned and spread her hooves.

“Heh, whoops?”

Ardi turned to slink off of the stand, his ears turning bright pink through their thin coat of white fur. Celestia wanted him to speak with Rarity, but given the way she'd looked at him earlier? With luck he could find someplace on the edge of Whitetail Woods to hole up until tomorrow. After that? Maybe he could just quietly leave for Canterlot, and forget the new clothes.

But that new pony land, our pack lands will be caught between it and Stalliongrad, and those Stalliongrad ponies want to drive us off and harvest the trees and dig up the gems and metals… If I’m not there and don’t try to get some help for the packs from this new Princess and Prince, they might help Stalliongrad instead.

But they’re ponies. Why would they help us instead of their own?

Sometimes I wish that dragon ate me, or that - thing really did drown me!

He shuddered as he remembered those piled wolf bones at the bottom of the pool.

No. Not that. Never that.

“Er, Wolf – I mean Ardi?” A voice of silk spoke into his ear accompanied by a familiar scent of Spring wildflowers and healthy mare.

He turned and found himself muzzle to muzzle with that madmare of a spear-head who’d chased him through the Sun Palace on the Day of Three Rarities.

“YOU FRAUD! GIVE ME BACK MY ELEMENT, IMPOSTOR!”

“FLUTTERSHY! SPIKE! ANYWOLF! HEEEELP!”

“I’LL MAKE A SADDLE OUT OF YOU! WITH MATCHING SKIRT!”

“SOMEWOLF! ANYWOLF! GET HER OFF ME! GET HER OFF ME!”

Then she’d been a nightmare of matted coat and dripping sweat and ragged mane and bloodshot eyes and snorting voice, stinking of pony sweat.

Now she was brushed and coiffed, her mane and tail like long curly ribbons, her eyes wide beneath long lashes, with only a trace of edge in her Canterlot voice. But that sharp spiral horn of hers was the same.

“Lady Rarity,” he said, bowing his head. “Er, I don’t think I ever really apologized for living in your den or pretending to be you for a week.”

“That’s right,” she snorted, one forehoof pawing the floor. His tail tucked a bit and he swallowed, but she continued, “You didn’t, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I heard what Celestia told you in the letter, to get a new outfit. From moi.” She preened like too many of those pony nobles in Canterlot, before saying the words as though dragged from her, “I can make one for you…”

“You’d do that as a gift for me?”

“No, I’d do it in exchange for payment,” Rarity said with a sniff. “I do not give my hard work and skills away willy-nilly to strangers.” She tilted her head back and got a dreamy expression. “Besides, it would be a challenge. And artists do need challenges so their skills don’t stagnate.”

Ardi let his ears droop. What choice did he have?

“Name your price.”

“Considering that I've never done this before, and I'll likely need to get some new cloth and thread, and the measurements and so forth, let us say...” She quoted a figure.

“So be it then.”

“What?” Rarity looked stunned. “You won't even try to haggle over it?”

“No, why should I?” Ardi snorted. Her price was high, but so what? “I get some bits from the Crown, and Celestia wanted me to do this. Might as well use them. Besides, Wolves don't waste their time snarling each other down over clothes.” He shook himself, feeling that golden collar against his neck. “I wear this collar, and how many Wolves are there in Canterlot?” Rarity seemed to gasp as he said, “I don’t even know why I need to get some silly pieces of cloth to cover my body...”

“But you can’t!” Ardi yipped in shock as Rarity whinnied. “Wolf – Ardi, you’re a diplomat! In Canterlot! You simply MUST make the right impression on the other diplomats, or they’ll never take you seriously!” He looked over his shoulder and saw some of the ponies looking on with mild interest. They looked away. Apparently an outburst like this was normal from her. Rarity said, “You have to play the game or they’ll take advantage of you.”

“I do,” he protested. “Like Wolves do when we talk about territory boundaries, rather than fight over them! I’ve been perfectly mannerly. I rolled in the most fragrant ordure I could find before I went to settle border-marking between Stalliongrad and the packs. The ponies I spoke to must have been impressed, we were finished in less than an hour.”

For some reason Rarity looked ill.

“Ardi, please listen,” the unicorn mare stood beside him. “Appearances mean so very much in Canterlot, with high society anywhere. I would not appear like this,” she swept her muzzle back along her body, from blue-lidded eyes and amethyst mane to snowy barrel and triple-sapphire cutie mark and long tail, “at anything formal in Canterlot, it simply isn’t done!”

“Why not?”

Rarity blinked at him, looking surprised.

“I remember how ponies followed around after me when I was ‘you’. None of them seemed to have any problem with how I-as-you smelled or looked or acted.”

“What?” Rarity snorted and lashed her flanks with her tail. “Ponyville is a dear little town, but it is NOT Canterlot! Just as the woods your Wolves live in are not the capital!”

Rarity’s magic coiled around Ardi, pulling him after her as she shot through a side door into some sort of backstage stairwell, out of sight and sound of the others. Her ears twitched, checking if anypony followed them, then she released him.

“As I was saying, you will need proper attire, Wolf. You can’t show up at a formal ball in just a collar.”

“Not ‘less ya wanna make sure ya don’t get invited back,” Applejack said as she joined the two in the stairwell. White wolf and white unicorn both looked at the palomino in the hat. She shrugged. “Hey, Rares, Ah lived with Aunt and Uncle Orange in Manehattan, Ah know somethin’ about how these fancy shindigs work.”

“Ah well, yes, Applejack, but these ‘shindigs’,” Rarity winced as she said it, “are much more important than any Manehattan garden party. Ardi’s…” she seemed to be searching for the right word, raising and slowly circling one hoof, “fellows, are depending on him to make sure they get treated fairly. That will be more important than ever with the Crystal Empire returning! Now that they have the railway into Crystal City, they can extend it to Stalliongrad! The Stalliongradders won’t have to float all their trade down those rivers any longer – with the Empire there, they can ship by rail direct to the rest of Equestria. Or the other way around. Either way, those rails will go right through the lands where the Wolves live.”

“And?” Ardi said. “So what if they want to go through our lands – if the packs even agree to it?”

Rarity gave him a pitying look. Ardi blushed, setting his ears back. It reminded him all too well of the times he’d made a mistake as a pup and his uncle and aunt gave him that very familiar why are you so foolish look.

“Then Ardi, they have to pay you for the privilege of crossing lupine territory.” Rarity said, obviously going carefully, as one would with a pup. “Like if they went through buffalo or griffin lands. But this is Stalliongrad; they’ve been part of Equestria for less than a century, and they have their own way of doing things! Including behind Princess Celestia’s back! Aloe and Lotus at the Spa come from there, and they’ve told me what it’s like!”

Ardi remembered. The wolf-hunters. The wolf-killers. Sortieing from Stalliongrad’s log-and-timber walls to cut down the forests and delve in the hills like Diamond Dogs, while our scouts watch from the trees. Their log stockades, their fortified camps, their trading posts…

“If they get the advantage over you, and they will if you do poorly at negotiations, then they can pay you very little. Take your lands and forests and leave you nothing. I don’t know if Wolves value bits…”

“Not really,” the wolf said, “Though we know you ponies like piling up gold and gems.” Like Diamond Dogs, he almost said. He remembered enough of what Sweetie and Fluttershy told him about Rarity to not make that comparison out loud.

“But I remember Fluttershy saying that your folk often go hungry in winter,” Rarity said, her voice softening as she added, “and lose packmates to sickness and exposure. If you got the tolls from railway passage like the buffalo out West, that could change.” Ardi sat back, raising his head Alpha-high as the implications hit him. Rarity nodded and said, “You could help your pack and other Wolves that way.”

I could actually help my pack – the packs? Ardi wagged his tail as he thought about it.

“Ardi!” Adelwulf, Alpha of Alphas over all the Packs, nuzzled the smaller white Beta, joined a moment later by his mate and Alpha Bitch, Ava. Both of them wore the most ridiculous outfits he had ever seen outside of those silly Canterlot nobles, all silk and gems and lace. “We are finally proud of you! Our pack will never lose pups or the old and sick again. Because of the wealth the ponies pay us, we now have a den that will always be warm, and always have food.” He hesitated. “Even if it could have looked better.”

He pointed his muzzle at a building in the center of the pack’s normal arrangement of dens worked into caves and dug from the earth. A pony-style building, rising up and up and spreading wide. The strong walls – for when other packs came to try and take it from them – were covered in bright stripes, and at the top perched a copy of Rarity’s boutique in Ponyville, like a circus tent.

Inside, pictures of wolves in fancy pony-style clothes covered the walls; more wolves milled around the new Boutique, waiting for their Rarity originals.

“What?” the white spear-head said, looking up from her sewing machine as she finished another of those fancy sets of clothes and set it on him with her magic. “I thought it could look a little more fabulous, just like you.”

Ardi shuddered at the last thought. Now I just have to convince the others that living in pony-dwellings of wood and stone doesn’t make us, urrgh, he growled to think it, like Diamond Dogs. Still, no more pups and elders starving in lean winters. He shuddered at another memory. And no foolish young wolves sneaking off to forbidden places to hunt for food when all else failed…

“Lady Rarity,” he said, looking Rarity in the eyes, “Can you make me such an outfit? To impress the pony Alphas and other diplomats in Canterlot?”

“Hmm…” Rarity walked all around him, looking at him with a measuring eye. “Stand still, please. Head high, we want to look like a Thoroughbred, now…” Ardi did as she suggested. She examined him closely enough for the wolf to feel his tail curling close in his embarrassment. Her eyes widened, a mad gleam entering them. She circled him like she was the wolf and he the prey, her horn starting to glow.

“I think…” Her voice rose, filled with joy, “I think… Yes! Yes yes yes!” She stood right before him. Ardi gulped at the wild look in her eyes. He reminded himself that when ponies smiled and showed teeth it was meant to reassure and not frighten.

At least I think they do.

“I-DEAAA!” He yelped as the glow of her magic covered his entire body, lifting him from the floor and carrying him along behind her, through a back door into the sunlight and scents. “I know what I need to do-oo! Come along, Wolf, we must strike while the iron is hot!”

“Dangit, Rares!” The wolf looked back to see Applejack chasing after them both as they passed a knot of staring ponies. “What d’ya think you’re doin’? This ain’t no time ta go Wolf-napping!”

“Oh, Applejack, no time to talk,” Rarity called back, her voice musical and excited as she pulled him across the town square to the bridge and Boutique. Ardi yipped as she pulled him in close, still held in the grip of her magic, to nuzzle his cheek. “I am about to be BRILLIANT! And I can thank This Wolf for it!”

Her hooves rang on the bridge’s cobblestones; other ponies hugged the stone parapets as she cantered past, wolf in tow and palomino in pursuit. Rarity stopped and gave them a wild grin as she pointed to her lupine customer-slash-prisoner. He noticed one was that berry-marked mare from before.

“See?” Rarity neighed to the ponies as she passed. “HE’s the wolf! Not me! You’re seeing the both of us! At the same time! Wha-ha-ha!” She cantered off, whinnying laughter.

Ardi wondered if he ought to escape, remembering every single nightmare after that day at the Sun Palace. The ones about Rarity turning him into either a coat or a rug for some pony.

No, no, they’re not like that, remember what Fluttershy said?

Ponies are gentle, and forgiving, and nonviolent.

# # #

“YIPE!”

Ardi yelped as the sharp steel drove through his thick fur and into the cringing flesh beneath.

“Hold still! Wolf, if you weren’t such a fidgety foal, this would have all been finished an hour ago!” Rarity worked along his side with some cloth, a pattern, and more of those blasted needles. Another sharp pain bit. He drew breath to yelp. Rarity’s horn glowed as a purple aura appeared along his muzzle, clamping it shut. “Oh, you are NOT howling in my ear again! Sweetie fusses less when she goes to the dentist!”

“She probably doesn’t get stuck with half a hundred needles.” Ardi growled the words out softly. He wanted to howl them, but the sight of those needles floating back and forth before his eyes, their points glittering in the light, made sure he stayed very still. He didn’t need any more holes in his hide. “Do you have to be so, so eager with those things?”

“Only if you expect me to make you an outfit we can all be gratified with,” Rarity said. A lock of her mane hung loose by her right eye as she carefully sewed two pieces of fabric together across his chest.

“There!” She turned away, levitated up something that looked needlessly puffy and floofy to the wolf. Rarity began pinning it by his throat. “Just one more moment, and, AH! There we go! We have the pattern settled, anyway.” She picked up a small mirror with her magic, floating it over to show Ardi his new outfit. He let out a soft woof of surprise. Even Applejack, who Ardi suspected stayed around to keep an eye on him, or maybe just to watch the show, let out a soft whicker of admiration.

“Ah gotta admit, Rares,”Applejack said. “It shore looks good, even on him.”

Ardi tilted his head as he looked at the outfit. It itched, yes, but it looked impressive, a close-cut coat with a burst of white lace cascading down from his throat that covered his body down to his rump and his legs to the paws while managing to give him room to move. Leaping down from the small dais he started to lope around the room, only to freeze as Rarity stood directly in front of him.

“Ah-ah!” She said. “I haven’t finished sewing it yet, it’s only basted. Be careful or it’ll fall apart,” and her eyes went cold as ice as she said in a much less friendly tone, “and I will be most displeased!”

Ardi moved gingerly, catching Opal’s scent as he did. He wondered where that cat was even as he marveled at how easy it was to get around in this.

He turned to Rarity. She looked at him hopefully.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s magnificent. Thank you.” He began a lupine sniff-and-slurp, then remembered how ponies reacted to Celestia and Luna and bowed his head to her. “It’s a gift past all repaying.”

Rarity smiled and clapped her hooves against the wooden floor before controlling herself.

“Oh! Oh well, hopefully not past all repaying. I do expect to be reimbursed for my labors.”

Ardi looked at her, head tilted but face completely blank.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “I mean, I expect to be paid.”

Ardi nodded at her and went to take out the saddle bags he’d brought with him. He stopped at a cry from Rarity.

“Oh, wolf, not now! I have to set the gems onto the outfit first!”

“Gems?” Ardi looked hesitantly at the bins that overflowed with bright-shining cold stones, flashing with the sky-fires caught in them, or so wolves believed. He remembered being a little saddened the first time he’d learned that they were just stones from the ground and not bits of frozen fire from Father Fenris’ coat that fell from his prison beyond the skies.

He also remembered seeing some Canterlot nobles wearing outfits so encrusted with them it was a wonder they didn’t get cited as traffic hazards for being so gaudy. That he wanted to avoid.

“Oh, wolf, don’t worry!” Once again Rarity seemed to second-guess him, for she said, “Not too many. No need to outshine Celestia herself.” She disappeared past the curtains separating the back rooms from the front. She called back. “Just enough, not too much. We do want you – and my work – to be noticed, after all!”

Ardi huffed, impressed. “She does know her way around Canterlot high society, doesn’t she?”

“She oughta,” Applejack said. “She went ta some fancy-schmancy school there for three years ta learn how ta be a refined mare. Dunno why anypony would,” Almost Wolf-style, Applejack lifted one hind leg and scratched her ear. “Heck, Ah’m perfectly mannerly and Ah never went ta one o’ those schools.”

“I know,” Ardi said, watching the palomino’s muscles ripple. Pony or not, she was an attractive female. If Applejack were a Wolf, she’d be Alpha Bitch of her own Pack, with her Alpha only her consort. But what a lucky male he'd be. He shook himself. I've been around ponies too much, the mares are starting to look good to me! That reminded him. He said, “Your friend Twilight said that escorts were ponies that spend a night with other ponies at things like the ball?” He wondered how to ask this question. “Since I don't know any to ask, can I pay a mare to spend the night with me?”

He wondered why Applejack choked down laughter before responding.

“Yeah, but Ah sure wouldn’t say it like that!” Applejack shook her head. “Better ta find somepony ya know an’ trust an’ ask them.”

“And they need to be lovely?”

“It’s more ‘n that,” Applejack said. She scratched her chin. “She got ta know how ta talk proper, an’ discuss whatever silly things it is the Thoroughbreds are all excited about, and tell ya what an’ what not ta say.”

Ardi looked at her, turning his ears forward in his surprise.

She snorted. “What? Ah spent a whole year in Manehattan with mah rich aunt an’ uncle, an’ Ah hear all about stuff like this from Rarity. Ah oughta know about it.” She grinned at him. “What, were ya thinking o’ asking Rarity ta go to the ball with ya?”

“Yip!” Ardi turned away from the mare, hoping to hide his embarrassment. “No, not her! I know what she thinks of me. I need somewolf – somepony – there with me who looks beautiful, and can speak well and tell me what and what not to say. I was hoping to ask Fluttershy.”

“What, invite Fluttershy ta that big shindig?” Applejack snorted a laugh. “Ya wanna see how Shy’d react at that thing?” She jumped up beside one of Rarity’s ponyquins, bowed, and said in a cultured voice that left the wolf blinking in surprise, “They’ll say ‘Oh, do pardon me, Lady Fluttershy, Countess Caspian, isn’t it? But you are here with that Wolf barbarian, are you not? The one that pretended to be a mare and an Element of Harmony? That beast! It must be simply dreadful.’” She dropped back down and said in her more normal voice, “An’ then Fluttershy will turn pink, make a kind o’ squeak, and run off ta the gardens and hide.”

“Fluttershy’s no coward,” Ardi growled. “She’s brave enough to take her fears by the throat when she has to.”

“When she has ta, yes,” Applejack said. “But she wouldn’t be happy at one o’ them big dances.” Ardi looked at her. His question must have been plain on his face. Applejack added, “And don’t go askin’ me, either. I don’t like havin’ ta act the way Ah did in Manehattan for anypony but a friend.”

“And I’m no friend.” Ardi said. He stretched a little and yelped when another needle stuck him. He wished he dared shake himself, but with all those needles he'd probably end up stabbed to death.

“No. Ya ain’t.” Ardi slumped, his ears drooping. Applejack trotted over and tousled the fur by his ears with her hoof. “Ah ain’t saying Ah don’t like ya, but likin’ somepony and being friends with ‘em ain’t the same thing. And some things you’ll only do for a friend.” She looked over his shoulder. Ardi missed the sudden smile on her face. “So Ah guess you’ll just have ta ask Rarity your own self if she wants to be standing next ta ya with the Princesses and in front o’ all them fancy Thoroughbreds.”

Before Ardi could say anything, Rarity whinnied behind him.

“Wait! You want somepony to be your escort? In Canterlot? At an event for the Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire? Hosted by the Princesses? Attended by all the leading diplomats and nobles? While you’re wearing my fashions? And being an advertisement for MY Boutique?” Rarity seemed to teleport next to him, gemstones glittering as they orbited in her magical grip. She carefully set them down to the side on a work table.

“I, well, yes,” Ardi said. “It’s apparently expected?” She nodded. Ardi said, “She has to be lovely and elegant…”

“Well, of course,” Rarity said, batting her eyes. She primped and preened her lush mane.

“And well-spoken and cultured...”

‘But of course, my good wolf,” Rarity said in her smoothest, finest voice. “You need somepony who can discuss The Collected Plays of Marelowe if someone asks about the third act in Tambridlelane.”

“And she has to know how to, to make sure I say the right things to the right ponies?”

“But of course,” Rarity said. She walked, no, sashayed over to another of her tables laden with magazines for waiting customers and levitated a copy of the Canterlot Social Register to the side, making sure the title was clearly visible. She returned with a new set of needles, saying, “That would be so very helpful, to know somepony who can introduce you to, say, Lord Fancy Pants.”

“Yes!”

Rarity smiled magnificently at him.

“Miss Rarity, you don’t know any pony like that, do you?”

Her face fell. Applejack choked back a laugh as Rarity’s face started to turn dark as a summer thundercloud.

“I was going to ask Fluttershy, but Applejack said that was a bad idea… YIPE!”

He froze as at least a dozen needles in the aura of her magic flashed before his eyes.

“Wolf,” she said, her magic holding him firmly and her voice brittle, “I know you are ignorant of subtle social cues, but at a time like this…” She looked at him, pincushion in the grip of her magic and showing even more needles. Long, sharp, needles. “I need to make some alterations in the outfit. So hold still.” One of those needles hovered before his eyes like a lance at rest. “Very, very still.”

Ardi obeyed her as he would a command from Father Fenris himself.

# # #

To Ardi’s deep surprise he didn’t get stuck nearly as often as he expected over the next hour, as finished velvet and satin and lace and embroidery and inlaid gems replaced the toile and finished stitches replaced the basting. He wondered if maybe Rarity forgave him, or if she was just that professional. She worked in a chilly silence at first, but eventually started humming some musical tune under her breath.

Something bothered him all the while. He sniffed almost constantly trying to catch scent other than perfume and pony, swiveling his ears about at every noise.

“Wolf!” Rarity said. She scowled. “What are you so jumpy for?”

“For that cat,” Ardi growled softly. “It didn’t like my being here last time, and it attacked me all the time.”

“That sure sounds like Opal,” Applejack said, whickering in amusement. “Ah think Tank’s the only pet in town not scared o’ her.”

“I must agree with her right now,” Rarity sniffed. “You should avoid Opal, she seems to have taken a dislike to you.” She drew an especially wicked looking needle from the pincushion. “When I brought the fragments of the Rarity-suit back, she spent a week clawing at them.” Rarity started working back by his hindquarters. Ardi tensed up as he felt her sewing the pieces of cloth together. “Now hold still, we don’t want any accidents… Just a few more stitches… THERE!” Rarity set the needle back in the cushion. Ardi relaxed as she brought a small mirror over. “And there we are!”

Ardi gasped. The outfit he wore reminded him vaguely of Prince Blueblood’s, but done with greater taste. Fine silvery-white velvet covered his back and flank and forelegs down to the wrists, with lace showing at his throat and wrists. It went long enough in back to cover his rump, and on his flanks he could see the embroidered-and-gemmed badge that Rarity made for him in lieu of a cutie mark. The Mark of the Packs from long ago, a wolf’s mask set above a pony broom.

“Huh,” Applejack said, looking at it. “Why th’ hay do ya have that for a cutie mark? What do wolves need brooms for?” Ardi looked and saw Rarity’s curiosity was roused as well.

“Don’t know,” the wolf said with a lupine shrug. “It’s been a sign of the Packs since the Times of Wandering; there’s one of the Old Stories about it – the Mountain of Fenris’ Fire. It was told to me as a pup, and that Yearling flier wrote it into that book.”

Long long ago, when the Burning Queen and the Nightmare drove the Wolves into the Frozen North, the Packs wandered for years in the snow and ice, living on mice as there were no other prey.

In their wanderings, they came upon a great mountain rising out of a flat plain, made of Fenris’ Fire that sparkled in the sun. Around it, the land was green, free of snow and ice.

The Wolves looked up, but could see only sky.

“Father Fenris must be above us,” they said, “And this mountain must be the frozen fire that drops from his coat, piled up to the sky.” They raised their muzzles and howled, so that Fenris could hear and know that his pups the Wolves were near. And that they still remembered him. Then the scent of prey wafted from the mountain into their nostrils, and they began to hunt.

As the hunting Packs reached the foot of the mountain, a great voice rumbled “HOLD!” and a great Dire Wolf appeared before them, a true Lupus Major.

His fur was dark as a moonless night; a single horn grew from his forehead like that of a spear-head pony, glowing with magic like but unlike a pony’s. And the very crystals of the Mountain made way for him.

The Alphas of the Packs confronted this Alpha of the Mountain, making Challenge and demanding territory. Those who fought he cast down, and they offered their throats in fealty.

The horned Dire Wolf marked his territory before them, then made the wanderers an offer. Sanctuary against the Burning Queen and the Nightmare. The Packs could claim the land around the Mountain for their own, so long as they did not set foot on the Mountain itself. And any prey they found outside the Mountain itself was theirs. And the Alphas of the packs and the Alpha of the Mountain made kills and gorged to seal the bargain.

As a sign of this covenant, the Alpha of the Mountain gave a Mark to the Packs – a Wolf’s Head over a Pony Broom.

And the Packs lived as Father Fenris intended, thinning the herds, keeping the grass-eaters from overrunning the land. The Packs hunted, and fed, and grew in their new territory, as there was much prey.

And they kept their part of the bargain; nowolf ever crossed the boundary marks into the Mountain itself.

But such was not to last. For the Burning Queen and Nightmare came, following the Packs into the Frozen North. The Packs scattered, going to ground in the dens and ice-caves and snowbanks, leaving only the bravest or most foolish to join the horned Alpha against the Burning Queen, and darkness covered the land, so dark even a Wolf could not see.

When the Burning Queen’s Sun rose the next day, the Mountain and the green land around it were gone as if they had never been. Where they had stood, there was only the Frozen North, a flat wasteland of snow and ice.

Howling to Fenris, the survivors left the now-barren land.

Again the Packs wandered, until they came to the Great Northern Forests. But that is the next story.

“Speaking of pups, where’s your little sister?” Ardi looked around the room, sniffing and listening. Only a faint sweet smell of little unicorn, and no sound of little hooves on wooden floor anywhere in the building. “I hoped I could see her.”

“Oh, Sweetie? She’s at school, but she should be home soon…”

Ardi’s tufted ears twitched as he heard multiple sets of little hooves outside, running up to the door. It slammed open. Three excited high-pitched whinnies sounded.

“See! I told you he was here!”

Three little balls of equine energy collided with the white wolf. Threads popped and stitches tore. Rarity gasped and stormed forward, ears down, her hooves ringing on the floor. She snatched a tiny white spear-head filly from the pile to face her.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity glared at her. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Hi, big sis!” Sweetie grinned. “Uhh… Cutie Mark Crusader Wolf Catchers?”

Forewarned, Rarity and Applejack managed to fold their ears. But nothing saved Ardi’s hearing as the little ponies all yelled at the tops of their lungs: “YAY!”

“Sweetie!” Ardi said. “Was this your idea?” Despite having Scootaloo and Apple Bloom riding on his back, he made his way over to Rarity where she held her little sister. Before he could say anything, Rarity shrieked.

“WHA-HA-HAAT?”

Her horn glowed like a torch as she pulled the two fillies off Ardi, the frogs of their little hooves tugging at his new outfit as they detached.

“Dears, No! No! No!” They backed away, ears down and smelling afraid, as Rarity examined Ardi’s attire like a wolf sniffing up a stranger. “Oh, no, at least half a dozen stitches torn free!” She hurried to the back room.

“Sweetie,” Ardi said to the downcast looking little unicorn, “you seem to have upset your sister.” He extended a foreleg, showing a small tear along the seam. “And I understand why. She worked on this for several hours.”

Hours involving lots of sharp and painful needles. I wonder if that movie about her killing ponies was right after all!

“I’m sorry,” Sweetie said, looking down at the floor. She idly scraped one hoof, looking utterly wretched. “I just wanted to see you again.” She smiled. “And to say ‘thanks’ for sending us a copy of that book. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon got so jealous when they saw it was dedicated to us!”

The wolf looked at the other little pony-pups, fang-tips showing and hackles bristling under his fabric sheath. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both gave him the saddest eyes he’d ever seen. The ill temper melted in him.

“Oughta get their cutie marks in extortion at this rate.” He heard Applejack mutter as he lowered his muzzle and nuzzled Sweetie.

“No, I think it’ll all be right,” Ardi said to the filly. She giggled and returned his nuzzle. “It’s not the end of the world…”

An equine scream from the back tore through the air. Ardi gave a shocked yipe as Rarity charged out.

“I am all out of the thread I used!” Her horn glowed and objects flew around her in a whirlwind, patterns and bobbins and even some of the drawings she’d made of his outfit flying into a flower-print saddlebag she wore. “Sweetie Belle! I know you like seeing ‘Your Wolf,’ dear, but did you have to make such a mess?”

The frantic unicorn turned to Applejack. “Applejack, darling, I have to go and get new cloth and thread to repair the damage! I’m just glad it’s Tuesday, Notion and his sewing supplies cart should be in town…”

“He’s havin’ a sale today,” Applejack said. “Ah saw when Ah went by there earlier.”

“WHAT? Oh, no! This is the Worst Possible Thing! I have to get there before he sells out!” Rarity spun and headed for the front door.

“Applejack, you will be a dear and keep an eye on everything here until I return, won’t you? It should only be an hour at the most. If the other customers are being rational. Oh, of course you will, I owe you one for this! And Ardi,” her voice went cold as a Stalliongrad winter, “Stay. Right. There. And don’t move a muscle until I return!”

“What?” The wolf started forward. “Now, Rarity, can’t you just use any old thread…”

She four-hoof-braked to a stop just before the door, glaring back at him. Her horn glowed, and with a yip the wolf found himself jerked into the air and dropped back on the dais. Ardi obediently froze.

“’Any old thread’? Who is the designer here? Me? Or you?” The voice was that of the matted madmare in the Sun Palace six weeks ago. Ardi didn’t dare to respond. Rarity nodded. “And remember, I said Not One Muscle!”

Then she was out the door at a full gallop, the sounds of pounding hooves fading in the distance.

Three fillies, Applejack, and one wolf stood in the Boutique, perfectly silent and perfectly still.

“Applejack?” Ardi finally said. Aside from working his muzzle, he didn’t so much as twitch. He wasn’t sure he dared to.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know how I’ll do this, but… I think I need to lift my leg.”

“Y’all better hold it.”

# # #

“Wolf, she said ta wait.” Applejack looked up from where she’d been trying to keep the increasingly bored Cutie Mark Crusaders out of mischief by teaching them rope tricks. After Scootaloo aimed for a ponyquin and put the rope around Ardi's neck instead, all but yanking him from the dais, she stopped. The bored pony-pups were talking about some upcoming school trip involving something called “bowling.”

“Yeah, Snails’ Mom even has a BOWLING Cutie Mark, and she said she’d teach us!”

“I dunno,” Scootaloo craned her head around at her blank flank. “I want one more like Rainbow’s…”

“You can wait,” Ardi dropped down off of the dais and headed for the back, trying to keep from marking half the room as he did. “It’s been long enough. I can’t wait any longer.” He looked down at the half-finished clothes. “Besides, they need to be repaired anyway, so what are one or two more stitches?”

Then he was out of the main room and into the hallway and mud room beyond.

Pony bathroom? Or just go outside?

Deciding on the bathroom, he shot to the right, the smell of Rarity’s flowery scents and soaps filling the air.

Ardi also kept sniffing for that cat as well, stalking like he was hunting in the forest and hiding from ponies at the same time. He remembered the little assassin’s constant attacks when he’d worn the Rarity-suit. No sounds about him save for those of the fillies and Applejack from the front room and the faint pitter of a running mouse behind the walls.

That cat had to know he was here, so where was it?

He made it to the bathroom unscathed, got the door shut behind him, and lifted his leg at the pony floor toilet. Living in Canterlot for the past month, he’d had to develop a good aim. As his bladder emptied, he sniffed at the fancy tub. The one in his townhouse had room for him and a pony besides. Or so he imagined. As if anywolf needed anything to bathe in more than some clean dirt! Even so his pony majordomo Patient Reminder (from the Princesses, like all his staff) finally told him that diplomats simply did NOT strip off their official clothes and roll in dirt and grass to clean themselves.

Ardi grinned to remember the day he’d spoken with Princess Celestia in the back garden the townhouse, the Burning Queen herself rolling in the fresh-cut grass after him. Sometimes he wondered if part of the reason why she kept him in the capital was so she could be a little undignified at times in front of somewolf for the sake of her own sanity.

“Mister Wolf? Ardi?” He heard a small hoof knock at the door as Sweetie said, “Uhh, we kinda got to go too, so could you hurry it up?”

“Yes, pup,” Ardi said with a shake of his head. Just like the pups back when the pack was in den. Nosing the door open, he stepped out.

Where was that cat?

With a feline hiss, Opal dived down on him from atop a cabinet behind him, sinking all eighteen claws through the fabric and deep into his lower back.

“Murderer!” Ardi leaped straight into the air. His snarl became a yelp as he struck his head on something, the agony in his head joining the pain in his back.

Opal hissed and spat as Ardi shot out of the bathroom into the hallway, bowling over three pony-pups and knocking a small table flying as he somehow ran back into to the showroom and chased his tail at the same time, snarling, “You little vermin! I’ll put my fangs in you this time…!”

He tried to body-slam the killer cat against the wall; Opal spat one last time and with a ripppppp of fabric leaped off his back before he could, making for the curtain to the showroom.

“Hey, it’s Opal! Bad kitty, Opal, don’t attack sis’s customers!” Sweetie called after her, but she didn’t get any closer.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom lacked her experience. They tried to grab Opal.

Unfortunately for them they succeeded.

“Let’s hold her and then we can – OWW!” Scootaloo hopped on three legs, shaking one foreleg and whinnying in pain. Blood trickled from three scratches along it. Apple Bloom reached out. Opal glared death into her eyes. The Earth pony filly wisely let her go as a snarling wolf chased the cat through the curtain.

The whole lot burst into the showroom, snarling wolf and spitting cat and flying curtain. Opal raced for the open door. Ardi raced after her, fangs bared and blood in his eye, leaving a trail of ripped and torn velvet and satin in his wake. Nightmare take the suit, I’ll buy another one or go naked! I am going to eat that filthy cat! I am a Wolf, a son of Fenris, one of the greatest predators in existence. I will not be humiliated by it again!

“Wolf!” He ignored Applejack’s voice as he bowled the palomino over. “Where the hay are ya goin’ – OOOOOOF!” Wolf and Pony both hit the floor.

“Sorry, Miss Applejack!” He heard Scootaloo yell and then the three fillies leaped over them both. Scootaloo held Applejack’s lasso in her mouth and somehow managed to mutter out, “We’ll catch Opal and bring her back!”

“Alive!” Sweetie said, after a glance back at wolf and Earth pony entangled on the floor.

“OH NO YOU WON’T!” Ardi howled as he detached from Applejack and raced through the door into the afternoon sun, following that cat and the three fillies.

Ponies stared at him in shock. One – a marshmallow spear-head with long curly ribbon-mane and bulging saddlebags – froze in mid-trot as the stampede shot past, over the railway crossing towards the bridge and town.

“I’M TEARING THAT LITTLE FUZZBALL APART!”

“AHHH! No, Ardi, no!” The fillies raced across the stone bridge and into the town square, still packed with market carts and ponies. Past a milling herd of ponies on lunch break. Who stared as first Opal, and then the CMC, and then a white wolf in shreds of purple satin ran past. He ignored them, slavering and howling as he ran.

“HELP!” The CMC shrieked, “Ardi wants to eat…” The rest was lost as they raced past.

“We gotta stop that wolf!” The whinny went up from dozens of throats. “Stop it before it eats those fillies!”

Ardi looked, saw the angry herd pounding and flying after him, and raced on yelping.

Not again!

# # #

“Apple Bloom! Dangit, ya crazy fillies!” Applejack raced out the front door past Tom the rock and down Whitetail Road, following the noise into town. A marshmallow unicorn stood astride the planks of the railway crossing, looking at the receding stampede with open mouth.

“Goshdarn it, Rares, git out o’ the way!”

“… And just where are those three headed – WHA-HA-HAA!”

A full and heavy hoofstitched saddlebag flew open as the two mares collided, sending bobbins of thread unspooling across the dirt road and down the tracks. Rarity rose, staring in horror at the mess. Then at her now-dirty coat and disheveled tail, then at the palomino, eyes ablaze. “APPLEJACK!”

“No time!” Applejack said as she lunged to her feet, getting her Stetson back atop her head. “Ah gotta get thet wolf an’ those fillies back.” She charged forward, or tried to. A purple glow surrounded her and she found herself running on air. As she spun in midair to face a furious Rarity, she snorted, “Rarity, this ain’t no time for foolishness!”

“No, this is a time for explanations!” Rarity kept the palomino in her telekinetic grip, making sure her hooves were off the ground. “Just what are you doing, and why did my little sister go racing off –” her voice rose to a near shriek “– and where did That Wolf get off to?”

“Put me down an’ Ah’ll tell ya!” Applejack waited until her hooves touched earth before saying, “That nasty cat o’ yours clawed the wolf up, he tore them fancy duds ya made –” Her mouth snapped shut as Rarity gave her a look that would have sent Cerberus hustling back to Tartarus.

“Do not refer to my creations as ‘duds’!” Bleak cold lay in those words. AJ gave a weak nod and continued.

“Ahem, the wolf tore yore fancy clothes,” she waited for the reaction, and when she got none said, “and took off howlin’ that he was gonna eat Opal, an’ then Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo raced after him ta stop him, Ah guess.” She pointed her hoof down the road and across the bridge, where the hoofbeats and neighs of a stampede faded in the distance. “An’ Ah heard everypony yelling about how that wolf was gonna eat the fillies less somepony stopped him. An’ now they’re after him! An’ Ah gotta stop ‘em!”

The earth pony wheeled and galloped over the bridge, into the dust cloud drifting past Town Hall.

Rarity stood frozen for a moment, eyes wide, coat even whiter than normal beneath the fresh grime. That Wolf. Ardi. Chief Envoy of Equestria’s Wolf Packs. To the Sun Palace. And the Princesses. Who’d visited moi to get official diplomatic attire for the Royal Ball welcoming the Crystal Empire back to Equestria, one of the most important events of the past century. And who needed an escort for an affair that could put my name and fashions on the lips of every noble in Canterlot.

And who was about to be killed by panicked ponies.

After leaving my shop.

“No!” She charged down the road and across the bridge after Applejack, as fast as when she chased That Wolf through the Sun Palace. “He hasn’t even paid for the first outfit yet!”

# # #

Opal raced across the West Pasture until she ran out of pasture, at one of the streams that meandered out of the Everfree to join the Ponyville River south of town. The last wild storm from the Everfree had flooded what the cozy little creek, undermining its banks and filling the resulting gully with truly foul-smelling mud and filth.

Skidding to a stop atop the bank, the long-haired cat hissed as she looked around for a hiding spot. One higher than that wolf who kept invading her home could jump. Like that tree leaning across from the opposite bank – tall, with sturdy branches set high. Only problem was the wide and very wet mudflat in-between, and Opal was almost as finicky as her owner.

She hesitated. Death or dirt?

“Opal! Come here, you naughty kitty!” The CMC came charging up just as the cat leaped across the stream and into the overhanging tree, just clearing the pond of foul-smelling filth.

The three fillies put on the brakes. Scootaloo smacked into Apple Bloom, Apple Bloom smacked into Sweetie Belle, and Sweetie Belle… stopped just in time, with her forehooves right where the ground dropped away to the mud and water.

“Wow.” She looked at the expanse of mud below, then the strip of clear water on the other side, sniffed, and wrinkled her little nose up in disgust. “That was close.”

“Shore was,” Apple Bloom said as she looked around. “Hey, where’s yore wolf?”

A mingled yelp-snarl gave them their answer as Ardi came charging up. The CMC yelled and closed their eyes. He slid to a stop, just barely avoiding sending them over the bank. He stared at the mud below, shivered as though terrified. It’s almost as big as that other pool…

He shook the thought away and caught sight of that cat.

“Blasted cat!” He snarled up at Opal. She hissed at him and then began grooming herself. He sniffed at the filthy puddle and made a disgusted sound. “Ugh! What went into that mud? Dragon scat?” Ardi flopped down on his belly, panting. Only then did he notice the fillies. “Oh, Sweetie, girls, I hope I didn’t scare you.”

“You did scare us!” She gave him a dirty look. His tongue lolled as he grinned sheepishly at the filly. She said, “We thought you wanted to eat Opal!”

“I did, and I still do,” Ardi growled. “Filthy cat!” He snarled up at it. “Every time I see it, it does something awful to me!”

Opal studiously ignored him. He rose, every hair along his spine bristling.

“Better not,” Scootaloo warned him, “unless you want to end up in there.” She pointed at the mud.

“Yeah, and then my sister will take you to the Spa to get you all cleaned up.” Sweetie said warningly.

“The Spa?” Ardi said. Why did that sound familiar? Calming himself, Ardi stepped back from the embankment. “Maybe I can let it go, and – yipe!”

Hooves pounded the turf behind him. Ardi moved to set the Cutie Mark Crusaders between him and the small herd of oncoming ponies. They stank of sweat and their sides worked like bellows as they gasped after air, but they managed to direct furious looks at the wolf. He recognized their scents and cutie marks from the meeting at Town Hall.

“Darned… wolf,” One with a bunch of grapes on her flank gasped. “Chasing… little fillies… after you said you wouldn’t!” She too a whiff and gagged. Forehoof over her nose, she said, “An’ out to a place that stinks like this, too!”

“Fenris’ fangs! I wasn’t chasing them,” Ardi pointed his paw up at the tree. “I was chasing that cat!”

Everypony and wolf looked.

Opal was nowhere to be seen.

Ardi looked back down to see forehooves being scraped against the ground and flattened ears joined to angry snorts and the smell of mounting equine fury.

“Heh, I can explain…” Ardi gulped as the ponies started forward. The CMC hurried to put themselves in the way.

“He didn’t hurt us!” The lead mare looked down at them with a frown. Sweetie said, “He was just – playing!” When the ponies eyed her skeptically, she and her friends began to say, “Cross my heart, hope to die…”

Ardi hurriedly joined in. “Stick a cupcake in my eye – OW!” He hissed and blinked away tears of pain. “We were just playing a game.”

“PLAYING?!?”

Everypony and wolf gulped at the sound of that voice. It conveyed a wrath to match Nightmare Moon’s. Rarity pushed through the herd, followed by Applejack. The palomino’s flanks heaved, her mane and tail a mess.

But if Applejack looked messy, Rarity was worse. Just like after that run across Canterlot and chase through the Sun Palace – barrel heaving, sides streaming sweat, mane and tail two amethyst tangles dragging on the grass. Exhaustion and anger both thickened her voice.

“Playing!” She stomped forward, the small herd scattering to either side as she gave Ardi a ferocious look. “I spent… hours… finding the very best materials to complement the outfit I made…”

She pointed a shaking forehoof at the tattered rags he still wore. Ardi ducked his head and went on his belly before her, as he would before a furious pack Alpha.

“And you… destroy it… terrorize half of Ponyville… for a GAME?” She tore her saddlebag off and looked ready to hurl it at him.

“Rarity, don’t do it!” Ardi took a deep breath and stepped forward. He indicated her bag with his muzzle. “Remember how long it took to get those, er, sewing things.” She hesitated. Encouraged, he added, “Besides, you don’t want to ruin the cloth for my outfit that I’m paying you for, do you?”

“True… They cost me quite a few bits, I think that pony was overcharging me.” Rarity held her saddlebag and looked in at the materials. She withdrew the cloth and Ardi gasped. The material shimmered like a swatch of night turned into cloth.

“It’s as beautiful as the mare who bought it.” The words slipped out. Ardi wondered if he’d said too much. Rarity just smiled.

She looked to be calming down. Ardi sighed and sank down on his belly. He looked around. Everypony seemed to be calm now.

Well, that was close.

Wood cracked and snapped close by, very close by. Something massive moved amid the trees.

Ardi sniffed and yelped in panic.

“BEAR!”

A wild and mighty roar, sounding oddly sniffly, broke out as a full-grown bear came charging out of the nearby woods. Ardi, the CMC, Rarity and Applejack all froze. The other ponies displayed far better instincts and fled.

Ardi looked at Sweetie and her friends. I have to distract that bear, or it'll kill them! He charged at the bear, yipping and making as much noise as he could, before turning and dashing for the old tree. The bear roared and chased him.

He headed for the tree, froze, and dodged aside at the last second.

It tried to stop but it slid on the wet ground into the tree headfirst. The bear dropped with a groan.

Ardi lifted his head high as the ponies stared at him in grateful admiration.

“Ardi,” Rarity seemed to breathe the words out, her eyes wide. “You saved us all! You handsome, wonderful wolf...”

And with a loud SNAP the tilted tree crashed into the streambed.

Right into the reeking mud puddle, sending a brown tsunami splattering over everypony.

The bear rose on shaky legs. It leaned forward, took a whiff of the wolf and ponies. It gagged in disgust. It turned and hurried away, nose in the air and uttering sounds of impending nausea.

Ardi’s senses reeled from the stench. He looked around. The CMC were barely recognizable – three mud sculptures, one with a horn, one with wings, and one with big startled eyes. Rarity and Applejack weren’t much better, though it was easier to pick Rarity out by the way she shivered in shock. Her gorgeous cloth lay in a sodden, stinking heap at her hooves, completely ruined.

Wondering if this was a foolish move, Ardi walked up to her. Applejack backed away looking wary.

“Rarity?”

The mud sculpture of a unicorn didn’t react. She just stared with wide blue eyes. A glob of particularly feculent mud dropped from her horn to splat against her forehooves. He leaned in closer and said, “Er, Rarity? Miss Belle?”

Still nothing.

“Countess Lipizzan?”

She blinked slowly. Ardi smiled.

“Rarity! You’re okay!” Relieved, he rubbed his cheeks against hers, smearing more mud around. Her eyes slowly focused on him as he said, “You had me worried – GACK!”

“YOU!” Her horn glowed and Ardi choked as he felt the unicorn’s magical grip closing on his throat. He clawed at his furred neck.

“Please!” He somehow got enough air to choke out, “It was all a big mistake!”

“Wolf,” Rarity half panted, her voice a sort of gasp-wheeze as the grip tightened on his neck, “I find your lack of intelligence disturbing.”

He dropped on his belly in the mud, fighting for breath. Rarity stalked over to stand above him, the mud clinging to her like a cloak.

Ardi directed a pleading look at Applejack. She scowled back at him, looked at the sad-eyed gazes the CMC were giving her, and gave in with a sigh.

“Rarity, Ah know how tempting it is, but y’all better let ‘im go.” When the maddened spear-head mare showed no signs of noticing her words, she added, “Less yah wanna explain ta Celestia just why ya killed a royal diplomat right after he commissioned ya for a fancy set o’ clothes.”

Rarity looked sidelong at Applejack, sanity warring with bloodlust in her eyes. She snorted and the glow vanished from along her horn. Ardi gasped for air. I can breathe again! He inhaled the thick, gagging organic reek of the mud. And I wish I couldn’t!

“Oh! Oh, dear!”

Ardi and the ponies looked up. With a flutter of wings, a butter-yellow pegasus dropped to the ground beside them.

Fluttershy recoiled before pressing closer, holding one hoof over her nose. “Er, Ardi? Rarity, Applejack?” Ardi grinned weakly at her, glad to see a friend. She looked at Rarity. “I heard from Derpy that Ardi was visiting and went to see you, Rarity; and then somepony told me about a wolf terrorizing fillies…”

Rarity and Applejack both glared at the wolf. Ardi just looked skywards innocently.

“…And, well, I was helping poor Mister Bear with his nasty cold, he can barely see or smell anything at all, but when I heard I asked him to help me catch up with everypony and stop you from hurting Ardi.” Fluttershy said to the other ponies, “On my way here, I saw him running back for Whitetail Woods and roaring like he’d stuck his nose into a beehive. I’m afraid he scared some ponies. I don’t know why, he’s so gentle.”

Ardi just looked at the smashed tree and shuddered.

“And I followed the trail he left, and here you all are, and…” Fluttershy looked at the mud and giggled nervously. “I’m glad I didn’t end up in that mud too. Because, and I mean this in the kindest way,” she waved one hoof under her nose, “you all stink so badly I’m surprised Celestia doesn’t smell you right now.” She looked at Rarity and Ardi where they stood together, the same mud dripping from both, the same foul stench rising from them, and the same wild look entering their eyes, almost the only recognizable part of each. “I’m really lucky, aren’t I?”

Applejack dove on them both before they could hurl paw and hoof-fulls of the mud covering them at Fluttershy.

Behind them and unnoticed by all, Opal came out of her hiding place, gave a superior sniff, and headed back for what was once more her home.

# # #

Ardi’s paws scrabbled at the air as he whimpered, fighting for a grip on nothing. The glow of Rarity’s magic surrounded him as the spear-head mare carried him along, held by her magic for the third time in one day. Ponies stopped and stared in shock; some turned away, sickened by the stench of the mud covering both wolf and mare.

“See?” the mud-covered unicorn’s voice cracked. “Wolf! Not me!” They nodded at her, grinning desperately and eyes wide in fear until she turned away. Meanwhile Ardi struggled to escape.

“Please, Miss Rarity!” He yelped, “Can’t I just go and clean myself off in your bathtub? I mean, after you use it?”

“NEVER!”

He winced and flattened his sensitive pointed ears at the volume of that shriek. Rarity looked at him, her horror obvious even through the now hardening coat of mud she wore. “I am NOT destroying my imported bathtub with the effort it would take to clean this mess up!” She turned and resumed trotting down Library Lane towards the town square – and one of the scariest places in this crazy pony town. “We are going to the Spa, and that is final! Lotus and Aloe can handle this.” She hesitated, the set of her ears showing her nervousness. “I think.”

Ardi gulped. Lotus. Crazy Spear Pony. He wished now that he’d had the quick wits of the three fillies. Once they’d heard where they were going, the three dashed away from the adult mares, galloping down the bank to where the mud gave way to a deep pool. Once there they hurled themselves in with three splashes as one. The now-filthy wolf followed them and got halfway there before Rarity’s magic seized him again. Applejack chased after them, only to find the grinning fillies rising from it, soaking wet but clean. Rarity had not been pleased.

“Sweetie Belle! That is NOT how a lady attends to her bath.” She frowned at her little sister as she lay down and rolled alongside her friends. “And ladies do not ‘roll’! Do you think Princess Celestia does that?”

“I’ve seen her doing it,” Ardi said. He flinched from Rarity’s glare, but said, “I don’t think she’d care if little fillies or even grown ponies did it.”

“Ah know Ah don’t mind,” Applejack said, then trotted past the three pony-pups and over the bank. Rarity stepped back from the splash. Applejack came out a second later and rolled on the grass along with the three little ones, making an extra effort to scratch her back against it. Rarity looked horrified.

“Aw, come on, Rares,” the soaked palomino rose to her hooves, snorting and tossing her golden mane. “Sure Ah like Aloe an’ Lotus’s place, but this is more ’n good enough for me. Just throw him in.”

Ardi’s ears perked up, sending brown droplets flying.

“For you, maybe,” Rarity said with a sniff. “You only got a little of that mud on you. But I am drenched in that filth, thanks to you, Wolf!” Ardi gulped as she flattened her ears at him. “After this, we need professional care. Why else do you think I sent Fluttershy on ahead to tell them it would be an emergency?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “’Cause you’re such a prissy pony ya go nuts whenever ya get even a little dirt on yourself? Ah still don’t know how ya lasted through the Sisterhooves Social Switcheroo.” She went to the CMC, who were finished rolling and had started playing. “Anyway, mah work’s done for the day. Ah’ll keep an eye on the fillies for ya until ya get cleaned up all special the way ya like.”

Rarity agreed that might be for the best, and Applejack set off with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Sweetie wanted to give ‘her wolf’ a hug, but Rarity kept her sister at a distance with her magic. Ardi promised the little filly he’d see her before he left. Sweetie went off happy.

Which left Ardi with Rarity, now past Ponyville Inn and passing under the archway into the town square – and the lair of Crazy Spear Pony. It rose before him, all tent roofs and fabric walls, a fancy high-peaked version of those yurts the nomadic ponies living outside Stalliongrad used. The now-brown wolf licked his nosepad, sniffed, and cringed as the chokingly thick flower smell coming from it overwhelmed that of the mud. Then he sniffed again at himself and shuddered.

It’s this or walk around town smelling like a scatpile all day long.

As they approached, the earth pony from months ago came out the tent-flap door with Fluttershy. This time with no hunting spears or jousting harnesses, but she eyed him a trifle too intently for his liking. He swallowed and stepped forward, or tried to. Rarity still held him with her magic.

“Urrr, Rarity?” he said. “You’ll have to let me go if you want me to get cleaned.” She gave him a wary look, and then with a regal nod, released him. Ardi dropped on all fours, wondering if he should run for it while he still could. Instead he walked up to Lotus and Fluttershy alongside Rarity. The other two mares blanched.

“Oh dear, Miss Rarity!” Lotus looked at Fluttershy, horrified. “You did not exaggerate! This is emergency!” She turned and called inside, “Aloe! Sister! Biggest tubs are heated up? Wire brushes are ready?”

Wire brushes? The wolf gulped.

“Get out best soaps and get ready!” She looked back at Rarity. “We have very hard time ahead! And you!” Ardi took a step back as Lotus stormed up to him. “Nasty-bad wolf, you dare do this to Miss Rarity! If you were not friend of hers and Miss Fluttershy, we would tell you to go and stink in woods!” She thrust her hoof off at the Everfree, to make sure he understood which woods she meant. The one with all the monsters in it, where I almost died last time…

“Lotus, dear, if you don’t mind?” As Lotus looked at her, Rarity said, “I can appreciate the defensiveness of the beauty of moi, but right now he needs the help as much as I do. He’s supposed to be attending a special soiree in Canterlot in a few days, and I’ve got to finish working on his new diplomatic outfit.” She gave him that stare. “AGAIN. So, if you please?” Rarity finished by making a ‘hurry up’ gesture with her hoof.

As she spoke Fluttershy slipped up beside him.

“Ardi, I’ll stay here,” she whispered. He relaxed slightly. She nodded and said, “Now, nopony’s going to hurt you, but I’m afraid Lotus is kind of upset because of how you hid from her last time…”

“She was trying to kill me!”

“Out of way, Miss Fluttershy!” She eeped and stepped aside. Lotus looked into his eyes, hard and unfriendly as Rarity’s.

“Wolf, move!”

Next Lotus's forehooves were on his rump pushing him inside, past an outer room into one with two large wooden tubs. Steam rose from both as from hot springs – or forbidden pools in the forest. Ardi shivered as Rarity all but dove into the nearest where Aloe started scrubbing and soaping her up, the steaming water turning brown as white began to emerge on the unicorn’s coat.

He froze with muddy forepaws on the edge of the tub, realizing just how deep the water was. Deep enough to drown in! Two hooves shoved against his butt.

“WOLF! IN! NOW!”

Ardi just whimpered and dug his claws in. Rarity glared at him over the edge of her tub.

“Wolf, what is the problem?” Ardi looked at Rarity, his eyes wide and ears down, silently pleading. She must not have noticed. A moment later he floated in the air again, grabbing for the ground. He saw the floor pass underneath and then he stared at nothing but steamy, soapy water.

One part of him jabbered in his mind, It’s not that pool! This isn’t the woods outside Stalliongrad! And another part of him yelped, it is! It is! The monster is in it, now RUN AWAY!

“Ardi,” he heard Rarity almost growl, “We do NOT have the time!” Lotus splashed in beside him, a scrub brush in her mouth and bars of soap ready on the opposite rim. A moment later the magic glow faded and he dropped in beside her with a bigger splash. He yipped and headed for the edge to clamber out, wading through the belly-deep water. Before he reached it Lotus caught up with him.

“Got you!” He yelped as she began scrubbing him, working the dirt out of his pelt. She ducked him under. He got a mouthful of water, rose up coughing and spitting. “Wolf, calm down! What is matter with you?”

“For pity’s sake, Ardi, I know how canines feel about baths,” Rarity called over from her own tub, “but could you please control yourself? Who knows?” He froze at her next words. Lotus moved around him to start scrubbing along his chest with the brush. She frowned at him as she pulled the brush through his mud-caked fur. Rarity said, “You might learn to enjoy it.”

Ardi’s pupils shrank down to pinpoints as his tail curled up between his legs and Lotus threw herself over his back, using her weight to push him down into the water.

That forbidden pool on the outskirts of pack territory, the one that never froze over in even the hardest winters, the one that was always warm and inviting. The odd and fearless-of-wolves earth pony mare standing beside it, smiling at him, mane and tail as long and lovely as water flowing in the Spring thaw, her cutie mark an oblong something wrapped in water weeds, her voice so seductive as she purred at him when she lead him into the pond: “You might learn to enjoy it…”

It ended with him snarling and yelping and choking in terror as the thing like a scaly pony stinking of decay and foul water tried forcing him under, grin showing fangs like a million sharp needles, sharing nothing but those lovely bright eyes with the mare she’d seemed to be, feasting on his fear and terror.

Just like the mare scrubbing me!

Ardi’s paws sought the bottom and found purchase. He soared from the tub with a howl. Shocked whinnies erupted all around.

“WOLF!” he barely recognized the cry as Rarity’s. He landed on the wet floor and his paws went out from under him, sending him belly-flopping to the floor as she yelled, “What in the name of the Princesses…”

“Oh, Ardi!” Fluttershy dropped down beside him where he shivered, wrapped her wings around him in a gentle and reassuring hug. “What’s wrong?”

The smell of pony all around, pony voices, pony hooves, grabbing and holding and that drowning-deep water behind him.

“LET ME GO!” He glared about wildly, fangs bared. His snarl ripped through the room. Rarity and Crazy Spear Pony and her sister all skipped back, fear blasting into their scents. Fluttershy gasped but she held on, maneuvering herself so that he couldn’t bite her in his panic. She didn’t speak, she just hummed something soft and gentle in to his pointed ears. He fought, claws scrabbling on the wet floor. Fluttershy moved just enough to keep him from escaping, speaking gently and soothingly the whole time. In moments the panic-driven strength faded. Ardi slumped, panting.

“Fluttershy?” He dimly heard Rarity ask, “Are you should be beside him right now, dear? After what he did?”

“He’s frightened, or he was,” she said in her soft voice. Ardi buried his muzzle in her mane, inhaling deeply of the one familiar and comforting scent as he would his own dam. He heard gasps from Rarity and Crazy Spear Pony and Crazy Spear Pony’s Sister.

Fluttershy shivered, but she held on. She said, “Ardi, are you calm now?”

He whimpered agreement.

“Can, can you tell us what happened? Did Lotus scare you?”

“Me? Scare him?”

He looked at Lotus from under Fluttershy’s long mane. She looked ready to jump out of the tub and into her jousting harness and hunting spear. “He acted like I was going to drown him!”

“Years ago,” Ardi whimpered as he clutched the yellow pegasus, “By Stalliongrad, there was this pool deep in the woods… Not supposed to go there, the alpha warned all us pups…” Fluttershy looked at him, gentle but not understanding, any more than the confused Rarity. Lotus got very quiet, comprehension dawning on her face. “So I went to show I wasn’t scared… We were hungry, thought there might be food there... Saw one of them in the water, tried to drown me…”

Crazy Spear Pony’s eyes went wide.

“Wolf,” she quavered. “You saw rusalka, da?”

Rarity and Fluttershy looked at her in confusion and Aloe in sudden understanding, as she came out of the tub and went to him.

“You saw It. Pond that never freezes over, even in worst Stalliongrad winter, with no hot springs anywhere near…” Her pony eyes stayed locked on his. “Pond with monster in shape of mare. Very pretty earth pony mare? With mane all flowing and wet?”

Ardi nodded.

“She invite you into pool, for swim, da? And when you turn away and look back…”

“She smelled of death,” Ardi whimpered. He shook himself and got his self-control back. “All scales and fangs, pulled me under, tried to drown me. I hit it with something I found on the bottom, some piece of old pony iron… I saw bones at the bottom of the pool, Wolf, Pony, I don’t know what, it shrieked and I got away… Didn’t dare tell my pack, tell anywolf…”

He shook himself, sending water and mud flying around the room; his eyes focused on nothing.

“I was always curious… Too curious… When the Mare in the Moon vanished and the sun didn’t rise for days and the Packs needed scouts I went, to find out why and to get away. I always wanted to see the southlands, the pony lands…”

He swallowed. “But just now, in the tub, with the hot water and the reek from the mud? Rarity threw me in, a-and Crazy Spear Pony holding me down like It did?” He bristled up in fear as best he could with a soaked pelt. “I, it – too much like It. I’d been dreaming of it lately, and this was too much. I’m sorry.”

An uncomfortable silence stretched out. Ardi turned and began to slink for the door, head and tail low and dripping. “Miss Rarity, Miss Aloe and Lotus, I’ll send you the bits for any damage I’ve done here after I return to Canterlot.”

“B-but Ardi,” Rarity called after him. “Wait, what about your new outfit?”

“Oh, Wolf,” he heard Lotus say. “Ardi, please to be forgiving us! We, I did not know that you saw," she took a breath, "what you saw.”

“Not all of it,” Ardi cut in. “Just deep water. This was just deep enough. And hot enough. And Rarity, I’ve cost you enough, I – YIPE! Not again! Is this some weird thrill for you?”

Her magical glow enveloped him. It brought him back to the edge of the tub where Rarity could look him in the eyes.

“Wolf,” the now-white unicorn began to say, and then shook her head, “Ardi, I still owe you that outfit. And… I think an apology, as well.” He woofed in surprise and looked at her, ears tilting forward. Rarity nodded and said, “It was wrong of me to treat you the way I did. No matter how provoked I was at the time.” She looked at the smelly brown water around her, the one remaining glob of mud along her foreleg. “Even if I was very, very provoked.”

Stunned, Ardi looked from her to Lotus. She nodded as well.

“Have heard stories of rusalka,” she said, “what they do, how they trick stallions and colts and maybe wolves too, to drown them in their pools. But I promise,” and she looked him square in the eyes, “no pony here will hurt you. Not in my spa.”

“Our spa, sister!” Aloe called over from where she was still cleaning Rarity. “Remember who signs for bills every month!”

Ardi looked at them, feeling mortally embarrassed as he realized how foolishly he’d acted. He looked back at the tub, still steaming, and hesitated.

“Ardi, dear,” Rarity said as she got out of her tub, water trickling down her sides, mane and tail hanging limp. “I think I may know the solution to this. Would you trust it more if I went in there with you? So you knew there was somepony you trusted nearby?”

At the ‘trusted’ he cocked a shaggy eyebrow at her. Rarity winced. Slightly. Then, with a smile, “Fluttershy trusted you to not ruin my good name, and she trusted me to forgive her for what she did. Can’t you trust me the way she trusted us both?”

With a nod the dripping wolf got back into the tub, sinking into wet warmth. A moment later he heard soft splashes as Rarity and Lotus got in on either side of him, pressing their flanks against his like wolves assisting an injured packmate. He looked up and saw Fluttershy hovering above them all, watching with a professional eye.

“Um, Rarity, Lotus, I’m not telling you what to do, but maybe I can stay here and supervise?” She hovered over the tub. The water rippled from her wingbeats. “It’s just, well, washing wolves isn’t much like bathing a pony.”

“Actually, dear, maybe you could go and check on Sweetie Belle? I don’t want her to worry about me.” Rarity said to her. She looked at Ardi. He felt the warmth of her and Lotus, smelled their pony-scent with a slight touch of their usual perfume. It smelled odd, but a little comforting now too. Fluttershy nodded and flew out the door.

“Are you ready?” Rarity said as she reared up, holding a scrub brush between her forehooves. He started to see her using hooves rather than horn. She smiled. “I just prefer it this way, that’s part of the reason why I go to this spa,” she indicated Lotus, who smiled at him, and Aloe, watching from the side with wide and curious eyes. Rarity turned to Ardi. She smiled and held up a brush. “Now, let’s see if we can get you cleaned up, and hopefully no more excitement.”

Ardi thought of that question, and how he’d reacted to it before. “Rarity, if you still want to come with me, I mean,” he swallowed and looked her in the eye, trying not to threaten, “If you… would, be my escort to the Crystal Empire ball? As a friend? And to make your, your ‘contacts’?”

Rarity looked at him, curious. And smiled.

“Ardi, as a friend, I would be happy too.” She drew the brush through his fur strongly but gently, cleaning out the mud and straightening tangles. “Now let’s get this done, shall we?”

And as the brushes tugged at his pelt and the warm water washed away both the foul mud and fouler memories, the wolf slowly and carefully relaxed for the first time since returning to Ponyville.

And for the first time he could remember with these two Ponies, trusted.

A Wolf Among Ponies: Return To Ponyville

by Ardashir

Ardi's Return