Chapters A Different Kind of Family
I had thought that it was just another cold and breezy morning. I was just reading peacefully in the early hours, savoring the warmth of the fire burning happily in the fireplace, ignoring the small amount of snow falling when she came. Rainbow Dash, known by most Ponyville residence as the most trustworthy and loyal athlete in the whole town and another bearer of the Elements. She nearly busted down the door to the library, saying something about having another contest with Applejack when some loud noise 'shocked' her into the sky and she saw some new random house by the fringes of the Everfree. Even when I was trying to calm her down she still said words like 'spirits' and 'ghosts'. After getting her to sit and relax, which is still a feat in itself, she explained a bit more, saying that a house that was never there just popped in as if it always did.
After a hearing a bit more I decided to investigate, donning my winter saddle and taking flight with my still new wings and setting off to the odd house by the Everfree with Rainbow.
When we got there I had noticed the change immediately. The somewhat wall-like edge of the untamed forest bulged out quite a fair amount a couple hundred meters away from the main path into the heart of the Everfree. The trees were as barren and dead looking as any other tree, but had an odd dull look to it. Even the snow on the ground, though only a few inches seemed to be duller and somewhat disturbed. I played it off as a trick of the light but continued on. When Rainbow and I were nearing the edge, I saw through the trees to find the house that Rainbow was talking about. It looked to be only one story with a small attic with a singular window. The ground floor was built into a small hillock, and near what I assumed was the front entrance was a large, pale and dull yellow deck. A small, narrow. shoveled path led from the unusually small stairs of the deck to another shoveled section, wider than the small path, where two large and odd things made of shiny metal, one iron grey and the other an oceanic blue, both with light grey glass and wheels covered in rubber.
Our duet walked slowly into the small thicket of trees when we stopped a few feet from the odd carriage-looking things and Rainbow asked, "So what're you going to do Twilight?" a small shakiness in her voice. I could tell she was a bit skittish about the whole thing. Even if she didn't admit it outright, her body language told me all I needed to know.
"Investigate, what would you think Rainbow?" I mumbled to myself.
Rainbow let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her head, "So, uh, should I go and get the others or something? Not that I'm afraid or anything! But for um...extra...uh, what's the word? In-sue-rinse?"
"Insurance." I sighed, staring intently at the mysterious house, trying hard to pay attention to it alone, thinking of many ways I could try to discover why the new shelter was here in the first place. No lights, no sound, no movement of any kind...Could it be abandoned? I wondered, before nodding to myself. "Rainbow, if you want to go, go ahead. I'll be fine."
If I were focusing on Rainbow any more I'm sure that I would have heard her relax. "Alright, but if you're not back by sunset I'm getting the girls and coming in after you." Rainbow said with trepidation, though it wasn't as prominent. With a few flaps she was in the air and rocketing back to Ponyville.
I steadied my breathing as I watched her fly back to town. Don't worry Twilight. I reassured myself, If Princess Celestia believes in you enough to make you a princess too, then you can go into a weird house that nopony has ever seen before. With a calm smile on my face I made my way to the small deck, the thin layer of snow nearly muting the sound of my hooves against the wood as I walked up the five small steps.
When I reached the door confused to see a very small doorknob with an even smaller keyhole, as though somepony with very small hooves was the only one supposed to open this door. Though doorknobs were used on some outside doors, they were uncommon and tended to be bulkier and lager than a handle and lock. Something else that was surprising was the pure size of the door, being almost double my own size and much larger in height than width, it could have let the Princess' through with plenty of headroom.
Ignoring the architectural oddities I lit up my horn an used my magic to manipulate the finer workings of the knob and after finding resistance a faint click sounded and I opened the now unlocked door. The house was dark and considerably warmer than outside when I first entered and closed the door, but I refused to illuminate my horn to fend off the dark, just from a creeping feeling in my spine. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark I saw that I was in a small but long greeting area leading into a very advanced looking kitchen. Well, at least in terms of appliances. As I walked into the kitchen, it being my only route, I saw two doorways, one with a closed door and the other leading to a hallway. As much as I wanted to investigate every bit of this house that just popped into existence, I decided to explore the more public areas first. Slowly tip-toeing into the hallway and seeing what looked like a living room of sorts at the end of it, I had a feeling. The kind of feeling you get right before something big happens.
Squeeeak
I froze. My muscles tensed up before I saw it. A human. Tall and lanky standing on its two legs wearing some light and seemingly unseasonal clothing. He, or at least I assumed it was a he, brushed his short, shaggy blond mane to the side with one hand and squinted at me with shining teal eyes.
His eyes widened and he was still too. After a moment he spoke, "Bosee Rivah? " came the human's tenner level voice. I blinked, at a loss. All I remembered about humans was that they were considered extinct well over a thousand years ago, but here on stood, speaking in a tongue I failed to understand. Bow-say Re-vah didn't sound familiar in the slightest.
He took a step forward, a jovial expression on his face as he said Bosee Rivah once more. More out of fear than anything else I took a few steps back. A hurt look crossed his face and he stopped once again.
There was some shuffling behind the somewhat broad shouldered human, "Ivan? Gresn rete a ve bedy? came a sleepy, female voice. Cocking my head to the side, I got a glimpse was behind the male human. A shorter, stouter female human with a long, curly, dirty blond mane covered in what appeared to be a bathrobe. Her small eyes seemed to shrink even more before she screamed.
As I stumbled back in shock I made an indistinguishable sound that even I don't know how to describe. Stomping sounded behind the female and I saw a much taller and very muscle bound male, in a short sleeved shirt and loose trousers, charging past the female. The one directly in front of me turned around with his hands braced in front of him. When the hulking male reached the smaller one he was nearly stopped right there.
"No, stuv Papa! Stuv nah! " the smaller one cried, struggling to keep the larger back. With a monumental shove, the smaller pushed the larger away a few paces. "Stuv! Iso Bosee Rivah, ah ahmles penon! " taking up a dignified stance he puffed out his chest slightly and seemed to be showing his authority. "Jesuse nam ah penon en TV va at I. I kow at ve dew. "
In my transfixed state, the words failed to filter at all and my tongue was tied. Though I knew I could speak, I figured I should try my best not to interrupt whatever the humans were doing. Heated words continued to exchange between the large and small males, and as they talked I noticed that the word penon came up several times. Not only that, but the two males shared many facial similarities, so I assumed they were father and son and the female was the mother.
After a moment, the house was silent. The smaller male returned his focus to me and gave me a small smile, turning around completely. Seconds passed before he slowly lowered himself to his knees, his hands moving in front of him in an almost soothing fashion. His ever movement seemed to be calm and steady. Once he was kneeling, he lowered himself into a pose all could recognize. This human was bowing before me. I just sputtered quietly, trying to understand what was happening. The smaller human raised his head, still bowing before me, joy and what seemed like a knowing spirit lay behind his teal orbs.
Raising up he sat on his knees, obviously trying to keep the calm. "Dobvla usia I Bosee? " he questioned. I just stared at him blankly.
"Penon fe dumba. " what I assumed the father of the small one said. Small just turned his head and glared at him before returning to how he was.
He sat for a moment, obviously mulling something over before he brought one of his hands up, pointing to himself, "Ivan ," he said, pointing to himself once again, "I-van "
With a shaky voice I attempted to repeat the obvious introduction, "I-I-van? "
The human named Ivan nodded with a smile, pointing to himself and repeating Ivan once more. Looking over his left shoulder, pointing to the female that was keeping a fair distance, " Mama ."
Looking to the female I repeated, "Mama. "
Pointing over his right shoulder Ivan said, "Papa "
"Papa "
Ivan had me repeat those three words several times before he stood up, gesturing to all three of them, "Femil "
I repeated the word three times before I realized what it meant.
Family.
A Different Kind of Family
Author's Note
So different to write almost no dialogue...
Learning the Differences
Ivan gave me another smile, holding up a finger and turned around to converse with his parents. I stood doing nothing before falling on my haunches where I stood, my flanks hitting the hard wood floor a bit hard but I didn't care. My mind was racing with hundreds if not thousands of questions. Where are they from? How did they get here? Was their species ever truly extinct? I felt so strongly to find out the answers to all of these questions, but the obvious and very obnoxious language barrier would make that information harder to get tenfold.
I was so lost in my own thoughts that it took a short while to register Ivan snapping his fingers. With a small shake of the head I looked back to him and his family. Instantly I noticed the looks that Mama and Papa were giving me. Mama looked at me with curiosity and a kindled warmth while Papa looked as though he was trying to intimidate me through the fear that was shown in his dark eyes. And then, of course, there was Ivan with an expression of joy and what I could only assume to be a slight impatience. He waved one of his hands towards the open door to my left that led into a room to dark too see into. I eyed it cautiously. As nice as Ivan seemed to be, there was no way I was going to put all of my faith in him unless he proved to me that he was competent, polite and trustworthy enough.
Seeming to sense my hesitance Ivan gave me another warming smile and reached his hand into the doorway and I heard a flick of a switch. Something told me to shut my eyes and I did as much, fearing something bad may happen, but nothing did. I opened one of my eyes to see Ivan frowning, slipping into the dark room.
"Papa, " he called out, "Elesisitie es kaput. "
Papa, who was talking with Mama quietly let out a groan, "Wot do vu soth? We you solas penals! "
"Elesisitie es stu kaput. "
Papa growled and walked towards me, glowering at me seeming to try and will me out of the way. I got up and moved out of his way, admittedly in fear practically leaning against the wall, before righting myself and continuing to stand as Nick searched for something in the living room. With a small Ah ha! Ivan seemed to find what he was looking for, a candle in a metal candle mount held in his hand. Slipping back into the dark room I heard the sound of movement and shifting. A match was brought to life in the inky darkness, lighting the candle and giving the room a dramatic light, but was enough to see most things in the small room with.
The room itself was not spectacular in any way. It was wider than long with dark slate colored walls, a twin sized bed with a wooden bed frame with two large drawers at the base and a dresser a small distance from the door. On the wall that the door was on there was an ebony desk with a messy array of papers and a plush office chair, presumably better fit for a human next to it. On the far left wall was a small screened...thing of some sorts mounted in an alcove made by an exposed closet with a fair assortment of clothes fit for a human. Next to the screen thing was bookshelf holding an odd assortment of books and a few other shapes I couldn't recognize. Ivan calmly put the candle down on the dresser and went over to the bookshelf and grabbed at the objects I couldn't make out and went back to the dresser, opened one drawer and dumped the objects into said drawer. The only real thing I saw of them were two colors; yellow and purple.
His behavior was a bit odd, but as far as I knew what Ivan was doing was completely normal for a human. Waving for me to enter the room entirely he went to and sat down in his chair and turned to watch me. I took a few steps into the room and looked for a place to sit rather than just sit on the carpeted floor. Ivan just watched with his head cocked to the side a bit a grin still on his face. The only real option I had was to sit on the bed so I made my way to it, but something stopped me. I looked over to Ivan for confirmation with one hoof on the bed, and he nodded slowly.
With a a bit of work I managed to climb onto the bed, sitting down on the soft comforters. The two of us sat in silence. Neither of us did more than study the other. I noticed he was still squinting, and seemed to be struggling to see me even though I was only a hoofful of feet away. Ivan broke the silence with a sigh before he got up, moving towards the dresser grabbing at a pair of glasses. Unfolding the small pair of glasses Ivan set them on his face blinking owlishly for a few seconds before he took his place in his seat again, running a hand through his hair. The way he did it was odd, his palm just passed his forehead before he switched the direction to make all the hair in between his fingers stick up and curve to the left. It took me a few seconds to realize that he was styling his hair. I don't know why this fact surprised me, but I'll be the first to admit that it did.
More silence. The quiet only being interrupted by the the quiet shuffling of bare feet against the wood floor in the hallway and a new voice that didn't belong to Mama or Papa, talking sleepily about something or other. I decided to break the ice with something simple, "Do you understand me at all?"
Ivan cocked his head slightly and remained silent. I repeated my question, slower this time to be received with the same end result. I groaned, "I should've known. Of course he wouldn't be able to speak Equestrian, that make it all too easy now wouldn't it?" I complained to him seeming to just confuse him more. "Maybe I should tell the Princess about you," I said sarcastically, thought not object to the idea.
"Pin...cess? " came Ivan's quiet voice.
My ears perked up and a thought rushed forwards. Maybe he wanted to learn Equestrian! "Not pincess. Princess."
"No pin-cess. Purcess? "
I repeated the word princess several times until he was able to say princess correctly. When he said it right the first time I'll admit that a proud smile crossed my face. The language barrier might not be as tough to best as I had intentionally thought. After I got him to repeat princess a few more times to try and clear up some of his thick and very odd accent, we sat in silence again but a satisfied silence.
Once again it was Ivan who broke the quiet when he shuffled around the papers on his desk, some scrawled in what I could only assume was his native language, whatever it was, and other looking fresh from a typewriter. Eventually he pulled out a clean sheet of writing paper and a pencil and started writing. From my angle and the poor light I couldn't tell what he was inscribing, but once he lifted it up to show me I saw what was on the paper; it was the alphabet, both in upper and lowercase. Now, I'm sure that most people would think of it a blessing that he knew the Equestrian alphabet, but I felt a little suspicious. Not for the base fact that he knew the alphabet, but more for the fact that if he was writing in his alphabet then that would be quite an odd coincidence, but if he was writing the Equestrian alphabet and was aware of it, than that would mean that he may have other knowledge that could be beneficial or hindering. I know that it's rude to assume something like that without legitimate reason, but my mind
Either ignoring or completely missing my pointed gaze, Ivan just looked over the paper, pointed to the set of a's, looked back at me and did nothing more. He sat like that only pointing to the set of a's not trying to communicate in any way. I gave him a confused look to hopefully show his that I had no clue what he wanted. Ivan just jerked the paper forwards and tapped his finger on the paper.
Taking a guess I just said what he thought I should say, "A?" Hearing this Ivan recoiled as though struck, shock evident on his face. Blinking a few times he moved his finger over to the b's. I named the letter and we continued through the entire alphabet from a to z, and with each letter passed Ivan's look just became more and more incredulous until he just sat in his chair, mouth agape. From his end reaction, I could only guess I just listed off his entire alphabet perfectly, even though I spoke an entirely different tongue.
Ivan just sat back in his seat, a thoughtful expression present. His eyebrows narrowed slightly as he slid down seemingly too deep in reverie to right himself. Ivan sat like that for another span before sitting up, turning the paper to the opposite side and scribbling something more furiously. I just continued to sit, wondering how confused the two of us were about the other. I could only imagine this is how ponies of old times felt when they met the zebras or the minitors for the first time. I chuckled lightly at the thought. I wasn't meeting a human for the first time in recorded history, but the first in a long time. When Ivan finally stopped writing and turned back to me the paper all I saw was a list of numbers, starting with zero and ending with one hundred.
We repeated the process with each of the numbers as we did with the letters. It was slow going, and I could tell that the two of us in fact did not share the same words for numbers. Once we got through it all once, Ivan pointed to zero again a twinkle in his eye. And so we did it again, going over each letter many times for what felt like an hour or three. After Ivan repeated one hundred for a fifth time. He paused with a grin, standing up to stretch, opening the door waving for me to follow. Gently getting off of his bed I heard a myriad of cracks as I too stretched. Exiting the room, Ivan made his way to the front door looking over his shoulder to check if I was still there. Without a word he put on a pair of worn black shoes and walked outside without any extra protection. I, still wearing my maybe-too-pink winter saddle, followed him, confused why he didn't put anything on to protect him from the bitter cold besides the small shirt and short pants he was wearing before.
I heard a young, feminine sounding voice from behind me, but Ivan reached over me and slammed the door before I could see who made the noise. I looked to the door, expecting it to open again, but it didn't and when I turned back to Ivan I saw that he was just leaning on one of the railings as if oblivious to the cold, his arms and slightly hairy legs covered in goosebumps. The look of utter serenity that was held on his face befuddled me, but I just threw that question of why onto the ever increasing pile of what I'm going to ask him when he knows Equestrian better or when I learn his language. That it, if he teaches me. Not doing anything more than waving for me to follow again, Ivan made his way down the steps and along the path. I continued to tail him as we made our way down the wide and winding dirt path until we reached the end, where the trees were no longer present. Taking a few extra steps Ivan slowly stopped, looking around with an unreadable face until his gaze found Ponyville, painted faintly on the horizon. His eyes became misty and glazed over as he stood in silence. It wasn't until then did I see how late it was, maybe two or three hours until sunset. Meaning when Rainbow would bust down the door of Ivan's house, caring only for my safety if I didn't get back to town soon.
"Penonsill " Ivan mumbled faintly. He shook his head, his gaze no longer far away, before he looked to me. Once again we were still and studied one another before he pointed to himself as he did when he introduced himself. "Ivan " I nodded, he pointed to me and said nothing else. As soon as I realized what he wanted it hit me like a ton of bricks; I hadn't introduced myself and he didn't know what to call me. I cleared my throat before saying my name loud and clear.
"Twilight...Sparkle... " he repeated, his accent nowhere near as thick as before. I blinked in surprise before I considered it a coincidence. He continued to say my name several times before nodding with another grin, I returned the grin, his joy seeming to radiate almost like Pinkie's always does. Ivan rose an arm, pointing to the house that sat amongst the grove of trees. "Homa " he stated, jabbing his finger in the same direction repeating Homa several times. I nodded in understanding, knowing that he was talking of his home. "Ivan homa ," he pointed to me, "Twilight Sparkle," he offered up his hand and waved it from me to where his house lay. My mouth fell open. Even though we have only known each other for a not even a full day, he was practically saying that I was welcome at home. It astounded me.
I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, giving him a smile to hopefully show him my gratitude about granting me better access to learn about him and humans in general. He gave me a nod and made a shooing motion, all the while smiling about something. I took the action as a farewell and gave him a small wave before I began the walk back to town. When I had taken about twenty steps I looked over my shoulder to see Ivan strolling back to his house, slowly singing the numbers that he had learned, varying between four notes. The sight made me smile once again and I continued on my way back home the knowledge of having a new friend, even one as different as Ivan, keeping me joyous for the entire trip. And the amount I can learn...This has been a good day I think!
A Different Kind of Family
"Twilight?" asked a distant voice, disrupting the silence.
"Twilight, wake up," it said again, louder this time.
A sigh sounded, "Did you really fall asleep researching again?"
I groaned, the pressing ache on my forehead bringing me to consciousness rather than the childlike voice. Opening my eyes I was met with the sight of a book. It took me a short while to realize that it was the book that I was reading last night. Well, one of many.
As I slowly tried to force myself to be somewhat more lively and awake everything came back in a slideshow kind of way. I got back into town, Rainbow flew over to me and asked if the house was fine I told here it's safe but to leave it be, went home and proceeded to try and find any and all books concerning humans, mythical, fictional or fact. Funny thing was I didn't remember going to bed. Lifting my head and stretching my sore neck I found out why I didn't remember going to bed; it was because I fell asleep on my desk. That explained the ache situation much better than sleeping funny because of these darned wings again.
A quick rub of the eyes later, I turned my head to see Spike concern plastered upon his face. The sight melted my heart, he was my number one assistant after all. "Are you alright Twilight?" he asked, his worry laced through his words.
I gave him a sleepy nod, rubbing my eyes again. "I'm fine Spike, just wanted to see what I could find."
"On what?"
I opened my mouth to give him an honest answer when a thought stopped me. What would happen if I told Spike about Ivan? I closed my mouth to think about it reasonably. On one hoof, he could be curious and want to help me find out more about humans, on another he could be frightened and try something hazardous to himself or Ivan. Or he might not care one way or another. I nodded my head, my mind made up. "Just general research, got to keep everything right up here," I responded with a light tap of the temple. "Don't want to forget any of it now."
Spike held his look for only a moment longer before it melted away and his usual smile came into view. "Well, don't do it again or you'll end up all crazy like last time." he said making his way out of the room and down the steps.
I chuckled and followed, "I know Spike, I was just really into my reading."
Spike let out a quiet sound of disapproval but otherwise no words were traded between us as we made our way into the kitchen. It wasn't that long a walk from the bottom of the stairs to the kitchen, it branches off of the main room of the library after all.
The instant I walked through the doorway the intoxicating smell of freshly made pancakes met me. I was practically salivating as I took a seat at the table, my stomach sure to make its demands clear with a single groan. I grinned sheepishly and Spike was quick to serve me a small stack of four blueberry pancakes, buttered and topped with maple syrup. I quickly thanked Spike before wholeheartedly diving into my food.
I noticed Spike getting his own, somewhat smaller breakfast of two pancakes and haybacon. I didn't really give it much thought, giving my stomach the food it desired. The now stretching silence continued as both of our meals slowly shrank to nothingness. I finished my last bite of pancake with a satisfied sigh while Spike continued to take his time. I thanked Spike again for the breakfast before excusing myself, leaving Spike to his own devices.
As I started to make my way back upstairs and quickly review some of the bigger topics in those books, I heard a knock on the door. Each rap was irregular but strong, and I found it odd. Most ponies just walk in. But then again, most ponies aren't up and going to the library at eight in the morning.
Deviating from my path I opened to door to have Rainbow Dash rush in, closing the door behind her, her features nervous. Now, I know that Rainbow can be nervous, she just doesn't like to show it. Ever. But now her face was openly displaying her feelings, and it made me wonder what was on her mind.
Rainbow took a moment to try and collect herself, using the breathing technique that I learned from Cadence and taught her, before she turned back to me, seeming a little more calm. "Hi Twi."
"Hi to you too Rainbow. How're you doing?"
"Uh, good," pause, "Look, I wanted to talk to you 'bout something."
I tilted my head slightly, "And what would that be...?"
Rainbow hesitated, her brow furrowing, "That house is evil!" she blurted out.
I blinked slowly, turning what she said over in my mind before responding, "And, why exactly, do you think the house is evil?" I was careful not to reveal anything. Rainbow was acting strange about this whole situation, and it'd be unwise to startle her with any unexpected news.
Rainbow tried, and failed, to calm herself. "You don't get it do you?" she sharply accused, "We fight bad stuff all the time, we know when something's up! How am I the only one who can see it?!"
I felt a small patch of anger flare up at the accusation but was quick to smother it, "Look, Rainbow. Why don't we just sit down and talk about this like civilized ponies?"
Magenta eyes darted around the room, it was only then that I realized her eyes were red and baggy.
"Rainbow, have you been sleeping well?"
Rainbow's eyes locked on me, staring at me with an intensity that would make a bear think twice, "That's what I was going to talk about." her eyes lost their intensity and shut halfway, "I haven't been able to sleep..."
I moved to her side, running a hoof along her back, between her wings. Rainbow stiffened at first, but slowly relaxed. "Can I ask what your lack of sleep has to do with the new house?" I asked quietly.
Rainbow sighed and slouched, "I haven't slept this bad in years," she said, looking up to me with weary eyes, "Last night I had the worst, er I mean, I couldn't fall asleep because of that house!" her eyes darted for a moment.
She hadn't directly said it, but I knew what trouble was plaguing her, "Rainbow, why do you think your nightmares are from that house?"
"What? I didn't say anything about nightmares!" Rainbow crowed proudly.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, "Rainbow, you need to set aside your pride so we can get to the bottom of this."
There was a pause. Rainbow looked to be thinking deeply about this.
"There was something there...I saw it..." she mumbled, barely a whisper.
"What did you see Rainbow?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"I...I don't know. It was...Something. Something tall. Something about it...Do you know what I mean?"
I tried my hardest to not show any sign of me knowing what she'd be referring to. Had she seen Ivan or his family? They obviously hadn't seen her from what I had garnered. "I'm afraid I don't Rainbow." I said feigning ignorance as best I could.
Rainbow looked down and let out a small sigh, "It just doesn't feel right. Like it just isn't meant to be there, or anywhere." she looked up to me with sad eyes, "I...don't know how else to say it." with a small shake of the head Rainbow made her way towards the door.
It took me a second to see this, "Wait," I called out in an even tone, "What do you mean it doesn't feel right?"
Rainbow stopped, one hoof already on the handle, and turned to me, "I mean that it just doesn't seem to be where it aughta be. Far away if I'd guess." with a small shake of her head, Rainbow's usual confident smile returned, if somewhat forced, "Well, I told you what was in my head, might as well take off. See you later Twi!" without further ado she threw the door wide open and shot into the sky without another word. I walked to the door, a cold breeze chilling me though my fur, and watched as Rainbow streaked across the sky, her rainbow trail fading behind her.
Oh, Rainbow, I thought, concerned and saddened in equal amounts, Why can't you tell me all of what you're feeling? A question that I ask myself any time that Rainbow tries to be roundabout or charge headfirst into something. If anything I could tack that on with her usual flighty tendencies, but it can't be helped. It was after all, part of who she is.
With a small sigh I closed the still open door and made my way back to my study, peeking my head into the kitchen to see Spike cleaning the dishes. The sight brought a smile to my face as I went up the stairs. Entering the medium sized room I paused to take in a deep breath, smelling the crisp, new paper and old ink. A familiar smell. Taking a second I saw the scant few books that I had gathered last night to have more incite, grimacing as I remembered exactly how much mythology and folklore were in most of them. About four of the twenty-or-so books that I picked out had some facts. Or at least what could be fact.
I highly doubt that humans have three sets of teeth and lure foals into their caves to do dastardly things. Nor do I believe that Ivan or his family would be capable of lifting over a thousand pounds and shoot electricity. I mused, remembering some of those 'facts'. It really was unfortunate that there were more stories than cold hard fact, but then again, that's what happens with fact over time. Details are forgotten or left out or erased. Events told differently, some with more flair, others simplified more gruesome and otherwise.
I chuckled at my small tangent, skimming over a few lines of the book I had left open on the desktop. "The human skeletal structure is in many ways similar to that of a ponies, with obvious key differences in the hips, shoulders, spine and neck to support their bipedal nature." I read that line a few more times and the lines proceeding it. It noted differences, but not how the structure was different.
If only they could tell me the differences they might know about... I mused, sitting silently for a moment before my thought caught up to me like a train wreck. They don't know Equestrian! I thought frantically, looking around, scanning over the titles or my personal collection of books to see if there was anything I could use, If Rainbow or anypony finds them they might be rash and they won't be able to explain themselves! I thought, my breaths becoming shallower as my mind played out several bad scenarios.
Cadence flashed into my mind and I was quick to put my hoof to my chest, taking in a deep, calming breath before pushing my hoof away slowly and releasing my held breath, releasing some of the minor tension. I repeated the motions a few more times until I was calm once more. Okay Twilight, just think. You are a student under Princess Celestia, you're the Element of Magic, you've gone from a noble to a royal in a year and a half and you've saved Equestria several times over! You can think of a way to teach somepony - or somehuman as it were - Equestrian when the human language is lost to history and all one of them know is from one to a hundred. Sitting down I put my hooves to my temples, pooling all of my thoughts together, letting them flow in a quiet stream, none trying too hard to be noticed but making themselves known. None of them shone amongst the rest until one glittering idea came to me.
The idea was absurd and Ivan and his family may even get be a little offended, but it was something. Quickly getting up I made my way back to the ground floor, entering one of the two other rooms filled to the brim with full bookshelves. Moving around the room with ease I found the small section of books that I was looking for.
I smiled to myself, satisfied. Not all books have the solutions I thought to myself, collecting all of the books in the small shelf, humming, But I'm sure these foal books might help.
A Different Kind of Family
I was nearing the treeline around the human family's home when I saw Ivan waving to me, waiting patiently at the end of the fringe. A small smile tugged at my lips and I adjusted my scarf for the umpteenth time. For nearly the whole of winter I had been spending time trying to teach the new family Equestrian, with varying success.
"Hello," Ivan greeted, his unique accent thick in the word, as he joined me, walking to his home. I repeated the greeting and continued walking. Even though I had probably spent the past month and a half teaching Ivan the ins and outs of the Equestrian language, it was far, far harder than I'd first thought. Though the foal books that I had brought the second visit had seemed to help them learn some basic words, it was still hard to teach them verbs, pronouns and the like and put them into clear, understandable sentences. After all, most ponies can't really understand somepony who only knows a smattering of Equestrian too well.
"How Twilight today?" Ivan asked, speaking slowly.
I gave him a smile, internally cheering, "I'm fine Ivan, thank you."
"That good." he said, his teal eyes roaming about, knowledge seeming to shine from them.
As we continued to the small house my mind turned to the first meeting. I chuckled lightly. Never had I ever thought that I would meet members of a race said to have died out long ago. The princess would be so proud of me. My thoughts slowed for a second. The thought of bringing Princess Celestia's attention to the family of humans had been bugging me for the past few weeks. While it seemed reasonable, Celestia was a fair ruler who rarely passed judgment on something immediately, the only thing that is stopping me from sending her a letter requesting her to come to Ponyville to meet the human family was that I don't know how they would react. While Ivan and his mother who's name I learned was Alina, seemed to be fine with me at the very least, I'm afraid of Ivan's father.
The wall of human muscle, who goes by the name Arron, seems to detest my presence. If I am so much as in the same room he either leaves with a scowl on his face or continues to do whatever it was that he was doing, acting as though I am just a piece of furniture. It was something odd that continues to pick away at me whenever it happens, which was altogether too often.
Thinking along the lines of odd brought me to Rainbow Dash. After about a week after she brought my attention to the small house sitting at the edge of the Everfree, Rainbow continued to act strange, seeming as though she was afraid somepony was about to jump from the shadows and attack her, or worse. She seemed to calm down after another few days, going back to her usual brash self, but still acted edgy with anything having to do with Ivan's home. When she thinks I'm not looking every now and again I see her shiver, though from disgust or just the heeby-jeebies, I couldn't tell.
Something that has been bugging me even more than thoughts of Arron going rabid or Rainbow's weird behavior were things about the land that had come with the human families house. One of the days I had stopped by I stopped to take a few samples of the oddly dull trees and snow. What I had found was nothing of merit, but when I ran a test for magical energy I was nearly blinded with the residue of not just one, but two mass teleportation spells! The sheer imprint it left on the area was remarkable in strength, yet was designed to fire of subtly, so none should notice. Normally, such strong spells have base items that have the spell enchanted on them, oftentimes gems or other precious stones that when fed magic activated.
But that wasn't what was picking away at me, the fact that there the spell was fired twice was what made me wonder. Who would make or even need such a powerful spell, and how did these humans who for the most part seemed devoid of magic use it?
The sound of Ivan clearing his throat shook me from my train of thought. Looking up I saw that I was only a few steps away from the deck of Ivan's home. He smirked and nodded his head to the stairs, gesturing for me to go first. I thanked him and continued on into his home, Ivan close behind.
Not even five steps into the front room and I could hear little feet slapping hardwood.
"Ivan, Ivan! " exclaimed little Rose, who I had learned was Alina's second foal who I hadn't met on my first visit. The filly was only six years old and was a ball of energy like most young. Ivan crouched down and scooped up the human filly in his arms, giving her a big hug. Once the filly had her fill of hug she bounded out of her brother's grasp and skipped up to me, speaking quickly in her native tongue. I nodded every now and again, not understanding a word. While Ivan has advanced leaps and bounds, learning more than I could have expected, Rose has yet to realize that I don't speak Engrish. At least, I think it's pronounced as Engrish, but with Ivan's thick accent it could be Engrish, English or Anglish.
Ivan let out a chuckle and told Rose something. She stopped talking for a moment before nodding and running off, her long, blond hair trailing behind her. The sight brought a smile to my face as a group of memories of Shining Armor and I slid to the forefront of my mind. I need to go visit the Empire again soon. I sighed.
With a motion of his head Ivan and I walked into the main living area of the human family's home. Arron seemed to not be in the house at all, and if I were to hazard a guess, he was fiddling with the massive panel that was in the back of the house as he usually does. I repressed a sigh of relief. That stallion's presence itself seemed to threaten me. The spacious room had become a classroom of sorts, several of the books that I had lent them were on a small rack in the far corner. While I have yet to see any of the other humans avidly trying to read the simple books that I had given besides Ivan, I have caught a few glimpses of Alina trying to decipher one or another with Ivan's help.
Walking over to what Ivan labeled the 'Book Corner' I grabbed a book at random, finding a book revolving around actions. Looks like I'm going to be acting things out again. I thought, a small part of me already laughing at the fool I'm going to be making of myself.
After a few hours of exaggerating motions to have Ivan laugh at me and answer with the verb I was playing out we broke for lunch. Though Alina was still somewhat wary of me and my intentions she was still nice enough to make lunch for Ivan and I during our language sessions. Today he had a sandwich with some kind of meat, celery sticks and carrots. I had much of the same, only with a sandwich of cauliflower. At first the idea of these small, weaker-looking humans eating meat seemed kind of absurd, Arron made a point of cooking up meat the next visit. I was forced to face the fact that they do especially when I saw the look of savory on Ivan, Alina and Rose's faces when they were eating the meat.
The encounter had also shown me several problems. Though I didn't, and still don't, want the human family to go out and interact with the denizens of Equestria, or Maker forbid Ponyville, quiet yet, they need food to survive. But I had found out, along with fruits and vegetables, humans need meat in their diet. Or at least, that's only what I could assume from how important Ivan and even Arron seemed to make it out to be. Luckily there is a shop in Ponyville, at the very edge of the market that is run by a griffon who sells different meats. Most ponies avoid the place but traveling griffions or minotaurs seemed to give the store enough patronage to keep the store running. Taking it upon myself I promised to bring them supplies once every week to restock, even though it was rather uncomfortable to go into the little store selling meat.
Ivan waved a hand in front of my face, a mouthful of celery in his mouth. I looked up to him in confusion as he swallowed. "When we let go out?" he asked, accent partially obscuring his words, "Famil not happy with stay home."
A pang of sympathy shot through me, and I found my half eaten sandwich very interesting. "I don't know Ivan, but you seem to be learning really fast. Maybe sometime soon." he blinked, trying to translate what I had said for a second, before nodding and taking another bite of celery. It hurt me to tell him that he and his family that they had to stay within the treeline, but my concerns are valid and reasonable! I didn't want another Cerberus incident. There was panic enough on a daily basis.
Alina walked up to Ivan, asking him something. Ivan responded with what seemed like an answer, before asking his own question. Alina huffed and answered. Ivan rolled his eyes. "Mama want to know if leave soon be before winter end."
I chewed some of my carrot before speaking. "I don't think so. Winter Wrap-Up is only a couple days away, and I'm going to have to organize everything again. Maybe sometime in March or April?"
Ivan seemed to understand me for the most part but had something bothering him, "What Winter Wrap-Up? Sound funny."
My eyes widened as I realized that I hadn't been teaching him Equestrian culture. For all I knew, human didn't have a Winter Wrap-Up like the minotaurs to the west. How they cope with their wild weather, I'll never know. Choosing simple words I continued, "Winter Wrap-Up is when everypony helps clean up Winter to let the farmers grow their crops again."
Ivan looked at me with shocked disbelief. Alina said something to her son, but he ignored her. "What mean, everybody help clean winter? Winter go away when it want to." And my suspicions were confirmed.
"The seasons have to be brought in and moved away to keep the balance of the land." I stated, matter-of-fact.
"But seasons leave in week, maybe month, not day!" I really need to rehearse plurals with him.
"That's how it's always been in Equestria Ivan."
Ivan looked as though he was going to say something but stopped. Closing his mouth he huffed and mumbled something under his breath in Engrish. He took a moment to talk with his mother before she left, casting a look back to us. The rest or lunch and the lessons were uneventful as I went over plurals. But neither he nor I were paying the utmost attention we could. While I was thinking about how to teach the humans what was socially acceptable and what wasn't, he seemed to be mulling over the idea of Winter Wrap-Up.
The two of us wrapped up around five, and I left, receiving a tight hug from Rose and a far smile from Ivan. His eyes were slightly glazed over looking at something miles away. Fumbling with my scarf again I looked for the residue of the mass teleportation spell again, finding it quickly. I took a moment to try and find the endpoint of the first casting and the starting point of the second casting, but let out a sigh when I fail again. Why did the pony who designed this spell have to make it so hard to detect on casting and hard to track? I wondered, idling a few seconds longer before making my way back home, where Spike was surely waiting for me to get back.
Author's Note
Get ready for the cringe train, Engrish is gong to be a continuous joke. Broken English deserves and broken joke.
